19 October 2023
Expect the unexpected as you enter into Colchester Zoo afterhours to experience the Trail of Terror. An event that promises to scare you from the moment you step through the door as you hear rustling in the bushes, creatures roaming around and anyone & anything can get you at anytime.
Trail of Terror is Colchester’s Zoo event that happens during selected nights throughout October. For 2023, they are running for only 7 nights and we were lucky enough to attend to capture it on night one. They are running the event on the 13th, 14th, 20th, 21st, 25th, 27th & 28th of October. Tickets are sold on a time slot basis from 6:30pm and are available for every 15 minutes. At the time of writing the article, the first weekend has already been completed and Saturday 28th is already sold out!
Tickets do range in cost with the earlier dates being available online for £22 and then later on, it reaches up to £27. They do have a combi ticket available also, which allows you to have food & drink discounted for the additional price you pay. All tickets must be purchased online in advance of your visit, as they take no bookings on the night at the event.
Trail of Terror is set to take between 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, but this depends on the time you take to walk around the set route and how many stops you make on the way.
Check below our thoughts on our evening for our first ever visit!
Our Thoughts from this event…
Trail of Terror was an event that sparked some interest with us early on this year, after our first visit to Colchester Zoo earlier on this year. This experience is set after the park closes and it is solely a scare event, no animals will be seen during your journey across the park. For those who want to check out the zoo during it’s usual operation, you can do so earlier in the day and you can find out more by reading our review by clicking here!
The experience only starts from your allocated time, so we recommended you arrive on time as you won’t be allowed in the queue until the time on your ticket has passed. We started our journey at 7pm and entered the queue promptly. After a short wait, we had our tickets checked at the desk and entered into another short wait before our experience started.
All we knew prior to attending was the experience would be in a linear style with one set route. You would just need to follow the route until you came across a safe zone. Here, you could have the option to take a break, get some food & drink and if not, you can continue straight on. It is worth noting, after you start the experience, there is no further queues as such (except one further one towards the end) to enjoy the experience. So you can go at your own pace, which is nice.
After our short wait, we met with a creepy clown who introduced us silently to the experience. They let us into the park area and from here, we were on our own. Well we say on our own, with the unknown horrors that lurked into the darkness. We came across a range of creatures from right at the start, catching us off guard and making us jump.
The experience follows a set route around the park that they have designed for the event. It does feature a number of indoor sections but it is mainly outdoors. The event is set out into 3 sections, with a safe point separating them. Each section was different from the last and they were all very lengthy.
The theming across the trail was a mix of some great sections and others were just dark lit areas with temporary fences. With an event of this nature, we completely understand why they cannot design huge setups as they run a zoo during the day for families, so the setup has to be removed before the zoo reopens. The theming in some parts however were impressive. They managed to design dark tight walkways, jungle-esque pathways and zombie hideouts, all embedded into the darkness of the night. Our favourite section had to be towards the last zone, which provided the most theming across the event.
Whilst scoring 50% for us in our ratings for theming, it is worth noting the natural setting of a zoo is pretty scary at night knowing the animals are there too.
The storyline for the event was pretty strong, scoring 75% overall. Whilst the story makes sense of it being a trail of terror and the simplicity of this works, as you come across a range of creepy creatures and terrifying figures in the dark. The best use of the storyline was using the train ride they have at the park. In this section, you jump aboard the train and take a special tour as you learn about a boy and his nightmare in the park, trying to escape. The scenes used here and how they implemented the story with the surroundings was a huge shock for us and a real highlight of the whole trail.
Our scare score was 55%, as it wasn’t the scariest event we have done this Halloween. Whilst quite low, it isn’t a negative point as there was many moments that left us scared and we could see others running & hiding. We think it is more for families & teenagers, as a perfect blend of being scared but not terrified. Where we wasn’t screaming, we had many moments of laughter during our trail. The actors were very interactive and this allowed them to make some memorable, leaving us scoring them 65% for this event.
The final rating for us is the actors and they did a super impressive job for opening night. With it being opening night and an unfortunate weather spell leaving it to heavy rain from the start to the end, they did a great job keeping the energy & spooks coming. They had to create the story, keep you moving forwards and still terrify you, which they did very well given the conditions of our night. A score of 70% is well earned!
At the end of the trail, you do get to the final safe zone which you can equally relax until the end of the night. Here you will find a live band playing some Halloween songs to keep the festivities going. You can also get a drink & snack, get a spooky photo and just relax from the horrors you have just experienced.
We enjoyed our time experiencing the Trail of Terror, with so many great moments throughout and many moments of shock. How they have utilised a large section of the park to create this large attraction was honestly surprising. The highlights of our time was certainly the train ride and going through the inside sections across the park. Not only did that allow us to dry off quickly, but many parts were pretty terrifying inside. With one of these areas requiring us to go through one of the smallest tunnels we think we have ever experienced!
A huge thank you to the team at Colchester Zoo for inviting us along to experience the Trail of Terror this Halloween. We can see the team has put a big effort into making this event & how busy they are shows how good of an event it truly is. They provided us 2 free tickets and exclusive access to take photos & videos. So if you want a snippet into our journey, then check out our TikTok for a little more of an exclusive look.
We would love to know if you have experienced this event on our socials and will be keeping an eye on how this develops for future years. Remember, expect the unexpected!
Attractions 65%
Entertainment 55%
Atmosphere 60%
value for money 60%
uniqueness 80%
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