Scarefest at Alton Towers
David Parry/PA Wire

Alton Towers has launched “Scarefest”, the UK’s biggest Halloween event series. Scarefest 2017 is taking place every day from 20th to 31st October at Alton Towers Resort.

As part of Scarefest, Alton Towers has introduced a brand-new scare maze experience called “The Welcoming: Be Chosen”, which is themed around a mysterious group from the woods surrounding Alton Towers Resort.

Characters from the resort were spotted in London last week, ‘choosing’ members of the public at random in a stunt to promote the new maze experience. Those brave individuals singled out to take on the scare maze will go on to be among the first to experience Alton Towers Resort’s brand-new secret attraction for 2018, known only by its codename ‘Secret Weapon 8’.

Actors appear with a wicker-built cage on wheels in Jubilee Gardens, London today to launch a new terrifying scare maze experience, named The Welcoming: Be Chosen which features at the Alton Towers Resort in Staffordshire and opens to the public this week.

The Londoners were chosen today across the capital by a mysterious group from the woods surrounding the village of Alton, who until recently were unseen by the modern world. Every year the secluded group host a festival to celebrate their own interpretation of Halloween – paying homage to the earth and celebrating the crossover between the living world and the dead. The group have recently infiltrated the Alton Towers Resort and for the first time are choosing outsiders to celebrate with them.

The commuters were enticed into a hand-crafted 6ft-by-7ft rickety wooden cage on wheels, giving them a glimpse of what guests can expect at the petrifying live-action maze.  The maze itself is a prelude to SW8, exposing visitors to the elemental forces that will feature in the new attraction.

Photo credit: David Parry/PA Wire

On Halloween night, Tuesday 31st October, more members of the public will be singled-out by the unidentified figures at Alton Towers Resort and tasked with braving the terrifying maze attraction, in the hope of joining the elite team of fearless ‘SW8’ participants next year.

Guests wishing to take part in this test of bravery during Scarefest in the hope of being amongst the first to experience the much-anticipated ‘SW8’ in 2018 need not apply: on Halloween, they will be chosen….

Prices & Information

  • Scare Maze tickets start from £8, and can be pre-booked at altontowers.com/scarefest
  • The Welcoming: Be Chosen, Sub Species: The End Games, Altonville Mine Tours and Terror Of The Towers all have a strict 15+ age limit
  • Theme Park tickets available from £32 for an adult and £27.50 for a child when booked online at www.altontowers.com 5+ days prior to visit
  • Hotel stays start from just £130 per person per night based on 4 sharing on a B&B basis when booked online at www.altontowers.com

Photos: David Parry/PA Wire