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Scarefest 2024

I feel darkest depths was a good balance of a family scare maze ticking all boxes for nearly all to enjoy without limiting its audience down to far.

Trick O treat town is great for its target audience but I don’t feel the park should have gone ahead with thr new maze Amigos maze to be honest, It needs to focus on fixing and refreshing the currently line up without pushing anyone over 16 away. It didn’t have the budget this year for this and with using actors, they could have Trick O treat town an Amigos Overlay. Do small kids really care that much they survived before and I don’t really see any other parks doing this for Halloween?

Again I’m not saying don’t do family mazes as Darkest depth was a fantastic Addition, but Halloween isn’t aimed at young kids at most theme parks for a reason I believe?

Having Trick O treat town and a family maze to cater for everyone alongside the character meets and stage shows would have more than sufficient in my eyes.
 
Plenty of parks with the family market put a Halloween overlay on in keeping with said market.

Some do both. Europa being a prime example. Plopsaland and Toverland have both as well over the day.

Family mazes require a bit more effort to work correctly. As what minimum age limit do you go for? What scares some kids might do nothing for another the same age. Chessie seemed to have a decent balance of it for a while but it's probably just "easier" to have all the mazes be scary with minimal nuance involved.
 
I meant you dont really see scare mazes for kiddies. Universal don’t and I don’t think even Disney do it but correct me if I’m wrong? Places like Dayton and Chessington have stopped doing them, I just feel one at towers would have been enough as they have the shows and character greets. Then they utilize actors elsewhere and prioritize replacing Attic & Mines? Maybe a Halloween puppet show would have been sufficient for the audience Afterlife gets which they could have done in CBeebies.

Afterlife could have been more like Dungeons and Goblins and could have gone down the “Darkest Depths” family maze age range, just so more People can do it rather than limit there audience so much.
 
TBoy535 said:
Afterlife could have been more like Dungeons and Goblins and could have gone down the “Darkest Depths” family maze age range, just so more People can do it rather than limit there audience so much.
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I understand what you mean, but it isn’t limiting any audience, it’s giving another option to an entire audience that already exists.
 
Hi! New here but a long-time reader.

I wanted to share my thoughts on Scarefest as someone who experienced it for the first time earlier this week. (For context, I've only visited AT a handful of times since my first trip in 2004, mainly due to living a 5-6 hour drive away.)

We went through all the scare mazes twice — once on Tuesday and then again on Wednesday.

The Attic was brilliant and definitely the best maze! It’s now one of my favourite scare mazes anywhere (I’ve done Thorpe’s Fright Nights, Tulleys, and a few others around the world). The theming, length, set design, and atmosphere were spot-on. It felt especially creepy being inside the Towers. There were plenty of actors, and as someone who’s not easily jump-scared, they managed to get me a few times. Both runs were great. I’ve seen people saying they want this maze replaced… WHY?!

Compound was okay. It’s similar to Survival Games at Thorpe, but a bit better thanks to more theming. My second run was better than the first because by then, I knew where the exit was and could avoid it for a longer experience. I’m not a fan of free-flowing mazes in general, as sometimes you get directed out too quickly (which happened on my first run). There were plenty of actors, but it lacked a strong finale.

Altonville Mine Tours had a good setting, but it seemed to be lacking in actors. The characters inside didn’t do much beyond generic ‘Get me out of here!’ lines, and the masked ones just stood still. It has potential, but it needs tweaking. Also, the chainsaw finale should be indoors!

Daz Games was more enjoyable than I expected on the first run (despite an excruciatingly long wait in the first shipping container room). I’ve never heard of Daz, and he didn’t add anything to the experience, but the concept was different, and I had fun despite the lack of sets. On the second run, I found my symbols quickly and got out in 2 minutes, so I imagine it gets less fun the more you do it.

Burial Grounds was fantastic for a free attraction. As a guy over 6ft, I’m usually not intimidated by actors, but a few of the actors in here were big guys and were quite threatening! The way they run at you with weapons is intense—in a good way. More attractions like this would be great!

General thoughts. I enjoyed Scarefest a little more than Fright Nights at Thorpe (which I’ve done a couple of times). The Towers setting really adds to it. Some of the park’s lighting was excellent, though the temporary generators looked poor. There should’ve been more roaming actors, especially in Haunted Hollow; not having any there felt like a missed opportunity. Also, with the 8pm close and long queues, it was hard to plan time for night rides since it didn’t get properly dark until 7pm. An extra hour would have made a big difference!

Anyway, those are my first impressions. I imagine a lot of posters here are regular visitors, so I hope this offers an interesting perspective!
 
Interesting review. I always think the quality of the mazes isn't disputed; everyone agrees that Attic & Mine Tours are top drawer. But it's just the length of time they've been here now; is it 8/9 years?
 
PhalanaxOperativeA1127 said:
Interesting review. I always think the quality of the mazes isn't disputed; everyone agrees that Attic & Mine Tours are top drawer. But it's just the length of time they've been here now; is it 8/9 years?
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I’ve not been in a proper scare maze but from the outside this common Towers Street complaint seems a little odd.

People go on the same rides for decades that they enjoy so why is there an expectation for mazes to regularly update, especially if they are very popular?

Adding a new one whilst retaining some that work well seems like a good balance from the parks perspective.

Is the difference that once you know the outcome it’s not as enjoyable? Films etc are still enjoyable on a second viewing, especially if experienced infrequently or with different people.

Suppose it’s only an issue if you are attending annually (or more)?
 
Bowser said:
I’ve not been in a proper scare maze but from the outside this common Towers Street complaint seems a little odd.

People go on the same rides for decades that they enjoy so why is there an expectation for mazes to regularly update, especially if they are very popular?

Adding a new one whilst retaining some that work well seems like a good balance from the parks perspective.

Is the difference that once you know the outcome it’s not as enjoyable? Films etc are still enjoyable on a second viewing, especially if experienced infrequently or with different people.

Suppose it’s only an issue if you are attending annually (or more)?
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I think it's down to the fact that the mazes cost about £8 for one go only and for everything else at the park it's unlimited.

If the mazes were free or had unlimited run-throughs for the £8 or was the cost of another on-park attraction say, £1 (ticket price on average £40 and with 40 attractions that's £1 an attraction) then I think the argument for the mazes being on the park too long is weaker and people may not complain as much.

For £8, people expect (rightly or wrongly) that the maze line up should remain fresh and therefore mazes should last only for 2 or 3 seasons maximum.
 
Steve74 said:
I think it's down to the fact that the mazes cost about £8 for one go only and for everything else at the park it's unlimited.

If the mazes were free or had unlimited run-throughs for the £8 or was the cost of another on-park attraction say, £1 (ticket price on average £40 and with 40 attractions that's £1 an attraction) then I think the argument for the mazes being on the park too long is weaker and people may not complain as much.

For £8, people expect (rightly or wrongly) that the maze line up should remain fresh and therefore mazes should last only for 2 or 3 seasons maximum.
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But then if you know it's the same you don't have to pay for it? Just pay for the ones you want to go in?

Suppose i'm wondering if this is a more generalised viewpoint or an enthusiast one!

Perhaps The Dungeon would be the closest equivalent as presumably the upcharges exist mostly due to the staff levels required though obviously it would be unreasonable for a ride system to be updated every 2 to 3 years.
 
Do the mazes get large queues in the evening? I waited max 5/10 mins last Sunday…I can remember during 2011ish you would have to wait for ages, although could this be because they were free back then?
 
Very busy this weekend (I don't blame them for this I knew it would be), didn't get a huge number of rides in due to crowds and the fact that rides where running on low capacity or just broken (which I do blame them for), think this point has been made a million times now.

Wasn't super impressed with the event after popping over to fright nights a few times. The highlight was compound which was good fun if not particularly scary, it was a nice set but I don't find these arena based mazes very scary. Daz is very lame, I honestly preferred the invitation. Attic and mine tours seemed pretty similar and didn't really offer much from a few years ago. I only really have the first two ToTT to compare to for mazes in the area and I was much younger, but they seemed longer and more spooky (feels a shame they aren't utilising that environment with a gothic theme, it's the main advantage they have over Thorpe). I enjoyed burial grounds but I do think it needs a bit more going on, it's definitely a bit weaker than the crows. Getting a front row ride in nemesis in the dark was a real highlight and frankly saved the trip. Dueling on the smiler was also fun. The food stands on the lawns where also really poor quality for the price.

Fright nights was a much stronger event this year and stiches is leaps and bounds ahead of all the other mazes I've done this year.
 
Visited Scarefest yesterday - I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s the worst scarefest ever- there were definitely some enjoyable moments.

Mazes
I think perhaps our experiences in the mazes were affected by what day it was. I was walking through quite a few and barely saw any actors.

Daz games
I thought the pre show bit was so much faff and very cringey - especially when you don’t have any clue who this Daz man is. All in all same as last year- fences in the hospitality suite with some strobes. Couldn’t for the life of me find my final symbol as well!

Mine tours
Really liked the first actor and the writing was very funny - “those teenagers were fuc— having fun!”. The lack of actors was noticeable as well and I spent most of it walking around waiting for a scare!

Attic
The themeing is good on this one however found the first actor very weak. He started his script before we had all come into the room so could barely hear and grasp the story. Not many changes from last year and less actors in the finale.

Compound
This was my favourite of all. I loved being split up from my group and doing most of the maze alone. However I did get pushed out quite quickly and was led on a shorter route. Screaming seek the truth at the actors also gave them something to play off as well which was a giggle. Loved the first room on this. Also think this space has got a lot of potential for future mazes- looking forward to what they do in future years with this.

Burial Grounds
Not many changes on this from last year but I do think it is still a really strong offering for a free maze.

Shows
Sat down and watched two of the shows. The Sin Bin show was actually amazing- the pyrotechnics really made it and the dancers were very good. Some of it at the start gave me GCSE drama VIBES but got a lot better as the show went on!

Overall not the worst scarefest ever but think the park wide atmosphere needs to be improved- more roaming actors and maybe mini stages like Mardi Gras? Wish there were more actors in the mazes but understand because of the day why there may not have been so many. Looking forward to seeing what they do next year when, if what I’ve heard is correct, they move the rest of the mazes out of the towers.
 
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