Coloured Gels are ace - and they do tend to use them where lighting is concerned (apart from the brilliant LED lighting).

Problem lies with Speedy Hire seemingly not being able to allow coloured gels on their temporary lighting systems. If they could do this, i'm hoping we'd end up seeing far more effective lighting on park.

thefatone wrote:

Coloured Gels are ace - and they do tend to use them where lighting is concerned (apart from the brilliant LED lighting).

Problem lies with Speedy Hire seemingly not being able to allow coloured gels on their temporary lighting systems. If they could do this, i'm hoping we'd end up seeing far more effective lighting on park.

The trouble is actually the heat generated by these lights is much higher than you would find in a theatre lantern, If you put a gel onto one of these units it would literally melt. To colour this type of lantern either requires a specialist coloured lamp which are hard to get hold of and extremely expensive, or a dichroic filter (as used in high temp units such as discharge moving lights), which in the size required would be again very expensive, and VERY fragile (from expensive experience! )

I dont think they need to improve their lighting (from 2010) as in 2010 I actually found myself stopping every now and again and taking photos of all the great lighting in katanga and on the towers and in x-sector. surely the brilliance of the lighting that year shows it is possible and not that expensive. Still dont understand why it wasn't the same or even better last year but lets hope it returns to its regular beauty this scarefest!

hambletwins wrote:

I dont think they need to improve their lighting (from 2010) as in 2010 I actually found myself stopping every now and again and taking photos of all the great lighting in katanga and on the towers and in x-sector. surely the brilliance of the lighting that year shows it is possible and not that expensive. Still dont understand why it wasn't the same or even better last year but lets hope it returns to its regular beauty this scarefest!

From what I remember, during 2010 Scarefest, an external company was hired for the park-wide lighting. They arranged the majority of the lights as well as supplying the actual units. Last year all lighting was done "in-house" on a much reduced budget. I could be wrong but that's what I remember.

They need to get in touch with the people who do Chessington's lighting.

Yes and that was the problem doing it in house. There was no real effort made, lights were just places here and there with no thought.

In 2010 it was so much more creative. Actually the fireworks in 2011 the lighting was good around the The Towers with many more leds around than the Scarefest.

I really wish Alton could go all on out on the lighting for 2012. Lighting saves on the theming and projections etc can create an awesome experience too.

I think the added mazes should be outside around the hotels, because it really extended the resort. I know the cost is spiralling for tickets, however if it resorts to how it was 2-3 years ago, I will be happy to spend around £12-14 on a ticket for the 2 attractions!

They really need a horror maze that does not conflict with the other attractions, so that means no haunted house style mazes or fun house style. So I would suggest more to do with the accomodation theme or alien style attraction.

However all in all its a hard choice for Alton!

I agree that lighting is a better choice than of having pumpkins lying about (so they can be nicked/kicked) A simple green filter all of a sudden changes an area amazingly! A simple fog machine and spot light does a great trick as well!...if alton say its an added cost, why don't they just charge an extra £1 on parking? (yes, its a nasty charge, but its one way to get around the lack of funds)

Don't the posters around the park advertise the first weekend of scarefest as 'preview weekend'?

DiogoJ42 wrote:

They need to get in touch with the people who do Chessington's lighting.

Chessington themselves.

Wish they really did do that though. Chessie makes themselves so sexy (though irritating at the same time with overplaying of just one track around the entire park).

Lighting = win.

The actual lighting in 2010 was hired but i'm fairly sure it was set up by Towers. The issue last year from what i can gather was the park was split into teams and they where told to "go and light things". That's why some areas like Towers Street and the Towers where good and other areas such as Forbidden Valley where.... not.

Scarefest has every year before had a single enthusiastic person overseeing everything... last year it was management by committee and apparently controlled by less able people... That's my impression anyway.

Well if any Towers big wigs are reading this, I'm offering my services now. 11 years in the lighting industry and a lifetime of theme park geekery! Rates available upon enquiery.

DiogoJ42 wrote:

Well if any Towers big wigs are reading this, I'm offering my services now. 11 years in the lighting industry and a lifetime of theme park geekery! Rates available upon enquiery.

I'm sure more than half of TTF would actually volunteer to help the park set up scarefest. Not a bad idea when you think about it, its a win-win situation all round. Plus i'd say we're more knowledgable about these things than most of the park staff and entertainments team.

Bit of a generalisation there.

I'm sure if they had enough people, and those people were in the right places, then they'd have cracking lighting.

PeteB wrote:

DiogoJ42 wrote:

Well if any Towers big wigs are reading this, I'm offering my services now. 11 years in the lighting industry and a lifetime of theme park geekery! Rates available upon enquiery.

I'm sure more than half of TTF would actually volunteer to help the park set up scarefest. Not a bad idea when you think about it, its a win-win situation all round. Plus i'd say we're more knowledgable about these things than most of the park staff and entertainments team.

I know that I would give some time freely to that cause.

I was browsing the AT website when I came across this:



Could this mean the mazes are returning to the hotels again this year, or is it just a reference to the theme park?

Longy wrote:

I was browsing the AT website when I came across this:



Could this mean the mazes are returning to the hotels again this year, or is it just a reference to the theme park?

I'd imagine it refers to the park, as i'm sure it said a very similar/if not the same thing last year. I  wouldn't be surprised to see a maze back at the hotel though.

For Scarefest 2012, I'd like to see the return of Duel Live.

I am assuming the mazes will go back to their original format before they were moved to the Black Hole tent?

I think the mazes are planned to be on park this year but i wouldn't be surprised if things are not finalised yet. You can plan a lot of the mazes before you know their location. Just so long as you have a rough available square footage in mind.

I liked the mazes on park but thought they where too pricey, i know i'm in the minority but i would rather they did a Thorpe and put the ticket price up by £2 for the event. I know some argue that's unfair on guests who don't want to do the mazes but they get the lighting (please!) and the kids entertainment (which was actually better in 2011).

I appreciate they need to make extra profit at the event, i just think the current price of the mazes looks a bit steep and doesn't help their guest satisfaction.

If the mazes are on-park, that I really do think that they should be free to all guests if only to eliminate the sour taste from the mouths of those people seeing walk-on attractions, only to discover a separate charge for them. I don't think that's fair on visitors and you don't see the likes of Halloween Horror Nights, Fright Nights et cetera with such goings on. Over at hotels it's a different matter as the mazes could be seen as part of the 'resort package', as opposed to theme park, where everything should really be included in a (higher?) entrance price.

I think there should be more stuff going on at the park itself. Terror of the Towers is absolutely excellent and the Zombies! Scare Zone was a nice step forward, another scare zone (Haunted Hollow? Th13teen path?) would be excellent along with the return of some of the 'live' attractions of old, children's entertainment, lighting, Halloween 4D show and possibly a laser display? Then there would be enough on-park even not taking into account the hotel mazes, which could (and would) be heavily advertised regardless.

Perhaps optimistic... definitely optimistic. But that's what I'd expect from the UK's number one theme park... it sounds as though Scarefest was easily overshadowed by Fright Nights in 2011.

For Scarefest 2012 I'm guessing;

1). The usual mazes making a return in more or less the same form.

2). Something Sub-Terra.

3). If we're lucky, the Skyride might open (and if we're extra lucky it might not even burst into spontaneous combustion).