ChessingtonSam

I was at Scarefest over the first weekend, and I think the event's looking really good. I still won't do the mazes, but my friend did and he thought they were all good. Favourite was Sub Species and he also loved Darkest Depths which I've heard is quite a bit scarier than a family maze (it was very loud from outside!) Apparently nothing was different inside the Dungeons. Atmosphere around the park was good, only saw very few roaming actors, the Dungeons lot outside the Dungeons, including a very intimidating Plague doctor, and some plague victims who were both good at scaring the older ones, and with the kids (I saw one encouraging a kid to stare at an adult with him). I think I saw the Ghost Pirates too, that or some cast members from Darkest Depths. Park audio was good, the same parkwide audio as last year with the addition of a Thirteen section was playing deafeningly loud on Towers Street and Dark Forest had the same audio as last year with the vocals. Darkest Depths has a full 15 minute long song with vocals as it's exterior soundtrack and it's one of my favourite theme park soundtracks ever, and Project 42 had some brilliant audio blasting around the Gun/Drill area of FV. Other than Towers Street, with the usual decorations + some brilliant pumpkins themed around the Big 7, there wasn't much theming around the park, all that really sticks out was some black, white and grey bunting for The Attic around Hex, some body bags on carts around the Dungeons that the actors were interacting with, and A LOT of smoke machines. I can remember one by the Dungeons, one on the bridge between Mutiny Bay and Fountain Square, one under the car in Katanga Canyon, one on the RMT tunnel, one on Oblivion's tunnel exit, one behind the demon things in Haunted Hollow, and one in the Attic queue that can also be seen from the pathway below as well as the permanent ones. I may even be forgetting some. Lighting was also decent, although there was quite a few generators at least the ones that were there were mostly coloured. Oblivion looked really good with it's oranges, and Wicker Man was missing alot of it's lighting from last year although I hear the full lighting package is coming a bit later on. The only thing I have about lighting, is some new bright white sting lights everywhere. It was worst at Wicker Man, where they're all over the queue and way too bright, although I suspect this might be to do with H&S with the stairs. Also there was a bright white generator light directly at eye level in the Oblivion queue which almost blinded me 😂 Operations were good around the park, saw a couple of rides closed over the two days and two hours we were on park, mostly Oblivion, but they were, for the most part, open fairly quickly after and with the exception of the second day when Oblivion, Smiler and Wicker Man were shut at the beginning of the day (possibly down to the rain), Oblivion seemed to be having the most issues, as well as Rita which was closed for a couple of hours the second day. Dispatches were pretty quick everywhere, especially at Thirteen and Oblivion. As for the actual rides themselves, they were phenomenal. I had some of my best rides on Nemesis and The Smiler, my first go on Thirteen in the proper dark was good, Oblivion in the dark was way better than we thought it was going to be and Wicker Man in the dark, wow. While it doesn't look as good without the lights, we were FLYING round that track and it was so dark that I didn't even know what was happening and I know the layout off by heart! I also had two actually decent rides on Rita, and Galactica is there also. Hex was great as always, we didn't see the dreaded "actor" at all apart from one ride, where he apologised for what happened in the octagon and made a joke in the vault, something about "if you have a bag keep it under the seats, if you have a drink hold onto it, and if you need the toilet tough". That may have been the same ride where it felt like it was spinning way faster than usual, creating a very disorientating experience. I think the "actor" is just a ride host taking things maybe too far. Overall, Scarefest opening weekend was one of the best I've ever had at Towers.

Storm Chaser is starting to go up!

Surprised nobody has posted any of this yet: From TowersTimes: “The Attic: Terror of the Towers” will invite guests to venture into the head spinning heights of The Attic, which is said to be haunted by the Governess. Legend says she is trying to avenge the death of her charges by taking the spirits of the living as penance. “The Attic” promises to provide a new, unique and truly chilling experience, using the sensation of colour in a clever and masterful way to add an additional layer to the multi-sensory terror and provide an unforgettable experience. Also new for 2019 is Darkest Depths, a maze cleverly developed for families and thrillseekers alike. Guests will be invited to board the infamous ghost ship, “The Mutiny” and journey into the darkest depths to earn their piece of eight. Guests will encounter treacherous sirens who will try and lure them into the depths of the ocean as they dodge the swords of mutinous ghost pirates and come face to face with the sea’s meanest legend of all, the Kraken. https://www.towerstimes.co.uk/blog/2019/09/12/further-scarefest-details-revealed/

Well, most anyway.

As Smatty said, in the coach parking youd enter through Lodge Gate. You can access the hotels from the park through the Azteca Gate, by Amazu.

Queues at the minute are decent on the app. Gruffalo and Truckers are on 30 mins and Zufari is on 40. Download the app and keep checking, it's much quieter today than it has been over the last few weeks as expected, baring in mind I've found Chessie tend to over exaggerate their queues sometimes.

Not this again...

You collect it from the Photo Collection Kiosk in Africa and get given the wristband. That is essentially how it works, there's a code written on the band that you type in on Picsolve's website and gives you all your photos.

No.

You're talking as if we've definitely lost Buccaneer forever though, when we haven't. Even if we have, as Josh said, it clearly wasn't planned as the ride is still on the map. If something came up that meant they had to remove it, what can they really do? I agree that it's unlikely Buccaneer will come back, but even then Rameses is being replaced. We'd only be losing one flat. And I trust Buccaneer would be replaced eventually.

Of course this is one of the first three replies. God forbid we all be positive about a new investment for even 2 hours!

When I went on at the start of the month, all we had was two staff members in high vis and a hardhat. The first time, one of them pointed a torch at us and shouted "follow us guys, quick" just after the octagon preshow ended but after that, that was it. They told us to use both doors and then did the usual.

The other day it was playing the old station music, and it definitely wasn't before that.

We went on a third time, and, well. It was definitely the most bizzare experience I've ever had at a theme park. The gondola began to tilt forward during the announcements, before correcting itself abruptly with a bump right as the show started. We then sat still for a bit while the show continued, meaning by the end the ride was so out of sync the finale happened under our feet, and we swang about complete darkness for a while. Everyone who had been on before was confused, everyone who hadn't even more so. Staff didn't even acknowledge it. "Whoops... if we pretend it didn't happen nobody will notice"

I dont really have much to add, other than the fact I just did Hex for the first time and... oh my god. Its incredible. The theming in there is unlike anything Ive ever seen, I dont know where to start. We even went on a second time, in which the whole group on our side walked straight through the vault and didnt experience the madhouse itself. One of the funniest things Ive ever seen at a theme park.