Scarefest at Alton Towers: expanding worlds through fear & storytelling

For attractions around the world, Halloween has become an integral part of the seasonal calendar, drawing in thrill-seekers with seasonal events and scares. At Alton Towers, Scarefest has become a highlight of the season, not just for its thrills, but for creating immersive attractions that extend the park’s storytelling beyond its permanent lineup.

Halloween as storytelling, not just scares

Building on the success of previous years, the resort has added two new experiences to this year’s programme: Edge of the Forest, a new scare maze, and Dark Hollow, an outdoor scare zone that expands the world of the iconic TH13TEEN coaster.

These join returning favourites such as COMPOUND, Altonville Mine Tours, and the Burial Ground scare zone. Together, these experiences demonstrate how seasonal attractions can deepen themed lands, expand park mythology, and strengthen in-house IP.

The strength of a scare attraction lies in more than well-timed jump scares. Today’s guests expect to step into stories that feel cinematic and theatrical in scope.

James Mundy, Alton Towers’ creative theming and scenic manager, describes a successful maze as “part film, part theatre.”

This philosophy underpins Scarefest: each attraction builds tension, sets atmosphere, and extends existing narratives.

The result is an event that doesn’t stand apart from the rest of the park, but instead enriches the larger themed environments and guest experience.

New for this year

The first of this year’s new additions, Edge of the Forest, is set within the Dark Forest area. Here, guests encounter horrifying tree-like creatures and the Leshwall, a spirit said to twist the trees and infiltrate minds. The maze design cleverly employs looping pathways, where guests revisit the same scenes as their surroundings steadily deteriorate.

This technique creates a disorienting tension that escalates until the final encounter with “the Leshwall”, an ending that highlights how theatrical structure can be used to heighten immersion in a maze format.

Adjacent to Edge of the Forest is Dark Hollow, a new outdoor scare zone that further develops the mythology of TH13TEEN. Here, free-flow exploration allows guests to move at their own pace through the forest inhabited by “The Twisted”.

Unlike a linear maze, this format encourages repeat visits and discovery, expanding the narrative of the Dark Forest and reinforcing the land’s identity beyond its anchor attraction.

Returning for its second year, COMPOUND remains one of Scarefest’s most ambitious and story-driven mazes. Created to coincide with the relaunch of Nemesis Reborn in 2024, it expands the lore of the Phalanx, the shadowy organisation responsible for containing the Nemesis creature as part of the ride's story.

The experience separates groups upon entry and directs them through multiple possible routes, ensuring that no two visits are identical. This design offers significant replayability, allowing guests to revisit scenes they may have missed the first time around.

For invested fans, new behind-the-scenes tours provide a glimpse into the design, technical craft, and world-building elements that make up the attraction.

The power of in-house IP

Alton Towers has long demonstrated the value of developing its own intellectual property.

Since 2012, Nemesis has grown from a single coaster into a fully fledged land, supported by various themed attractions, retail, and F&B, all based around the Nemesis story. Other original IPs, such as The Smiler and Wicker Man, have similarly become core to the resort’s identity, building loyal fan bases in the process.

The strategy behind Scarefest

Scarefest extends this strategy. By embedding scare mazes and zones within existing areas, the resort ensures that seasonal attractions feel like a continuation of the park’s permanent stories rather than short-term overlays.

Fans are given new material to theorise about, from the Leshwall to The Twisted, while casual visitors benefit from richer, more immersive experiences. The inclusion of multiple routes, free-flow exploration, and VIP tours also introduces replayability, encouraging repeat visits and deeper engagement.

Ultimately, Scarefest demonstrates how Halloween events can be more than temporary spikes in attendance. They provide a platform for parks to deepen existing stories, introduce new layers of lore, and give guests reasons to revisit familiar lands with fresh eyes.

For Alton Towers, this approach ensures Scarefest is not a standalone seasonal add-on, but an integral part of its storytelling strategy and brand identity.