As always the park is decorated for Halloween, with Towers Street in particular filled with colourful bunting, pumpkins, bales, scarecrows and a hearse. The event includes terrifying scare mazes for those aged 13 or over, scare zones with moderate frights, and spooktacular family fun, so there's something for everyone at the UK's ultimate Halloween experience.

Scare Mazes

• Sub Species: The End Games - we'll cut straight to the highlight of the event, and the most extreme live action horror maze ever created for Scarefest by Alton Towers. It's got isolation, claustrophobia, pitch black darkness, physical and verbal one-on-one interaction with the actors, immerse theming, multiple routes and all sorts of effects. If you would like to know what happens, read on... After a briefing and an introduction to the story, you descend deep underground into a post-apocalyptic sewer system. Here your group will be split up, one by one. As the lights go out someone is grabbed and pulled through a door which slams behind them. When it's your turn, you're all alone, in a network of passages that you have to navigate to try and escape from the creatures that are hunting you. There's a whole section in complete pitch black, with nothing but a rope to guide you, occasionally hearing things around you and feeling things touch you. Just when you think it can't get any worse, you are made to go down on your hands and knees, and crawl into dark tunnels, reaching out to feel your way through, with creatures to block your way, tease and taunt you. Claustrophobia kicks in and you feel trapped, not knowing how long this goes on for and how lost you will get. Unlike the other mazes at Scarefest, the live actors may touch you. When you do escape the tunnels, there is a final gauntlet to navigate culminating in chainsaw wielding baddie. We left trembling in fear and shock from such an intense experience.

• The Haunting of Molly Crowe - this new live action horror maze tries something never attempted before by Alton Towers at Scarefest. Depriving you of your sight for almost all of the experience, relying only on your senses of touch, smell and hearing. After being given the background to the tale in which are about to be part of, you are hooded, with only a rope and the person in front to guide you through. The story is about the exorcism of a cursed Victorian manor house, which you experience scene by scene solely through what you can hear, feel and smell. Various special effects are utilised here, as you slowly shuffle along from room to room, feeling heat and cold, smells and sounds all around you. We won't spoil the surprise, but the attraction features a dramatic finale, that is on par with the large scale final scenes commonly used in scare mazes at US theme parks.

• Terror of the Towers: What Lies Within - this popular live action horror maze returns for 2015 but with a new route. The premise is that you are urban explorers, venturing into the ruins of Alton Towers in small groups to discover the terrifying secret of what lies within. This has been a staple of the Scarefest lineup for many years, and features some of the most immersive theming in a UK horror maze. Being set within the Towers adds a whole level of authenticity that can't be rivalled, even the queue surrounded by the buildings enhances it. There are jumps and frights galore, as you encounter countless ghosts and vampires throughout the attraction. The dramatic strobe and smoke section is our favourite in what is a very disorientating experience, so much so that our group got completely lost at one point and had to be given some help to find our way out!

Scare Zones

This year's new scare zones, Nox Infernus and Dark Apocalypse are small themed areas of the park with live actors, rather than the walkthough attractions of previous years. This means they are much less detailed, but no longer require having to queue to go through, you're just able to walk through on your way to the rides. Nox Infernus is located in the Dark Forest in front of the entrances to Thirteen and Rita, and features hooded wraiths and ghostly characters. Dark Apocalypse is located in the Forbidden Valley on the path to Nemesis, and features Phalanx operatives struggling to contain a zombie outbreak.

Family Frights

It's not all terrifying fun for grown ups, as always Alton Towers offers a stellar line-up for families. This year including 3 live shows; Patch's Trick or Treat Party, Phil & Franklyn's Ghoul School and Skelvin's Spooky Story Time, plus a Spooktacular Fancy Dress Competition, The Alton Ancestors flash mobs on Towers Street and Gloomy Wood Alive bringing the area to life.

Alton Towers has pulled out all the stops for Scarefest again this year, with spooky food and drink including the Towers St. Bar & Ghoul featuring a special Halloween menu and a Scarefest Feast available at each Burger Kitchen outlet, along with floodlighting of rides across the theme park which really enhances the experience of riding them in the dark. We managed to get on all the main roller coasters; Nemesis, Air, Thirteen, Rita, Oblivion, Runaway Mine Train and Sonic Spinball. Other attractions at the park which lend themselves perfectly to Halloween include Hex: The Legend of the Towers, Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back, and the Haunted Hollow.

Alton Towers Scarefest runs until 1st November, with the park open 10am-9pm every day, so don't miss out on the ultimate Halloween experience in the UK. Book now:

• Alton Towers Halloween Scarefest Tickets
• Alton Towers Halloween Scarefest Breaks