After a couple of years of visiting – and loving – the Halloween events across the Merlin parks, the time had definitely come for me to branch out and try my first non-theme park, dedicated Halloween event. And after hearing nothing but relentless praise over the last few years, I knew exactly which event I wanted to start with. It had to be the legendary Tulleys Shocktober Fest.
Now in its 26th year, Shocktober Fest resides on a farm about 20 minutes south of the M25 and is, without a doubt, one of the most well-regarded events in the country. Featuring 9 scare mazes, The Circus of Horrors, the Haunted Hayride, and streetmosphere aplenty, there was a lot to sink our teeth into! On the drive down I noticed that the AA signs for the event described it as ‘Halloween Festival’, and I think that’s honestly the perfect way to describe the event. Walking in, we were immediately greeted by live music, wandering actors, and food trucks galore. Roaming the site, we passed multiple bars, a selection of great photo ops, carnival rides… everything you’d expect from a festival – just with much nicer loos!
With the event starting at 17:00 we joined the long line snaking from the entrance with 5 minutes to spare. By the time we’d passed security and gotten scanned in it was about twenty-past and we were immediately greeted by a giant wait-times sign in the central hub. The board informed us that there was a staggered start, some mazes were open with 5-minute waits, and others would be opening at 18:30. So off we walked toward one of the open mazes, the one Tulleys’ website lists as the mildest maze at the event: The Creepy Cottage.
It turned out – as expected – the mildest maze wasn’t too mild at all and provided a great introduction to what Tulleys was about. Here we learned what the setup for the rest of the night would be, as we were brought into an initial room and, at the press of a button by the host, a pre-recorded health and safety spiel played to us. Whilst I definitely missed the full actor-led pre-shows commonly found at Merlin’s Halloween events, each recorded spiel was themed to the maze and always brought a smile to my face. With the spiel complete, the host would dispatch the group (varying in size by maze) into the attraction, and off we went to face the horrors ahead!
Now I could sit here and talk at length about each maze but a) that would take an exceedingly long time both to write and to read, b) honestly, they’ve slightly blended into one big horrorscape in my brain so instead, I’m going to fall back on everyone’s favourite form of content: a good old rankings list.
So, without further ado here is – accompanied by a summary of my thoughts – my Tulley’s Shocktober Fest 2022 Maze Ranking:
1. Wastelands Penitentiary
This is it. This is THE maze. Wastelands is a gargantuan, intimidating beast, with an awe-inspiring exterior home to nothing less than an awesome (regularly performed) show complete with fire bursting from the ceiling, dancers held in cages within the maze’s facade, and scare actors darting around the spectators. But the interior is no less impressive with a seemingly endless sprawl of cages and cells. This maze was practically overflowing with actors – including some in unexpected places (look up!) – and gave me some of the most intense scares of the night. The effects here also left me completely disorientated and vulnerable to jump scares. It’s simply incredible. The most intense experience of the night without doubt.
2. The Village Coven of 13
Some very creative set design made for a completely unique experience. The use of space and light in the first scene particularly was like nothing I’d ever seen before. Whilst filled with plenty of jump scares, this is a maze that excels in being genuinely creepy and unsettling.
3. The Cellar Imprisoned
Giant snake 10/10
(As well as a giant snake, this featured some of the most relentless scares of the evening, especially when we got very lost! I don’t know why this maze was particularly quiet, but we were some of the only people in there at the time so the actors just didn’t let up. A fantastic experience.)
4. Doom Town
Jaw-dropping scale and attention to detail make this one of the most creative and incredibly designed mazes I’ve had the joy of experiencing. The downside was that the scares weren’t very intense at all, except in one completely disorientating room. This is one maze I’d love to have a daytime stroll through just to drink in every little detail.
5. Hell-ements
I cannot believe a hooded maze – my first hooded maze – is this high up. This was our last maze of the night, and we were not happy to be ending on something we were so sure would suck. But we were wrong! Really wrong. Sure, it’s a (massive) shame to lose the theming but this actually gave me the biggest psychological scare of the night. I think one of the actors must have heard us talking because my name was whispered in my ear time after time. The first few times I heard ‘Claire’ quietly hissed I genuinely thought the mazes had pushed me too far and I’d snapped. But no, just a very resourceful scare actor! As the name suggests, there are some pretty exciting elements in here along the way too! My only real gripe is that this maze was so long that I was struggling to get air in my hood by the end! It got stuffy in there!
6. The Creepy Cottage
Our first maze, and the maze with the lowest ‘Scare Factor’ actually provided a decent number of jump scares! I love a maze with tight, compact – and heavily themed if possible – spaces and this fits the bill perfectly. We actually had more intense scares here than at some of the ‘scarier mazes’ – plus it was gorgeous and had one of the more interesting opening spiels of the night.
7. Electrick Circus
The circus was fun and had some really cool theming elements, with one room in particular making me gasp in delight (hint: Duel fans rejoice!). Decent scares and a fun environment made for a good time! Just not quite as memorable as some of the others for me, except for the finale. I’m certainly never going to forget this attraction’s exit.
8. The Island
God, I wish we’d had a better time in The Island. I really do, because this was yet another maze where the scale was utterly ridiculous. Some of the sets in here were among the best I’ve seen in a maze, but unfortunately, there was a complete and utter lack of actors. This was a long maze, with what felt like an infinite number of scenes but only about half of them featured any actors. There was also a very strange moment when we passed a fire that was being guarded by two members of event staff wearing plain branded jackets, who simply nodded us along, completely destroying the immersion.
9. The Chop Shop
I’m sure if chainsaws are your thing, this is a lot of fun. But it just felt like the least creative maze at the event, and it’s not even close. The majority of time is spent dodging chainsaws in between wooden walls with a bit of red paint on. Not my kinda thing at all. We did do this in daylight though, not knowing it would be predominately outdoors, so maybe it needs another try! It definitely gets some points for the gorgeous initial scenes at least, those garage scenes really got my hopes up!
From hearing about the previous experiences of others, I think we got extraordinarily lucky with our visit. Wait times were low throughout the evening, with only Electrick Circus having a moderate (20 mins) wait. The only thing we truly waited for (a still-manageable 45 minutes) was Horrorwood Haunted Hayride. I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this attraction, and honestly my expectations weren’t super high, but this was delightful – in a creepy chainsaw-in-your face kinda way. As we rolled through the woods, passing impressive sets, fire effects and haunting landscapes, a hoard of different characters boarded our cursed tractor! These on-board creatures varied from comedic, to genuinely intimidating. Unexpectedly however, the biggest scare of the trip came from a character who didn’t board. An abandoned, lost child, stumbled, arms outstretched and ominous, after us as we rolled away. This scene was downright eerie and the most powerful on the ride for sure. This hayride was a unique experience that’s not to be missed!
Rounding off the night’s experiences was The Circus of Horrors, with an hourly 20 minute performance included with admission. I’ve always avoided The Circus of Horrors, expecting it to be… well, just pretty gross. But this was an enjoyable show featuring sword swallowing, acrobatics, burlesque and more. If you’ve got time, it’s well worth a look, but honestly I personally wouldn’t prioritize this over a scare experience.
Of course, there was one upcharge attraction that was non-negotiable: the new-for-this-year coaster. Let’s be honest, there’s not a lot to report here. It’s a wild mouse. Thankfully, it wasn’t notably painful and was pretty fun as far as these coaster types go. £7 worth of fun? Debatable. But, as they say, a cred is indeed a cred. (For my fellow counters, this is the Coaster!)
The farm was absolutely packed with different food options. Noodles, waffles, themed cupcakes, a whole damn hog roast? You’re guaranteed to find something for you, even if you’re vegan thanks to a whole stand dedicated to plant-based dining! This is where I chose to grab my dinner – of course – trying the ‘buttermilk chicken’ burger. In case Shocktober Fest wasn’t feeling like enough of a festival for you, the food and drink prices will get you right back in the spirit! At £8.50 for a single burger and £3 for a can of Diet Coke, it ain’t cheap. But the burger was unexpectedly a double-decker, bloody good, and served to me in the middle of an event in Surrey at 10pm so I’m not mad, just make sure to budget accordingly!
Merch was fairly priced for an event (£20/25 for a shirt), but there were also some real bargains to be had. For just £45 you can grab three of any t-shirt, plus they can be different sizes too so if you’re a group of three like we were you can pick up a shirt each for £15 a piece! Sadly they were out of stock of the shirts we wanted so I just ended up coming away with a £2.50 pin for my collection. Not bad at all for a metal pin in a compostable wrapper! The real bargain though was the bounce-back offer. At both guest services and the trading post, event attendees can purchase additional open-dated tickets for either this year’s event or next year’s for just £30. £30 to be able to attend an event of this quality on any night you fancy without restriction is mad. Absolutely mad. So of course my Tulley’s 2023 ticket is already chilling in my inbox – and I couldn’t be more excited!
Before wrapping up I did want to mention how much Tulleys deserve a shout-out for making the event as weather-proof as possible. Whilst we had a beautiful clear evening, the amount of shelter provided was honestly quite staggering, particularly having dealt with an endless deluge at Thorpe the night before. The queue for each maze is sheltered, often with large covered areas alongside. There are covered walkways, dining areas, bars, the circus… the list goes on! I would certainly be quite content coming here on a rainy evening!
I’ve said to a few people in the past how Energylandia was a life-changing experience for me. Prior to arriving at that park, very large coasters still intimidated me to the point that I couldn’t face riding them first and had to ‘build myself up’ each time. But after riding Zadra and Hyperion I felt ready to take on the world. Well, that’s how I feel about Tulleys. I genuinely spent the week leading up to the event petrified about what this farm held in store for me, but the answer was a genuinely fantastic night out with some of my favourite people. I expected to be overwhelmed in those mazes, to be scarred, to never want to do another Halloween event again. Instead, I discovered that scare attractions aren’t just something I endure to soak up the spooky theming. No, I actually love them. They’re fun, and thrilling, and offer some of the most creative attraction design to be found in this country.
It’s going to be a busy month. Thanks, Tulleys!
Speak again soon,
Claire
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coasterclaire.co.uk 