Search the Community

So Halloween is over, and sadly its closed season Though with last month being October, I thought it would obligitary for me to write about some of my Halloween Highlights and re-live some of the happiness for the following months of depression and vodka which is the closed season.. (I would do photos but then I realise most of my pictures are sh**) Best Theming/Costume Design Honourable Mentions: The Final Cut, Skin Snatchers, The Colony. Winner- The Welcoming Even though I did have my criticisms about this maze, it for sure had some of the most beautiful theming I have seen in a while and it was the absolute highlight of the attraction! The actors inside used the large sets to its advantage and because of this- The Welcoming I think more than deserves this award. Most Improved Attraction Honourable Mentions: Coven, Creepy Cottage (the cast in the cottage were insane this year) Winner- Platform 15 Platform 15 was my least favourite maze of last year, as it just bleeded dull with little to no actors or anything whatsoever going on.. Though this year sees the maze being actually being my favourite at the park as the actors swarmed the maze with scares, and the new village scene is just fab. The infamous tunnel section is back though, but some actors with torches this year provided this previously dull section into a tension filled one.. The maze still has a few niggles, but overall I think Platform feels like the most complete maze at Thorpe, and with the cast this year I have to say this is easily one of the best mazes I have done this year.. Most Original Concept/Theme Honourable Mentions: The Welcoming, Coven. Winner- The Legend Of Crank Jack Crank Jack has a very simple concept, though it just works so well.. So for those who have been hiding under a rock, Crank Jack sees guests crawling through a massive crawling section which is both confusing and jumpy with the large amount of panels for actors to jump out, and they can come from the ceiling too! The non crawl sections also are jumpy and confusing with countless dead ends and trigger-happy clowns with perhaps the most annoying horns.. The idea and excution is far from elaborate, but it works, and it works incredibly well too! Worst Maze Dis-honourable Mentions: The BrotherHOOD, Festino's Festival Of Freaks, VIXI, Saw Alive. Loser- Dead And Breakfast Dead And Breakfast felt like a massive shadow of itself this year with the witty improv and some of the brilliant scares completly stripped from the maze.. For example last year this maze had a Bunker scene, where this year you just walk straight past it.. Its the exact same with kitchen scene and even the elevator effect from last year is now gone.. The main maze itself lacked scares (I got like 1 jump scare throughout) and the nicely themed sets generally felt un-used.. Dead And Breakfast is a maze that could be (or was) brilliant, but this year it just fell incredibly flat IMO, heck even the chainsaw finale at the end felt poor.. Most Intense Maze Honourable Mentions- Chop Shop, Big Top Winner- Sub Species: The End Games What haven't I said about Sub Species? The maze is seriously something completely different in that actors have so much freedom to do what the hell they like with you. I was alone for long periods with it, they shoved me and stalked me throughout, and overall I was on edge for the entire experience. The experience is very varied in that you get darkness, open rooms, claustophobic tunnels, and just pretty much everything the maze can throw at you. Sub Species is just insane, even in its third year it still continues to shock me every year! Best Event Winner- Tulleys Farm Shocktoberfest Now, its really a combination of stuff that comes to making up a event for me- the operations, roamers, the mazes, the atmosphere, ect. Tulleys Farm I feel like has overall the whole package with its great operations (from my 3 visits) and its amazing atmosphere and roamers. The roaming actors make Screamland or Fright Night's roamers look poor, and the music and overall atmosphere of the place is just amazing. The operations are also fairly decent too, with queues being resonable (no crazy 3 hour queues) and roaming actors seemed to show up in the queues to entertain guests which was nice. And of course the attractions themselves are a pretty good selling point of Tulleys, and after tonght I have to say I actually think the lineup is incredibly strong. All mazes felt like they had quite a few actors in them, and in some mazes (Twisted Clowns and Cellar) the actors seemed to swarm some sections which caused back to back scares! Overall Tulleys is by far the most fun I've had this Halloween, and I can't wait to get back next year! You have reached the end of this blog, I congratulate you, you poor soul! Anyway what events and stuff have you done? Anyway happy Halloween (I know I''m 4 fuc**** days late) and happy off-season! May the next few winter months be depressing.. (Bar Winter Wonderland, which fu** that, I don't want to take a loan out..)

Screamland at Dreamland Margate is a fairly new event (only in its third year) though its managed to become well known in its first year for beautiful theming and creative scare tactics. In its second year (last year) the event seemed to get panned by a few, and I feel like last year the event kind of went under the radar, though the "Paradise Foundation" proved that Screamland weren't running out of ideas, and all the mazes (bar their mirror maze) all proved to be well themed, and full of scares that completely caught me off guard! When 2017's lineup was announced, I think a lot of people were shocked.. The Paradise Foundation has departed in return for two new mazes, which is certaintly a move I didn't see coming. Nevertheless, what would 2017 bring to the table for Screamland? *This will contain spoilers* Punchinello's Revenge I overall had a dire run through of the park's Mirror Maze last year, though this year the actors inside made this a really fun short sharp shock. The opening saw a mini puppet show which set the scene greatly, before we entered the mirror maze to find a crocodile and the baby.. YES, I'M NOT JOKING, there was a jump scare involving a actor dressed as a crocodile.. 100/10 cos crocodile 4.5/10 Festino's Festival Of Freaks Festino last year had quite a large space to work with and the maze had tons of theatrical scenes and oversized props that gave tons of scares and laughs throughout its long length. Sadly this year the maze has been reduced to a white marquee, and I can't help but feel like the maze is a shadow of its former self.. The intro was something akin to last year, though as soon as the scene ended we were pushed into the strobe filled main maze. The maze itself gave a few good scares, though sadly most of the unique props and scares are gone from last year. To its credit though the maze is very disorientating, and our group did circles around the maze a few times, though sadly the maze even with this still feels shorter.. The ending also saw no finale, which left me a tad disappointed with Festino overall.. Festino overall is a fairly disorientating maze that is well acted, though sadly it feels weak compared to its last incarnation, and the maze feels a little run-of-the-mill for the event.. 6/10 The BrotherHood Oh.. Hooded Mazes, they can work so well (Molly Crowe) but they can be so dull (Hellements/VIXI).. BrotherHood overall sadly felt more like Hellements in its first half with little to no scares, and due to the lack of sound or anything else this section actually was even more DULL than Hellements.. The second half redeems it though with the removal of the hoods and some great scares with torches, and generally a few really strong jump scares that worked better than anything the hooded section was trying to do.. The Brotherhood overall I think was a massive mixed bag of a maze in that the first half is pathetically dull, but the second half gave some of the best scares of the night! 5/10 The Final Cut: They Came From Outer Space The Final Cut returns very similar to last year with some brilliant concepts and some very intricate theming that immerses you in from the start. The use of the squish bag at the start, the Little Shop Of Horrors reference, and the loud but effective finale make the attraction strong. Scares were overall very intense, though I thought the maze felt more rushed this year, and some of the monologue and improvisation from last year seemed to skimmed past which was a tad disappointing. 8/10 Dead And Breakfast: Under New Management Dead And Breakfast sadly felt a tad poor on my run through with a lot of missed opportunities across the board.. In this I mean scares and actors felt sparse across the maze, the improvisational more actor led scenes are pretty much gone, and special effects such as the lift or the bunker room are seen completely un-used which is a shame.. Towards the end you briefly see Fag Ash Lil again, and she sets up the finale.. Shame the finale is beyond cliche, and the actor using it didn't really attempt to chase or startle us, we casually walked past it.. Anyway I think its time Dead And Breakfast bites the dust, as something wasn't right about this B&B on my run through.. 3/10 The Legend Of Crank Jack Crank Jack is a example of a maze using simple, but incredibly effective tactics like the crawling section at the beginning. This section seems to go on forever, and scares come from all angles- including directly above you! The "pop goes the weasel" eerie audio also makes this section even more creepy as you wind through the incredibly twisty layout. After the crawl section you're back on your feet, and holy god is the second half even more confusing with its countless dead ends and its Clowns who seemed happy to torment and blast horns in your ears! I gotta say Crank Jack really had me on my toes throughout with its confusing layout, and overall the maze can give off some great scares in form of loud horns and many holes and secret doors for actors to come out of nowhere! Overall I was very impressed with Crank Jack- for being in a small white marquee, this maze packs a lot into its small space, and the scares were easily some of the best of the night. 9/10 I also managed to get a audio recording of my second run through of the maze, so if you wanna hear pop goes the weasel for 5 minutes, enjoy! The Atmosphere/Roamers Overall roamers at the park were alright though sadly I feel like they lacked the amazing improvisation and interaction of Tulley's street team.. In this for sure the Clown Girls who walked around on stilts were impressive, though some of the freaks/clowns roaming about didn't even interact with guests.. Anyway Dreamland has a solid atmosphere, and I feel like fire breathers at the entrance really *excuse the pun* heated up the atmosphere! Operations I feel like operations were solid and the mazes had reasonable queues for a peak night (no 200 minute stupid waits) and the batching generally seemed very good in very un-linear mazes like Crank Jack which was nice to see (no stacking of groups or over crowding) Scenic.. IT WAS OPEN! IT DIDN'T BREAKDOWN! Overall Scenic is a fun classic, and oh god does it look beautiful.. Well it does next to the drab town of Margate anyway.. Conclusion: I think this is a very rocky year for Screamland, though I think there is some hope (Crank Jack and The Final Cut) which shows some of the prettier sides of Screamland.. Anyway I think for 15 quid the 6 mazes and Scenic plus the fairground rides are completely worth it, and if you live near-by, this is a must visit. Though I think some big changes are due next year though, as I think overall the event is not as solid as last year.. 10/10 my photography is only the best..

So to start the blog off, here's a joke The Conservative Party Anyway its sadly nearly Halloween, meaning the parks close for off season! So I guess its back to rocking back and forward in my room til march.. So I've reviewed a few events over Halloween, so I'm going to do some awards to recap my Halloween Season! http://forum.maniahub.com/blogs/entry/812-alton-towers-scarefest-2016-review/ http://forum.maniahub.com/blogs/entry/808-screamland-margate-2016-review/ http://forum.maniahub.com/blogs/entry/804-thorpe-park-fright-nights-2016-review/ http://forum.maniahub.com/blogs/entry/803-tulleys-farm-shocktoberfest-2016-review/ Anyway.. BRING ON THE AWARDS Best Theming/Costume Design Honourable Mentions- Dead And Breakfast, The Cellar, Altonville Mine Tours Winner- The Final Cut What haven't I said about The Final Cut? The theming is fab throughout, and the Sci-Fi costumes felt very well done. Especially if you're a film buff like me, its fun seeing all the references to classic Sci-Fi Movies. Most Improved Maze Honourable Mentions- The Colony Winner- The Big Top The Big Top last year was admittedly a plane crash. At first even I didn't want to admit it. The maze just did not work, the open spaces made scares a tad awkward, and it felt half-finished as well. This year the maze seems like a whole different attraction, with some changes the maze now sits as one of the best in Thorpe's offering. The maze itself feels much more frenetic, with the intense strobe section, to the well themed rooms towards the end. Worst Maze Dishonourable Mentions- Bloody Mirror, The Cabin In The Woods, Hellements, Donald Trump's House Of Horrors Winner/Loser- Platform 15 After doing some run throughs of it recently, I've came to the conclusion this is the worst of the year.. Whats the point of having a long attraction if nothing happens for 90% of it? It just drags on, and unlike The Colony for example there's not much to see for most of it.. The ending tunnel takes the cake for being the worst scene, its long, and you'll probably not see a actor! The theming is OK, but a lot of the attraction is just nothing.. Nothing.. Most Original Concept/Theme Honourable Mentions- Coven Of 13, The Final Cut Winner- The Paradise Foundation I love originality in scare attractions, it really sets a attraction apart from the rest, which is what The Paradise Foundation did! The Paradise Foundation is a gore infested theatrical journey through a controversial surgical clinic. Basically the idea is that the rich pay for the 'bliss' treatment, which involves the poor being surgically operated on to give there happiness for the rich. The maze throughout has a lot of gore, including disgustingly disfigured costumes that actors wear. The maze overall is something quite different to anything else I've done this Halloween. Most Intense Maze Honourable Mentions- The Paradise Foundation, Altonville Mine Tours, Chop Shop Winner- Sub Species: The End Games Sub Species breaks the boundaries of what actors can do in a maze. I was split up throughout, faced sections of the maze on my own, and was constantly manhandled and pushed by actors. The maze has a intense crawling scene, periods of complete darkness, and had me on edge throughout. Best Roaming Actors And Atmosphere Winner- Tulleys Farm Shocktoberfest The Atmosphere at Tulleys is unmatchable, with a range of brilliant roamers and two music stages, its really brilliant! Best Scare/Halloween Event Winner- Screamland Margate This award was very tough to decide. But I've decided Screamland was my favourite event of the season. The great atmosphere, the four brilliant mazes, and the heavy load of creativity in the mazes is something special. Anyway thanks for reading me ramble in this blog! Have a spoopy halloween frens and fellow geeks What events have you been to this Halloween?