Tulleys Shocktober Fest 2021
WHAT: Tullys Shocktober Fest
WHEN: 1 October — 6 November, 2021
WHERE: Tulleys Farm (Turners Hill Road, Turners Hill, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 4PE)
PRICE: £14–129
OUR RATING: Chance It!
Storefront City is back for Tullys Shocktober Fest!
We made sure for Tullys to be our finale Halloween haunt this year and we even brought some mates this time to experience it with us. It was definitely a fun event, but we have to admit we didn’t enjoy the haunts as much this year. The main problem? The batching. The batching was, not to mince words, horrific this year, and the queues completely crazy. We had a much different time than when we went in 2019. Despite arriving at opening, the queues were so long the entire night that we ended up missing three attractions this year!
But we’ll get into that rant a bit later. Let’s cover the good stuff first!
Tulleys Shocktober Fest is an absolute must to visit with a whopping TEN attractions — eight scare mazes, a haunted hayride and a twisted circus act, not to mention the amazing atmosphere surrounding the whole event. We may have gone at an interesting time (it was half term so the park was swarming with audiences much younger than us) but there was still an amazing spooky and exciting atmosphere with roaming characters, many bars, an astonishing variety of food, and rides and music stages. If it wasn’t giving us a theme park feeling in 2019 it was now — there was definitely not enough time in one night to do everything!
The Cellar Imprisoned
Our Scare Factor: 3/10
Atmosphere Rating: 7/10
Storyline: Those that dwell in the Cellar have not been forgotten, they have been locked in.
We were smart to do this one first last time — we waited until the last second this year and were definitely in a group of 15, missing all the scares. We remember this to have been one of the best and scariest haunts at Tullys, which definitely made this year disappointing. But the haunt is still detailed, with different room sizes and a dark and dank feeling throughout that made it feel like a cellar. There was also a creepy toy room that had a great performer in it. We wish we could have enjoyed this haunt more!
Twisted Clowns
Our Scare Factor: 2/10
Atmosphere Rating: 7/10
Storyline: The Greatest Show not of this Earth…
We loved the glow in the dark 3D theming of this maze again this year, especially with its disorienting must-have tunnel and tons of crouching areas and play with space and depth. We enjoyed crawling up and down the steep areas and seeing the wandering eyes upon the walls that kept moving due to the 3D glasses. But, once again, we were in a huge batch, and we didn’t see a single character in full-clown-getup, just everyone with circus makeup. Except a cool jester — can’t forget him! The worst part of this event? The completely unsanitized and reused 3D glasses. Yuck.
Wastelands Penitentiary
Our Scare Factor: 6/10
Atmosphere Rating: 6/10
Storyline: The year is 1998, after the explosion ripped through the world, bringing an end to civil life.
Wasteland Penitentiary still has the best outdoor set design in the park, with the steampunk-esque metal designs huge and detailed and setting a statement when you head towards the haunt. This was a super lengthy labyrinth, with the prison theme throughout well reflected and a few good jumps. A very consistent maze that doesn’t seem to have changed since last time, but still does what it needs to.
The Island
Our Scare Factor: 4/10
Atmosphere Rating: 10/10
Storyline: Something more than man. Something more than animal. An evil scientist’s creations are loose on The Island and they will protect what is theirs.
According to Tulleys this maze was new for 2021, and while true it was a re-skin of their previous haunt The Wreckoning. But, instead of adventure and pirates we got evil beasts of every shape and size, with very creative takes on creatures everywhere we looked. And since the 2019 set design was a favourite of ours, it was again, with amazing details everywhere you looked. The length of this maze was astounding — we must have been in there at least 15 minutes if not 20, and felt like explorers the whole way. While not exactly scary, there were still tons of crazy elements, including spongy floors, fire, air compressors, and huge sets — definitely a maze not to miss.
The Chop Shop
Our Scare Factor: 2/10
Atmosphere Rating: 2/10
Storyline: You better be careful now, Billy-Bob and Billy-Joe are real handy with a reconstruction.
We wish we would have skipped this one this year in favour of another we didn’t have time to see. Unchanged since 2019, this maze was not very creative, filled with blank walls and blood spatter. It was “turn left, turn right, chainsaw, rinse, repeat”. Quite short too, but we were happy to leave it.
Horrorwood Haunted Hayride
Our Scare Factor: 2/10
Atmosphere Rating: 6 or 7/10
Storyline: Explore the abandoned backlot at the Horrorwood Film Studios.
Another unchanged maze but we still love this one. It may not be scary but it’s a ton of fun. They fit about 30–40 people on each tractor as they take you on a ride through Horrorwood Film Studios. There were a few jumps and loads of funny moments, with some great interactions with the actors. Was it worth queueing 80 minutes? We’re on the fence, but this is a unique experience at the park and we love-love-loved the creepy ending (we don’t want to completely spoil the surprise). The speaker system could do with a revamp (or at least a turn-up) if nothing else though!
The Village Coven of 13
Our Scare Factor: 5 or 6/10
Atmosphere Rating: 9/10
Storyline: A witch confirmed, tried and convicted; Death upon her was afflicted.
This was another of our favourites last time, and it remains a favourite this year too! This is a lengthy maze which we appreciate, and every scene in the coven is different with a level of detail unrivalled at other scare attractions we’ve visited in the UK. There was a new final part of the room (or we don’t remember it) that we loved, especially the sensory detail. An absolute great and immersive haunt that will leave you reeling.
Circus of Horrors
Storyline: Blending horror and burlesque with bizarre and unbelievable acts performed to live rock music.
We didn’t attend this this year, instead using our final minutes on one the other haunts, but our two visiting friends enjoyed it and loved the mix aerial, burlesque, and horrific stunts.
Critique: We didn’t get to Hell-ements (a blindfolded rope maze) or the Creepy Cottage this year, since we ran out of time and tried to focus on seeing the mazes we know we loved in previous years. As mentioned before, we arrived at opening and stayed until we were kicked out but still missed out on so much this year due to the amount of people in the park.
Don’t get us wrong, we had an amazing time. The haunts have such a level of detail you don’t see elsewhere at smaller attractions in the UK and the atmosphere is electric. But we didn’t enjoy the haunts themselves as much this year. We’re used to going in groups of 6–8. But it wasn’t 6. It wasn’t 8. It wasn’t even 10 or 12.
15. We were batched in groups of 15 this year. And no, this wasn’t for the hayride, this was for every single haunt. The park was packed and we waited anywhere from 45–80 minutes for each attraction, so yes — batches any smaller than 15 and we wouldn’t have even been able to get more than two or three haunts in because the queues would have been even more outrageous. Nonetheless, with groups of 15 we somehow drew the short straw almost every haunt and were at the back, and missed out on the majority of scares in every, single, haunt. Such a pity. Whilst we freely admit it is total speculation, we suspect there was an effort to make up financially for losses incurred due to last year’s cancellation, with a much higher cap on the tickets sold. Even if it meant raising prices, fewer people per entrance slot would have added to the audience experience. Also, don’t think that Fast Pass will spare you the queuing — these lines were just as long.
Also, all the scare actors must have attended the exact same acting session. We were so tired after the first of couple haunts when every single actor makes the exact same unintelligible voices and then throws their hand in your face and withdraws. Yes, very scary, but not when every single actor does this exact same thing! Each haunt should have had mannerisms and sounds specific to the haunt, while in this case they all sounded and acted the exact same and it got a bit boring.
Final Thoughts: We’re harsh critics. If you love haunts, you should definitely attend Tullys. Will we attend next year? We’re not sure. If we’re free early on in their season and they’ve made a change or two in their attractions — definitely! But we won’t go this late in the season again if the queues and batching stay how they were this year.
P.S.: It’s not a haunt, but it is certainly haunting! You’ve got just enough time to check out Festival of the Dead — Halloween Returns.
