Howl’o’ween 2022 will be the first time we’ve been back to a Halloween event for a second year so we can compare it to last year, as well as to other events we’ve been to.
Not a lot of big changes have occurred since last year, the same shows in the same locations, but of these shows, a few have definitely been improved. The most notable improvement was certainly the Banyan Circle of 8 show in Wild Asia.
They seemed to have increased the amount of pyrotechnics used for the show, and the number of performers looks to have doubled to 8 from last years 4. There is even a decent story about the 8 protecting Banyan from evil witches trying to steal Banyans power over beauty and wisdom. Quite the enjoyable show here!
Vile Villagers over by Vampire doesn’t seem to have changed all that much besides having 3 tiered scare intensities. The first tier (which we did) was very mild up to 3pm, then it got a bit more intense, until 7pm when it became and upcharge and even scarier apparently!
The same can be said for Creepy caves having 3 tiers of scare rating (as well as 3 tiers of pricing too). We didn’t do Creepy Caves this year, even though it’s the final year it’ll run as we did do it last year. I’m thinking we should have possibly tried the most expensive after dark version to see how Chessington could possibly ramp up the terror, but an opportunity missed here!
We did manage to catch a couple of the shows, Banyan being one and the Misadventure of Wilf being the other. The Wilf show is very child focused and was a very pleasant, non offensive show to watch and lasted only around 10 minutes or so. The costumes were great and the inclusive message was lovely too.
Other than the shows, there were also a lot more roaming actors than I recall last year too. There were the Witches roaming around the park, usually being based in Adventure Point, and we also caught pirates roaming around the new Shipwreck Coast area too.
Later on in the evening whilst walking from Dragons Fury to Vampire we even walked passed a parade, something that wasn’t advertised at all, or was present last year, at least that we could see!
The atmosphere of the park was great, especially as it got darker and it would be great to see Chessington open up later next year, especially once Jumanji is open! I don’t see this happening though as I think they have very strict rules on late night noise levels from the surrounding residents.
As for the rides, we had a much better run this year than last. We didn’t have any breakdowns at all and queues were kept short enough.
We started at Dragon’s Fury which was about 20 minutes of queuing, then onto Zufari for another 20 minutes or so. Photos were working in the queue line though which is great to see!
Next was Tomb Blaster which was advertised as 20 minutes but was a walk on. Throughout the day we also rode Croc Drop, Jungle Rangers, Rattlesnake, Gruffalo, Vampire, Tuk Tuk turmoil, Tiger Rock, stopped for some dinner and did Sealife too. We did manage to get back on Tomb Blaster and Dragon’s Fury again for second rides before ending our day with another ride on Vampire.
I recall last years Howl’o’ween being a bit of a disappointment in my own mind, not a bad event at all, just not quite fitting in with Chessington. This year however, I think they’ve got it spot on. I look forward to seeing what they’ll cook up for next year!
As I mentioned in the previous blog, out first stop was at a homestay called The Annex in Totton, just outside Southampton.
Very briefly, the property was excellently finished and there was everything we needed and then some! We had a bed and the usual things, but also access to an ironing board and iron, mini fridge and a booklet with as much information about the local area as they could cram into it. Very impressed with our stay here!
There was a lot of care by the host to make your stay as comfortable and convenient as possible, there was a parking space right by the front door and access was by a key safe so you can arrive at any time you like, which was great for us.
I’d definitely recommend the Annex to anyone who has to travel long distances to visit Paulton’s Park, or even Southampton and the surrounding areas.
Paultons Park
We’ve been to Paulton’s Park a few times now, and this is the second visit this year. Every time we come, the park just seems to look tidier and even more well presented than the previous visit. I’ll probably say that again after our next visit too, it’s just so well looked after.
Anyway, for the season, the park was covered in literally thousands of pumpkins and given a Halloween makeover. As with other things the park has done, it was done very well. There were an abundance of photo opportunities all around the park too, which is always fun!
There was a lack of attention given to the area where Cobra sits though as there wasn’t a single pumpkin or any Halloween themed scenery at all over that way. Lost Kingdom had a few pumpkins here and there but not quite as much as the other parts of the park. That’s about the only real negative for the day, and its a stretch to even call it a negative!
The changes didn’t just include scenery though, a lot of the soundtracks to the ride have been altered to give them a spookier atmosphere too. These are the little details that put Paulton’s on my radar and make it incredibly easy to recommend the park too.
Our first stop was Storm Chaser. This is by far my favourite ride at the park, and it even hits my top 10. I just enjoy the forces it gives, the spinning means all rides are different and it’s smooth as glass to ride too. If this ride were longer, then it would definitely rank it higher than Icon, I enjoy it that much!
Next was our first ride on Farmyard Flyer. We just missed out on the opening of this ride when we went in March this year so I’ve been looking forward to trying this attraction for a good while!
The queue line, station and ride area are well themed and I remember there being a lovely smell in the station too though I can’t remember what it reminded me of!
As for the ride, it was very tame. Even for a junior coaster, there wasn’t much force to it, but it was nice and smooth and a good time. Probably better than Cat-o-pillar coaster, but not quite as good as Storm Chaser, Flight of the Pterosaur or Cobra, but it’s really not fair to compare junior coasters to family offerings!
After Farmyard Flyer we visited all the other attractions at least once, though we did Cobra and Flight of the Pterosaur twice as they’re such great rides. We even had a go on the upcharge Go karts, these were fun but not the best Go Karts we ended up paying for on the holiday!
We stayed in the park all the way until closing, and I wish they had stayed open longer so we could have had even more rides, as well as rides in the dark! They do have late night openings, but only 3 nights and none of which were nights we could attend unfortunately!
The conclude our visit, we had a great time! The park was beautifully decorated, for the most part, and operations were great. We managed a new ride with Farmyard Flyer and got back on our favourite rides for the last time this year! Hope to be back sometime next year Paulton’s!
A bit late, but here’s my blog on Brick or Treat at Legoland Windsor!
This was only our second visit to Legoland, as we’d visited earlier in the year and initially we weren’t that impressed overall. However after another visit, my opinion of Legoland has vastly changed for the better, and I feel I was a bit harsh to judge so badly so soon. I will have to get around to writing that blog during the closed season.
So, Halloween has also descended upon Legoland and it sees the park covered in pumpkins. They were everywhere, and though nice to see, I hope they did something with some of them after Halloween had finished!
Just one of the many Lego scenes now adorned with pumpkins!
There were also plenty of Lego models themed to Halloween dotted about the park (most of which I failed to photograph, once again). As for our day overall, we thoroughly enjoyed it. The park wasn’t overly busy, and it meant we got on a lot of the rides with very little queuing, which was excellent.
In all, we managed 17 rides through our day, and I wish the park had stayed open a little longer for a few more! This time around, we did get into Duplo Valley to try out some of the kids rides, and had a blast doing so! There are some really good kids rides here, such as Duplo Airport, and Duplo Dino Coaster, although the audio for the coaster can get a little annoying!
Wheeee!
We also managed to find Fairy Tale Brook, which for some reason I thought was a walkthrough attraction. This ride sees you on little boats that float along a water channel, showing you various fairy tale scenes and though it could do with a little cleaning here and there, was a really nice water ride, and it took photos too, so that’s a bonus!
For this visit, we managed to get into Farmer Joe’s Chicken Company for dinner, and were surprised to find themed food for Halloween, which was a nice bonus! With annual pass discount, the food wasn’t too expensive and the ordering screens make the process simple too. Tasty chicken burgers all round.
Purely cosmetic, so still the same great tasting food, just with different colours!
Later on in the day we got to have a go on Hydras Challenge, a Zierer Jet Ski ride. This was great fun! Not only do you have control over the vehicle allowing you to swing in and out for a faster or slower ride, but onlookers can also activate buttons the cause water to explode around you, showering you lightly. We didn’t get very wet on here at all, which was good as you take your belongings on with you while you ride. Thoroughly enjoyed this one!
Something I should also mention, and I’ll go into in further blogs, is the sheer amount of good quality dark rides, shows and indoor attractions here. Laser Raiders, Ninjago: The Ride, Lego City Deep Sea Adventure, Flight of the Sky Lion, Lego Studios 4D and Haunted House Monster Party. Even the parks signature rollercoaster, The Dragon, has a lengthy indoor section! Great for the British weather!
Inside the preshow to Haunted House Monster Party!
Dotted around the park are various trick or treat crypts that have a host who will talk to you, question and test you, before giving you a bag of goodies, we got a small Lego set, some pop badges and sets of vampire teeth, as well as Brick or Treat paper bags too. Worth seeing them all to see what you get from them!
I’ll go into the attractions more in depth in my next Legoland blog, but to wrap this blog up and summarize our day at Legoland Brick or Treat, we both thoroughly enjoyed it. I can imagine it being quite busy on a weekend, as we went on a Monday out of school holidays, but there were still plenty of folk about, but not so many that queues were ridiculous! Well worth the change of plan, as we were going to do Chessington for a second day, but decided against it last minute!
Our third day of Halloween park visits was to Chessington World of Adventures to see what their Howl’o’ween event had to offer!
Park entry was a smooth affair this time, no lengthy queues as we’d arrived early so we had plenty of time to do all the things we wanted to do and headed straight to Dragon’s Fury.
Once again we had to wait a little longer for our ride as it ran into technical difficulties, which means we’ve had two breakdowns in as many visits to the park. I wonder if something is really wrong with Dragon’s Fury and it needs a good refurb, or maybe it’s starting to show its age? Either way, we did eventually have a great ride, collected our photo and digipass and moved onward to Scorpion Express.
We were intending to get on Rattlesnake, but it was closed for the day so instead opted for Scorpion Express which was advertised with a 20 minute queue, but was actually a walk on. No complaints here!
Next we headed to Tomb Blaster, one of my all time favorite rides here. After queuing for about 40 minutes, we were in the final straight to the air gates only to have the station lights come on and the operative announce that they’d run into technical difficulties.
So on our visit we’d had a breakdown on Dragon’s Fury, Tomb Blaster is having issues, Rattlesnake and Seastorm are closed and we’d also noticed that Croc Drop had stopped operations. I put it down to bad luck as I’ve never been to a park with quite so many rides closed or having issues before, and both Tomb Blaster and Dragon’s Fury were working again shortly after.
We waited a bit longer for the ride to start working, and after about 20 minutes or so, ride vehicles were being dispatched and they loaded us up and off we went. Pretty much all the effects were working, aside the boulder and a few banks of targets here and there. This was also the closest we’ve ever had our scores to one another! Tracy’s really getting into it now!
Me on the left, Tracy on the right!
Our next stop was the Yoohoo Children’s Zoo, the parks small animals attraction. I’d only been in here once before, but I do remember there being more animals wandering about! It was still nice to see the donkeys, pigs and the ferrets doing their stuff, but it did feel a little lacking in any real atmosphere today!
On our way towards the zoo entrance, we stopped off in the Education Centre next to Room on the Broom. In here they have various creepy crawlies for you to see, and a few you can handle. These being cockroaches, giant snails and stick insects. Earlier in the year when we visited, the same lady was out letting you handle their stick insects so we passed up this opportunity and moved on to the zoo and Sea Life.
A few of the tanks had been updated with halloween theming but overall it was still the same Sea Life we know and love! More photos for the digipass though, as they have since started taking your photo at the start, the same with Gruffalo River Ride Adventure, which is great to see!
Peace the owl.
After Sea Life, we wandered around the front lawn area, watched the otters frolicking about and watch an animal talk about their owls and tortoises. This was particularly entertaining as the tortoise they had wouldn’t behave and kept running off, but the keeper kept it light hearted and informative!
Next we found Forgotten Forest, a small walk through attraction that was included in park entry. As there was no queue we went in to see what there was to see.
The area is a nice little walk through attraction, decorated to feel spooky and has the occasional funny moment here and there to make it more light hearted. It did feel very much like a Christmas walk through that had had halloween theming slapped on top of it in my opinion, but it was still a nice and pleasant walk through.
We then headed into Trail of the Kings in the hopes of seeing all of the big cats today. We did manage to see the serval, caracal and both lions, but the clouded leopards were hiding again. Nice to finally see their caracal though!
Our next ride was on Gruffalo River Ride Adventure, a nice family water dark ride, and another photo for the digipass! I enjoy Gruffalo a lot. Its a pleasant sit down with elegant scenery and, although the sound effects can sometimes play over each other depending on spacing between the tubs, its got good ambient audio.
Once we’d made our way through the exit shop, we tried our first Howl’o’ween scare attraction called ‘Vile Villagers’. This small walkthrough attraction is just behind Vampire and sees you walking through a ghostly village and its inhabitants. The actors will try to scare you a bit, but generally we were left alone to walk through until instructed by the final actor to pass through the final tunnel to rejoin the world of the living.
This felt like a very watered down Platform 15 without the train set piece, and was enjoyable enough, especially with it being free. It wasn’t as scary as The Crows of Mawkin Meadow at Thorpe Park had been, nor was it just a walk through like Forgotten Forest. A nice balance between the two.
By this time we were getting to our time slot for Creepy Caves: Resurgence, the parks only upcharge scare maze. This was nothing like what I’d expected from Chessington at all. It wouldn’t have been out of place at Alton Towers or Thorpe Park with how intense it was in places, and great to see from a park that’s recently been dialing back the thrills!
The maze sees you walking through a series of caves and rooms that are heavily themed and filled with actors who will make you jump on more than one occasion. I never experienced The Creepy Caves so I don’t know if the story follows on, but here the Caves are filled with a resurgent group of rioters, lots of loud noises and shouting and a final scene with real pyrotechnics included, as well as a decent soundtrack following you through!
This was great to see from Chessington and hopefully we’ll see more like this next year. It felt like they were finally looking at targeting some of the older guests who visit the resort since there aren’t too many big thrills at Chessington overall. Well worth £6.
Once we’d done in the caves, we had dinner at the Pizza Pasta Buffet and then wandered about, hopping on rides here and there and watching the shows as they played out during our travels. Most notably where the Wild Witches in Adventure point and the show in Wild Asia.
We also fell extremely lucky on this occasion with the tigers as three of them came out just as we were passing through, and at one point, all four were out and about, lounging in the evening sun and posing for photos!
As the sun started to set, we tried for a quick queue on Dragon’s Fury but as it was operating so slowly, we abandoned it in favour of the big event for me, Vampire in the dark.
We queued for around 40 minutes, and by the time we were in the station it was as dark as it could get and we managed to get a back row seat. The last two rows are usually reserved for ride access and disabled guests, but there was no one left in queue so the trains were being filled with regular queuing guests.
Possibly my favourite photo I’ve taken so far!
Vampire is so much smoother on the back than it is mid train or front, and you get plenty of whip over both lift hills. This feels like the proper way to experience Vampire for me. Coupled with the darkness and the whole atmosphere about the Wild Woods, this was one of the best rides we’d both had on this Arrow suspended coaster!
To top it off, when we got into the station, we found there was no queue and were asked if we’d like to go around again, as the staff were hopping on for their final ride of the night too. We were moved up to middle of the train, and it did get rougher than our previous run, but still a great time had here. The only negative was that one of the photos was lost by the photo booth operator, but we still managed to get one, so I’m not complaining too much!
Overall, Howl’o’ween was a good time, not quite as good as Scarefest last year or Fright Nights, but still a great time. We were due to stay another day but ended up changing the plans to head to Legoland instead. This was due to us both wanting to visit Legoland for a second time, and feeling that seeing more of Legoland was better than revisiting Chessington again.
Having tried Scarefest for the first time at Alton Towers in 2020, we made an effort to see what Thorpe Park, Chessington and Legolands events were like, starting with Thorpe Park.
We once again stopped at the Ramada at Cobham services for four nights, meaning we could initially do two days at Thorpe Park, two at Chessington and then Alton Towers on the way back, however we changed plans after we’d visited Chessington, more on that in another blog!
We arrived at Thorpe Park for our first day on Friday, expecting a really busy day but to our surprise, it was arguably the quietest day we’d ever had there. That’s not to say it was dead by any means, there were still plenty of folk about, but queues were topping out at 40 minutes or so meaning we got on plenty of rides!
Our plan was to ride rides on the Friday and do more of the Fright Night events in the Saturday when riding would mean longer queues. This was the right way to do it when we saw the queues on Saturday morning!
Anyway back to Friday and initially we were going to head straight to Saw: The ride and get the longer queue out of the way first, but due to technical difficulties it wasn’t ready for us when we got there.
Instead I rode Samurai alone as Tracy didn’t like the look of it. I enjoyed the ride and it does looks a lot more intense than it actually is. It was pleasant, gives enough force to make it interesting, but not so much that you feel ill or don’t enjoy the experience. The music while queuing is also so calming and beautiful, and during the ride it’s more aggressive and upbeat, really well done here!
Colossus isn’t as bad as I thought!
Next we queued for Colossus, and we waited about 30 minutes or so, partially because we waited for a front row (something I didn’t know was offered). This was my second ride on this Intamin 10 inversion machine, and it exceeded what I remembered from my first ride!
I didn’t really rate it that well after my first ride on it as I felt it was a bit dull and the heartline rolls are unnecessary at the end. I still feel that the heartline rolls are unnecessary but this time we both agreed it rode well, wasn’t rough at all and was generally quite enjoyable! Even though it was Tracys first ride, she said she’d do it again, so plus points here.
Once we’d finished on Colossus, we had a go on Saw, which was now up and running. Another first ride for Tracy and we didn’t wait too long before we were in the station building taking in all the scenery. Unfortunately we ended up on the first train which meant Tracy missed the little interaction with Billy the Puppet at the start of the ride, but a second ride later on rectified this!
Saw ran well, it still has its rough parts here and there, though Tracy did say she didn’t feel any roughness or headbanging at all, so maybe that’s the height difference between us causing me issues?
Black Mirror Labyrinth
This time around we’d managed to get timed tickets for Black Mirror Labyrinth as we’d missed out on them in our earlier visit. The attraction was decent, certainly better than Ghost Train, but not something that I’d be wanting to queue much for to reride. I knew nothing of the TV series before visiting the attraction, similarly with Saw and The Walking Dead, but only Saw has made me actually want to watch the shows the rides were based on!
Next we headed off up towards Quantum and the other flat rides here. We only ended up riding Quantum but took a breather and a few photos before we went off to Swarm Island.
By the time we’d gotten to Swarm Island, the Fright Night events were starting to take place, as actors start to pop up at various places in the park. For The Swarm, there’s The Swarm: Invasion, which sees a group of tin foil hat survivors causing mayhem about the place, and a couple of Swarm infected military personal keeping things creepy.
The ride itself rode well once again, we managed a front row, which Tracy was excited for until she realised how long you end up hanging at the top of the hill! Back rows for her from now on I should think!
We then stopped for a little dinner break at Burger King over by Nemesis Inferno. One thing that would be nice to see is Merlin and their franchises in their parks acknowledging those who have refillable drinks, and offer meals without a drink so you don’t feel like you’re paying for something you don’t want, just so you can get a burger and chips cheaper as a meal than individually. Little niggle but I thought I’d mention it since we regularly have refillable soft drinks in the Merlin run parks.
A little note actually on the refillable drinks. Firstly, Tracy’s cup had managed to get a crack in the bottom and they exchanged it without any quarrel at all which pleased her as she got a Fright Nights cup as she’d wanted one. Secondly, the machines seem to stock a special drink, or choice of drinks for Fright Nights. We found this to be the case at Brick or Treat at Legoland too. I didn’t notice whether Alton Towers does this though. The option is in the bottom right of the touch screen and both had different flavoured offerings!
Our next visit was Stealth, again for a first (and probably last) ride for Tracy! I have a high opinion of Stealth, I love the ride, its trains and how it operates, however, Tracy does not. She loved the launch but the top hat was a bit too much for her!
Stealth also has actors around the ride area as part of Amity High Vs LycanThorpe: Love Bites. This was brilliant! Such a good atmosphere all the time here, and actors that not only look great, but interact with you and were chasing people around and scaring folk all the time. I could have sat here all day and just watched what was going on, but other rides beckoned!
Once we’d moved on from Stealth, we had a go on Nemesis Inferno, The Walking Dead: The Ride, Flying Fish, The Dodgems and Timber Tug Boat. The second day we only rode Storm Surge, Rush, Derren Brown’s Ghost Train and Mr Monkey’s Banana Ride.
Ghost Train is awful
I think now is a better time than ever to talk about Derren Brown’s Ghost Train. We’ve ridden it twice and had pretty much the same experience both times. The VR is clunky and weird to put on, and I’m no stranger to VR having played PS VR and Oculus games at home.
The story line itself is quite a good one, but under utilised and just feels a bit cheap in places. The ride mechanism is good, and the set pieces are well designed too. I like how it really does feel like you’re on an underground train and the VR and physical elements do work something like well together, such as windows breaking and feeling the wind rushing in.
That being said, the experience on the whole is dire in my opinion. It should be so much more than it is and I think a lot of the issues could be sorted by removing the VR elements of the ride and having the video play out on the windows of the train. It would remove the isolated feeling that VR brings, but I think it would be offset by the experience running smoother on the whole.
To me, it’s a good set piece, with a bad VR section, a walk around a cheaply built underground section, followed by another even worse VR section, and finally a surprise element, which is arguably the best bit!
Such a shame as the ride could be so much more, and in its current state, I would advise riding it once, and then leaving it a few years like we have. Go on Ghost Train at Pleasure Beach for a better experience!
Night Rides
Our first night ride was on The Swarm, and though it rode the same as it does during the day, the darkness did add a little the experience! The surrounding area also came alive at night too! Shame the fire effects haven’t worked in a long time, as night rides would be excellent if they were to work!
Next was Stealth, which a night ride offered great views of the park all lit up, and the atmosphere around the ride ramped up to 11, otherwise it felt the same as a day ride for me!
We then headed off to Nemesis Inferno, which was excellent at night! We waited for a front row and both really enjoyed it! It would have been better if it hadn’t got quite as many lights about so it was darker but it was still a great night ride!
The real star for night rides here was Saw: The ride however! As mentioned earlier, we were on the second train, were taunted by Billy the Puppet and had a great ride in the dark! Once you head off into the trees it’s very dark and a few of the drops you can barely see, especially on back row which really helped it be my favorite night ride here!
Scare Mazes and Scare Zones
As I said earlier, our second day we didn’t ride that much and instead focused on the Scare Mazes, shows and zones about the park.
Legacy – A Fire and Light Display was a great free show that goes through the 20 year history of Fright Nights, something that will mean a lot to regular Fright Nights attendees!
The Crows of Mawkin Meadow is a walkthrough attraction with live actors posting as scarecrows that really do a great job of scaring you as you walk through their attraction. This was a great little zone, and even more so considering its included in the price of admission!
Following on from Mawkin Meadow, the Crows regularly walk about the park, scaring park goers when they least expect it and they looked excellent!
The first proper Scare Maze we did this year was Platform 15: End of the Line. It started with a hefty queue but soon moved on as you were kept in a dark tunnel waiting to enter. Your photo is taken, which is an extra charge unfortunately, before you start and then you are led into the attraction itself.
The story told is that of a train that derails, its passengers perish and are lost, frozen in time. You follow the route of the Sleeper Express and find the remains of the train and its passengers. The maze features the actual train that used to run around Thorpe Park in years gone by, and you can also see parts of Logger’s Leap too!
I enjoyed Platform 15, it wasn’t too scary, more creepy in my opinion, but was pleasant, and well executed and well worth the price of entry and the time to walk through it! Shame that the photo wasn’t included in the price though.
The other Scare Maze we tried was Creek Freak Massacre. Set inside the old station building for Logger Leap, this maze shows you a family of hillbilly lumberjacks that have turned from chopping wood to chopping unsuspecting human victims! It features smoke, loud sounds and live actors wielding chainsaws who aren’t afraid to swing them towards you! It’s perfectly safe of course and they won’t hit you, nore are the blades running, but it still made me jump out of the way!
In my opinion, this one felt a lot more intense than Platform 15 and on par with last years Altonville Mines, from 2020s Scarefest at Alton Towers. Great theming and a genuinely foreboding atmosphere, and though filled with jump scares for the most part, it was a great time!
I think I preferred Platform 15 though, it felt more traditional Halloween, still scare in places, but more atmospheric and creepy!
So this was a long blog! We had two days filled with plenty of rides, scares and fun, genuinely enjoyed Fright Nights for their 20th anniversary. Though I do feel Alton Towers 2020 Scarefest was a bit better, I’d like to come back next year and see what returns, and what’s new for 2022!
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