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Scarefest 2012

On my run throughs, Sanctuary was the poorest maze this weekend. I had very few scares and for me the finale does not work at all as the actors always focus on just one of the groups during the split, and it tended not to be the one I was in! The strobes are much better in the finale though.

:)
 
Rob said:
On my run throughs, Sanctuary was the poorest maze this weekend. I had very few scares and for me the finale does not work at all as the actors always focus on just one of the groups during the split, and it tended not to be the one I was in! The strobes are much better in the finale though.

:)
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Different strokes for different folks I suppose, I never got a scare in Carnival and it has no finale, one issue with Scaremazes is the level of randomness in their experience. I never had a good run through boiler house any year so it was never my favourite yet others loved it.
 
I seem to be one of the few that ranked Carnival the highest, I was disappointed with The Sanctuary. It was good at the start, but I walked through the majority of the finale before any actors appeared, and then there was only one.
 
Carnival was very unique - and quite clever! It was like a horror fun house ;D

Some of those actors were my absolute favourites, and most convincing. I did it in the day though, and despite being assured otherwise, I did feel that affected it's general atmosphere.

And the introduction piece, I was very impressed with! I genuinely had no idea!

Very clever that was. Universally praised by our group none of whom had done it before I don't believe.
 
Vicky said:
I seem to be one of the few that ranked Carnival the highest, I was disappointed with The Sanctuary. It was good at the start, but I walked through the majority of the finale before any actors appeared, and then there was only one.
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I also had the same experience on Saturday. Carnival simply had the best actors, using the space and the props to the best effect. It doesn't need a "finale" because it keeps a good pace throughout.

I had an awful run on Sanctuary, which is a shame, because I really wanted it to be good. Didn't have chance to go back for a second run, but I really really wanted it to be the best maze, it just wasn't. In the finale I didn't see a single actor, until we were leaving through the door.
 
Finale aside, I've found Carnival to be consistently good this year. I'm not scared of clowns, but I always find Carnival the scariest of the mazes simply because it's designed so well to be jumpy. The actors burst out of almost every wall and curtain, and it's such a good effect.

I feel a bit sorry for the dummy in the first scene when we go through, as we clearly know what to expect and don't jump ;) but when we've been through with half a group of unsuspecting guests, it seems to catch them out every time. :)
 
It is a shame that some of you didn't get to experience the best of Sanctuary - it is truly a great maze but I guess I have had brilliant run throughs! However I do have to say that the first time I went through Sanctuary, I didn't find it amazing but after a few goes it just got better. But it just goes to show how different each run through of the mazes are. Kinda glad I purchased the Freedom Pass but I do understand that for some people that wasn't possible as they wouldn't get their moneys worth out of it.

Jordan said:
I feel a bit sorry for the dummy in the first scene when we go through, as we clearly know what to expect and don't jump ;) but when we've been through with half a group of unsuspecting guests, it seems to catch them out every time. :)
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Don't get me started on that dummy! They really need to bring back that guy who did it the first time we all went on Carnival on the Saturday of Preview weekend. He was brilliant, either that or get Russell to do it as he does such a good impression :p

However I do agree that if you have half a group of guests who haven't done the maze before, then it is quite hilarious when they jump. Especially the group me, Jordan, Russell, Rob and Maggie were with the second time we did Carnival yesterday afternoon - they jumped so much they bumped into the mirror behind them :p
 
Does anyone know/have a copy of the audio for the first room of TOTT? As in, first room after the video. It's been the same for years but I don't have a copy! :)
 
The Sanctuary is great. We had a really great, exclusive run-through on Saturday. I think this maze has something to offer everyone in terms of scare. A strong concept, pretty unique and well-executed - and I think it will only improve if it's brought back. Listening to Pete talk about it on Saturday, they did a pretty amazing job given time and money constraints.

Definitely my favourite scare maze 'theme' so far. I think the finale possibly needs a bit of working on - it's very similar to TOTT and it'd be nice if it was related a little more to the story/concept. And I miss the days of scripted scenes. I think it'd benefit from something like that maybe halfway through or something, although I appreciate it's difficult when trying to space groups.

"Treatments selected target various parts of the BODY." - LOVE LOVE that video in the queueline! I love also the large portrait of Dr. Kelman in the first room. There's something really dystopian and Orwellian about it that I'd love for them to develop. :D
 
I too found Carnival to be SO much better this weekend, aside from the aforementioned frankly appalling acting by the dummy (which only got worse throughout the day), but overall really a solid maze now, just disappointingly still lacking in a finale...

They've clearly tried to make one, by extending the length of the last room with a partition and adding a weird dodgy animatronic clown head which pops up every now and then (the dodgy-ness actually adds to the whole creepiness!). Now, there are tables covered on masks, one of which has a massive cutout in it, and there is definitely a clown mask around available to the actors which looks a bit like those heads - whether this is meant to be a scare I don't know, but it's certainly not one I saw done on any runthroughs I had.

The dummy aside, the other one weak area of the maze for all of us is the leaving the Goalstriker building after the Trommel - it is very apparent, a million times more so in daytime, that you're leaving one building and going into another, and thus that combined with the lack of actor (usually) means that it's a bit of a dead spot...

However, my mega love must go to the barker character at the beginning, I will NEVER get tired of seeing that belly button (surely it's going to increase in diameter by several centimetres by the end of the event?!) and love the fact that he's starting to play with the poem occasionally - "What does fate have in store for you? I don't know, I haven't a clue... Mmm, does my belly button smell of poo?!" (followed by offering his finger to some screaming women to smell, protesting "What? Everyone poos! Especially YOU *singles out member of group*)

Also "What was once the Carnival Of Dreams, fallen on hard times, and some grisly crimes...and even worse rhymes! now the Carnival of Screams"... Perhaps a nod to the fact that it's not the most inspiring piece of poetry to have to keep reciting :p

However, overall a massive improvement on last week and a big congrats to the whole team working on it for SQUEEZING so much more potential out of it :D
 
So, does anyone know exactly what parts of the Towers are used for Sanctuary? TotT felt pretty much the same as ever to me, despite the new starting point. But Sanctuary all seemed unfamiliar. I think I heard that it uses parts of the west wing not usually open to the public.

I'd love to see a proper plan showing how both mazes squeeze in there, but something tells me Towers would never make that public :(
 
From what I can gather, having been batched in the conservatory, you cut through the corner of the Drawing Room before meeting Dr Kelman in the Small Library. You then pass into the Music Room with the TV explosion and the North Library, which is used for the Kitchen.

You then head into territory you probably won't have been in before, into the Ward, which is in the West Library (the last library in the Sanctuary, honest). The Marmalisation Room must be in the State Bedroom then I assume you pass through the Talbot Passage to head to the staircase and downstairs.

At this point I believe you skip a floor and head into the basement and into what would have been part of the service areas of the Towers. I know the wine cellar was in this area, but I don't think this would be used for The Sanctuary, as it only has one entrance as I recall. I believe the other rooms here may also have been used for storage though, so the Surgery would be two floors beneath the State Bedroom, passing through the Morgue which is behind the staircase and below the State Dressing Room and then into the final scene which I assume is the room below the West Library (the Ward), before kicking you into a service corridor (which you have already passed through to get to the surgery) and then out to the exit corridor.

This is based on what I have been told regarding The Sanctuary, having not actually been in the maze.
 
Is there a way of obtaining the (absolutely chilling yet gorgeous) posters used for The Sanctuary in the batching and 'check in' office? It would be an utter shame if the posters were discarded after Scarefest finishes, particularly when they look so authentic and well made. I'd make my own but sadly don't have the skills or software necessary!
 
For anyone that's bothered or interested (I hope it's a few) I've just spent the past half hour or so going through The Sanctuary queue line video almost frame by frame and have managed to screen cap all the subliminal pictures in it.

I've hashed them together in paint (there's no end to my technical wizardry) and made a sort of collage out of them. Unfortunately, I didn't get them in order as I had to go back a couple of times to get the first and third one so here's a key to what order they're in:

Weird toilet/eye - 1st
Man on bed - 2nd
Restrained woman - 3rd
Control panel - 4th
Forced smile - 5th

The Sanctuary

The more I look at them the more it completely freaks me out. If that is an eye forced open in the bottom left it's very "A Clockwork Orange." Also, sorry if this has already been done, I couldn't be bothered to look back further to see if anyone had done it :p
 
I think that control panel is supposed to represent electroshock treatment.

I'm actually surprised that lobotomies don't feature anywhere. The whole concept of them freaks me out. *shudders*
 
DiogoJ42 said:
I think that control panel is supposed to represent electroshock treatment.

I'm actually surprised that lobotomies don't feature anywhere. The whole concept of them freaks me out. *shudders*
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I assumed it would be for something like that. I also thought Lobotomy treatment would be something they would lean to massively in this, considering how prevalent they were back in the 40's and 50's.
 
Maybe driving a spike through someones eye and into their brain without any sedation is a bit too disturbng for a "family" park. :/
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Maybe driving a spike through someones eye and into their brain without any sedation is a bit too disturbng for a "family" park. :/
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Your talk of Lobotomy got me intrigued and as I was googling came across this article: Lobotomy

TheMan said:
They're more disturbing than the maze!

Well done. :)
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I haven't even done the maze yet, so you can imagine how much this has freaked me out before I get to do it ???
 
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