IN MEMORY OF A VERY DEAR FRIEND WHO I FIRST MET AT SCAREFEST. YOU SHALL BE SORELY MISSED!
clConsidered by many to be the best theme park scare event, Alton Towers has always been a highlight in the scare calendar in recent years and this year with 5 attractions on offer its set to be another great year, so, of course, we popped along to see how well this years event is!
Ambiance
The moment you enter Alton Towers you are hit with spooky things. From pumpkins to scare crows, Towers Street is decked in Halloween things. At the bottom lies the infamous Scarefest hearse and the Scarefest sign. New this year are the coaster themed giant pumpkins. These were cute. As always, the Alton Ancestors were out and about dancing and mingling. There dance routine is always worth a watch! Also new this year are the ghosts in Mutiny Bay. There are three of them and throughout the night they appear and tel stories and jokes. They are brilliant! The only problem this year is that once you leave the Towers Street, it doesn't feel like Scarefest. There is a real lack of a Halloween vibe around the rest of the park.
Returning Mazes
There are 3 mazes returning this year, Sub Species: The End Games, The Altonville Mine Tour: The Legend of the Skin Snatchers and Project 42. All three were as intense and as scary as before. The actors really went for it and brought the terror. Altonville still remains my top out of the three purely because I find this maze so creepy and the actors in here really are great, terrifying, but great. The sets in the maze are also stunning. The attention to detail really adds to the maze. Project 42 is just as strong as last year with some very good scares and some very intense actors. Unfortunately, despite having two very good runs on Sub Species, I do feel this maze is now becoming a bit stale and a bit boring. This could just be because I know what happens, but I just feel that it either needs to change dramatically or be retired. That being said, I can't fault the actors as they really did bring their A game. I just feel this maze in particular has been running long enough.
The Attic : Terror of the Towers
I tried to remain fairly spoiler free before entering this new maze as I wanted to experience it spoiler free. Like with the others, I did two runs in total and I'm conflicted. On the one hand, the story and the majority of the sets are really good. But I had two really bad runs. The first run was just terrible. Very few actors, catching the group in front and just really badly timed scares really affected the first run. I did it again the day after and again we had a bad run. The scares were there but they just felt weak and the very few actors in there could only do so much. I also am a little disappointed with there barely any theming in the second half of the maze. I'm not saying it isn't themed, it is, but it's the least amount possible and I can't help but feel that they got a bit lazy. I totally understand the story and why it's there, but it just feels like this part goes on for far too long and I genuinely got bored. I wanted so much to like this maze as I had heard some great spoiler free reviews, but unfortunately it didn't deliver on the day for me.
Darkest Depths
Strangely advertised as 10/12+ this actually quite terrifying maze was the better of the two new attractions. The sets, like with the majority of Alton Towers mazes, were very good. The acting was spectacular and you genuinely forgot you were at a theme park as it was very immersive. The whole maze is a delight for the senses. The eyes see the beautiful sets, the nose smells the horrible smells that work with the story. It all just worked perfectly for me and it is actually really quite scary! The scares in this maze weren't meant to be overly scary but the actors really go for it each time and it genuinely makes all the difference.
Overall I felt that Alton Towers was good, but it could have been so much more. There is something for everyone but at the same time the vibe only spreads so far. The Alton Ancestors are a great show and the mazes are all really good. I just think we got unlucky with our runs. Also, on the pathway between Spinball Whizzer and X-Sector, new signs, a screen and a new inflatable tunnel (Not pictured as it arrived the day after) are now in place promoting The World of David Walliams.
Scarefest is on every night between now and the end 2nd November
Tickets available at Alton Towers website
Maze tickets sold separately. Again, these can be purchased from the website above.
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