How Scary is Alton Towers Scarefest??!

[Debs Hill]

Hi guys!
thinking of taking my 12 year old to Scarefest at Alton Towers for the first time this year........so need some advice from people who have been!!
How scary is it? Is it crazily busy? I also heard some horrible reports of people experiencing threats of violence from large groups of travellers during these events?
Help!
Debsx

 

[Vickyrowe]

We've been on the first and last weekends and midweek before, the weekend are busier but not stupidly so.
The mazes are pay to enter so you can avoid them if you need too, same with the Zombie scare zone ( this one is free but can be bypassed).
I personally do not do the mazes , I am a wimp and petrified of Zombies. the actors cannot touch you but can get up in your face . The Terror of the Towers can be quite claustrophobic.

As far as Travelers go they tend to go at Easter and August bank holiday , Security are very on top of dealing with any trouble, I have heard tales of them queue jumping and being slightly disrespectful of people by smoking in lines etc. but never heard of any fights.

A good forum for Alton is www.Towersstreet.com , Lovely bunch , will be able to answer questions better than me about the mazes.

The great perk is riding in the dark, but the Skyride (cable car) and water rides close at dusk for Evacuation reasons.

Vicky x

 

[Danauk]

We go to the Scarefest every year, although we go to ride the coasters in the dark rather than to do the actually Halloween activities. We have never had problems with large groups and even though we have to go at weekends due to work we often find the wait times for the rides after dusk are not that bad. You can do as much or as little of the Halloween activities as you want. Hopefully we will be there next weekend too.

 

[TCO]

I was pretty twitchy in the towers maze I just get on edge with actors in horror mazes and they get right in your face. Best avoided if your not sure

 

[Debs Hill]

Thank you so much for your help and advice guys!
Do you know how it compares to Fright Night at Thopre Park?! That one looks scarier and on a larger scale!
Debsx

 

[venny]

Fright nights are definitely more extreme than Scarefest and have been overhauled this year so all the mazes are themed to films. There are also more mazes and they are all free unlike Scarefest where just carnival of screams and the zombie scare zone are free this year. Scarefest can really be as scary as you want it to be and if you want just a mild kind of day you can easily avoid the mazes. Weekends can be very busy and there has been a tendency for travellers to attend in large groups on a Saturday over the last couple of years. On days when the park opens until 9 pm you can usually walk on most rides in the last hour.

 

[Debs Hill]

Thanks guys. Can't wait to hear reports of people who have been to either event this year!!!
Debsx

 

[xxpeplyxx]

Scare fest is not scary! They have no roaming actors so unless you go in the mazes you shouldn't get scared we usually go this coming Friday and Saturday every year but are doing something different! Ive never know it to be quiet so expect long long queues! By long I mean Rita was labeled as 90mins and people were saying that they had queued 2hours+ even hex has a long queue! If you can avoid weekends then do as they are very very busy indeed! I'd say get the ultimate fastback if you can afford to! It's worth the extra money on scare feat as you et more hours to use it and you get to skip the horrendous queues! And I mean horrendous if you go half term week expect even worse wait times!