Panic Scream Park Review (2026)

While the website for Panic Scream Park is rather simple, there is an info page and video for each of the mazes and a general information page that provides helpful answers to most questions. There is a huge lot with free parking. We found the navigation into and out of the lot a little stressful, but there was an attendant on site to assist. The roaming characters found us immediately upon entry, providing a great start to the night that was enhanced by helpful staff at the entrance to each maze. And we can’t not mention the fabulous queue entertainer Betty Bollocks, who kept us laughing all night long as we encountered them at various points in the evening.

Entrances for the attractions were quite simple, with each of the three main mazes simply lit with small colourful boards with the name of the maze. “Terror Firma” had a little bit of music for the queue line, but the other two queues were silent. A quick storyline was provided by attendants to some, but not all mazes, but fortunately we researched the event on its website before attending so knew a bit more before beginning our journey. In “Contagion” everyone we encountered was infected, and we were viciously encouraged to survive without being touched. In “Coven” we of course met some frightful witches, but unfortunately the storyline for “Terror Firma” was more unclear, but revolved around the transformation of the survivors of a plane crash.

The natural setting of the woods provides a majority of the immersive atmosphere at this scare park, and the event pairs this well with the pre-existing structures of the paintball site, with decaying shelters, abandoned vehicles and sinister forts. It was also lovely to have all the mazes merge onto the same trail, meaning you can easily come to and from the mazes as the evening progresses.

We started our evening with “Contagion”, which had some atmospheric music throughout a majority of the trail along with lighting, barrels, tarpaulin and a greenhouse decontamination area. While this was the most simple of the three mazes, there were some fun climbs up and down ramps and the set pieces that did exist hid the upcoming scares exceedingly well.

Next came “Coven”, which we found had the most impressive setting of the night, with a large creepy fort to navigate along with extra-large gravestones littering the site, not to mention a lady with a cauldron at the beginning who must have been up to some evil magic indeed with her live green flames. The park has transformed a paintball fort into a quaint but sinister church, full of the scary sounds of laughing children and covered in candles and red lighting. For all its spookiness, we found this site quite beautiful, and the entire setting gave us a bit of a feeling of being in the Blair Witch Project.

Finally “Terror Firma” had the most unique setting, utilising an actual pyramid from the paintball site as part of its scenic design, not to mention an army of abandoned vehicles and sphinx statues surrounding it. While limited in its use of additional props, there were some well placed skeletons within the pyramid itself as well as a disconcerting static television along with a man with a flash and shotgun elsewhere in the maze. While we weren’t sure thematically how these all fit within the story of the maze, it was still fun to explore this unique series of shelters.

While there could have been more actors in each of the mazes, the characters we did encounter in all three experiences were great in utilizing the environments around them for effective scares. The zombified cast in “Contagion” included a military officer who informed us of the terrors before us, a survivor in a gas mask, and numerous zombies who attacked us from all sides. Several cast members didn’t show themselves until after we passed, meaning we only encountered them once they had stalked us and came running at us from behind. One particular actor started chasing us only to hide behind a tree, returning in his pursuit once we had looked away again, and slowly but surely making ground and catching up with fearsome malice. Another memorable character asked one of our names and wanted to eat our eyes, continuing to call out that name well after our experience came to an end.

“Coven” also had a great cast of characters, most in nun costumes with a variety of ghostly makeups, some with block crosses on their foreheads and others with bleeding eyes. There were some great uses of masks in this maze too, with a particularly creepy one gazing out and staring at us for long periods of time when in the church fort. Cast in this maze were also particularly effective in their use of candles held in front of their faces, casting eerie glows and shadows, and for their ability to come up close to us, whispering menacingly in our ears.

With our favourite cast coming from “Contagion” and “Coven”, it was these mazes that we found had the highest scare factors. In “Contagion” the creatures hid behind the various props and deep within the woods, meaning they could attack from any direction, and we could never quite anticipate the speed at which they would come from, whether that be a suspenseful slow walk of dread or at a run that we could never escape. Scares varied from well-timed jump moments to stalking, creating feelings of suspense and dread that lingered long after the finale finish of the zombified man asking us for our eyes.

These slow anticipatory scares were also utilised well in “Coven”. At various points the cast purposefully misdirected us to go into dead ends where we found other evils awaiting us, giving us nowhere to hide as we were surrounded by ghastly beings at both entrance and exit. There were long, stalking scares, making us uneasy from start to finish, afraid eyes were on us at all times with an inability to always know where they were coming from.

With a maze walkthrough time of roughly 32 minutes and a ticket price of £25, Panic Scream Park is pretty good value, especially considering you can go through the mazes as many times as you want. There is also a small mini maze experience you can go through before the three main mazes, along with some roaming actors at the central hub which also has food and drink options. Panic Scream Park is a fledgling event with massive potential, and we commend the team for being ambitious and building up this event in only four weeks. We’ve been told they’re looking at expanding next year, and we can’t wait to see what more time and space can offer for this aspiring company with big ideas and unique and intimate scares!