Scarefest 2014

[James]

Sadly I think general members of the public will vote the event in a very positive light. Hopefully Towers can try and push Merlin further next year for more funding though.

Also, scare mazes probably perform poorly on market research just due to the fact most people don't have a clue what a "scare maze" is. Whenever I've mentioned to non-enthusiast friends/family that I went in the scare mazes at Alton Towers I usually have to follow that up with an explanation of what it is.

 

[TheMan]

I think this is still very much a developing industry, but it is reaching more people with lots more events being publicised countrywide I have noticed.

I didn't know they existed either till about 4 seasons ago. This is why developing now is so critical to embody themselves as a premier destination for Halloween, it's something still relatively in it's infancy with much room for development commercially.

 

[PeteB]

As much as it may hurt to say it, the writing is very much on the wall for Scarefest now with so many other events all over the country. They had their chance to be the market leaders for Halloween entertainment and Scare Mazes back in 2007 - 2008.

Unless they can pull something massive out of the bag within the next year or 2 then its game over. Independent event organisers are pouring money into their events now, and putting their hearts and souls into it. Charging for mazes is a huge mistake, they need to scrap that model and simply raise the gate price for everyone. Ok, so The Sanctuary may have had a half decent queue today but without the mazes being included in your ticket there's not enough people experiencing them. Most will give them a miss. Remember the 2 hour queues for ToTT back in the day? The interest is there but people aren't prepared to part with more of their cash.

 

[thefatone]

I doubt the writings on the wall - yes there's smaller scale attractions doing far better, or immersive, events, however still the predominant amount of people are visiting for the atmosphere and rides in the dark.

I imagine there's also people willing to do the Mazes however they sell out so they can't do them. It's better than giving a sour experience by having long queues in my opinion.

Towers can do very well out of being middle ground - all those teenagers who can't go elsewhere and enjoy a bit of scares but not too much. Those who are really into it would go to the smaller guys, just like people who are really into Theme Parks and experiences go elsewhere too.

 

[James]

They need at least one free maze at Scarefest. Just for the pure fact that the curious will go and experience it, know what it is, love it and then be tempted to pay for the other mazes.

I do think a lot of people favour riding in the dark over scare mazes just for the pure fact they don't know what a scare maze means.

Heck, before I was into theme parks I though scare mazes were just hedge mazes decorated with Halloween stuff. Marketing could do a better job too with the mazes by adding a small tagline explaining what it is in a nutshell too. A bit like what they've done with the £40 Altonville Motel experience this year.

Although at the end of the day, Alton Towers is a theme park, and the rides will always be the headline act.

 

[jon81uk]

They need at least one free maze at Scarefest. Just for the pure fact that the curious will go and experience it, know what it is, love it and then be tempted to pay for the other mazes.
.

But there may also be many people who after going in one of the scare zones want to try something scarier and therefore want to pay for the mazes, but they may not have been willing to queue for 2hrs for the free maze, whereas the zones can usually have a higher throughput.

 

[Scott]

But there may also be many people who after going in one of the scare zones want to try something scarier and therefore want to pay for the mazes, but they may not have been willing to queue for 2hrs for the free maze, whereas the zones can usually have a higher throughput.

Very true, and scare zones are a good step up for people. However, if you don't have a free maze, people don't even get that option

 

[James]

But there may also be many people who after going in one of the scare zones want to try something scarier and therefore want to pay for the mazes, but they may not have been willing to queue for 2hrs for the free maze, whereas the zones can usually have a higher throughput.

True. Although with scare zones being outdoors and scare mazes being indoors there's still a big difference and most guests might still not understand both.

I think the fact that a scare maze could ever have a 2 hour queue shows that something free like that can be pretty popular.

Alton Towers could be pretty capable of a fast throughput maze. Although space and old technology seems to stop in the way of that.

 

[MattyH]

From the eyes of a first time scarefest visitor, I enjoyed the scare zones, but I think the mazes were completely different, but, there was no idea of what a scare maze was until you had actually done one, I think a free scare maze would be great, and if they put signs up at the end of the free one advertising the paid scaremazes it would be a lot more succesful than the current set up.

Would you guys want the two scare zones we currently have kept as well as another scare maze?

 

[Plastic Person]

Interesting discussion, but if Alton can't make a Halloween event marketable and have broad appeal like almost absolutely every other theme park in the world right now, then things are more awry than we even suspect.

 

[stretchy]

A couple of scarefest pics for those wondering what riding in the dark is like. All taken last night.

 

[Plastic Person]

Great shots! Oblivion really does look seriously imposing in the dark like that.

 

[jon81uk]

Interesting discussion, but if Alton can't make a Halloween event marketable and have broad appeal like almost absolutely every other theme park in the world right now, then things are more awry than we even suspect.

Alton are marketing to two very separate groups though, those who want thrill/scare mazes and those who want family fun. This means it is harder to push a super scary thrill as it makes the families (who spend more on other things such as hotel stays) away.

Personally I'm not that into scare mazes (I will never do Fright Nights at Thorpe for example) but I will have a go at the scare zones that are free. This means I don't fit into either marketing group lol so mainly go for fireworks weekend for the dark riding.

 

[_nemesis_]

Oh, that looks brilliant! The lanterns on the wall remind me of Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

[IanB]

I am curious why do we expect the Mazes to change every three years, when we do not demand that Nemesis is changed or updated every 3 years?

I think with the budget they have, I think they got it spot on. Keeping the mazes the same might not of been to everyones taste, but at least it saved budget to be spent else where, and the result of this is the park lighting was a massive step forward, the staff wearing witches hats which made the event feel park wide. Lots of little touches happened this year, and hopefully most of the signs and lighting can be used for many years to come, to allow money to be spent on something else next year.

If they had replaced one of the mazes with something new, all these little changes would of been skipped or not even thought about, and the event would of felt worse on the whole.

I enjoyed the maze runs through this weekend. There are sections you can remember, like the strobe mazes at the end, or the shower in the middle, but a lot of the other scences I could not remember. Admittedly, I did not attend the park as much as everyone else last year, and did not have a freedom pass so could not do the mazes 3 or 4 times in the same day so that might be why they were less familiar (or it could just be my age, and I am getting forgetful ), but that will be the same position for most visitors who only do the mazes once a year.

Ian

 

[GaryH]

Alton Towers could be pretty capable of a fast throughput maze. Although space and old technology seems to stop in the way of that.

This is where I wonder if the likes of Haunted Hollow would make a good scare maze. Separate it in to different sections by means of large drapes across the path so it prevents guests seeing what is going on ahead, and potentially, you could have a large throughput walk through given the length of the path from Duel to Battle Galleons - plus, its partly already themed, its secluded, and the entrance next to Duel is ideal .....

 

[Craig]

I am curious why do we expect the Mazes to change every three years, when we do not demand that Nemesis is changed or updated every 3 years?

I think with the budget they have, I think they got it spot on. Keeping the mazes the same might not of been to everyones taste, but at least it saved budget to be spent else where, and the result of this is the park lighting was a massive step forward, the staff wearing witches hats which made the event feel park wide. Lots of little touches happened this year, and hopefully most of the signs and lighting can be used for many years to come, to allow money to be spent on something else next year.

I don't think you can really compare Nemesis to a scare maze though. Ten million quids worth of solid hardware is a little different to a scare maze. I don't think it's unrealistic to ask for some improvements to be made to a maze on a rolling basis every few years. Think of a maze as a piece of theatre, or similar to going to see a movie at the cinema. You would fork out the cash and go and see something at a theatre once, maybe twice if it was brilliant. After a couple of times, without anything substantially new, the experience would become a tad tedious. In the same way, that's what I feel has happened with the mazes. We know what to expect, and as a result a big chunk of what made them exciting - the element of surprise - has gone.

I agree the little touches are great, in particular the lighting - and it's clear that efforts have been made to improve that. However, as great as all that is, I don't see how watering down what many feel is the core of the event, i.e the number of scare mazes is really helping to grow the event long term. I'm not personally expecting millions to be instantly piled into the event. But there's so much passion from those responsible for bringing it to life every year, it's just annoying to see all that passion and potential forced to be downscaled year after year because the money isn't being put in to grow the event into something that could be really amazing.

 

[TheMan]

I don't like saying this, as a fanboy lol, but even to me The Sanctuary doesn't make much sense anymore! Not in it's current guise anyway. Having created this all in the first place, it makes me wonder what they had in the pipeline and as a result what we missed out on.

It's more than reasonable to have a 3 year rolling change on mazes, it means you invest steadily year on year on reusable items, such as those signs etc, disposable/exhaustible items such as bulbs etc can be offset as costings on the balance sheet anyway, as can I would imagine any capital expenditure if memory serves. Some of those will have rates of depreciation as well (also if memory serves) on the balance books - so let's not pretend all this cost has to be pure outlay.

I would like to know in REAL terms, how much the budget is once all that is taken into account.

No business crosses the profit line until expenditure is taken into account remember.

 

[Danny]

Finally back at a computer, so time for a summary of my thoughts:

Once again, I find that having incredibly low thoughts of a product has been the correct choice and I've been pleased with the results. Stale mazes, lack of atmosphere, an obvious range of budget cuts and a shambolic event overall were all the categories I was expecting for Scarefest this year, but thankfully I was very much shown the other end of the stick.

Despite the abysmal lack of budgets, the event this year has really clung on to every penny it has in order to maximise the impact. The improved lighting across the park is certainly leaps and bounds in the right direction. There really isn't much more progress to be made on this front until the lighting is perfect, and I really hope for Towers to accomplish this next year.

Mazes? The actors are the only elements to this that kept them both from being recognisably stale in my eyes. The TotT actors were on good form this year. Not the best but also far from the worst I've seen them. The Sanctuary however? One of the batching ladies simply cannot call herself an actor. Referring to the attraction as a maze rather than its name or a hospital/ward was the first nail on the chalkboard, but the rest of her performance was a disgrace. There was no heart to her delivery of the safety information and the rules, and she certainly didn't look or sound as if she was enjoying what she was doing. A shame really but thankfully an isolated incident as the rest of the cast continued to put on a good show.

The scare zones then. I was very pleased with Scary Tales, particularly after the nonsense that people have dribbled on here about how awful it looked without actually experiencing it. The atmosphere about it in particular is something that Carnival never had, but it would be unfair to compare as they couldn't offer a different experience if they tried. The entrance was more detailed than I had anticipated and the theming within has both highs and lows. Zombies? Identical in every single way as last year, yet it felt easier to rush it. Again, a standout actor coming completely out of character by having a chinwag with a soldier without even bothering to acknowledge our presence. I get that this incident happened on the travellers visit as opposed to the better run through on the Saturday night, but that still doesn't justify coming out of character without provocation.

Unfortunately I didn't see much of the entertainment side of things which I'm totally gutted about, especially after hearing about the rave reviews of the Alton Ancestors. The dining experience looked fairly decent from what we saw during our Q/A talk session with members of the entertainments team, and as they said, the view of the Gardens at dusk whilst dining is unarguably the highlight of the event. It did sound like there were some fantastic little extras to that also, but unfortunately we weren't able to see them. The Sleepover sounds also a lot more justified after hearing a more indepth account from the ents team about what happens, particularly the huge show room. The discounted rate that we've received on the forum is definitely justifiable.

Overall, the odds were stacked on an unimaginable scale this year against those who fight their hardest to make Scarefest what it is, and the event has come out with a noble fight. The certain aspects that have sadly been cut away have been replaced by bold efforts, regardless of how late they may have been conceived (apart from the bloody trick or treat trail, £7 for some 5p sweets? Hah! Knew it. Thankfully, nobody seemed interested).

There definitely seems to be some various promising incarnations for the future of Scarefest if entertainments get their way rather than marketing running the show. We can only pray and hope.

 

[Burbs]

I did see on Saturday night before leaving some young children with their VIP lanyards round their necks handing over tokens for confectionary. As @Danny has already stated, they were literally 5p sweets. I saw them in Towers Trading Co., and if it's the same at the other 4 locations, then it's a mighty rip off. The bag looked as though it was worth more than the prizes. Appalling.