Halloween came early for fans of screams, spooks and scares this week as the Alton Towers resort kicked off their annual ‘Scarefest’ celebrations. Over the course of the past few years in particular, the Staffordshire theme park has built a National - and indeed International - reputation for the high production values and strong scares of its horror mazes and Halloween walkthrough experiences, and their 2016 offerings show no sign of diluting that.

In fact, in bringing to the fore the fantastic new family-oriented ‘House of Monsters’ maze, replacing last year’s sub-par and confusing ‘The Haunting of Molly Crowe’ adult maze with the far superior new ‘Altonville Mine Tours’ and quite rightly bringing back their fantastic, award-winning ‘Sub Species’ from last year, 2016’s Scarefest offering is the most rounded, terrifying and accomplished offering yet, and for the first time truly comes as a real recommendation for all ages.

In previous years, there were plenty of side distractions and lighter entertainment on offer for younger visitors - from the likes of the wonderful ‘Alton Ancestors’ flash mob which returns with a troupe of brilliant character performers and dancers, through to smaller stage shows and ‘Trick or Treat’ doors dotted throughout the park, and of course there’s always the novelty of riding some of the parks most popular rides in the dark, but it was still mostly an occasion geared towards adults.

How welcome then, is ‘House of Monsters’, a brilliant, 15-20 minute walkthrough experience which takes the essence and crux of the horror maze concept and applies it to a more family-friendly tone. Groups will go through various rooms as they attempt to escape from a house of characterfully-defined monsters - from a fashion-conscious wolf-man through to a 50’s-inspired girlfriend of Frankenstein. As mentioned, it loosely follows the precedent of other horror mazes, but it’s decidedly more family focused, and if anything ratchets up the interactivity as guests are invited to search for a shrunken Frankenstein (or 'Frankie'), dress up mannequins in Ancestor garb and a host of other fun and hijinks. 

It’s certainly spooky, but nowhere near the brazen horror and intensity of the adult mazes, and whilst aimed loosely at an 8 - 13 year old age bracket, it has to be said that the 5 year old in our party, whilst initially a little apprehensive, ended up enjoying it so much she insisted on a return visit the following day! In all, ‘House of Monsters’ is a terrific addition to the Scarefest collective which demonstrates the resort's industry-leading quality of maze design, attainment and talent performance, and as mentioned truly helps to diversify the appeal of the seasonal celebration.

On the subject of successful new additions, ‘Altonville Mine Tours - The Legend of the Skin Snatchers’ offers arguably the most well-realised and defined of the resorts mazes yet. Taking you on a tour into the infamous, titular mines where rumours abound of the fabled ‘skin snatchers’, from the get go the aforementioned fantastic production values and art direction impress. It’s all decidedly Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes in essence, which works superbly, from the wider imaginings of the maze itself - see flayed victims hanging from the rafters above you - to the fantastic make-up and costume work on the myriad of actors, who don flayed skin and stitched masks of faux flesh, it’s all suitably terrifying and disturbing stuff, and as mentioned probably the most unified and clearly defined maze yet. 

It also brilliantly permits - as per ‘Sub Species’ - the live actors to grab, touch and separate guests, an element which as soon as it is announced in the pre-maze briefing sends shivers up the spine and keeps things extra tense throughout. Will you be grabbed? Will you remain with your party and friends? Will the lamplight on some of your party members' hardhats be enough to see you through?

Elsewhere, the acclaimed ‘Sub Species’ returns, and is as panic-inducing and nightmarish as ever as you attempt to race through a post-apocalyptic sewage system where the denizens will once again have free reign to do with you as they wish. From crawling through narrow, claustrophobic piping and areas of pitch blackness where I got momentarily lost in a terrified panic (twice!), through to a suitably intense final confrontation, ‘Sub Species’ is probably the most thrilling of the three adult mazes on offer, and remains an absolute must visit, particularly over the far tamer, yet still beautifully realised ‘Terror of the Towers’.

As touched upon, another added boon of the Scarefest season is the later opening hours, and these come as almost a necessity, particularly for those attending on a single day visit and wishing to take in the mazes on top of the resort’s native rides and attractions. For our two-day visit, we were using the park’s ‘Gold’ fastrack, which became an invaluable aid in getting to experience all of the major rides and coasters with practically no queueing. And yet, even with two days, maze passes and fastracks in hand, we still only just managed to fit in everything we wanted; so robust is what’s on offer at the resort during Halloween season. It became a particular asset on Saturday, when the park became notably busier, and for families to whom some of the potentially longer ride queues can really slice up their itinerary (particularly if fitting in the Scarefest mazes as well), the fastrack options can genuinely be a lifesaver when it comes to fitting it all in.

Finally, Scarefest 2016 proved a terrific opportunity to revisit the resort’s new ‘Rollercoaster Restaurant’, which I was thrilled to attend a special press preview for earlier in the year. Dining on the Saturday afternoon, it was fantastic to see the restaurant full to the brim with eager and excited visitors, and the novelty of the restaurant’s unique method of food delivery wont' wear off anytime sooon. It’s a brilliant, unique and characterful experience which continues to offer up delicious, high-quality food with a fun twist, and wherever any minor problems or mistakes arise (we got sent a magical Chicken Burger which hadn’t been ordered), the staff are friendly and quick to resolve such issues promptly and professionally. As mentioned, it was full to the brim Saturday lunchtime, and with the restaurant offering both a lunchtime and evening menu, doing a spot of planning beforehand and getting your reservations in early to avoid disappointment is extremely recommended.

In all, as a particular favourite time of the year, I always have high hopes and expectations for anything Halloween-related. I don’t frighten easy, despite being part of that probably bonkers minority who love being scared witless, and I have often left horror mazes or similar seasonal celebrations underwhelmed. In 2015, Alton Towers genuinely impressed with a collection of fantastic mazes and smaller themed areas, which they have replicated this year with new additions and two entirely new mazes, including a brilliant new family-friendly offering. 

As I cited last year, the park simply lends itself to Halloween tremendously in and of itself - not just from the iconic Towers themselves, bathed by night in ominous hues of red and green, but also the generally quite foreboding theming of swathes of the overall park - the Gloomy Wood, Forbidden Valley and Dark Forest, for instance - and it all harmonises to create a genuinely eery and imposing locale around which the fantastic, spooktacular entertainment can flourish.

And, with some of the industries best and most artistically sophisticated scare mazes and a very savvy new family offering that provides even greater diversity and spooky appeal to a much broader age range, it is very easy to recommend Alton Towers’ Scarefest 2016 as an absolute must-visit for fans of spooks, scares and screams be they big, small or somewhere in-between.

SCAREFEST 2016 runs at Alton Towers Theme Park until Monday 31 October 2016.

The park itself is then closed - with the exception of the weekend of 5/6 November for their annual Fireworks celebration - until 2017. The Alton Towers Resort Hotels and Splash Landings waterpark remain open.

To book your tickets and to get more information on this year's Scarefest activities, head on over to the official website by clicking HERE.

Press access to the Alton Towers resort, including ScareFest 2016, were provided courtesy of Alton Towers directly. The author gratefully acknowledges their generous invitation.