Review
Preview
Spend Halloween at Phantom Peak
Solve crimes with demon racoons and drink the best hot chocolate you've ever had – it's Halloween at Phantom Peak
Halloween can seem passé or overblown, with high expectations and anticlimactic experiences. You don’t want to spend your heard-earned money on fancy dress and SFX makeup just to end up in some version of that odd Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow from 2024. Well fear not, because it’s the Lunar Festival at Phantom Peak and things are getting weird, whacky and wonderful.
As you enter the steampunk part-escape room part-immersive experience, you’re immediately greeted by strange characters and even stranger lore. Building on the summer season, and previous iterations of characters and stories, Phantom Peak’s Hallowed Peak season hosts an array of quests, puzzles and team games to solve – on top of having some of the best food, drinks and general merriment that any immersive experience has to offer.
This will be the fourth season of Hallowed Peak – which has its own wiki fandom page – and coinciding with Phantom Peak’s Lunar festival, nothing is as it appears. When the moon is closest to the beloved Phantom Deeps Old Town, the shift in cosmic energy causes a stir for platypus overlords, demon racoons, evil scientists, the town’s mayor, and many more. It’s up to Phantom Peak visitors to solve the mysteries and put the Old Town of Phantom Deeps and the new town of Phantom Peak back to their original, pre-haunted states, using the handy JonAssist website – courtesy of JONACO, the company that runs Phantom Peak, which was founded by the platypus Jonas.
We know, this sounds bonkers. That’s because it is. But if you need more clarification here is what you can expect at this season of Hallowed Peak.
The Trails
Instead of entering through the Old Town entrance, visitors now enter through the outdoor Phantom Peak area – a change made by Jonas, perhaps? Whatever the reason for this change, the new entryway puts Phantom Peak goers firmly in the thick of it right from the start. Using the JonAssist website, visitors can answer a few questions and get given a trail that suits their needs – ranging from if you like problem-solving, mystery or sci-fi, horror or happy, seemingly normal or outright bizarre. No two experiences of Phantom Peak are the same and every visitor is treated to their own bespoke journey. Even if there are people ahead of you waiting to use the same Jonavision machine or the bulletin board, it’s highly likely that the task that you’ve been set by Jonas will differ vastly from fellow Phantom Peak-ers.
The additional beauty of the trails is that there is no time limit. Visitors can take their time solving the puzzles, have something to eat, play the team games, and even interact with characters who may not be part of their trails. We had the interesting experience of asking Dr Winter for directions (and he was not helpful. Classic angry scientist), and stopping to speak to Mayor Pocket, who was very anxious given all the paranormal activity happening during the Lunar Festival. She added us to her “Friends List” on account of us asking how she was doing and calling her our “bestie”.
Without giving too much away, our trail required a visit to Racoon City, where demon racoons had taken Stickler‘s top secret package and we had to retrieve it…We know. You’re hooked. You want to know more. It’s time to plan your trip to Phantom Peak to find out more.
The team games
If trails aren’t your thing. you can treat yourself to the assortment of team games available on-site. Through the completion of each game, visitors can earn tokens that go towards their teams’ final score that is tallied in the Phantom Peak Closing Ceremony, and the top two teams will face off in a general knowledge quiz to crown the winner. And if that isn’t enough, you can test your Phantom Peak knowledge online through a range of quizzes and games on their website. Immersive experience indeed!
Food and drink
There is a fully stocked bar, and an even-more-stocked restaurant at Phantom Peak, where visitors can enjoy burgers, crepes, cocktails, milkshakes, tea, fries – basically all the food you’ll need to brave the Lunar Festival. Our personal highlight was the white hot chocolate, which comes with whipped cream, marshmallows and Oreo cookie crumble toppings should you so choose. And since it’s the Hallowed Peak season, you can expect a more ghoulish theme to your food – perhaps a haunted crepe or hotdog? Whatever you fancy, the Phantom Peak Robochef and bars have got you covered.
Phantom Peak’s Halloween season is booking now – find tickets here
