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My thoughts from last night's mEDiA pRESs NigHT at the Island Like No Other as follows... Top 5 Celebs I spotted. 1. TheJackSilkstone - was behind him in the free buffet queue so I now know how to create the SICKEST of SICK combos of buffet food. ? 2. The Scottish Man What Won Strictly Last Year 3. Err.... Right onto the important stuff - at approx 9pm the bar bill on just one of the tills in Fins was over £2k already. Oh no wait, I jest, now onto the important stuff... Mazes Ranked from Best to Really Really Really Awful: 1. BLAIR WITCH If you told me I was going to find this the best maze of the night before visiting, I would have said pickle me sideways and call be Shawn Sanbrooke but alas here we are! We had 3 run throughs on this, two of which where we were in just a pair and I have to say, the first in particularly, was ruddy brilliant. The scene is set very well at the start, love ending up "back where you started", some excellent jump scares, was proper dark and you really did feel you were going through the woods - Thorpe have played a blinder with the scenery in the dark, not so sure how it would work at 3pm! One run we had in a group of 8 (C'mon guys it's press night m8) wasn't as good so maybe come proper FN's with large groups this won't rank highly among da fans - but yes, for us it was our standout. One thing I will say - the Heras temporary fencing (Thorpe love the stuff) at the very start should have black plastic or a thicker tarpaulin on it because yellow (?!) doesn't exactly set the scene, nor does it manage to hide the platform of P15 to the left, so you can see the tour guide waiting for guests. I can also forsee the queue of Blair Witch going far far beyond the area they have set aside, it's tiny. 2. CONTAINMENT Cracking run on this in it's tweaked format. We were useless. The actors were most definitely not - the blonde girl doing the doctor intro at the start was fantastic, delivered so many lines as if she knew them like the back of her hand and performed it like she meant it. No actors in first room obvs, but the second room with the clocks - man, the actor in there was losing his sh**, amazing stuff, trashing the filing cabinet, getting up in our faces, muttering about time, freaking out - awesome. Similarly, the dentist room next was equally as hectic and delivered with passion, I was made to sit on the chair and the actor performed the creepy dentist role perfectly - also love how the assistant in the back ground does nothing and just looks creepy - until you get into room 4 where it all kicks off! Again we were thoroughly impressed with this attraction and the actors involved last night should be commended if they end up reading this, they knocked it out of the park. 3. THE WALKING DEAD: LIVING NIGHTMARE We got a Neagen, and Neagen had a proper mic! Impressed with this, as anticipated - top notch theming inside, and I love the intro (even if the families don't like the swears). New little twist halfway through at the car scene which worked well. As I say, love the theming on this, the bus is absolute quality and the rooms prior to that were packed with actors - good scares, breathing on your neck etc. Top tip: don't point out to the girl freaking out on her bed that her bottle of Smart Water is on her bedside table as she'll gesture to you to move away 4. MATT CREEK'S HAUNTED WOODED AREA This isn't actually a scare zone but a legit maze... we had low expectations but again there were some decent scares and everyone loves a chainsaw right? Again, a good intro and set piece (via some temporary fencing and you end up doubling back on yourself) which sets the scene well, a decent amount of actors scattered about. I liked it - some actors followed us out too (as they must have been going on their break!) but continued to scare us outside of the maze which was cool. Good interaction, and good to see the actors progressively more "contaminated" as it goes on. A solid effort if you ask me and we enjoyed. 5. SAW ALIVE Not much really to say about this - nothing has changed, it was OK... seemed to be over very quickly and there weren't too many actors vs. other mazes but it's SAW and it's well themed. 6. SANCTUM DO OR DIE THE WALKING DEAD If you look very carefully at this you can tell they've used the shipping containers from Sanctum in it's construction... We were underwhelmed by this, considerably. Expected good things - again, a good start with the bus and set piece with two actors arguing but after that it deteriorated pretty quickly. The area is too well lit (considering it was 8pm!) so you can see exactly where the actors are... just didn't do it for us at all and it all feels very temporary in it's construction (I appreciate it is temporary but you know) - this wouldn't be so noticeable if the lighting wasn't so bright. Perhaps we got unlucky with our run but for us it ranked about the same as Sanctum last year. 7. PLATFORM 15 Right, whoever's vanity project Platform 15 is at Thorpe Park - please, please, please admit defeat and get rid of it. I cannot comprehend any Youchoober or vlogstar or fan site raving about this. The walk at the start goes on for too long and does nothing in particular, walking alongside a rotting Loggers Leap, still lit up like a Christmas tree. You see the train with some dummies on it, you might get a bit of fire, you find a bride wandering about, then there's a house that smells of human faeces (which to be fair, had like 4 actors in which was random), then there's the never ending tunnel where not much happens and you get told to go back, and then you have to do a seance (and to put some positive spin on it - the actress here was good and felt like she was holding onto my hand for dear life) and then the conductor appears and then you're out, and you wonder - what the hell was all that about? And the answer is, no one actually knows. Maybe if they filled some areas with some smoke machines (although that's an expense) there'd be more atmosphere, but the walk is just too big and any pace or anticipation just goes and then you think "oh look, there's some actors coming up" and there they are. Kudos to the actors involved like I say because they were good, but the maze just doesn't work and we found it more of a chore to complete than a thrill. Sorry guys but I think Platform 15 needs a new timetable in 2019 where it gets taken over by Southern and then just never turns up. 8. VULCAN PEAK Well. Wow. This has to be quite possibly one of the most hastily and cheaply thrown together embarrassments of an attraction at Thorpe Park I've ever seen. Heck, it wasn't even supposed to open last night because it was still being finished, showing as "opening 5th October". The only plus point I can draw from this "attraction" is that they created an introduction video to watch, but make no mistake other than this, this maze is total utter garbage. I find hooded mazes pointless anyway, the original Hellements at Tulleys was poor, but they at least improved it last year by adding a live action section at the end. We must have literally had 1 actor in Vulcan Peak last night, and it was basically 5 minutes of walking round in the dark with a bag on your head. You then have to take off the bag, before walking through the inflatable walled section, and then you're out. Because that makes a lot of sense. Also - and this is possibly a small thing but it's all about the details - why on earth are there blue LED string lights in the bit where you take off your hood? Do they mean anything? Who decided to put them there? Who at Merlin signed that off? It looked like something from Maplins (RIP) and served no purpose - why not have a flickering light or something SpOoKy. Why not green so it's vaguely "jungle" themed? Anything, but that. That detail just typified the maze for me: cheap, tacky and pointless and I defy anyone to find it anything otherwise. This just screamed to me, Merlin wanted quantity over quality this year. I take pity on anyone should this get big queues and people decide to pay for a Fastrack one shot not knowing the horror that awaits. I can't comment on Fanta Horror Thing as it was still being finished (though did look quite impressive), nor Screamplexx. Spotted the Big Top show happening in the dome but didn't bother watching. Terror at Amity High - I assume this just means the roaming actors? I think? Anyway, they were out in force on the entrance bridge and were good! Massive shout out to the awesome clowns and associated freaks too, they are fantastic walking around and then starting their menacing clap before terrorising someone - genuinely top stuff there, was impressed and added to the night. More of this please! Had two rides on Stealth on the dark including one front row (swoon), a nice night ride on the smooth Swarm, a not so smooth ride on Sore The Ride, and my first ever ride on X Version 2.0. Which, to be fair to Thorpe really isn't that bad at all considering what they had to work with in terms of converting a family coaster. However, as expected, whoever signed off the article stating "15 out of 10 on the scare scale" really really needs to consider their life choices ? Total utter hyperbole as I expected but like I say - in terms of slapping on an IP on to X, they've done a pretty good job - I like the nod to X on the trains (at first I thought they'd just left the old logos on, ha!) No actor in the after ride bit though which was a shame. One thing I touched on earlier - being able to see P15 from Blair Witch etc. - those 3 mazes in Old Town are seriously seriously close together, and I wouldn't like to be queuing round there once FN's get in full swing and there's fast tracks and RAPs and what not going on because there is going to be SO many people in such a small place, it isn't going to be pretty. The Blair Witch queue as I say is tiny, assume they can extend out but yes, the quantity of mazes angle they are going for, when you have a finite amount of space like Thorpe has, could make peak times pretty horrific. Congratulations if you read all that. Bit of a mixed bag as you can see. Be intrigued as to how I find it when the general public (shudder) are allowed in when in visit on the 11th and 13th! ? Oh one thing I forgot to say - Thorpe definitely got a great bulk deal on human waste smell pods this year, bleugh! Could smell 'em in 4 different locations.

Nah that’s just Staines.

lol I suppose going to fright nights you kinda know what’s in store if you’ve done any sort of research/googling. There possibly could be a marked out scare zone/route for wandering actors like in the past, so you can avoid them if it’s not your thing, but I still question the logic of bringing any child under 11 to Thorpe during fright nights ?

Couldn't agree more, there's a recommended age, if you want late night rides there's other events on through the year !

Cooked breakfasts include baked beans too - you’d be trumping your way around the park ????‍♀️?

Jae 6 The heat from yesterday, combined with the long day at Nagashima, coupled with 5 busy days in a row of coaster goodness meant I woke up today feeling like crap. Now this obviously isn't ideal, but the situation was worsened by the fact today was the day we knew we had to go hard in order to mop up as much of the parks in Nagoya as possible before we headed off for Tokyo. To make things even worse, today was even hotter than yesterday. To put it in context, my legs never get sunburnt but I could literally feel them cooking from being in the sun for all of 3 minutes. Enakyo Wonderland - https://rcdb.com/5276.htm The first park of today was Enakyo Wonderland, a small family oriented park home to 3 roller coasters. After being attacked by a flying bug half the size of my hand (no seriously) and shouting about how hot it was, we made our way to the ticket counter. We picked up the entry only tickets because we knew it was cheaper to just purchase tokens for the coasters once in the park. There was no turnstiles or staff to check tickets so rather strangely you just sliver into the park, made all the more strange by the fact we were the only visitors in sight. I had written down on my phone the amount of tickets we needed to purchase, so we walked to the nearest ticket dispensing machine we saw. While making a scene at said machine, 2 adorable staff members slithered over from out of thin air bowing and blushing, see I told you you don't have to wait long for help in Japan! Cycle Coaster - https://rcdb.com/2502.htm We started with Cycle Coaster and with immense confusion. There was a sign on the fence that implied you get a discount with 3 people, so we asked the very friendly bloke about it. 5 or so minutes of confusion and Google translate later we never found out the answer but he let us on the for the price on the fence anyway, Japan! With peddle being the only English word spoken as we were dispatched I took charge in powering us to the lift hill, that's a first. It's pretty much a roller coaster that you have peddle to get to the next section when it runs out of steam, I'm not normally into exercise but this was quite amusing. Jungle Coaster - https://rcdb.com/1970.htm No not the piece of crap that used to live at Legoland but instead a small family coaster with a hamster on the front, that's perched on the edge of a massive drop and has brutal laterals. It was awesome. Camel Coaster - https://rcdb.com/1969.htm We had a mix up with our tokens and turned out we didn't quite have enough for Camel Coaster. The ride operator, an absolute hero of a man, personally walked us to the machine and told us which package was the cheapest in order to get enough to ride between us, oh Japan. The coaster itself although the biggest in the park was probably the least interesting. Peddling a roller coaster and getting brutally beaten by a crazed hamster coaster were much more exciting. As we went to leave and thanked the op for his time, he offered to take a photo of us infront of the train in the station to forever remember our experience, what a lovely person. So it's obvious that Enakyo wasn't built for me, so there's no point in me giving an opinion of it but I can certainly say if nothing else, the staff were absolutely fantastic and turned a cred run in 40 degrees into a memorable experience. Japan Monkey Park - https://rcdb.com/4996.htm The sheer intensity of the heat on the walk from the car park to the entrance of Japan Monkey Park was breathtaking, I really can't put into words just how unpleasant it was. While this park was nothing special, we knocked it off in such a hurry to get out of the sun that I really can't remember much of anything. Highway Coaster - https://rcdb.com/1283.htm Easily one of the most boring jet coasters I've ridden. I have 3 lasting memories of the entire ride, 1) thinking I was going to black out from the heat in the station, 2) it has a mister near the end of the ride and 3) the coaster has one of the dumbest looking trains I've ever seen. Monkey Coaster - https://rcdb.com/1297.htm Well this was a thing that happened. Go! Go! Banana Coaster - https://rcdb.com/1913.htm The elderly man operating this tiny cred did a super enthusiastic chant during dispatch, which you have to commend considering it was 40 degrees and his only riders were 3 weird foreigners. And that was Japan Monkey Park. Higashiyama Zoo - https://rcdb.com/5179.htm As well as obviously being home to a zoo, this park also features a garden and of course the amusement park, from my memory the entry ticket is really cheap too. While zoos and walking through gardens aren't really for me, I'm sure there's loads of people who could spend an enjoyable day here. Jet Coaster - https://rcdb.com/1706.htm Much like the jet coaster at Japan Monkey Park, all I remember is being hot as hell and nothing else. Bear Coaster - https://rcdb.com/2522.htm +1 Slope Shooter - https://rcdb.com/2521.htm Let's get it out of the way, this isn't a cred, I wouldn't count brake failure in my car going down a hill as a cred, so why count this? While it may not be a cred Slope Shooter is really quite enjoyable. We entered the station to be greeted with 2 ultra friendly blokes who instantly made the experience special. Following that I wedged myself into my comfy car, then got pushed by the blokes (who were singing me a song) to the base of the lift hill. Once you reach the top, you coast on tarmac down several slopes until you get back to the station. Now that may sound a bit boring but it's quite fun. You pick up quite some pace at certain points and hilariously crashing into the walls never gets old. Plus at one point I got slapped in the face by an overhanging plant which only added to the experience. When I got back to the station the ride hosts were chanting, clapping and beaming ear to ear, what a great way to end the ride. With those 3 parks down we had managed to knock off the 3 larger parks we planned to do on this day. We had planned to go visit 3 +1 parks after, but after we showed up at the first one to discover it was completely closed we decided to bail out on that idea. That night while sitting in Mos Burger my condition went from bad to worse and it was at this point I decided that I probably actually had heat stroke for real. As soon as I hit my hotel room I collapsed, then set my alarm and passed out. Thanks for reading, next time Lagunasia and Hamanako Pal Pal.

Day 4 Today began with an early start, followed by a trip on the metro to Busan airport. A rather uneventful hour long flight later and we were in Nagoya. Despite it being my second time visiting Japan, it managed to yet again take me by surprise just how friendly the people are there. Look slightly confused for half a second in the airport and out of nowhere a friendly Japanese man/woman will slither over with a huge smile on their face desperate to help you, I love Japan. After picking up the hire car and 2 comedy sized drinks from one of the millions of vending machines that litter Japan, it was off to Suzuka Circuit. As you may remember from last time, if I actually mentioned it, Japanese highways come with very expensive tolls attached to them, it's not at all uncommon for an hours journey to cost you £30 ONE WAY. In order to slightly combat this, this time around we rented an ETC card. This card goes into a machine in the hire car and then allows you to drive straight through tolls, with the toll fee being charged to the card. The main advantage of this is that you save 1/3 on every toll and with the amount of driving we planned to be doing this was an absolute necessity. On route we unintentionally passed Legoland Japan and I promise you I'm not joking when I say that the park is built in the middle of industrial wasteland to the side of a huge bridge. Seeing the stupid sky tower thing painted in the brash Lego colouring surrounded by rusting metal and chimneys was hilarious! For the first 2/3 of the journey the weather was beautiful but as we approached the park, the heavens opened... For some context to my frustration I need to refer to me reading that August/September is the driest time to visit Korea/Japan, I guess not. Suzuka Circuit - https://rcdb.com/4969.htm As well as being a World famous race course, Suzuka Circuit is also home to a small amusement park area. It was still raining somewhat heavily when we got to the ticket window and with this being Japan I was already expecting this to go awfully but to our surprise and delight it didn't. Not only is every ride still running but we'd also be getting tourist discount, sweet! After passing the turnstiles, the rain went from "oh this is quite heavy" to "oh my god we are going to die" thunderstorm and immediately an announcement came over the park wide PA, well that's us screwed then... We powered straight to the first cred, assuming the worst but hoping if we were really quick we might be in luck. Rocky Coaster - https://rcdb.com/1225.htm With lightning literally striking buildings in the background we entered the queue for Rocky Coaster. From an idiot who's ridden Stealth in hailstones, I was literally amazed any park in the World would run a coaster in this amount of rain, it's not an exaggeration to say the rain was so heavy you couldn't see through it. Couple that with lightning striking stuff and thunder shaking the ground and I'm left in complete disbelief. Nagashima closed their entire park in medium rain which ended after 2 hours and now Suzuka are running their coasters in a stupidly intense thunderstorm, Japan really is the land of extremes. After seeing 2 trains worth of people coming back wetter than Valhalla and in serious pain, I was glad the rain eased slightly for our lap, which I honestly cant' remember at all because I was still in complete shock at what was happening. Adventure Drive - https://rcdb.com/12038.htm We knew our luck was going to run out at some point, so we powered to the other cred as soon as we got off Rocky Coaster. The lovely lady at the entrance told us something in Japanese, we nodded and entered. After about 10 minutes of waiting with the already intense rain getting even worse, the ride ceased operation but in the craziest way ever. The operator shut the whole ride down, including isolation of the control panel and ride system. Then he made a friendly and casual walk down the queueline informing people something along the lines of, "it's going to be about 30 minutes, if you'd like to wait that's ok". After this he jumped between contacting control on his radio and entertaining the kids at the front of the queue. 20 minutes later the rain died down, he turned it all back on, performed all the start up checks for the coaster and even explained how the block sections on the touch screen worked to the kids. I wish something that nerdy and cool could have happened to me at that age, what a top bloke. Exactly 30 minutes later the ride reopened with much Japanese pleasantries, including all the seats being wiped down and bowing. The coaster itself is quite fun and the scream powered launch is just so Japanese that you have to automatically love it. After the 2 creds were knocked off we did the park's shooting dark ride, a ride style that by the end of this trip I was getting quite bored of but this was the first and I enjoyed it. In order to score some juicy rare points on Coaster-Count, we checked out the park's brand new Duel GP attraction. Duel GP This thing was great! 2 cars race each other in what is essentially a really complicated almost powered coaster. The catch being, you have to steer your car and the goal being, if you steer gently and precisely you'll do well but if like me you can't be gentle to save your life, you spin out on the corners and it slows you down. I'm not ashamed to admit I lost when I rode both tracks, though I'd argue losing control and spinning like a madman both times means I won anyway... Suzuka Circuit really surprised me, I wrote it off as just a stop off on the way to better things but I actually rather liked the place. Their willingness to run things in the rain and their wonderful customer service are very much to be commended. Due to the rain slowing us down, we were now running rather late and had quite significantly gone past the time we were due to leave the park. With this in mind and slightly worried the rain might of beaten us there, we thought it would be best to phone Parque Espana and check everything was still on for their 8pm close. What followed may be the best phone call of my life.. "Moshi Moshi!", "Hi! is it OK to speak English?", "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'll try!", "is the amusement park open?", "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'm so sorry, can you please say again, I'm so sorry", "no worries, is the amusement park open?, "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm sorry!, I'll try to find someone!". After a minute... "Moshi Moshi!" (still the same girl), "Hi again", "one more time please?" "ok, is the amusement park open?" "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, so sorry!", "no it's ok", "I'm so sorry!" "thank you, don't worry, bye", "bye!". After that it would have been rude not to make the journey. The journey to Parque Espana was rather impressive with crazy mountain roads and killer views. The best of these views however was seeing Pyrenees getting ever closer. Parque Espana Shima Spain Village - https://rcdb.com/4970.htm We arrived at 4pm with an advertised 8pm close but having not seen Pyrenees move during the last 5 miles of the journey we were rather worried. It was all for nothing though, as soon as we got out of the car Pyrenees dispatched onto the lift hill. After buying our tickets, which were once again discounted, this time due to arriving after 3, we sprinted across the park into the waiting arms of... Pyrenees - https://rcdb.com/1227.htm Now at the time I couldn't believe it but even now I'm rather amazed that I was lucky enough to be able to ride what I consider to be the 2 legendary Asian inverts back to back. Now while Phaethon was good, Pyrenees is in a completely different league, I'll make it as simple as, gentlemen this is a Nemesis beater... I can't not mention that this coaster looks absolutely insane, the shaping on the first drop compared to Phaethon alone got me moist but everything just oozes that this thing is going to kick ass... and it does. So you think the drop looks intense off ride? That's nothing compared to how it rides. The loop, zero g, loop start to Batman is one of my favourite opening sections on any coaster, so the fact Pyrenees borrows it on an enlarged scale is lovely. While the section doesn't ride as intensely as Batman (which rips limbs off), when coupled up with the beautiful drop, it is an absolutely incredible way to start a coaster. The madness is followed by a snappy and intense cobra roll and only then does Pyrenees let you catch your breath, slightly. Next up is an almost helix through the second loop, a midcourse that barely slows you and perfectly pulled off corkscrew. It's now that you really catch your breath, because sadly Pyrenees does a suffer a bit from the large invert habit of searching for the next bit to do, however it really is a short patch and it's so out of place after the intensity before that it's quite amusing. Then things pick back up with a freaking air time hill on an invert, madness, followed by an intense floor hugging drop, before you're swooped back into the station. I knew after my first lap that I was really taken with Pyrenees but by the end of the night and after 5 laps I was in love. Kiddy Montserrat - https://rcdb.com/13668.htm +1 Gran Montserrat - https://rcdb.com/1226.htm One of the biggest surprise hits of the trip belongs to this Mack mine train coaster, this thing is seriously good fun. It's surprisingly fast, way more intense than it looks and as you'd expect from Mack it's butter smooth, for what it is I can't praise it enough. With those 3 down, we went looking for the park's final cred, a search which led us around the entire park. On route we did the Nutcracker dark ride (which was weird), another shooting ride thing (which was meh) and the park's Peter Pan inspired dark ride (which was awesome). I didn't take anywhere near enough photos because of time constraints but please believe me when I say this park looks absolutely beautiful in places. The theming, the location and the setting sun really made for some fantastic sights. Steampunk Coaster Iron Bull - https://rcdb.com/1293.htm I hope this photo of the building sums why it took it so long to find this enclosed Togo coaster, it's hardly screaming in your face and I almost respect that. I won't dare spoil the hilarious experience but I will let you know it rides fine, because almost all the reviews I've seen say it's rough and that's BS. How many parks in the World would bake you a pizza if you show'd up in the restaurant 5 minutes before park close and then proceeded to take most of them 5 minutes choosing said pizza? Not many... But Parque Espana did for us, but not only that, the incredibly friendly elderly man insisted on us taking our seats and bringing it over himself, oh Japan. Given the choice I'd easily be able to entertain myself for the day at this lovely park. From riding my new favourite B&M Invert, riding the fantastic Mack mine train, checking out the many dark rides and just enjoying the lovely theming. Truly the dark horse of the trip. Oh and the pizza is delicious too! Thanks for reading, next time Nagashima Spa Land...

I too have only just realised/remembered about the pre-booking for passes and can strongly say £20 is not acceptable and as a result of Tomb not going amongst other things arising, I must make the difficult decision and unfortunately also decline attendance on this occasion. I would like to wish those that go, a frightfully enjoyable time and hope to see you all at another meet soon (fingers crossed for Christmas). Until then, Dead Creek Out!

Yeah annual cost cutting. Pretty sure start of season they said it was open all season and wasn’t a seasonal attraction