Arrived Friday 6th staying in a local B&B (the Warren). Headed to ATH however for the first evening and had dinner in the SG restaurant.
Standards have gone so down hill in here as has the food quality, no doubt so profits can go up hill instead. Thin cheap burgers, 50 minute wait, poor relish. Not good. And prices have gone up, with a burger now £14.50 and most deserts at least £6.50. Needless to say wont be eating here again.
Watched the entertainment, which was ok, was the bands first night with their new show so there were some issues with the sound which they acknowledged. Good length show however, but didnt know many of the songs, so it wasnt a sort of sing along sort of night if you know what I mean. Hotel had the usual decoration for scarefest with the boat being lit up nicely. However, the hotel really is looking shabby in places. Dragons bar is awful, dirty, and the entire night despite a table full of empty glasses, not one person was seen collecting empties. Usual queue to the bar from the door.
Next day in the park for 9.30. Good to see the pre booked tickets windows open prior to park opening at 10. Generally, a moderately busy day with longest queue of 50 minutes for the Smiler. All rides seemed to be working ok. As for Haloween themeing, well, if you were not on Towers Street you wouldnt know it was Scarefest. Nothing on the rapids, Oblivion, etc as with previous years.
Love the sound volume and amount of speakers over the resort however which really adds to the atmosphere.
As for the mazes, see my post in the Scarefest thread, but left feeling a little underwhelmed. Despite a few rain showers we had a good day and a good meal in Woodcutters. Pity the SG was not up to the same standard.
Got out of the park at 21:00 and headed to Splash Landings as we had Flambos booked for 21:30. As its Scarefest they were only running a Pizza and Pasta menu with unlimited soft drinks for £15.95. Arrived and staff at the entrance asked us for payment up front which I thought was a little cheeky as we were all soaked through and very tired! No service as such, just sit where you want and get your food!
Food quality was on par with SG , i.e. poor. Every pizza was burnt I think from being under the hot lamps for so long and all looked the same. Chef wasnt much help when asking what pizza was which! Dry cripsy fries and potato wedges and the remains of the pasta. Finally was desert with lots of sweets to put in the chocolate fountain..... but no chocolate fountain. Maybe they had removed it as it was late....
Oh and if we wanted any beverages not soft drinks we had to go ourselves up stairs to get the drinks. No service at all. No one came to clear our table or empty glasses. Very poor.
Watched the show again over in ATH and seemed much better the second night with the singers improving on some of the issues from the first night and seemed to be more interaction from the audience. To be honest the Friday night in the hotel was so flat and dull which was not due to the singers, but the atmosphere in the hotel and not many guests.
Sunday back in the park until 2pm. Got on the main rides again and had better weather.
Overall, a nice weekend due to the company I was in (8 of us), but I did feel a little underwhelmed this year with Scarefest, and the hotels are really in a poor state. You can see the cost cutting EVERYWHERE and you dont feel you are getting any value for money anymore. Granted you may not have before but now its in your face. I dont think I could ever justify paying to stay in the hotels anymore unless they up their standards. Would like to see improvements to the mazes for next year as well, and maybe more themeing around the resort for Scarefest.
Standards have gone so down hill in here as has the food quality, no doubt so profits can go up hill instead. Thin cheap burgers, 50 minute wait, poor relish. Not good. And prices have gone up, with a burger now £14.50 and most deserts at least £6.50. Needless to say wont be eating here again.
Watched the entertainment, which was ok, was the bands first night with their new show so there were some issues with the sound which they acknowledged. Good length show however, but didnt know many of the songs, so it wasnt a sort of sing along sort of night if you know what I mean. Hotel had the usual decoration for scarefest with the boat being lit up nicely. However, the hotel really is looking shabby in places. Dragons bar is awful, dirty, and the entire night despite a table full of empty glasses, not one person was seen collecting empties. Usual queue to the bar from the door.
Next day in the park for 9.30. Good to see the pre booked tickets windows open prior to park opening at 10. Generally, a moderately busy day with longest queue of 50 minutes for the Smiler. All rides seemed to be working ok. As for Haloween themeing, well, if you were not on Towers Street you wouldnt know it was Scarefest. Nothing on the rapids, Oblivion, etc as with previous years.
Love the sound volume and amount of speakers over the resort however which really adds to the atmosphere.
As for the mazes, see my post in the Scarefest thread, but left feeling a little underwhelmed. Despite a few rain showers we had a good day and a good meal in Woodcutters. Pity the SG was not up to the same standard.
Got out of the park at 21:00 and headed to Splash Landings as we had Flambos booked for 21:30. As its Scarefest they were only running a Pizza and Pasta menu with unlimited soft drinks for £15.95. Arrived and staff at the entrance asked us for payment up front which I thought was a little cheeky as we were all soaked through and very tired! No service as such, just sit where you want and get your food!
Food quality was on par with SG , i.e. poor. Every pizza was burnt I think from being under the hot lamps for so long and all looked the same. Chef wasnt much help when asking what pizza was which! Dry cripsy fries and potato wedges and the remains of the pasta. Finally was desert with lots of sweets to put in the chocolate fountain..... but no chocolate fountain. Maybe they had removed it as it was late....
Oh and if we wanted any beverages not soft drinks we had to go ourselves up stairs to get the drinks. No service at all. No one came to clear our table or empty glasses. Very poor.
Watched the show again over in ATH and seemed much better the second night with the singers improving on some of the issues from the first night and seemed to be more interaction from the audience. To be honest the Friday night in the hotel was so flat and dull which was not due to the singers, but the atmosphere in the hotel and not many guests.
Sunday back in the park until 2pm. Got on the main rides again and had better weather.
Overall, a nice weekend due to the company I was in (8 of us), but I did feel a little underwhelmed this year with Scarefest, and the hotels are really in a poor state. You can see the cost cutting EVERYWHERE and you dont feel you are getting any value for money anymore. Granted you may not have before but now its in your face. I dont think I could ever justify paying to stay in the hotels anymore unless they up their standards. Would like to see improvements to the mazes for next year as well, and maybe more themeing around the resort for Scarefest.
