Charlie1910
TS Member
Annual Scarefest Trip 2023
As I always lurk on the boards, I thought it was only fair to give something back and do a TR from our Scarefest visit on 26th October
After a rather wet and uninviting walk to the entrance, we got on site at 10:30am, we thought the decorations and theming down Towers Street was very good, and there were actors at the bottom adding to the atmosphere.
We did notice that the electronic times board did have a number of rides “Closed” (Oblivion, Smiler, 13 and Rita) we headed straight over to Wickerman which had a 40 minute queue. As good as ever that ride and 40 minutes was very accurate,
Next, as Galactica only had a 50 minute queue, and we didn’t ride it last year due to its many breakdowns, we decided to jump on whole it was open….a continuing trend as we got to the entrance and….it Closed!
Next up was Funk “n” Fly, which we did enjoy, and as much as the staff member was doing his best, only having one staff member to open the fast track gate, open the standard queue gate, load everyone, check support harness, start the ride, unload the safety rail and repeat….takes way to long!!! Very, Very slow throughput! Only 100 ish in the queue, but still 45 minutes to get on the ride!
Couple of runs on the classic Blade next as they were walk on,, good as ever, and really lovely team member running it.
Course of Alton Manor next, 25 minute queue line, first time for us all since the upgrade. We actually really enjoyed this, and thought it was a vast improvement since Dual. We even had a couple of jump scares too! We thought the queue line was well themed and there was a couple of scare actors outside which added to the area. Thumbs up from us!
After consulting the AT App, Galatica was showing a 60 minute queue, back over to Forbidden Valley……Ahhhhhh, Closed again on arrival! We was certainly getting out steps (And a lot of unnecessary ones in today!)
Back down to Katanga Canyon and we jumped on the Rapids with a pretty much walk on queue. Great to see the waterfalls back on!
While we was here, we did the RMT, 45 minute queue.
Another check on the AT App……Galactica has re-opened……90 minute queue……No Thanks!
It was around 2pm at this point, and we decided to head over to X Sector, although Smiler and Oblivion was still down.
We had a pretty much walk on Spin Jam and Twistathon, both was enjoyed, and the throughput seemed a lot quicker than experienced earlier in the day!
The Smiler was testing when we came off and soon opened, and one of our group wanted to ride the Smiler, so they went single rider which was a 45 minute queue, while the rest went for Coffee!
DW world next, as we wanted to ride Fabio’s Fandango?! As it only had a 10 minute queue, Strike 3…..gets to the entrance and “Closed”……..Ahhhhhhh, let’s go get some food!
We headed over to Dark Forest and we ate from the Grab “n” Go. 2x Chips and 2x Chicken Tikka Wraps, although there was a bit of a wait, they were a big thumbs up from us!
Stomach’s full, we headed to 13 with a 55 minute queue. This was actually more 30 minutes, and I was regretting the wrap and chips at this point! Brilliant as ever!
Rita was showing a 85 minute queue, and time was ticking on, so we opted against riding as there was only one train, we headed to Spinball Whizzer with a 40 minute queue. WOW!!!! The ride was ROUGH!!! Enjoyable….but Jeez!!!!!!
Time was approaching 7pm and we all said we fancied another Wickerman ride! So we headed off with an 80 minute queue time. A slight 10 minute delay, but we was on in 90 minutes. WOW….Rode like a dream as ever! Always a fantastic ride at night!
We came off at just before 9, so headed off to Burial Grounds. No myself and one other in our group do not do “Scary Stuff”. We go to Scarefest purely on the extra opening hours, we were very apprehensive of doing this, we did though after a bit of pushing! I hated it! BUT, we was impressed with this free attraction. The actors and theming were great, and we thought it was a great addition to 2023.
Ride Count: 13
Wickerman x2
Funk n Fly x1
The Blade x2
Curse of Alton x1
RMT x1
Rapids x1
Spin Jam x1
Twistathon x1
The Smiler x1
Thirteen x1
Spinball Whizzer x1
As I always lurk on the boards, I thought it was only fair to give something back and do a TR from our Scarefest visit on 26th October
After a rather wet and uninviting walk to the entrance, we got on site at 10:30am, we thought the decorations and theming down Towers Street was very good, and there were actors at the bottom adding to the atmosphere.
We did notice that the electronic times board did have a number of rides “Closed” (Oblivion, Smiler, 13 and Rita) we headed straight over to Wickerman which had a 40 minute queue. As good as ever that ride and 40 minutes was very accurate,
Next, as Galactica only had a 50 minute queue, and we didn’t ride it last year due to its many breakdowns, we decided to jump on whole it was open….a continuing trend as we got to the entrance and….it Closed!
Next up was Funk “n” Fly, which we did enjoy, and as much as the staff member was doing his best, only having one staff member to open the fast track gate, open the standard queue gate, load everyone, check support harness, start the ride, unload the safety rail and repeat….takes way to long!!! Very, Very slow throughput! Only 100 ish in the queue, but still 45 minutes to get on the ride!
Couple of runs on the classic Blade next as they were walk on,, good as ever, and really lovely team member running it.
Course of Alton Manor next, 25 minute queue line, first time for us all since the upgrade. We actually really enjoyed this, and thought it was a vast improvement since Dual. We even had a couple of jump scares too! We thought the queue line was well themed and there was a couple of scare actors outside which added to the area. Thumbs up from us!
After consulting the AT App, Galatica was showing a 60 minute queue, back over to Forbidden Valley……Ahhhhhh, Closed again on arrival! We was certainly getting out steps (And a lot of unnecessary ones in today!)
Back down to Katanga Canyon and we jumped on the Rapids with a pretty much walk on queue. Great to see the waterfalls back on!
While we was here, we did the RMT, 45 minute queue.
Another check on the AT App……Galactica has re-opened……90 minute queue……No Thanks!
It was around 2pm at this point, and we decided to head over to X Sector, although Smiler and Oblivion was still down.
We had a pretty much walk on Spin Jam and Twistathon, both was enjoyed, and the throughput seemed a lot quicker than experienced earlier in the day!
The Smiler was testing when we came off and soon opened, and one of our group wanted to ride the Smiler, so they went single rider which was a 45 minute queue, while the rest went for Coffee!
DW world next, as we wanted to ride Fabio’s Fandango?! As it only had a 10 minute queue, Strike 3…..gets to the entrance and “Closed”……..Ahhhhhhh, let’s go get some food!
We headed over to Dark Forest and we ate from the Grab “n” Go. 2x Chips and 2x Chicken Tikka Wraps, although there was a bit of a wait, they were a big thumbs up from us!
Stomach’s full, we headed to 13 with a 55 minute queue. This was actually more 30 minutes, and I was regretting the wrap and chips at this point! Brilliant as ever!
Rita was showing a 85 minute queue, and time was ticking on, so we opted against riding as there was only one train, we headed to Spinball Whizzer with a 40 minute queue. WOW!!!! The ride was ROUGH!!! Enjoyable….but Jeez!!!!!!
Time was approaching 7pm and we all said we fancied another Wickerman ride! So we headed off with an 80 minute queue time. A slight 10 minute delay, but we was on in 90 minutes. WOW….Rode like a dream as ever! Always a fantastic ride at night!
We came off at just before 9, so headed off to Burial Grounds. No myself and one other in our group do not do “Scary Stuff”. We go to Scarefest purely on the extra opening hours, we were very apprehensive of doing this, we did though after a bit of pushing! I hated it! BUT, we was impressed with this free attraction. The actors and theming were great, and we thought it was a great addition to 2023.
Ride Count: 13
Wickerman x2
Funk n Fly x1
The Blade x2
Curse of Alton x1
RMT x1
Rapids x1
Spin Jam x1
Twistathon x1
The Smiler x1
Thirteen x1
Spinball Whizzer x1
