The Attic
This was my favourite maze last year and honestly one of my favourite things I've ever done in a theme park. This year is just as good as I remembered, I honestly think this maze is almost perfect, I think it's a bit more subtle (if that's the right word) than other mazes like Toxic Junkyard or Creek Freak Massacre which I absolutely love, it's not too intense but there's still plenty of good scares. What really makes The Attic for me is the theming and storytelling, the way the audio builds up, the way they use colour and temperature (although in our first run through the heaters weren't on). Bit of a shame that the ghost above the bed didn't seem to be working as that's a nice effect, although I'm not sure if we just got unlucky. 9/10.
Altonville Mine Tours
I gained a whole new appreciation for Altonville Mine Tours this year. Last year I liked it and thought it was very intense, but I wouldn't say I loved it. But oh my word, this maze is up there with the scariest things I've ever done. It's so dark, foggy, and claustrophobic in there it's hard to even see your own hand in front of you, and the actors don't even really need to do a whole lot other than just poke their heads out of their hiding spots to absolutely terrify me. This is the only maze I've ever done that I'm always hesitant to do again because of how terrifying I find it. That scene with the miner's costumes is absolutely horrifying and I always find myself speeding through it just because I want to get out of there. 8/10
Darkest Depths
Once again, the theming is phenomenal in this maze, but you already knew that. I was very intrigued by Darkest Depths this year, and it's a little bit more intense than last year, but I'm not sure it quite warrants being on the same level as The Attic or AMT in terms of it being a 15+ thrill maze. Got a few good scares, but it's not as creepy and atmospheric as The Attic and not as anxiety-inducing and intense as AMT. I still very much enjoyed this maze though. 6/10 as a 15+ thrill maze, 8/10 as a family maze.
Freak Show: Toxic Junkyard
This maze has to go next year. It just doesn't work. I've had I think 5 run throughs of it now, one of which last year was one of the worst experiences I've ever had in a theme park and the other two were kinda average at best, bad at worse. To be fair, yesterday in the dark it was decent, couple of good scares although it fell a little bit flat in the middle. But today it was poor. This maze just doesn't work, it's utterly pointless doing it in the day. I don't think I got a single scare. You can see the actors coming from a mile away, the theming is alright but could be better, the long mirror section is just odd, and the chainsaw finale doesn't do anything when the actors don't come anywhere near you. It's between Toxic Junkyard and Roots of Evil for the worst maze I've ever done for me, 3/10.
Didn't do Trick or Treat Town or the Garden Lights Walk.
The Event
Pretty much the same as last year, majorly lacking some scare zones and parkwide theming. Glad they weren't playing any metal music, and lighting is better than last year but still a long way to go with Nemesis and the (major quotation marks) ""Dark"" Forest being the parts that stick out the most. I also think the event lacks a proper family maze now that Darkest Depths is a 15+ for some reason.
Next Year
If I was in charge of Scarefest next year I'd get rid of Toxic Junkyard straight away, I don't think outdoor mazes have a place at Towers. Definitely keep The Attic for as long as possible, but I'd get rid one of the other two aswell. Altonville still feels fairly fresh to me as I first did it last year, but it has been around for a long time so that would be the obvious choice, but I think Darkest Depths should either be reverted to a 10+ family maze or removed entirely. In an ideal world next year I'd like four thrill mazes and one family maze, be that Darkest Depths or a new maze, plus a scare zone or two. If you absolutely have to keep FSTJ, then I'd like to see it moved into the Games Bunker.