Every year, without fail, Towers Street becomes a pumpkin addict’s dream. The place becomes littered with with the usual pumpkins, bunting and scarecrows and it really helps build the spooky vibe of the park. As you approach the bottom of Towers Street, there stand the giant Scarefest letters. As well as Towers Street being spooked up, roaming actors, scare mazes and family friendly boo’s lie in store for those brace enough to visit. We experienced the mazes, Rides in the dark and House of Monsters, so lets crack on shall we!
Sub Species: The End Games
Returning for its 4th year, Sub Species returns with a bit of a minor face-lift to the exterior containers. Gone are the bland colours and in comes vibrant graffiti. I had 3 runs on this over the space of 3 days and each run was the same. They were enjoyable, but I felt like it lacked any real scare. This could be for 1 of 2 reasons. Reason 1 could be that i just had bad runs and didn’t get the full force of the intensity that I know this maze can be or Reason 2, I’ve just become immune to the maze and nothing phases me. Either way, this maze lacked any real scares or intensity that it once had. The actors in here do an amazing job and I can’t fault their spectacular attempts at trying to scare me.
Altonville Mine Tours: The Legend of the Skin Snatchers
To put it bluntly, fuck me, this maze shits me right up. From the moment I enter the mine i start screaming. The maze is so highly themed and the story is easy to follow. What makes this maze good is that the scares are well timed and actually go with the story and the actors use the space in such a way that it makes it scarier than it should actually be. The Haunted Lantern hats also help build the atmosphere with them changing the lighting as you walk through. Year on year this maze gets scarier and genuinely scares me and I don’ know why.
The Welcoming
This maze opened last year to help build publicity for Wicker Man. Having experienced it yesterday, I left feeling confused about this maze and I couldn’t make my mind up as to if i liked it or not. But after doing it this year, I realised two things. 1: I really enjoy it and 2: It was better than last year. Gone is the hooded section and the year 1 finale. In its place is a better flowing, more intense experience. The maze still works so much better at night and is scarier at night, but i recommend experiencing it twice as the sets are just stunningly beautiful. The scares are varied from intense in your face, to subtle tiny scares and it works rather well as a whole round maze. Deffinately one to keep an eye on as its getting better each year. The ending to me still falls a bit flat, but I think its hard to have a suitable ending for a maze like The Welcoming.
House of Monsters
This attraction always surprises me. Its so cute and adorable, yet it carries its scares really well and provides an all round family friendly attraction, but it is a must do for Scarefest. This year see’s the change of 1 room and an addition of a new room. First, something that many may not know. House of Monsters is actually a house share of teenagers. The monsters are supposed to be teenagers. I never knew this and it does change the way i see the characters. With this new information, i feel the change now makes a lot more sense. I went in without knowing that fact first and the changed room confused me. The torture room has now become a bedroom to the vampire and it has clothes over the floor and band posters on the wall. It really feels like a stereotypical teenage vampire girls bedroom. The new room is a bathroom and features 2 monsters who need help fixing the plumbing. Bubbles included. The changes to House of Monsters brings a bit of new life to what is already a wonderful attraction.
Project 42
New for 2018 to replace Terror of the Towers is Project 42. Set in the Nemesis Sub Terra building, this new maze packs a punch. The minute you enter the maze you are greeted with an intense explanation of what has happened and that you need to find a doctor. You enter the maze and go through decontamination, aka the giant inflatable vagina. The theming in this maze is on par with all the others and there are even props from Sub Terra around too, making it totally awesome for us theme park geeks too. The maze has some very cleverly placed scares and really builds up the tension. The actors in this maze really know how to utilise the area to give the best scares and it all builds up to its rather unique two storey ending. I won’t spoil it for those who are still ye to experience it, but its quite cool.
As well as the mazes, the park has various child friendly shows and a special show in Cbeebies Land. So there really is something spooky for everyone. Plus rides in the dark is always a highlight and this year is rather special as Wicker Man in the dark is just incredible. It really is a must experience for any coaster fan.
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