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Scarefest 2023

Pleasantly surprised by Scarefest this year after visiting yesterday.

There's still room for improvement, but it feels like decent steps have been taken to shift it from the stale obligatory Halloween token event it has desceneded into over recent years.

The changes to Mine Tour are far more substantial than I anticipated and made it feel worth the cost. This has likely extended its lifespan by another few years, which in its new guise isn't necessarily a terrible thing.

As much as I dislike the fact Towers have slapped an IP on a scare attraction, the concept of Panic is great. Plenty of scope for variations to this in years to come. The only downside for me is that I was concentrating far too much on finding the icons to be even remotely phased by any of the actors or scares. I feel for the people who hand over all the cash to be out in less than a minute though!

Burial Grounds is an excellent free addition for the most part, and feels like a good quality investment for the next few years to come. A good number of actors, with the only downside being the jarring exit out onto a crowded floodlit path.

Disappointed that the lighting package on Alty Mans at night doesn't appear to be as good as it was in March. Whilst the changes inside were great, there feels like a missed opportunity here to really have it stand out.

On that point, lighting across the park still remains a weak point. Whilst some areas are great (the Katanga to Gloomy pathway, the Towers and the walkway to Mutiny Bay bridge), the over zealous use of bright white flood lighting elsewhere is abysmal.

Also why was nothing done with Nemesis? After such a good build up so far over the year, this feels like a real flat spot. We exited via Forbidden Valley last night and that area of the park just felt utterly soulless.
 
Really enjoyed Burial Grounds, this is what we need more of.

I think in its refreshed guise, Mine Tours can be left alone a little longer to allow for other additions. Darkest Depths I think has another few years in it, and Attic could do with a refresh.

I would take additional scare zones in favour of any new mazes next year. The number of repeat visitors is probably quite small, so the priority in my opinion should be expanding the event.

I would reduce the ents to just CBeebies and Ancestors. I hate to say it but the stage shows just don’t work in their current guise. The show is too quiet when you’re close up (you can hear every step the dancers take), and then isn’t visually impressive to watch from further away. Even on a busy Saturday there can’t have been more than 50 people watching, so the budget should really be used elsewhere, take the stage down early and that also leaves extra space for fireworks !
 
Danny said:
Also why was nothing done with Nemesis? After such a good build up so far over the year, this feels like a real flat spot. We exited via Forbidden Valley last night and that area of the park just felt utterly soulless.
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Completely agree here, I popped in on Friday evening and headed up to the observation gallery to see the Nemesis site all lit up and saw ... nothing. A real lost opportunity, they should be doing everything they can to build up excitement for its grand reopening next year.
 
Went this weekend. Was a nice atmosphere and great to see all the lighting across the park. Curse looked amazing with all the mist from the queue line covering the nearby footpaths.

As for the mazes

Invitation we did first. What a waste of time. Absolutely rubbish. Felt annoyed we had paid for that. Needed a decent ending which they could have done easily by copying the vampire scene at the end of terror of the towers.

Alton like mine tours. Not as good as previous years. Needed the music back at the entrance to give the queue line some atmosphere. Lots of empty space towards the end of the maze with no actors. Should be removed for next year.

Attic again was good like prior years but quite large groups going through. Lack of any decent ending and spaces again where actors were not present. Was ok but again should be removed for next year.

Darkest depths was the best of all the paid mazes I thought. Lots of actors and jump scares all the way through. Good theming and the smell inside urgh. Ending was funny though.

Burial grounds however was the stand out maze, very atmospheric at night, lots of jump scares, really good. Excellent addition.

Next year they need to keep the free maze and have some totally new paid mazes. The existing line up should not return next year it’s run its course.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
Completely agree here, I popped in on Friday evening and headed up to the observation gallery to see the Nemesis site all lit up and saw ... nothing. A real lost opportunity, they should be doing everything they can to build up excitement for its grand reopening next year.
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I also agree, it's a massive missed opportunity for the park to promote Nemmy's impending return. Even just some actors interacting with guests about the investigation would have been nice.
 
Forgot to add about the food vans on the lawns, the staff in the burger van are incredibly helpful. They had gluten free bread rolls and were aware of the allergens in all the foods.

The Laugh and Scream lager despite saying it’s gluten free on the various news websites I was informed it isn’t by staff in the bar. They showed me a photo of a sticker on top of the keg which said it contained gluten containing ingredients.

It could be a sticker used regardless what’s inside the keg but those who can’t have gluten might want to be aware of this.
 
They would have been better off with a Theme Park Worldwide-themed escape room. The promotion would have been more targeted to theme park visitors, and to non-enthusiasts, a hell of a lot more scary.
 
Just come back from a day at scarefest today, honestly we enjoy this event every year but the day was really spoiled for us today. We usually stay til 9 but had to leave at 6 because the queue jumping and overall atmosphere was awful. Anti social behaviour absolutely everywhere just ruining the vibe totally, police everywhere, screaming and being overly loud and hysterical in queues.

I saw a couple kids get measured for the smiler on their tip toes and the guy at the station didn't clock so they got on under the height limit. Have to say as well Mine Tours was the only decent maze this year, didn't find many actors in Darkest Depths or The Attic, very disappointed unfortunately!
 
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karlrichings said:
Just come back from a day at scarefest today, honestly we enjoy this event every year but the day was really spoiled for us today. We usually stay til 9 but had to leave at 6 because the queue jumping and overall atmosphere was awful. Anti social behaviour absolutely everywhere just ruining the vibe totally, police everywhere, screaming and being overly loud and hysterical in queues.

I saw a couple kids get measured for the smiler on their tip toes and the guy at the station didn't clock so they got on under the height limit. Have to say as well Mine Tours was the only decent maze this year, didn't find many actors in Darkest Depths or The Attic, very disappointed unfortunately!
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tbh i wouldn't be shocked if he did notice but didn't want abuse hurled at him
i know it's part of the job but today was a special case
 
Was crazy busy yesterday. I didn’t expect it to be as bad as it was. Still had fun but yeah certain guests did spoil it. One guy in the 13 queue got threatened cause he had to audacity to stop them pushing in. And it kicked off in X Sector around 5pm ish. Didn’t see much else so wasn’t as bad as years gone by I don’t think.
 
Scarefest 2023: 🎃🎃🎃

This was my first visit to Scarefest at Alton Towers since 2019 so I was very excited to go!

Unfortunately in those four years, 3 of the 4 mazes are still the same. Whilst the theming is still amazing in all the attractions (I don’t count The Invitation in this 😂), it is all very same old, same old.
There was a severe lack of actors throughout and everything felt very stale.

It says it all when the oldest maze there (Mine Tours) is still the best. I absolutely pooped my pants in there and proper screamed at one point 🤣

Rides in the dark were still the highlight and it was still a great day. Don’t think I’ll be returning though unless a major overhaul is had.

Final ratings:
Altonville Mine Tours: 🎃🎃🎃🎃
Burial Grounds: 🎃🎃🎃
Darkest Depths: 🎃🎃
The Attic: 🎃🎃
The Invitation: 🎃
 
CoventryBee said:
Scarefest 2023: 🎃🎃🎃

This was my first visit to Scarefest at Alton Towers since 2019 so I was very excited to go!

Unfortunately in those four years, 3 of the 4 mazes are still the same. Whilst the theming is still amazing in all the attractions (I don’t count The Invitation in this 😂), it is all very same old, same old.
There was a severe lack of actors throughout and everything felt very stale.

It says it all when the oldest maze there (Mine Tours) is still the best. I absolutely pooped my pants in there and proper screamed at one point 🤣

Rides in the dark were still the highlight and it was still a great day. Don’t think I’ll be returning though unless a major overhaul is had.

Final ratings:
Altonville Mine Tours: 🎃🎃🎃🎃
Burial Grounds: 🎃🎃🎃
Darkest Depths: 🎃🎃
The Attic: 🎃🎃
The Invitation: 🎃
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I'm glad that you liked AVMT. I'm assuming that the actors were on good form. It wasn't great when I went on opening weekend.
 
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