Opening day of Scarefest 2025 is a day I look forward to all year round. With a jig to the line-up, it was hard not to be excited. Here is the low-down on our day!
We didn’t take many photos so sorry for the lack of them in this blog!
Scare Mazes:
Altonville Mine Tours – 1.5/5
Returning for yet another year but this was our first time encountering Tiny Revenge’s version. Honestly, I admire the modifications and for the little we saw of the theming but this maze has definitely had its day unfortunately. I had two run-throughs the second being powerful than the first. It felt like actors were absent throughout the first run-through I did not get one jump the second time I did but only due to being at the back. We all know how detailed and ravishing the sets usually are inside here and with the darkness being close to pitch black it does take away from what is a well-themed maze and makes it tricky to thoroughly appreciate the maze whilst that dark. The finale with a chainsaw was fun the 2nd time but the first time was hidden behind a little wall. I used to love this maze but unfortunately, these two experiences have definitely finished off this maze for us. Hopefully, we’ll see something fresh in the future but if not more actors are needed as the recent ones really tried their best but it was out of their hands.
The Edge of the Forest – 5/5
What a maze! Hats off to the Alton Towers team for creating this absolute masterpiece of a maze. I originally predicted this to be an outdoor maze which it isn’t but the theming inside makes you feel like you are outside it’s very well-themed. The pre-show is creepy, the woman who delivers the spill to our group was terrific and the illusion is impressive too. The set pieces throughout were phenomenal. There are some really creative hiding spots for the actors to give scares. Some of the costumes and characters you come across are truly horrifying in the best kind of way. We had so many big jumps in here. I’d probably even say this is potentially the best scare maze Alton Towers has created in many years. It felt like a maze that wouldn’t be out of place within a scream park and that’s the first time since the early days of The Attic we felt like that. It’s brilliant and pristine I can’t even find a fault with this maze.
Entertainment:
Beginning the day with the Alton Ancestors flash mob which has been vastly reduced compared to prior years. However, the flash mob was brilliant it was cheerful, the ancestors themselves were fab looked fantastic and interacted with the crowd beautifully. Bonus points was Liara absolutely loves them! However, onto the Freaky Friends with only meet & greets happening around 4:30 and 2 shows at 6pm & 7pm the lack of daytime entertainment barely makes it family family-based event. Keeping a child-based show to begin this late in the day seems like a weird decision and it definitely has taken the family fun out of Scarefest personally. Thankfully, Liara stayed up for the first & ONLY show and again she adored it. The smaller venue for the shows makes it tricky for everyone to have a viewpoint of the stage especially little ones. It would have been better over in Fountain Square in all honesty. The show itself was truly tremendous as ever.
Decor:
It’s so refreshing to see Scarefest scattered across the rest of the park outside of Tower Street. There are so many different statues of the Freaky Friends you see them more as statues than actual mascots during the day. It feels like Halloween across the park for the first time in the longest time if ever. It’s lovely to see the decorations being taken to new levels and looking better than they have for years.
Scare Zones:
A separate blog to come from these! But the fact that there are 2 scare zones available is brilliant you can tell the paid to the free ones. The queue for the free zones was bigger than the paid as expected and neither can I blame people too. I have never seen the actual scare mazes quite that quiet before either.
Overall:
Honestly, it’s probably the weakest Scarefest in specific parts and yet in others the best too. Decorations and atmosphere outside of Tower Street were fabulous as was the brand new scare maze Edge of the Forest. However, we spend a lot of time embracing the shows usually yet it was nearly impossible until after dusk. It was a mixed bag of disappointment alongside enjoyment. All they needed to do was bring back the entertainment particularly the Freaky Friends shows. Place the stage back on the lawns or in Fountain Square. Put Altonville Mine Tour to bed and bring something on the same scale as Edge of the Forest. Also considering the pricing of the mazes because this is the first year we’ve ever seen the scare mazes here EMPTY. Changes need to happen for Scarefest to bring the disappointing aspects & lower the pricing to match the rest of the integrity that comes with this event.
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Thank you for reading and our scare zone review will be coming soon…
