It is a mix of good news and bad for Halloween fans as York Maze announces its award-winning Hallowscream nights will not be going ahead this year – but the family friendly Hallowtween event will return.
York Maze has hosted Hallowscream nights since 2009 but it won’t be back for the horror show year of 2020.
For the first time last year, the maze stage Hallowtween event, aimed at families with children aged 10-15 who are too young for the high intensity scares of Hallowscream but too old for trick or treating and pumpkin carving.
“It was a huge success and after taking advice from a number of sources we are delighted to announce that Hallowtween will return again this year with all necessary measures in place to make it Covid secure,” said York Maze owner Tom Pearcy.
Too problematic
Tom said they decided “that we just can’t run our Hallowscream nights in the way we know our fans would want to experience it.
“It takes over 100 actors working in close contact with guests in the five haunted houses to bring Hallowscream alive.
“In the current situation and with the safety of our guests and staff our number one priority we have made the difficult decision not to run Hallowscream this year.
“I know this will be a big disappointment to our visitors and our amazing team of actors, but Hallowscream will be back for 2021 bigger, badder and scarier than ever.”
Children visiting Hallowtween need to be accompanied by an adult and will get to venture into four of Hallowscream’s infamous haunted house attractions but without actors inside.
There will also be live stage acts, street theatre Halloween characters, and side shows. A food court area will offer a range of festival style hot food and drink and somewhere to take a break from the scares.
Hallowtween details
Hallowtween at York Maze will open daily over October half term from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November 2020 inclusive.
Tickets start at £12.50 for adults and children, and must be booked in advance in half hour time slots starting at 11am with last entry at 5pm (7pm on late nights around Halloween).
Tickets must be booked online in advance and to enable social distancing Hallowtween will be operating at only 25% of our usual capacity. Visitors will go into the Haunted Houses in their households or bubbles and will be asked to wear a face mask.
More on the Hallowtween website