Jammy
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Scarefest 2017
bluesonichd
TS Member
I’ve asked management at box office on Saturday and told no.Really hoping extreme versions of the mazes become available later on in the event!
Is that a no maybe ?
It’s a no end of
I’m still hoping they change their mind
Will keep pestering them till they do
bluesonichd
TS Member
Could it be as they didn’t make much money off them last year ? Hmmm
Is that because they never advertised them !
The only reason I managed an extream SS was I happen to ask in the morning when collecting my maze tickets.
When I went it was just me and two other people.
Is that because they never advertised them !
The only reason I managed an extream SS was I happen to ask in the morning when collecting my maze tickets.
When I went it was just me and two other people.
MakoMania
TS Member
My review of Scarefest opening day:
Towers Street has been decorated wonderfully as usual, I just wish there was more Scarefest theming & props spread throughout the park.
Our first maze was TOTT, we got the first public run through of 2017 and I must admit that I thought it was better than last year. Whilst it is still far from being a great maze and it definitely needs a major overhaul, I thought that the actor performances were far superior this year.
Next up was Sub Species, which I had mixed feelings on. On the positive side it is still the most intense maze I have ever done and I got properly lost so was in the maze for over 10 minutes. The audio is fantastic and the element of being alone also benefits the maze massively. However, there were definitely less actors than last year, I found myself walking for several minutes without any scares and there was a noticeable lack of any aliens, which were a real highlight of the maze in 2016.
The last of the 3 "towers" mazes that we did was Mine Tours. I went in with decent expectations after having enjoyed the maze last year, but was bitterly dissapointed. Again, there were very few actors, I had one scare throughout the entire maze. The maze itself is done well, but is very short and the new ending is just as pathetic as last year's, if not more so.
I was very pleased with Freak Show this year, the new props are great additions and there are more actors who all seemed to be less afraid of actually trying to scare you than last year. Thumbs up! Still not a patch on the old style scare zones though, and with Dark Apocalypse gone, Scarefest needs another scare zone for next year.
Parkwide themed lighting is a disgrace, as has been mentioned already. Even the staff on Nemesis were complaining about it!
Just as a side note, why is there a severe lack of bins in The Smiler's queue? It was looking more like a rubbish dump than a queue line by the end of the day.
The last thing we did was The Welcoming. Our time slot was 8:45pm and I am so glad that we booked a night-time slot, it would have been much much worse during daylight hours. That aside, I LOVED IT! It is now my favourite Scarefest maze! It is not as intense or unnerving as the other mazes, but it is beautifully themed and is quite long. I'm not going to give spoilers but there are lots of great elements, tricks and effects one in particular that took my breath away. They got the hooded section just right, not too long and not too short. The actors did a brilliant job in this section also! I really rate The Welcoming, my only criticism is that I think the group sizes could be decreased, especially when it only has a 15 minute wait and I think that the ending could do with some tweaking to make it a little more memorable. Overall, great addition to Scarefest and I'll be gutted if it doesn't return in some form for 2018!
Towers Street has been decorated wonderfully as usual, I just wish there was more Scarefest theming & props spread throughout the park.
Our first maze was TOTT, we got the first public run through of 2017 and I must admit that I thought it was better than last year. Whilst it is still far from being a great maze and it definitely needs a major overhaul, I thought that the actor performances were far superior this year.
Next up was Sub Species, which I had mixed feelings on. On the positive side it is still the most intense maze I have ever done and I got properly lost so was in the maze for over 10 minutes. The audio is fantastic and the element of being alone also benefits the maze massively. However, there were definitely less actors than last year, I found myself walking for several minutes without any scares and there was a noticeable lack of any aliens, which were a real highlight of the maze in 2016.
The last of the 3 "towers" mazes that we did was Mine Tours. I went in with decent expectations after having enjoyed the maze last year, but was bitterly dissapointed. Again, there were very few actors, I had one scare throughout the entire maze. The maze itself is done well, but is very short and the new ending is just as pathetic as last year's, if not more so.
I was very pleased with Freak Show this year, the new props are great additions and there are more actors who all seemed to be less afraid of actually trying to scare you than last year. Thumbs up! Still not a patch on the old style scare zones though, and with Dark Apocalypse gone, Scarefest needs another scare zone for next year.
Parkwide themed lighting is a disgrace, as has been mentioned already. Even the staff on Nemesis were complaining about it!
Just as a side note, why is there a severe lack of bins in The Smiler's queue? It was looking more like a rubbish dump than a queue line by the end of the day.
The last thing we did was The Welcoming. Our time slot was 8:45pm and I am so glad that we booked a night-time slot, it would have been much much worse during daylight hours. That aside, I LOVED IT! It is now my favourite Scarefest maze! It is not as intense or unnerving as the other mazes, but it is beautifully themed and is quite long. I'm not going to give spoilers but there are lots of great elements, tricks and effects one in particular that took my breath away. They got the hooded section just right, not too long and not too short. The actors did a brilliant job in this section also! I really rate The Welcoming, my only criticism is that I think the group sizes could be decreased, especially when it only has a 15 minute wait and I think that the ending could do with some tweaking to make it a little more memorable. Overall, great addition to Scarefest and I'll be gutted if it doesn't return in some form for 2018!
Visited Saturday - my thoughts on the weekend.....
Contains Spoilers
Terror of the Towers
My rating : 2.5/5
No introduction needed for this one. Entering now via the front entrance of the towers (not sure why) you make your way into the usual queue area in her ladyships gardens. Was quite surprised to see this maze return again this year after its poor reception last year, and unfortunately for me it offered more of the same this year. Would really like to see this made into a longer maze next year with some new features.
Sub Species
My rating : 2.5/5
Once my fave maze but not this year unfortunately. As with ToTT it offered nothing new this year and if anything, I felt offered somewhat less. Was quite disappointed in this.
Altonville Mine tours
My rating : 5/5
Definitely the stand out maze for us this year. Some new additions to last year, plenty of actors and the interaction between them and the group was spot on. The themeing inside was excellent and everyone in our group agreed it was the best of the lot.
The Welcoming
My Rating : 3/5
We got on this around 8.45 without any idea what to expect. Overall it was erm, "interesting". I wouldnt call it a scare maze actually, but more of a theatrical experience. Maybe I missed references to SW8 but I didnt spot many. We all came out asking "what the heck was all that about". I think some effects were not working during our run and this seemed to be a common problem speaking to others. However, the themeing and work gone in to putting it together was very good, though debatable if it was worth the £8.
Overall
While we had a good time we couldnt help but feel this weekend felt a bit flat. There was not much effort put into lighting , particularly once away from Towers street. Oblivion had nothing around it unlike previous years for example, and no red light on Nemesis. I feel there should be a real re think on the mazes for next year, I would actually suggest scrapping Sub Species next year, and a new route/layout is needed for ToTT.
As for the Welcoming, I dont think it will return next year but if it does they really do need to nail down the special effects, and I think some work on the storyline so people understand what its supposed to be about would be useful.
Was a good weekend but I put that down to the company I was with as opposed to the quality of the mazes and the atmosphere in the park.
Contains Spoilers
Terror of the Towers
My rating : 2.5/5
No introduction needed for this one. Entering now via the front entrance of the towers (not sure why) you make your way into the usual queue area in her ladyships gardens. Was quite surprised to see this maze return again this year after its poor reception last year, and unfortunately for me it offered more of the same this year. Would really like to see this made into a longer maze next year with some new features.
The layout is pretty much the same as previous years, length I would say the same too. Didn't seem to be as many actors as previous years and devoid of the section you nearly crawl through. The church scene is still there which the two actors used well. Body bags are back hanging from the ceiling in a walk through section as are the foul smells. The corridor scene with the knights in armour and the corridor with figures standing along it are both there but with no scares as there were no actors hiding in the windows. The strobe maze featured 2 vampires but seemed a little too short.
Sub Species
My rating : 2.5/5
Once my fave maze but not this year unfortunately. As with ToTT it offered nothing new this year and if anything, I felt offered somewhat less. Was quite disappointed in this.
As with previous years the entrance is the same as you watch the video screens before being let in to the maze. Starts off the same with lights going off and people being removed from the line of people against the wall. Actors split the groups up by dragging you off into other directions, though some of these seemed to just be black walls with not much to look at and not many actors within. The actors I did encounter tended to be not heavily made up so looked pretty normal. Ended up going through the pitch black section holding on to the rope but encountered no one in here unlike previous years where actors had flash lights. Ending was very quick and just the guy with the chain saw.
Altonville Mine tours
My rating : 5/5
Definitely the stand out maze for us this year. Some new additions to last year, plenty of actors and the interaction between them and the group was spot on. The themeing inside was excellent and everyone in our group agreed it was the best of the lot.
Enter via the small tunnel from the chicken fast food outlet by Smiler up to the maze entrance. Starts of as usual with an introduction to the maze, with a miners light being given to the front, middle and rear people in the group. Enter the "lift" and then into the mine. Actors start off normal but as you progress get more disfigured as you encounter the skin snatchers. Themeing was great, and the lights on the helmets interact with different scenes brilliantly, in particularly the tunnel near the end with blasts of smoke as the lights go into strobe mode, meaning you cannot see anything at all. Actors genuinely scary at times, popping up behing you, and the guy stood in his underpants and touching the faces of everyone in the group was genius!
The Welcoming
My Rating : 3/5
We got on this around 8.45 without any idea what to expect. Overall it was erm, "interesting". I wouldnt call it a scare maze actually, but more of a theatrical experience. Maybe I missed references to SW8 but I didnt spot many. We all came out asking "what the heck was all that about". I think some effects were not working during our run and this seemed to be a common problem speaking to others. However, the themeing and work gone in to putting it together was very good, though debatable if it was worth the £8.
The maze takes the theme of a village with various strange people roaming. Some want you to dance with them, others threaten you with axes, some scurry around the floor and make you feel uneasy about walking past them. Half way through the maze you must put on a hood which you are given at the start of the maze. You follow a rope through the maze. This section made no sense at all as you are presented with animal noises throughout this section, and the odd brush of someone against your legs. Once through this section, you remove the hood and carry on, where the village takes a different tone, with dead bodies and a guy climbing out of a molten volcano. End scene was some guy preaching but the fire effect didnt seem to work very well. Not sure what the ending was supposed to be.
Overall
While we had a good time we couldnt help but feel this weekend felt a bit flat. There was not much effort put into lighting , particularly once away from Towers street. Oblivion had nothing around it unlike previous years for example, and no red light on Nemesis. I feel there should be a real re think on the mazes for next year, I would actually suggest scrapping Sub Species next year, and a new route/layout is needed for ToTT.
As for the Welcoming, I dont think it will return next year but if it does they really do need to nail down the special effects, and I think some work on the storyline so people understand what its supposed to be about would be useful.
Was a good weekend but I put that down to the company I was with as opposed to the quality of the mazes and the atmosphere in the park.
KingNemesis
TS Member
HoM is as good as ever. New scenes, including new sections in the scare corridor. Also this year has the inclusion of songs!
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Was the chair thing in venom's room used?
KingNemesis
TS Member
It was not... The other torture device was though.
The mechanism with the twisted body.
BenTechy66
TS Member
Does anyone know if an average 13 year old will be able to handle the welcoming?
Also how strict are they about age limits?
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Also how strict are they about age limits?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
bluesonichd
TS Member
If they look 13 or younger they may get ask for ID have seen people turned away for being underage.
Other than that it’s not scary at all.
Craig
TS Administrator
Yup, I think reading the differences in people's experiences last weekend has really shown that. Sure I'd expect some small differences, but people's run throughs seem to be glaringly different at times. When you're forking out what is a pretty large amount of money per maze, this really shouldn't be the case.
Yup,others on here seem to have had completely different experiences to us on the same mazes.
Contains some spoilers. Visited both days over the weekend.
Welcoming - Brilliantly themed with a relatively simple to follow story line and shows what Towers/Merlin can achieve. The free flow walk theough in groups and actor interaction worked really well. Unfortunately the hooded section then caused it to fall flat on its face and ruined it for us. Whilst from the story perspective it fit the complete lack of actor interaction on our run through made it feel like it went on far too long and was a cost cutting space filler. Hoping to have a better run through next weekend.
ToT - Somehow ended up as just the 2 of us on our group so easily the best run through we have had on this maze.
Altonville - Of the scare mazes this was our favourite. Well themed and plenty of actor interaction although even the improved ending feels lacking.
Sub species - went from my favourite Towers scare maze last year to the most disappointing this year. We went through in a small group (5 in total) and I think it works better with more people. Lots of actors by the doors who overdid the shouting and physicality to the point it became irritating rather than scary. Then managed to spend most of the rest of the maze wondering around in the dark by myself, only saw one actor and 1 other guest until I reached the tunnels at the end.
HoM - Almost the same as last year but with an improved ending that really added to it. Actors were brilliant and its well pitched for the target audience whilst being good fun for adults.
General - lighting and atmosphere around Towers Street and the Towers was great but severely lacking elsewhere, it's a shame the scare zone in Forbidden Valley has gone.
For the future:
I would like to see the lighting, theming and scare zones back to cover more areas of the park.
ToT could do with a refresh. To keep a less scary maze and something different I think converting ToT to something similar to zombie containment unit at howl 'o' scream could work well at Alton, although from memory it was quite actor and equipment intense.