Another incredible year at Alton Towers resort and another Halloween celebration that has brought joy to everyone who visited the park this Scarefest season. With two brand new maze additions to the park and the return of late-night riding until 9 pm there was no greater place to be than Alton Towers this October.
New Mazes
The introduction of two brand new mazes was a welcome addition to the park. Last year The Welcoming maze wasn’t well received and was thankfully replaced this 2019 season. The maze that replaced it was named Darkest Depths and revolved around the story of a ship under attack from a Kraken. You journey through this detailed ship as it’s sinking and with incredible smell pods and water effects this maze was a very strong addition to this year’s roster. Easily one of my favorite mazes at the park this year!
The Attic was another brand new addition and was based on the top floor of the tower ruins. From crawling through a fireplace to being chased down by various creatures The Attic was an interesting maze indeed. Certainly not one of the scariest mazes of the 2019 season but certainly a welcome addition that brought a little something extra to the park. It’s also a maze that could easily be expanded upon and enhanced should it return for 2020.
Fond Favourites Return
Altonville Mine Tours returned as the hillbilly skin snatchers chased us through the mine tunnels once again. Sub Species ramped up the scares, even more, this year. Kidnapping members of each group to face their fears alone is always a nice touch. Project 42 also came back and was ramped up with more detail and scares than the year before.
It was nice to see those mazes back at the park but for the many years, Sub Species has been running it’s still head and shoulders above any other scare maze at the park. I hope and pray another intense maze like this is brought in for the 2020 season. It’s a very impressive display from set-pieces to the ingenious way of splitting up the groups. It’s one of the best mazes I’ve ever done in a UK theme park.
Late Night Riding
Nothing quite beats feeding the flames of Wicker Man on a late-night ride. All you can see is smoke and flames as the coaster has had all day to warm up. It’s faster, sharper and more intense and the darkness adds the perfect setting and mood to the wicker sacrifice storyline.
Thirteen is a must ride at night and for views alone, Oblivion is a must too! The queues do get a little crazy at night so we highly recommend a fast pass. We weren’t in a queue for any longer than 10 minutes on any other ride except Wicker Man which was a bearable 20-minute wait. Compared to the non-fast pass waiting time of 2 hours we thought this was a reasonably good time.
What’s in store for Alton Towers Scarefest in 2020?
No details have been leaked for the 2020 season just yet. However, we’ll be the first to know when those details are released! Halloween is always my favorite time of year and I cannot wait for next year’s installment.
Hopefully, the park introduces scare zones again next year. It would be nice to be fully immersed in particular zones as you walk through rather than dotted bits of theming here and there.
