Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park - What is it & why is it a MUST this Halloween?
Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park – What is it all about and why is visiting here an ABSOLUTE MUST this Halloween Season?
Yorkshire Scare Grounds is located just outside Wakefield in West Yorkshire and is one of the regions most intense Halloween scream park attractions.
It consists of 5 heavily themed walk through haunted house attractions and 2 brand new outdoor scarezones, each as immersive and impressive as the next.
The attraction has been welcoming daring thrill seekers since 2010 and was originally set to celebrate 10 years of Fear in 2020, however due to the obvious reason that sadly never happened.
This year however the attraction is back, BIGGER and BETTER than ever and it’s safe to say after our recent visit this Saturday we were left far from disappointed!
So, what can you expect should you be brave enough to step foot on these hallowed grounds and brave the horrors which lie within? Let’s take a look!
Forest of Freaks: Showman's Rest (Scarezone)
After entering the queue line, having your nerves practically shredded by some of the resident roaming characters and enduring the attractions pre-show (basically do’s & don’ts) you first enter the Forest of Freaks: Showman’s Rest!
This incredible opening scarezone is based around a real life tragedy which saw a train full of showman crash in Yorkshire on their way to an upcoming show.
The scarezone is littered with ‘wreckage’ and features the roaming souls of those trapped in their eternal purgatory.
This is the first of 2 brand new scarezones for the 2021 season and features a highly immersive, killer clowns themed experience (which in our opinion would even give Merlin a run for their money)!
You make your way through the carnage and are greeted by live actors at several unsuspecting points throughout as you make your way through both indoor and outdoor areas.
Overall a great and fitting start to your experience which utilises a previously unoccupied area..
Factory of Fear (Indoor Scaremaze)
After you have faced the park’s resident clowns you make your way up to the entrance of your first indoor scaremaze – Factory of Fear,
Factory of Fear for us seemed to draw heavy inspiration from classic horror films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes.
As you enter the slaughter house (or factory), you are greeted by a character heavily resembling Leatherface known as ‘the butcher’.
You then endure a pre-show video before being sent into the bowels of the sinister meat factory to take in the sights and sounds of it’s resident workers (and victims).
Factory of Fear utilises the perfect mix of enclosed corridors, live actors and incredible, heavily themed sets to create an authentic slaughter house experience fitting of it’s genre.
The only element which seemed to be missing for us was the use of smell pods (which were infact used in later mazes).
Overall Factory of Fear is unnerving, disorientating and makes a great new addition to their 10 Years of Fear line up.
Totally Tropical Terror (Outdoor Scaremaze).
After escaping with your life and exiting the slaughter house you and thrust straight into Totally Tropical Terror – an outdoor voodoo horror based scaremaze.
Tread carefully as you enter the swamp of the high priestess and keep your wits about you, you never know who may be lurking around the next corner.
Totally Tropical Terror is the park’s first of 2 outdoor scaremazes and features a mixture of heavily themed indoor and outdoor areas.
As you make your way through ‘the swamp’ you are greeted unawares by an array of live actors (some of who you don’t see coming) and some highly immersive set pieces.
Although the scaremaze is primarily supposed to be voodoo in nature, it (to us) felt far more reminiscent of such horror movies as ‘Wrong Turn’ and ‘The Hills Have Eyes’.
That being said Totally Tropical Terror is still very unnerving, creepy and fits it’s location perfectly (again a previously unoccupied space prior to this year).
Dead Central (Scarezone).
Straight out of the swamp and into the apocalypse!
As you exit the swamp of the high priestess you find yourselves walking straight into the midst of a zombie apocalypse!
Keep your wits about you as you navigate your way through the undead, you never know where they could spring out from (and when)!
Now, for us personally Dead Central was by far our least favourite addition of their 2021 line up.
The overall experience feels very lacking and has room to be so much more than it actually is.
This is due to the fact that the use of a ‘horde’ could really have helped ramp up the fear factor, however what you actually get is an encounter with around 5 to 6 actors at best.
That being said the themeing throughout (which consists of a few wrecked vehicles and a whole host of wooden barricades) does fit the zombie genre perfectly.
If you take the time to look more closely however you see the addition of ‘victims’ remains scattered throughout both in vehicles and within the surrounding area too.
Overall a ‘safe’ addition for this year, however still lots of potential to be had when it comes to embellishing on the overall experience.
Black Death (Outdoor Scaremaze).
After facing one diseased horde you step back in time to the 1300’s and prepare yourselves to face to a whole different kind of ‘plague’ – The bubonic plague!
Beware of the rats peasant, their fleas carry ‘the plague’ and the village you are about to step foot in is riddled with them (as well as a whole entourage of unwelcoming villagers).
Black Death is the second of 2 primarily outdoor based scaremazes and utilises the site’s purpose built medieval style village featuring a mixture of indoor and outdoor areas.
The maze takes those brave enough on an authentic journey back in time and features a whole array of live actors, heavily immersive sets and some very good story telling.
We do however have one criticism – given the theme of the story you would have expected to encounter at least one plague doctor, however sadly this didn’t seem to happen.
Given the concept art features exactly that we felt a little let down this didn’t happen, however given the overall quality of the maze this matter is trivial.
A fantastically creepy and incredibly dark new addition to the 10 Years of Fear festivities.
Haunted Hotel (Indoor Scaremaze).
Right, you’ve been out in the cold and the dark long enough! Why not check into the ‘hotel’ and take a load off? Yeah right!
Welcome to The Haunted Hotel, a world famous hotel tourist destination!
Don’t be fooled by the glitz, glamour and the deceptively hospitable nature of the hotel’s staff, this Hotel hides an incredibly dark and sinister secret!
The Haunted Hotel was for us THE absolute highlight of the overall experience.
Set inside a purpose built indoor hotel building this incredible scaremaze features some of the most impressive and immersive sets featured within any scaremaze at the park this year.
The ‘fake’ lift, reception area and boiler room were our personal highlights, however the maze also features probably the second biggest array of live actors throughout any experience on park.
The sets featured within are insanely detailed too and for this reason alone you have to visit this year!
Overall The Haunted Hotel is dark, unique and very atmospheric making it our number one scaremaze at Yorkshire Scare Grounds this year.
Hospital Hell (Indoor Scaremaze).
Finally, you’ve escaped the hotel, however braced yourselves! There’s a mad surgeon on the loose!
Enter Hospital Hell and face the mangled, mutilated horrors which lie within! The doctor is in, however he’s definitely not out to heal the sick!
Hospital Hell is the final scaremaze of your run through and is centered around a mad surgeon ‘hell bent’ on mutilating and maiming all those under his ‘care’.
The maze utilises some of the most claustrophobic corridors yet and features a mixture of low level lighting, strobe lighting, physical sets and some grotesquely pungent smell pods to create one of the most disturbing and intense experiences featured this year.
Hospital Hell is also packed with plenty live actors (probably the most in any maze this year) meaning you will regularly get up close and personal with the surgeon’s ‘victims’ as you fight your way to freedom.
Don’t be fooled when you exit the maze however, it’s not all over just yet!
Enter a chainsaw wielding maniac (most likely Eugene)!
The finale of the whole experience is a chainsaw chase around a chain link fence enclosed pen right outside the exit to the scaremaze.
If you have survived this far, then you may well meet your end here! Or will you?
Overall Hospital Hell makes the perfect finale to your entire experience and is dark, intense and very disorientating to say the very least.
Conclusion, Cost and Catering!
Yorkshire Scare Grounds provides an intense yet immersive horror based scare experience which managed to exceed every expectation we had.
The 5 mazes featured along with the 2 brand new scarezones all felt befitting of the attraction’s 10th anniversary line up and as such we feel this year has been on of their strongest yet.
With admission currently priced at just £21.00 per person we definitely feel as if this year’s experience is an absolute bargain, however pre-booking is essential and entry to the attraction is by your allotted time only with slots running between the hours of 18:30 and 21:30 at the latest.
In terms of suitability the attraction operates on a minimum age of 16 years and over unless accompanied by an adult and this is purely at the discretion of those visiting, however with the experience being incredibly intense and full on throughout we would strongly advise that you think twice before taking younger children.
There is also a communal area at the end of the attraction featuring a whole host of food vendors (all reasonably priced), a merchandise stall (also reasonably priced), a photo booth and a fully licensed bar where you can sit back, relax and reflect on your experience.
You will also have the chance to sit (or stand) and watch others coming out of the attraction and get up close and personal with more roaming scare actors such as the fabulous Eugene (just don’t give him a chainsaw!).
Overall Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park is an unequivocally an absolute MUST this Halloween season, and if you don’t fancy a Halloween themed scare experience? Well then, there’s always Yueltide Terror this Christmas or Bloody Valentines next valentines Day!
I would also like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to Yorkshire Scare Grounds (and in particular Chris Walton) for inviting us down this year!
We had an absolute blast and are truly grateful for being gifted the incredible opportunity to come and cover this year’s event!
Book now to avoid missing out! You have up until October 31st to make your own visit!
Thank you very much for reading.