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Well we didn’t see this one coming now did we? Next thing you know, Rattlesnake will be rethemed to stick man or something.

Just remember, this is all better than nothing...

After almost 34 years, the Bob ride will be getting removed and replaced by Max and Moritz, a double family roller coaster. Source- Loopings The ride will be based on a German story where two people make their village unsafe. Amongst a higher capacity, the original station building of Bob is expected to be reused. The Bob Ride has experienced countless problems recently which resulted in the ride being closed for months. However the attraction is expected to reopen one last time before it is shuttered for good next September. This is likely subject to how comprehensible the ride is in it’s current state. Given Efteling’s motives for keeping older attractions, this was probably a last resort from them. Especially given the likely technical defects and the ride was apparently becoming higher maintenance for them. Intamin apparently don’t supply for this ride type anymore.Bob marks the second major attraction to be removed from the park after Pegasus. Bob closing may be sad in some respects, but I personally found it the weakest coaster at the park. Hopefully it’s replacement will be a worthwhile addition, especially to it’s target audience. Add up next year’s Fairy Tale expansions and (the slightly delayed) 2021 launch coaster and the park has an exciting few years ahead (fingers crossed).

Cannot agree more. Wouldn't the profits be far higher if chessie just created their own IP?

That's awesome... see my Tulley's review for similar experiences ?

Interesting! Think it shows just how much a difference it makes being with a smaller/better group and having more actors per run through.

I went in a group of 12 on Sunday. Here are my thoughts. Queues were all short and rides were walk on except derren brown of course. Overall the acting this year was top notch and really stood out from past years especially in quantity of actors! In each maze we hung back to make a gap between our group and others so we got the best run through. Living Nightmare - wow this was very good for me. The actors were amazing, some even had contacts where their eye was completely whited out. Very intense and loads of scares. Much better than last year. Glad to see negan back but I couldn’t hear him properly. For me my favourite, 9/10 Do or die - I enjoyed this, the chainsaw and the tunnel were great as I got plenty of jump scares. I even got separated from my group for a while at the butcher scene! Actors did a great job. 8/10 Dead Wood Creek - I quite enjoyed this, some in our group put this as their favourite maze. Plenty of jump scares and a good chainsaw section. theming was slightly lacking but a good attraction. 6.5/10 Platform 15- better than last year with many more actors including loads in the tunnel and even in the fridge! It was a favourite for many in my group and I did enjoy it. I think more theming could be added in parts but I actually liked the tunnel this year due to the great scares. 7.5/10 Blair witch- 2nd weakest maze that we did, it was very short, glad we didn’t queue long. Not much happened, the witch was a bit anticlimactic. You can see the queue from parts of the maze. 4/10 Saw- was a good run through with plenty of actors but I’m quite bored of this one now. Conga line meant the group was too large so we couldn’t space ourselves out. Even those new to it didn’t put it up the top of their list. The last part was the best. 5/10 Roaming actors were great, had a chat with the prom queen and some clowns. Didn’t see big top showtime and didn’t put myself through the joys of Vulcan peak. Order for me (tho my group may put platform higher) 1. Living nightmare 2. Do or die 3. Platform 15 4. Dead Wood Creek 5. Saw 6. Blair witch The Fanta thing had a very slow queue and was pretty rubbish, we queued for an hour for what looked like a short queue, definitely not worth it. It’s essentislly a haunted vending machine. So avoid!!

Agreed. Vulcan felt hit and miss with actor locations which was a shame but where there was actors it was very hands on. I had an actor grabbing onto my ankle, and kept ahold whilst I kept trying to walk forward. I still, have never had a run through Platform that makes me like it. Whereas on the other hand I still found SAW one of the strongest mazes of the night for the second time this year. At one point I turned around and saw that four actors from the first room, electric room and a pig mask had joined the conga line; and then they started trying to break the back of the group apart. The energy and delivery they’re aiming for in SAW is just fantastic this year in my view. Blair I felt was weaker last night; but two actors I found notably really strong on my run in preview night were in the pre-show so maybe that hindered it for me. The rest, meh. DOD/Sanctum is an improvement but for me I still find SAW probably the best of the night and then I’m completely torn between Creek and Vulcan as I really enjoyed both; but Creek felt stronger on Preview night.

Thanks to some amazing people (TallGuyDom & Mattgwise), it’s looking more likely I can go again now, yaay!! So please update my status to attending, there’s no way I’m going to miss it now ?

I've done the mazes a couple of times now, so here's some thoughts from me... Saw Alive Surprisingly, my early favourite for the event. Saw has been consistently good, and this year is no different. The ending still lacks oompf, but it's generally good this year. Platform 15 I'm not a fan of the new story this year (a train full of wedding guests is crashed into a non-existing oil pit by the jealous conductor who appears at the end) - I preferred last year's incarnation. Nonetheless, Platform remains good this year, with the tunnel having a good number of actors. It still suffers from the same problems as last year - a slow beginning and a weak ending, and it hasn't reached the heights of last year, but it's still good. Living Nightmare I've decided - Living Nightmare is not a good maze. The route is poor. There's only 3 recognisable scenes - hospital bed, Don't Open Dead Inside doors and the prison scene. Anything else, despite being well themed, isn't that recognisable to anyone who knows nothing about the show. The maze isn't set up for scares very well. The pre show isn't as good without getting people to kneel on the floor. The script features a lot more swearing now (which makes sense given how sweary Negan is), but it feels cheap. Actors in the strobe section were good at teaming up on people though. Do or Die How do you describe this. It's good, yet still misses the mark. There's some nice touches with the theming, there's some good story moments, but equally there's black walls which are there for the sake of it, and bits that make no sense - why are we being told to find food or become food when you've assured us this place is safe? There's a chainsaw section about 2/3 of the way through, which just feels like it's there for the sake of it more than anything else. So there's potential there. There actors have a good scope for dark humour which I love. But it just needs more oompf. Dead Creek Woods Dead Creek is okay. It's a confusing, easily lost, story. It has moments which are okay, but equally it just feels very standard Thorpe fodder. Again, a chainsaw 2/3 of the way through, but it doesn't capitalise on it - you just sort of stroll through the rest of the maze. I guess it can't be at the end due to the uneven / sloped floor, but it just makes the rest of the maze feel so...dead. Blair Witch A decent incarnation of the maze. Lots of thick trees and woodland which really works with the concept of the maze. The fact that there's a shed at the start of the maze, which you avoid, before you eventually come back to it at the end was clever (fitting in with the whole 'you go round in circles' idea of the story), though that was actually lost on me at first! Despite the significantly shorter route, it does snake round well. The trouble with Blair is, ultimately, there's not much scope for it - actors act creepy, do creepy things, but you're very much a bystander, until the strobe shed. 2015 still remains, by far, my favourite version of this maze. The route started off open, then gradually got narrower. Actors would appear and disappear. They worked with loud noises, impact scares and general creepiness to build something which did work. But this isn't a bad version. Vulcan Peak Awful. Awful. Awful. From the set up which makes no sense, to the pre show which you can't hear, to the bags you can see through, to the not-atmospheric 'don't look at the locals' announcement that rings through the whole maze, to the bad soundtrack in the maze, to the lack of actors, to the lack of scares, to the ending where you arguably take your bag off far too soon. Basically everything. I'm guessing a large part of I'm a Celebrity cannot be used as a traditional maze, because if people bump into the rock work or walls, it will hurt a lot. And with jump scares and the like, it makes sense that a traditional maze wouldn't work. A hooded maze is a good way around this, but it doesn't work. Bad audio. No exposure to touch or smell. It fails miserably, and arguably is the worst maze Thorpe have churned out. Screamplexx 4D You go into the cinema, and watch one of 5 films which is randomly chosen. These films vary between 2-10 minutes in length and have clearly been cheaply produced. They aren't in 3D. They don't use any special effects. It's a waste. Terror at Amity High It's okay. Literally just actors dancing around. Adds a bit of atmosphere, but not really what they've advertised. Big Top Showtime Ignoring the travesty that Big Top isn't returning, this is okay. Mostly because there's loads of people who hate clowns, so people react very well to the actors, which creates a great atmosphere. But again, not a scare zone. Containment - Apparently the same as the past couple of years, so doesn't warrant me bothering to do it. So yeah, this year's Fright Nights is okay. Some good attractions, a few bad ones. They've clearly gone for quantity over quality and it really shows. Everyone would much rather have 5 quality mazes with good throughputs than 11 attractions of varying quality and questionable throughputs. The event lacks a headline attraction, which in the past has been taken by Asylum, Studio 13 and The Big Top (even if those mazes weren't the best, they were always a clear focal point for the event). To just add - Saw has never been my favourite Fright Nights in any year since it opened. I don't think this year it's been particularly better than other years, so that means - on the whole - quality has reduced across the park. The event needs a massive shake up next year in my opinion. Arguably an event like this should have no more than 1 outdoor maze, and needs 5 quality indoor attractions. An event with Saw, Living Nightmare, Platform, 3 more indoor mazes plus Containment would be perfect for the park at the moment. I don't see that happening, but that's what should happen now. To shorten it up, here's my favourite mazes this year in order: 1) Saw Alive 2=) Platform 15 / Do or Die 4) Dead Creek Woods 5) Blair Witch 6) Living Nightmare 7) Leaving the park, going to Chessington via the M25, going through Trick or Treat Wood, coming back to Thorpe via the M25 8) Vulcan Peak