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Scarefest 2021

I think it just depends on their mood on the day. When the park reopened this year, I had Darkest Depths tickets dated for October 30th, when the maze had infamously been closed for the rest of the season due to flooding. The tickets were all refunded without question !
 
I give out refunds all the time and wouldn't dream of not giving someone their money back on goods or a service that I didn't end up offering. In fact, in such a circumstance I would have gone above a refund and also done something to compensate on top of that.

Training issue maybe? I can't think under what circumstance this would have been refused.
 
I wish you were working in the Box Office on Friday, because the two staff we spoke to were adamant that they would not provide us a refund. They were so adamant in fact that it was pretty clear they didn’t even have the authority to provide a refund.

Perhaps worst of all they were still selling tickets to Junk Yard despite it being closed.
 
I wish you were working in the Box Office on Friday, because the two staff we spoke to were adamant that they would not provide us a refund. They were so adamant in fact that it was pretty clear they didn’t even have the authority to provide a refund.

Perhaps worst of all they were still selling tickets to Junk Yard despite it being closed.
You should've gone to Guest Services instead. Last year, when it was located in the Box Office building, I went there and they processed the refund straight away.
 
In those circumstances, either should pay out without question.
And selling a service that you know to be not available is a criminal act of fraud, end of.
There have been a number of court actions by trading standards for dodgy halloween attractions, Towers are not above the law, despite their size.
 
This could well be a case of good old Towers (lack of) communication. If Box Office staff were still selling tickets for the maze and refusing refunds it could well be they hadn’t been informed that the maze was in fact closed and therefore refused refunds because they thought guests were just trying it on.

As others have experienced when mazes have been closed in the past then refunds have been issued without fuss.
 
This could well be a case of good old Towers (lack of) communication. If Box Office staff were still selling tickets for the maze and refusing refunds it could well be they hadn’t been informed that the maze was in fact closed and therefore refused refunds because they thought guests were just trying it on.

As others have experienced when mazes have been closed in the past then refunds have been issued without fuss.
Yeah it's most likely a lack of communication, as the Box Office team have to get authorisation to issue refunds.
 
My first visit to Scarefest in a good few years yesterday, and what a mixed bag! It feels like the park are really at a cross roads here and I would expect that next year's event will look very different.

Maze wise, how are we at a position where Altonville Mine Tours is the standout? I had an amazing run through. Attic and Darkest Depths were OK. Toxic Junkyard is absolutely appalling. By far the laziest scare attraction I've ever experienced. Looking back on the mazes of old I really feel like the standard is slipping.

Entertainments wise, I loved the stage on the lawn, but as others have said, the rest of the park needs some attention. Overall the atmosphere was good.

How busy have the queues for the mazes been this year? I couldn't believe we were waiting for enough people to turn up to form a batch for the mazes. Have they sold poorly?
 
My first visit to Scarefest in a good few years yesterday, and what a mixed bag! It feels like the park are really at a cross roads here and I would expect that next year's event will look very different.

Maze wise, how are we at a position where Altonville Mine Tours is the standout? I had an amazing run through. Attic and Darkest Depths were OK. Toxic Junkyard is absolutely appalling. By far the laziest scare attraction I've ever experienced. Looking back on the mazes of old I really feel like the standard is slipping.

Entertainments wise, I loved the stage on the lawn, but as others have said, the rest of the park needs some attention. Overall the atmosphere was good.

How busy have the queues for the mazes been this year? I couldn't believe we were waiting for enough people to turn up to form a batch for the mazes. Have they sold poorly?
When I did Darkest at 1pm on Monday I was surprised to see quite a few people join us for the first group. I ended up being the first into the pre-show but the last into the maze. :p
 
My first visit to Scarefest in a good few years yesterday, and what a mixed bag! It feels like the park are really at a cross roads here and I would expect that next year's event will look very different.

Maze wise, how are we at a position where Altonville Mine Tours is the standout? I had an amazing run through. Attic and Darkest Depths were OK. Toxic Junkyard is absolutely appalling. By far the laziest scare attraction I've ever experienced. Looking back on the mazes of old I really feel like the standard is slipping.

Entertainments wise, I loved the stage on the lawn, but as others have said, the rest of the park needs some attention. Overall the atmosphere was good.

How busy have the queues for the mazes been this year? I couldn't believe we were waiting for enough people to turn up to form a batch for the mazes. Have they sold poorly?
What time did you do the mazes? They are usually fairly quiet all afternoon, then much busier in the evening.
 
I have noticed it seemed fine to book mazes this year compared to previously, I don’t know if it’s just less people doing them due to all four being the same as last year, or people wanting to do more rides, etc, or if there are just less people in the park even though they are sold out.

I do think scarefest needs a massive overhaul next season, half the mazes need binning, we need scarezones back and more scarefest atmosphere across the park. In previous years the like of Galactica, Katanga and dark forest had different music during scarefest, none of that has happened this year. Fountain square used to be themed or even have bunting, but it’s got nothing this year.

The only positives this year is the area on the lawns is much better than the small stage they used to have. I also like the roaming ents, but none of the, are advertised or mentioned anywhere, and most of them you wouldn’t even expect they worked for the park.
 
I have noticed it seemed fine to book mazes this year compared to previously, I don’t know if it’s just less people doing them due to all four being the same as last year, or people wanting to do more rides, etc, or if there are just less people in the park even though they are sold out.
Cost could also have been a factor. I would've done all four mazes had it not been an extra £30pp on top of (already expensive at £46pp) park admission. Would've also liked to do Trick 'o' Treat Town, but at £10pp it's a bit too much. Even the thrill mazes are only £8pp individually (and the Dungeons is only £5pp with the voucher on the park tickets)! :oops:
 
Considering the audience Trick o Treat Town is aimed at I don’t think £10 for one adult and child is too bad. Maybe it is a little expensive but it doesn’t seem too out of line with other things nowadays.
 
I just find it funny how you’ve got this kids trick or trick town, brightly painted with playful music, stuck next to the dull and depressing dungeons, then next to that you’ve got the multicoloured David Walliams area.
 
Been following the forums for a while, but I thought I would add my input on Scarefest 2021 with a review and my first post!

Arrival

We went on Thursday 28th October as a group of 3 adults and did Xpress parking this year, as when we did standard parking in 2020 in took over an hour just to get in to the park. Really recommended this and also saved walking back to the car in the rain when we were already drenched! Better signage would make a difference though for the entrance to the Xpress parking.

Atmosphere

We thought 2021 was as 2020 in terms of theming, some areas were good, but we did agree that some areas could have had a little bit more done to them, as you wouldn’t have necessarily thought it was a Halloween event. You could see that they have invested in better lighting around the park. We did see a couple of roaming scare actors, which we didn’t see last year did add something. The towers as ever look fantastic! And the work they did on the big window looks good. I am sure in 2020 they had some ghosts/puppets doing a show from one of the windows? I didn’t see that this year.

We didn’t have a chance this year to walk around the gardens, but from a far they did look as good as 2020.

Food & Entertainment

We enjoyed the stage shows and extra food and drink outlets on the lawns, and thought the price was about right for theme park outlets, the food was of very good quality, we tried the Burger, German Hot Dogs and Churro’s.

We did get some Donuts from Mutiny Bay and these were good, really good pricing structure…..£6 for 5 Donuts or £7 for 10….No brainer! J

We also got some hot drinks from the Asian style outlet in Mutiny Bay……some members of staff in there do need to cheer up a little! I appreciate you are at work, but some customer service and a smile does go along way……especially if we are trying to make conversation with you!

Rides & Attractions

Again in 2021, we did not do any of the Scare mazes. People always say to me “Why do you go to Scarefest then?” These are just not really our thing, and our aim is to enjoy the parks theming, make the most of the longer park hours, and enjoy the rides during the day and night.

We managed to ride 15 rides over the course of the day, (Nemesis x3, Galactica x2, Oblivion, Spinball, Thirteen, Rita, Oblivion, Wicker Man x2, Duel, Roller Disco, RMT) which we thought with the queue levels what they were, was very good indeed. It did certainly get quieter from 7pm onwards (Expect WM, Thirteen had closed due to the rain)

Once again, fantastic fun on every ride we did, very little downtime, we did leave the queue of Nemesis due to a breakdown but within 30 minutes it was back running again.

We had some good banter with some of the staff, the people running Roller Disco, Nemesis and Galactica in particular. We thought that every ride (Except RD) was run really slick, and throughput of rides was a lot more than in 2021 (Appreciate they was not filling carriages up so much last year)

We really liked the look of the “Retro Squad” Rides but only did the Roller Disco. If I could be picky, they all seemed to take so long in loading the ride. The queue was really not that long, but seemed to take an age. We did enjoy it however, and hopefully they stay for the 2022 season.

Conclusion

All in all, we had a really fantastic day. Shame the weather was a bit damp in the evening, but who cares!
They really need to sort out Thirteen not being able to run in the wet. We got the very last ride that went out before the heavens opened....there was some very unhappy guests and people that purchased the express pass.....TBF to the staff, they did announce several times while waiting in the queue line that they may have to cease if the weather turns wet.
Looking forward to our next visit already!
 
Been following the forums for a while, but I thought I would add my input on Scarefest 2021 with a review and my first post!

Arrival

We went on Thursday 28th October as a group of 3 adults and did Xpress parking this year, as when we did standard parking in 2020 in took over an hour just to get in to the park. Really recommended this and also saved walking back to the car in the rain when we were already drenched! Better signage would make a difference though for the entrance to the Xpress parking.

Atmosphere

We thought 2021 was as 2020 in terms of theming, some areas were good, but we did agree that some areas could have had a little bit more done to them, as you wouldn’t have necessarily thought it was a Halloween event. You could see that they have invested in better lighting around the park. We did see a couple of roaming scare actors, which we didn’t see last year did add something. The towers as ever look fantastic! And the work they did on the big window looks good. I am sure in 2020 they had some ghosts/puppets doing a show from one of the windows? I didn’t see that this year.

We didn’t have a chance this year to walk around the gardens, but from a far they did look as good as 2020.

Food & Entertainment

We enjoyed the stage shows and extra food and drink outlets on the lawns, and thought the price was about right for theme park outlets, the food was of very good quality, we tried the Burger, German Hot Dogs and Churro’s.

We did get some Donuts from Mutiny Bay and these were good, really good pricing structure…..£6 for 5 Donuts or £7 for 10….No brainer! J

We also got some hot drinks from the Asian style outlet in Mutiny Bay……some members of staff in there do need to cheer up a little! I appreciate you are at work, but some customer service and a smile does go along way……especially if we are trying to make conversation with you!

Rides & Attractions

Again in 2021, we did not do any of the Scare mazes. People always say to me “Why do you go to Scarefest then?” These are just not really our thing, and our aim is to enjoy the parks theming, make the most of the longer park hours, and enjoy the rides during the day and night.

We managed to ride 15 rides over the course of the day, (Nemesis x3, Galactica x2, Oblivion, Spinball, Thirteen, Rita, Oblivion, Wicker Man x2, Duel, Roller Disco, RMT) which we thought with the queue levels what they were, was very good indeed. It did certainly get quieter from 7pm onwards (Expect WM, Thirteen had closed due to the rain)

Once again, fantastic fun on every ride we did, very little downtime, we did leave the queue of Nemesis due to a breakdown but within 30 minutes it was back running again.

We had some good banter with some of the staff, the people running Roller Disco, Nemesis and Galactica in particular. We thought that every ride (Except RD) was run really slick, and throughput of rides was a lot more than in 2021 (Appreciate they was not filling carriages up so much last year)

We really liked the look of the “Retro Squad” Rides but only did the Roller Disco. If I could be picky, they all seemed to take so long in loading the ride. The queue was really not that long, but seemed to take an age. We did enjoy it however, and hopefully they stay for the 2022 season.

Conclusion

All in all, we had a really fantastic day. Shame the weather was a bit damp in the evening, but who cares!
They really need to sort out Thirteen not being able to run in the wet. We got the very last ride that went out before the heavens opened....there was some very unhappy guests and people that purchased the express pass.....TBF to the staff, they did announce several times while waiting in the queue line that they may have to cease if the weather turns wet.
Looking forward to our next visit already!
Great post, and glad you had a great day, on the whole. Regarding Retrosquad, they do take an age to load/unload; I get you can't have a free for all when loading like those rides would be at a fun fair, but there must be a faster way of doing things!

Anyway, the Skeleton band weren't there this year because of the stained glass window refurb, but I did have them round my house for some music last night!!

 
Considering the audience Trick o Treat Town is aimed at I don’t think £10 for one adult and child is too bad. Maybe it is a little expensive but it doesn’t seem too out of line with other things nowadays.
I thought the same. Of course geeks going in with their mates to see what it's like in the hope someone is going to run at them with a chainsaw are going to find it disappointing and expensive at £10 each. But it's aimed at families, 2 adults and 2 kids works out as £5 per person which is cheaper than the mazes. The amount of sweets we walked out with wasn't bad actually, must have been a couple of quids worth each bag. The experience was good, kids loved it and you can be in there for a decent amount of time as well. I'm not saying it's cheap by any means but I don't know what people are expecting from it when they'll happily pay £8pp for a fraction of the time in a horror maze that costs a similar amount to run for the park?
 
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Perhaps I just need to move on from my grievances then, I still miss the days of experiences that I'd argue of the same quality, but for free. Those of which were the Scare Zones they had on offer or even TotT. I doubt we will go back to those days, but I think giving everyone a taste of what these upcharge attractions are like, would encourage way more people to fork out and do the rest of them.

My personal gripe isn't with Trick o' Treat Town (same acronym as Terror of the Towers.. very confusing!) in of itself as it was actually more enjoyable than half of the mazes this year for me, but with just having another upcharge attraction on top of the already existing ones makes me grumble a little, as I feel I'm already paying out loads.
 
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