I was so so excited to head for my 3rd (and quite last minute😭) trip to Scarefest last weekend! We had a day and a half on park and managed 22 rides across that time and all 4 mazes. In my opinion, the event has greatly improved since last season and I can't wait to see it improve even more next year! P.S: There are spoilers in this post, so either skip what you don't want to read or come back once you've experiences it for yourself.
Ride Counts:
28/10 - Gangsta Granny x1, Hex x1, Skyride x1, Nemesis x2, Duel x2, Oblivion x1, Galactica x1, The Blade x2.
29/10 - Nemesis x2, Funk n Fly x1, Duel x1, Skyride x1, Rita x1, Wicker Man x1, Th13teen x1, Mixtape x1, Oblivion x1, Spinball Whizzer x1.
The Attic: Terror of The Towers:
Our first maze of the night was The Attic: Terror of the Towers. It was definetly the scariest for me personally, but that's probably because i'm not one for loud noises, but ignoring that it was so atmospheric and interesting!
Compared to 2020, the ending of The Attic is so much more improved😍! Last year it featured the demon is a huge detailed costume and mask as well as smoke and loud noises to create an atmosphere. This year it featured The Demon, The Governess and the Man of the house. The setting was definitely most enhanced by the sheer heating of the corridors to act as though you are in a furnace / fireplace / hell burning. The first few scenes had the best theming and set design of the maze, but I think they were the most repetitive with most of the first 5-ish rooms having 1 actor each all in basic costume. But, I think it really builds up the tension for something big to happen. It does, the scares get more intense and the jump scares build up.
There's one scene that I specifically remember. There were 2 long thin corridors that ran along each other with an open room to the side of one with a big curtain. I think they were trying to project a ghost onto it, but you really couldn't see it very well.
The queueline looked slightly better themed than last year with the decorations being a bit more directly correlating with the setting of the maze, and the pre-show was even better. Even with the lack of sound-proofing, the eerie atmosphere was executed incredibly in this first room, I just wish it was harder to hear the scene from other parts of the maze. Overall a great themed maze, but on the less scary side for a 15+ maze. I'd give it an 8/10
Altonville Mine Tours: Legend Of the Skin Snatchers:
Our second maze of the night was Altonville Mine Tours. It was my favourite maze last year; I don't think it was my favourite maze this year but that's because all of the others have improved significantly. It has the most detailed and themed corridors and rooms of any of the mazes and by far had the biggest variation in intensity. They managed to create such a realistic mine setting for the maze through great smells, sounds and lighting effects.
The actors throughout mine tours were slightly weaker than last year, but I think a lot of that was down to 1. us being in the middle of the group and stuck behind another group infront, who got too scared and 2. Our maze slot was between 4.30 and 6.30 because we wanted night rides, so I think the mazes were generally filled with more scared visitors so actors didn't go as hard.
The ending of Mine Tours had been changed this year and it had like 5 actors in, a load of props and probably the most intense strobes I've seen this year. I think what made it so effective wad the volume of actors to area of space in the corridor and intensity of strobes to the actual length of time it takes you to walk (or run😭) to the exit.
I love Altonville Mine Tours, but I personally don't think it has too much longer left at Scarefest and a think another year or two will let it run it's course and then it can (hopefully) be replaced by a maze of the same standard, if not higher. I'd rate it 7.5/10.
Freak Show: Toxic Junkyard:
Freak Show was our last maze of the night and unfortunately, probably the weakest. The lack of actors, lack of solid storyline and minimal diffrenciation throughout the maze made it a bit boring, but it did probably have the most energetic actors at Alton Towers who really liked singling people out which was VERY entertaining.
The problem I have with clown mazes is they rely too much on people automatically being scared of clowns anyway and then just.. forget to enhance the idea and theming anymore than just 'clowns existing'. There is slightly more to it with Freakshow with both years having a clear emphasis on a Junkyard full of random brightly coloured props, many being from a circus setting. (I think there's some easter eggs, but most of them are just props from the old Freak Show scare zone that I actually experienced back in the day, it was pretty cool!)
It may not have had the depth on the level of any of the other 3 mazes but, because it was a clown maze and it had chainsaws it did have an immediate fear factor which I think was good because none of the other mazes really had that. Similarly to Tulley's, Alton Towers understood you can't overdo a chainsaw gag in multiple mazes; I also think they put in in the best fitting maze, the only maze with a big visible exit great for a chainsaw runout. (tip: The day I'm posting this is the last day of Scarefest 2021 but if you're there today or it's the same next year, it's an awesome spot to stand and watch some amazing reations.)
I think I mentioned this in last year's review but something that stands out from every maze I've done this year is the textures, flooring and effects of this maze have always been really bold and exciting to match the maze. E.g a whole minute worth of path covered in bubbles, really vibrant lights surrounding main theming pieces/areas with actors or huge drapes hung from the mesh ceilings for you to walk through.
Freak Show is one of the best clown mazes I've done, but the missing storyline means it slightly falls short for me. However, it was such a scary maze that was surprisingly incredibly decorated. I'd rate it 7/10.
Darkest Depths:
So, Darkest depths.
The theming of this maze was great, the scares in this maze were great, the costumes were great and so was the humour. However, this maze originally (in 2019 and 2020) was advertised at 8+ and this year was upped to 15+ to match the other mazes it was in a combi ticket with. I can definitely see the business benefits to not having darkest depth as it's own ticket and keeping all 4 mazes rated the same leads to less confusion. But, Darkest Depths is a perfect family-friendly maze that fits in the Alton Towers lineup really well. For the first time in my memory, I saw Alton Towers as a fully rounded park not missing an age in ride, event and food offerings, which is something really difficult to manage.
The maze itself was amazing and had some great effects and costume, but I would definitely market it as more of a 10+ maze. It focused more on storytelling and humour over intense scares which works in its own way to create a not-so-scary scare maze. My favourite section of Darkest Depths is 100% the Kraken scene at the end; That costume though! The first scene was great too; I think it drew a lot from the Dungeons in it's way of storytelling, but the whole 'lights out, actor moves and jumps out at you' gag didn't really work when the door was an inch higher than the floor and it was still daylight.
A pirate theme is often overused and basic but the background and storytelling in this maze was that of a Dungeons scene which I loved so I'll rate this maze 8/10, however I do still prefer The Attic for it's scares.
So after the mazes we watched a dance show, saw some roamers before getting in a few night rides and then heading through the Garden Night Walk: Whispering Souls! We managed a lot in one evening an it was such a great night.
Alton Ancestors:
Being the only roaming team labelled on park, Alton Ancestors were found in many locations across the park and I have to say, their dance show is great! I never got the chance to watch through a full Amity vs Lycanthorpe dance show but I can imagine this one was better. As said prior, the event this year was completely rounded for all ages and I'm so happy that it was, it just makes the experience so much more accessible to any group of people.
Garden Night Walk: Whispering Souls:
Garden Night Walk this year was great! It provided a great, nice length family attraction great for photos or just to walk round. I think it could've been slightly enhanced by smoke effects of maybe more sound? (I'll mention this in a post in a week or so, but earlier this week I saw probably the best effect in a scare attraction yet: smoke bubbles, they were so pretty & satisfying!)
Rides in the Dark:
Over our 2 nights we managed 6 night rides (Nemesis, Galactica, Th13teen, Oblivion, Mixtape & Spinball) and then a dusk-ish ride on Wicker Man. I overall had some great experiences on them, especially Mixtape and I love the variety that Alton Towers offers in its lineup for night rides! My top suggestions for Night Rides are 13, Wicker Man, Nemesis, Mixtape and Funk'n'Fly. Wicker Man and 13 can get quite long advertised queues at night but they generally move very fast, more so when you buy dinner to eat while you wait (I suggest the hot dogs by Wicker Man)
So... That's Scarefest! We had a wonderful day and a half at Alton Towers and I can't wait to return for opening time next Season! Did you visit Scarefest? What did you think of the event? Thank you so much for reading, I'll see you in the next post!
Cleo x
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