The halloween season is typically filled with spooky entertainment for all the family, and if you’re feeling brave you can often find ample scare attractions across the country designed to make you jump and scream!
The 2020 halloween season however, is slightly different this year as the Coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the world. With the introductions of local lockdowns and strict government guidelines, many scare attractions have taken the hard decision to close as it's simply not practical for them to operate under the guidelines. The main aim of scare attractions is to provide up close and personal scares to guests, which in turn results in many hilarious faces and makes guests jump. With the coronavirus restrictions, such as the two metre rule this has altered how scare attractions operate.
One of the attractions that have taken on the challenge, and adapted to the coronavirus guidelines is Xtreme Scream Park. Located in Melton Mowbray within the Twinlakes Theme park, Xtreme Scream park has existed since 2012, and we have been attending since 2014, providing coverage of the event. The event itself is set up all year round with each scare maze built within its own custom built building, if you’ve ever visited Twinlakes Theme park with family chances are you will have seen the signs and buildings used during halloween events. Here are all the key changes that the park has made to ensure the safety of guests and actors working at Xtreme Scream Park this year.
Before we get into that though, let's talk about the scare mazes present at the event. This year, Xtreme Scream Park features five mazes and one run through each of the mazes is included with your entry into the event.
The Pie Factory Featuring Momma Hogs Chop Shop
The oldest maze at Xtreme Scream Park is The Pie Factory, which has been at the event since pretty much the beginning. The maze is themed around the area's history of pork pies and this factory in particular using only locally sourced ingredients. Come to The Pie Factory to see how they are made but take too long and you may have more involvement in the pies than first thought.
Ash Hell Penitentiary
Back for its fifth year, Ash Hell Penitentiary, built like no other in 1609. It was specifically designed to house and rehabilitate the criminally insane in particular inmates with cannibal tendencies. Bodies were smuggled in to feed the inmates but now some fresh meat has entered the prison, you!
Hoodoo Voodoo
Back for its 4th year, Those entering the HooDoo attraction are promised eternal enlightenment and epiphany, with all negativity removed from their lives, leaving them in eternal bliss with new perspectives on life. However, all is not as it seems blindfolded and dark you must feel your way and use your senses to survive…
The Village
2017 was also the first year for The Village, which is the largest maze that Xtreme Scream Park has created since the event began.
In order to sustain the human race, an agency backed Professor Crow, granting him large sums of money to create genetically modified scarecrows to effectively deal with the problem. These scarecrows were to be designed with the ability to scare off any unwanted visitors.
Customers entering this attraction are attending the Village Harvest Festival, bringing with them their offering. However once inside, they will witness devastation beyond their imagination…
NEW FOR 2020: Belvoir Manners
The newest scare maze to come to Xtreme Scream Park, Belvoir Manners is a high-end care home with a twisted past. The residents within, pay extortionate prices for the range of treatments available to keep them forever young, replacing their withering, brittle body parts as they naturally age, with less worn, supple pieces belonging to donor victims. The quest for immortality commenced by taking untracables from the streets. People who had no connections and would not be missed by society. Each victim is selected for their various desirable qualities, particularly in demand are those aged between 21 – 35.
To prevent detection and attracting unwanted attention, an annual Soup Kitchen event takes place in October, welcoming in the latest untraceable. Donor Auctions are held after the Soup Kitchen closes and the untraceable have departed from the premises. The residents select and bid on those unknowing victims behind closed doors. Once all fees are settled and the residents have paid in full for their donor, each untraceable disappears several months apart and any unused goods are smuggled abroad to the quartet’s network of confidants to sell on.
As well as all of the mazes, Xtreme Scream Park provides some fantastic street theatre, in previous years the park has had fire breathers, live bands as well as a whole host of weird and wonderful characters roaming the park, it gives the event a great atmosphere.
As well as all that, the event has fire pits, to keep yourself warm on the Autumnal nights, Food vans and two rides all included in the ticket price.
To ensure guests and staff remain safe during the Coronavirus pandemic, a number of changes have been made to the operation of the event. Most notably, face masks are now required for all guests wanting to enter any scare maze or inside environment (including food outlets and toilets); these must remain on until you exit the attraction.
Temperature checking is also required on arrival at the park, if you've been to a theme park in the uk in the last few months you will be familiar with this process. Another big change is the policy regarding actors touching guests, Previously actors were permitted to interact and touch guests in any of the scare attractions, this has now changed for the 2020 season and there is now a zero contact policy in force for both guests and scare actors, to ensure social distancing can strictly be followed.
Tickets for the event must be purchased online prior to visiting with no on the door sales being accepted this year and newer government restrictions such as the ‘rule of 6’ have recently come into force, meaning groups larger than 6 people are no longer permitted and therefore no more than 6 tickets can be booked at once.
Guests are asked to remain in their groups (household bubbles) for the duration of their visit to Xtreme Scream park and to keep social distance at all times. Hand sanitiser stations are available to guests at a number of locations around the event, it is advised guests use these when exiting and entering scare attractions.
With extra safety measures in place, capacity at the event is expected to be reduced this year, to help with social distancing throughout the event so we advise booking your tickets as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
To ensure the safety of actors within the scare mazes, each of the actors will be wearing a themed face mask whilst working in the attraction. Actors will still be scaring guests, however, this year scares may be from a distance so social distancing can be enforced.
Xtreme Scream Park has been working tirelessly over the past few months to ensure the event is both safe for guests and actors working within the event. If you love to be scared and enjoy Halloween, be sure to check the event out this year!
In the current economic climate the park needs all the support they can get. With 5 terrifying scare attractions for guests to visit, and the newest attraction ‘BELVOIR MANNERS’ it’s an event not to be missed!
The ‘All Haunts’ tickets (allowing entry to the mazes) start from £24.99, dependent on the date of visit but even if you are too much of a chicken for the mazes, Xtreme Scream Park has you covered! For £15.99 you can purchase a ‘Chicken ticket’ that allows you entry into the event to enjoy all the street entertainment and rides but with no entry to the mazes so there is no excuse not to go!
For details on dates the event is running and for information on purchasing tickets visit the Xtreme Scream Website.
https://www.xtremescreampark.co.uk/
Alternatively if you’re still not sure, check out our live blog coverage from last year's event which will give you an insight to what the event is all about!
https://live.themeparkguide.biz/?event=Xtreme%20Scream%20Park%202019
