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Scarefest 2019

P42 really needs its P45.
Oh dear.
Was a quite day today. Had the maze to myself.
Didn’t actually notice much difference other than
Totally ruined the egg room.
Seeing actors moving to new positions but then not getting a scare.
Even though I was the only one in the maze.
The ending had 1 actor in it.
Were the strobes working or the smoke machine.
I can’t recall as by that point I was totally bored of it all and walked out to go ride Nemmy to take away the bad taste of it all.
Try and forget the lost time of my life I will never get back.
 
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We were discussing maze quality tonight whilst walking past deserted scare attractions and came to the conclusion that if they're too quiet they're likely to be really poor as the actors are unlikely to remain focused or might just not be ready when someone finally turns up.

Today was by far the quietest I've ever seen the park during scarefest, by 8pm Galactica was only loading 1 train and still sending it half empty. The RMT op was practically begging people to stay on the ride. WM still had a queue at 9pm, but only to the stairs up to merge.
 
John said:
We were discussing maze quality tonight whilst walking past deserted scare attractions and came to the conclusion that if they're too quiet they're likely to be really poor as the actors are unlikely to remain focused or might just not be ready when someone finally turns up.

Today was by far the quietest I've ever seen the park during scarefest, by 8pm Galactica was only loading 1 train and still sending it half empty. The RMT op was practically begging people to stay on the ride. WM still had a queue at 9pm, but only to the stairs up to merge.
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I was there today and found it the same. Didn’t bother with the scare mazes, they don’t really do anything for me. Was great for the ride count though.

I guess this is normal? It’s not gypsy day and the schools aren’t off so who would go ?
 
I was on park yesterday.

Some rides were down at the start of the day, probably due to the heavy rain that we had over night. The park was night and quiet.

I felt the park lack it's scarefest atmosphere due to the removal of the scare zones.

I did 3 mazes and I'll be doing the others when I go back in a few weeks, so I've not read the spoilers.

Sub-species - for me this year was a let down, probably due to the lack of actors in it. However with scare mazes , no two runs are ever the same.

Mine Tours - for me this year, this was really good, probably the best maze that I done in a long while. A big improvement on last years.

Project 42 - as others have said, an improvement on last year, for me this was better than sub-species, but saying that, the maze feels too short and still more room for improvement.

I also take back what I said on here a few days ago, yes the actors are allowed to touch you in all the mazes(but you are not allowed to touch them) and yes they did touch me quiet a lot, the touching did make the maze experience more intense.

Wickerman in the dark this year didn't look as good as previous year. There wasn't as much mist and as mentioned in an earlier post, looks like the led's where a bit on the bright side.

Overall a good day, I'm looking forward to checking out the other mazes in a few weeks time
 
I did all of the mazes on Saturday and overall the lineup for Scarefest this year is very strong.

The Attic - I enjoyed this and think being at the front of the group really helped. The pre-show, as it were, is fantastic and very well done, as is the effect of making you feel like you are up in an attic once you've gone up the stairs. The theming is very detailed and there are some nice effects throughout. I got quite a few scares at the front but it did sound like those behind did not get as many. It is a little on the short side however I am looking forward to giving it another go next weekend to see if any improvements have been made. There are some great costumes and masks in this maze!

Darkest Depths - like others, my expectations for this were low. It's meant to be the family maze and in essence has replaced House of Monsters. Well this can in no way be compared to House of Monsters, it is far darker and scarier. The sets throughout the maze are so detailed and you really have no idea that parts of it are in shipping containers. The scares are not as intense as in the other mazes but there are more scares that I was expecting. It is certainly the most immersive maze that Alton Towers have ever done and if they can make improvements to the finale then it could become one of the best. A real surprise.

Sub Species - I have had poor runs through this when I have done it in each of the previous two years, so it was nice to finally get a much better run. I don't think the maze has changed much at all, apart from losing one of the two endings, but it did feel like there were more dead ends this year. I reckon that could be because of actors doing a better job of sending you the wrong way. This remains the most intense maze at Scarefest, but I do wonder how much longer it has left.

Mine Tours - I've seen people say that improvements have been made to this maze but I can't say I noticed any myself? It remains a good maze with some great theming, good use of the lights on the helmets and a weak finale. Nothing more to say really.

Project 42 - so there have been some changes made to this maze but I didn't really feel like they made the experience any better. The whole thing is not as all cohesive and it feels too short. We actually got evacuated from the maze at first and the staff seemed clueless when it came to directing you to an exit, changing their minds as to where you should go. Heaven forbid there was ever a fire! I don't rate this maze at all.

Overall a strong line-up with only one poor maze in my opinion, which is not bad going when there are five of them.

As always it is a shame that there's not more Scarefest theming around the park once you have left Towers Street. The new coaster pumpkins look brilliant though! Lighting is a bit hit and miss this year but I am hopeful that this will improve as the event goes on.
 
Hi. I'm after a bit of advice from you kind people.

1) How strict are staff in enforcing the age restrictions on the mazes? My youngest is 12 (eldest 15) but doesn't scare and is mature. She's pretty tall, too. We'll be a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 daughters) and are looking at the Attic ToT. I might be wrong, but I thought previously ToT was a 12? I took my eldest through when she was 12 & 13 without problem (last year the 4 of us did the Welcoming... hmmmm...). Are they going to argue with parents if the parent says they're 15 and old enough?

2) Does anyone know which day is 'Traveller Day'? We got caught with this 2 years ago and it was a horrible day - big groups acting intimidatory, endemic queue-jumping, fights breaking out sporadically. I'd rather not experience that again. It seemed to be the third weekend, but can't be 100% sure, and last year I read they ignored the day when AT had put on the extra security and just descended en masse on another day without warning.

Thanks in advance.
 
Weby72 said:
2) Does anyone know which day is 'Traveller Day'? We got caught with this 2 years ago and it was a horrible day - big groups acting intimidatory, endemic queue-jumping, fights breaking out sporadically. I'd rather not experience that again. It seemed to be the third weekend, but can't be 100% sure, and last year I read they ignored the day when AT had put on the extra security and just descended en masse on another day without warning.
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Typically it should be this Sunday 13th, however in the past they have been know to suddenly throw everyone off guard including the park staff/security by suddenly turning up on a Friday.

Ethan said:
The advanced lighting is coming back on 12th
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Just in time for Alcohol free day then o_O
 
RoyJess said:
Typically it should be this Sunday 13th, however in the past they have been know to suddenly throw everyone off guard including the park staff/security by suddenly turning up on a Friday.
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Yeah the last few years it's always been this Sunday and I've been there. In all honesty it generally isn't too bad; I think its a question of being in the wrong place at the wrong time if you see any fights or issues. Fair play to the police, security and staff they are normally on the ball and stop anything escalating quickly. To be honest, any anger or frustration of them being there and what they're doing is often overshadowed by seeing the way some of the women are dressed. I mean, who goes to a theme park in crop-tops, short mini-skirts and high heels, especially in mid-October?!

I'm there all this coming weekend as well. I always choose the second weekend because it gives them chance to put right any "first night" issues and improve things (fingers crossed for the Wicker Man lighting) plus it shouldn't be as busy as the 2 week half-term period at the end of the month.
 
Generally, as long as they dont go in any of the mazes you should be ok. We got batched once with a few of them and we refused to go in with them. The staff were fully understanding. We refused as they were going in accompanied by security and no doubt the whole experience (which we had paid for) would have been completely different than when we went in afterwards in our own group (with no security!).
 
Visited for scarefest for both 5th and 6th. Overall very much enjoyed the weekend, and it was interesting to see changes (some better, some worse) over the two days. For example on Saturday there were ghost projections by the entrance to mutiny bay. This was clashing badly with darkest depths audio, and on Sunday wasn't on at all (and darkest depths audio didn't seem to be on after 8pm making the area seem dead).

Towers street looked good, but not quite as good as last year. Wickerman looked abismal with the bunting lights off, and generator lights in their place. even the fake fire bulbs were off. Generally same as previous years, not much looking scarefesty outside of towers street.

Darkest depths was an excellent maze in my opinion, very well themed and atomspheric, even if not as scary as others I still got a couple of good scares.

The Attic has good moments, with some things interesting and some things well themed. I left the maze and asked the two guys on the stairs if that was it, because I genuinely wasn't sure. Could've done with a better finale.

Subspecies, as others have said, was largely the same. So much so that I knew my way around the maze from previous years. We were in a really small group (4), which was excellent but the maze really suffered from my familiarity of it.

Project 42 was good with out small group, seemed like a lot of actors and seemed to get the most scares in this. The maze still has a bit of a generic theme, but nice to see some more energic actors rather than bumbling zombies.

Altonville still quite weird, but I feel like it's scenes have become a bit more samey than the original. I remember more unique sections.
 
I needed up at towers yesterday if fully expecting a “family friendly day” and to my surprise it wasn’t, so assume that will be next Sunday.

The park was well and truly empty yesterday and by the evening pretty much all rides were walk on. The mazes were also empty, we ended up doing them all (and a couple of them twice due to some free tickets). Didn’t queue once for any of them.

I would say AltonVille was by far the best maze, I’ve always said it’s a good maze but has lacked actors, however yesterday every room had at least one or two actors and they were really going for it, touching and being very intense. The ending was still lacking though.

Project 42 is slightly better, but I’ll rather ride sub terra than waste my time on project 42. I just don’t really get the story or the theme for it, still seems to lack in actors and the main chamber is awful now they’ve boarded over where the egg is.

Sub species was better than last season, now featuring some actual dead ends, but once you’ve done it a few times you know the route now. Plus now it’s got one ending there is just a bit of confusion as you go down the stairs not really sure where to go or what to do.

My least favourite maze and probably the worse of them all was the attic. It’s very well themed and looks nice. But it wasn’t scary at all. The actors just shout boo at you and that’s about it. Also it doesn’t really have an ending and if you are at the back of the group you won’t even the actor in there.
 
I imagine the problem is we wouldnt get the number of mazes we get now if they took them down during the season and rebuilt them again. It basically would triple the workload to the point where they couldnt do it all probably. Highly doubt the park would get given a bigger budget to do more.

A few months ago I was really keen to see them reopened every year but Id rather not see Scarefest decline. At the same time I think it should be open to those who are interested and some kind of walkaround tour now and then would be brilliant? If they could clean up just enough of the mazes for people to see most the building.
 
Decied that I will brave Darkest Depths as my first scare maze when I go two weeks today. Anyone got any tips?
 
TakeYourMedicine said:
I imagine the problem is we wouldnt get the number of mazes we get now if they took them down during the season and rebuilt them again. It basically would triple the workload to the point where they couldnt do it all probably. Highly doubt the park would get given a bigger budget to do more.

A few months ago I was really keen to see them reopened every year but Id rather not see Scarefest decline. At the same time I think it should be open to those who are interested and some kind of walkaround tour now and then would be brilliant? If they could clean up just enough of the mazes for people to see most the building.
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Old terror of the towers used to be built and dismantled every season as the whole of that maze was in the public parts of the towers. Technically sub species only has the corridor and pre show in the part of the towers which used to be open to the public, so no reason why that couldn’t be removed.
 
djtruefitt said:
Old terror of the towers used to be built and dismantled every season as the whole of that maze was in the public parts of the towers. Technically sub species only has the corridor and pre show in the part of the towers which used to be open to the public, so no reason why that couldn’t be removed.
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That's very true. I think I was remembering when the basement levels were open to the public which now have the 2 other mazes in
 
skyscraper said:
Decied that I will brave Darkest Depths as my first scare maze when I go two weeks today. Anyone got any tips?
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Remember, they are just actors, they are not allowed to kill or harm you. The Darkest Depths is aimed for children 10+ so in theory, it shouldn't be that scary. The more scared you are, the more the actors will pick on you, so put on a brave face.
 
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