DiogoJ42
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Metropolitan Line
As posted on Chessington Buzz, here is my review of this year's "scare" attractions:
A Vampire From Transylvania Visits the Haunted Hollow and Maybe Gloomy Wood While He's There: (Or something like that)
Not the most catchy name for a maze.
Some brilliant acting in this. I don't mean jumping out going "boo", I mean proper theatrics. First you meet Van Helsing, who has to be one of, if not the, best actor I have ever met in a theme park. He really set up the show perfectly. And his energy didn't seem to flag at all from the start of the day to the end.
He tells you that the locals don't trust him, but maybe we could help him find Dracula.
The next character you meet does not give his name, but is clearly based on Renfield from the Dracula novel. A mad man, calling to his master, while leaping onto the hearse.
After this, he is chased away by a well spoken woman in a corset and widow veil, who invites you in to her house. I could be wrong, but I think she may have worked on Vengeance at The London Dungeon. If not, she certainly reminds me of an actor I have seen there.
You stand around the body of her husband, while she tells you of how Dracula killed him. The scene ends with a good, if predictable, scare.
Following this, you find yourself outdoors again where you meet... actually, I'm not sure who this character was supposed to be. His appearence is very similar to Van Helsing.
This scene takes place in the graveyard, with some nice unearthed skeletons. Probably the weakest scene to me.
You then enter the crypt, where you finally meet Dracula himself. His costume is refreshingly not based on Bela Lugosi. He sends you into the final section to meet his children, a male and female vampire who run into the crypt to scare you before running back out into...
...a mini strobe maze. Well, a strobe corridor. I was pleasantly shocked to find this in a Chessington attraction. After all the character based story so far, to suddenly find yourself in a "grown up" scare maze makes it seem a lot more intense than it is. Thick smoke and coloured strobes, combined with black curtains, provide plenty of opportunity for jump scares, and the two actors really worked the small room well.
This is the finale, and before you know it, you are back outside.
We did it twice, in daylight, and at night. Goes without saying that night is better, due to two thirds of it being outside.
I'm very glad Chessington have decided to go for a more "scary" attraction this year. My only concern is that it may be too much for a lot of the children that go through it. On our second run, we had a family with us, and the youngest child was crying right from the start. Maybe the park could be more assertive with an age restriction, rather than a suggested age limit that they don't actually enforce?
Actors: 10/10 They really are brilliant.
Sets: 7/10 Mostly plywood covered in printed brick effects, looks a bit cheap in daylight, but works well at night.
Lighting: 9/10 As always, Chessington know how to use simple lighting to maximum effect. Only let down by a couple of really obvious Pixle PARs in the smaller rooms... though being honest I suspect I'm the only one who would notice them. Both the lighting and audio are synced very well to the action.
Entertainment: 9/10 A genuinely good story to follow, and you feel like you are part of it, rather than a passive observer.
Scares: 5/10 This is such a personal thing that it's almost pointless trying to rate it. But there are a couple of good jump moments to be had. Given it is aimed at a younger audience, it's probably terrifying to them!
Total: 40/50
Hocus Pocus Live
We were told that the park wanted to balance out the more scary maze by making HPL more child friendly this year. Well, they certainly did that.
I'm very glad we fastracked this, as I heard many people saying "I can't believe I queued an hour for this".
It's the usual route through Hocus Pocus Hall, but without the 3D glasses. Thus rendering almost the entire attraction worthless. The plot (if you can call it that) is an embarrasing rip off of Harry Potter, but without any sense of even the mildest peril.
At four points, you meet a "witch", who talks at you for too long. Even the toddlers, who this was aimed at, looked bored.
There are no scares at all, instead, it is an attempt at "story time".
I'm afraid that's all I can say about it really. If you are under five it may be entertaining, but I doubt it.
Actors: 6/10 They do they best they can with a dire script. But they are all the same basic character: Posh public school girl in a non-copywrited Hogwarts uniform.
Sets: N/A: 0/10 It's Hocus Pocus without the 3D element. Fail.
Lighting: N/A: 0/10 Standard Hocus UVs and nothing else.
Entertainment: 3/10 Maybe to it's target audience it might be fun, but by the time we met the third witch, I just wanted to get out of there.
Scares: 0/10 That's not the point of this attraction, I guess. The standard air cannon and popup gremlins from Hocus are still there, but that's it.
Total: 9/50
Wow. That seems really harsh. Maybe I shouldn't be judging it on the same criteria as a proper scare attraction? Oh well, it's done now.
A Vampire From Transylvania Visits the Haunted Hollow and Maybe Gloomy Wood While He's There: (Or something like that)
Not the most catchy name for a maze.
Some brilliant acting in this. I don't mean jumping out going "boo", I mean proper theatrics. First you meet Van Helsing, who has to be one of, if not the, best actor I have ever met in a theme park. He really set up the show perfectly. And his energy didn't seem to flag at all from the start of the day to the end.
He tells you that the locals don't trust him, but maybe we could help him find Dracula.
The next character you meet does not give his name, but is clearly based on Renfield from the Dracula novel. A mad man, calling to his master, while leaping onto the hearse.
After this, he is chased away by a well spoken woman in a corset and widow veil, who invites you in to her house. I could be wrong, but I think she may have worked on Vengeance at The London Dungeon. If not, she certainly reminds me of an actor I have seen there.
You stand around the body of her husband, while she tells you of how Dracula killed him. The scene ends with a good, if predictable, scare.
Following this, you find yourself outdoors again where you meet... actually, I'm not sure who this character was supposed to be. His appearence is very similar to Van Helsing.
This scene takes place in the graveyard, with some nice unearthed skeletons. Probably the weakest scene to me.
You then enter the crypt, where you finally meet Dracula himself. His costume is refreshingly not based on Bela Lugosi. He sends you into the final section to meet his children, a male and female vampire who run into the crypt to scare you before running back out into...
...a mini strobe maze. Well, a strobe corridor. I was pleasantly shocked to find this in a Chessington attraction. After all the character based story so far, to suddenly find yourself in a "grown up" scare maze makes it seem a lot more intense than it is. Thick smoke and coloured strobes, combined with black curtains, provide plenty of opportunity for jump scares, and the two actors really worked the small room well.
This is the finale, and before you know it, you are back outside.
We did it twice, in daylight, and at night. Goes without saying that night is better, due to two thirds of it being outside.
I'm very glad Chessington have decided to go for a more "scary" attraction this year. My only concern is that it may be too much for a lot of the children that go through it. On our second run, we had a family with us, and the youngest child was crying right from the start. Maybe the park could be more assertive with an age restriction, rather than a suggested age limit that they don't actually enforce?
Actors: 10/10 They really are brilliant.
Sets: 7/10 Mostly plywood covered in printed brick effects, looks a bit cheap in daylight, but works well at night.
Lighting: 9/10 As always, Chessington know how to use simple lighting to maximum effect. Only let down by a couple of really obvious Pixle PARs in the smaller rooms... though being honest I suspect I'm the only one who would notice them. Both the lighting and audio are synced very well to the action.
Entertainment: 9/10 A genuinely good story to follow, and you feel like you are part of it, rather than a passive observer.
Scares: 5/10 This is such a personal thing that it's almost pointless trying to rate it. But there are a couple of good jump moments to be had. Given it is aimed at a younger audience, it's probably terrifying to them!
Total: 40/50
Hocus Pocus Live
We were told that the park wanted to balance out the more scary maze by making HPL more child friendly this year. Well, they certainly did that.
I'm very glad we fastracked this, as I heard many people saying "I can't believe I queued an hour for this".
It's the usual route through Hocus Pocus Hall, but without the 3D glasses. Thus rendering almost the entire attraction worthless. The plot (if you can call it that) is an embarrasing rip off of Harry Potter, but without any sense of even the mildest peril.
At four points, you meet a "witch", who talks at you for too long. Even the toddlers, who this was aimed at, looked bored.
There are no scares at all, instead, it is an attempt at "story time".
I'm afraid that's all I can say about it really. If you are under five it may be entertaining, but I doubt it.
Actors: 6/10 They do they best they can with a dire script. But they are all the same basic character: Posh public school girl in a non-copywrited Hogwarts uniform.
Sets: N/A: 0/10 It's Hocus Pocus without the 3D element. Fail.
Lighting: N/A: 0/10 Standard Hocus UVs and nothing else.
Entertainment: 3/10 Maybe to it's target audience it might be fun, but by the time we met the third witch, I just wanted to get out of there.
Scares: 0/10 That's not the point of this attraction, I guess. The standard air cannon and popup gremlins from Hocus are still there, but that's it.
Total: 9/50
Wow. That seems really harsh. Maybe I shouldn't be judging it on the same criteria as a proper scare attraction? Oh well, it's done now.
