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Scarefest 2017

I don't know about anyone else but is it just me that viewed Scarefest so far this year as a white light, atmosphere lacking washout?

I mean come on Towers, at least put a little bit of effort into something beyond towers street and the inside of the mazes....
 
Bubblegum said:
I don't know about anyone else but is it just me that viewed Scarefest so far this year as a white light, atmosphere lacking washout?

I mean come on Towers, at least put a little bit of effort into something beyond towers street and the inside of the mazes....
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I still had a decent day there, and in the event areas I enjoyed it - the weather really didn't help matters unfortunately. But yes, other areas are in desperate need of lighting changes. It really shouldn't be the case, especially with off peak opening that we're waiting for the possibility of improvements when the event started last weekend.

Scarefest needs a wow factor, and at the moment it's far from achieving that. Without that, it's just another trip to a theme park - people won't talk about it and certainly won't be overly bothered about repeat visits or even returning or spending as much next year.
 
Bubblegum said:
I don't know about anyone else but is it just me that viewed Scarefest so far this year as a white light, atmosphere lacking washout?

I mean come on Towers, at least put a little bit of effort into something beyond towers street and the inside of the mazes....
Click to expand...

To some extent yes. Ignoring the weather cos to be fair, it only rained for an hour or two on the Saturday which was good given it was forecast all day. However, the ATH hotel totally lacked any atmosphere on the Friday night prior to scarefest, not even the restaurant or bar had its usual mix of special Scarefest food or drinks choices.

The park Saturday again, once away from Towers Street lacked any Scarefest atmosphere. Only Woodcutters seemed to have a Scarefest menu. Rides such as River Rapids and Oblivion which used to once have a little bit of effort put into them (skeletons etc) were just plain, and lighting seemed very hit or miss around the park. The mazes with the exception of Altonville Mines, and I guess for the themeing The Welcoming were a bit of a let down and lacklustre.

I agree with Craig, this year in particular it had no wow factor. Scarefest is always my fave time to visit the park, but this year it didnt hit the spot. I agree that classic fun scary walk throughs are needed again, such as Zombie scare zone. And yes, the mazes need to be more consistent.

I appreciate Merlin are really pulling the funding at the moment and to me it feels like they are running the place into the ground to maximise all profit. I wont be returning for fireworks. That was my last trip of the year.
 
I was there yesterday and today.

I had a fantastic two day trip.

Yes the lighting around the park has not been as brilliant as previous years, however, I did feel that there were less lighting around the rides which made riding the rides in the dark better.

I've yet to do the HOM at a later trip this season.

The Welcoming I did in the day light and was worried how this was going to affect my experience. I must say that the maze set was well themed and done really well. The actors were brilliant. Despite the fact that it was still day light, they manage to give me a scare or two (made me sear a few times) as they hid well behind the scenery and jumped out on me. I love this maze and would like to try it again in the dark. But I'm glad that did all the mazes before dark, as I had some great night time riding of the rides in the dark :)

They say that this maze is wheelchair friendly. Beware that the ground was laid with garden bark and I know that this can be un-pleasant to ride over (especially if you suffer from pain easily) and may make pushing a wheelchair over it difficult.

TOTT I feel like this has had better days. It really needs to be stepped up a notch or two and they need to get rid of the conga (putting hands on the person in front) line. The other mazes work really well without having to doing the conga line and I'm sure that this one can too. The final strobe light room hasn't seem as intense as previous years. I must take my hat off to the actors who did a fantastic job and they did make me jump (swear) on a couple of occasions.Something that they has failed to do in my past visit.

Sub-species A great maze, similar to last year, nice ending, the actors did a great job, but failed to scare me though.

Alton Mine A great maze with some great potential. The only thing that let it down for me was the actors, they really didn't seem to do much, they didn't scare me and the did not do much interaction.

Freak Show Scare Zone A great free scare zone which is wheelchair friendly, so very much accessible for all. I felt this year the actors did a better job than last year and were great. I do feel that it's a shame that we lost the zombie zone this year.

I had a great few days and I'm looking forward to my next few trips over the scarefest season :)
 
Craig said:
In general on Saturday, the busiest out of the two days it wasn't too bad. We waited around 20 minutes for our 7pm slot (although we were a little late for it!).
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Thank you! It's going to be my first scare attraction so I'm quite excited/nervous! :D
 
I have just booked in for the mazes for the very first time ever and want to do them in order of how scary they are, so was just wondering if anyone had any recommendation with which order to do them in? :)
 
happen to be looking at the AT FB page,
AT replied to a comment about the park lighting


Alton Towers Hi Owen, we're planning for all the lighting to be as per last year for the main week of Scarefest, starting 20th October.

so basically a big screw you to all the people who visit the first two weekends ! we dont care about you, come to scarefest and look at our half assed shoddy event.
 
This is the question asked by Owen

Will you be changing the lighting around the park for Scarefest? Looks terrible compared to last years! No red lights around nemesis, no orange lights around oblivion, hardly any smoke machines and 1 less scare zone! Seems very disappointing when the prices are MUCH higher than last year too!
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Personally I liked the fact that the rides were not lit up during the night. I love riding the rides in the dark, if you light up the rides, then this kind of spoils the effect and defects the object of riding them in the dark in the first place.

I do feel that the zombie zone was a lost to the event and the Towers have been lit up better in the past, especially when they lit up the towers walls with the writing the first year (may be the second year) that they first open Thi13teen

Other than that, the rest of the park was lit up as usual.
 
Oh right Towers, so the people who spent money to come up last weekend and this weekend are not worthy of the Scarefest experience like those who come on the last week?

Absolutely shocking. But indicative of the resort now. It's not consistent at all.

I'm quite disgusted by that response to be honest.
 
It's completely pathetic. The experience should be the same for ALL guests through the ENTIRE duration of the event. They managed it before, so why on earth is it any different now?
 
The Entertainments team aren't big enough to get everything in order for 7th. The mazes take 95% of their manpower. They need more staff.

Alton didn't consciously not have lighting ready.

They should have called last weekend 'Preview' weekend like they once did and nobody would have moaned.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
bluesonichd said:
The Welcoming
House of Monsters
ToTT
Mine Tours
Sub Species
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Is the welcoming really less scary than HoM...wow...

By the way, to save double posting, can anyone tell me if they improved the final to HoM and if it better or worse?
Also, is it transitioned into better this year or is it still BANG! "RUN! Out if nowhere?
 
The Welcoming is scarier than HoM.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
I hear Haunted Hollow is scarier than The Welcoming...

Anyways:

Will you be changing the lighting around the park for Scarefest? Looks terrible compared to last years! No red lights around nemesis, no orange lights around oblivion, hardly any smoke machines and 1 less scare zone! Seems very disappointing when the prices are MUCH higher than last year too!
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Shouldn't that be -2 scare zones? They had one in FV and one in DF, then Freskshow.
 
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