Fright Nights smells
Entry posted by pognoi
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[spoilerS AHEAD]
Now you may embark on reading this thinking it's going to be a crushing article on how disappointed I was with my first ever attempt at fright night mazes, however, it really isn't.
Today, for the first time I braved up enough to actually try the mazes at Thorpe Park. I've been to Fright Nights several times before but have only done 2 mazes once, and that shook my soul, so I wasn't expecting to do any mazes, simply because I was too pussy frightened to do so.
The day was spent as any other day would normally be spent at Thorpe. Paige and I doodled about in the morning, took a look at the new maze and a ceremonial wheel spin for the brave it alone goers of the day, and then we met up with some friends. I had no intention at the start of the day to do any of the mazes let alone all of them, but rather play around with my new flashy camera.
One of our friends, Alex, was kind and passionate enough to persuade me, and Paige, to try at least one maze. After redoing saw for the first time in what, 4 years (?) I finally saw past the silly little scaredness I had inside and was up for trying the whole lot.
We started with Saw alive, apparently a great maze to start off with. The theming was very nice, and as iconic as I remember, I just wish it was slightly better lit. The maze wasn't particularly scary but the costumes in here were probably the best of the evening for me, and the scenes were well executed, however there were no seriously scary bits. The actors are split from you by cages and mesh and none of them attempted to touch me or jump scare me, but rather hiss and bob up to my face then back away. Overall it was a cool experience and reminded me of the dungeons.
We then moved on to the big top. I've already heard a lot of mixed reviews about this, and personally, I thought the experience was very odd. The first tent was rather pointless to be honest, I really can't add anything on to that. The second tent I remember being a little more exciting but besides a clown jumping out at you I don't really remember much of that tent at all, simply because again, nothing interesting happened. The out door bit we encountered the ring master, something apparently only a few groups got in the evening (and also a sad lacking of the fortune teller in the beautiful box). The final tent was fun, I loved the finale and I felt it was well executed with the chainsaw echoing throughout the whole tent. The fact the fortune teller in the first tent tells you about it though helped build up the tension but also ruined the surprise. I was disappointed again by the lack of actors in the final tent, there were so many missed opportunities here, but the actors that were there did a fab job... If only there were more!
My Bloody Valentine was next, my personal favourite of the night. I have heard again mixed reviews about this one, however overall I thought the actors were all terrific, there was a perfect amount of them too and the fact the group got split up like it did and how well the maze unravlled was great. I just wish there was someone wearing a gas mask in there. Besides that the interaction in this maze was the best and whilst there weren't very many open scenes, the walls had been covered up in immense detail that was highly appreciated! (Finally a maze where they weren't afraid to touch me!)
Cabin in the Woods followed, a favourite for the group we were going round with. Overall I thought the actors were good, with the groom being the stand out one. Really creepy to walk into a room and just see his head slowly look up and he maintained eye contact for looooonngg. And then BOOM he jumped at me and he was pretty much the first guy that evening to properly scare me. It was great fun, a shame the control room was out of service along with the forest scene, all the spare actors were stuffed into the final zigzag. I thought the rooms theming was weird but it probably relates to the movie well, I was just very impressed with the impression the groom actor made on me (also the roaming actors in this area were jokes).
Finally it was the blair witch. Didn't think much of it, a couple of the actors made me jump a little but nothing overly creepy like in Cabin, and the discreet injections of theming are nice. The cabin bit could have been executed better however overall it was fun.
In conclusion I truly can now appreciate Fright Nights. Whilst I may have critiqued a couple things the day couldn't have gone much better; I thoroughly enjoyed all the mazes, especailly My Bloody Valentine and Saw Alive. The theming level in these mazes are great and the character roles the actors play are also really nice, and, to me the whole thing was a very new and different experience.
So why does fright nights smell toof?
One thing I noticed throughout the evening is that if one thing merlin does 110% every time, it's the immersive smells they have in their attractions. Cabin smelt like freshly cut timber, My bloody valentine smelt like rot and mud, Big Top smelt like circus and Saw smelt like piss, meat, and that irony smell you get when things go static. It's the same with the dungeons, the smells in there are also great. I think this is a nice little touch as although I have only really visited merlin attractions of this type one thing I have always noticed is how the smells really compliment the experience. I truly think it's a great stand point of merlin and it helps you notice the attention they put into projects.
If I could take anything away for next time. I'd love to see the big top once more as I've heard 'it can only get better from here' from a number of sources, but also I'd like to try Cabin and find the control room!
Sorry for long post, heres a potato
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