Best New Mazes for 2021

Malefica at FEAR Scream Park was a secretive attraction right til the last minute, with a late name release and limited information. This certainly worked in its favour though, as this nun themed maze included some of the parks best themeing yet, and with an abundance of actors, they used their space and ability to touch guests to their advantage to create a lot of scares.

Trailers at Thorpe Park Fright Nights was a visual masterpiece. The promotional material for this attraction really captured the 90s cinema vibes perfectly. The maze overall was executed well with the journey into cinema and being briefly taken through numerous familiar films with their own twist, including homage to the parks Big Top maze.

Killer Clowns in Ibiza at Dr Frights was certainly the most fun we had in a maze this season. This incarnation of the parks Killer Clowns brand saw you jet off to Ibiza complete with the blasting soundtrack of classic anthems. The variety of scenes within really helped complete the Ibiza experience, and the scares worked so well, especially the swimming pool scene!

Scariest mazes

Creed Farm at Screamfest replaced one of our all time favourite mazes (Dia De Los Muertos), so we were really apprehensive how much this would live up in comparison. Whilst it sadly lost the hayride section, the attraction within the corn maze still fully delivered on interaction, humour, suspense, and most importantly big scares!

Yokai Temple at Dr Frights sends you into a haunted temple in the hopes to capture footage of the demonic residents. The type of scares used in this maze is only usually found in one scene in a handful of mazes. Dr Frights has managed to successfully pull off a maze full of these scenes creating numerous nerve-racking moments of suspense, and intense jump scares, whilst preventing it becoming repetitive!

Chop Shop at Tulleys Shocktober Fest is a genuine nightmare if you’re scared of chainsaws, and that was certainly the case for one of us. The first half of the maze however, provided some excellent interaction with creepy & scary moments even without the use of chainsaws. Once you’re sent into the freezer though, the carnage unfolds and is the best year we’ve seen in the attraction full of chainsaws and actors literally throwing themselves at you!

Best Themeing & Storylines

Y.A.N.A. at Doncaster Fear Factory sent us into a secret experimental facility. The detail in the storyline was key, and was executed very well by the beginning characters, it then flowed well throughout alongside some highly detailed themed sections. Overall the maze was one of the best this Halloween season, but it was the storyline and how it was executed that stood out to us the most.

The 13th Frame at Hever Castle, had by far the best themeing this Halloween season, though fortunately for the event, the majority of this was already there. The theatrical maze takes you through the castle rooms and perfectly utilised the space with several stop scenes telling the story and drawing you right into it.

Darkest Depths at Alton Towers has been around for several years, and we truly feel it is under appreciated. The level of detail in both the storyline and themeing, and the way it is pulled off creates a truly epic experience; even more so now the family age rating has been dropped and allowed for a bit of a darker and intense experience.

Best Maze Actors

Deeprave at Scream Fields is set in an ‘abandoned’ hospital taken over by illegal ravers who want to have a party, though you may bump into some of the crazed inhabitants inside. The talent of the cast in this maze is a true credit to the park and really built on the already good themeing and storyline. The introductory scene really set the scene well, and within the maze the quality level of interaction with creepy moments and plenty of crude humour.

Creek Freak Massacre at Thorpe Park Fright Nights had an excellent array of actors who all built their own personas for the maze and scare zone. It was excellent to see and really helped create the immersion. Some brought humour, some brought the creepiness, and some were damn right insane, creating a real variety of emotions within the maze. A high energy cast indeed.

Hospital Hell at Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park was the final maze in the linear event, and certainly stood out the most to us. Whilst briefly waiting outside multiple doctors were interacting in a sinister but humorous manner preparing us to enter the hospital. During this time a huge inhabitant from within the maze popped out, and proceeded to follow us throughout the maze creating some really uneasy moments.

Best Entertainments

Wastelands Penitentiary at Tulleys Shocktober Fest is a whole area of the park which features roaming characters, a fire & light show and even a maze. We absolutely loved the energy of the characters roaming the Wastelands area, they played the part very well. The Fire & Light show brings yet more energy to the area with the blasting soundtrack, impactful lighting sequences and endless flames; the characters really act up during this!

Amity High vs. Lycanthorpe: Love Bites at Thorpe Park Fright Nights sees the two rival schools forced together on the Amity plaza. Each character brings something different to the scare zone in terms of guest interaction which is great to see. The Flash Mob is the real highlight of entertainment at the park though with several dance numbers and an overarching storyline seeing the rivals come together.

The roaming characters at Doncaster Fear Factory really helped set the scene for our visit and left a lasting memory of the event. As the park had time slots for entry, the characters would be interacting with guests in the queue waiting for their slot to be sent into the event. The characters were the most hands-on we’ve seen, and were excellent at portraying their persona, creating a mixture of uneasy and hilarious moments.

Biggest Improvements

Freak Out On Tour at Screamfest sees the long running clown maze come back with a new lease of life. It was certainly the lowest quality maze at the park but with the right timing and actors, it still was an enjoyable attraction. It’s been brought back almost unrecognisable in places this season with a new storyline, new entrance and whole new scenes including a mirror maze and pyro effects which we loved!

Shaft 13 The Legend Of Hob at Pleasurewood Chills has come back branded the same for 2021. However, the experience left us way more terrified and impressed than the previous year. Whilst the maze felt lighter this year, it allowed us to appreciate the themeing more, and be drawn into the story & scares. We loved the new additions within the maze including the loose mine shaft lift!

All four mazes at Alton Towers seemed to be the best we’ve experienced at the resort this year. Some had seen minimal changes such as The Attic, and others had bigger changes like Toxic Junkyard; but overall they all seemed to have slightly amended storylines and scenes within which the actors worked perfectly with at creating an enjoyable and scary time!

Best Events

FEAR Scream Park came back after a year off with another HOT event. We’ve always loved FEAR and seeing it grow over the years, but retaining its charm and features that make it a favourite. Whilst to our surprise they lost Frank this year, they still kept the other two main characters alongside their impressive fire show. The 5 mazes were all of a high quality, in particular Malefica – we are excited for the future of the park.

Tulleys Shocktober Fest is billed as Europes Biggest Scream Park, and for an event that’s effectively a theme park just for scares it’s scale is certainly impressive. Every season Tulleys just seem to have the right formula for creating an atmosphere with entertainment and some of the best roaming characters around. With 9 maze attractions and a renowned circus show too, there really is so much to see and do!

Howl’o’ween at Chessington World of Adventures really took us by surprise with their offering this year. Whilst we miss the days of several scare mazes, the lineup in 2020 despite covid proved the park could offer a big variety of entertainment. This was built upon massively in 2021 with several mini shows across the park, and roaming characters each themed to the different lands/areas. Creepy Caves Resurgence is a quality scare attraction, and the Vile Villagers walkthrough certainly were able to cater for scares if children weren’t present.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the event teams who have put on scare events in 2021 despite the challenges of COVID still lurking around. It has been an excellent year, and an extended congratulations goes to our winners. After already hearing rumours and brief plans of what’s to come next season, we are very excited to see what 2022 brings. We wish the teams all the best in their planning and preparation which is likely already underway!