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This is the wrong topic but Chessington in particular should be at near all year round operation now. They had Mandrill open through December (it was running on xmas eve) and Fury and Rattlesnake being open in February is a real first. I'm amazed Fury hasn't vallied.

I wish there was news, something big this way comes, the best is a show, unless budgets do come don't stop, flute, flute, flute flute flute

Yeah yeah it's only February, but whatever. 2026 will be marketed, in some way, as 25 Years of Fright Nights. Thorpe have done a few things for 'big' / 'notable' anniversaries for FN: -10 years, 2011: Experiment 10 -15 years, 2016: Platform 15, roaming actors inspired by old mazes -20 years, 2021: Trailers, Legacy, Birthday Bash -21 years, 2022: Legacy, Birthday Bash So what will 25 years bring us? The end of Fright Nights 2025 did nod to 25 Years of Fear with a short video: https://www.facebook.com/reel/843542461548792 Lucifer, the headline character for 2025, is speaking with 'someone / something' and telling them to "give them hell", whilst handing over a "top secret" document about Fright Nights. That at the very least suggests there will be some new headline character / Disciple of Fear for the 2026 addition (which is something the park have done for a few years now). Personally, I think it would be a mistake to take the focus away from Lucifer. That was a near-perfect headline character for the event: clear Halloween association, simple and effective and a character guests could actually meet. Keep that character there yearly and continue to have it as a focal point / marketing piece, and it will go from strength to strength. The only thing I'd look at changing is developing the character away from "Lucifer" to an original demon, which the park could trademark, etc. But heyho, the park will have already had thoughts about 2026 and it seems like they're going in a different direction. Another interesting thing to note is that 2026 will be the first year that Thorpe's Entertainments team / actors have been outsourced (in a similar way to the rest of the UK Merlin parks). So it will be interesting what effect that has on the event. As for what I'd like to see in terms of a line up... I have two parallel pieces of thinking. What I think will happen and what I want to happen. What I think will happen is that we'll see an existing maze replaced. I think 4 upcharge mazes is a natural peak for how busy the park is and what people will realistically pay. I don't know what one. Survival Games I think could be the one on the chopping block, despite its changes last year. The large space it occupies gives Thorpe a lot of room to work with. I'm a bit split on whether they'll use The Launchpad as a Fright Nights space. Before the announcement I thought it'd be nailed on that they'd move Lucifer's Lair, on some upgrade of it, there. But with the announcement that it'll be treated primarily as a rest spot, they might keep it like that and have it as a Fright Nights free zone. If they do put a scare zone / show there, they need to go all out with it, as it won't have as much natural footfall as the other locations. As for what I want to happen. Thorpe, as I've said before on here, are very safe with their current mazes. They've got a variety of themes, some of which are quite different, but the style of the mazes is the same - pre show, walk around highly themed sets in a linear fashion and get jump scares. There's many other ways in which a scare maze can be created. In fact, Thorpe used to be one of the most pioneering for doing things differently, but that did sometimes come at the cost of quality. They've got a strong enough core and reputation of quality that they can afford to take a risk and do something different. My big want is an alone experience - doesn't have to be Face it Alone extreme. But looking at what Walibi Holland offer with their alone experiences, something like that fits perfectly for Thorpe. I doubt that'll ever happen though. So something different to the 'free flow linear jump scare route'. Anything. It will take some work and some tweaking. But do it right, and it'll be the best thing they can do for the event.

Just for a bit of simplicity and clarity: https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/index.php/2026/02/18/the-launchpad-details/ Some newer plans (looking for minor changes to the ground) came out last month. They still reference a stage and only using the large side of the beach. I'm working under the assumption that, for now, the stage will appear when they need it.

Yeah I meant to say "parks are meant to be quieter" lol Queue-wise this half term has sounded crazy for the parks. I've also heard Chessington is currently having it's busiest Feb half term ever too. Hopefully all this busyness is translating to (at the very least) good attendance numbers, which seem to have been not-great in the last couple of years. But guest experience does seem to be suffering.

Lol. Towers has had 60+ min queues on stuff in CBeebies Land. Even bloody Sea-Life and Teacups have had queues. Don't think Lego has been much better. And that has the added plus point of RAP using the Fastrack queueline for 90% of stuff.

I think it made sense to try and go all in on new systems during February Half Term, when parks are quieter, etc. Last minute announcements and tweaks and capacities and all that seem to have messed things up for the start at least though. RAP will continue to be a prominent issue and discussion point this year.

I remember backlash when Lego first went to digital RAP. I think the main problem with this was the lack of communication on top of not allowing the new all digital system to bed in a bit. Especially when adding in defined dates for when the RAP bookings open up this year. Still, people got what they wanted.

Oh, no stage? Although this is basically just an open space, it is an open space near the entrance which is a good thing. It's also a bit of a blank canvas for the future if they want to make it in to a sort of 'Main Street' of sorts. My hope is that this momentum extends across the bridge and over to the entrance plaza in the next couple of years.

It's a shame it's now back to the usual chaos. Hopefully they can come up with another way of applying restrictions. Unfortunately the sort of people who are bold enough to abuse a system like this will be the ones who shout the loudest when they can no longer do so. I expect there will always be a backlash no matter what Merlin do. I agree about the annual pass situation - in years gone by it used to be that Merlin made all their money from selling things to people inside the gates, but now thanks to the silly prices etc that income has melted away and the old strategy of just getting people inside seems a little redundant. It seems they need to start focusing on making money from every visit rather than getting them in and hoping they'll spend once in.

£492 for two nights at Chessington?!?! Puts my £510 for Europa Park for three nights into perspective 😂

Free if you stay on site within a certain period. So you have to spend the ridiculous hotel rates to get one. "Free" by proxy.

Where are the budgets? Clearly a budget cut than change of use for the area. The concept art looks bad but hopefully better in real life! Should have been given a bigger budget to do it right first time. It’s too tarmacy even with the branded patterns. Currently at Europa park for rulantica and it hurts to see Thorpe do this while I’m here

Have to say, it looks disappointing to me. If that’s the most inspiring thing they can come up with for the hub of the park then it’s a sad day for Merlin

It's funny as the last image definitely looks like it's of the Saw Alive plaza (based on how Colossus and Storm Surge look in the background). But it looks nice enough. And there's been a lot of want for such a space for a long time. Interesting there's no mention of the stage, and concept art purposefully avoids showing that space. Most recent plans still indicate there will be a stage. I wonder if, for now at least, the plan is to wait until there's a need for the stage before putting it in?

Concept art photos have been posted now, honestly quite liking the look so far even if it does give off school playground vibes a bit. https://www.instagram.com/p/DUuuPGnEiPX/?igsh=ZWJrZXJqZ2JvYjE1

They are giving out free Annual Passes? Sanity has left the building at Merlin HQ. Maybe in the past when they didn't contract everything out that could have made sense. With the way the parks are run now they must make almost nothing off annual pass holders. I agree that part of the solution to the RAP problem is to reduce the number of annual pass holders. They need to bump the price up, they might even make some money that way.

We'll be getting a first official look... https://www.facebook.com/share/1AqZW6ifXh/

Exactly this... "The RAP queue is as big as the main queue!"... ""It's all booked up for months" Yeah, wonder why that is...

I mean who could've forseen backlash when it was slyly (read not) announced on the same day the first batch of RAP bookings were made available? Surprised they've u-turned this quickly. But I'm sure RAP users won't complain when the situation hasn't changed this season.

As I said before, remove the Annual Passes. There will be backlash but not along the lines of being accused of discrimination. They seem to be doubling down on AP's now though, offering free AP's for staying on property. That's a bad move.

Merlin have done a complete U-turn on the situation, but still acknowledge the system needs to change: https://x.com/I/status/2021953258194120748 I expect the backlash was more than they anticipated. But I fear this sets a dangerous precedent for any future changes: kick up enough of a collective fuss and they'll revert the changes. Merlin needed to announce a new system and stick to their guns, but they didn't.

The "once per ride" system is what Paultons do (did?), but I guess the complaints aren't often there because the regular queues are reasonable to deal with. Phantasialand is an interesting example. Mostly because they're a nightmare for accessibility. Most of the German parks were in fairness due to the TÜV rulings that perhaps leant a bit too much towards the side of restrictive. One of the reasons not been back for a number of years. I do think continental culture is a massive difference though. Be it between that some countries are behind in terms of legislation or the park itself is a bit blasé towards accessibility. As Towers is my main Merlin haunt these days the main reasoning for the poor queue situation has been ride availability. How many times have both rides in X-Sector or Dark Forest gone down? Then everyone is surprised when the queues fill up suddenly. Definitely a problem has been the various FB groups almost guiding people how to cheat the system. And will say that we've recently done a few trips where we've had multiple RAP users in the group. However the main reasoning for that we're not allowed to leave the toddler unattended in the baggage areas and can't combine Parent Swap.

This is a very tricky subject and it's purely because of the idea of putting any restriction on Rap users is discrimination. I remember when Chessington attempted to restrict the amount of use on their rides (you got one go on the major stuff for example) and there was complaints that autistic children only liked riding Vampire so stoping them from riding that all day was against the law. And it isn't, it just isn't. I think what's been frustrating with me this for a long time is that whenever something is suggested, its immediately shut down as being anti disabled, so that change doesn't take place and the problem of long RAP queues just continues. I've also seen a few videos suggesting that it's Merlins fault for limiting ride line ups and taking away entertainment. Which would be fine if the park that seems to be most affected by RAP is Thorpe which has lost very little over the last ten years and had very little entertainment to begin with. As for the European/other UK park thing. Well we've seen across the industry, big changes to Annual Pass systems. The Merlin pass remains incredibly affordable and cheap and is a great deal. And I personally think it drives the RAP use. A lot of coaster enthusiasts are on the spectrum or have a physical disability. Why wouldn't they have an AP to get in all the time and a RAP to bypass long waits. You have a Rap system that is always full on popular rides (Wicker Man, Hyperia for example) and you add in a fastrack system that will always be a priority.... If I were Merlin I would make the Annual Pass much more expensive or remove it entirely. We've seen several parks do this like Phantasialand and Tokyo Disneyland and it has proved to be a good move for them. I know there's the argument that the pass pushes for repeat visits. But these repeat visitors are driving up queue times whilst spending very little on food and merchandise. It has a detrimental effect on the average day guest who just sees people going past them in every direction all day long. And that isn't discriminatory language, that's just the reality of three different queues diverging at one point and everyone moving just that little bit slower. I do think Merlin are their own worst enemy on this whole situation as well. For years they don't implement their policies properly or have tried around the edges to make changes but they backtrack or ignore things so often that ititss led to this.