Blackpool Pleasure Beach has opened its biggest Journey to Hell yet, introducing three new scare mazes and a blindfolded rollercoaster experience that left one reviewer losing all sense of direction. The event, running on select dates until October 31, transforms the park after dark with themed scare zones and extended ride hours.
New Mazes Descend into Historic Tunnels
The first maze, 'Eternal Abyss', is inspired by the park's newest ride, Aviktas, and is built inside the old network of passages that once carried staff between rides. Guests are recruited by an explorer to retrieve a relic from the lost temple of Angkor Wat, with sinister voices whispering from the shadows and a warning that "something dark and dangerous" is guarding the tunnels.
The second maze, 'The Veil', is set in a house steeped in grief, where a family performed a "forbidden ritual" after losing their daughter, awakening a world trapped between the living and the dead. Blood-stained mattresses and creatures feasting on human remains gradually reveal a macabre truth about the family's past.
Office from Hell and Twisted Rides
'Deadline' presents an office from hell, run by a company with "a permanent solution to every complaint" and a workforce that never clocks out. Corridors are blood-red, lights hum, and staff smile widely as they guide visitors through the building.
Familiar rides have been twisted into sinister versions, with scare zones including Moonshine Massacre, Carnevil, and Witch Way Out. 'Down the Rabbit Hole' turns the Alice in Wonderland ride into a nightmare with characters who get too close, while the Ghost Train becomes 'Vault of Shadows', where figures lurk in darkness.
Blindfolded Rollercoaster and Extended Hours
The strangest experience is 'ICON: Into the Void', a twist on the UK's only double launch rollercoaster, where riders wear blindfolds. Strapped in with total darkness, the first launch made the reviewer lose all sense of location, with every turn feeling sharper and every drop longer, resulting in a mix of screaming and laughing.
More rides than ever stay open after dark, from 10am until 9pm, including Aviktas, ICON, Launch Pad, Infusion, Avalanche, Derby Racer, and Flying Machines. The South side of the park closes at 6pm, while the North side transforms, with fog rolling through walkways and a 140-strong cast, the biggest in the event's history, appearing from nowhere. Each cast member wears a handmade costume and spends more than three hours in make-up and prosthetics before their shift.
Among the cast is Lougarock, the resort's resident werewolf, standing 7ft tall. The reviewer noted the unique unsettling quality of a scare maze built in tunnels used and forgotten for a century, leaving a lingering question about what else might be down there.
