Few thoughts from yesterday:
Giveth with one hand, taketh with the other.
Whilst some of the decorations (particularly on Towers Street), smoke and lighting have been improved, the atmosphere continues to dwindle and there are many areas where the park simply feels as if it's just open late into the night.
Cite all the H&S bull you want, but the spends on the Wicker Man's great lighting package are ruined by the hideously bright white lighting in the queue line. This isn't in other queue lines, so why does it have to be in Wicker Man's? It's painfully bright, especially when you're stuck in the queue for extended periods due to downtime.
Project 42 felt like a large improvement compared to last year. Much better run through and felt far more substantial.
The Attic is a great refresh of TotT and what has been sorely needed. The pre-show is beautifully themed, as is the majority of the maze for the most part (post fireplace seems quite cheap).
Sub Species, which used to be the pinnacle maze, has now well outstayed its welcome. The layout hasn't changed on previous years, so it's become far too predictable. The actors seem a lot tamer than they used to in there as well, as if they simply can't be arsed. This is the only maze that used to get my adrenaline pumping; now it's just a stale wart clinging onto the Scarefest line up.
On the other hand, Mine Tours seems to get better each year. The grouping system of going from wall to wall is bizarre, but the maze now surpasses Sub Species in being far less predictable, with the actors noticeably a lot more hands-on and going for it than the previous maze.
Darkest Depths is a whole new level. Beautifully themed, a great story and overall well executed. The finale seems to fall slightly short, but the idea is certainly there and I'd love to see this improved upon next year.
Overall an improvement on last year, but still Scarefest remains a shadow of its former years with a dire need to put some emphasis on sustaining an atmosphere that's park-wide; not just confined to the mazes.