Ok so maze thoughts from yesterday - I know I said they don't work as socially distanced but I'm going to try and not take that into account as there's nothing that could be done and just judge them as fair as possible. In the order I did them:
Freak Show: Toxic Junkyard - bearing in mind it was 3:15 when I did this and light out, I think this actually has potential! There is so much random theming about, it's been very well put together. It was hard in this one to hear what the actors were saying because of the masks though. Definitely a night time maze, not my favourite ever but it is decent.
Altonville Mine Tours - the "no touching" rule has really, really harmed this maze to be honest. The acting quality was great, the theming is still fantastic. Worth pointing out there are no longer the head torches which I'm sure will bring no surprise to anyone. The actors did actually come quite close in this one. It's a difficult one for me because I thought what made it so good before was the face touching aspect - they are the Skin Snatchers after all. There is no curtain over the exit anymore either so you can see when it's coming up - and the two actors in the end scene. Not bad, but underwhelmed from previous years.
Darkest Depths - I'd never done this one before and I must say, the theming is exceptional. Genuinely a few jump scares towards the start of the maze - but I found it just petered out relatively quickly and I knew when it was going to end because I saw the member of staff on the exit before the Kraken scare at the end. That did ruin it for me - as I knew something was going to be there as I'd already seen the staff member. Honestly, I know a lot of people love this but after the first few scenes I was relatively disappointed. Walking on sand and stone is fantastic though and you absolutely cannot tell you are in shipping containers.
The Attic - disappointed with this last year, but this year it's great. The most intense jump scares for me at this year's Scarefest are within this maze. The actors do come close to you, so anyone who is uncomfortable with that I'd advise giving it a miss. I think every actor I encountered in here actually made me jump. The burning scene is great, as are the wooden floorboards. Favourite one for this year for sure!
Whilst a good job has been done overall, for me I just look forward to the day - whenever that may be - where touching returns in the mazes as that is what in my opinion, makes them so great.
EDIT: Just another quick thought - the batching on Altonville Mine Tours is done far too quickly, I caught up with the group in front of me at least 3 times and had to hold back. In The Attic, the batching wasn't too great either as I could see the group behind me on the other side of the maze at times and it's not like I was walking slowly. Toxic Junkyard in my opinion is the only attraction where there was sufficiently adequate spacing.