Martin Doyle

On the topic of rides that everybody seems to love but I personally don’t like....Icon. I can understand why people enjoy the smooth nature of it, but personally I find the ride boring as all heck and easily the country’s most overrated ride. The ride feels incredibly slow (especially in the front row), has a dull layout to it aside from the odd element (heck this wouldn’t be as much an issue if it actually had some speed about it. Taron also doesn’t have that great a layout in terms of variation but it makes up for that by absolutely whizzing around it and really throwing you around as you go through each turn) and as far as it having “great airtime” goes, I personally have had more airtime in the car on my way to Blackpool on the motorway than I have had on Icon. I genuinely prefer Blue Fire to Icon.

I actually don’t mind the fact Scarefest at Alton Towers charge extra for mazes (albeit I do find the prices this year steep) In theory, I would prefer to pay for a timed ticket and then not have to wait long to do the mazes than I would queue up in excess of 2 hours. I say “in theory” because there’s been times where I still found myself waiting up to 30 minutes for some of the mazes at Scarefest. That being said, it also helps the mazes at Scarefest are top draw (Sub Species mainly) so you feel justified in spending the money.

Not the best quality photo I know, but my own favourite photo I’ve taken is from the waters of lake eerie of the magnificent Cedar Point!!

I can see Terror of the Towers having one heck of a duration this year given it looks set to be spread across 3 floors of the ruins. Quite happy with that given I found its final route to be very short and underwhelming compared to its previous location. Really is good to then bring back a much loved maze for Halloween after it had a year away!!

Doesn’t it all depend on what elevator you board?? Plus I do believe in the past you got to choose your own elevator anyway but that being said, it’s been years since I’ve done Paris I am also pretty excited to see this version of the tower utilise the randomised drop sequences. One of the main reasons I never took as much a liking to this compared to the masterpiece that is the Florida original is the lack of the random drops. So that and the three stories are very welcome changes.

Over 18s horror maze themed to the nurses anyone!!??

This has got to be the greatest thing I have ever seen on this forum!! 😂 So accurate it’s unreal!!

I think having one or two “signature” or “headline” mazes can help an event if they are given slight tweaks here and there. Asylum,Cellar and Terror Of The Towers being the 3 prime examples I can think of. The Cellar still holds up well even against the Tulleys newer mazes as did Asylum against thorpes newer mazes when that was around. This was helped with each event tweaking and making slight changes to each maze. It can also depend on how stale said mazes get. Terror of the Towers for the first few years with the “what lies within” story arc generally was the best maze at the event. However as the years went by and Alton bought in the much more extreme Sub Species and Altonville Mine Tour, Terror of the Towers all of a sudden looked very dated in comparison. Keeping a whole bunch of the same mazes with no changes however can make an event grow stale quite quickly.

My thoughts are with you all if that is the case!!

In other words “we can’t be asked” Just goes to show how this once great event has been handled in recent times. Honestly don’t get why people are so shocked at how last year turned out. The writing was on the wall the very second it was announced Big Top was gone. Big Top in its final year was the ONE thing that held that event together so to lose it and not improve anything else was always going to be a disaster. I really do hope the event turns the corner one day. It’s going to take more than a new maze to do that however In my book. One of the many reasons the event was great back in its early days was the park wide atmosphere,unique themes to each ride when it got dark, park ride decoration and in general the organisation of the event aswell as the quality of the mazes. The park has really strayed from that in recent years as far as I go or certainly compared to the first few years and now just feels like a massive cash grab. I know it comes across at times that I borderline hate the event and frankly in it’s current state as of last year, I do. However, I was a massive fan of fright nights from 2004 right up until 2013 and the event would always be the very first thing I looked out for when the season calendar was released as well as being the first event I would aim to schedule when October came round. Heck if it wasn’t for fright nights of the past, I don’t think I would have come to enjoy scare mazes and Halloween events half of what I currently do. I just now feel the event has strayed so far from what made it great to the point I now have zero interest in going especially when I stop to consider the other Halloween events out there.

Thought I’d chime in with my own thoughts........ ok that was awful!! Quite happy to see the end of this ride in fairness, awful thoughput and a very naff ride in general.

Massive part of why Shocktoberfest leads the way in this country as far as I go and that’s without even touching the attractions. Those nurses!! 😍😍 Hell park wide atmosphere and decoration is also something I hope Thorpe improve on as back in the glory days of this event, it excelled in that department.

ITS COMING BACK OK!! *cries in a corner after reality sets in My “sources” let me down!!

Asylum/Freezer was great because it used such a simple design. Strobes, fencing,smoke,sirens. Yet the actors they had in there complimented that loud atmosphere perfectly. I had runs where the actors full on lept over the fences at me and started trying to drag me from the back of the group. They were absolutely crazy in there. It really was and remains to this day the best maze in the history of the event. If this new maze is half the attraction it was then it’s done well. Sadly I won’t know this personally because last years shambles has put me right out the Fright Night business.

Freezer/Asylum: “Am I a joke to you!!??” 😛