The witches are back again and are haunting Chessington world of adventures once again taking over hocus pocus hall with a new twist for the 2012 halloween event. This year sees the halloween line up revamped with the market square shows being changed to keep everything fresh along with the black forest haunt being changed into Vampire: The haunting in the hollows. The theming around the park was as it had always been however this year sees the parks lighting system used to its full potential, all of the lighting set up will be explained latter on in the review.
Vampire: Haunting In The Hollows
The Vampire Haunting in the Hollows is a brand new maze for 2012 which sees a deadly vampire spreading through the village who is taking victims and drinking them dry. You enter the maze down by the vampire entrance where you first get a talk from a actor about the rules in the maze saying that theres only one chance to go back if your child doesn't like it. Once you've had the safety briefing you start the maze with a vampire slayer named Van helsing who warns you of the dangers of village and catches you up with the latest details, he tells you about the people going missing and then sends you on your way which then leads you onto a actor who is possessed with a demon inside tempting him to keep people hostage in return for his life back! But just before he takes one of the group a women comes out the building behind you sparing your life and leading you into the dark and gloomy house.
Inside the house theres a man or woman on the table dead, the women then goes onto explain the story of how they died from the vampire. Near the end of the story the person comes back to life as a vampire with the strobe light being used to enhance the situation. You're then greeted by a grave digger who says he can keep you safe but then goes back on his words to lead us into the old castle used in previous mazes, this castle is home to Count Dracula and his servants. After a short speech you would then go through a dark tunnel with strobe lights, smoke effects and actors jumping out at you simulating you escaping from the grave yard.
Overall the maze is around 10 minutes long and isn't to bad for a Chessington kids horror maze.
Hocus Pocus Hall
This year sees the hocus pocus hall take a different image on the outside with the same white cloth being used but this year leaving the outside looking very rushed with half the sign being covered over by the white cloth which could of been easily fixed. Rather than having witches jumping out at you like they did in the past they now have no one jump out and now have witches dotted around the maze giving you a story about the school. Your greeted by the school headmistress where your told about the school and the rules where you then advance into the maze the first room is where the goblin is playing around with the wires. You have a witch show you how to make a invisibility potion, after finishing her speech she will then send you down to the head girl who seems to have turned another witch into a chair making a farting sound. The witch gives you a long speech about her time in the school and the spells she has learned the headmistress then comes along and hurries you along where she then tells the head girl off. You then enter the mirror maze with a actor half way along the maze telling you that you shouldn't be out this late and that you should run along home. Overall we preferred last years hocus pocus hall but for kids I suppose this is a improvement?
The Park After Dark
When the sun had set the parks lighting system started to kick start and as normal its fantastic compared to Thorpe park's. Chessington this year has once again hired in 3 or 4 big boxes for the dragon falls drop, the rameses revenge ride structure and the hocus pocus hall main light. In the vampire queue line they once again had loads of spot lights around lighting up the track and path along the way creating a great atmosphere in the dark. Over in Wild Asia and mystic east they all had there normal lighting set ups of the parcans dotted around the site along with the odd flood light here and there with gels in them, overall the whole park looked great in the park and is a great improvement from previous years halloween lighting.
