We visited the popular Scarefest event at Alton Towers on Saturday 29th October 2016, and here's what we thought...
TERROR OF THE TOWERS: WHAT LIES WITHIN
We entered the ruins of the towers following in the footsteps of the urban explorers who mysteriously went missing to find out what lies within. This has been a staple attraction at Scarefest over the years which has seen many changes, some for the better, and some for the worse. Last year we felt it was a very strong maze with a great length, and a layout that allowed actors to attack you from all angles and almost follow you through large sections of the mazes due to the way it was laid out. This year the attraction felt shorter, and while as immersive and highly themed as usual, it felt a little sparse on actors in places, and some of themeing seemed to be used differently and didn't allow for as effective scares as we've experienced in the past. If we weren't comparing it to previous years, it's still fair to say it is a solid, high quality scare attraction, we just hope it returns next year with the improvements to make it as great as we know it can be!
Themeing & Storyline: 8/10 | Actors: 6/10 | Scare: 6/10 | Overall: 7/10
SUB SPECIES: THE END GAMES
The end games returned for 2016, luckily for us as we never got to experience it the previous year. We entered a facility where people were betting on us before we headed into the sewers to face our fate in the games against the mutants. We found ourselves pretty much manhandled and split apart at every given opportunity, it was very fast paced, and the actors done a great job at keeping things moving along whilst terrifying everyone. The themeing inside was quite inconsistent with some greatly themed sections, and other parts just black walls, though it didn't necessarily detract from the intense experience. Inside there are several different routes that split up and join back along the way until they all meet up again before the finale section, where we found ourselves crawling through a tunnel into what seemed like an abandoned hospital, before facing a chainsaw wielding monster to try and escape, and then we could breathe with a sigh of relief once we realised we had survived.
Themeing & Storyline: 7/10 | Actors: 9/10 | Scare: 9/10 | Overall: 8/10
ALTONVILLE MINE TOURS: UNCOVER THE LEGEND OF THE SKIN SNATCHERS
We visited Altonville, ready for the new for 2016 mine tour, where some of the group were given helmets to wear with lights attached, though once inside we soon realised they were most unhelpful when needed most. The helmets were a really authentic touch and definitely a unique type of lighting effect that we haven't seen before in an attraction - it was more than just a gimmick. The inside of the attraction was immensely themed and we really did feel highly immersed throughout. There seemed to be quite a lot of empty sections in terms of actors, along with some repetitive corridor sections, but there were still plenty of scares, and some really full on acting which we couldn't fault, with the ending successfully chasing out the exit. We definitely found this to be the highlight of Scarefest this year!
Themeing & Storyline: 9/10 | Actors: 9/10 | Scare: 8/10 | Overall: 9/10
HOUSE OF MONSTERS
Alton Towers this year introduced a family scare attraction which we were keen to try out. We met up with the overenthusiastic vlogger who introduced us to the haunted house and the stories surrounding it and before we knew it we were breaking into the house where we accidentally woke up the inhabitants inside. This attraction lasted approximately 25 minutes, we thought of it like a mini version of shrek & dungeons combined, in terms of that style of attraction, with several scenes and interactivity, and while as adults we found it to be very cheesy and damn right random at times, it definitely was perfect for the main target audience. To our surprise there was even a nice scare maze style ending with lots of smoke, flashing lighting and fun jump scares, everyone seemed to come out laughing and smiling.
(No Rating as not designed to be scare attractions for adults like rest of attractions)
DARK APOCALYPSE & FREAK SHOW SCARE ZONES
Dark Apocalypse returned for this year, once again located at the top of forbidden valley featuring lots of smoke and some gruesome looking actors, we unfortunately didn't see any roaming actors with chainsaws this year which seemed to be the main draw to the scare zone last year in terms of scaring people. Freak Show was new for 2016, and located on the pathway between Spinball Whizzer & X-Sector; along each side of the path were different stands and props where the freaks and clowns would be based around, with multicoloured lighting and an upbeat soundtrack it looked impressive and proved popular with lots of photo opportunities and character interaction, but we couldn't help but notice it lacked in scares.
(No Rating as these were only side attractions)
Alton Towers put on a very impressive lineup of entertainment and scare attractions for Scarefest this year, and with the big improvement on lighting around the park, and on rides, in particularly Nemesis, there really was a great atmosphere throughout the day. We feel the charge for the mazes is quite pricey, but we hardly queued for the attractions, and have to admit they were some of the best quality mazes of the season, and wouldn't hesitate to pay to experience the attractions again next year.
