Good Afternoon TPM!

I'm starting a new series called 'Trolley Dollies Guide to...' which will be my take on reviewing/trip reports.

To start, lets begin with the UK's most premium Halloween event;

ALTON TOWERS SCAREFEST 2015

The Park

This year saw new theming added to Towers Street, including the new 'Scarefest' sign which saw as the back drop too many families photos this year, it felt very refreshing and exciting to walk down with the new audio & new decorations.

The lighting through-out the park felt improved since my last visit in 2013, but the giant LED lights in the Th13teen queue was a little let down in what should be a very atmospheric queue at night time, but with the added Scare-zones, Dark Forest & Forbidden Valley felt alive... I'll get to those later though.

One thing about the park which upset me was the lack of people, walking out of Haunted Hollow and into what I could only describe as a 'ghost town' with closed food stalls & rides, wasn't a pleasant experience. Zero queues & closed rides cause me and my group to ask each other 'what next?' as we struggled to fill time while waiting for our scare maze time slots.

But apart from that, the park felt solid in terms of ride reliability & theming/lighting.

Scare Zones

Dark Apocalypse (Forbidden Valley) & Nox: Infernus (Dark Forest)

The new Scare Zone are paths in the above areas, one being an open pathway from Sub Terra to Nemesis or in Dark Forest case, Rita's tunnel. At 5pm a warning plays across Forbidden Valley, informing guest that the infected are in the area with smoke covering the area, it made the area feel very alive and caused families unaware of the safe zone to run with their children through them.

In Dark Forest, it was great to see the return of the Wraiths in Dark Forest, one of them was hiding behind Rita's wheel, another in this poor ladies face at the Th13teen shop exit, very scary with the actors in both areas playing with their surroundings.

Alton may have shot themselves in the foot by having 'mini mazes' and marketing them as zones causing people to be disappointed with this years addition when in reality, this is what a scare zone should be so hopefully next year, they add some more theming & lights to them just to add that little bit more.

Scare Mazes

Right so this is the bit you've all been waiting for, I'll put any details inside the maze in the spoilers so please don't click them if you don't want to find out.

Terror Of The Towers

The true classic from Scarefest history, this maze is re-routed this year so lets see how it compares to my last visit in 2013 (and what I can remember from it)

So after having your picture taken in the conservatory (miss you Sanctuary ), you move on being batched into your groups before going upstairs to the pre-show, at the end the room explodes with air cannons causing me to knee Chloe in the back and scream very loud, actors then swarm the room while you try and escape.

You then go into the cage room which I was shouting 'I remember this!' The actors were very good in this part, even playing with us saying 'Jesus can't help you, not even Allah or 50 cent!'

We then ended up climbing over a set piece, which was interesting... if the man attached to my back wasn't trying to pull me down the stairs , alot of the actors got into my face and I could hear the TOTT strobe music even though I wasn't anywhere near that scene yet... but when I finally got to that scene, incredible as always.

A solid maze, didn't really enjoy being in a conga line but alot of jump scares & hilarious moments!

Scare Rating - 8/10

Theming Rating - 7/10

Overall Experience - 8/10

The Haunting Of Molly Crowe

This new maze involves behind blind folded, to lets see how it goes...

The entrance to this maze was my favourite, being handed your hood (which I did NOT enjoy wearing) then sent up this dark tunnel, out of the tunnel we got to a little pre show introducing us to Molly and then it was time to put on our hoods. With a rope on the left hand side and your right hand on the persons in fronts shoulder, you walk through Molly's life, in fear there may be a step any minute which the person in-front hasn't warned you off.

After walking through Molly's life through sound & scent which also involves ALOT of hand touching, bag pulling and leg rubbing, also me complimenting someone's nails, we entered the final scene which was one of the best theatrical scenes I think in any scare maze here in the UK, and if you're slightly dubious to that statement, believe me after seeing Molly fly across the room, lights go out and then her appear in your face, you'll believe me. Absolutely fantastic.

Interesting maze which uses your senses to scare you rather than jump scares & an incredible ending scene.

Scare Rating - 7/10

Theming Rating - 7/10

Overall Experience - 7/10

Sub Species - The End Games

'What do you mean no holding onto the person infront of you?!'

The sound of Darth Vader, alarms & previous two mazes couldn't prepare me for this maze, before we even entered the maze, I was shaking... we walked down the stairs and then got our briefing before going into the control room, we was introduced to 'The End Games', the controller sent us through into a room with three doors, none of them worked but then, the lights went out, the first door opened and two people got dragged in, I knew after that we wasn't in Kansas any-more.

The second door opened and we ran in, being pushed and trapped by actors, I ended up alone... I tried asking a man in a gas mask for directions but unfortunately he wasn't having any of it. Next thing I run into my friends but then get split up, and made to go through a tunnel, after this I end up in the shipping containers which have two possible exits, either alien or human...

Lucky for me I got put into the alien one. Which caused me to see this 7ft giant hissing thing wedge me between the wall, and these two women which caused us to scream at each other for a good minute... before escaping I was trapped by a man with a very big pole (no really, he was smashing the walls of the container with this giant steel rod) and out I came, reunited with friends.

An experience which will haunt my dreams till next Scarefest, fantastic audio/theming/actors... just wow.

Scare Rating - 100/10

Theming Rating - 9/10

Overall Experience - Never Again.

Over-all, the experience was much improved from 2013, though the lack of people made the park feel sad... The solid mazes, theming and audio makes it a must visit, so go, go now, GO, JUST GO TO SCAREFEST.

The End

(till Next Time...)