Scarefest 2011: General Discussion

[Pricey ;)]

Now this years scarefest has kicked off, what do we think of it? What improvements can be made? Will Scarefest 2011 live up to its standards?
Happy Formuming :hsmile:

[dominoes]

maybe better trained actors, because what i have heard is that they aren't really trying

[Sam]

They need another free maze on park, maybe in the Black Hole tent or the old Nick Outta Control building.

[Robin278]

the actors go through a long audition process and even a scare academy before entering a week of intense rehearsal suited to fit each maze.

being a scare actor is very strenuous job and keeping a consistent scare to all guests who walk through the attractions im sure is very very difficult to do - usually seeing thousands of guests a day, for 6-10 hours a day, for 2 weeks straight.

Perhaps, before comments are made by minors they should perhaps think about how their thoughts might be received by either the actors themselves or people who work in the theatre/entertainments industry.

it is easy to criticise things that one has no compreshension or understanding of.

[dominoes]

sorry, i wasn't blaming them, it's just that i heard that some were just standing about. don't shoot the mesenger

[cmpunk771]

I would like them to sort out the batching on TOTT as on one of my runs the actors kept stoping us which killed the atmosphere and decreased scares!

I would like to see the canaval expand and the park lights, But overall was great this year!

[Randomizer462]

I think they should have a few more scary actors around the Dark Forest and walking around the park at night. Maybe they could send a Few clowns from the Carnival and some actors in TOTT que line! Hex: Live all Scarefest as its popular! Maybe another free maze too!

[Pennywise]

I think this year's Scarefest was pretty close to perfect, I think just making Hex: Live an attraction for the entirety of Scarefest next year would be enough, along with a few improvements to existing mazes.

[onair]

I think the park lighting made the 2010 scarefest it just shows how it totally transformed the park after dark and created an eerie setting. (as u can prob see i like lighting :mrgreen: )

A lot of comments around the net have mentioned the lighting this year, please Alton increase the lighting and step it up a notch further for 2011. Those bigs trees in front of the Towers with a few green lights under them would look cool. Those massive white lights in the Dark Forest and X Sector could do with a few coloured jellies in front too

I do also miss the iceshow, some sort of all the family halloween show or music on park would be good. Why not put a few of the singers from the hotel "Haunt INN" on park in a music show at various times.

In all i thought 2010 was one of the best scarefests so far, cant wait till next year

[Chris W]

Lighting is pretty much sorted now (only a few teaks needed), so I will stop saying Alton needs more parkwide lighting.

Now, I feel Alton need a Scarezone. A proper one, e.g. not one like Thorpe's. I think there is a perfect location in the park for it too:



It could be themed as a Thirteen scarezone, with wraiths and other dark forest characters. I think it would be a very solid addition before the ultimate goal of a 4th maze.

[SheikhSam]

Well, this year for me was amazing, although no actors were in 13's queue when I was there, there I had an amazing experience:

It started off with an excentric blonde lady blasting out 'No getting over' by David Guetta on a ghetto blaster (large CD player), a member of staff approached me and said confused " she doesn't work here", but suddenly two girls joined her, it turned into a synchronised dance routine, then more characters and 'members of the public' got involved, a game stall op from towers came over to say " guys, guys, GUYS I'm really sorry I'm going to have to stop you, guys, GUYS" then he started dancing.. the crowd, which had built up by then were cheering.. it was a massive synchronised dance roughly the same size as the 'Thriller' by MJ. It didn't last long, but was bloody fantastic to watch.

Things like this that Alton pull really make my day, and hopefully make other peoples day too.

[Badgy]

Firstly, I have no major complaints with any of the scarefest this year. All three mazes were excelent with TOTT, Carnival and Boiler in that order. It was the strobe maze in TOTT that won it for me. Nemesis was excelent, Th13teen had a great feel to it, even Air felt more exhilarating. Rapids though had to be a highlight.

So only minor points.

I would say more actors so that they didnt have to leave to attend to the scare rooms. Th13teen's queueline was much better with the actors (what a surprise).

The removal of the big spots by the lake for more subdued lighting as they made taking pics hard of either the towers across the lake from Towers St. or the shot of Towers St. from the towers side of the lake.

Making haunted hollow a live attraction could be good if worked properly.

Turning off the onride photo on Th13teen as the flash was blinding in the dark. fortunately I got to ride more than once and therefore closed my eyes for that first turn.

All in all an excelent Scarefest, would I want it open in the dark more, no. Becasue I owuld have nothing to look forward to

Badgy

[Nightfall]

[quote=""Chris""][/quote] As Chris has very kindly highlighted this area I might as well mention a major problem I found this year.
The path marked above was lit by two generator flood lights. On the last Saturday we used this path allot as it’s my favourite rout to Th13teen. On one occasion we were walking along when the area was plunged into darkness. A group of 5 lads had mucked about with the controls and switched it off. Several minutes later the other light went out.
Now I would hate to see this path closed in future unless it was for the above mentioned Scare Zone, but I can't imagine the park keeping it open if the generators are so easily tampered with. As staff don't often see this area the generators need some protection.

[James]

Things I'd like to see next year:
- Air lit up: I think Air would look lovely with some blue lighting around parts of the track.
- More pumpkins around the theme park/resort: The ATH could have done with a few pumpkins around the entrance of the hotel and I think parts of the theme park could do with pumpkins here and there.
- Carnival of Screams bigger: I did love this maze and think there is a lot more Alton could do with this maze, I wouldn't mind seeing maybe a big top entrance facade next year but with still the clowns mouth entrance as seeing the white tent ruined the atmosphere for me.
- More maze actors: The Bolier House was clearly short of actors(although they did do a fantastic job), I'd like to see more actors hired next season for the mazes(Boiler House in particular).
- Possible scarezone and/or a second theme park maze.

There will always been ways Alton can improve Scarefest, so I don't expect massive changes next year, but as long as Scarefest keeps getting bigger and better each year then they will always have something to want guests coming for more - and judging by queues times on the Halloween weekend, all of this years investments for Scarefest have been worth it.

[Chaz]

The event this year really was amazing, look at the effort they all went into compared to Thorpe Park (I know the marketing management didn't allow TP to theme the park up this year).

The lighting was great around the park, and added actors around Th13teen after dark and Hex Live were very entertaining (made queuing bearable).

Stayed at the Splash Landings hotel again this time and the entertainment (in the main hotel) was similar to last year, very good! Although the park was busy the hotel fasttrack we had made it tolerable.

All three mazes were so much fun. TOTT wasn't was good as last year in my opinion but it was still worth the queue. CoS was a nice addition, with it being similar, to some extent, to the old 3D Freak Show at Thorpe Park (minus the glasses and the amazing artwork). The first scene was very clever and rooms, such as the dotted room and the puppets were fun. The BH was better this year I think and it was nice to see the old TOTT oven and the F1000s barn incorporated in.

Also, hearing the old Toyland Tours music in the interior CoS queue (albeit speed up and slowed down) brought back some good memories.

With the monorail queue being way too long when leaving the park (on 29th and 30th) we walked back to hotel, never done this before, but the walk really wasn't as long as I thought- took about ten minutes

So yeah, brilliant event again, can't wait til next years! Am I the only one who can picture the exterior maze area being turned into a series of mazes and entertainment? I mean we had the two mazes and a few games/refreshments this year, in future will there be possibly four mazes in 'Alton Vil' (maybe including a new F1000s)? Or is it just me? Would be nice though, a complete scare area!

[BSwiss]

How were the stock levels in the shops/restaurants on the weekend on the weekend of the 30/31? Quite a few of the outlets were running out of everything the Sunday before.

I know its impossible to entirely pre-empt how busy certain outlets are going to be on a day-to-day basis but on this day they seemed way, way out.

So maybe my (picky) complaint would be more in-depth analysis of guest numbers throughout the season compared with previous scarefests.

Unless I just went on a day with an unpredictable spike in guests.

But all the staff were really nice about it.

[NickT04]

That path down the back of Thirteen is my shortcut to beat the queues come 10am!

[Randomizer462]

This year was quite good I would like to see these:
Maybe abit more lighting in The Car Park
Another maze on the Theme park, Scarezone?
Hex: Live to On The Final Week?
More actors round the theme park

[Voke]

Maybe Alton to incoperate Hex-Live as an official event, and not just a few days only staff event? That would be pretty awesome

[Voke]

Also cover up areas your not supposed to go in TOTT (Small Sign). The person at the front of the group decided to head right instead of straight ahead and ended up in a room full of wires, that we weren't supposed to be in.