Scarefest 2014

[NathanTuna95]

Too dark? I wasn't there but I believe that EP had a maze a few years ago that was just pitch black, and from what I hear it was great.

Can't really blame Thorpe for actors being hit in the mazes, it has happened a lot at Towers also, particuarally on a certain weekend.

I agree that the theming isn't as good, and the overall mazes probably aren't as good. After visiting Fright Nights last year I said that they had a solid foundation for a good event to take forward, but Scarefest was still the better event. This year, with the loss of a maze from Towers and a new maze at Thorpe, Fright Nights is more appealing than Scarefest.

Also park lighting was better at Thorpe last year than at Towers (can't comment on this year). Scarefest is hardly a park wide event at Towers anyway; it's limited to some theming on Towers Street, mazes in the Towers and a couple of scare zones on the same side of the park as the mazes. If you were around FV or KC you would hardly know a haloween event was taking place!

I have always been a keen supporter of Scarefest, it is an event that I have always looked forward to. It is an event that should be growing year on year, competing with Europe's best. However it is not, it is getting smaller. I have next to no excitement for it this year. For the first time since I first went in 2009 I will only be visiting Scarefest once this year. It is telling.

There is dark, and there is too dark aha. For My Bloody Valentine it was good but for others it was just unnecessarily dark. I think it must have been that particular weekend this weekend when I went. I've never seen it happen at towers though. I completely agree that they do have a good beginning to what could be an amazing event at Thorpe. I think because Towers has always been my "home" if you like, that's why I maybe be a little bit biased. I think the only reason I'm excited for Scarefest this year is because I am doing the ultimate sleepover, otherwise I do agree, the loss of the free maze is a bit rubbish and I don't see what they can do with "Scary Tales". Thorpe this year had ALL floodlights everywhere, which was annoying has I had heard that they have better lighting.

Hey, don't forget the skeletons in the rapids in KC

Both events have their good points and bad points but for me towers will always win for halloween

 

[Rob]

Hey, don't forget the skeletons in the rapids in KC

The ones that they didn't actually have last year?

 

[TheMan]

I with @Rob on this one @NathanTuna95 .

I thought THORPE's mazes were good last year, but I also do feel The Asylum even if it was dull at times towards it's end created an atmosphere in that whole area - and it had THAT smell. I had quiet boring run throughs, and I had on my first time a really intense run through. I will definitely miss that one.

I thought that MBV was inferior in all ways to X10 which was as I said before like a cross between my old rave days and a 90s horror - wonderful blend! Add in some clever little touches that have been bizarrely removed for MBV and I think that's now inferior.

Also, the way the park was running (and from words from friends who attended a day I couldn't, didn't seem to be an improvement!) was diabolical.

Towers remove a free maze, leave a very stale maze, and one that shouldn't be there now even though I love it, as well as removing freedom passes - and all this to add... a walk though.

MORE mazes. Not less. MORE THEME. Not less.

It's a really potentially massive event and it's actually getting smaller, unless you fancy spending small fortunes on extras anyway.

What THORPE DOES have... it's free. So those mazes you are comparing to Towers? They don't have huge great gothic folly's to utilise as atmosphere or to house massive mazes or hugely expensive sleep overs, standing proudly, or random little spooky buildings they can upcharge for meals for etc.

And again, it's FREE. Alton's mazes for how long they have been there feel really expensive now, even I am struggling to justify spending again on The Sanctuary and I am probably it, and Dr K's, biggest fan on this forum - to a degree I irritate myself about it!

Nope, going to take a fair bit more than some bandages on plastic frogs, possibly some lighting improvements, to balance out the removal of the free maze and the shrinking of the event as a whole.

I don't go in with expectations, if it's good I will enjoy it, I didn't expect a massive deal after last years Scarefest with the Fireworks and they were truly exceptional - but will it be another "peak year" from which the only direction the park goes is down?

No, I am sorry, but from first impressions, for ALTON TOWERS, the premium park of one of the world's biggest economies with a parent company heading toward a half billion profit and "second only to Disney", I will not be getting excited over some froggy bandages and a couple of bulbs.

I don't write this as an enthusiast, I write this as a businessman watching how they're cutting costs whilst increasing revenues AND decreasing offerings.

 

[Rob]

In other news, it appears that The Sanctuary has soft opened today.

 

[Dave]

Apparently it's mostly the same as last year...

 

[NathanTuna95]

@TheMan

Like I said in my previous post both events have good and bad things about them.
I will always prefer Alton in general because it's where I've always been since being little. All your points are correct, and reflecting on what you have just said, I do think Thorpe do a great job considering what they charge. I must have just had a bad weekend.
In a very short time you have made me see it in a different way, well done

In other news, it appears that The Sanctuary has soft opened today.

what does soft opened mean, @Rob

 

[Rob]

In effect opened for a preview, could close at any time. Sounds like todays previews are free.

 

[jon81uk]

I with @Rob on this one @NathanTuna95 .
What THORPE DOES have... it's free. So those mazes you are comparing to Towers? They don't have huge great gothic folly's to utilise as atmosphere or to house massive mazes or hugely expensive sleep overs, standing proudly, or random little spooky buildings they can upcharge for meals for etc.

And again, it's FREE.

Thorpe's Mazes might be "free" but they get insane queues due to Fasttrack unless you go for the first weekend of Fright Nights. Therefore if you do want to experiance every maze you do really need to pay for Fasttrack to avoid the 2hr+ queues for each maze. As Alton Towers sell timed tickets only you don't end up with the huge queues that Thorpe gets. There is also all of the family entertainment at Alton Towers that is still free.

Thorpe Park do offer night scare packages similar to Alton offering Sleepovers, last year it was Blair Witch themed, this year its the Directors Extra cut. It is £500 per hotel room (so if four sharing only £125 each) so depends how many are going as to whether it is cheaper than AT. But at Thorpe you go back to the hotel at 2am and can pay £10 for each extra scare that happens in your room! I think given it is a sleepover actually in the Towers, AT has the more unique concept.

 

[TheMan]

Yeah but it comes down to what they have in their "backyard" available to use.

THORPE have to make everything from scratch. Towers have a huge gothic style folly with surroundings virtually unmatched across the world.

That's why Varney annoys the crap out of me, see what you have there in your hands and do it PROPERLY.

Penny pinching at towers is like taking a Rolls Royce and adding the seats out of Fiesta - great in most circumstances, but not for something as unique and spectacular as Towers!

 

[James]

By now Towers should have 4 or 5 mazes on park, with at least one or two free ones. Instead we have two paid for mazes that are pretty much the same they have been for years. At least Thorpe have tried some new things.

Scarefest feels very much at a standstill at the moment. It will be interesting to see if anything happens at all in 2015 with the event. To me it seems like Merlin has got them in a sticky situation. They won't be able to revitalise the family attractions, give TOTT a new theme, ditch Sanctuary and create two new mazes all in the same year, for example (which really is what needs to happen now). So it will be interesting to see if everything stays the same in future until the event starts to not draw in guests, or if we see one thing favoured over the other in terms of new attractions.

 

[Rob]

The Sanctuary surely cannot return again next year. This will be its third year and it already seem slightly passed its sell by date to be, at least in its current form. If it does return in 2015 then there need to be significant changes to the story and maze itself.

The same applies for TOTT though, it has been pretty much the same theme/layout ever since I first did it in 2009. The only thing that allow it to get away with such is that it is a world class maze. It does need major modifications though, the only part I don't want changing is the incredible strobe finale.

Who know what 2015 will hold, it has to be better though doesn't it? They surely can't run 2015 Scarefest exactly the same as 2014, there would be even less interest.

 

[Benzin]

Thorpe have the partnership with Lionsgate to support the costs too, perhaps without that the mazes would also be an upcharge?

Thing is, what space do Towers have to put in these mazes without them looking like awful, cheap tents (see MBV, Curse)? It's a shame they don't seemingly want to go back to having just one maze in the Towers, imagine what they could turn TotT into if they combined the length of the two mazes currently within there? But unlike Thorpe they don't have much in the way of dead areas to use (assuming they want to keep the two scare 'zones' where they are)... So where do these mazes go?

Tbh, just wish they'd tell the guests to suck it up and bring back Duel Live, sod the idiots who moaned about the lack of usuable blasters...

Blair Witch was last year no different to Zombies (only Zombies was actually good) as an aside... And at least Towers have more in the way of a family offering for stuff going on...

 

[TheMan]

Blair Witch was a joke!! It was a short cut to Stealth.

Tony Blair is scarier.

I wouldn't want to see one giant maze to be honest, be knackered!

Also, don't agree with TOTT being world class, could be my experiences, but other than being put at the front for my first time around and getting lost, and having pretty much no one in the "grand finale" of loud flashy cattlepen - well my experiences of that aren't great. And STAIRS.... SO MANY STAIRS....

As for where the mazes go, they've had loads down the years, I am sure you can find space.

The point is, the event should be expanding now and it isn't. Imagine they had 3 paid for mazes and a free one. 2 scare zones, then a load of up-charge experiences which can be easily staffed when the park closes from the mazes.

The whole park will be rammed, there's a amazing atmosphere, and that's the time it's easiest to get people to spend on memory material.

They're just foolish. It isn't even debatable.

I am not blaming the people at Towers, I commend as always their ents team - but they don't have enough to create the basics and then decide how to add nice touches, it's always about which basics of an event they cut to provide others.

It's just indefensible for Merlin it really is.

I wont back down on this because they're making too much money to be so freaking stingy with the brands pinnacle park and event!!

Good gracious, even as a loss leader for Merlin sales it would make business sense!

Morons, really, penny pinching clueless bean counting idiots whoever thinks this was acceptable again.

 

[jon81uk]

By now Towers should have 4 or 5 mazes on park, with at least one or two free ones. Instead we have two paid for mazes that are pretty much the same they have been for years. At least Thorpe have tried some new things.

I don't think AT will ever have 5 mazes, they have a mix of scares and family shows/attractions and last year and this year they have added to the family ScareFest line-up. I think there won't ever be more that 4-5 scare maze/zone experiances in total as they need to balance it against the family attractions.

Thorpe concentrate on only offering scare mazes/zones as they have Chessington offering the family attractions.

 

[Benzin]

As for where the mazes go, they've had loads down the years, I am sure you can find space.

Given that a while back they used the Black Hole tent for the mazes, that space has certainly gone... Since they're aiming to keep things on site these days (since they used to have them back at the hotels), where is there on park for a maze (or indeed, several) to go?

No-one is arguing that the event is smaller (by one maze being replaced by a scarezone, which is essentially an outdoor scaremaze the way the UK operate them), and the lack of the free maze is simply the killer for pretty much everyone who here who cares about them... It does indeed come down to the available budget being given by Merlin, but it's just as equally an issue across the other parks, not just Towers...

 

[GaryH]

An exclusive maze for hotel guests and enchanted village guests next year would be pretty amazing. I know it will never happen, but just saying.

 

[James]

I don't think AT will ever have 5 mazes, they have a mix of scares and family shows/attractions and last year and this year they have added to the family ScareFest line-up. I think there won't ever be more that 4-5 scare maze/zone experiances in total as they need to balance it against the family attractions.

Thorpe concentrate on only offering scare mazes/zones as they have Chessington offering the family attractions.

Believe it or not back in 2009/2010 discussions on forums such as this often surrounded Towers having 4 or more mazes on park and family offerings being extended. I suppose with scare zones now I can agree that maybe 5 mazes with two scare zones is a bit over the top. Still, they really need that extra third maze on park. Big shame Carnival was scrapped and nothing has replaced it.

The Sanctuary surely cannot return again next year. This will be its third year and it already seem slightly passed its sell by date to be, at least in its current form. If it does return in 2015 then there need to be significant changes to the story and maze itself.

The same applies for TOTT though, it has been pretty much the same theme/layout ever since I first did it in 2009. The only thing that allow it to get away with such is that it is a world class maze. It does need major modifications though, the only part I don't want changing is the incredible strobe finale.

Who know what 2015 will hold, it has to be better though doesn't it? They surely can't run 2015 Scarefest exactly the same as 2014, there would be even less interest.

Depending on budgets I can see them maybe (forcibly) milking the Sanctuary for another year. I would think TOTT is their priority. Pete Cliff didn't exactly show much praise for it in Q&As last year, so I would guess he will want to change that as soon as he can.

It really wouldn't surprise me if things stayed the same next year. Although I heard the only reason we're a maze down this year is due to last minute budgets being cut down and Scary Tales being a rushed last minute idea. Maybe they won't face a last minute budget cut in 2015. Who knows, it will be interesting to see where they take it next year though!

 

[TheMan]

It does indeed come down to the available budget being given by Merlin, but it's just as equally an issue across the other parks, not just Towers...

But other parks, are not Towers.

Just as I said, a Rolls Royce, is not a Fiesta.

 

[James]

Given that a while back they used the Black Hole tent for the mazes, that space has certainly gone... Since they're aiming to keep things on site these days (since they used to have them back at the hotels), where is there on park for a maze (or indeed, several) to go?

No-one is arguing that the event is smaller (by one maze being replaced by a scarezone, which is essentially an outdoor scaremaze the way the UK operate them), and the lack of the free maze is simply the killer for pretty much everyone who here who cares about them... It does indeed come down to the available budget being given by Merlin, but it's just as equally an issue across the other parks, not just Towers...

Coach car park behind Katanga Canyon could be one good spot. Mentioned a few times over the years on here. They have paths that can easily reach to that area and a marquee could easily be hidden. I'm sure there are a few other places around the park too that they can cleverly hide tents and so on.

I'm not a fan of two mazes in the Towers, although it works for them and I think it's OK to leave two mazes in there. If they wanted to bring in a maze back where Carnival was last year they can easily move Scary Tales to another area of the park too.

I agree with you further up about Duel Live. Something like that would be great to see back. It's cheap for Towers to run and pads out Scarefest attractions well.

Would be nice to see a maze back by the hotels though. They would have even more of a reason to do that with the lodges opening next year...

 

[jon81uk]

Would be nice to see a maze back by the hotels though. They would have even more of a reason to do that with the lodges opening next year...

Unfortuantly the lodges will probably kill off any idea of using that land for a Scare Maze, families with younger children will be in there rooms at 9pm and therefore if there is too much noise/disruption it would cause complaints.

They could probably use areas like the back path round the rapids (that is normally only open on Fireworks nights) for a scare zone giving the space back for carnival.

Also I'm not sure if budgets have been cut as there are more family shows this year than every before, maybe budgets have moved from new scare mazes to new family shows?