Now in it’s fourth year, the notorious event returns to Blackpool Pleasure Beach this Halloween, with brand new scare zones and newly added, never-before-seen scare experiences throughout October.

On arrival at the park we were directed to the main reception where we were handed our attraction coupons and lanyards before heading for the main entrance via the Blackpool Pleasure Beach store. Unlike previous years, we then queued outside the main entrance before being permitted entry a little after 7pm.

Entry into the park is slightly different this year but guests are ultimately directed to the same plaza in front of the FY4 bar. Fire jugglers and flame throwers can be seen performing within the fountains here whilst a DJ also played guests into the park to help set the mood.

Like previous years, Journey to Hell uses a coupon based system where guests hand over a ticket on entry to each attraction – allowing guests to choose the order in which they tackle the night. After soaking up some of the initial atmosphere, we headed off to confront our first attraction and opted to go for Twisted Tunnels.

The queuing area for Twisted Tunnels is actually within the event space with the stage that has been previously used to open the event. Whilst the staging looked impressive with the Journey to Hell graphics, it does seem to be a missed opportunity and wasted space not using this area more effectively.

This walkthrough scare maze was filled with an impressive number of actors and it was good to see that whilst the route will be familiar to those who have attended before, most of the scenes had been changed with a very different storyline. It was the storyline, however, that we found a little difficult to follow.

Visitors are ushered from set to set where a lead character performed a theatrical element before being rushed into the next scene by the actor, often electing to use foul language in the process of doing so. This maze includes a fortune teller, Jack the Ripper, an evil Santa, vampires and even a Christmas elf so as you can imagine the cohesiveness of the story was a little stretched. In addition, the heavily acted sections before moving on made the experience feel quite stop start. That said, the attraction offered several ‘jump scares’ and each of the scenes have been produced to a good standard. A stand out for this maze was our meeting with Jack the Ripper and we found his scene particularly impactful.

On exiting we headed straight for Possessed – The Legend of the Cursed River Caves. Yes, the River Caves have once again returned and now appear to be a staple attraction for the event. For those that have attended before, riders experience the River Caves in total darkness, with only their handheld lamp to guide the way. Pleasingly, this attraction is much improved for 2023 with the number of actors within the caves increased significantly.

We then headed to the parks only true ‘scare zone’ as we walked through Carnevil on our way to the back of the park. Sinister circus characters roam the darkened deserted pathways filled with smoke and clever lighting which makes it almost impossible to see actors heading towards you. Aside from the actors however, we didn’t see much in the way of circus theming although the characters certainly made up for it.

Lost was next on our list and once again is a strong feature of the overall event. Provided guests don’t look up, or above the 6ft high fencing which shapes the maze, they can expect a good level of theming along with impressive theatrical storytelling and plenty of jump scares along the way. The intensity of this maze also increases throughout the experience which has a good finale before exiting.

Dark Icon makes a return for 2023 which see’s guests being able to enjoy one of the parks leading coasters at night without lighting. For those that were lucky enough to experience the ride blindfolded, the ‘dark’ version isn’t quite as impactful, however, taking a ride on one of the UK's top coasters at any time of day is always worth it. In addition to the ride itself, several actors were placed throughout the entrance and exit paths which brought you back round to the Caro Loco dodgems.

The dodgems have seen a significant Halloween takeover, with ‘day of the dead’ characters roaming the pathways and upbeat mariachi band tunes playing – we found it difficult to resist the dancing! At first, we did feel the inclusion of dodgems as an attraction a weird choice, however, granted it works brilliantly. Guests driving alone may well find themselves joined by evil characters during the experience which was highly entertaining throughout!

With only a few attractions left, we opted for a short pause to go and check out the food offering at this year’s event. Whilst there were good looking Halloween burgers on display, we were disappointed not to be able to sample these and instead purchased the usual park offering from the FY4 hub. Within the bar area there looked to be a good selection of Halloween treats including cookies, cakes and spooky punch.

Break over, it was time to experience the last of the attractions and we opted to head for The Ghost Train – Vault of Shadows. As with previous years, the ghost train works perfectly and was a real highlight for us with the inclusion of even more live actors than before. We really enjoyed the ‘easter egg’ towards the end of the attraction in which a certain Blackpool Pleasure Beach employee makes a cameo appearance!

Finally, we headed for the Impossible Freak House and from our perspective we left the best till last. Partly helped by it only being our group of two entering the maze together, the intimacy of doing the maze alone really helped increase the intensity. With actors focussing solely on us, they were able to take their performances to the next level with plenty of jump frights and theatrical moments along the journey.

With that, our experience of Journey to Hell 2023 was over and we headed towards the park exit at around 9:45pm. Guests can opt to extend their stay by visiting Pasaje Del Terror, however this does come at an additional cost. On exit through the gift shop there was a good selection of Journey to Hell branded merchandise which all looked to be of good quality.

Overall, Journey to Hell continues to be a good Halloween event. There have been some positive changes to returning elements, however generally, the event did feel a little flat at times. This might have been due to limited numbers of guests for the event's first night, however we haven’t noticed that in previous years. Staff throughout the attraction were a real stand out for us so full credit to them in making the event feel as immersive as possible. We do feel that having only one major attraction, which you can only experience once per visit, needs addressing for future events.

Guests can enjoy Journey to Hell - Freak Nights between the 13th – 31st October 2023.

Find out more and buy tickets at blackpoolpleasurebeach.com