Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach Presents Fairground Frights 2023 Review
We visited Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach in Norfolk for the return of Fairground Frights. A charming event that we’ve enjoyed on numerous occasions. This year was no exception especially with the addition of the new maze, South Beach Institute.
Not only are there scare mazes, the rides are open, there are loads of roaming actors and tunes provided by Club Tropicana DJs; the event really feels like it has a party vibe.
The Workshop
First stop of the night was The Workshop. A fun concept where you are about to be interviewed for a new job. Loved the one liners and song from one of the early actors but then the maze started to feel a little sparse. The theming was great throughout but actors were fairly silent and motionless beyond the start. I feel either more scares or more storytelling is needed to take this maze to the next level.
Haunted Hotel
I have always been a fan of this ghost train and this year was no exception. The additional actors dotted around the attraction added great interactions from the moment you sit down in the ride vehicle to the very end. Actors would sometimes change positions so each ride was different offering a lot or re-ride-ability. The fact you are on a moving ride vehicle also allows the actors to hit scares with perfect timing. The theming is great and just adds to this fabulous ride.
The Not So Fun Factory
This has previously been a lot of fun and this year that fun continued with great interactions from the clowns, hilarious dialogue with actors following you around and catching you at different points. New additions since our last visit was the claustrophobia tunnel, a nice addition to an already exciting experience. We did however run into a few batching issues where the maze just became a little too full meaning actors had a hard time trying to scare everyone.
South Beach Institute
New for this year was South Beach Institute, a really nice addition to the event. The maze included some scares that were unexpected at such a family focussed event. The scares continued throughout the dark corridors where a simple torch provided great scare opportunities. There are twists and turns and a lot of crawling throughout. It’s a shame that the finale just petered out. The maze felt like it ended a little abruptly. I think for next year adding a final scare would make this already great attraction end with a bang.
Snails & Scary Tales
A classic ride through fairy tales with a spooky twist. Actors are hidden in the scenes of this classic ride. Not overly frightening but a fun little addition that’s worth a ride if you have time.
Overall I had a really enjoyable evening. The atmosphere was buzzing and the roaming actors worked hard all night. One thing that frustrated me though was the abundance of people face timing, filming and at times stopping in mazes to get footage. This caused some of the batching issues mentioned previously and I feel that banning the use of phones within attractions might be needed to avoid this in the future. Apart from this minor gripe the event was absolutely fantastic from start to finish. The roaming actors interacted brilliantly with guests. The standout for me this year were the actors in the Haunted Hotel. It’s great to see new attractions popping up like the South Beach Institute and I hope that Fairground Frights continues to expand. I think the event could benefit from possibly one more maze to spread the crowds out a little.
The event only runs for five nights with the last one tonight with added fireworks straight after. So if you’re in the area get on down. If you’re a bit further afield keep your eyes out on the Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach website for announcements about the event for next year.
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach Fairground Frights 2021
As we were over in the East of England as part of our roadtrip of terror, next up was a visit to Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach’s Halloween event, Fairground Frights. This runs in the evening after the park has closed for its daytime session and allows you to enjoy all the rides, including the brilliant Roller Coaster as many times as you like during the few hours in the park.
First up was a visit to the Not So Fun House, which has been taken over by a bunch of clowns. The use of fog does a great job of creating tension and scares in the main open space with the actors using a variety of different techniques to provide some fun interactions. Whilst quite short, this was a fun little maze and one that we did a few times.
Next up was The Workshop, again this is another fun, short maze with basic theming, but some nice pieces of fairground equipment. This was a slightly more theatrical maze, with the actors all on point providing a number of fun interactions, especially once they found out my name.
In addition to these two walkthrough sections, two of the rides, Haunted Hotel, and Snails and Scary Tales, have actors in the rides providing a variety of scares and more theatrical short scenes both fitting with the rides themes. Haunted Hotel is a fun ghost train offering a few jump scares from the game hotel staff and Snails had twisted characters from the various fairy tales you go through, Snow White and the Witch from Hansel and Gretel being our highlights. The 4D cinema also shows a fun Dracula adventure.
Lastly we have to mention the excellent street team who maraud about the park scaring and interacting with the guests. They were all distinct and on point.
The whole event was fun, you can do everything in the park, including the rides multiple times if you can fit it in. This was also topped off by a nice firework display when the park closed. For under £20, we felt this offered brilliant value for money and was a great fun, family event using the Pleasure Beach. Definitely worth checking out.
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach Presents Fairground Frights 2020
A new event took over the Pleasure Beach in Great Yarmouth this Halloween season. Actors descended on the park and found their way into two attractions the ghost train and fun house.
Atmosphere
The actors around the park were great, offering a mixture of scares and comic relief. What I quite liked is that the actors would sometimes pop up in queue lines and on some occasions, you would even find them on rides. You never quite knew where you might bump into a character throughout the night. There wasn’t a standard theme to these roaming actors more so a mix from hillbilly to creepy schoolgirl.
One thing we noticed throughout the park was the lack of facemasks on actors inside and outside attractions. While actors didn’t come particularly close, we were surprised that, especially when indoors that actors were not wearing masks (something we have come to expect in the current climate). It’s worth noting that hand sanitiser and all the other procedures we have come to expect were followed.
The Haunted Hotel
What is normally a fun ghost train with good theming throughout was added to with several actors. These actors worked well in the space they had offering a creepy addition to the ghost train. While not terrifying the actors managed to create some solid jump scares especially the second actor who managed to get me on multiple occasions.
Not So Fun Factory
This time a fun house attraction was added to with about 5 or 6 clowns. I managed to go through this attraction 4 or 5 times each offering something different. On a fairly busy run you got the more traditional jump scares. The actors used the space well and the use of smoke limited visibility which enabled the clowns to hide easily. But if you managed to go through when it was quiet you got an onslaught of clowns from every angle. The first clown was a standout for me. Improvising and even clocking I had been round before changing up what he did. On an earlier run he asked my name and continued to use this throughout the night in novel and humorous ways.
Summary
I had a great time at Fairground Frights, there is a lot of potential to either add more scare attractions or utilize already standing things like the 4D cinema which could show a more horror themed movie. I really hope the event returns building on the success of this year. While not the scariest of events I feel that what was delivered was perfect for audience who seemed to be loving it as much as I did.
