It’s the time of year of joy and contentment in the form of all things spooky. The yearning for the bonfire smells, chainsaws revving and pumpkin picking is almost over! So, here are our plans for this spooky season and what to expect from us, with a few new additions and many returning favourites!
Scare City:
We’ll be kickstarting our spooky season with Scare City. This was a new event for us last season and honestly, we were taken aback by how terrific it was. Of course, this year there’s been quite a few changes which involve 8 new scare zones. We loved how this event operated with each maze being part of a zone and it being one steady walk with a halfway point. One of the mazes I’d say we’d be most intrigued to experience has to be The Devil’s Orphanage. This sounds like that maze which is going to be potentially the highlight & sounds like that kind of thing is something we find extremely spooky.
Alton Towers Scarefest:
A firm staple in our calendar every season without a doubt we have visited Scarefest since 2016. We love the event more than we can describe even during the more questionable years of odd mazes (looking at you The Invitation) we’ve always found a way to enjoy it. Now that we’re parents it’s also one of the few we can enjoy together and we love to include our children in these kinds of events. Alton Towers caters beautifully for all as well. We’re intrigued to explore the brand new maze for this year which is Final Exhibit. From the teasers, there are some very old nods to the park’s history and it’s using a location we’ve not been in before which is the conference centre. A fresh maze is always welcome at Scarefest so call us intrigued. But also very delighted to see The Edge of the Forest return as well. We’re also excited to see the family entertainment more so now that Liara’s at the age of thoroughly enjoying it.
Conkers Halloween Forest Light Walk
A brand new event for us and a local event is the Conkers Halloween Forest Light Walk. It seems to have a wide range of family fun to enjoy including a 4D cinema, disco, ghost train ride, crafts and a light trail through the haunted woods. We’re excited to see how this event turns out and can’t wait to take our children along for the fun too. It’s exceptionally cheap and affordable too which makes it all the more worth the visit.
Scare Kingdom:
A brand new event for us, which we’ve heard endless things about across the years from people we know of course it’s Scare Kingdom. Every maze is new to us & that makes it all the more exciting too. I’d say the maze I’m most anxious but intrigued to experience has to be Gothica it’s within the woods and has a church usually the mixture of that makes something which leaves me spooked truthfully. But every maze here I have high hopes for!
Doncaster Fear Factory:
This is an event we’ve not stopped thinking or speaking about since our first trip last year. It truly is insane for the quality of the mazes they create and the acting was phenomenal last year. A true standout for us was Diabolous Visum Mortis and I’m not too proud to admit I had dreams about nuns for around 2 weeks after our visit. It’s great to see the event has had a switch up and there are three brand new experiences on offer too with the brand new maze being The Mortician which looks truly repulsive.
Thorpe Park Fright Nights:
25 years of Fright Nights and we just can’t wait to celebrate that milestone! There’s a brand new maze which looks insanely intense and potentially on the edge of my limits called Tenement. Of course, returning favourites like Trailers with brand new scenes, Deadbeat & Stitches. We’re so pleased to see those 3 mazes remain. Not to forget the horrendously vile yet brilliant crows are returning too. These characters are my worst nightmare yet Fright Nights wouldn’t be the same without them.
Howl’o’Ween at Chessington World of Adventures:
This is an event we’ve not done in a little while but intrigued to see how it has transformed since the last time. I’m fairly confident that the entire line-up will be new for us as well. We’re looking forward to experiencing Stone Watchers: Vampire’s Lair scare zone as anything this place has touched prior for Halloween was always wonderful. However, we’ll forever miss Creepy Caves, easily one of the most substantial scare mazes in the UK, particularly in its first year. We were forever traumatised from that run-through we had.
Tulleys Shocktober Fest:
30 years for one of THE ultimate UK scare events. There’s so much right for this place the mazes, the characters, the atmosphere it has it all and I know I keep saying this but it genuinely feels like it’s Christmas to us every year. It VERY rarely stays the same there’s always something changing and this year is no exception to the fact with the return of The Cellar which is extremely exciting as I have no doubt it’ll be even better than before. There are also then 2 brand new scare mazes as well at the point of writing this there’s nothing announced for these yet. But there’s also the firm Tulleys classic mazes returning like Chop Shop, Creepy Cottage just to name a few. We also can’t wait to encounter some of the roaming characters who are actual icons in themselves and can easily have their own little series. These characters have become so loved by many with so much investment into them from guests too.
Twinlakes Family Scream:
A brand new family event for us is Family Scream at Twinlakes. We love the team here and adore working alongside them. They genuinely host some of the best events and the other ultimate scream park to visit is Xtreme Scream Park too. But this event is perfect for our little ones with a free pumpkin included and the day we’re visiting we’ll be catching the Monster Rave! We’re excited to get both children dressed in their spooky outfits to have a spooky time together at this event.
Xtreme Scream Park:
This is the other one of the ULTIMATE scream parks in the UK. These mazes are themed so beautifully and intensely that you genuinely do forget these are just set pieces and you end up lost in these stories created. The mazes here are lengthy, intense and genuinely horrifying especially The Village I always have a wobble before even entering this maze as I know what’s coming in that finale and honestly NOTHING will ever prepare me for the pure horror of that. This season has seen changes happen to Ash Hell Penitentiary an already intense scare maze but for this season there are changes being made but also sounds like The Village is also receiving this touch too. So, we’re going to be a lovely bag of nerves entering these mazes again with not knowing the familiar maze we once knew. This is truly another one of those events that feels like Christmas to us with a strong countdown to the moment we visit and great sadness when it’s over.
Places We Hope To Visit But Not Pencilled In Yet:
These are the events we’d love to visit if we get the chance to in between what we have planned and parenting duties.
Journey to Hell – Pleasure Beach:
We’ve not visited Pleasure Beach for Journey to Hell since the 2021 spooky season and the event is practically a brand-new event compared to then. In 2021 we enjoyed it but there was of course room for improvement at this point the event was still fairly fresh and you could tell the park was finding its feet with how to deliver and operate it but it still worked it was fun. But now we’re keen to try and explore the existing version as it just looks worlds apart and besides Pleasure Beach always offers something unique with their Halloween and that’s making their rides live action with actors. As much as that’s a soft spot for me as I prefer to be on foot to get away at my own pace I still think it’s brilliant they utilise all they’ve got.
Screamfest Burton:
We returned last year for the first time since 2021 or 2022 and truly had a blast. The event here is just tremendous. The maze quality is brilliant and the acting is great too. Not to forget the food was insane and the cocktails. But we’re hoping to nip this into our official plans for this season too.
Drayton Manor Halloween:
20 minutes away and perfect for the babies again we need to renew our season passes and we hope to do this in October. Drayton Manor events again are another that’s evolved over the years and come on leaps and bounds. We adored their recent Christmas offering last year but hope to experience how they do Halloween this time around. Something I also adore about these events is the fact that the train transforms into whatever the season is. Their Christmas version was brilliant but Halloween call me intrigued.
Dr Frights Halloween Horror Nights:
Slowly becoming a yearly favourite and I’ve had some of the biggest scares in these mazes. There’s something about this event that just terrifies me no matter what they touch or do. The first year I vowed not to return as I struggled with how intense the mazes felt more so from a sociological point of view with the dummy-to-actor kind of scares. Last year I found the maze with the familiar characters like ghost face etc truly horrendous and one of the times out of the season I weren’t sure I could carry on. This year it’s faced a lot of changes and again I’m so eager to give it another try and see how the fresh look will compare.
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We can’t wait to begin our spooky season content across all social media platforms including TikTok & YouTube where you’ll find in-maze footage of the events we’re able to share and many blog posts exposing the trauma from these mazes as well. We hope to see as many of you join us for the ride and can’t wait to share our adventures with you too!
Thanks for reading x
