Scarefest, Alton Towers – Review

By Dominic Picksley, October 2025

Alton Towers have unleashed the Leshwall on Scarefest aficionados this year and those who are brave enough to enter their new maze, The Edge of the Forest, may even come face-to-face with the terrifying tree-like spirit.

Beware, though, as he will ‘twist the trees and infiltrate your mind’ and attempt to hinder your journey after you step into the Dark Forest.

The Edge of the Forest is the park’s new headline scaremaze for 2025 and it adds meat to the bones of Th13teen, which was the world’s first vertical freefall drop roller coaster, when it was opened in 2010.

Th13teen has that creepy eeriness, perpetuated by its main slogan of ‘If you go down to the woods today, you’d better not go alone’, and this new maze, along with new scarezone Dark Hollow, fleshes out its chilling story, through immersive theming and theatrics designed to raise your heartbeat several notches.

“The door slammed shut”

My teenage son Ben and I, were among the first people to experience the maze as part of the VIP press preview day (which also included an overnight’s stay at the Alton Towers Hotel, with a complimentary evening meal – delicious steak, and fish and chips in the Secret Garden restaurant), joining a small group that featured some very prominent theme park YouTubers.

Just a few minutes earlier, former world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury, along with two of his children, had entered the maze, and I was unsure whether the screams we could hear from the queue line were from the big man or not!

The entrance to the maze reminded me of one those wooden chalets at Christmas, with ornate door and porch, but the cosiness instantly disappeared once we all ventured inside.

The door slammed shut behind us and we were in some dimly lit living room, occupied by an old hag, who glared at us all before warning us of the Leshwall and other such entities in the Dark Forest, and then goading us about whether we had it in us to escape or not.

“Trepidation”

And with that the lights went out and a door in the corner of the room creaked open, but where was the wizened old witch? She had gone, leaving our group to fend for ourselves as we ventured with trepidation into the forest.

The path took us deep into the gloom, where we stumbled across several weird specimens of human life who shocked several members of our group. As we trekked through the forest, we passed an old car, entered another room, passed the car again, and then into the same room again, or was it? Was the forest playing tricks with our mind or were we going round in circles, although every time we passed the ‘same’ locations, they were looking much older, decaying to make us think we’d been in there years (very clever).

And towards the end, came the Leshwall, a hideous half-man, half-tree creature who gave us one last shock before we finally emerged into the sunlight. Great fun, with some incredible theming.

“Nightmarish and sinister”

We waited until night fall to experience Dark Hollow, a free scarezone, where a ‘chilling presence watches from the shadows, luring thrill seekers deeper into its grasp’.

While the mazes are an additional cost, the scarezones are not (including Burial Grounds) and the new Dark Hollow was weirdly compelling, with gruesome toy-like and zombified characters emerging from the blue and green-coloured gloom.

This was like a nightmarish and sinister ‘teddy bears picnic’, meant to make your blood curdle, with an apocalyptic sense of foreboding in the air. And you can do it all for free, as many times as you like.

“Adrenaline-fuelled chaos”

Compound was back for its second run, while Altonville Mine Tours returned for its 10th successive year, with the former of the two the most intense maze (and attraction) in the whole park. Even at the start, locked in a cubicle watching the pre-show, put you on edge, and once released into the maze, it was pure adrenaline-fuelled chaos as you fought your way towards the exit – sometimes on hands and knees – pulse rate increasing massively as you never knew what was around the next corner.

For the younger ones, Trick O’Treat Town (with Haribo and MAOM) and Amigos in the Afterlife offer some good Halloween fun, while you can’t go to Scarefest and not enjoy some night rides, with Wickerman, Nemesis Reborn, The Smiler, Oblivion, Th13teen, Galactica and Rita offering guests a different experience once the sun sets.

This was Alton Towers back to its best – it was also great to see so many Halloween props around the park, much more than in previous years – and the new creations The Edge of the Forest and Dark Hollow have certainly put Scarefest back on the map!

Dominic Picksley( Writer )

Dom has worked in journalism for 25 years, specialising in sport, but with a penchant for penning travel features, at home and abroad, and also has a vast knowledge of 60s music, from the popular hitmakers to those bands long since forgotten.

He’s become something of a theme park reviewer now, sparked by his children’s interest, and if there’s an interesting book that appeals, then he’ll review that as well.

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