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Scarefest 2022

Is it just me or does the event page (and website in general for that matter) feel clunky, all over the place, with bad UI and bad e-comm QA'ing/testing? It feels they're tried to throw in last year's event page for Scarefest with their placeholder page for this year before the line-up reveals came in.

To be honest the whole website is in a bit of a mess, particularly on desktop, with CTA's not linking out to the correct places, copy errors, poor UI, etc.

For example- if you go to this page https://www.altontowers.com/explore/events/scarefest/thrilling-frights/, when you hit the 'book now' CTA's under the respective attractions, you're pushed down to an anchor to book day tickets, buy an annual pass or a short break, there's nowhere to actually book a maze ticket. If I didn't have knowledge on the event my first thought would be 'all I need to do is book a day ticket to go into all of these attractions' when that isn't the case.

It feels like they've really missed the mark this year both from an event line-up POV and marketing POV for the 15th year. A huge shame.
 
I'm quite surprised too at the lack-lustre effort of Towers this year, especially as it is its 15th year; it's all coming across as very samey and I'm quite disappointed. I'll still visit though as I do love the atmosphere and rides in the dark. Last year it was clear that things needed changing and as that was near enough the end of Covid restrictions I remember being hopeful that this year they'd push the boat out and do something different and very special for the 15th Anniversary. And I also seem to remember late last year/early this year they did advertise the fact it was the 15th anniversary on social media.

I wouldn't be surprised if the intention and planning was there at the beginning but they've maybe had budgets slashed due to low (lower than expected?) attendance this season so far and the soaring costs of everything. And then there's the industry-wide recruitment issues - perhaps they've had a poor uptake for scare actors this year? In my mind, almost everything else they've done or not done this season could be attributed to the current financial, economic and recruitment climate so I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of main reasons behind this Scarefest having little to no change from last year - if what we are getting this year wasn't the plan all along.
 
kydog1299 said:
Is it just me or does the event page (and website in general for that matter) feel clunky, all over the place, with bad UI and bad e-comm QA'ing/testing? It feels they're tried to throw in last year's event page for Scarefest with their placeholder page for this year before the line-up reveals came in.

To be honest the whole website is in a bit of a mess, particularly on desktop, with CTA's not linking out to the correct places, copy errors, poor UI, etc.

For example- if you go to this page https://www.altontowers.com/explore/events/scarefest/thrilling-frights/, when you hit the 'book now' CTA's under the respective attractions, you're pushed down to an anchor to book day tickets, buy an annual pass or a short break, there's nowhere to actually book a maze ticket. If I didn't have knowledge on the event my first thought would be 'all I need to do is book a day ticket to go into all of these attractions' when that isn't the case.

It feels like they've really missed the mark this year both from an event line-up POV and marketing POV for the 15th year. A huge shame.
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I think the Design is very good and a big improvement on the previous design, but I agree, in terms of CTAs, links, and the general content housekeeping, it's a little poor. Perhaps they could do with a bit of a UI refresh for selecting ticket options / variations too.

Related to this - the booking system that the Merlin parks use is awful and, given that one of the primary actions for users is to book tickets, it should be a priority to get that replaced. There are a couple of really good booking platforms out there that Alton could implement / some built with Microservices that include a booking element, a PIM element (to cover the products and services), that integrate with popular CMS platforms (including the one that Merlin use) - it'd be great if there was a proper ticket portal where - particularly if you're a passholder - you could log in, pre-book tickets, pre-book mazes, and they're all there in one place rather than fannying around with emails. Even non-pass customers could register/log in, purchase tickets, purchase parking tickets, etc. It'd provide Merlin with a great opportunity to upsell too.

Sorry - geeking out here.

I actually disagree with some of the comments RE Thorpe v Alton. By and large, I've found Alton's mazes have a lot more substance, are more immersive and 'believable', and greater attention to detail than Thorpe's. HOWEVER, Alton have a big advantage with the setting and space. I hope the new maze is a Sub Species level intense and I desperately hope it doesn't try too hard with fancy tech that never lives up to expectation. A good theme, storyline, props, soundtrack, and actors, and you're on to a winner.
 
LLCorkscrew said:
I actually disagree with some of the comments RE Thorpe v Alton. By and large, I've found Alton's mazes have a lot more substance, are more immersive and 'believable', and greater attention to detail than Thorpe's. HOWEVER, Alton have a big advantage with the setting and space. I hope the new maze is a Sub Species level intense and I desperately hope it doesn't try too hard with fancy tech that never lives up to expectation. A good theme, storyline, props, soundtrack, and actors, and you're on to a winner.
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I think the main argument for Thorpe is that they have at least 2 new attractions being added each year and Alton hasn't changed largely in the past few years. I think that for scarefest to improve they need to re-introduce scare zones, even if its just 1 scare zone. I know their costly, because they are free to go through but money is spent on scare actors and set and lighting, but guests are not going to pay for scarefest if its the same lineup for the past few years, and the scare zones should invite people to scarefest therefore bringing in more money overall. I hope that Alton sees this and whips together a last minute scare zone for this year.
 
OButler said:
The new ‘scare experience’ is 99% most definitely going to be an audio experience similar to the one at Thorpe. And it’ll top off a very disappointing line up (again)
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I'm sure that wont happen, they've been building up this 'experiance' since that teaser dropped at the start of the year and an audio experiance would just be a really disappointing ending to a supposedly 15th anniversary celebration. I'm hoping that it'll be an intense scare maze that will be located in sub-terror, and that may open when nemesis is under construction.
 
Hazza said:
I'm sure that wont happen, they've been building up this 'experiance' since that teaser dropped at the start of the year and an audio experiance would just be a really disappointing ending to a supposedly 15th anniversary celebration. I'm hoping that it'll be an intense scare maze that will be located in sub-terror, and that may open when nemesis is under construction.
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I don’t really recall any teasers they’ve dropped for this experience? There was that random picture of a coffin in the towers that has no meaning now clearly.

As usual there has been no teasers or marketing
 
Personally think it’s going to be a last minute rushed job. If it was anything “new and exciting” they’d have blown there own trumpet about it now.

Clearly it seems a last minute quick idea thrown together whatever its going to be.

I agree with the majority. The event is so so stale now and needs a good revamp. Shame it isn’t for the 15th anniversary either.
 
I just had a thought. What if they haven't revealed their new scare experience yet to avoid competition with Thorpe?

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Batzy said:
I just had a thought. What if they haven't revealed their new scare experience yet to avoid competition with Thorpe?

Sent from my SM-A516B using Tapatalk
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That's entirely possible!
I'll be massively disappointed if it's an audio experience though. We need a maze, and preferably a high-intensity one.
 
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