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Went to Screamland Saturday for the first time. Found the event good, but maybe not amazing. Quite a few mazes, but all quite short and perhaps lacking a bit in some scares. They were quite theatrical though in places which was cool. Festininos Funhouse: One of the better mazes, fun clown bits including a ball pond somewhere and maybe one of the longer mazes too. Reminded me of Big Top a little bit. 7/10 Dead and Breakfast/Tunnels Of Terror The opening was literally an old woman moaning and complaining about us staying and not giving a **** about customer service or how good or stay was. The opening was great but the rest of the maze fairly mediocre if I’m honest. The one thing which drops this maze down for me is the sneaky/strange fact they actually class this one as two mazes due to the Tunnels Of Terror Part At the end. This honestly makes no sense as it’s not only misleading but technically fake advertising as they actually have six mazes and not seven. If they’d just kept it as the one maze (Dead and Breakfast) they may have had a quality attraction here. 6/10- just for the opening Sleep Experiment Probably my favourite maze of the evening, reminded me of things like the Sanctuary and Asylum a little. Some good acting here and some scares, some more misleading than others. It wasn’t a long maze but definitely a good quality one. 8/10 HMS Mary Decomposed The set pieces were great but I wouldn’t say it was the best. Sketchy plotline and the scares didn’t seem to be the best in this one either. The theming literally was the saving grace here. 5/10 Punch and Judy Horror Show Another Circusesque type maze here, but this one was really neat and had some good acting and was one of the better for scares too. The man in the opening room was very entertaining and the scares throughout seemed more effective too. Probably only second to Sleep Experiment for me. 7.5/10 Upside Down Maze The last Maze of the night and the only one in a (sort of more) permant structure. Sadly this was the weakest maze by far, as nothing really happened apart from some scare actors dressed in full black following around. The idea of a mirror scare maze was cool but wasn’t the best. 2/10- Vulcan Peak might have actually been a little bit better. A little bit better! Also tried out the rides at night too (as well as the day). The Scenic Railway is a great charm of a ride and fantastic to see such a classic coaster open. Whilst the Yarmouth version is better, one must remember this attraction is technically almost 100 years old and was the equivalent of Taron/Helix to the generation at the time (in terms of thrills and excitement). The new Zamperla rides were surprisingly fun too, especially the Pendulam and new Enterprise type rides. Staff were friendly too despite working long days. Whilst the mazes were hit and miss, I would still recommend visiting, especially to support an independent park like this. Hopefully Margate can go on the up again after this. It definitely features a better atnosphere in the evening/night than in the day, that’s for sure.

Popped into Fright Nights yesterday for a bit and did a few of the mazes. Vulcan Peak: I was honestly expecting the worst maze in existence given how negative it is, but it was just very very mediocre. Quite dull but mediocre. The first bit was literally walking around an area with a rope and people saying names and things. The second half was better, where you were non hooded and featured some actors, a blow up passageway and an adequate ending. Still not a great maze though which doesn’t beat Hellements, let alone Hodoo Vodoo at Xtreme Scream. 3/10 Dead Creek Woods: Better than I expected, a vague storyline, some crazy theming, actors and a surprise midway chainsaw. Still too short though and quite a lot of toilets. Maybe these are the old ones from the Jungle? 5/10 Sanctum Do Or Die: I actually didn’t mind the original Sanctum, but I hated this maze. There was no explained story, plot or anything. I get that it is Walking Dead and things but there was nothing in any form. Poor theming, maze scares and a setting that just didn’t make sense. The bus was the only thing I liked about this one and I think I actually disliked it more than Vulcan Peak. I’m probably in a crazy minority here. 1/10 Whilst roaming actors were ok, I found the lighting and audio setup was perhaps the weakest one I have seen in all my years visiting Fright Nights. It’s an embarrassment if you ask me I hate to admit. Will be returning there this week to see what else can be offered but am not holding my breath.

Go to this event. Do it. Park atmosphere and lighting is great. Creepy caves see you get a tour of a lab by a rude lab lady who doesn't like you talking back so please do be wary here or if not you may be escorted off the park and lose your £4 entry fee. Anyway she goes on to show you her fridge, was a very nice fridge however it lacked milk, so I don't approve. I then remember a plant and then all hell hits loose. It's loud it's stroby and it's creepy as you are in a cave after all. I highly recommend you do this attraction, on your own if possible to add to the immersion. Tiger rock looks great at night despite the lack of tigers, but a guess everyone deserves a day off. What happened to Ramesis, it was on a weird cycle and I did not get wet despite sitting front centre. Tomb blaster haters can sit back in their hater crypts all effects were working. The curse of the lost tomb is a great interactive attraction with lots of immersion so it also sits well on the lineup. There is a show with live vocals and dancers. Overall it's a great event, well down to the whole team at CWOA, just watch out for the dementors at the end of the evening. They may try to capture your soul. 8/10 Recommend.

Screamland was excellent yesterday, the mazes were very different and had a lot of quality put into them; personal favourites were The Sleep Experiment (terrifying!) and Dead and Breakfast. The former has a bit of an E10 vibe to it actually, albeit different. Maze queues moved very slowly however once inside the experience was better as you never caught up with a group in front... happy medium needed though IMO. Rides in the dark were fun, mazes were amazing and overall a fantastic event.

Doesn't need a world's first, it's a quality long-term ride which is the most important thing. IMO.

Just a quick review of my Howl'o'ween experience, and indeed my first Halloween event at Chessington... Curse of the Lost Tomb Meh. I don't really know how to describe this, it had the elements to be a fun enough family attraction, but it was all just very meh. Theming looked nice (except in the finale). The story was there. I guess the main issue was the acting and number of actors. Some of the actors were hard to hear. Some seemed so unenthusiastic - one looked and sounded like they'd been dragged off of Staines high street and plonked in the maze. From what I've heard, there's a lot less actors this year too. So yeah, there's potential, but it also falls flat. Also, can I just point out the hilariously placed e-stop at elbow height right by the entrance door as far away from the actor as possible - who thought THAT was a good idea? Park Atmosphere There was a bit of park theming about (plastic pumpkins, cobwebs, etc), but not a lot. And with the mazes very hidden away and not in your face (unlike Towers and Thorpe), it's easy to forget there's a Halloween event at all. There were LOTS of roaming actors about, which was nice. Even had a few hiding in ride queue lines - we had 4 in Tomb Blaster's queue and the first one successfully caught me off guard. They also did a flash mob dance thing outside the main shop, but it was at the most random times (it was so silly of us to not think there'd be a show at 5:06...) that we missed it. Creepy Caves: Unearthed Okay, let's start off with the bad - the time slots for this were poorly managed. Either they were selling too many or letting people in far too early / late, but it wasn't working. It meant that on Wednesday, for a 4:15 slot, we queued 80 minutes, and that was after we queued 30 minutes to actually buy our tickets... I hear that later in the event they went to the other extreme with the timed tickets, and not letting people into the time slots early, resulting in a queue to be let in the queue at many points, but still letting people in at any time if they'd missed their slots. Still wasn't working great. Anyways, the maze. It's actually great. And as someone who's been largely unimpressed with Chessington's offerings over the past several years, it's great to see something so well themed, executed, presented and fulfilling at the park. This IS a scary attraction, and certainly will truly terrify and haunt those around the young-end of its 10+ age recommendation. But this is the type of attraction Chessington needs to offer if it's actually going to become a family park. The 'pre show' before entering with the actor is fantastically scripted. The first scene gave me Experiment 10 vibes, but in a suitably toned down way. The laboratory scene is again well scripted and has nice effects which, though nothing special, work great on scaring younger audiences. What follows (the actual 'cave' section) is brilliant - jump scares, nice theming, a plethora of things hanging from the ceiling and plenty of lively actors. The balance between scaring adults and kids seemed to work too. The ending is nice, nothing special, but VERY loud and certainly enough to get the younger audience screaming and crying out. As a side note, the maze was free flow, which really did surprise me for a family attraction of this nature. As a scare attraction for adults in context, it's not that scary, it's not special and it won't leave you in trembling (though I would be interested in doing it in an adult-only group, sort of a 'Creepy Caves After Dark' thing...they could ramp it up..). But for a family scare attraction, this is fantastic, perhaps even a little over the scary line, but still a great scare attraction for the park and surely one of the better examples of a family scare. So yeah, Creepy Caves is fab. I hope it returns next year, that they don't tone it down (up the age recommendation if needs be), and they can sort out the operations a bit (sell less tickets!). Chessington truly are onto a winner this year!