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Welcome 😀

Thanks for that Jordionie, very pleased.

Whoopee!!!

Stealth has reopened 😀

Visited Fright Nights on Sunday 19th and have some thoughts from what was a bit of an odd day at the park. Firstly some positives, Hyperia was open on time and operations were fantastic with it almost never stacking on the break run. The park wide theming seems to be better than last year with a great overall atmosphere in the evenings. Personally I preferred Survival Games in it's first year where it seemed most intense but the way they have used the space this year to create a much longer experience is quite clever, it was easily the most intense maze experience that my group and I had on the day. I also quite liked the subtle changes within Dead Beat which has made this a little darker whilst maintaining the more fun aspects of it. Some negatives though. Trailers is getting a bit tired, no spark effects in the finale any more don't help, and sending in groups of 18-20 is not really acceptable given the amount that the mazes cost. Group sizes were smaller when the mazes were free! Queueing a bit for mazes is expected but hour long queues for the early timeslot seems to suggest that they are massively overselling tickets, especially combined with group sizes. We only just managed to complete all 4 mazes within the 4 hours that we had and that included getting in Trailers a few minutes before the official opening time. Stitches seemed to have some issues with light leaking in during our run through and again, a group size of around 18 made it quite obvious where the scares were going to be from towards the back of the group. And then the rain started... We had waited until it got dark to experience the Crows, unfortunately this was completely closed due to flooding when we arrived although still said open on the app. The staff running the attraction were letting people know to go and experience something else and to check the app to see if it opened later, they were doing a great job of tempering expectations but hadn't realised that the attraction was not listed as closed and so were having to deal with huge amounts of people. The Creature Campus shows also seemed to be halted by the rain as did the vast majority of rides in the park meaning that the vast majority of people were walking around trying to find things to do! In the end we decided to cut the evening short and left around 7:45. When we left there were only 3-4 major rides open in the park, most people had voted with their feet and were leaving too. It's a shame to see the weather effect the event so dramatically and also highlighted the lack of indoor areas to go and take a break from the weather. At one point Inferno's gift shop had become some sort of sanctuary for all those cold and wet at that end of the park! TLDR: Operations were pretty good from what we saw as was parkwide atmosphere and theming. Some rain forces almost all attractions to close leaving some guests with very few options other than to bite the bullet and leave early.

🤞🤞

Went from "Delayed opening" this morning to "closed". Let's remain hopeful aye. I'm at the park today so I will see if anything is going on and update you all later

Could we see it opening at some point this week hopefully?

I just came back from a pretty quiet Fright Nights (a Monday), and it was good fun! I was at the front of two of the mazes, and back at the other two, and generally I thought it was e better than last year. Anyway I'll briefly summarize the mazes Trailers: Good fun and consistent as usual, but scary is a stretch. I do think even with new rooms it is getting stale, I also find the newer rooms to be like barely noticable compared to what was there previously. Acting quality was great though. Stitches: Similar opinion to last year, it's really eerie and well themed. I was at the front and felt pretty on edge for most of it. Probably my favourite maze? Deadbeat: Last year I roasted it, and I would say improvements have been made for sure, though subtle. Last year I felt it lacked scares and felt very flat, but this year I felt like there was more actors, darker sets in places, and a lot of smoke. I thought the ending was mediocre last year but this year the two actors in the finale chased us out which was brilliant. I thought overall there was some good timed scares, a good level of them, and just overall was a good scare maze. I honestly was shocked at how much subtle changes could make Deadbeat actually really fun! Survival Games: Honestly I miss the old days when this was a intense maze that pushed limits. As the years have gone by, it seems to have just got weaker, and this year's version I thought was meh. Last year was impractical with batching, with the arena having 4 actors to 60 people wandering around. Despite this though I think removing the multi route/separation makes it feel like a tamed down version of its previous self. I do like the new beginning, I feel it gives me techno vibes and explains a narrative a lot better. Despite this though once you remove Survival Games's gimmick and USP, you begin to realize it's mostly a maze of black walls and actors insulting you. I really didn't feel intimidated enough. The lack of forcefulness like previous years felt sad. Crows: Honestly this can stay for many more years and I have no issue with it. Thorpe have literally created an iconic character, and their scare zone has been consistently fun. Purgatory Town: Cast here are brilliant, and had some hilarious interactions. Though the theming and budget of this zone can't be more £250. If the cast weren't so good, I would be more inclined to complain.

Pretty sure it still has its cable - can see it’s 2 cables going into the launch shed here and the one cut up on the floor will be the old one. It’s not completely unusual for it to be a bit temperamental right after a cable - just a shame it had to be done at fright nights!

I'm more concerned it's not just a cable replacement. Perhaps they've had to remove the cable to get to broken parts or investigate the issue further to see what is broken. If that's the case then I suspect they won't have any any spares to hand so they will have to order parts in. However nothing has been put on the Thorpe Park website regarding any unplanned closures or even marked unavailable either so it's a crystal ball to whether this is a serious prolonged closure or it's something they can fix fairly quickly.

Thorpe Park 1989 Promo | Thunder River, Phantom Fantasia, Space Station Zero, Farm Fascinating video of Thorpe in 1989.

Seriously? That's not good news considering last weeks replacement, and I 've recently been praising it up with suggestions that we still have a few years. Cable replacement is expensive, and they have be made.

The doors are open and the launch cable has been removed today.

Obtained this image from somebody that's helped me. They have corded off the area by the crest and the launch bunker doors are open. This certainly doesn't look good.

Will keep watching.

Looks like things aren't looking good for Stealth. Last tested on Friday and nothing since. Perhaps the bad weather isn't helping the situation as I know they don't like to operate it in the rain

Reasonably common for Colossus. They do it just to check for any signs of wear and tear at the joints of the ride. It will be a part of their routine and nothing to be concerned about.

Saw a man today (looked like engineer or technician) using binoculars to watch ride go past, it was dark. Any idea what that's about? He was stood on the path outside the ride area.

What has proved interesting is the flow of people towards rides that apparently "the app" shows as having shorter queues. There must be loads of people who waste their time moving between rides because of that. The same mindset as someone already seated on a ride praising a ride elsewhere as "being better"; make the most of what you have.

Stealth is on the app as delayed opening today. Let's hope she opens.

700pph across all attractions is definitely an overestimate. Mazes probably average around 400-500pph. And I can't think of any non-major coaster that would we get above 700pph consistently.

CalCal, they certainly are very clear pictures. I certainly wouldn't expect that quality from my phone, well done.

Yeah, thats what blasted out at 9:20, followed by a load of other pop music after. I'm really not a fan of it either. Really doesn't fit in with Fright Nights whatsoever and completely killed the atmosphere for me. Yeah its very interesting. I knew it would be big but didn't realize they make nearly half of its annual profit at Fright Nights. Would love to know what that figure was pre covid when mazes were free too. Would also be interested to see how much events like Octoberfest have an impact on visitor numbers, especially Towers where the event was better received. Thankyou! They're actually just taken on my Iphone 12 Pro Max which I've had for 5 years now. Currently waiting on the 17 so should be able to get some better photos with that soon

Currently there are 22.5 hours of queues across all attractions according to the official app. Say an average throughput of 700pph is 15,750. Plus maybe 20% not in queues, F&B stalls, shows etc is 18,900. I don't think today is a sell out as tickets were still on sale at 3pm ish. Is this a fair estimate?