With Thorpe Park celebrating its 10th birthday the pressure is on at Chessington to pull out all off the stops on there Halloween event this year! This season we see Chessington add a brand new horror maze attraction called the Krypt located in the Wild Asia tent just behind the shop in Wild Asia.
So what did the park have events wise for this year? This year the park added a new maze in the Wild Asia land but they still had the Hocus Pocus Hall - Bewitched, The Black Forest Haunt, Fancy Dress Competition's, Trick or Treat Stables and Halloween Shows. Overall the horror mazes this year have been pretty poor but all of them we shall review latter on in this page. The only down side to this years Halloween event is the fact that four rides had to close due to health and safety reasons and other reasons which were: Toadies crazy cars, canopy capers, safari skyway and the zoo except the sea life centre.
The Krypt
Located in Wild Asia, this maze is themed around a old abandoned krypt just like thirteen's story line. At the start we see a man come in and take you into the first room where he briefs you on the rules off the attraction how you should behave and no cameras or videos. After the introduction you are then taken into the first room were a story is told then special effects used to interact with the story. After hearing the whole story you then walk down into a room, after you are all in the room you are then told to look around for a message on the wall which is written in a ultraviolet ink so only the tour guide can revel it! After you find the message the door opens where you then go though the old vampires 21st birthday container with people jumping out at you and if your at the back then you get followed by people / actors. After you have done the container stage you then go into what Chessington call "The Wild" where a animal is light up and your told to run where you then come to the exit off the ride. Overall this Halloween maze is 4/10 for being scary, but still meets it target market!
Hocus Pocus Hall Bewitched
Just like the normal hocus pocus hall this attraction includes actors and 4D effects such as air and a 3D drawings on the walls. This attraction is mainly for the younger ones however for adults its a little bit typical as when you turn the corner there's just a witch standing there / you know what's going to happen its not like the Thorpe Park horror mazes where you don't know what's going to happen around every corner! However the actors inside the ride always change where they are as we did this ride 3 times during the day and every time the actors where is different places doing different parts. Overall this ride isn't as bad as you think it would be so were rating this Halloween ride 5/10 but people will experience this ride differently.
The Black Forest Haunt
Similar to last years ride but this year we see a huge black cloth add to the maze making the maze better as when you enter the huge church more effects are in use you then exit out into a church themed grave yard where the light is blocked out due to the black cloth. In this little bit we see more theming added as last year it was all plain but now we have more grave stones, and more actors in their jumping out at you making the ride the best it has ever been! However this attraction would be 10 times better if Chessington would add more actors in the starting scene as there isn't enough action but overall this Halloween maze gets 6/10.
Other Events
Those where the main events off this years Halloween event however they were not the only events we did at the park. This year we see the return of the trick or treat stables which came to the park in the 2004 season in beano land. We're the whole family can trick or treat / you either get something nice to eat or you get nothing. This year we also the Halloween fancy dress competition come back where one person gets selected to win a prize what the prize is we don't know as we couldn't make that show. There is also a new show in the dragons lair where puppet shows are hosted throughout the day.
Park Lighting
This year the park really steps up a gear in after dark park lighting, the same spinning light is used in the hocus pocus area which can be seen from the back off the car park near Wild Asia! But the vampire this year has got to be the best lit it has ever been! Red, green and blue lights surround the ride but yet some parts off the ride are still nice and dark making the whole ride experience very good and making the ride look very pretty in the dark. Overall the park has done very well with the whole event and park lighting so well done Chessington.