Favourite scare maze

[Leah]

Unfortunately, due to the limited number of options, i had to leave out room 13.

Just come back from scarefest. I personally found sub species to be the best of the event, but that made me think about the mazes that I missed in the past - how they compared. As a younger member, I know that some people on here will remember the boiler house, field, otherwise even the original TotT.

As I said before, sub species is my personal favourite, but I've only done four mazes. I'd like to see the opinion of people who have done more

If I was to say which maze I would have liked to do the most but never got a chance to, I'd say the sanctuary. It might not have been the scariest, but it has the theme that intrest me the most. Also, some of the images that flash up during the queue line video are very creepy, especially considering the context, and are much scarier than anything in sub species.

 

[Arpy]

The Sanctuary is up there for me as one of my favourite scare mazes (beaten only by Sub Species) but that's likely because the first time i visited was 2013 so i never got to experience any earlier ones.
It always had something quite unnerving about it and for me they built the tension perfectly before you even entered the maze. However standard had definitely slipped in 2014 as the maze just felt like it lacked the atmosphere it had previously.

 

[GaryH]

Definitely Field of 1000 screams. (FoTS)

After spending all day in the park we would then head across to the side of Alton Towers Hotel to the FoTS. Bearing in mind that by now it was very late into the night, probably past 9pm so there was no rush to get off the rides in the dark and enjoy the park up until close.

Stood waiting to go in, sat on the damp hay bales because our legs were aching so much from walking around all day before being given the story by the local police woman and let into the field of corn with the lead person holding a dimly lit torch.

Walking around the corn in the dark of night with little artificial lighting was great and added to the experience, especially when you could hear "things" in the corn, rustling around, but you couldnt always see them. The car crash scene with the car which had crashed into the tree, horn blazing, smoke, and some guy stumbling towards you, obviously turning infected.

The sanctury of the "shed" where you were ordered to cower down and hide from the creatures outside, which had now found you, blood soaked hands all over the glass windows, banging the doors and walls trying to get in before, they do, and you are shouted at to run!!!

And who can forget that ending, Running into a single deck bus, the driver closes the doors and tries to start the engine. Chug chug chug its not starting, hands over the windows, the bus is rocking from side to side, the driver shouts at us to get to the back of the bus!! Next thing a stobe comes on, smoke fills the bus, and we notice the doors are now open at the front..... someone is crawling along the floor towards us... more of them...... ummm... we are stuck at the back of the bus, where do we go?!! The infected are now right up in our faces, and just at that moment the bus driver appears outside and opens the emergency exit door, as all 10 of us rapidly pile out of a small door and back out into the field running towards the exit.

That was one of the very best scare mazes I ever attended in Alton. I doubt it would ever be repeated.


Close second to that was the incarnation of Terror of the Towers - the Banquet. This is when ToTT had a story line to it, and we walked into the different scenes through the building. The inhabitants obviously wary of their "Master" who run the place. The chef. The oven.... the story then starts to click that actually, they are all cannibals and you are the dinner!

Then the end scene, in a large room, with a huge dining table, body parts all over it. Creatures sat at the table eating, not paying much attention to you, except for the "Master", fantastically scripted and played, who lined us all up and examined us one by one with a large knife. Kids in the group were genuinely terrified and shaking. The ending being that he liked to give his "game" a sporting chance, so he was going to count to 10.....

The exit was on the other side of the room, past the table, past the creatures......1.....2......3......4.....BANG! Air cannon goes off, lighting effect, we leg it, the creatures try and grab us, but we make it out into the night!

Again, this was a fantastic maze, with a great story and ending.

Unfortunately what has happened over the years is in order to sell more tickets, the mazes have been made shorter and the storylines removed. While I really enjoy the touching and grabbing in the mazes now, I would love for the old ones to come back as they were!

 

[Graeme]

Definitely Field of 1000 screams. (FoTS)

After spending all day in the park we would then head across to the side of Alton Towers Hotel to the FoTS. Bearing in mind that by now it was very late into the night, probably past 9pm so there was no rush to get off the rides in the dark and enjoy the park up until close.

Stood waiting to go in, sat on the damp hay bales because our legs were aching so much from walking around all day before being given the story by the local police woman and let into the field of corn with the lead person holding a dimly lit torch.

Walking around the corn in the dark of night with little artificial lighting was great and added to the experience, especially when you could hear "things" in the corn, rustling around, but you couldnt always see them. The car crash scene with the car which had crashed into the tree, horn blazing, smoke, and some guy stumbling towards you, obviously turning infected.

The sanctury of the "shed" where you were ordered to cower down and hide from the creatures outside, which had now found you, blood soaked hands all over the glass windows, banging the doors and walls trying to get in before, they do, and you are shouted at to run!!!

And who can forget that ending, Running into a single deck bus, the driver closes the doors and tries to start the engine. Chug chug chug its not starting, hands over the windows, the bus is rocking from side to side, the driver shouts at us to get to the back of the bus!! Next thing a stobe comes on, smoke fills the bus, and we notice the doors are now open at the front..... someone is crawling along the floor towards us... more of them...... ummm... we are stuck at the back of the bus, where do we go?!! The infected are now right up in our faces, and just at that moment the bus driver appears outside and opens the emergency exit door, as all 10 of us rapidly pile out of a small door and back out into the field running towards the exit.

That was one of the very best scare mazes I ever attended in Alton. I doubt it would ever be repeated.


Close second to that was the incarnation of Terror of the Towers - the Banquet. This is when ToTT had a story line to it, and we walked into the different scenes through the building. The inhabitants obviously wary of their "Master" who run the place. The chef. The oven.... the story then starts to click that actually, they are all cannibals and you are the dinner!

Then the end scene, in a large room, with a huge dining table, body parts all over it. Creatures sat at the table eating, not paying much attention to you, except for the "Master", fantastically scripted and played, who lined us all up and examined us one by one with a large knife. Kids in the group were genuinely terrified and shaking. The ending being that he liked to give his "game" a sporting chance, so he was going to count to 10.....

The exit was on the other side of the room, past the table, past the creatures......1.....2......3......4.....BANG! Air cannon goes off, lighting effect, we leg it, the creatures try and grab us, but we make it out into the night!

Again, this was a fantastic maze, with a great story and ending.

Unfortunately what has happened over the years is in order to sell more tickets, the mazes have been made shorter and the storylines removed. While I really enjoy the touching and grabbing in the mazes now, I would love for the old ones to come back as they were!

Now THIS is how I remember Scarefest! Not bothered visiting since the field of 1000 screams, but it gets my vote for the mazes I have done!

 

[andeyhart]

Sub Species is easily the best. It's one of the most intense horror attractions I've ever experienced, and it's something I'm quite surprised a commercial theme park attempted. Field was good too, but Species has more of a shock factor and is genuinely more frightening.