Talking for myself it was a whole package, which in some ways resembled a Disney attraction. By that I mean it had everything you'd want from a greatly thought out attraction. I won't go into too much detail but I'll try to some it up...
- Every staff member inc. queue line hosts, actors, supervisors were in character and costume. Creating an un easy atmosphere (think ToT at Disney)
- The experience began as soon as you entered the queue line with music, screens, roaming actors and I suppose the main part, the building (Towers) actually matched the theme of the maze, so it brought an extra layer of realism to the story.
- The story: it had one. Instead of just being a block theme, The Sanctuary had a story which slowly played out as you went through which created a journey. Importantly this story was as important as the scares and they both came in equal measure.
- I suppose all the above came down to the fact that the attraction was believable. Jumping back to Disney, look at the Haunted Mansion or ToT, take out the ride system and you'd pretty much believe you were in a real mansion or hotel. The same went for The Sanctuary, if you stood in there without other guests you'd think you were in a 1930s abandoned hospital, in a real old building without any shipping containers or plastic theming.
Moving on to your last comment. When The Sanctuary returned for The Smilers replacement while it was closed it had lost the care and attention that made it so special upon its original run. Actors weren't wearing correct costumes, or to the standards that were upheld upon opening, hosts were no longer in character, theming hadn't been looked after or replaced and there were less actors generally in the attraction.
All of the above unfortunately meant the attraction was half of what it used to be and it lost what made in special in the first place.
