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.