Travel: Scarefest, Alton towers

For me, it is the most magical, immersive time to visit the Staffordshire theme park – and there are tricks and treats for everyone, whatever your age.

Taking place until Friday, Scarefest takes over the whole attraction, transforming the park into a spooktacular wonderland, complete with creepy decor, flash mobs, characters, rides in the dark and more.

New attractions this Halloween include the terrifying Scare Maze Project 42, for brave teens over the age of 15 and adults who dare enter. Set in an underground research compound named The Phalanx, the action-packed maze invites volunteers to enter – should they be brave enough – to find a vaccination for the human test subjects, which have been infected by a mutant antidote.

It’s absolutely spine chilling. From the outside the maze doesn’t look like much; just a black material tunnel which, when first entered, presents visitors with a television screen on which a man explains how the research for an antidote went terribly wrong, leaving the compound crawling with zombie-like creatures.

The ‘volunteer’ is then plunged into darkness and told to move on – into the pitch black, winding maze filled with obstacles at every turn.

Those playing the zombies are tremendous actors; each of them absolutely terrifying, covered in blisters and peeling off skin, and making the most scary noises. Their presence is hidden too by the maze itself, allowing them to creep up on visitors – at one point, one even grabbed my leg which, needless to say, really made me squeal.

It’s a great addition to Screamfest.

Project 42, located in the park’s Forbidden Valley, is the latest addition to Alton Towers’ Scare Mazes. All mazes tickets are priced from £5, which is additional to the park entry fee.

There is also the opportunity to experience the new Wicker Man ride in the dark for the first time. It features a six-storey-high Wicker Man effigy on the wooden rollercoaster which bursts into flames – a sight to behold against the night sky.

The park is open until 9pm, meaning other top rides including Oblivion, Galactica and Nemesis can also be enjoyed after sunset.

For the little ones, meanwhile, 2018 sees the launch of the CBeebies Land Monster Ball, complete with characters Ubercorn, Bing and Hey Duggee. Teeny thrill seekers can also enjoy CBeebies Land’s rides in the dark, as well as the Halloween Playland for games, trick-or-treat activities, and spooky storytime.

Families with children aged eight and over are also invited to venture into Cloud Cuckoo Land’s House Of Monsters, complete with a new scene for 2018. Those who enter can enjoy a spooky walkthrough experience with a monster hunter, on a quest set in a maze of seven live shows. Tickets for this also start at £5 and are additional to the price of park entry. As you stroll around Alton Towers, there are scares at every turn. There are also ghost pirates roaming around Mutiny Bay, as well as the Alton Ancestors.

While at Scarefest, we stayed at the Alton Towers Hotel, which is themed around explorer Sir Algenon, whose flying ship has crash landed in the middle of the hotel.

We slept in a Moon Voyage family room, complete with a double bed for the adults and bunk bed for the kids. Amenities in the room even included an XBox for the children and a Lego game to keep them entertained.

The room itself was very nice, with an average-sized bathroom, which included a bath and shower. Other facilities included a partition between the parents’ and children’s beds, a TV, travel cot and a fridge. The adults’ bed was spacious yet a little hard, but the room itself was wonderfully decorated in the theme of the adventurer.

We enjoyed breakfast the following morning in the Secret Garden restaurant; a buffet breakfast complete with all the necessary ingredients for a Full English, as well as pastries, pancakes, fruit and cereals. Try the pancakes with butterscotch sauce – they’re delicious.

Our package includes breakfast, a second day in the theme park, evening entertainment, and a free nine-hole round of Extraordinary Golf.

And if you can steal yourself away from the Scarefest, the hotel has a water park, two nine-hole courses of Extraordinary Golf, and a spa.

But for us, there was only one place to be and that was amongst the fun of Scarefest. It’s a real scream!

All treats and no tricks

• Scare Maze tickets start from £5 and pre-booking is advised. Combi tickets can be pre-booked at www.altontowers.com/scarefest

• Theme park tickets available from £33 for an adult and £27.50 for a child when booked online at www.altontowers.com more than five days prior to the visit

• Overnight stays start from £41 per person. This is based on two adults and two children sharing on a bed and breakfast basis when booked online in advance at www.altontowers.com