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I do get what you mean, and think a lot of people will think the same. I still think its well worth a visit for the general atmosphere and rides in the dark, but I do wonder if people in general will be put off visiting this year as there isn't a new maze? Will be interesting to see what they do next year to change things up. The IndependentOctober is the new summer for these major UK tourist attr...Halloween thrill-seekers are transforming October into a peak month for theme parks, with Merlin Entertainments revealing the period now rivals August for profitability. This article is quite interesting and really shows how important Fright Nights is to Thorpe now. Not sure how accurate it is, but Thorpe makes 46% of its annual profit in October and sees 20% of its yearly visitors in the month. It also mentions how October visitor numbers surpassed August in 2024.

Interesting they needed to do a cable replacement so close to end of season. That'll be why they're not having to open it later on now Was running fine pretty much all day yesterday just a few short shutdowns. It did seem to really struggle on the last corner into the offload and was making quite a loud squeaking noise.

I went to fright nights for the second time in 2025 last night and had a few thoughts since my first visit. First of all, this is the first year since 2020 where fright nights has been the same and I’d say since then, every year has been different….. until this year. I genuinely think this year is boring and not worth multiple visits unlike other years. Mazes: I’ve now done all the mazes multiple times over the years, I have no urge to go back into them but that’s only because I’d have to pay to go in them Zones: There is one scary zone and that’s the crows. Deaths doors a few years ago was a good walkthrough too but with only the crows really holding the line. It means that it can get pretty boring doing the free stuff. Shows: The shows are pretty much the same as last year except different soundtracks. Amity show is good and they’ve slowly transitioned the theme and story away, it makes me slightly nolstalgic for amity high. As a one off dance show with a lot going on it’s good! But lucifiers lair is difficult to judge as it’s a really solid area with a lot going on and really brings the event together. However, it feels like I’m watching the same shows as last year. The event is just like it continued from last year which to me makes it less enjoyable and I am unlikely to go again. I get however it is now a solid event, it feels more professional and you know what your going to get.

Sadly, engineers were working with Stealth today, after apparently, again replacing the cable on Wednesday. They could not open the ride all day.

I actually really disagree on the scare actor sentiment as someone who has done it for about a decade. Imagine being able to have creative freedom to scare how you like, make interesting noises, and be able to try different scares and interactions with different groups. And in between a group, while like 30 seconds, you can have a nice drink of water and get ready for the next group. HHN has endless people, no creative freedom, jump out, reset, all night, no improvisation. Endless boredom. I also worry it being such a big corporate company would make it less desirable than let's say the nearby Howl, which is run by a pretty tiny company. I actually think Universal are going to have to make some adaptions, the UK audience are very used to being batched into groups, having unique interactions with guests, and theming is only going to reach so far. Obviously you have IP's, but I don't feel IP's are enough to carry HHN in this country. Even quantity of attractions might be tough, Howl is now on 7 attractions with a live circus to add. I would argue theming in our industry is also actually pretty good now. Stitches for example, or especially Doom Town at Tulleys, which basically has HHN theming without the HHN downsides. I actually think HHN might start off like Disneyland Paris did, if they assume what they do Stateside will work perfectly in England, they're wrong. But if they adapt to use group batching, and/or give their actors creative freedom, maybe then they will dominate over Howl/Xtreme Scream/FN/Shocktoberfest

The 12pm openings seem to have been scrapped. Opened at 10am yesterday, and the message has now been removed from the availability page.

Glad to see that they've now changed the soundtrack on a lot of the rides for Fright Nights, after not doing it for a number of years. They're in the same/similar voice as the advert for this year. Unfortunately no change on Stealth or Samurai though, and you can hardly hear it in Colossus' station as its very quiet. The park is looking amazing in the dark this year. Lots of lighting changes and additional smoke machines making the park look the best it ever has done at night. A lot of Swarms effects have been restored and Infernos mist is pumping. I love this smoke effect on Colossus. StreamableWatch IMG_3720 | Streamable Hyperia is lit up in red from 7pm, and the lights go off as each train goes down the first drop. Really not a fan of the music that starts blasting out at 9:20 park wide though, including in the Hyperia queue 🤣 StreamableWatch IMG_3747 | Streamable Also really not a fan of the new scare zone and just seems like that was added for the sake of adding a new scare attraction. Would love to see another Crows/Towers style scare zone. Why not use the old Blair Witch route from Trailers to the Nemesis Inferno exit like before?

.... back open today!

Having seen all their lighting always made me imagine stealth with at least some lights. having said all that, Stealth often has a start light bulb out so, realistically, they would never cope.

Yes

Did you ever see Rip Ride Rocket?

Well, you know, race cars don’t need headlights, because the track is always lit.

Watching SWARM running round wih the led's on still makes me wish Stealth's headlights were real !

I love that they've gone through the effort of adding that, timed with the launch. Smoke effects add so much during fright nights. I quite like the one they've added on Colossus earlier in the season too.

Stealth had a couple of hiccups yesterday but was generally on very good form, and with the extended hours. For this strange period of Fright Nights, and only after twilight, there is an additional smoke effect on Stealth above the plant room, and it has coloured lights. The best observation is from the front row, as nobody at the station can see it, and those in other rows are somewhat shielded by the seating.

Samurai testing today which is a good sign, just in time for peak Fright Nights!

its a interesting quirk of Stealth and a few other coasters like it. The magnetic brake fins have a couple of brake pads on them so in the event of a rollback the train will stop on the launch track so the train can advance the moment the launch fins are up rather than once the train has cleared the top hat which allows for the ride to operate as quickly as possible. Source below

its a interesting quirk of Stealth and a few other coasters like it. The magnetic brake fins have a couple of brake pads on them so in the event of a rollback the train will stop on the launch track so the train can advance the moment the launch fins are up rather than once the train has cleared the top hat which allows for the ride to operate as quickly as possible. Source below

merlin was lost, in the slipstream of their times. expansion was aggressive, and asset stripping was coherent. the times and the places that they went were more than wonderful, in a sort of panache, noir style of way. but the tides and the times and the tiles have caught up, and now things will need to change. the times were great, but the tides are coming in and the ramp to get off is full. we will soon see a shift, as the ship warbles, and the cakes will be served in the cups of those who towed the party line against that which was right. roller coasters will be ran, but what more, parp parp parp parp, parp parp parp parp ppaarrpp pppaaarrrppp.

Mean that's probably also tied into the weekends traditionally being busier. Do think its a combination of the wider increase of diagnosis, the "Free Fastrack" mentality it has about the scheme, and British people just being awful. Apart from Disney, I don't really know of any other parks that have that level of problem aside from their busiest days (Efteling at Christmas had a few RAP queues on the bigger rides).

There is certainly a correlation between Merlin pass holders and RAP. Midweek vists rap is dead and weekends rap is heaving.

I visited yesterday, I'll start with the positives. Amazing operations on most of the major coasters. (I didn't ride Saw) Ops have been good on all of my visits this season but yesterday was top notch. Colossus was slow because the operator did not open the air gates until all of the previous trains riders had left the station. Hopefully that was a one off and not a new policy. Mazes. Groups are far too big. 15 at a time for both Stitches and Trailers. Both experiences felt like being in a queue for large parts where nothing happened. Scares were impossible as you know from the reactions ahead what to expect. Lucifer's Lair - highlight of this year's Fright Nights for me. They need to address the size of the groups. Even when the mazes were free it used to be groups of four or eight Hellgate/Asylum. I understand high throughput is needed but it can't be detriment to the experience.

I am concerned that creature campus is a fan service at this point. The only people I see watching it are the creators of the sound track and Merlin pass holders. The general public aren’t interested/ understand/ aware of this show. I think the show as good as it is to a fan of a scare event doesn’t really have anything stand out away from dancers. I think realistically it needs to be a full production with stunts and effects. It needs to be different and not dancing to a mash up, there is no reason for anyone really to watch that show. Lucifiers lair on the other hand has got that draw and appeal particularly because of the location and the variety of shows put on regularly throughout the night. Fire effects are a big draw and shows that there is something different. Purgatory Town is exactly what I thought it would be and unfortunately adds nothing to the event. I’ve visited scarefest at Alton towers with two walk through scare zones and they are both different. One creepy and one abrupt and jumpy. I think this is what Thorpe really need rather than just crows which get you because they are creepy. I think this year on paper is a really strong year but with no new scare mazes. It won’t have the hype to compete with previous years.

So Chessington for Howl O Ween. Well Vampire is just down completely, Fury on a minimum of 50 min wait all day. Having two less areas and additionally half the zoo is ‘under construction’ this is pretty shocking for the money paid. The park just looks dirty and broken now, Rattlesnake still feels like it’s about to break and I’m trying to figure out if they should have put money into the park instead of an IP again. Feels like Thorpe circa 2009-2012 Thank god for good company, would have been a bad bad day with my friends.

I don't think the event in its current guise is 'family friendly". It's by no means adult/mature, and has something for everyone, but it's not exactly pushed down to Chessington or Legoland markets. Yes, there's a dance show which is for everyone, and doesn't go hard on scares. Whilst you could argue that the cast for that could be used for a "scare" attraction, it's not guarantee that all the actors involved would want / could be scare actors. Different skill set, backgrounds, etc. So not a straightforward swap. Obviously it won't interest everyone and that's fine. But it does add atmosphere and variety to the event. Lucifer's Lair features some dance shows, but they are certainly geared towards a more mature audience. And that whole zone does encapsulate what previous roamers were like it terms of scare factor. Ultimately yes Fright Nights does still have things which cater to everyone. And part of me expects that that is because regardless of what Thorpe do, families still visit the park. We saw years ago that the park tried catering to just thrills and a slightly older audience, and that just led to less people spending money, and more complaints and bad publicity from families who came anyway. There's still enough to satisfy the 'thrillseeker' audience. Even if the upcharges are too much, or the mazes lack consistency, the quartet of mazes intent is to be scary, and for the wider audience, that is what they acheive. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see the park have Fright Nights be more mature, up the age recommendations, become a bit more scary. And that would certainly benefit some of their attractions. But I completely get why they won't do that. And if that's what people are after, I going to an out and out scream park is the best option for them.