Tulley's Shocktober Fest Scream Park

[Quorn]

Don’t know if anyone will bother to read this but here are my experiences from yesterday. Spoilers (a little bit).

 

1. Creepy Cottage - Pretty much unchanged as far as I noticed, a few good jumps where I failed to spot some of the curtains, good way to start.

 

2. VIXI - Having had quite a good experience with it last year, I was let down when I went through the first two or three rooms with nobody interacting with me or anybody else in my group. After that there were very few actors at best and they didn’t do a great job of surprising any of us. The ending still manages to slightly redeem the maze.

 

3. Coven - I still love the effects in this maze, but my run through was let down by a slow group ahead of us. I’d gone first to leave myself a bit more exposed, but could already see the group ahead of us as soon as I came out of the briefing area. The swamp still gave me some good scares so I’ll let it slide.

 

4. Hayride - The same layout as years gone, but the actors seemed a bit scarce this time. Only a few hopped onto the trailer and they didn’t interact much with us as we were at the tractor end. Still enjoyable.

 

5. Chop Shop - Still one of the most intense mazes I’ve experienced. Going last, I was stopped by actors and cut off from the group on multiple occasions, making it the best run through I’ve had.

 

6. Colony - Again, batching let this maze down for me as we were stopped about two thirds of the way through by a group trying to get through the inflatables but hesitating. I went last again and was joined by the group behind us around halfway through. The final actor also failed to interact with us, meaning we just walked past and she terrorised those behind us, disappointed. The unique parts of this maze do make it memorable though, and I still enjoyed it for the most part.

 

7. Cellar - Going last again, I had the best maze experience I’ve ever had. There was no instruction to form a conga line this time (not sure if that’s an intentional change for this year) so I was free to create a gap between myself and the group which the actors abused, blocking me off and jumping out in front of me at every corner. The variety in this maze still contributes to it’s greatness in my opinion, combining Big Top’s strobe maze, Cabin in the Woods’ corridors and it’s own theming elements to create a great experience.

 

8. Twisted Clowns - The 3D element to the maze still makes the clowns stand out from anything else I’ve seen, and the interaction was great from them too. I was stopped for a while by a clown asking for a password before I could pass, separating me from the group and making it really enjoyable.

 

Overall:

Cottage - 6/10

VIXI - 5/10

Coven - 7/10

Hayride - 7/10

Chop Shop - 9/10

Colony - 8/10

Cellar - 10/10

Clowns - 9/10

 

We didn’t make any of the Circus of Horrors time slots, so can’t comment on that.

[Coaster]

Nice detailed review.  I have to say I was a little disappointed with Tulleys this year, as you have mentioned above there were batching issues in nearly every maze for us meaning we caught up with the group in front; really ruins the experience as the idea is surely that you shouldn't be aware of other groups at any point during the maze?  Made little sense either as it was a quiet(ish) evening with short queues, so they could have spaced the groups out a lot more.

 

It felt like there were less actors than previous years, and some key effects were missing (car horn in Colony, spider dropdown on the Hayride etc).

 

I didn't really understand the need for the strobe section in The Cellar, but the strobe rate wasn't very effective either way.

 

Circus of Horrors is fab.

 

Still a brilliant event, but definitely lower standards than the last 2 years IMO.

[Quorn]

4 minutes ago, Coaster said:

Nice detailed review.  I have to say I was a little disappointed with Tulleys this year, as you have mentioned above there were batching issues in nearly every maze for us meaning we caught up with the group in front; really ruins the experience as the idea is surely that you shouldn't be aware of other groups at any point during the maze?  Made little sense either as it was a quiet(ish) evening with short queues, so they could have spaced the groups out a lot more.

 

It felt like there were less actors than previous years, and some key effects were missing (car horn in Colony, spider dropdown on the Hayride etc).

 

I didn't really understand the need for the strobe section in The Cellar, but the strobe rate wasn't very effective either way.

 

Circus of Horrors is fab.

 

Still a brilliant event, but definitely lower standards than the last 2 years IMO.

Yeah, considering the Colony was walk-on for us, I was very surprised we both caught another group and got caught by one.

[MattyMoo]

Went to Tulley's again last night thanks to replacement VIP tickets that my pal received after speaking to customer services about our last visit (poor batching, confusion regarding security and queuing.... I personally wouldn't have complained but he did and was happy go again...!) Anyway:

 

CHOP SHOP (x3)

This was absolutely fantastic last night on each run through, even when with a larger groups. In the unlikely event any of the actors are on here, you were bloody fab - shout out to the girl in the first section who refers to me as "Smiley Miley" because of my Smiler Hoodie who remembered me from a few weeks ago and said "Do you ever wash cos you're wearing it again" and also told me off for "repping the wrong park" and then following me through the actor runs to later scenes ? Brilliant stuff and half the fun is the interaction at Tulleys! The chainsaws were relentless on each run, and again shout out to the two bigger guys near the exit, on our final run the guy forced me into a corner so I couldn't go anywhere, splitting me from my mate with a chainsaw up close, and another run, ended up between two guys with chainsaws with nowhere to go, who then starting counting down and I ran for it haha. I know obviously the chainsaws aren't actually dangerous and all that, but I genuinely pelted out of that maze haha. The guy at the end shouted "Can't believe they got away for a third time" - love it. 

 

COVEN OF 13 (x2)

Lots of jump scares in the laser section on both runs, and on our second go in particular, the witches in the outdoor section were seriously giving it some welly, shout out again here to "the one with the creepy laugh". We were blocked by two actresses in the house section after the fireplace on our second run too, and one actress there would not move and got seriously in my face. Was a cracking intense run through and it was back to how I remembered it last year, really enjoyed it - props to you all!

 

COLONY (x2)

First run on this was, again like last time, poor - but purely due to the batching, I think they need some sort of "stop" point in the middle where you can be held for a while for some reason, the maze is huge and it just seems that people always end up catching up with each other (our "big batch" run took 15 minutes to get through!). The actors were trying their best but it's difficult when you are basically just queuing round a maze. However - we went back at the end of the night, there was no queue at all, and I went in with a group of 2 at the back - and the maze was transformed! Props to the guy before the red light/white light smoke section who told me to wait there, so I was purposely split from the 2 people I was with - he then proceeded to direct me the wrong way through the smoke (it was SO thick) on a number of occasions, and then wait again - and when I ended up in the white light section, I was then suddenly sandwiched between two actresses (<3) who just appeared from nowhere. Top notch. Unlikely they or he will see this, but if you do, kudos for making that run so so good because you knew there was no-one behind so I'd be by myself.

 

CREEPY COTTAGE (x2)

We went on this first in the evening and it was absolutely great first off, with a heck of a lot of actors appearing from nowhere and re-appearing, but our second run through there were a lot less actors in there, and it seemed a bit flat (that possibly may have been to some sort of e-stop situation mind you, that said!) That first run though really set the pace for the evening though, the actors were really "on it" and got my heart beating!

 

THE CELLAR (x2)

Oh my goodness, first go on this was hilarious with the animatronic snake head literally blocking my mate as we passed through (Too many snakes hun)... agree about the strobes not being fast enough in the mesh maze section, that said, on second go around an actress climbed above us with long "The Ring" style black wig which was rather creepy, and we had to crawl/duck underneath her which was quite intimidating

 

TWISTED CLOWNS 3D (x3)

Now I can't repeat exactly what one of the clowns said to me on a run through of this, but he evidently remembered me from last time  Creased us up completely though, good work. Props here to the "cat clown" at the start and heck just the maze in general, I really love Twisted Clowns as it's something a bit different like I said before, it's fun, cheeky, silly... half of the time the clowns are just making stupid noises in your ear or speaking nonsense/repeating nonsense but it just completely fits the mad-cap vibe. Solid run throughs each time (shame the plastic glasses have disappeared and replaced with paper ones, assume they've been nicked/broken!)

 

HORRORWOOD HAYRIDE (x1)

This has been changed / improved since our last visit, there were definitely more actors - the cowboy with the "fastest fingers in the west" (ahem) made us laugh. Still love the girl on the swing scene, iconic. Also in one scene you were sprayed with snow/foam which was new! A lot more content this time and a great run through (as it typically always is!) Also fab to see the park from another view, you get to see the sheer size of some of the set pieces!

 

We didn't do VIXI in the end last night nor watch Circus of Horrors as we wanted more Chop & Clowns, alas!

 

We decided we will probably only go again next year if they add another new haunt/maze as we don't want to get too used to it  It was a far better night than at the start of the season, I think that was purely down to there being far more actors in the mazes, and they were evidently settled in their roles now.

 

Oh and one last thing - love the roaming actors with Darren the Rat - you were great, and loved your improv where we asked where Darren had got to

 

And, as always - those nurses tho ?

[JoshC.]

I visited Tulleys for the first time last night. I was perhaps a little disappointed by it if I'm honest.. Mazes reviewed in order:

 

Creepy Cottage

Nice little attraction. Very dark and nicely themed. The sponge floor was nice.

 

VIXI

Not awful. The changes in height in the floor are good, the rope changes are good, the temperature changes are good. The post-hood section is fun. The major issue is the actors making too much noise - making one loud noise to scare one person stops the actor from being able to scare anyone else.

 

Circus of Horrors

Good 20 minute show. Like the intimate setting which works very well for CoH.

 

Coven of 13

Loved the swamp at the start; very different and fun. Trouble is Coven goes on too long with not a lot happening. I'm all for lulls and breaks to build tension, but these go on too long with not enough to keep interest levels up. I was ready for it to end at least twice before realising it was carrying on. 

 

Haunted Hayride

Loved this. Good humour, good interaction, couple of clever scares (putting chainsaws in the benches to make them vibrate - very clever).

 

Twisted Clowns 3D

By far my favourite maze of the night. Doesn't take itself too seriously, creating lots of funny moments. And that leaves you more open to being scared. It's so different in tone to every other attraction which makes it feel like a breath of fresh air.

 

Chop Shop

Meh. When chainsaws do nothing for you, this maze was always going to be meh. It starts off well, but with the second half of the maze literally being 'strobes, blank walls and chainsaws', it's just very bland.

 

Cellar

Cellar was alright. In terms of style, it felt very similar to a lot of other mazes, and there were a couple too many lull moments for my liking. I'd say the last minute of the maze we walked through with no actors.

 

Colony

Another extremely long maze, again with not a lot happening at a lot of points. The lulls were almost getting boring at this point. Again, the style of the maze felt very samey to a few others which meant it all felt a bit of a blur. The white room with all the smoke was very good though.

 

One thing which really stood out to me is how Tulleys clearly have their own groove for mazes. "A creepy / distopian storyline and actors speaking non-sensical words" pretty much describes 5 of their mazes, which all feel very blended into one. On top of that, multiple mazes have chainsaws, which just makes the whole technique feel bland.

 

The crowning jewel of Tulleys, however, is their street performers. They are brilliant. I had multiple interactions through the night. The clowns harassed me whilst I was eating (and hurled a couple of phrases I won't repeat on here ?). A guy with a bird-thing interacted with me a few times, always with lots of humour. The live entertainers were brilliant, with street staff encouraging/forcing us to dance along. And the nurses gave us a very rousing personal performance whilst we were at a table.. 

 

So yeah, all in all, I found the best bits of Tulleys to be the less serious attractions. Maybe it's just me and what I want from scare attractions, but their 'this is a super dark scary thing' mazes did little for me, with Twisted and the street team, the ones who were more playful and not trying so hard with the scares, being the real highlights of the event.

[JoshC.]

I visited Tulleys for the first time last night. I was perhaps a little disappointed by it if I'm honest.. Mazes reviewed in order:

 

Creepy Cottage

Nice little attraction. Very dark and nicely themed. The sponge floor was nice.

 

VIXI

Not awful. The changes in height in the floor are good, the rope changes are good, the temperature changes are good. The post-hood section is fun. The major issue is the actors making too much noise - making one loud noise to scare one person stops the actor from being able to scare anyone else.

 

Circus of Horrors

Good 20 minute show. Like the intimate setting which works very well for CoH.

 

Coven of 13

Loved the swamp at the start; very different and fun. Trouble is Coven goes on too long with not a lot happening. I'm all for lulls and breaks to build tension, but these go on too long with not enough to keep interest levels up. I was ready for it to end at least twice before realising it was carrying on. 

 

Haunted Hayride

Loved this. Good humour, good interaction, couple of clever scares (putting chainsaws in the benches to make them vibrate - very clever).

 

Twisted Clowns 3D

By far my favourite maze of the night. Doesn't take itself too seriously, creating lots of funny moments. And that leaves you more open to being scared. It's so different in tone to every other attraction which makes it feel like a breath of fresh air.

 

Chop Shop

Meh. When chainsaws do nothing for you, this maze was always going to be meh. It starts off well, but with the second half of the maze literally being 'strobes, blank walls and chainsaws', it's just very bland.

 

Cellar

Cellar was alright. In terms of style, it felt very similar to a lot of other mazes, and there were a couple too many lull moments for my liking. I'd say the last minute of the maze we walked through with no actors.

 

Colony

Another extremely long maze, again with not a lot happening at a lot of points. The lulls were almost getting boring at this point. Again, the style of the maze felt very samey to a few others which meant it all felt a bit of a blur. The white room with all the smoke was very good though.

 

One thing which really stood out to me is how Tulleys clearly have their own groove for mazes. "A creepy / distopian storyline and actors speaking non-sensical words" pretty much describes 5 of their mazes, which all feel very blended into one. On top of that, multiple mazes have chainsaws, which just makes the whole technique feel bland.

 

The crowning jewel of Tulleys, however, is their street performers. They are brilliant. I had multiple interactions through the night. The clowns harassed me whilst I was eating (and hurled a couple of phrases I won't repeat on here ?). A guy with a bird-thing interacted with me a few times, always with lots of humour. The live entertainers were brilliant, with street staff encouraging/forcing us to dance along. And the nurses gave us a very rousing personal performance whilst we were at a table.. 

 

So yeah, all in all, I found the best bits of Tulleys to be the less serious attractions. Maybe it's just me and what I want from scare attractions, but their 'this is a super dark scary thing' mazes did little for me, with Twisted and the street team, the ones who were more playful and not trying so hard with the scares, being the real highlights of the event.

[JoshuaA]

 

**Sorry for hyping up halloween in may**

It seems like Tulleys have something exciting up their sleeve for this year.. I am very excited to see what this new attraction will be! 

I'm not gonna rule out a scare zone or another show but if this is the ninth maze then that is beyond exciting!

[MattyMoo]

Definitely going back this year if it is a bona fide maze!  Maybe it's the police/jailer themed one that was hinted at.

[JoshC.]

 

Two new mazes (Colony retheme and a brand new one) plus a new show for this year.

 

[JoshuaA]

Scaretour said on their page that apparently the new maze (and probably the show) will be placed next to Chop Shop and Twisted's exit.

They also said The Colony's replacement will be extended out past Chop Shop, how can that maze get longer?

 

Really excited for Tulleys this year, hopefully I can experience the event as a guest this year at least once too considering I didn't last year.

[MattyMoo]

If The Colony gets longer it'll take half an hour to get through

 

Had some awful run throughs on Colony last year... Then all was forgiven when I somehow fluked it and ended up in a group of 3 at the end of the night, so let the pair in front go off by themselves. Was incredible by myself, remember posting here at the time - got completely stuck at the mist/white bright light part with an actor making me go the wrong way time and time again

[Glitch]

Let me know what date ppl plan on going so I can go bought 2 tickets last October as earlybird.

[Matt 236]

Colony is probably the longest maze I have ever done at a scare event with multiple mazes. Pretty already takes 20/25 minutes to go through, so if it gets any longer it will be huge!

[JoshC.]

Tulleys are such size queens.

 

For all the length Colony had, it didn't really do much 

[Mer]

I’m just hoping they bring back a corn field maze ??? The one I did on my first ever visit in 2013 (Woodshock) was hands down the best maze I’ve done at Tulleys. Jump scares and all that do nothing for me. It’s all about the suspense, the unknown...walking through a pitch black ticks those boxes ?

[Stuntman707]

Can't believe there's lots of interest in going this year after they've already sold the cheap, open dated tickets. Wasn't sure this year after we did the last two years running by ourselves.

[jessica2]

Agree with the above that the colony was too long and there were long stretches where nothing happened. I also wasn't a fan of the large group sizes in the cellar for example, seemed to be too many people in one group.

 

Been a couple of years since I've gone, but I'm looking forward to the new maze. The theming in most of the mazes at Tulley's is miles better than at Thorpe (other than Thorpe's LN) so keen to know what the new maze will be about.

[JoshuaA]

Scaretour posted this on their facebook and instagram pages:

Quote

We are proud to exclusively reveal that the new attractions for Tulleys Shocktober Fest Scream Park will be called "The Wastelands Penitentiary"

This will be in a new area of the park behind Chop Shop and will feature a brand new maze that will lead into a new show in a purpose built show space.

We look forward to sharing the logos with you as soon as they are finalised...

So I'm pretty sure thats what the cage was about a few years ago. Very exciting indeed!

[JoshC.]

Prison theme has potential for a good maze. Very different from the rest of their line up, and not as common as many other typical maze themes either which is nice. I was also a huge fan of when Thorpe did the park-wide prison theme in 2012, so here's hoping.

[JoshuaA]

I think this theme could really lend to something truly unique like Chop Shop or Twisted, something that just isn't like anything else at the park. I think that really is needed when Tulleys have so many mazes.

I hope they interject some humour into this new addition as I feel like Tulleys do humor really damn well. I have to admit I'm super excited for Tulleys this year, I just adore this place.

[JoshuaA]

*Double Post!**

 

One of the new mazes will be announced on the 26th at 19:00. This was announced via their Facebook! Very exciting!

[Martin Doyle]

 

”The Wreckoning”

 

Tulleys introducing a Pirate themed horror maze by the look of it. Man how I love this place 😛 

[JoshC.]

I'm a fan of the word play. Maze feels like it has potential to be quite different to the other mazes in terms of theme and style; hope they work with that and really diversify the line up.

 

 

[JoshuaA]

I presume this will replace The Colony and I have to admit that I LOVE this idea.

The Colony has so many structures that can be tweaked to accommodate this unique theme, the tone of the attraction could also be more on the wacky side like Twisted.

This type of theme gives actors so much freedom to make this completely unlike anything else., I really hope Tulleys run with it.

[MattyMoo]

So The Colony is to become The Wreckoning, with one new maze still to be announced - which I think will be the "jail" themed maze that was hinted at but never happened last year.

 

If they pull off The Wreckoning, it could be amazing - fingers crossed they stick a decent sized shipwreck/boat in the middle somewhere. Rumours that Justa Parrot appears in the route as yet unconfirmed.

 

And yes - I know Thorpe had The Curse but that was a little different. And pretty naff.