Earlier this month we attended Twinlakes Family Theme Park for their annual Xtreme Scream Park event! An event that is always high up on our list of events during the scare season and one we very much look forward to every single year. The event has been going for a good number of years now and seems to go from strength to strength.
One thing we love when visiting Xtreme Scream Park every year is seeing how the event changes year after year and this year is no exception. This year we have seen a new ride being installed at Twinlakes and thankfully is operational as part of the event, Excalibur is a Star flyer style ride and provides some great views of the event. We have also seen a new zombie paintball arrive at the event, this was a pay extra attraction and unfortunately didn’t seem that popular amongst guests.
The hub is an area that was introduced last year and is the main area of the event that hosts the music stage, food and beverage facilities and this year sees a new merchandise stand arrive selling a variety of Xtreme Scream Park branded items such as hoodies, beanies and drinkware. From our perspective it seems like the hub is starting to become a bigger focal point as four out of the six maze entrances stem from there (Stilton Hotel and Hell Spa, The Pie Factory, Ash Hell Penitentiary and The Village) so the area feels a lot more essential this year and provides a fantastic atmosphere.
We missed the classic breakout this year, despite being one of the first people let in so it may be a possibility that this no longer happens due to all of the mazes now having there own green rooms. This was one of our favourite moments of the event so we hope we see it return soon if it has indeed gone!
The event features six scare mazes, two of them new for this year, The Village and Hoodoo Voodoo.
Now we are in the event it’s time to check out what the mazes have to offer, shall we check them out? Please note, there may be some spoilers in this review.
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Revenge of the Zombie Clowns:
Returning this year under a new name, Twisted as it was called is a curtains maze with some fun scares. This year the maze has been extended inside in the space where the queue line was last year, this new section didn’t have many actors on our visit but featured slanted floors and a trommel tunnel, which we thought was a great addition to the maze itself, however, felt that it would have probably been best suited towards to end of the maze.
Apart from that, the maze felt very similar to previous years but still thought it was good fun, however, has always been one of our weaker mazes at the event.
Hoodoo Voodoo:
Hoodoo Voodoo is one of the new mazes this year and has replaced Belvoir Dungeon in the lineup, it uses the same building but has been dramatically increased in size. The residents of Hoodoo Voodoo are publically promoting cleansing, enrichment and purification of the mind for anyone who attends the ritual. Hoodoo Voodoo is predominantly hooded and features some clever tactics, we feel like this was one of the best hooded mazes we have done. The maze does feature some none hooded sections which are impressively themed but we felt the hooded section could have done with being a bit shorter.
The Pie Factory:
Oh The Pie Factory, what more can I say about you! One of the oldest attractions at the event based on Melton Mowbray’s famous pork pies. The maze is predominantly the same from last year but has some slight changes. This maze is always great fun and provides some great scares (I’ll never look at fridges the same way again!). This is a great maze and never disappoints.
Ash Hell Penitentiary:
A prison like no other, where cannibalism is legal within the penitentiary walls and guess who's the main course? This maze was one of the most beautifully themed mazes last year and still amazes me every time I enter. The scares are a lot better than last year where it felt weaker but it is almost certainly back with a vengeance! Combined with great theming and great scares this is certainly one we don’t want them to remove anytime soon.
Stilton Hall Hotel and Hell Spa:
Time to get pampered and check into the Stilton Hall Hotel and Hell Spa. An impressive custom built building designed specifically for this attraction and is still an incredible attraction. Last year we were underwhelmed with this attraction as it wasn’t as strong as previous years but has fought back and this year the actors are fantastic inside Stilton Hall and love a bit of interaction and banter, the standout performance was from the bell boy who was putting on a fantastic performance. The maze is always impressive with fantastic theming and definitely deserves 5 stars on Trip Advisor “Would stay again!”.
The Village:
Our final attraction of the night was our most anticipated, the largest scare maze to come to Xtreme Scream Park. We’ve had hotels and factories and penitentiaries and now, new for this year we have an entire village! This maze features five custom-built buildings based around different aspects of a village, we have the houses for the villagers, a garage, a school, a laboratory (a must have for any village bent on eliminating agricultural pests) and a church, yes… Xtreme has actually built a church for this attraction.
As I briefly mentioned above, the story of The Village orientates around Dr Scarecrow who has been given the task to create genetically modified scarecrows to eliminate agricultural pests, all went well until the scarecrows grew tired of pests and turned to humans instead. Guests entering the attraction are attending the harvest festival and bringing with them a very tasty offering.
First thing I have to say about The Village is how beautiful and intricate all of the scenes and theming is, completely immersing you into the attraction, much like most of the mazes at Xtreme. The maze tries some new effects within the attraction, some of which I have never seen in the UK and offers some great scares. The actors were in great form and really played into the roles they had, adding to the experience and immersion. This maze is probably one of the best mazes we have done at Xtreme and hope it remains for many years to come.
Conclusion
Overall then Xtreme is back to its former glory and certainly is back as one of our top scare attractions of the year, we will, of course, be returning and are extremely excited to see how Hoodoo Voodoo and The Village develops over the years. As with all the mazes at Xtreme, they develop and change based on customer feedback and always try to keep the mazes fresh and prevent them from going stale and repetitive.
In case you missed it when we visited we provided live updates throughout the night, which features individual reviews from some of the attending members of the team. This can be seen here:
http://live.themeparkguide.biz/?event=xtreme%20scream%20park%202017
