Located just outside Wakefield lies Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park, an airsoft outdoor adventure converted into a terrifying scare maze walkthrough experience during Halloween. Here’s our review.
Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park consists of 5 maze experiences and 2 walkthrough scare zones.
Officially celebrating 10 years of fear since they were set up in 2010 (we won’t count the cancelled event last year) I went in with low expectations but upon traversing through the first scare zone and seeing some of the mazes for the first time it was clear that there is something truly special at this Halloween extravaganza.
Your experience begins before you enter the walkthrough as actors in very expensive heavily detailed masks welcome you to the event by creeping up behind you, chasing you around the place and interacting with the crowd.
With batching being in small numbers this did mean a queue before entering but the actors within the queue line made the time go by quite efficiently providing some quirky and freaky entertainment.
Just look at the detail on those masks.
Beautiful.
After the queue line entertainment, our journey begins.
Forest of Freaks: Showmans Rest
June 22, 1920, members of the Rellik Brothers Circus were asleep in the rear cars of their train when it was involved in a horrific accident.
A second train went smashing in the Circus cars, killing many instantly.
The majority of the dead were Clowns & Performers, who were buried at the scene, which is still known today as the Showman’s Rest!
We invite you, if you dare, to enter The Forest of Freaks – Showman’s Rest! For the star of tonight’s performance is YOU!
In a previously unused area (we were told) there now resides a narrow path winding down to the first maze.
Complete with beautiful skull head theming, wonderful lighting and a circus-style atmosphere there was a great utilisation of space and it certainly set the mood for what was to come.
If a brief walkthrough to the first maze was this detailed then I was getting excited with the curiosity of just how detailed the scare mazes might be.
Forest of Freaks was a wonderful introduction but some of the pathways were short of actors, there was many a foreboding space of darkness for an actor to reside in but we encountered just the three on our run-through.
Factory of Fear
On the outskirts of the meat packing district, an abandoned manufacturing plant, shut down for many years, has suddenly reopened, but the only thing its manufacturing is Fear!
The stench from the plant can be smelt from afar, do you have the guts to enter?
After experiencing a brief pre-show (As was the case with all of the scare mazes) we entered the Factory of Fear.
An experimental type facility that was littered with wonderful theming, animatronics and details aplenty.
Whilst walking through you were completely immersed within the environment but once again a lack of actors dampened the scares on our run-through.
It was a Thursday night and the event was sold out but I was expecting many more actors throughout the detailed corridors.
The set designers have certainly turned this maze into something immersive but it just felt lacking in terms of the scares.
The animatronics throughout the park were more noise-makers than panty-line breakers but it was still nice to see them if albeit they seemed to be replacing the humans that could have genuinely made us jump more.
There were no smell pods in this particular maze which is a shame as they could have certainly added to the ambience with those but other mazes in the evening’s line-up had them in their numbers.
Totally Tropical Terror
Descend into the swamps if you dare, as the Voodoo Queen is lurking in the shadows performing her sadistic twisted rituals on anyone who dare disturb her.
Her evil black magic and violent streak has disfigured her servants who roam the night in a zombie like state looking for fresh victims!
This outdoor scare maze was yet another unused space that has been utilised but this time around there really wasn’t much to utilise.
The story revolved around a Voodoo Queen yet we were greeted with zombies of some nature that didn’t quite fit the story and the maze was teasing this big grand finale that never arrived.
We encountered 3 actors during the entire walkthrough and were sprayed with water at one particular section.
This walkthrough was the poorest addition of the evening as the maze certainly resembled more of a swamp than any sort of voodoo forest or similar.
Have some creatures roaming around there, add some mist, swamp noises, rejig the story and as with all the other mazes that evening, add more actors and it’ll be a solid little walkthrough.
Dead Central
It wouldn’t be Halloween without Zombies!
So, we’re going to put you right into the heart of the action in the all new Un-Dead Central – pulse pounding Scare Zone!
Enter an apocalyptic nightmare full of blood thirsty Zombies, driven to an adrenaline fuelled frenzy of raging madness!
With only one way in and one way out, will you make it thru to the safe zone?
Don’t let the rather cheesy poster above fool you, Undead Central is a very nicely themed walkthrough with abandoned cars, a few animatronics and if you walk slowly, some wonderful fine details that you’d miss if you’re not paying attention.
Very short on actors the potential of the space was there for all to see.
Story of the evening really with many of these attractions as more actors could have turned these themed spaces into more immersive encounters.
Short on jump-scares as I expecting a sensor to trigger a car horn and lights at any given moment it was a nice walk through and a great use of space.
Teasing a horde of zombies to only have around 3 in there with us was a little disappointing. Staff shortage was definitely dampening the experience all round but the theming throughout was drool-worthy minus the swamp/voodoo experience previously.
Black Death
An infestation of rats and fleas have brought the Plague to the village with human parasites abounding the spread of the disease throughout the village!
The Plaque Doctor awaits, any sign of infection – you’re Dead Meat”!
Enter a town of the bubonic plague as plague doctors and the infected roam the village.
This Medieval has both indoor and outdoor areas as you walk through houses and encounter various characters within.
Throughout the event, characters were very far away from you so the scares never really hit home at any given moment.
The scariest encounters were from the queue line as that’s where the most screams seemed to be all night.
This more story-led dialogue upon entering a room dampened any scares but the detail within the village was there for all to see.
A very solid set addition but for me, there was something missing in the immersion outside of the set detail. I just didn’t feel contained within the story, more a passerby flicking through its pages.
More guest interaction that’s up close and personal or even guest participation within certain houses you walk through would have made this experience more tailored per group for me.
The Haunted Hotel
Sunnyfield – a once thriving lavish Hotel, well known for its elegance & fine dining, but now a shadow of its former glory, is now on the market after many years, perspective buyers are invited to view the estate, by appointment with the Caretaker!
Legend has it the Hotel is built on an old burial ground, and spirits roam the dark corridors. Will things go bump in the night?
It’s been a while since I’ve called a scare maze, beautiful. But that is the only word that I can use to describe The Haunted Hotel.
From its custom-built exterior to inside theming that can only be comparable to Phantom Manor at Disney you are whisked away into this hotel and I forgot the outside world existed.
Real chandeliers, real props and more as you step into reception and check in to a room on floor 13.
You hop into an elevator with some wonderful underfloor effects and I’m sold.
What an incredible jewel in the crown for Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park as Haunted Hotel stole the show (and my heart) as the standout maze.
Once again a little short on the actors front but my god the potential in this building had me salivating at the thought of what this could be with a bit more scare injection.
Whoever built this maze needs an Alice Cooper ‘We’re Not Worthy’ scene reenacted in front of them.
Only at Xtreme Scream and Scare Kingdom have I ever been impressed with the detail of a maze and The Haunted Hotel has now firmly been added to that list.
Truly spectacular.
Hospital Hell
A controversial Nazi medical research Hospital set up by the infamous Dr Viktor Blick, invites you in for a guided tour of his state of the art facilities. With his obsessive fascination in Egyptology and bizarre experimentation, Dr Blick has some fascinating news to share!
Will you become an In-Patient that never gets out!
Well I absolutely wasn’t expecting to see Nazis in Yorkshire during my trip to Scare Grounds that’s for sure but whilst there are a few bits of theming here and there thankfully it wasn’t too heavy on the whole Nazi front.
With strobes, claustrophobic corridors, german accents throughout this experimental facility I had a great time.
The detailing in some of the bodies was superb, a morgue scene was very immersive and eerily realistic and the smell pods wafted TCP and old hospital corridor smells around from start to finish.
A very disorientating maze but a very fun one to end the night’s proceedings.
Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park Overall
The independents do it best at Halloween they really do.
Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park was so far ahead of Journey to Hell it made Blackpool’s Halloween event look like a Cbeebies Halloween House party.
The set detail was above and beyond that of Alton Towers and any other major theme park I’ve visited as there has been genuine love, care and artistry that has gone into the mazes.
Much planning and thought have been lovingly injected into the maze construction with The Haunted House being a Picasso of the gallery with such class and detailed execution.
I can’t for the life of me think of why more photos of the maze interiors aren’t uploaded or why you can’t film in just one maze.
Using visual mediums to promote your event isn’t ‘spoiling’ the event for the public you’d merely be offering one sample of the detail and work you’ve put in that would tease guests to visit.
Audiences are never sure of what to expect from numerous scream parks and if the mazes will be any good, simply uploading a sample of just one maze online will let guests know exactly what they are to expect and with this kind of attention to detail it would only further increase sales to the event.
As mentioned previously the lack of actors took a toll on each zone and maze.
Sadly, I couldn’t give the event the 5/5 the immersion warranted as I didn’t jump once the entire evening despite some nice performances.
I’d happily give Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park a 3.5/5 in the hope that they utilise their space more and add more actors in there.
A visually stunning event that blew me away and I’m not impressed easily.
The potential for something great is there for all to see.
I want to express a huge thank you to the social media team also because when the event sold out they were kind enough to save us two tickets as we were travelling from Stoke especially to cover it.
A very friendly team and that in itself is rare.
