Escapealive Arvostelua 

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.