cp23
Mega Poster
We went to Scarefest on 16th and 17th (opening weekend) and had a thoroughly good time. This was my first year at Alton's Halloween event, as I usually do Fright Nights since it's much closer.
I've tried to keep this reasonably spoiler free but there might be the odd one or two lurking in my description of the Boiler House.
Terror of the Towers - I thought this was simply brilliant. It's obvious that a lot of money had gone into it as the theming was second to none, as was the atmospheric music, and it was incredibly long as well (I thought it was ending when it was only about halfway through). Remember that I'd never experienced this before so it was all completely new to me, so I can't complain that it was too similar to last year. Perhaps not the scariest, but easily the most impressive scare maze I've ever experienced. My verdict: 9.5/10 (I don't give 10s lightly!).
The Boiler House - Loved this too, thought it was incredibly well done. I loved the opening, it really felt like being in a film, and the maze itself was very well put together with some great scares and brilliant theming. Overall this was the maze with the most coherent story line (perhaps the only one with a true storyline!) - the video in the queue line really set it up very well indeed and I loved the appearance of the two girls who were reported as missing in the news report (to be honest I had expected them to show but still thought it was a brilliant touch). This was probably the scariest maze, but because it wasn't quite as lavish as Terror of the Towers it gets 9/10.
Carnival of Screams - Now, I did enjoy this, but I must say for me it was easily the weakest of the threee mazes and I'm very surprised at all the praise it has been getting. I liked the opening and the ending was pretty cool, as was the 'neon light' room, but overall it was more funny than scary, and just felt a little bit cheap in comparison to the other two excellent mazes. I think my opinion of CoS probably wasn't helped by the fact that it had to be evacuated when we were about halfway through so when we went round to do it again we already knew the first half. Overall I'd give it 7/10.
Skelvin's Haunted Adventure - I loved this! If only because it was the closest I've got to riding the original Haunted House since it turned into Duel, and it just makes me wish they'd never converted it. The actors were pretty good as well - we rode this a few times and the actors did something different each time (sometimes trying to scare, other times being more friendly, I guess depending on whether there were any young kids sitting with you or not). The first time we rode this there was about a 15 minute queue (when it first opened on Saturday) but then for the rest of the weekend it was completely walk-on, which was great for us because it had no queues but sad in a way as it meant that this great attraction was being ignored. Or perhaps it was just because it has great throughput. Anyway, I'd give this 8/10, and please, Alton, bring back the Haunted House!
Overall I loved the general atmosphere of the park after dark, and the lighting was great, especially on Nemesis which looked absolutely incredible. Oblivion also looked amazing in the dark, with the search lights and flashing red lights around the hole. I'm not usually a huge fan of Air (do like it but just don't think it's outstanding) but both me and my friend thought it was excellent in the dark.
We went on Thirteen twice in the dark (once on Saturday and then once again on Sunday) and there were no actors whatsover in the queue line, which was a bit of a surprise as the park literature implied there would be.
I also saw a few travellers in the queue line for Air who were trying to jump over the queue line fences and just get on the ride. In the end they queued for the front and then went and sat somewhere else, clearly having no idea what they were doing. Mental. I also heard security being called for in the Nemesis station but didn't see what happened, and saw someone being escorted by police outside the Boiler House. Unfortunately, there was a large number of unpleasant and rude people in the queue lines for both the extra mazes, and that somewhat marred the end of the trip. It was like being at Thorpe :-(
Overall, I had a great time, but I must say I was a trifle miffed that they charge you £10 to do the two extra mazes (or £6 for one), considering that all the Thorpe mazes are included in the entrance price. It's even stranger given that you get the (in my opinion) best maze for free (well, without additional charge at least). Having said that, I'd rather go here again next year than Fright Nights.
My main gripe would be lack of ERT, which was promised when I booked on line and in the letter that accompanied my tickets. I realise that the website does now say that there is no ERT during Scarefest, but I hadn't seen that before setting off, and they really should have been careful about including this in the letter that accompanied the pre-booked tickets. I realise it's a generic letter but surely they should have made sure that if tickets were booked for a Scarefest date the letter didn't contain the usual 'as you have booked on line you will be entitled to an hour of early ride time', as we made a special effort to get to the park by about 8.45 (which meant leaving home at about 5 in the morning!).
I've tried to keep this reasonably spoiler free but there might be the odd one or two lurking in my description of the Boiler House.
Terror of the Towers - I thought this was simply brilliant. It's obvious that a lot of money had gone into it as the theming was second to none, as was the atmospheric music, and it was incredibly long as well (I thought it was ending when it was only about halfway through). Remember that I'd never experienced this before so it was all completely new to me, so I can't complain that it was too similar to last year. Perhaps not the scariest, but easily the most impressive scare maze I've ever experienced. My verdict: 9.5/10 (I don't give 10s lightly!).
The Boiler House - Loved this too, thought it was incredibly well done. I loved the opening, it really felt like being in a film, and the maze itself was very well put together with some great scares and brilliant theming. Overall this was the maze with the most coherent story line (perhaps the only one with a true storyline!) - the video in the queue line really set it up very well indeed and I loved the appearance of the two girls who were reported as missing in the news report (to be honest I had expected them to show but still thought it was a brilliant touch). This was probably the scariest maze, but because it wasn't quite as lavish as Terror of the Towers it gets 9/10.
Carnival of Screams - Now, I did enjoy this, but I must say for me it was easily the weakest of the threee mazes and I'm very surprised at all the praise it has been getting. I liked the opening and the ending was pretty cool, as was the 'neon light' room, but overall it was more funny than scary, and just felt a little bit cheap in comparison to the other two excellent mazes. I think my opinion of CoS probably wasn't helped by the fact that it had to be evacuated when we were about halfway through so when we went round to do it again we already knew the first half. Overall I'd give it 7/10.
Skelvin's Haunted Adventure - I loved this! If only because it was the closest I've got to riding the original Haunted House since it turned into Duel, and it just makes me wish they'd never converted it. The actors were pretty good as well - we rode this a few times and the actors did something different each time (sometimes trying to scare, other times being more friendly, I guess depending on whether there were any young kids sitting with you or not). The first time we rode this there was about a 15 minute queue (when it first opened on Saturday) but then for the rest of the weekend it was completely walk-on, which was great for us because it had no queues but sad in a way as it meant that this great attraction was being ignored. Or perhaps it was just because it has great throughput. Anyway, I'd give this 8/10, and please, Alton, bring back the Haunted House!
Overall I loved the general atmosphere of the park after dark, and the lighting was great, especially on Nemesis which looked absolutely incredible. Oblivion also looked amazing in the dark, with the search lights and flashing red lights around the hole. I'm not usually a huge fan of Air (do like it but just don't think it's outstanding) but both me and my friend thought it was excellent in the dark.
We went on Thirteen twice in the dark (once on Saturday and then once again on Sunday) and there were no actors whatsover in the queue line, which was a bit of a surprise as the park literature implied there would be.
I also saw a few travellers in the queue line for Air who were trying to jump over the queue line fences and just get on the ride. In the end they queued for the front and then went and sat somewhere else, clearly having no idea what they were doing. Mental. I also heard security being called for in the Nemesis station but didn't see what happened, and saw someone being escorted by police outside the Boiler House. Unfortunately, there was a large number of unpleasant and rude people in the queue lines for both the extra mazes, and that somewhat marred the end of the trip. It was like being at Thorpe :-(
Overall, I had a great time, but I must say I was a trifle miffed that they charge you £10 to do the two extra mazes (or £6 for one), considering that all the Thorpe mazes are included in the entrance price. It's even stranger given that you get the (in my opinion) best maze for free (well, without additional charge at least). Having said that, I'd rather go here again next year than Fright Nights.
My main gripe would be lack of ERT, which was promised when I booked on line and in the letter that accompanied my tickets. I realise that the website does now say that there is no ERT during Scarefest, but I hadn't seen that before setting off, and they really should have been careful about including this in the letter that accompanied the pre-booked tickets. I realise it's a generic letter but surely they should have made sure that if tickets were booked for a Scarefest date the letter didn't contain the usual 'as you have booked on line you will be entitled to an hour of early ride time', as we made a special effort to get to the park by about 8.45 (which meant leaving home at about 5 in the morning!).