Halloween fest is so good it’s scary
ALTON Towers, with its superfast rides, sheer drops and general all-round thrill-ride mania, is plenty full of screams at the best of times.
So when a place this renowned for frights and thrills decides to turn it up a notch for Halloween, it’s time to get properly terrified.
Once again, the theme park have gone all spooky for Halloween season, launching their now annual Scarefest spectacular.
While existing decor gets a creepy makeover, with pumpkin men lurking by the hotel pond and added gory special effects wherever they can be fitted it in, the terrible mazes are the main attraction.
These are specially themed zones you walk through to achieve a quest, or just survive from A to B, while being set upon byXvXaXrXioXuXscxrxexexpxyxmonsters or people, in the sXhxaxpxe of brilliant actors whose job it is to give you the heebie-jeebies.
And they do a fine job indeed in the newest one, The Welcoming.
I have done two of the Alton Towers mazes in the past but nothing could have prepared me for this one.
You are welcomed to a rural English medieval village where a festival is taking place. As a chosen visitor, you’re met with eerie delight by the dancing flower maidens and weirdy beardy pagan guys. Ominous isn’t even the word. Once inside, you are led through a wooden and wicker maze full of wild nutters cooking mysterious creatures on the spit and scares around every corner.
It’s amazing, and well worth a visit if you are over 15.
Younger visitors can try House of Monsters, a less gory but still creepy kids’ version of the scary mazes. It’s brilliant. There are scares that will make you jump rather than have a near cardiac arrest, and the gore is more Scooby Doo than Freddy Krueger.
Scarefest also means some fab seasonal attractions, such as monster mash style stage performances for the kids. Many visitors turn up in fancy dress, making it all the more festive.
Aside from the October-themed delights, the park offers all the usual thrills. Younger kids will want to spend the whole day in CBeebies Land – and the night, if they get the chance to stay in the themed hotel. Cloud Cuckoo Land is also a great way to have fun with the little ones, with great rides and attractions such as carousels.
Mutiny Bay offers pirate-themed madness that works really well for the whole family, while my sons Finn and Luke were on the Runaway Mine Train rollercoaster half a dozen times because it was so much fun.
For older visitors, the superfast treats include Oblivion, a sheer drop classic, and the re-opened Smiler.
The Galactica virtual reality ride offers a peek into the future of theme parks, with an optional headset that takes you on a journey through space rather than the Midlands.
My whole family had a fab, if terrifying weekend – and if you like a scare, don’t miss the mazes.