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Scarefest 2016

It's a 15 minute interactive experience, so the cost is somewhat (note, not entirely) justified.
 
Does it have map discount? Might consider doing this one with my brother (too scared to do mazes, but he's considering scare zones) if it's discounted, but I really don't feel like paying £21 for all of them, especially if it's a kids one.
 
Good to see a new family offering on the cards, something many of us have said has been needed for quite a while. Not too fussed about the £5 charge either, families that experience this are unlikely to also be paying for the scare maze.

:)
 
So essentially after losing Duel: Live and HH: Live and the live family shows and the lower toned scare zones families FINALLY have something back to do.

Oh. Its £20-£25/£30 per family.

Stay classy towers.
 
So essentially after losing Duel: Live and HH: Live and the live family shows and the lower toned scare zones families FINALLY have something back to do.

Oh. Its £20-£25/£30 per family.

Stay classy towers.

To be fair this does sound more substantial than any of the previous family offerings. It will be interesting to see how popular is proves to be, no doubt there would be a ridiculously long queue if it was free however families who have been to Towers for Scarefest before will not be used to paying an upcharge like this so some will be put off of course.

I still think there is enough justification for charging though.

:)
 
Imo £5 charge is a bit much. That's a extra £20 + they get out of you. I wouldn't mind if there weren't as many closures this year, on top of entry fee, it's a lot.
 
Doubt many people will pay for both the scare mazes and the kids one. They're aimed at two entirely different age groups, so families will pay only the £5pp, while thrill seekers will pay the £20 for the mazes. We are the only exemption. We (enthusiasts) are the only group who may try both, and towers don't factor us in when pricing mazes. I'm considering it (won't do it alone though, I have a brother who is up for the kids maze), so will probably do all the mazes. I want to see if towers can pull off a decent kids maze in wobble world's building.
 
Just a few of my thoughts on this years lineup:

Good points:
  • Great job on scrapping that cheapo Molly maze. I wouldn't have had an issue if it was free but come on!
  • Scare Zone's sound like they're going to be done right this year. They nearly nailed it with Zombies but it felt too much like an outdoor maze. Last year's attempt was beyond awful, but at least they got the free flowing element right. Now if they can just theme them this year with some props, perhaps Towers will finally have PROPER scare zones. Fingers crossed!
  • Skin snatchers sounds good. I think this will be located somewhere else in the park, with SS and TOTT being only in the ruins. This could explain why no containers this year, with more room in the Towers maybe all of SS's route can be done inside without them.
  • Family scare maze. It's about time this was tackled. Chessington have done it and so have other places. I still think it's a massive shame not to use Duel like the old "Live" days, but whatever, this is good.
Bad points:
  • No TOTT retheme. Holy christ what is up with this? This is the 8th year going, and it should have been revamped twice over by now. I even remember Pete Cliff saying way back in 2013 that he was focussed on retheming TOTT, but as yet it still hasn't happened. Just go back to Bloodfest Banquet if they have no more ideas, at least it'll be something different.
  • Sub Species getting toned down. You better not, Towers! Don't you even dare! What I would like to see however is the removal of 'touching' in SS. Touching is a lazy gimmick. If you cannot scare people without touching them then your maze is boring and you lack talent in designing entertainment. Simple as that!
  • Charging for mazes, especially the family one. Greed. It's nothing else. I know they'll continue to get away with ripping off the teens and adults for the main mazes, but I would LOVE to see this family maze fail and get a ton of complaints just so it makes them realize that it's completely unacceptable. Bang out of order on so many levels.
  • No premium offerings this year? No scare rooms or hotel experiences? Meh.
I do wonder, given how quiet the park as been and the cancellation of 1 of firework nights, just how successful this years Scarefest will be? If this event doesn't pull people back into the back it could spell further trouble for Towers.
 
Agree with all your points apart from one:
What I would like to see however is the removal of 'touching' in SS. Touching is a lazy gimmick. If you cannot scare people without touching them then your maze is boring and you lack talent in designing entertainment. Simple as that!
I thought the touching worked. It would of been scary without it (easily the scariest part of the maze of my life was the chainsaw ending, and that didn't have any touching), but it just added an extra element. It was nothing more that a brush on your arm or face in most cases, but tell me that the start of the maze where someone is dragged through another door didn't work.

Other than that, totally agree, especially that TotT needs changing. Having a headline maze is great, but it doesn't need to be the same headline maze for eight years. I hope next year, they either change TotT, or scrap it entirely. If they can do sub species, they can think of a new maze that beats TotT.
 
Anyone else think that House of Monsters will feature Patch, Franklin, Skelvin and Phil to save money on costumes.

Hope we still get Patch and Friends Trick or Treat Party. I always end up singing and dancing along.
 
I thought the touching worked. It would of been scary without it (easily the scariest part of the maze of my life was the chainsaw ending, and that didn't have any touching)

Oh yeah I forgot about the chainsaw, and that again brings me back to lazy gimmicks. How many times have we seen chainsaw finale's in scare mazes? It's like a standard ending. Like how every scare event up and down the country was doing zombie attractions a couple of years ago. It got boring. Towers don't seem to innovate any more.

TotT needs changing. Having a headline maze is great, but it doesn't need to be the same headline maze for eight years. I hope next year, they either change TotT, or scrap it entirely. If they can do sub species, they can think of a new maze that beats TotT.

Yeah. I like the idea of them keeping the ToTT brand just with a different theme. You can't have a huge gothic ruin in the middle of your theme park and not do a scare attraction based around it.

Are you sure this was sub species ? I was pushed about. Pulled. Pinned against the wall. Held by the throat ! Generally just abused every time I went in !

Yep! My experience was exactly that. Multiple times. Once you get used to that kind of interaction it leaves the no-touching mazes feeling very tame. Bear in mind that nearly all of the American mazes still don't touch and they've been at this game for decades before the UK was.

Anyone else think that House of Monsters will feature Patch, Franklin, Skelvin and Phil to save money on costumes.

My thoughts also.
 
What I would like to see however is the removal of 'touching' in SS. Touching is a lazy gimmick. If you cannot scare people without touching them then your maze is boring and you lack talent in designing entertainment. Simple as that!
Completely disagree with this, I'm a massive wuss and even I don't find actors I know can't touch me just going "BOO" scary beyond the jump scare. They can still be entertaining, but they're only really as scary as watching a film, whereas a contact maze goes beyond that. Them being able to touch you, actually grab you and throw you about, makes it feel much more real and more intense. I'd be tempted not to bother with the mazes this year if there's no contact; in my opinion there should always be at least one maze where they can rough you up.

Apart from that, and thinking the FV scare zone was good, I agree with you.
 
Looking into visiting Scarefest with my friends this season, as we have a day of school on one of the Friday's it is on. I won't be doing any scare mazes as my friends won't want too, I think the main reason a lot of people visit at this time is extended opening hours - you get more for your money.
 
The trouble with "touching" mazes is that if being grabbed doesn't scare you, the actors have nothing to fall back on, as they are too used to people freaking out with a simple brush of the arm.
 
I'm a massive wuss and even I don't find actors I know can't touch me just going "BOO" scary beyond the jump scare. They can still be entertaining, but they're only really as scary as watching a film, whereas a contact maze goes beyond that. Them being able to touch you, actually grab you and throw you about, makes it feel much more real and more intense.

I know what that is. They aren't making you feel vulnerable.

In recent years scare mazes, not just Towers, are little more than actors jumping out for a peek-a-boo scare. You know when you get to the end of the corridor another actor is waiting and it's gonna be the same as what the previous guy just did. If you aren't made to feel vulnerable as if anything could happen at any time, then it's all very routine. Which makes me think it's down to bad design and/or directing.

I'm cool with touching though for an extreme experience, it doesn't actually scare me, heck they can pick me up and throw me against the wall for all I care but one of the biggest scares I've ever had was the bus scene on the very last Field of 1000 Screams maze. A very, very intense ending. No touching. Another one was just last year, the elevator scene in Barnaggedon at York Hallowscream. Again, no touching.

Keep touching for extreme experiences. At the moment we have mazes like Psychomantium at Scare Kingdom where you have people stripping off naked, being tied up, and having buckets of water thrown at them. So if the big players like Towers keep pushing for touching, it'll become mainstream and then everyone will do it, but then how do the extreme mazes go a step further? They'll be offering full on sexual assault and rape next. o_O
 
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