Ollie
CF Legend
Tulleys is considered the holy grail of scare attractions in the UK among many people so I was glad to finally get to visit after many years.
It was busy when we arrived so we had to park in the overflow car park. Tulleys had placed lots of boards down to try and keep you out the mud as much as possible which was good. Although the path from the edge of the car park to the crossing in the road was quite muddy.
The entrance to the park is very visual with big iron gates and flames either side. It wasn’t long before we had collected our tickets and wristbands and were inside the park.
The majority of the park is undercover with all the queues for the attractions being inside. This was a godsend when we were there as it was raining so helped us stay dry. There’s also a warm bonfire to sit round in the main plaza.
The only improvements we can think of for the park area is better toilets (rather than portaloos) and clearer maps and signs to where all the attractions are as all you see upon entering is the burger vans and the entrance to Dr Plagues.
Anyway. Lets get on with the review.
Dr Plague’s Trail of Terror:
The first maze entrance that’s visible upon entrance to the park is Dr Plague's Trail of Terror. Like all corn mazes it hasn’t grown well this year due to a bad summer but they’ve used that as part of the story.
Although it’s the parks corn maze the majority of the experience takes place inside the many tents and marquees placed throughout the field. It mixes sections of pitch blackness with scenes with low lighting so as soon as your eyes get adjusted to the lights it gets taken away again and you’re plunged into darkness and forced to feel your way round the maze.
Image courtesy Stephen Candy Photography
The set pieces are well used and there’s plenty of places for the actors to hide. One of our favourites was the ambulance with the lights illuminating the area as you approach it.
There seemed to be a lack of actors and the majority of the ones we did encounter weren’t very active and just let the group pass with a creepy stare but the maze picked up nicely again at the end though with a scene that got most people running for the exit.
Haunted Hayride:
The Hayride was Tulleys first Halloween attraction and is the events most popular attraction and as such attracts the largest queues. The member of staff at the entrance did a good job at informing those about to join that the wait would be at least an hour and a half.
Each trailer fits a large amount of guests so it eats up the queue well. The on-board audio is loud and clear and can easy be heard above the nattering of excited guests about to begin their journey into the forest.
The ride is nice and long and throws in a good mixture of scares. The scenes are extremely well detailed and some of the unexpected effects do a good job at scaring most the riders. All the actors were on top form as well and seemed to be full of energy with each trailer and jumped on board the trailer so quickly that you didn’t realise until they were right next to you.
The ride ends with an amusing scene to make sure everyone leaves smiling after their journey full of laughs and scares.
Creepy Cottage:
Hidden away in the back corner of the park is the tamest of the Tulley’s mazes.
It’s different to the other mazes and is more of an old school traditional haunted house that you would find at your local fair with cartoonish props and fun effects. The maze only contains two actors but they do a good job at moving around so they can scare you in different scenes.
Overall the maze isn’t too scary and provides a nice introduction for young children into the world of scare attractions while still being fun for the adults to go through. There seemed to be some long gaps between coming across any actors but it was nice to walk through and take in the theming and the details in some of the sets.
Hell-Ements:
Voted the UK’s best new maze in the 2011 Screamie Awards, the main thing about Hell-Ements is that it either works for you or it doesn’t. Those who are more visually stimulated and get their scares from actually seeing things probably won’t think much of this maze while everyone else will find it really scary. With that said though, there's no denying that once the sense that you rely most in is taken away from you all your other senses go into overdrive and it leaves your imagination to run wild to imagine what is going on around you.
For those unaware. The maze is unique in that you have a black sack over your head for the entire duration and you navigate your way around by holding onto a piece of rope and moving hand over hand around the maze.
The entrance is very visual with moody lighting and a stage behind the queue. It's quite creepy watching guests walk across the stage silently with bags over their head knowing it's soon to be you doing the same.
Once briefed and given strict rules not to remove your hood and what to do if it all becomes too much you're sent into the maze. As the name suggests you not only experience actors along your journey but also encounter different elements such as earth, wind, water and of course, fire.
The path seems to go on forever and twists all over the place as you go between different rooms and buildings. The bags let in a small amount of light which means you can make out the outlines of actors when they flash a light which can provide some extra scares and help you sense when you're not alone.
Overall I loved the maze and the unique idea. You really do get disorientated and some of the element effects are great fun. The actors are also taught phrases in Latin as well which makes it even more unique. We were lucky to be given a backstage tour of the maze and it was interesting to see what it all looked like without having bags over our head and how simple the layout is.
Twisted Maze:
Built in a large marquee is the parks clown maze. It’s very artistic with the first half of the maze being entirely in black and white with mimes before the scenes coming into colour and more clowns appearing. It contains some interesting fun-house style elements which helped break up the scenes with actors
Like Dr Plagues we found that there didn’t seem to be many actors when we went through but when we got to see backstage we were surprised to see that the maze only filled half the tent as it feels a lot larger inside. There’s plenty of shortcuts and gaps for the actors to run through to move from scene to scene with screens in the central area so they can see where the groups are.
Image courtesy Stephen Candy Photography
Overall we didn’t find the maze very scary but we enjoyed the twisting layout and the elements such as the trommel tunnel and ball pit. However if you’ve got a phobia of clowns then this one will probably be the scariest for you.
The Cellar:
The park’s main maze and regarded as the scariest. The queue is very atmospheric with creepy lighting and videos playing as you wait to enter.
Once inside you work your way through the forest to get to the house before descending into the cellar where creatures lurk.
Image courtesy Stephen Candy Photography
We loved the squeeze bags in the swamp as it was used in a way that I’ve never seen any other attraction do and it was also the longest I’ve seen as well.
Once through the door under the stairs and into the cellar the scares get ramped up with detailed sets and energetic actors appearing from all sides
Image courtesy Stephen Candy Photography
Image courtesy Stephen Candy Photography
A great idea with The Cellar is that every night the actors have a breakout where an alarm sounds and all the actors come rushing out the maze to scare guests around the park. This was great fun to watch and the actors used the levels well with all the benches placed around the marquee. Once they’ve chased and scared people for a few minutes the park security capture them and take them back which is funny to watch them put the actors over their shoulders and lift them off the ground.
Overall Tulleys is a great event with plenty to do. It is a little pricy to get in but you can easily spend a whole evening there and the mazes and trailer ride are all good quality. It does live up to being one of the best Halloween events this country has to offer. Not only do they provide top quality mazes but they also have plenty of things going on around the site to keep you entertained and fun extras such as corn cannons and a well stocked gift shop selling Halloween goodies.
If you ever get the chance to visit then it's worth going to.
Image courtesy Stephen Candy Photography
www.halloweenattractions.co.uk/shocktoberfest
