Friday 18th
Arrived into the park about 5.30pm after a long drive up from down South to be greeted with loads of poplice and security at the entrance. That can only mean one thing, and sure enough, once inside the park it was nothing but wall to wall extreme eyebrows, hair styles and bad taste in clothing (as well as manners).
Opted to do some of the mazes first so headed for Darkest Depths, The Attic, Project 42 and Altonville Mines. Thankfully, we didnt get batched with any travelers, who were going through with security staff. Not sure what happened in one of the mazes but police were in abundance as were paramedics so your guess is as good as mine.
Maze reviews in the Scarefest thread but overall the run throughs with the except of P42 were excellent, particularly as for some mazes we were either just in a group of two, or 6 at the most given they were quiet. As for rides, Wickerman in the dark, in the wet very back row.... what more can be said except wow. It was like another ride. Absolutely insane. Nemesis front row in the dark, great apart from some very bright white lights in the area. Had to have a go in Duel of course as walked past it and its sad to see the state this once great ride is now in. Really needs some money spending on it.
Left about 8.30 as needed to get back to the hotel. Got the car park to find travelers all around the cars with police running back and forth after them. Was a nice evening but felt glad to get away. Was a bit worried about what Saturday would have in store.....
Saturday 19th
Thankfully, no travelers, or very few anyway as I did spot the odd few. Weather was kind to us as well. Did the usual rides, WM, Oblivion, Nemmie, Galactica, Duel, Rita etc. Forgot how good Rita was in the dark. Did the scare mazes again which were not as good as last night. Not sure if it was because the groups were bigger, but there seemed to be less actors, and in the Attic some of the actors seemed unprepared for us, particularly as we caught up with the group in front.
Didnt do Sub Species last night so did it tonight. Overall wasnt too impressed. Just felt like walking through lots of random black corridors, little themeing, not many actors, walking through a dark room with a tiny white flashing strobe, and a guy in an alien outfit just sorta sat in a corridor doing very little. If it wasnt for the guy with the chainsaw at the end then it would have been totally useless. Maybe we had a bad run through as others have found it quite intense but I wouldnt mind if this maze was dropped for next year.
Spent more of the day looking at the Scarefest additions, such as the floating ghosts by the skyride station which I loved, and the dancing skeletons in the house window. While lighting has been improved around the park, there were areas where there was a lot of white light, such as infront of Duel and around the Rita area. I do appreciate the park needs to have some lighting so people dont trip up and sue them for millions of pounds but the white light did impact on some areas.
As usual, the lighting on the towers themselves was great. As I mentioned in the scarefest topic, the park really does need a scarezone, and I was annoyed to see effort has gone in to putting up a huge screen, and lighting along where Freak Show was in order to advertise the new David Walliams area. A little bit more effort and they could have recreated Freak Show again this year in that spot.
Finally, we did the dungeons again today. Had a ticket for 1.45 and got in at 2.35. Run through was good and pretty much the same as the first time I went in it, though I found the ending a bit less intense this time. Came out after 50 minutes. While it was ok, the problem here is that on days when the park is on reduced hours, that potentially a huge chunk of your day gone. Not sure how long the Dungeons have got in the park but obviously its staying another year given its included in next years season pass.
Sunday 20th
Needed to head back home but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning, so I got into the park very very early and got on to Wickerman 2nd train out. Beautiful blue skies and had a great ride. Followed this up on Nemesis which was walk on and had a wander back to the car park. Driving out at 11am the queue of cars to get in was all the way down to Alton old station. Its great to see the park is on the up again, but hope that Merlin recognise that with these additional guests come the additional need for more flat rides and attractions to soak up the queues. Hopefully next year we may see something back where Ripsaw was, or a replacement for Blade, or even Submission.
Overall we had a good weekend in the park. Scarefest this year was definitely better than last year but still not as good as the past. Great to see Wickerman with its lighting effects and the flame effects really show off this great ride in the night. Little additions like the ghosts also helped increase the park atmosphere and I hope things like this continue.
Noticed there is huge amount of empty space in fountain square where the football game once stood and thought they should have put the Trick or Treat stage back here again this year, or maybe a childrens walk through (not so scary) scare maze... after all Darkest Depths was (I thought) quite scary for the little ones. Bunting was a nice addition, but surely something can be done with that area.
However, good to see additional efforts being made and hopefully this continues in to next year.
Arrived into the park about 5.30pm after a long drive up from down South to be greeted with loads of poplice and security at the entrance. That can only mean one thing, and sure enough, once inside the park it was nothing but wall to wall extreme eyebrows, hair styles and bad taste in clothing (as well as manners).
Opted to do some of the mazes first so headed for Darkest Depths, The Attic, Project 42 and Altonville Mines. Thankfully, we didnt get batched with any travelers, who were going through with security staff. Not sure what happened in one of the mazes but police were in abundance as were paramedics so your guess is as good as mine.
Maze reviews in the Scarefest thread but overall the run throughs with the except of P42 were excellent, particularly as for some mazes we were either just in a group of two, or 6 at the most given they were quiet. As for rides, Wickerman in the dark, in the wet very back row.... what more can be said except wow. It was like another ride. Absolutely insane. Nemesis front row in the dark, great apart from some very bright white lights in the area. Had to have a go in Duel of course as walked past it and its sad to see the state this once great ride is now in. Really needs some money spending on it.
Left about 8.30 as needed to get back to the hotel. Got the car park to find travelers all around the cars with police running back and forth after them. Was a nice evening but felt glad to get away. Was a bit worried about what Saturday would have in store.....
Saturday 19th
Thankfully, no travelers, or very few anyway as I did spot the odd few. Weather was kind to us as well. Did the usual rides, WM, Oblivion, Nemmie, Galactica, Duel, Rita etc. Forgot how good Rita was in the dark. Did the scare mazes again which were not as good as last night. Not sure if it was because the groups were bigger, but there seemed to be less actors, and in the Attic some of the actors seemed unprepared for us, particularly as we caught up with the group in front.
Didnt do Sub Species last night so did it tonight. Overall wasnt too impressed. Just felt like walking through lots of random black corridors, little themeing, not many actors, walking through a dark room with a tiny white flashing strobe, and a guy in an alien outfit just sorta sat in a corridor doing very little. If it wasnt for the guy with the chainsaw at the end then it would have been totally useless. Maybe we had a bad run through as others have found it quite intense but I wouldnt mind if this maze was dropped for next year.
Spent more of the day looking at the Scarefest additions, such as the floating ghosts by the skyride station which I loved, and the dancing skeletons in the house window. While lighting has been improved around the park, there were areas where there was a lot of white light, such as infront of Duel and around the Rita area. I do appreciate the park needs to have some lighting so people dont trip up and sue them for millions of pounds but the white light did impact on some areas.
As usual, the lighting on the towers themselves was great. As I mentioned in the scarefest topic, the park really does need a scarezone, and I was annoyed to see effort has gone in to putting up a huge screen, and lighting along where Freak Show was in order to advertise the new David Walliams area. A little bit more effort and they could have recreated Freak Show again this year in that spot.
Finally, we did the dungeons again today. Had a ticket for 1.45 and got in at 2.35. Run through was good and pretty much the same as the first time I went in it, though I found the ending a bit less intense this time. Came out after 50 minutes. While it was ok, the problem here is that on days when the park is on reduced hours, that potentially a huge chunk of your day gone. Not sure how long the Dungeons have got in the park but obviously its staying another year given its included in next years season pass.
Sunday 20th
Needed to head back home but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning, so I got into the park very very early and got on to Wickerman 2nd train out. Beautiful blue skies and had a great ride. Followed this up on Nemesis which was walk on and had a wander back to the car park. Driving out at 11am the queue of cars to get in was all the way down to Alton old station. Its great to see the park is on the up again, but hope that Merlin recognise that with these additional guests come the additional need for more flat rides and attractions to soak up the queues. Hopefully next year we may see something back where Ripsaw was, or a replacement for Blade, or even Submission.
Overall we had a good weekend in the park. Scarefest this year was definitely better than last year but still not as good as the past. Great to see Wickerman with its lighting effects and the flame effects really show off this great ride in the night. Little additions like the ghosts also helped increase the park atmosphere and I hope things like this continue.
Noticed there is huge amount of empty space in fountain square where the football game once stood and thought they should have put the Trick or Treat stage back here again this year, or maybe a childrens walk through (not so scary) scare maze... after all Darkest Depths was (I thought) quite scary for the little ones. Bunting was a nice addition, but surely something can be done with that area.
However, good to see additional efforts being made and hopefully this continues in to next year.
