Sing it with me now - it's the moooost wonderful tiiiime of the yeeear! Yep, that's right, all of a sudden it's Spookyween again and you're damn right I'm excited. I swear I get more and more excited every year and honestly, I am not mad at it. There's nothing more exciting to me than that pumpkin spiced chill in the air and seeing cobwebs and skeletons and pumpkins popping up in every shop window and theme park doorway. Give me that spooky liiife! It's a little weird I guess to write a list of Halloween events I'm excited for when for me, the Halloween season has already begun with my recent Orlando trip. But those don't really count. Not really. I mean, can it truly be Halloween if you're wiping away boob sweat between the scares? I don't think so. Anyway, the *true* scary season is upon us and I'm so excited to share my itinerary with you guys!
I mean, obviously the season kicks off with
FRIGHT NIGHTS at THORPE PARK Resort. The media event kicks off this Thursday (my birthday, FYI). And I know it's biased of me to say because it's my job but honestly, y'all aren't ready for what FRIGHT NIGHTS has in store for this year. We penned the phrase 'this year nowhere is safe' for this season's event, and we honestly mean that. More scare zones, more scare mazes, more madness on the Island than ever before. And a whole host of new attractions from Vulcan Peak to The Walking Dead: Do or Die to Terror at Amity High - I am SO READY to see these concepts brought to life and for you all to join me in enjoying them as much as I'm hoping to. FRIGHT NIGHTS is an absolute Halloween staple for me and I can't wait for next week.
I first visited
Xtreme Scream back in 2016 and to this day it's still one of the most intense and terrifying Halloween event I have ever been to. We took a year off last year and after hearing what an amazing time everyone had visiting with the new attractions I instantly regretted my decision to stay away. I'm terrified at the idea of going back into Ash Hell, mortified at what the new mazes have in store and positively quivering with anticipation at what terrors await for us next weekend. The park have shared a couple of images of some huge animatronics and set pieces and I'm so pumped to see how the event has evolved and improved in two years and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely shitting myself about heading back. In the best way possible of course.
Tulleys is an absolute must do for me every Halloween season and this year is no exception. Tulleys for me is the classic, quintessential scream park. It's on a farm, it feels like a scaled down music festival, it's rustic and rough around the edges, the whole place smells of bonfires and pumpkins and honestly is the most Halloween-y feeling event in the UK. I'd argue it's even borderline American feeling, I think that's why I love it so much, it's like something out of a Wes Craven movie in setting and I adore it for that. OK, so maybe the park doesn't have any 'proper' new mazes this year, but I love the fact that Tulleys know what their audience loves and gives us the chance to go back and enjoy them over and over again. Like, I know I'm getting my chainsaw fix in Chop Shop and my spooky witch fix in Coven and yh, why mess with perfection?
Broadwitch Hauntfest, believe it or not, is my ONLY new-for-me UK Halloween event in 2018. Sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles and for me the other events I'm yet to experience that are on my wishlist are just no viable for me to get to this year. It happens. Broadwitch Hauntfest is a Kent based scream park hosting five horror mazes set around a farm location. It's standard scary stuff - but it was nominated for a couple of Scar Awards this year and those are what I use as a barometer to help me figure out which events I want to hit up. The park not only got nominated for best street team, something I absolutely adore at Tulleys, but it was also nominated for Best Scream Park alongside the likes of FEAR and Xtreme Scream, so you know it's going to be good!
I haven't visited Screamland since 2015 and honestly back then the event was INSANELY good. Like, such a high quality production. I adore Dreamland anyway so for them to also have a fantastic scare event is just the cherry on the cake. One thing I loved about the event back in 2015 was the originality and uniqueness of the houses. There were some concepts here that I'd never seen done before and some truly innovative scare tactics used - which is refreshing when you're inundated with actors barking in your face. On top of that, the set design of the attractions was absolutely phenomenal so I'm excited to see what the new attractions have in store: especially the Upside Down and the Dreamland Sleep Experiment.
Another new-for-me event, but this time in the spooky Netherlands. So weird for me, but I really do associate the Netherlands with Halloween, probably because I usually find myself over there in October at one point or another. We popped in to Hellendoorn back in 2016 but we didn't have time to stay late for the 'extreme' horror event. But the park was bloody adorable - set in the woodlands and decked out with hay bales and creepy scarecrows and pumpkins and stuff. I absolutely loved the vibe of the park when we were there a couple of years ago and it's been on my list to head back there for Halloween ever since. I don't know how the event is going to stack up to the likes of Walibi Holland's Fright Nights which is just down the road, but I'm expecting good and terrifying things!
Toverland is one of my favourite parks in Europe and I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to FINALLY get myself to their Halloween event. Some bad planning on my part meant I found myself at the park a weekend before the event started back in 2016 so that was a huge bummer, but nevermind, it's 2018 and we are on our way! From the videos and photos on their website the costuming and make-up looks soooo cool - like honestly just imagine what Toverland does Halloween would look like and you're absolutely there. It's the magical and fantastical side of scary rather than blood and guts and you just know it's going to be absolutely flawless. Get me there immediately.
Last year I finally got myself to Chessington's creepy-cute scare event
Howloween for the first time ever, but I fucked up. I popped in after work, thinking 3 hours would be more than enough to pop in, do the mazes and maybe grab a night ride on Vampire. WRONG! The event was rammed but in a good way and there was so much other cute spooky stuff to do that I hadn't allocated time for. I was so gutted, and promised myself that this year I would take a whole proper day to go down to the park and take in the event properly. Creepy Caves Unearthed was one of the best attractions I did last season and the whole vibe of the park was just absolutely wonderful. Excited for a not-so-flying visit this season!
Yhhh I really did try to leave
Scarefest off of my schedule for this year. I've gone every year for god knows how long now and I was worried it was getting a bit stale for me. Not a slight on the event itself AT ALL - it's easily one of the best in the country, but it was getting a bit repetitive for me. But try as I might to resist the marketing here I am writing to tell you all that I will be visiting Towers at the very end of the season for my Scarefest fix. I guess I just couldn't stay away, but to me Towers literally is the BEST park to enjoy in the gorgeous autumn weather and I just couldn't bring myself to not experience that this year. Plus I need to know what that new maze is all about and don't think I could contain myself seeing everyone enjoying it online knowing I wouldn't be doing it for myself.
And last but certainly not least, I'll be extending my Halloween celebrations to the first week of November by jetting off to
Liseberg with some of my favourite spooky people. Not only will we get to experience gorgeous Gothenburg in the autumn, crisp night rides on Helix and Valkyria but we'll also get to experience a whole host of brand new scare attractions for me. And if they're anything like the fabulous Gasten Ghost Hotel, I'm really expecting great things from this event! I literally have no idea what to expect in terms of scare level, I really want it to be terrifying but part of me thinks they'll be more quietly haunting and beautiful than anything. Either way, I'm gagged and can't wait. What a fab way to round off my favourite time of year!
Well, now that that's all locked in all that's left to do is wait. I know for a fact that I'll blink and the season will be over so I'm going to take as much time as I can to really savour every moment and soak up all of the spooky vibes. Now excuse me whilst I return to putting my Halloween decorations up!
Talk later xoxo,
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