[Screamland Margate 2016 Review]

@imindetonator Yeah exactly, its all down to previous experiences, expectations and the type of person you are. Compared to when I went last year the event was nowhere near as busy yet the park still had a great atmosphere. I was also shocked about the lack of strobes, a good strobe maze ending (TOTT) would still have been nice to see as they are truly disorientating. 

I believe I'll be at Alton the same day as you, be interesting to see if we have similar experiences then.

[Screamland Margate 2016 Review]

I went to Screamland last year and had a great time aside from the fact that my trip through the final cut and dead and breakfast were ruined by being in a group of 50 odd people to get rid of crowds. I was really looking forward to experience those attractions properly this year and so made a trip there yesterday as well.

Its safe to say we had very different experiences in the mazes aside from Bloody Mirror.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD

My group didn't meet a single actor within Festino's Forgotton Funhouse until the knife thrower. We were expecting to meet Pearlywhite the clown at the end of the maze yet the advertised character did not appear to be there. Instead there was a single clown above us with a chainsaw which sounded more like a hair dryer and we simply walked straight through and out.

The Paradise Foundation was very similar in the sense that we only saw a couple of actors after opening scene. One was a bandaged woman who was standing in the middle of a corridor and screamed as we went past, which would have been scary if we hadn't have already seen her. Then there was just one other actor that let us into the finale scene which left us a little bit let down. We also found that there was far too much light throughout most of the scenes.

The Final Cut was by far the best attraction we experienced during the night, loads of actors who seemed to come from nowhere. The sets were pretty well thought out with the entrance through the cinema screen being a personal favourite scene. 

Dead and Breakfast is exceptionally well themed throughout, and I agree, Fag Ash Lil is a fantastic character. Her boyfriend again did appear to be everywhere in the maze and the ending was carried out very well. Great performances all round.

 

I guess it just shows how two people can have completely different experiences on the same night at places like this. For our group it appeared that because the event wasn't all that busy (despite selling out fast track tickets) that therefore the actors didn't need to try as hard. The roaming actors were very good, they even chased a few groups around parts of the park shouting and screaming. However I feel that they would have been better placed inside of the mazes to allow for more scares where it counts. Hopefully it was just a case of my group and I being unlucky. 

I should also point out that even though I personally don't rate the mazes very highly and my review sounds rather negative, I did still have a great night. The atmosphere in the park was great, loads of smoke bellowing out from the Ferris Wheel and the Screamland sign. I love the vintage rides within the park and every single member of staff I met was incredibly helpful. Overall a great night regardless of the experiences I had in the mazes and would still recommend the event despite the criticisms.