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Scarefest 2014

Exactly, you can't really compare this to Scarefest - the two 'events' are completely different and aimed at entirely different audiences.

Plus you may not have to pay to do it but it sounds like they get their money back from charging people to watch the live feed.

I agree, no comparison at all.

McKamey Manor is something in the UK we would never be able to get away with due to H&S...the extreme scares we do have are very restricted but Alton Towers don't need to go to this level at all to achieve "intensity". It's far more effective the way the UK do extreme haunting. Whilst I don't agree with the highly sexualised element of UK "extreme runs", I understand why they have this element because the same chemicals in your body are released when you are scared as to when you're, you know, getting into it. But no, I think our extreme runs (sexual-ness aside) are more entertaining and enjoyable than some of the ones in the US.

To be honest, McKamey Manor is extremely deceiving. What you get and what you think you're getting are two very different things. No theme park (not even Psychomanteum at ScareKingdom) would ever get to the level McKamey Manor is at and I'm happy about that. I'm actually surprised MM it is still running.

McKamey Manor is very twisted indeed. The live feed and stuff they do is very "Purge Anarchy" (if you've watched that film, you'll get what I mean).
 
I still can't quite believe what I've seen on that video... I'm quite intrigued to know what happens in there, if what's on the video is not it.
 
Christ! That looks awful! Like Imagination, I am surprised they're allowed to do that. Someone could genuinely die. Not stopping until people pass out is overstepping the line by a lightyear.

If an actor gets punched they just hang the culprit upside-down for half an hour! That IS like being in a horror film, but worse, instead of dying in half a second people are paying to be put through hours worth of extreme panic!

Just, wow.
 
McKamey Manor is very unique and certainly pointless to be compared to Alton Towers. It's an interesting attraction though. They don't take just anyone and you go through some vigorous questioning before you're allowed anywhere near it. But it's very much aimed at a particular market. If you want to 'live a horror film' and get a thrill off it then it will suit you. It's not an attraction that aimed at the mainstream market really.

I think it looks awful and my idea of hell. But I can perhaps see those with a fetish for it could want that. For me though, no thanks.

Going back to the Ultimate Sleepover, Andrew Georgiades and co attended the sleepover last night and filmed it. They liaise with the ents team and the park to film these things. They should hopefully have a full movie length video of the experience uploaded next year so we will at least see one video online of it! Might help some in 2015 when Scarefest nears and if the sleepover runs again.
 
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Glad to hear Andrew & co have had a shot at filming it, their past projects have been very entertaining and he was a pleasure to briefly meet last year when he was doing the Scare Rooms.
 
I just want to make the point, I'm not suggesting the UK have anything that extreme, what I am saying is look at the notoriety a single independent event 1000s of miles away has achieved with a tiny budget in comparison by picking a niche market and doing it extremely well. It was slightly sarcastic which people of missed a little lol with the references to "waivers" etc :D

What it shows though is if you focus on a direction, and do that extremely well, you can gain a reputation - there's no reason Alton Towers couldn't achieve this with both family scares, and a more extreme adult version without resorting to simple boo tactics.

The attraction idea itself stays the same, but the SCARES evolve, so that people don't know what to expect even if they've watched the videos - TOTT for example, can be the theme to a maze that can last for years, what's critical is that the layout, form, and scares evolve so whilst people get the idea of a Towers maze, what they never know, is what to expect next year.

You don't always have to change the theme, in fact, sometimes it can work having one that actually stays and alters year on year significantly enough so that people don't know.
 
I just want to make the point, I'm not suggesting the UK have anything that extreme, what I am saying is look at the notoriety a single independent event 1000s of miles away has achieved with a tiny budget in comparison by picking a niche market and doing it extremely well. It was slightly sarcastic which people of missed a little lol with the references to "waivers" etc :D

We had our own version in the form of Project FEAR. It certainly wasn't as successful and that's based on the audience. The Americans take Halloween and the whole concept of horror to further lengths of what can be classed as extreme as we do. If that was based over here, it certainly would lack the impact MM has had.

The points made about keeping something the same and bringing budget cuts to the surface in this argument are irrelevant, these products and audiences are totally incomparable.
 
The points made about keeping something the same and bringing budget cuts to the surface in this argument are irrelevant, these products and audiences are totally incomparable.

I'd respectfully disagree with you. It is a Halloween attraction, all be it a more extreme version, they've used imagination and clever marketing to deliver a product that is exclusive and notorious, proving it can be done.

There is absolutely no reason at all why Alton cannot take their own product and create a world class attraction using marketing, a niche, a theme, and dedication to being the very at that specific goal.
 
Exclusive to weirdos who probably think that Hostel would be great in real life! And it's only because it's been shared on social media - the dreaded Facebook - that anyone outside of that state is even aware of it.
 
Exclusive to weirdos who probably think that Hostel would be great in real life! And it's only because it's been shared on social media - the dreaded Facebook - that anyone outside of that state is even aware of it.

Actually the psychology of extreme scares is not as simple as that, and it appears to go back to something primitive in our psyche to prepare ourselves for being able to deal with genuinely frightening situations. Back to our hunting days. It's the same as where our anxiety etc derives from. It can be both a positive and negative experience dependent on your predisposition.

And yes, social media, along with many other successful companies (agree on Facebook lol!)

I'm not dismissing everyone's opinion here, and again not suggesting we should have anything that extreme, it would never get through HS for a start and who would want it at Towers? Very few people.

Alton went for their more extreme version with the sleepover which I am fascinated by, but it wasn't backed up by an event that suggested that it would be done well or equate to value for money - where as, if these guys said, we're opening an even more extreme version, their reputation would precede them, and people would queue to buy it in their thousands.

This can't be ignored, well it can lol, but there's things Towers can learn from this, no question.
 
I think the main problem with The Sleepover is that it's not a well defined product. Even the descriptions on the website seem pretty bare. For such a high price the marketing for it needed to be more clear really and make a statement that the £280 price mark is well justified.

With the scare rooms in the hotel potential customers had some kind of idea what to expect. The fact that it's in the hotel already made it clear what a lot of your money was being pumped into. With this it's not so crystal clear. The fact that people who got a chance to have the Q&A at the Scarefest meet now speak more positively of The Sleepover just shows that the marketing for it has been really poor. We're enthusiasts, people who are meant to know the most, yet we didn't even know what the £280 was for.

The online videos for The Sleepover were really mediocre, amateur and lacked a quality that makes you finish seeing the videos and think 'where is the booking page now'. Some videos of the event, showing the actors scaring guests in the Towers, the actors around people having the meal, guests sitting outdoors, in the show room in the Towers... all mixed in with texts that explain the attraction more. That would have added a load more depth to The Sleepover and probably pushed more people to spend £280.
 
Completely agree James.

For a park that is marketing mad/controlled etc, it's lack of marketing has caused vagueness and complete confusion as to what is actually on offer!

@TheMan I do understand your points but quite simply, the main UK market who visits mainstream attractions (such as Alton Towers etc) just won't want niche/mystery adventures and will want to be scared and feel they're getting their monies worth. If it isn't quick impact/intense scares - they're not interested. As much as I hate that fact, it's sadly what we have to work with (understanding what our audience wants) and what we, as fans/a community, have to accept from the bigger places who's audience ranges/demands are so vast. Alton Towers/Thorpe etc are catering for a wider market all-year round and it just happens to be that in the Halloween period they cross-over to also cater for those who love the unique, quirky, different and twisted but, primarily, they remain to focus catering for the wider, general market who will not be as "in-the-know" as the average scare lover etc.

The "General Market" :-
They need explanation, not mystery. They need impact scares, not unique/one off experiments (which, in small establishments, have a little more flexibility to do the try-outs and see if it's a success/failure etc). They also are less accepting of "scenarios", they will be the first to complain if the mazes here are too intense/too sexual/subject content is insensitive etc they visit things like Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington, Twinlakes, Adventure Island etc where these mazes are bolt-ons to their day.

The "Scare Lover" :-
They visit for the mazes. They like the idea of the unexpected, after all, they receive so much of the same in the "wider market" catered mazes that they look for something that is more mysterious/niche/scares them in new ways. They're less about the impact scares and the "boo" scares and expect new tactics to scare/spook them. They're more accepting of "scenarios" and like to see some very twisted and dark subject material some times. They visit things like Broadwitch, ScareKingdom, Tom Spindler's Masks (now defunct), The Hatch, GNG Entertainment etc

A classic example is Thorpe. They've tried dabbling and Experiment 10 was border-lining "niche" (in a very vanilla sense) but it received so many complaints for being so "intense" and "extreme" from the general market but it was heralded a success from the scare lover market and those fitting the general market but developing a love for something a bit different - safe to say, they've kept certain elements of the concept but it certainly is no where near as intense as it was in it's Experiment 10 incarnation which is a great shame.

If you're looking for more unique/niche stuff, there's plenty small companies and hidden gems within the UK that really do experiment because they are created to cater for the niche market. :) But sadly, Alton Towers is a long way from swinging towards catering more for the "Scare Lover" than the "General Market" unless they do take risks and change the direction of Scarefest which has been considered before...but I think Alton will be playing it safe for a few years yet.
 
@Imagination I don't disagree, but if you think about the start of Carnival, that was within a theme park scenario but was a brilliantly creative stunt. That's more in line with what I mean. It made people jump, scream, then LAUGH (mostly).

Disappointed to hear there were so many complaints about X10, I wondered why they effectively dulled it down.

That is a shame, it was a great start to that maze, the 2nd half was standard stuff though.
 
Oh absolutely, CoS was a very theatrical/illusion led maze - especially in it's first year (despite it's lack of story cohesion) when Alton wanted something different. But sadly, it's always been the "troubled brother" because the general market never fully accepted it for its beauty (some of those sets with work lights on..my god), cleverness, illusion-filled labyrinth and different tactics...thus, it adopted a more generic "boo nature" in 2011/12 and then it tried to recapture some of it's theatricality back in 2013 which it did well, (if the groups were smaller it would have been perfect). But the general audience simply didn't feel scared, walking out and not understanding that it wasn't about running for the door, it was about uncovering a story and living that story - forgetting real life and becoming engrossed via satire, illusion, darkness and immersiveness. I do feel certain elements were always weak, but it did try to stray away from quick-impact scares but it sadly was never appreciated for that.

Field of a Thousand Screams did extremely well because it was quite a new concept at the time and it got the story and scare balance perfectly. If they brought it back now they would really have to reconsider and develop what they had much further in order to recapture the thrill because the concept has been experienced by many scare lovers and even the wider market that we've become desensitised to the cornfield ideas slightly.

I think, for Alton, the way forward is to marry technology and scare mazes together. Projection mapping, immersive sets, rich story, rich sound textures, set scares, actor scares, animatronic scares etc and a very interactive story could be a way for them to steal the crown and become a UK-leader that TotT and Field did so well back in their haydays of capturing and catering both markets.

TotT with its needed refresh will triumph too. Once "What Lies Within"/Urban Explorers is dropped and an actual storyline is adopted (in the sense of the reason for the rooms/locations etc), we will see a very different yet brilliant maze. The only element that will remain practically untouched will be the strobe finale because of it's impact.
 
talking of creativity. Another example? (Not the standard, but brilliant, face singing shows that are cropping up more)



The projection screen is brilliant. You want family stuff, do this on the front of Towers once a day as a big show like Fireworks but without the hideous expense.

There's so much tech available now, and we are left with some mirrors and masks.

These are just peoples houses for goodness sake!
 
Spent the weekend at AT for Scarefest and I have to say.......... I was impressed!!!

Firstly, the actors on TowersStreet doing their dance in the morning greeting the guests was a great little addition. Lots of fun. And hearing that mix around park of "dance till your dead" was great. Mazes - bit disappointed that even though we got in to the park at dead on opening time, the latest maze tickets were for 3pm!!! But never mind.

ToTT was excellent. Only queued for 10 minutes to get in and the maze seemed a bit longer than those of past. LOADS of actors in there, must have been about 20 or more, seemed to be everywhere. Really enjoyed it.

Sanctuary - good to see Dr Kelman again, and some genuine funny moments in side, especially the kitchen where they guy was shouting "sausages", "custard", "spotted dick" at us lol. Marmalisation didnt really work, no showers, didnt stay inside the tunnel for long, nothing compared to last year. The ward bit was done very well with lots of jumps. Downstairs, a few little additions like the person strapped into the chair, and good to see the actors interacting with each other, for example, one nurse pulling the other in for surgery. The end maze was a little sparse, though fun as they split up our group. Overall, it was more fun than scary, and seemed a bit empty at times. ToTT was far better, and I think the Sanctuary has to end this year.

Night had now fallen and the lighting on the park was stunning. Well done Alton for making the effort, the area around Thirteen looked amazing in green.

Zombie scare zone was a quick fun little walk though, nothing really different than last years, but Scary Tales I REALLY enjoyed. The music, the layout and the concept of it was very good and we did it a few times. I think for next year, Alton should make this the new maze in place of the Sanctuary. Make it longer, indoors, with more characters based on nursery rhymes etc and it would really work.

Was quite busy on park, only downside was the 1.5 hour queue for Rita thanks to the idiot at the merge point letting the entire Rita queue by the station go to empty while he waited for fast track people, and then proceeded each time to completely empty the fast track queue. When we were finally allowed into the station the entire queueline cheered and clapped shouting "about time". We did tweet AT about this with pictures of the empty station queue - fair play they responded quickly saying this was wrong and they will speak to the ride team.

Overall, a really good day, loved the lighting, loved the rides in the dark and Scary Tales and ToTT were the better mazes. Love the new additions to the Haunted Hollow and the addition of smoke machines all over the park, really added to the atmosphere. A very good weekend.
 
Halloween has done some funny things to @GaryH

What did they put in those smoke machines?

*Goes off to find truth serum*
 
Hi guys,
Just thought I would share a few thoughts on Scarefest from Saturday Night. The park was absolutley packed - even Duel had a queue (I have never seen this before) and waited over 2 hours for The Smiler! The mazes were good - The Sanctuary was great - Terror of the Towers was predictable and not as good but we didn't have to queue for either which was great as I have waited 60+ mins for both in the past. Scary Tales was a great addition but they were missing a third maze in my opinion!

Video from the event...



Some pictures as well!

Scarefest 2014 by ThemeParkMedia, on Flickr

Scarefest 2014 by ThemeParkMedia, on Flickr

Scarefest 2014 by ThemeParkMedia, on Flickr

FULL GALLERY ON FLICKR - https://www.flickr.com/photos/themeparkmania/sets/72157648947301796/
 
For any geeks out there who want the Scary Tales music, it turns out it's the same music as is used in Alice: Madness Returns, which I believe is a video game. Towers must've got a royalty free version, or paid for it from somewhere. Why did I think they'd've done it themselves? :p

 
For any geeks out there who want the Scary Tales music, it turns out it's the same music as is used in Alice: Madness Returns, which I believe is a video game. Towers must've got a royalty free version, or paid for it from somewhere. Why did I think they'd've done it themselves? :p



That soundtrack was officially released, so presumably it will be covered in their PPL licence.
 
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