Scarefest 2012: General Discussion (Spoiler Warning)

Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:53 am

By looking at the pic of the sanctury, I can say that the doctor in the pic will prob be a main actor in the maze which hints towards some story driven elements like in past versions of ToTT.

Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:36 am

I'm surprised there's a lack of discussion about this, buuuuut:

The preview night last night was bad, and they should feel bad.

Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:59 am

hypohamish wrote: I'm surprised there's a lack of discussion about this, buuuuut:

The preview night last night was bad, and they should feel bad.

Why was it bad? Explain?

Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:04 pm

you can't say something like that to stir things and not expand on it! what didn't you like?

Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:07 pm

hypohamish wrote: I'm surprised there's a lack of discussion about this, buuuuut:

The preview night last night was bad, and they should feel bad.

Preview...as in scarefest...OPEN!?!?!?!...WHY DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:09 pm

No its not open, It opens tomorrow.
This was the staff preview.

Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:10 pm

King Nemesis wrote:
hypohamish wrote: I'm surprised there's a lack of discussion about this, buuuuut:

The preview night last night was bad, and they should feel bad.
Why was it bad? Explain?

Well, as I'm sure most of you must be aware (after all this place is filled with people who strive over Alton Towers), last night was the 'Preview Night', that they throw on for Staff and their friends/family to come along for free, and experience the mazes and get some free grub. The idea behind this is so the maze hosts can be trained in dealing with people, but also so us staff members can happily preach how good the mazes are, which one we think is the best etc, without giving some random lie with a smile on our face.

The evening was supposed to kick off at 6, with the mazes opening at 6:30 and then everything closing up and going home at 9. So to begin with, we weren't let on park till 6:15, but that's just the beginning. From this point onwards it was queue lines filled with disappointment, as the Carnival of Screams wasn't even finished and it was announced the Zombies Scarezone wasn't going to open. We were told however the Carnival shouldn't be too long, so we waited and waited, and an hour and a half later after waiting in the rain, it still showed no sign of going anywhere so we moved on.

This then moved on to the Terror of the Towers/The Sanctuary, so we decided that we'd go for the latter as it was the new one. Insert another hour and a half of queuing in the rain, the maze constantly 'stopping' and being evacuated (part of the safety training), and generally being blanked by staff as no one came to tell us anything. So after all of that I finally managed to make it into the Sanctuary, but I was that ticked off from everything else in the evening, and being soaking wet, that the entire experience was filled with sheer disappointment.

The only thing they managed to get right was giving us free food and drinks from the FCC

Edit: How am I seriously the only staff member to come on here and bring up the preview night? Honestly I haven't been forced to sign a contract to keep my secrecy or anything, I don't even technically work for Alton Towers, I work for one of the other company's!

Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:13 pm

hypohamish wrote:
King Nemesis wrote:
hypohamish wrote: I'm surprised there's a lack of discussion about this, buuuuut:

The preview night last night was bad, and they should feel bad.
Why was it bad? Explain?
Well, as I'm sure most of you must be aware (after all this place is filled with people who strive over Alton Towers), last night was the 'Preview Night', that they throw on for Staff and their friends/family to come along for free, and experience the mazes and get some free grub. The idea behind this is so the maze hosts can be trained in dealing with people, but also so us staff members can happily preach how good the mazes are, which one we think is the best etc, without giving some random lie with a smile on our face.

The evening was supposed to kick off at 6, with the mazes opening at 6:30 and then everything closing up and going home at 9. So to begin with, we weren't let on park till 6:15, but that's just the beginning. From this point onwards it was queue lines filled with disappointment, as the Carnival of Screams wasn't even finished and it was announced the Zombies Scarezone wasn't going to open. We were told however the Carnival shouldn't be too long, so we waited and waited, and an hour and a half later after waiting in the rain, it still showed no sign of going anywhere so we moved on.

This then moved on to the Terror of the Towers/The Sanctuary, so we decided that we'd go for the latter as it was the new one. Insert another hour and a half of queuing in the rain, the maze constantly 'stopping' and being evacuated (part of the safety training), and generally being blanked by staff as no one came to tell us anything. So after all of that I finally managed to make it into the Sanctuary, but I was that ticked off from everything else in the evening, and being soaking wet, that the entire experience was filled with sheer disappointment.

The only thing they managed to get right was giving us free food and drinks from the FCC

Edit: How am I seriously the only staff member to come on here and bring up the preview night? Honestly I haven't been forced to sign a contract to keep my secrecy or anything, I don't even technically work for Alton Towers, I work for one of the other company's!

As scousers say "Caam Down, Caam Down"
In all seriousness.. It's ashame so many problems arose

Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:18 pm

King Nemesis wrote:
hypohamish wrote:
King Nemesis wrote: Why was it bad? Explain?
Well, as I'm sure most of you must be aware (after all this place is filled with people who strive over Alton Towers), last night was the 'Preview Night', that they throw on for Staff and their friends/family to come along for free, and experience the mazes and get some free grub. The idea behind this is so the maze hosts can be trained in dealing with people, but also so us staff members can happily preach how good the mazes are, which one we think is the best etc, without giving some random lie with a smile on our face.

The evening was supposed to kick off at 6, with the mazes opening at 6:30 and then everything closing up and going home at 9. So to begin with, we weren't let on park till 6:15, but that's just the beginning. From this point onwards it was queue lines filled with disappointment, as the Carnival of Screams wasn't even finished and it was announced the Zombies Scarezone wasn't going to open. We were told however the Carnival shouldn't be too long, so we waited and waited, and an hour and a half later after waiting in the rain, it still showed no sign of going anywhere so we moved on.

This then moved on to the Terror of the Towers/The Sanctuary, so we decided that we'd go for the latter as it was the new one. Insert another hour and a half of queuing in the rain, the maze constantly 'stopping' and being evacuated (part of the safety training), and generally being blanked by staff as no one came to tell us anything. So after all of that I finally managed to make it into the Sanctuary, but I was that ticked off from everything else in the evening, and being soaking wet, that the entire experience was filled with sheer disappointment.

The only thing they managed to get right was giving us free food and drinks from the FCC

Edit: How am I seriously the only staff member to come on here and bring up the preview night? Honestly I haven't been forced to sign a contract to keep my secrecy or anything, I don't even technically work for Alton Towers, I work for one of the other company's!
As scousers say "Caam Down, Caam Down"
In all seriousness.. It's ashame so many problems arose

Haha, well it's annoying when I work in the place where magic happens, and I spend my day making other peoples days, and then I can't have my own day, it's just filled with rain and disappointment

And if anyone is dying for a turn by turn events of what happens inside the Sanctuary...no, I'm not going to tell you. Hahahaaaaaa. Regardless how bad it is you still need to experience it yourself first! I'll give you a tip though, another reason why I was ticked off. IT RAINS INDOORS!

Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:25 pm

hypohamish wrote: Edit: How am I seriously the only staff member to come on here and bring up the preview night? Honestly I haven't been forced to sign a contract to keep my secrecy or anything, I don't even technically work for Alton Towers, I work for one of the other company's!

A team member was there last night and there will be a review posted later

Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:29 pm

The carnival did open, and all staff tried there best to give a good event, and at the end of the day you knew full well it was a preview, you didn't have to pay for it!
the weather didn't help one bit, but we powered through it and got some good reviews, but a lot of the staff were giving host bad language and trying to be really cocky. Which didn't help!
You weren't forced to come, and it was a teaser for you, and even carnival stayed open later due to it opening late, but some staff should know they'll be problems, and shouldn't of been giving the hosts the language that was given to them!

this will be the BEST scare-fest yet!

Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:38 pm

roary01 wrote: The carnival did open, and all staff tried there best to give a good event, and at the end of the day you knew full well it was a preview, you didn't have to pay for it!
the weather didn't help one bit, but we powered through it and got some good reviews, but a lot of the staff were giving host bad language and trying to be really cocky. Which didn't help!
You weren't forced to come, and it was a teaser for you, and even carnival stayed open later due to it opening late, but some staff should know they'll be problems, and shouldn't of been giving the hosts the language that was given to them!

this will be the BEST scare-fest yet!

I'm aware it opened later and stayed open later, yeah, but that doesn't sort out those of us who are greener and use public transport, so I had to be off at 9:30 to get the bus. I did see a few people giving stick to the ride-hosts, which is a shame because they're only doing their job.

I'm just annoyed because we were effectively treated like guests still, with the whole 'Oh, it'll be open soon' with a smile on the face. We're all under the same roof, they could've cut the PR stuff and actually told us what was keeping it closed.

Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:42 pm

I'm just annoyed because we were effectively treated like guests still, with the whole 'Oh, it'll be open soon' with a smile on the face. We're all under the same roof, they could've cut the PR stuff and actually told us what was keeping it closed.

Thats actually funny because in the hosts eyes you were treated as GUESTS there were family members and alsorts of people on, so they stay in character, it was a free preview night, and in the hosts eyes everyone was treated as guests. And if you wanted to be treated as staff then there wasn't the need for bad language towards the hosts, it was there first night in front of guests, and a lot of hosts got annoyed with the staff thinking they were clever by swearing..

Fri Oct 12, 2012 1:36 pm

Hi,
on the AT ticket booking site they want £310 for 4 adults to visit (normal park and Scarefest tickcts each).
I've got these BOGOF vouchers....

Do these cover the park entry AND Scarefest? so it'll be £150 odd.. its all too confusing !!!!

thanks

wiggs

Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:14 pm

wiggy wrote: Hi,
on the AT ticket booking site they want £310 for 4 adults to visit (normal park and Scarefest tickcts each).
I've got these BOGOF vouchers....

Do these cover the park entry AND Scarefest? so it'll be £150 odd.. its all too confusing !!!!

thanks

wiggs

The voucher you have, give's 4 people during scarefest entry in to the park at the cost of £22.50 each.... Plus free parking and a bogof on a hot drin

Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:36 pm

Thanks,
But is the £22.50 all in?? Park entry AND all the Scarefest stuff??

Wiggs

Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:45 pm

wiggy wrote: Thanks,
But is the £22.50 all in?? Park entry AND all the Scarefest stuff??

Wiggs

It give you entry to the park. Scarefest does not cost any extra... You have access to everything. The only thing u have to pay extra for is 2 of the maze's (cos and the sanctuary) which you can pay for once in the park. The prices range from £9.00-£13.00 depending on the time of the day you choose. All of the other scare attractions are included in the enrtry price.... Hope that help's.

Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:50 pm

perfect.. thanks very much !!
cant wait!

Fri Oct 12, 2012 6:24 pm

Just looking for peoples opinions here.
What do you reckon is the best time to book the scaremaze tickets for? And why?

Fri Oct 12, 2012 6:32 pm

redpiggy wrote: Just looking for peoples opinions here.
What do you reckon is the best time to book the scaremaze tickets for? And why?

Not much difference in anytime of the day as its all indoors... Nothing is different apart from the price's. Be smart and go for the £9.00 time slots and save all the darkness for the ride's.