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Scarefest 2020

Queues at Fright Nights in previous years tend to be longer than those at Scarefest so they might not have to introduce this in the same way at Alton Towers.

Closing queues at 8pm implies they anticipate 2hr queues on those rides to give them enough time to clear everyone before 10pm. With the exception of Wickerman and Smiler I doubt queues will be that long, and with the Smiler they have been closing that queue when it reaches around an hour anyway, due to it overspilling the entrance.
 
Don’t forget this year Thorpe’s Fright Nights are 10am - 9pm instead of the usual 10pm close. I guess by closing queues at 8pm they will still be empty just after half 9 at latest, staff always pick up the pace after close time.
 
Yeah I hadn't thought of factors like that, Towers might be alright with queue line close at 9pm, 8:30 if they really have to.
 
I'd suspect they'll be planning/expecting to close Wicker Man early, and monitoring anything else on the day with a growing queue.
 
A while ago I booked a three-maze ticket for 7:30p.m., but now when I look on the website there are no days where any time above 6:30p.m. is even bookable.

Should I be worried about this?
 
A while ago I booked a three-maze ticket for 7:30p.m., but now when I look on the website there are no days where any time above 6:30p.m. is even bookable.

Should I be worried about this?
Just make sure you get to your first maze bang on 7:30, then go straight to the next one as soon as you come out to maximise the chance of completing them within the 90 mins.
 
A while ago I booked a three-maze ticket for 7:30p.m., but now when I look on the website there are no days where any time above 6:30p.m. is even bookable.

Should I be worried about this?

I would suggest that they have been popular so they have removed them to encourage people to book earlier slots. If queues are bad (which they may well be due to social distancing) then you may struggle complete all mazes before park close.
 
I disagree with this because the tickets for 7:30p.m were up for only about a week, and not ALL days would have sold out and magically all gone down to 6:30p.m together, if you get me. Strange.
 
I disagree with this because the tickets for 7:30p.m were up for only about a week, and not ALL days would have sold out and magically all gone down to 6:30p.m together, if you get me. Strange.

I don't necessarily think they have sold out, more that they were popular so perhaps they are trying to push sales for earlier slots first to try and avoid any capacity issues later in the evening.
 
Just to warn you all, the weather on Friday has magically changed to torrential rain all day (based off the Met Office app)
 
Having booked the Thursday in the last week of Scarefest I don't have much leeway if my area was be in local lockdown that week (could be announced as early as tomorrow- I booked the tickets before the idea was even mentioned). Trying not to worry about it but I can't help myself :(
 
The event looks to be really good again, I think I've just pulled it off managing to visit on Saturday 10th, but I genuinely now do think if you're not visiting on the 9th, 10th, or 11th there might be some jeopardy in your visit. I really, really hope not, but with rapidly rising case numbers, I can see new measures coming into place very, very soon. I'd love to be proved wrong!
 
The event looks to be really good again, I think I've just pulled it off managing to visit on Saturday 10th, but I genuinely now do think if you're not visiting on the 9th, 10th, or 11th there might be some jeopardy in your visit. I really, really hope not, but with rapidly rising case numbers, I can see new measures coming into place very, very soon. I'd love to be proved wrong!
Yeah I'm really worried now as my area could be going into local lockdown soon (booked the tickets before we heard about that). We spent £300 on tickets... And they're non-refundable. :oops:
 
Yeah I'm really worried now as my area could be going into local lockdown soon (booked the tickets before we heard about that). We spent £300 on tickets... And they're non-refundable. :oops:
I would imagine that if the Government/local councils impose lockdowns in certain areas Merlin/Towers will refund or rebook your tickets. If you decided not to go even if no lockdown was in place then that's a different matter!
 
I would imagine that if the Government/local councils impose lockdowns in certain areas Merlin/Towers will refund or rebook your tickets. If you decided not to go even if no lockdown was in place then that's a different matter!
It's made even more worrying as we booked the half term Thursday in the last week of Scarefest, so there's not much leeway (Fri, Sat and Sun are the only remaining days after that).
 
I think it should be fine as it’s outside, everyone temperature taken before entry and if guests keep there masks on and keep washing there hands then I can’t see where the problem is.
 
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