


Based on authentic user experiences
Mia Steer
6732 reviews
N/A
11 months ago
Terrible overpriced a waste of time and money
I don t normally write reviews but this experience was so bad that I feel I must warn others not to waste their money and time My friend and I attended the Escape Alive event at Caldicot Castle on 26th October and we have been extremely disappointed with the event as a whole Our time slot was 20 45-21 00 we arrived 15 minutes early and were waiting in the queue for over 20 minutes just to get into the event We were told that our time slot had moved to a later time and we were now on the 21 15 group This would have been fine as we are reasonable people who understand that these things happen but the night that followed has lead me to request a refund Firstly we were charged 3 for parking on top of the fee to enter This is only mentioned on the ticket email after purchasing sent about 48 hours prior If this information is somewhere it has not been made clear enough The parking for Caldicot Castle is also normally free so it is clear this event is all about the money and not about the customer experience We then queued over an hour close to 1 5 hours for what can only be described as one of the most awkward scare mazes I have ever been to The actors tried their best however multiple power cuts throughout the night made it difficult to function We stood in the queue for so long that we went to get a hot chocolate from the stalls We were charged 8 2x 4 for one scoop of shop bought galaxy hot chocolate sachets which is incredibly overpriced We understand that these events need to make a profit but this was outrageous The power cuts also meant that the stalls couldn t operate The scare maze itself was one of the worst I have ever been to and I have been to a fair few such as Fear Avon Valley Alton Towers and smaller mazes like Bristol Aquarium etc We were left standing in a room with lights flashing aggressively for about 5 minutes wondering where we were going It got to the point where our group were laughing rather than scared The website advertises street food yet upon arrival it is clear that one fish and chips stall and one pizza stall is all that is offered The website also advertises marshmallow toasting yet this was turned off the whole night The Tarot reader also had no slots left for the whole evening so by the time my slot came around at 8 45pm there was no hope in getting a place Because of the long queues and delays by the time we got out of the maze everything was packed away It s important to bear in mind we began queuing at 21 06 so our whole time was spent in a queue I have proof of all of the above through time stamps on photos taken and photographic proof of the fires not working tarot reader long queues etc Overall I feel absolutely robbed of 20 plus the 3 parking charge and 8 on below average hot chocolates after attending this event I even heard conversations between people leaving as we arrived that it was definitely not worth the money I have tried contacting Escape Alive on Instagram and Facebook but have had no response They are also deleting other people s negative comments on social media which I feel is really damaging as people need to know whether it is worth the money In case you hadn t guessed already it s not I m hoping someone from Escape Alive will read this review and give customers what they deserve - a refund
Jo warlow
6732 reviews
N/A
11 months ago
Extremely disappointed
Extremely disappointed Having been to things like this in the past I was really looking forward to the idea of going to a scare maze in a castle What a fab idea My friend bought me this as a gift and we were both excited to go We got there and got in fairly quickly our a lot was7 30 We went straight to the loo as had travelled over an hour to get there The portaloos wereGross No lights no loo roll in a few of them and the smell was horrific Rotten fish We then headed straight over to queue for the maze We didn t queue too long Around 10 15 mins and went in Well the scare maze was awful the actors were Mediocre and didn t make It feel scary at all after Going in a hand full ofRooms we headedOutside Watched a brief showWith a flame thrower thenWas a Quick hustle thru to the end where someone ran at u with a chainsaw and it s over Was in there 10 mins max I was expecting so much more from this It is such a shame as this could have been so much more The entertainment wasLacking the food choices were minimal and the horror movies playing Addams family Not really horror Wasted the evening and wastedFuelGot there at 7 30 left at8 05
MTB ninja
6732 reviews
N/A
11 months ago
Pure disappointment there was nothing
Pure disappointment there was nothing there to do before or after the maze just people playing bingo they had a dj and all he done was play terrible club music and not halloween music and the maze really did seem very loosely put together I wouldn t go again
Kameron
6732 reviews
N/A
11 months ago
SCAM
WASTE OF MONEY The tickets were very expensive and so before I made my purchase I sent an email to the customer service team to find out how long the scare maze would last I was told that the experience usually lasts between 30-40 minutes which I thought wasn t too bad but an experience like this I would expect to last up to an hour Me and my partner went to the 9 15 slot and so wasn t queuing for long which was good The actors were pretty good and played their roles well As we finished the maze it felt like we had just gone in I checked my phone to see the time was 9 30 I felt disgusted After the initial briefing we must have only been in the maze 10 minutes max 50 for 2 tickets just to be there for 10 minutes is way out Furthermore they have a no refund policy so once you ve paid all that money for overpriced tickets you ll never see it again The experience is what matters the most and it has really let me down I expected a lot better Each scene could have been longer It felt like the actors had rushed each scene considering we were one of the last groups to go through the maze and so it felt like they wanted to get it over and done with so they could go home I am planning on going to a scare maze again next year but it definitely won t be with escape records
Jamie Rodrigues
6732 reviews
N/A
11 months ago
What an absolute let down
What an absolute let down I have been to many scare events but this one by far was the worst Our event was booked for 8 30pm we spent an hour and 30 minutes queuing to get into the maze and once we finally entered the disappointment hit us The actors had clearly had a long day and couldn t be bothered to put the effort in for their final showing the smoke alarm kept going off so staff members were running back and forth disrupting the acts it was so unprofessional the guy with the chainsaw at the end was the worst he just stood there and waved the chainsaw for two seconds couldn t even be bothered to at least pretend to chase us It was all over in less than 10 minutes and then when we came out they had packed most things up apart from the bar and food stalls The tarot reading had stopped the game stalls had packed up and all that was left to do was spend 6 on 10 overdone chips Wow never again
Sammy N
6732 reviews
N/A
11 months ago
What an absolute joke of a place
What an absolute joke of a place Waste of money very boring How they can charge these prices are insane Do not go it s very bad for everyone Hard work getting any response of the company they don t care and don t listen
Aimee Haines
6732 reviews
N/A
11 months ago
Total utter waste of money
Total utter waste of money Cost me 100 for 4 tickets The walk through lasted 15 mins Was meant to be 12 only and little kids were there We seen one scare actor which was a knight walking around aimlessly The best bit was the monk outside when we were queuing Please save your money and next year go to Fear at Avon Valley they really put the effort in
Rebecca
6732 reviews
N/A
11 months ago
If I could give this minus 1 stars I would
If I could give this minus 1 stars I would Unfortunately I didn t read the below terrible reviews before going to Caldicot Castle Over 20 for one maze definitely isn t worth it and wasn t made clear on the false advertising on social media I m so annoyed that it was made to look amazing on Instagram when in reality it s the furthest thing from scary The actors wore the worst masks couldn t even be bothered to attempt face paint the storylines were weak accompanied by the fact you couldn t hear them under the mask and at one point there was just a guy juggling My friend who is normally scared by anything didn t even flinch I can t put in to words how annoyed I am so be so ripped off It then gets worse as we tried to pay for the photo booth only to be ripped off another 6 as it didn t work and basically printed loads out for free anyway We wondered if the night could be saved by a hot chocolate but they had run out of whipped cream Insane Please don t waste your money on this absolute farce I wouldn t even think kids would be scared
Nick
6732 reviews
N/A
11 months ago
SCAM - WASTE OF MONEY
I paid 154 for 4 of us to attend the Maze Entry Halloween Party it was an absolute waste of money for the experience Alton Towers scare Maze for 30 is fare better for value and scare factor Local stalls was a chippy van pizza van and coffee and cake All extremely over priced along with the bar After the Maze they took all our wrist bans off so any was welcome to stay if they dare until 11pm so you couldn t tell who paid to stay for the party or who was there for FREE No refund policy Absolutely disgusting It s a total rip off Out in 10 mins and not an experience I want to re-encounter It s as bad as the other overpriced experiencees that have reached the news Spoke to onsite manager and he wasn t interested as he had our money Send an email to customer services or speak to the box office Stay away Left a sour taste in my mouth and I m out of pocket
Joe Kightley
6732 reviews
N/A
11 months ago
Awful
If you ve ever been to FEAR at Avon Valley or something similar you will definitely be underwhelmed by Escape Alive s experience at Caldicot Castle The maze essentially comprises a series of rooms with different actors in that deliver monologues stories Some of the stories made absolutely no sense and went nowhere - after 60 seconds or so of an actor talking you were ushered into the next part of the maze for another completely unrelated act Some of the actors put in a decent attempt but it was really let down by the non-sensical format of the maze and non existent storyline I would also say that the time we spent in the queue was a fair bit longer than what we spent in the maze and yes there is queueing inside the maze itself whilst you wait for the previous group to clear the room etc Speaking of the queue there was one actor constantly walking the length of the queue and shouting at everyone to fill empty gaps so we could get into the maze more quickly Again non-sensical and got old pretty quickly When we got to the end I couldn t quite believe that this experience cost 27 50 per person I would normally make a point of looking for at least one positive but honestly I feel a bit ripped off