Journey to Hell is back at Blackpool Pleasure Beach for Halloween 2026, and this year the event has undergone some big changes! After a few years away, we thought it was finally time to return and see how much it had improved since our first visit.
The biggest change for 2026 is how the event operates. Journey to Hell now runs in a similar way to Thorpe Park's Fright Nights, with the park remaining open and Halloween attractions operating between 6pm and 9pm. This year's line-up features three new scare mazes: Eternal Abyss, The Veil and Deadline, alongside two scare zones, Moonshine Massacre and Carnevil. There are also several Halloween experiences across the park's existing attractions.
While Journey to Hell has certainly improved since our previous visit, there's still room for improvement, particularly when it comes to theming, ride availability and event organisation.
Eternal Abyss
Inspired by Pleasure Beach's newest ride, Aviktas, Eternal Abyss takes guests deep into the lost temple of Angkor Wat. Located within the park's 100-year-old network of tunnels, once used to travel between rides, the maze follows an explorer who recruits guests for a mysterious mission. However, as they venture further into the ancient temple, terrifying secrets begin to emerge from within its walls.
Eternal Abyss was a really cool experience and delivered some good scares along the way. The opening room was easily the highlight, featuring some of the best theming throughout the maze and creating a great first impression. Unfortunately, the rest of the experience didn't maintain that same standard, with much of the maze consisting of large open spaces and corridors that felt more like staff access routes than part of an ancient temple. We were expecting to venture through some of the tunnels associated with the former River Caves attraction, so this was a little disappointing.
The costumes and make-up were fairly basic, although they worked well with the characters and helped deliver some effective scares. Despite its shortcomings, we enjoyed Eternal Abyss, and it's great to see the park incorporating its newest ride into the Halloween event. With more detailed theming throughout, this could become a really impressive maze.
The Veil
The Veil takes guests inside the eerie remains of a house filled with grief and a disturbing past. A chilling presence still lingers within the building, where visitors discover a terrifying connection between the living and the dead as the house's dark secrets are gradually revealed.
The Veil wasn't the worst scare maze we've experienced, but unfortunately, it didn't leave much of an impression either. There were some interesting costumes and a few clever moments, including a really cool door effect towards the end and a scene where a girl appeared seemingly out of nowhere. These were easily the highlights of the experience, although much of the maze consisted of large open spaces with very little theming, making it difficult to become immersed in the story. The group sizes also felt far too big, which didn't help with the atmosphere or the effectiveness of the scares.
One thing we did love was the location. Situated above the park's pizza restaurant, this space was once home to a rollercoaster many years ago, making it an interesting place to explore. There's potential here, particularly with the supernatural storyline, but The Veil needs more detailed sets, smaller groups and additional scares to make it a memorable experience.
Deadline
Welcome to a company where every complaint has a permanent solution and nobody ever clocks out! Deadline invites guests into a nightmarish workplace filled with psychological horror. As visitors make their way through its unsettling corridors, they discover the terrifying reality behind the company's unusual approach to customer satisfaction.
Unfortunately, Deadline was the one maze we didn't get to experience during our visit. Despite arriving before the advertised 9pm closing time, we discovered that the queue had already been closed around 20 minutes early. With no opportunity to experience the maze, this was a disappointing end to our evening, particularly after purchasing tickets to experience the event's full line-up.
From the photographs and videos we've seen, Deadline looks to have an interesting concept, although some of the feedback we heard from other guests was less enthusiastic. It's a shame we couldn't experience it ourselves, as we would have loved to see how it compared with the other two mazes.
Ghost Train: Vault of Shadows
The historic Ghost Train receives a terrifying transformation for Journey to Hell, with additional scare actors bringing an extra layer of horror to the classic attraction.
This was a lot of fun! The Ghost Train is already a brilliant attraction, but having live actors interacting with guests throughout the ride adds something different to the experience. During our visit, all the actors we encountered were positioned towards the end of the ride. For safety reasons, they were wearing harnesses and couldn't move around too much, but they still managed to create some entertaining interactions. It's a simple addition that works really well, and we'd love to see even more actors incorporated throughout the attraction in future years.
Down the Rabbit Hole
A sinister twist on the classic Alice in Wonderland ride sees the attraction taken over by mysterious characters, transforming the familiar journey into something much darker.
Unfortunately, we didn't get the opportunity to experience Down the Rabbit Hole during our visit, but the concept sounded really interesting. From what we understood, actors had taken over the attraction, telling the story as guests travelled through the ride, with the usual ride music switched off. Some additional Halloween theming had also been installed outside the attraction, which was a nice touch. It's a clever way to give an existing family attraction a completely different atmosphere, and something we'd be interested in experiencing on a future visit.
ICON: Into the Void
What happens when you take one of Blackpool Pleasure Beach's biggest rollercoasters and remove your sense of sight? ICON: Into the Void allows guests to experience the park's double-launch rollercoaster while wearing a blindfold, creating a completely different riding experience.
This was easily one of the most entertaining experiences of the evening! Wearing a sleep mask while riding ICON was surprisingly disorientating. Even though we've ridden the rollercoaster plenty of times before, we genuinely had no idea where we were on the layout. Every twist, turn and launch felt completely different when you couldn't see what was coming next, and it was such a simple concept that worked incredibly well.
We had a lot of fun with this experience, and it's something we'd love the park to offer more often. The only downside is that ICON: Into the Void is available as an additional experience for guests who have booked the full maze package, rather than being something everyone can purchase separately.
Witch Way Out
The park's famous Chinese Maze receives a Halloween makeover for Witch Way Out, a fun interactive experience where guests must navigate the maze, find characters and collect stamps in a special booklet to claim a prize.
Witch Way Out was an unexpected highlight of our visit! The concept is simple: explore the Chinese Maze, find the characters hidden throughout and collect stamps in your booklet. Once you've found them all, you can claim a small prize. The prize itself isn't anything particularly exciting, but that's not really the point. The fun comes from trying to find your way around the maze while interacting with the characters, and we genuinely felt like we'd been trapped inside for hours, although in reality it was only around 20 minutes!
And don't think about cheating by leaving through the entrance. The actors are watching, and they'll make sure you complete the challenge properly! The performers were doing a fantastic job, bringing plenty of humour and personality to the experience. We also spotted some of the same actors later in the evening, appearing in other attractions and roaming around the park. Best of all, Witch Way Out is free to experience during the day, making it a brilliant little addition to the Halloween celebrations.
Moonshine Massacre
Moonshine Massacre is one of two new scare zones introduced for Journey to Hell 2026, bringing roaming scare actors into another area of the park.
Unfortunately, Moonshine Massacre felt like a bit of a last-minute addition to the event. There was very little theming, lighting or atmospheric sound to establish the area as a proper scare zone. Instead, it largely felt like a collection of actors placed around an otherwise normal section of the park. That said, the actors were working incredibly hard and managed to deliver some genuinely good jump scares during our visit. Some additional props, themed lighting and sound effects would make a huge difference and help turn Moonshine Massacre into a much stronger experience.
Carnevil
Located inside the former Dodgems building, Carnevil brings a different kind of Halloween entertainment to Journey to Hell, combining music, games and creepy characters.
Carnevil was a cool little addition to the event and offered something different from the traditional scare mazes. The area featured a DJ set, games and roaming actors who were more interested in being creepy and entertaining than delivering constant jump scares. It was a fun space to explore and a nice way to break up the evening between mazes. While it wasn't a huge attraction, we enjoyed the atmosphere and think this is the sort of experience that could grow into something even better in future years.
Opening Show
Every evening at 6pm, Journey to Hell officially begins with an opening show featuring scare actors, dancers and fire performers.
The opening show was a brilliant way to kick off the evening and really helped set the tone for the event. There was a great mixture of performers, with some impressive costumes and make-up, alongside dancing and fire effects that brought plenty of energy to the opening moments. It's exactly the sort of entertainment we love seeing at Halloween events, and it gave Journey to Hell a proper sense of occasion.
Roaming Scare Actors
One of the biggest highlights of Journey to Hell 2026 was the number of roaming scare actors around the park. It felt like you couldn't walk very far through the main areas without encountering a creepy character or seeing something happening nearby. The actors were fantastic at interacting with guests, and their presence helped make the park feel much more alive during the evening. This was something the event got absolutely right, and we'd love to see the park continue expanding its roaming entertainment in future years.
Rides During Journey to Hell
One of our biggest criticisms of Journey to Hell 2026 was the limited number of rides operating during the evening. Although the park remains open throughout the event, some attractions close from 5pm, leaving fewer rides available once the Halloween experiences begin at 6pm.
With the scare mazes attracting long queues, we really think keeping more rides open would make a significant difference. Not only would this give guests more to enjoy between mazes, but it could also help distribute crowds more evenly across the park rather than concentrating everyone around the Halloween attractions. For an event taking place at a theme park famous for its rollercoasters, we feel the rides should play a bigger role in the evening experience.
Halloween Merchandise
Journey to Hell also has its own selection of merchandise available to purchase during the event, including T-shirts, hoodies, bottles and notebooks featuring designs inspired by the event and its scare mazes.
One thing we would have loved to see available was the specially designed themed maze tickets that appeared to be given to some celebrity and media guests. While we received standard paper tickets, these themed versions looked fantastic and would make brilliant souvenirs. We'd happily purchase something like this to remember our visit!
Event Organisation and Improvements
While Journey to Hell has made some positive changes for 2026, there were a few operational issues that affected our experience. Maze queues were extremely long during our visit, and we also encountered some confusion among staff when checking tickets, with certain entrances appearing to allow guests through without properly checking whether they had the correct tickets. This may have contributed to the long queues. We appreciate that we visited on the opening night and that some teething problems are to be expected, but these are areas that need attention.
Signage was another issue, with a noticeable lack of information around the park, particularly when it came to showtimes and directions to some of the maze entrances. A few more signs and clearer event information would make navigating Journey to Hell much easier, especially for first-time visitors. We'd also love to hear more Halloween-themed music and atmospheric sound throughout the park to help create a stronger atmosphere between attractions.
Overall – Is Journey to Hell 2026 Worth Visiting?
Journey to Hell 2026 is a good Halloween event with some genuinely enjoyable experiences, but it's also an event that still has plenty of room to grow. If you're expecting huge-budget scare mazes and heavily themed scare zones on the same scale as some of the UK's biggest Halloween events, you may leave disappointed. However, there are some great ideas here, and the new format gives Pleasure Beach a solid foundation to build upon.
ICON: Into the Void, Witch Way Out and the opening show were particular highlights, while the roaming scare actors brought plenty of personality and entertainment to the park. Our biggest disappointment was the overall standard of the mazes, which lacked the detailed theming and immersive environments we've come to expect from other Halloween events. The scare zones also need more attention, although the performers themselves were fantastic.
Despite these criticisms, we had an enjoyable time at Journey to Hell and can see plenty of potential for the future. With some additional investment in theming, entertainment and the overall guest experience, alongside better queue management and event organisation, we think this could become a much stronger Halloween event.
Journey to Hell is heading in the right direction, but it needs a little more attention to detail to become something truly special.
Journey to Hell runs at Blackpool Pleasure Beach on selected dates between 17th and 31st October 2026.
