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Scarefest 2021

Does anyone know if and how quickly maze tickets tend to sell out at the Resort Box Office on-park, and how busy it gets around 11am? Going to do Darkest Depths with one of my group but the others still haven't decided, so I don't know whether to book our tickets online tonight and get them to buy their tickets on-park if they decide to do it, or wait and buy my tickets on-park as well in case they couldn't get the same time slot.
 
Skyscraper said:
Does anyone know if and how quickly maze tickets tend to sell out at the Resort Box Office on-park, and how busy it gets around 11am? Going to do Darkest Depths with one of my group but the others still haven't decided, so I don't know whether to book our tickets online tonight and get them to buy their tickets on-park if they decide to do it, or wait and buy my tickets on-park as well in case they couldn't get the same time slot.
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You could always buy them at the entrance to Darkest Depths by scanning to avoid queueing at the box office.
 
Skyscraper said:
Didn't know you could do that. Do they take cash though?
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Oh no I meant scanning and paying through your phone. I don't actually know if i've just imagined this now so someone else might have to confirm:tearsofjoy: there's a real chance I might've made it up in my head
 
Danscott22 said:
Oh no I meant scanning and paying through your phone. I don't actually know if i've just imagined this now so someone else might have to confirm:tearsofjoy: there's a real chance I might've made it up in my head
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Ahh I see. I can't do that unfortunately. I have to use cash on-park. :(
 
Just got back from a day on park, fairly mixed views of this years event to be honest.

I’ll start with the mazes

Darkest Depths:

For me the standout again. I really think this is the most immersive maze, if not attraction that Alton have ever created. The smells, theming, even sounds were brilliant. Actors, as per all the mazes, were great but special mention to the first two actors in those first two scenes which set the story. As mentioned before it’s very very dark, some decent scares and can see why it’s 15+ I guess. Solid 9/10

Freak Show: Toxic Junkyard

A real disappointment for me. I did this at about 2:30pm, and didn’t get to experience in the dark. But from what I saw it was clearly a maze created with Covid largely in mind, and can sort of understand why they decided to bring it back this year due to the uncertainty surrounding Covid. But the maze just doesn’t work for me, I like the idea of the theme but there are barely any jump scares as the maze is so open. I’m sure it would have been better in the dark with more enhanced smoke and light effects etc, but Alton need to be making mazes that are as good in the day as they are at night, surely? For me this maze has to be cut now. 3/10

Altonville Mine Tours:

I believe this Altonvilles 5th year in the lineup? And it seems it’s probably it’s strongest as well. I love the opening two scenes to this maze, does great in building the tension. Inside the maze it was dark, foggy and chaotic. Actors everywhere and on great form. I was shocked how well they spilt up groups also. Not sure how they managed it but one point I turned around to see I was on my own with one random stranger. It’s beautifully themed throughout just a shame it lacks a decent finale! For me it’s one of the best mazes they’ve ever done, but it’s time is also probably up now. 9/10

The Attic

The Attic was also great. The only negative I had was we seemed to experience some batching issues? Our group caught up with the group ahead twice even though the actors did their best to slow groups down. Aside from that it’s again beautifully themed, some great jump scares and that opening scene is also really good, as well as the finale (despite our group being held in the finale room for nearly 40 seconds). I feel however in typical Alton fashion, the effects in the maze were not all 100%. The ‘bed scene’ in particular was anti climatic and we just sort of walked past it with nothing happening. I personally prefer the Terror of the Towers theme from previous years and think it works slightly better, but understand it was in need of a change. 8/10

General park thoughts

In terms of the event in general, I feel it was mediocre, which is just the general feel of the park at the moment to be honest. The lighting and theming around towers street, the lawns and the gardens was great. But as usual it isn’t reciprocated anywhere else on the park. In fact, Galactica had the only theming I noticed outside of Towers Street, and all it was a bit of tacky ‘do not enter’ tape around the Galactica Gates…

As mentioned on this forum plenty of times, operations was a shambles. At some point today The Smiler (closed all day), Thirteen (opened at 12), Wickerman, Galatica, Nemesis, Hex (closed all day) and Mixtape all experienced significant downtime. I would go further in depth but this isn’t really the correct thread for that.

Overall the mazes were good, not £30 good and not anywhere near the levels of previous years good however. Park wide it just felt like minimal effort had gone into the event this year. Might sound harsh but when I look at previous years and I see what they can achieve, it’s so frustrating to see the event being so ‘meh’. I just feel the atmosphere is missing attractions like Nox Infernus and Dark Apocalypse which were removed after just 1 year I believe? Both scare zones did such a superb job to add to the atmosphere around two areas that are seemingly neglected during Scarefest.
With that said I still had a great time, and look forward to next year as usual!

Scarefest 2022

It’s obvious to every man and his dog that next years event needs a big refresh. In fact the only maze I’d be happy enough to see back next year is Darkest Depths. Although in reality I think The Attic, Darkest Depths and maybe Freak Show will all be back.

I’d like to see something along the lines of;

•NEW maze to replace AMT
•NEW Terror of the Towers/Attic style maze
•NEW maze to replace FS:TJ
•Darkest Depths
•Trick or Treat Town

•Scare zone in Forbidden Valley
•Scare zone in Dark Forest
(2015 style scare zones)

Maybe as well a new location for a maze? Cant say i’m too sure where, but would like to see something new.
Again, no idea what theme but excited to see what they can come up with because surely next year we finally get something new…
 
OButler said:
Just got back from a day on park, fairly mixed views of this years event to be honest.

I’ll start with the mazes

Darkest Depths:

For me the standout again. I really think this is the most immersive maze, if not attraction that Alton have ever created. The smells, theming, even sounds were brilliant. Actors, as per all the mazes, were great but special mention to the first two actors in those first two scenes which set the story. As mentioned before it’s very very dark, some decent scares and can see why it’s 15+ I guess. Solid 9/10

Freak Show: Toxic Junkyard

A real disappointment for me. I did this at about 2:30pm, and didn’t get to experience in the dark. But from what I saw it was clearly a maze created with Covid largely in mind, and can sort of understand why they decided to bring it back this year due to the uncertainty surrounding Covid. But the maze just doesn’t work for me, I like the idea of the theme but there are barely any jump scares as the maze is so open. I’m sure it would have been better in the dark with more enhanced smoke and light effects etc, but Alton need to be making mazes that are as good in the day as they are at night, surely? For me this maze has to be cut now. 3/10

Altonville Mine Tours:

I believe this Altonvilles 5th year in the lineup? And it seems it’s probably it’s strongest as well. I love the opening two scenes to this maze, does great in building the tension. Inside the maze it was dark, foggy and chaotic. Actors everywhere and on great form. I was shocked how well they spilt up groups also. Not sure how they managed it but one point I turned around to see I was on my own with one random stranger. It’s beautifully themed throughout just a shame it lacks a decent finale! For me it’s one of the best mazes they’ve ever done, but it’s time is also probably up now. 9/10

The Attic

The Attic was also great. The only negative I had was we seemed to experience some batching issues? Our group caught up with the group ahead twice even though the actors did their best to slow groups down. Aside from that it’s again beautifully themed, some great jump scares and that opening scene is also really good, as well as the finale (despite our group being held in the finale room for nearly 40 seconds). I feel however in typical Alton fashion, the effects in the maze were not all 100%. The ‘bed scene’ in particular was anti climatic and we just sort of walked past it with nothing happening. I personally prefer the Terror of the Towers theme from previous years and think it works slightly better, but understand it was in need of a change. 8/10

General park thoughts

In terms of the event in general, I feel it was mediocre, which is just the general feel of the park at the moment to be honest. The lighting and theming around towers street, the lawns and the gardens was great. But as usual it isn’t reciprocated anywhere else on the park. In fact, Galactica had the only theming I noticed outside of Towers Street, and all it was a bit of tacky ‘do not enter’ tape around the Galactica Gates…

As mentioned on this forum plenty of times, operations was a shambles. At some point today The Smiler (closed all day), Thirteen (opened at 12), Wickerman, Galatica, Nemesis, Hex (closed all day) and Mixtape all experienced significant downtime. I would go further in depth but this isn’t really the correct thread for that.

Overall the mazes were good, not £30 good and not anywhere near the levels of previous years good however. Park wide it just felt like minimal effort had gone into the event this year. Might sound harsh but when I look at previous years and I see what they can achieve, it’s so frustrating to see the event being so ‘meh’. I just feel the atmosphere is missing attractions like Nox Infernus and Dark Apocalypse which were removed after just 1 year I believe? Both scare zones did such a superb job to add to the atmosphere around two areas that are seemingly neglected during Scarefest.
With that said I still had a great time, and look forward to next year as usual!

Scarefest 2022

It’s obvious to every man and his dog that next years event needs a big refresh. In fact the only maze I’d be happy enough to see back next year is Darkest Depths. Although in reality I think The Attic, Darkest Depths and maybe Freak Show will all be back.

I’d like to see something along the lines of;

•NEW maze to replace AMT
•NEW Terror of the Towers/Attic style maze
•NEW maze to replace FS:TJ
•Darkest Depths
•Trick or Treat Town

•Scare zone in Forbidden Valley
•Scare zone in Dark Forest
(2015 style scare zones)

Maybe as well a new location for a maze? Cant say i’m too sure where, but would like to see something new.
Again, no idea what theme but excited to see what they can come up with because surely next year we finally get something new…
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You make a good point about The Attic - in the three years I've done it I'm not really sure what the bed scene is supposed to be? Can someone tell me what is actually supposed to happen, as I always wonder what the purpose of it is.
 
Not quite SF related, but still a link to it - if anyone wants to see the infamous the Dr Kelman [actor] again, he's performing at the National Forest Adventure Farm in Burton:

 
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I did Darkest Depths yesterday and it was fantastic. The theming and atmosphere is outstanding. Both show scenes were great and set the story really well.
Didn't get many scares though as we were at the back of the group (ironically after being first into the pre-show)
Scariest thing about it was how dark it was- at one point I lost my bearings and bumped into my friend... who was behind me! :tearsofjoy:
 
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Skyscraper said:
I did Darkest Depths yesterday and it was fantastic. The theming and atmosphere is outstanding. Both show scenes were great and set the story really well
Didn't get many scares though as we were at the back of the group (ironically after being first into the pre-show)
Scariest thing about it was how dark it was- at one point I lost my bearings and bumped into my friend... who was behind me! :tearsofjoy:
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How did your day go yesterday @Skyscraper? Did you get on Spinball Whizzer or Rita?
 
Matt N said:
How did your day go yesterday @Skyscraper? Did you get on Spinball Whizzer or Rita?
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Didn't have time for Spinball unfortunately. Will try and make time for it next year. Had to use RAP on all but one ride; Mixtape was displayed as 0 mins so we used the main queue, but we didn't realize 4 arms (yes 4) were not in use so it took 60. :oops:
Had my group talk to though which made it easier.

Did Wicker Man as our last ride but we got stuck in the pre-show room for 30 mins or so as it broke down. :tearsofjoy:
Felt very strange being stuck with 30+ other people though. Then the screen didn't reset when the show started again. To top it off I unintentionally stapled myself so my thighs really hurt. Got a little distressed and teary as it was so uncomfortable. :cry:

Nemmy on the back row was insane. Most intense ride I've had on her so far! :)
 
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After visiting this weekend I honestly don't have very many positive things to say regarding Scarefest, there's not really much you can elaborate on an event which has done almost nothing to change from the previous year.

Mine Tours: Very good as always, despite that, this is its' 6th year of operation. Nothing gets changed, it needs to move on.

Darkest Depths: Nice to see effects were working properly this time, very immersive and they definitely ramped up scares, however this is also due a change soon too.

The Attic: I have attempted The Attic several times now, desperately hoping for a good run, it just hasn't happened. I personally do not think the layout works well for any meaningful scares and I also do not think the overall direction of it is very scary until the finale section, and what good is the finale when the main scare actor of the scene isn't even there? I understand that actors need breaks but £8 per stagnant attraction is heavy. Sets are great at least.

Toxic Junkyard: What happened? For a budget maze it was excellent last year, but this year felt like a massive step back. The actors are fun, and some of them I can see are giving it their all, one person who I'm pretty sure is the guy you see in all the promotional shots, he was able to work 3 rooms in a very short manner of time, very seamlessly too. Perhaps we just got unlucky but it felt very short on actors as there were more empty areas than live ones. The finale is now pathetic, they just stand behind windows and lazily aim chainsaws at you, and do absolutely nothing with them. They will have one person who will free roam but they don't even try to chase you they just sort of vacantly march besides you with the trigger held. I should be wanting to run out of that finale out of fear, not out of boredom! Needs some serious reworking.

Trick o' Treat Town: I still think this attraction is extortionate, but it's a quality family attraction. Music is excellent, actors are fun and interactive, it has the perfect Scarefest atmosphere. My problem is I just don't think people should have to spend at least £10 to get this level of atmosphere and fun when they have already paid to get into the park, because it's really nowhere else to be found.

Whispering Souls: It's good, and should never be phased out. But why did they remove the ferryman? Also felt like it could have been expanded to a scale comparable to the Christmas version, with some sets and actors.

Resort-Wide Theming: Over at the hotels, Splash Landings has the same theming it has had since 2010, Alton Towers Hotel has surprisingly lost all of its' exterior theming, and at the Enchanted Village they seem to have stolen the cauldron that used to be at the ATH, although they did have pumpkins and hay stacks at least (which were then smashed by some very charming people).
In the park every zone has absolutely no extra flavour added for the event, and it is extremely disappointing, if it weren't for the music I'd have no idea it was Scarefest. Would it kill them to add at least some pumpkins?
Lighting has improved a little at least, with the return of the Wickerman lighting set, the Towers Complex has been given a lot more love, and more gels have been applied to generators. Other than that, nothing that I can recall.


At the end of the day, Scarefest has remained the exact same as last year pretty much, which just makes the issues ever more glaring. Most of the mazes, if not all, need to be majorly shaken up! We need scare zones to return, we need less upcharge attractions, and we need way more resort wide theming.
 
Nerdsticks said:
Trick o' Treat Town: I still think this attraction is extortionate, but it's a quality family attraction. Music is excellent, actors are fun and interactive, it has the perfect Scarefest atmosphere. My problem is I just don't think people should have to spend at least £10 to get this level of atmosphere and fun when they have already paid to get into the park, because it's really nowhere else to be found.
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I find the argument of paying more on top of admission a bit strange. Yes ScareFest has a lot of super-peak priced days, but why should someone visiting ScareFest get more for the admission fee compared to a summer holiday visitor, or an Okterbest visitor, or a Mardi Gras visitor? All of these events featured entertainment on the front lawn and roaming characters included in the admission.
Should they charge everyone a significantly larger amount for ScareFest but included a maze in the price, or just offer a similar amount of "free" entertainment compared to the other times of year?

The only date that offers a big thing included in the price is fireworks, but those days are now excluded from many voucher schemes (like Kelloggs or Tesco Clubcard) so there probably are a lot more people paying full price for firework dates to cover the cost of the show.
 
I found the 3 mazes I did (I didn't bother with Junkyard, I didn't like it last year and almost everyone says it's worse this year) pretty samey. All 3 very well themed, but the core experience was the same. Remember when Alton's mazes used to be different? Over the years we've had the old TOTT setup, Sub Species, 1000 screams and alike. But they seem to have settled on the same formula now
 
Matt.GC said:
I found the 3 mazes I did (I didn't bother with Junkyard, I didn't like it last year and almost everyone says it's worse this year) pretty samey. All 3 very well themed, but the core experience was the same. Remember when Alton's mazes used to be different? Over the years we've had the old TOTT setup, Sub Species, 1000 screams and alike. But they seem to have settled on the same formula now
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Agree with this completely. Next year they simply have to something different, something big and unique. Another Sub Species style attraction would be great. And if they bring back any mazes next year, especially The Attic, they need wholesale changes/extensions as I think in particular The Attic is very short
 
When in the Box Office queue yesterday the guy in front of me asked me about the mazes. He definitely bumped into the right person. :p
And when I was in the queue for Darkest Depths a couple of girls walking towards Dark Forest asked me if any rides were that way. They all must've noticed my Ice Age coat (bear in mind that I was wearing my rucksack so the "Alton Towers Entertainments" writing was covered up anyway). :tearsofjoy:
Was nice to put my knowledge to good use though! I do like helping people as well. :)
 
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I attended on Sunday and haven't managed to post since now but I really had a great time! (Bear in mind however I didn't go last year and generally seem to be a more easily pleased person on these forums haha). We did all the mazes and while I agree Toxic Junkyard is the weakest and not really built to work during the day I still found it quite fun. Found the rest of the mazes brilliant and as much as I didn't find it the scariest I thought Darkest Depths was the best themed and most immersive. One criticism which I think someone else has mentioned is that the first actor in The Attic starts the story too early and so people at the back missed the beginning. Also I'm quite easily scared so the actors love picking on me!

Operations were pretty awful though, Smiler and Hex down all day, Thirteen and Nemesis on and off throughout, etc, etc which was disappointing and made the queues huge but we still managed to make all the rides we wanted to though.

Themeing was pretty poor everywhere but Towers Street as people have said, but we had a good chat with a couple of the roaming actors which was nice, and caught glimpses of the ancestors flash mob a couple times which was also great. We also saw some Phalanx (?) style guards walking around with someone dressed like a crazed prisoner with a mask on who interacted with us in the Galactica queue, which I thought was interesting and seemed to be hinting at something, however if you're hiring actors to be scary military style guards which I assume they were meant to be, maybe don't hire 16 year olds? Didn't quite hit the mark haha
 
Heidi said:
We also saw some Phalanx (?) style guards walking around with someone dressed like a crazed prisoner with a mask on who interacted with us in the Galactica queue, which I thought was interesting and seemed to be hinting at something, however if you're hiring actors to be scary military style guards which I assume they were meant to be, maybe don't hire 16 year olds? Didn't quite hit the mark haha
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I saw them too but didn't interact with them. They've definitely got to be hinting something, and are in the old N:ST costumes. Would be great if it was something to do with that building but we'll have to wait and see. :)
 
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