Having enjoyed last year's scare maze attraction so much, me and my best friend were eager to return for this sequel, this time dragging my sister along for the journey. Dr. Fright's Halloween Nights Presents Route 666 Vol.2. Again, the scare maze (less than a ten minute drive from my house) brings together seven mazes one after the other in a roughly forty five minute experience. Last year I went on the opening night, this time around I went at a date closer to Halloween, Friday 25th October. Could it exceed the delights of last year, or would this second volume just be more of the same?
Learning from last year, we immediately went to the maze rather than wait exactly for our designated time slot. I think it was around a half hour queue this time around, so better than last time, though the ticket office was much more confusing to locate, it really could have done with some signage as it wasn't the most fun start to the evening being unsure if we were in the correct line to get tickets. The ground was slightly muddy as the weather has been a bit wetter than last time around, but this didn't cause any issues as it wasn't too bad. Tickets cost us around £30 each, which seemed more expensive than before, but having enjoyed it so much we we not too fussed.
Being a 'Vol.2', I anticipated that there might be a bit of repeat from last year, and it turned out I was correct. It makes sense in a saving money type of way, but many of the mazes used elements that I had seen previously, so lost the newness and shine. Things opened with 'Stormvale Cemetary' which reused the forest type panelling from the first maze of last year. This was the sole maze that my sister went first for, so it was fun seeing how hesitant she was to go around corners. It was a decent beginning, the forest effect does work well, but I had expected there to be zombies, and I don't believe there were.
Next up was 'Slasher House' that mainly featured people dressed up like the Scream killer, rather than a medley of slasher icons. This had a cool part in a room that was designed to look like a garage, complete with car. While walking past the front of the car its horn went off, making my best friend jump out of her skin!
For the rest of the five mazes I was put in the lead, with the hope that I would jump on a few occasions. Truthfully, I did jump a couple of times, but not as much as I did last time around. 'The Grindhouse - Apocalypse' was not much different to last year's maze of a similar name. This had you again making your way through a house of crazed cannibals. It was fun, parts like the haybale section reappearing, and a guy chasing people around with a chainsaw was funny. Again like last time around, the cannibals had a lot to say, taunting us as we worked our way around.
I loved the idea behind fourth maze 'Found Footage' but I wasn't so sold on its execution. This was made up of a series of corridors that had TV screens showing night vision camera footage of the maze. I was being silly pulling faces at one of the cameras when a demonic nun leapt out and made me jump, totally my fault! The nuns were something that had featured previously, but was nice to see them again.
Halfway through the mazes and we reached the intermission where we got a drink to share, before heading into the second half. The mazes used a traffic light system to ensure there was gaps between various groups, but I found more so than last year that either people were catching up to us quickly, or that we were catching up to people in front quickly, leading to plenty of times when there was a long queue of people rather than feeling like we were isolated on our own. That was a bit of a shame, but I guess they need to keep the lines moving so can't leave too much time between groups.
'Hollywood Horror Resurrection' had a similar idea from last year of having classic movie maniacs as the villains. Chief of these was Michael Myers from the Halloween films who popped up several times, and this year I actually got to see Freddy Kruger (strangely absent from this set last time). There was even a little Saw section, complete with Billy the puppet, saws, and a poor woman whose intestines were hanging out as she begged for help! My sister complained that this maze and the one after were both too dark to see much of anything. She said it was hard to get too scared when she literally couldn't see the actors bursting out of the walls.
Penultimate maze was 'The Island of the Dolls' which was visually interesting with dolls strung up everywhere. This had one really cool room full of white masks that glowed in the dark.
Final area was 'Killer Clowns - Ultimate Championship' that again took the form of a killer clown contest. It wasn't as well designed as last years, it still had great music to bop along to, but had less of a night club feel than previously. It was funny when one of the clowns commented on how much I was smiling (I always have a grin stuck to my face during the mazes). After this we went into the food area, where again we got a burger and some doughnuts and talked about the evening.
It was a good time again, but it had lost a bit of the magic that you would get from going for the first time. Whether each year is a variation on a similar set of ideas, or if there is scope for real development and change I do not know. Regardless, we fully intend to return again next year. It might not have dazzled as much this year, but I still had a blast with it. Dr. Fright's Halloween Nights Presents Route 666 Vol.2 might have been more of the same, but I did have a great time.
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