2020 - a year to remember for everyone. And yet, Alton Towers still pulled off a show-stopping event for their Halloween season. After having not been to the event since 2017, staying on resort to get the most out of the weekend was an easy choice - more on that in my Alton Towers Hotel, coming out this time next week! I went for the first two days, driving up the night before to go into the park on the 10th and 11th. Scarefest was held for around a month, and all the mazes were an extra price on top of entry. I bought maze tickets at £17 per person, which gave us 90 minutes to experience the 3 biggest mazes. It was a bit of a struggle to do them all in time, but we just managed it with a time slot from 7:00 - 8:30.
*Be aware this article contains light spoilers for The Attic, Altonville Mine Tours and Freak Show - Toxic Junkyard, however there are warnings before paragraphs containing spoilers*
The Attic: Terror Of The Towers
The Attic was the first maze we did and as it was indoors we didn't need to leave it until after dark. After passing under the entrance archway, we arrived ten minutes early at a ticket check station, where we were let in and moved through into a socially distanced outdoor queue line, before entering The Towers where masks were required. This worked well to minimise risk and time spent indoors which could have been uncomfortable if it was longer. After batching, we entered through a doorway, expecting to begin the maze, however this was not the case.
Instead, we walked through into what can only be described as a jumble sale crossed with your nan's garage. There were tables covered in random objects around which we queued - again - and the were allowed in to yet another section of queue. The theming here became more relevant as the corridors resembled rooms of a house, the hallway, the stairs, the living room. If this part of my review seems tedious and endless, that's because it was. All in all, we queued for about half an hour. This a pretty standard queue time and I would have been totally happy with it, however this was a paid maze with timed ticket on a relatively off-peak date. Even though we arrived early, we struggled to fit in all of the mazes and I believe 90 minutes was not enough time, especially considering the high price of tickets. The time spent indoors was excessive and uncomfortable and with compulsory masks indoors I felt that outdoor queuing would have definitely been a better option.
*Light spoilers for The Attic ahead*
After we finally began the maze, the experience became much more thrilling. The whole Terror of the Towers storyline and theming is very interesting and creative, being built upon each time the series returns. Beginning the maze by telling the story of the children of The Towers really helped to set up for an intense experience. The actors did their best to scare while not being able to come close, however it meant they couldn't do impact scares in the same way. Despite this, I have to recognise the efforts of the actors to not allow the masks to affect their their ability to work - many of them sprinting across scenes and disappearing silently into the shadows. The eventual realisation that you are following the children's journey really levels this maze up and shows the amount work that went into creating it. Although the majority of this maze was a full-on experience, the end of the maze and the exit felt anti-climatic as it did not maintain the high intensity levels of the rest of the attraction and did reduce its overall impact.
*End of spoilers for The Attic*
My favourite thing about this attraction is it's location, in a upper floor of the towers. I felt the maze was the least scary of the 3 and the shortest, but it had my favourite backstory.
Altonville Mine Tours - Legend of the Skin Snatchers
Next on my maze itinerary was Mine Tours. The themed outdoor queue with atmospheric lighting, music and even a tunnel really built up the suspense before the entrance. We queued for about fifteen minutes in the open air then moved into the batching area then onto the maze.
*Light Spoilers for Altonville Mine Tours*
Beginning with an introduction to the village legend of the skin snatchers, Mine Tours descended into a horrific underground venture. With its packed layout and increasingly unnerving set pieces, Mine Tours creates a perfectly claustrophobic atmosphere. The actor density is high enough to give scares seconds after each other, while still including tense empty passages where props line the narrow corridors. A blindingly bright strobe section towards the end really made the whole maze exceptional. Partly due to the open layout, Mine Tours actors could be hyper-energetic and meticulous with scares, making for an equal experience for every person in a group.
*End of Mine Tours spoilers*
With perfect theming from the queue to the exit, a fantastic layout and the most terrifying cast in Scarefest, Mine Tours was by far the best maze of the night.
Freak Show - Toxic Junkyard
Way back in 2017, Alton Towers' Scarefest included a scare zone called 'Freak Show'. Consisting of mini stages lining a packed pathway full of circus freaks, the actors would switch between performing on their stage and moving into the path to terrify the public as they moved through the attraction. When I first attended Scarefest, I spent most of my time on rides in the dark, however I also had time to experience Freak Show. Fast-forward to 2020 and Alton Towers have dragged the retired Freak Show set out to revive it once more.
While the initial walk to the queue line of this maze was not great - wading through thick mud anyone? Outdoor queuing in the dark added to the atmosphere well and the neon lights really stood out against the night sky. After entering the maze, the first thing I noticed was the intense brightness of the set pieces. Many were recycled from the original scare zones, and others from other mazes and scare attractions. it was one of the better mazes I've done for really grasping all your senses by having chainsaw noises in the background, the stomping of actors and blowing of the wind to hear, the chainsaw fumes and light scent of bubbles/soap from the foam on the floor to smell, and the set pieces and fabric drapes to see and touch.
It was a really well pulled off maze considering the social distancing restrictions, although I do hope Sub-Species hasn't had it's day yet.
Other than the 3 mazes they had Darkest Depths, which was £8 per person and £6.40 with Merlin discount, so we decided against trying it. The rest of the park It didn't have any scare zones, roaming actors or soundtrack, which meant their wasn't really the Halloween atmosphere you'd hope for at a park in October. Plus, because it was only a week after Oktoberfest, they hadn't had the time to get rid of all the theming from there, and it really clashed with the 'Scarefest' vibe. But all in all, the mazes were really good, and all the coasters were running great with low queue times, meaning we got some great night rides! Well done to Towers for pulling off this event considering the circumstances, I can't wait to see what they do this year
Have you been to Scarefest? What was your experience like, I'd love to know! Speak soon,
Cleo x
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