Beware: This is a review of a past Halloween event. Therefore, do not use it as a basis upon which to preview the same event this year, and please note that the event may not necessarily be taking place this year. Please use our guide for an overview of this years' Halloween attractions. 

Halloween Hocus Pocus, Chessington (2004)

Welcome to Coaster Kingdom’s third annual rant about Chessington’s misinterpretation of the word ‘family’.

You may remember how I mused a few years ago that Hocus Pocus Halloween was a nice, if misdirected stab at a Halloween event and concluded that it was much like trick or treating; great if you’re a kid, tiresome if you’re anyone else.

Last year showed marked improvement. Pirate Jack’s appalling 3D* walkthrough was made to walk the plank and didn’t make it into the Halloween line-up, whilst the park in general looked a lot better in terms of decoration.

[* I never did find out what this mythical third dimension was]

This year in general has been fairly pivotal in pointing the park in the right direction for the future. The park is now “Where Families Come First” with the decent Land of the Dragons catering for those younger visitors, whilst Dragon’s Fury, an impressive Maurer spinning coaster, heeds the pleas of older visitors and the twenty something couples who still make up a sizable proportion of Chessington’s clientele.

Could this newfound appreciation for the family (not child) herald a more mixed and enticing programme of events for over 10s?

Well... no. But this isn’t to say Halloween Hocus Pocus isn’t worth a visit.

Once again, the line-up has a strong leaning towards the more infantile Chessington visitor with a similar, if not more comprehensive programme of events from previous years, yet for everyone else, there’s a chance to see the park at it’s very best and at a time of year where queues won’t be the preceding horror throughout the day.

Whilst not a particularly musical park when compared to Thorpe Park, Port Aventura or Disneyland, notable scores throughout the park like that outside Tomb Blaster or the usual Casio Keyboard calamity at the entrance have been replaced by instantly recognisable Halloween compilations.

Sing along to your favourites such as (Clap Clap) The Adam’s Family and the Ghostbuster’s theme (I ain’t afraid a no ghost). Whilst hardly as atmospheric as the music used for sister park Thorpe Park’s Fright Nites, these tunes carry themselves a lot better during the daylight hours without sounding completely out of place whilst the shadows are short at the height of the day.

Children seem to be catered for well again this year. Once again, there is the Trick or Treat trail, whereby nosey offspring can make a word out of letters gathered from around the park and potentially win a prize of some sort.

Almost constantly throughout the day, an uncharacteristically friendly witch invites children onto the stage. Instead of using these children as some macabre mince in a special soup broth, the green-faced harbinger of evil instead elects to make small talk with these cheeky youngsters.

After the typically one-way conversations between witch and kids, the three children are instructed to knock on their respective doors set into the castle backdrop of the stage. Behind two of these doors there will be a trick, and behind the third, a treat.

On the third knock, the doors fly open and three witches award our po-faced children with either a gift bag of something-or-other, or a face full of silly string. Compared to previous years events, this pantomime seemed far more popular than preceding years, despite running more often than not and the park being very quiet indeed.

New to the agenda this year, guest appearances by everybody’s favourite detective dog, Scooby Doo. The cuddly 6ft hound appears every few hours and children are given the chance to show the walking, talking canine their appreciation for helping rid the world of cleverly disguised villains.

Part of the broader appeal for those over ten is the park’s dedication to decorating the park to kingdom come. The park looks absolutely wonderful with cobwebs adorning most of Transylvania and Hocus Pocus Hall, and piles of pumpkins (real and fake) piled up high in Market Square and around various pockets of space throughout the park.

Even supports on Safari Skyway and Dragon’s Fury have been covered in corn which has a lot of impact in making the park look very rustic and edgy. Also, new for this year, many photo spots have been added throughout the park; there’s a huge cauldron to put your kids in, or a broomstick under Fury’s immelman – all neat touches.

Accessory to this, there are a lot of characters throughout the park. There are a few witches (one introduced herself as Winnie) on electric broomsticks-cum-scooters that ‘fly’ around the park shouting jovial abuse at all and sundry. Jink from Hocus Pocus Hall was also spotted bear-hugging kids, and there is also a special puppet show in Land of the Dragons.

Towards the second half of Halloween Hocus Pocus, you can enjoy the park after the sun has set, albeit only for a few hours. Rides like the Vampire and Dragon’s Fury are so much better in the dark, and are fairly well lit with the immelman on Dragon’s Fury lit in a haunting shade of orange and tunnels giving the Vampire tunnel a strange effect of diving into the light instead of the dark.

Whilst we’re on the subject of the Vampire, it is good to see the organist has been resurrected after nearly three years of being slumped over the ivories. It’s unfortunate though that a wannabe DJ was operating the ride and muting the music so that he could hear his own dulcet tones instead of just letting the music play as in the glory days of the Vampire. We’re getting closer to the Vampire we know and love, but frankly I sometimes wonder if we’ll ever get there.

At the moment, Halloween Hocus Pocus is one of the best events in the country, and like the park has a bias at completely the opposite end of the spectrum from Thorpe Park. That said, Halloween Hocus Pocus would greatly benefit from an extra attraction for the same age group(s) as Vampire and Dragon’s Fury. At the moment, just too much is aimed at kids, not the family.

Whilst Halloween Hocus Pocus shows Chessington in the very best possible light, it still is aimed too much at children and ignores and disillusions the older family with young teenagers and even the couples who visit the park for a quieter less high-octane day out than Thorpe Park.

So, still very much style over substance for all but under tens, but it wouldn’t take much before Halloween Hocus Pocus is unmissable for everyone in the family.

MS 31 October 2004

.

.