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Scarefest 2023

Considering attending to tomorrow but currently all evening pre booked maze slots are sold. With the latest being 3:15. Are the staff picky about the times?

How likely are they to sell out? If I try and purchase on the day could I still get a slot in the evening?…
 
I'd really just recommend doing the mazes as they open. Isn't nearly as busy, actors are likely to be more energetic, and more time to enjoy the park during the dark.

However if you are dead set on doing the mazes at night, the staff tend to be lenient regarding ticket times if the queues aren't busy, but they are always busy at night.
 
I'd really just recommend doing the mazes as they open. Isn't nearly as busy, actors are likely to be more energetic, and more time to enjoy the park during the dark.

However if you are dead set on doing the mazes at night, the staff tend to be lenient regarding ticket times if the queues aren't busy, but they are always busy at night.
Apart from Burial Grounds - which you don't need to book for - it doesn't make sense to do any of the scare attractions at night as they are all indoors anyway. Do them early in the day and use the after-dark time for night riding!
 
Apart from Burial Grounds - which you don't need to book for - it doesn't make sense to do any of the scare attractions at night as they are all indoors anyway. Do them early in the day and use the after-dark time for night riding!
I second this, never understood why people do the mazes at night when they're indoors! Walked past Darkest Depths in the evening last weekend and the queue was massive. As you say, that uses up valuable night riding time. Burial Grounds is the exception though as it's outdoors. I recommend doing it last either before or after Wicker Man.
 
I thouroughly enjoyed Daz Games, I can understand why some people might not like it being linked to a youtuber, but an intense, interactive, free flow scare experience in almost darkness? Yes Please. I can definetly see why people get overstimulated in it, and the whole line up should not be that intense, but something like this should be in the line up every year. The story is compelling, and you do feel a genuine impetus to escape. The fact the maze forces you to work alone, and the high quality actors really made it. It gets to the point when the guests scare each other by spotting each other. The fact that the environment of the maze changes with lighting, music and actor interactions as well really helps. You do feel panicked, and it feels in your own hands. I reall hope we see a maze like this every year from now on.
 
I thouroughly enjoyed Daz Games, I can understand why some people might not like it being linked to a youtuber, but an intense, interactive, free flow scare experience in almost darkness? Yes Please. I can definetly see why people get overstimulated in it, and the whole line up should not be that intense, but something like this should be in the line up every year. The story is compelling, and you do feel a genuine impetus to escape. The fact the maze forces you to work alone, and the high quality actors really made it. It gets to the point when the guests scare each other by spotting each other. The fact that the environment of the maze changes with lighting, music and actor interactions as well really helps. You do feel panicked, and it feels in your own hands. I reall hope we see a maze like this every year from now on.
This this and this. I’m genuinely confused by the reaction from some people towards it. I understand the youtube theme and the lack of theming inside itself is a let down, but the concept and execution is great and it’s definitely one of the most intense, fun and creative attractions Towers have made for a long long time.
 
Did the mazes today and thought I do a quick review! Haven’t done the mazes since pre covid (2019) so had some thoughts!

First up was Darkest Depths- last time I did this it was the family maze. I found the themeing and lighting inside really nice, however it still felt like a family maze. Nothing really scary apart from a few bad Cornish accents and then the man sitting down flapping some tentacles (Imagine that job role being on your linked in profile!). Felt like this one needs to be either put back to family maze or just be scrapped!
Next up the Invitation- I had heard some mixed reviews of this but I actually really enjoyed elements of it. I loved the very Alton towers humour of the lift scene. However I was very confused with the whole vampire thing. I thought you were being set up to go into a mortuary not visiting some vampires! Seemed like everyone was quite confused by this. I have done Seance by Darkwood radio and loved that so was very excited for the audio element. I thought the majority of it was done well, however the whole interactiony lick my finger bits went on for too long. I did however love the climax of it and the squirts of water! I think though towers need to look at the success of Seance- what works so well in that is the use of the table and how it mixes the scares of the fake audience with special effects.
The attic - was one of my favourites from last Scarefest- beautiful themeing and some good quality scares. Thought surprised me how much hadn’t changed!
Mine Tours- I’d been set up for this to be the most intense of the lot and I was left disappointed! I remember the first year I did mine tours and had a helmet and got dragged around and had my face put in a hairy man’s chest- iconic! I was expecting something on this level but instead found it a bit mediocre. There was a lack of actors and I didn’t think that much had changed. Thought did find it funny- Tiny’s massive!
Daz Games- the Daz was actually on park today and did have quite a big queue to see him( mind you it was so busy I think people were just standing in queues for lolz! Even queuing in the bogs!) I liked the set up and the pre show got a few people going- one person even decided to leave as they were so scared by the pre show. Thought why we needed two videos to explain the whole thing was beyond me a bit- could’ve just been one! I liked the idea of finding things( I found mine rather quickly but didn’t leave instead just stayed walking around to get my £8s worth!) I did like the lights and audio. However after walking around for a bit and getting spooked I did realise all it really was was something fencing, strobes and people in white jumpsuits. I was a little disappointed as was expecting the intensity and adventure of something like sun species- which when you really were separated from people you could be separated for the whole maze due to the multi route nature.
Burial Grounds- Wow I was not expecting this to be so detailed- loved the little wicker bridge and the fire effects in the woods. I was sort of half expecting some recycled Welcoming props but was very pleasantly surprised by the level of detail. Not too many scares- but not expected really from a scare zone on a busy day.
Overall- I enjoyed the mazes don’t get me wrong but felt like they really lacked the intensity that I remembered (most likely from some of nightmares Sub species gave me!). The lack of an Alty Mans tie in (this so could’ve been done to the attic with a few slight changes) and nout to do with our nemmy was a little disappointing as well! Personally I’m hoping for an overhaul next year!
 
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I actually really enjoyed Panic, no idea who Daz Games is but it doesnt really matter. Its something different although very expensive for what it is.

If they brought it back without the Daz Games association it would be pretty easy to do with a slight amendment to the preshow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I actually think it would be better without Daz, we wouldn’t have that god awful pre show and I think more people who actually do it (as I know so many people who don’t know who he is, so don’t bother doing it).

I actually really enjoyed it but I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for the good reviews.
 
Behind the scenes look into Panic;


From: https://www.facebook.com/towerstimes/posts/pfbid0uzJxMQJbEZc3RFK74ggASdwnnYbLSZwobSR6sN6aoszuaWxbkxffHg6BqYAXM5tVl


You can see just how insane the strobe lighting is. If I'd known the lighting would be that intense I wouldn't have done it.
I'm not epileptic but still don't like flashing/flickering lights. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the lighting hadn't been so crazy.

Also, off topic but Pete Cliff is the voice in TCAAM too.

I have non-photosensitive epilepsy but even so would never in a million years risk that. It looks... intense, even for strobe lighting; wouldn't be surprised if there were a few people coming out with banging headaches.
 
On Tuesday 24th I went in the main 4 "scare experiences" and here are my thoughts.

(I'm currently enjoying my annual post scarefest cold so sorry if this is badly written)


The Attic
I actually got my first ever good run of this maze (or normal/non bad run, I guess) and it was a huge improvement!
Every time I have been in this maze I always run into the group in front, followed quickly by the group behind so the entire maze is a boring 5 min trek past a series of confused looking ghosts before walking past a giant goat as it awkwardly hugs the wall to let us pass while going 👋 to people's faces at random with eyes like its romeo, and Juliet's corpse just jumped up and burst into a five minute rant about US politics...

But that didn't happen this time...
The baroness actually did something beyond sitting in bed telling me to go away and the fireplace was actually tense and climactic...and it was okay...
Everything past the toy room was good but the first half was just boring. The Preshow sets up demons and possessed toys but all i get is peekaboo with Casper the friendly ghost (as in the friendly ghost children kept jumping out from cover and shouting "I found you" in the exact same way every single time) and then the one token, almost begrudgeing toy room with a marionette that does nothing and a doll that (on my run) did the exact same jump scare that the kids had been repeating for the entire maze...its such a waste.

I really hope this maze doesn't return next year, but if it does, they need to do something with the first half, maybe scrap the toy room have a variety of different possessed toys throughout?.
(aswell as the ghost kids obviously)


Darkest Depths
This time I was blessed with an exceptionally good run on this maze...don't really have much more to say about this maze, its really good and exactly the same as the last several years...

I would prefer this one get replaced next year but if not, at least this one is consistently good


Altonville
I actually went in this one twice, the first time was cool, I enjoyed the preshow and the first room with the fake tunnel was fun...then I bumped into the group in front and thus began my jazz hand trek through Romeo and Juliets midterm debates (now with authentic accents)
Not wanting a repeat of The Attic, I decided to go in again the following day.

The next time I went in, that didn't happen and I quite enjoyed it, the actors were good (even the cheerleader managed to scare me) and it was funny watching the people in front fall for the fake tunnel and the chainsaw was a huge improvement over that weird gift shop thing from previous years. The only real issue with it was the story...its just sh*t!

So out of ALL the skin snatchers, they chose the fat one, the ONLY one that is completely unworkable!
In case you didn't catch it, all the random, average build guys in gas masks, they are ALL meant to be Tiny, the morbidly obese one that the pre show makes a point of stating is morbidly obese...its stupid!

If this returns for next year, then they should definitely make some changes to the story.
Maybe in the preshow, the officer could say that his colleagues have just entered the mine and then radios in to inform them of your intrusion, once he gets through, they describe what they are seeing over the radio, they say that they can see lots of gym equipment and that they can see someone using it, upon trying to arrest the person, a fight is heard before one of them shouts, "Its Tiny, he's...we...ack up now..." maybe then have the officer run into the mine to assist, and once the officer is gone, Tiny emerges from the mine and sends everyone in.
Then replace the lift scene(since its not being used) with a gym and 2 dead police officers.
I really think they should do this because it establishes that Tiny has lost weight, therefore fixing the issue of none of the actors being "a big fat giant of a man" and establishing Tiny as more of a credible threat rather than just that one joke character from skin snatchers. Hell, why not replace the sewing room with a makeshift factory where he has some stolen industrial equipment to make flawless skin suits/masks, then they can get rid of the gas mask thing and have Tiny use those as disguises, he is a Skin Snatcher after all!


The Invitation
Terrible as last year, now with an out of place shuffel past a cartoon vampire.

You know that moment when your in a scare maze and an actor scares the person in front of you, makes eye contact with you for a split second and then jumps out and scares the person behind you... thats this entire attraction, just sitting in a dark room on the worlds most uncomfortable chair with nothing to look at while listening to a vampire interact with other people...
And the script is shockingly bad!

Why is the haunted burial chamber attraction about vampires instead of evil spirits?
Why do those vampires talk like Count Dracula but look like common yobs? Why are they humiliatingly stuck in a cage?
Why do they panickedly lock themselves back up as soon as the lights come back on?
And why is there an entire full minute of someone stomping around on gravel with zero dialogue?!
If this was opposite day, I would say its finger-licking good...

Obviously this needs to go away next year, the fact that it even returned this year is unforgivable, its not scary, the chairs are actually painful and its just plain BORING!

I also did Daz Games on the 25th...

Daz Games
It was the most fun I have ever had in a scare maze!
I actually went in a 2nd time because I enjoyed it so much, and I was shocked at how much bigger the maze felt the 2nd time around!

I liked how the actors changed into clowns, I don't know how they did it but it was really cool, I personally prefer the standard mode as its more chaotic and scary but I get why the clown mode exists, (its to tone it down slightly and use brighter lighting to help people navigate and find the symbols), I can't talk about what happens after clown mode as I escaped around the 5 min mark both times.

If this returns next year AS IT SHOULD!!! I think it desperately needs one change, after you escape, there needs to be two doors in the exit hallway, one to exit the maze, and one labeled "Spectator Mode" which leads back into the maze so you can still enjoy the maze until time runs out.
Another change I would make is to have the maze be further back into the building and have the three doors in the preshow lead to a linear path (like the exit hallway) and end in a hole to crawl through (preferably with "hold ctrl to crouch" written above it) then after everyone has gone through, seal the holes with a black panel, (so as to be invisible in the darkness) this would mean they don't have to have the staff awkwardly standing there preventing people from wandering back into the preshow.

Lastly, I'm not sure what happens when time runs out but I assume its just that the AI says you are dead/been deleted or something then all the actors leave and the staff kick you out, I hope that's not the case but if it is, then I think its unacceptable!
Just because you failed to escape (especially since the attraction was designed to make it hard) thats no excuse for an unsatisfying ending, what I think should happen instead is that Daz, comes on the loud speaker saying that he found a way to manually override the game, prompting the AI to say "there can be no escape" or something to that effect, then have the lights start flashing green in a sequence that makes a trail to the exit while the actors go on a rampage, maybe even bring out a few chainsaws, while making sure to only position themselves behind guests so as to only chase them TOWARDS the exit.

Bad run on Altonville aside, the actual mazes seemed better in general this year.


Also, can someone tell me what happens when you run out of time in Daz Games?
 
On Tuesday 24th I went in the main 4 "scare experiences" and here are my thoughts.

(I'm currently enjoying my annual post scarefest cold so sorry if this is badly written)


The Attic
I actually got my first ever good run of this maze (or normal/non bad run, I guess) and it was a huge improvement!
Every time I have been in this maze I always run into the group in front, followed quickly by the group behind so the entire maze is a boring 5 min trek past a series of confused looking ghosts before walking past a giant goat as it awkwardly hugs the wall to let us pass while going 👋 to people's faces at random with eyes like its romeo, and Juliet's corpse just jumped up and burst into a five minute rant about US politics...

But that didn't happen this time...
The baroness actually did something beyond sitting in bed telling me to go away and the fireplace was actually tense and climactic...and it was okay...
Everything past the toy room was good but the first half was just boring. The Preshow sets up demons and possessed toys but all i get is peekaboo with Casper the friendly ghost (as in the friendly ghost children kept jumping out from cover and shouting "I found you" in the exact same way every single time) and then the one token, almost begrudgeing toy room with a marionette that does nothing and a doll that (on my run) did the exact same jump scare that the kids had been repeating for the entire maze...its such a waste.

I really hope this maze doesn't return next year, but if it does, they need to do something with the first half, maybe scrap the toy room have a variety of different possessed toys throughout?.
(aswell as the ghost kids obviously)


Darkest Depths
This time I was blessed with an exceptionally good run on this maze...don't really have much more to say about this maze, its really good and exactly the same as the last several years...

I would prefer this one get replaced next year but if not, at least this one is consistently good


Altonville
I actually went in this one twice, the first time was cool, I enjoyed the preshow and the first room with the fake tunnel was fun...then I bumped into the group in front and thus began my jazz hand trek through Romeo and Juliets midterm debates (now with authentic accents)
Not wanting a repeat of The Attic, I decided to go in again the following day.

The next time I went in, that didn't happen and I quite enjoyed it, the actors were good (even the cheerleader managed to scare me) and it was funny watching the people in front fall for the fake tunnel and the chainsaw was a huge improvement over that weird gift shop thing from previous years. The only real issue with it was the story...its just sh*t!

So out of ALL the skin snatchers, they chose the fat one, the ONLY one that is completely unworkable!
In case you didn't catch it, all the random, average build guys in gas masks, they are ALL meant to be Tiny, the morbidly obese one that the pre show makes a point of stating is morbidly obese...its stupid!

If this returns for next year, then they should definitely make some changes to the story.
Maybe in the preshow, the officer could say that his colleagues have just entered the mine and then radios in to inform them of your intrusion, once he gets through, they describe what they are seeing over the radio, they say that they can see lots of gym equipment and that they can see someone using it, upon trying to arrest the person, a fight is heard before one of them shouts, "Its Tiny, he's...we...ack up now..." maybe then have the officer run into the mine to assist, and once the officer is gone, Tiny emerges from the mine and sends everyone in.
Then replace the lift scene(since its not being used) with a gym and 2 dead police officers.
I really think they should do this because it establishes that Tiny has lost weight, therefore fixing the issue of none of the actors being "a big fat giant of a man" and establishing Tiny as more of a credible threat rather than just that one joke character from skin snatchers. Hell, why not replace the sewing room with a makeshift factory where he has some stolen industrial equipment to make flawless skin suits/masks, then they can get rid of the gas mask thing and have Tiny use those as disguises, he is a Skin Snatcher after all!


The Invitation
Terrible as last year, now with an out of place shuffel past a cartoon vampire.

You know that moment when your in a scare maze and an actor scares the person in front of you, makes eye contact with you for a split second and then jumps out and scares the person behind you... thats this entire attraction, just sitting in a dark room on the worlds most uncomfortable chair with nothing to look at while listening to a vampire interact with other people...
And the script is shockingly bad!

Why is the haunted burial chamber attraction about vampires instead of evil spirits?
Why do those vampires talk like Count Dracula but look like common yobs? Why are they humiliatingly stuck in a cage?
Why do they panickedly lock themselves back up as soon as the lights come back on?
And why is there an entire full minute of someone stomping around on gravel with zero dialogue?!
If this was opposite day, I would say its finger-licking good...

Obviously this needs to go away next year, the fact that it even returned this year is unforgivable, its not scary, the chairs are actually painful and its just plain BORING!

I also did Daz Games on the 25th...

Daz Games
It was the most fun I have ever had in a scare maze!
I actually went in a 2nd time because I enjoyed it so much, and I was shocked at how much bigger the maze felt the 2nd time around!

I liked how the actors changed into clowns, I don't know how they did it but it was really cool, I personally prefer the standard mode as its more chaotic and scary but I get why the clown mode exists, (its to tone it down slightly and use brighter lighting to help people navigate and find the symbols), I can't talk about what happens after clown mode as I escaped around the 5 min mark both times.

If this returns next year AS IT SHOULD!!! I think it desperately needs one change, after you escape, there needs to be two doors in the exit hallway, one to exit the maze, and one labeled "Spectator Mode" which leads back into the maze so you can still enjoy the maze until time runs out.
Another change I would make is to have the maze be further back into the building and have the three doors in the preshow lead to a linear path (like the exit hallway) and end in a hole to crawl through (preferably with "hold ctrl to crouch" written above it) then after everyone has gone through, seal the holes with a black panel, (so as to be invisible in the darkness) this would mean they don't have to have the staff awkwardly standing there preventing people from wandering back into the preshow.

Lastly, I'm not sure what happens when time runs out but I assume its just that the AI says you are dead/been deleted or something then all the actors leave and the staff kick you out, I hope that's not the case but if it is, then I think its unacceptable!
Just because you failed to escape (especially since the attraction was designed to make it hard) thats no excuse for an unsatisfying ending, what I think should happen instead is that Daz, comes on the loud speaker saying that he found a way to manually override the game, prompting the AI to say "there can be no escape" or something to that effect, then have the lights start flashing green in a sequence that makes a trail to the exit while the actors go on a rampage, maybe even bring out a few chainsaws, while making sure to only position themselves behind guests so as to only chase them TOWARDS the exit.

Bad run on Altonville aside, the actual mazes seemed better in general this year.


Also, can someone tell me what happens when you run out of time in Daz Games?
Glad you enjoyed Panic. Even though I found it too much and had to come out early I do think it was very good and definitely should return next year. I also want it to return Just to spite TPWW and other "vloggers" who didn't like the idea from the start and have only said negative things about it. 😛🤦‍♂️
 
I also want it to return Just to spite TPWW and other "vloggers" who didn't like the idea from the start and have only said negative things about it. 😛🤦‍♂️
I’m a massive fan of using spite to motivate, but hope if Panic returns next year all the YouTuber stuff is excised. The pre show is weapons grade cringe
 
I’m a massive fan of using spite to motivate, but hope if Panic returns next year all the YouTuber stuff is excised. The pre show is weapons grade cringe
Yes the preshow needs shortening, and the Daz branding should be dropped.
 
Yes the preshow needs shortening, and the Daz branding should be dropped.
I actually like the Daz tie-in, and the preshow, while I'm not a fan of Daz's content, I have genuinely seen YouTube videos exactly like the preshow (minus the evil AI obviously) where there's a new trendy AI (Cleverbot for example) and they experiment with it despite being obviously clueless, the preshow feels genuine and relatable in a way I havent really seen before.

I even like the theming, its not "well themed" in the traditional sense but it accomplishes what it tries to do beautifully, its meant to look like one of those procedurally generated horror games that these types of youtubers often play (Dread Halls for example) and the chainlink fences are a really effective way of making the maze both confusing yet fair.
I have played those types of procedurally generated horror games before and I was able to get a rough idea of where I was going the same way I could in those types of games, you can reasonably "GET GUD" as it were!

(I realise it would have made more sense to quote Max rather than Skyscraper but too late now, oh well...)
 
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