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Vulcan Peak. I’m going to write a review of this as I have never laughed so hard in (or at) a maze before (Fright Night meet yesterday). The queueline wasn’t too bad, it was 40 minutes or so but the walls outside were lined with some neat looking wheat, forgetting the cheap looking plastic human hearts that seemed to have faces hanging in the bushes. At the end of the queue, our group were guided by an attendant (TP staff) to stand outside the ‘entrance’ (a standard fire exit) where we were given a speech to “never take our hats off in the maze”, then we were left there. After about 3 minutes still standing there waiting, the attendant came back round the bend in pure horror shouting directly at us “Didn’t I tell you to move?? Go inside I said!!”. Did we miss something?! So we sat down in a room already filled with other people sitting down watching a screen and a TP staff handed us small bags that were inside-out, mine had foundation smears and marks showing on it. Once the film finished people walked towards the first corridor. There was no mention of putting the bags on our heads and I noticed at least 5 bags still laying on the seats behind where some people had left them! It wasn’t particularly dark and there was no instruction of what was going on, we just followed the crowd. It became apparent that this must be the actual maze now so some people put on the bags, but the theming of IAC could be seen clearly and the bags weren’t even needed. The only “scary” part of the walk was the slightly uneven flooring. We kept stopping due to congestion ahead and the atmosphere was ruined dreadfully, we were just walking through a leafy corridor. No actors, forgettable sounds, and the lighting was still bright enough to see everything without the hood. After a few meters, we came to a tiny corridor/room with a cheap, bright white strobe light that was dreadfully placed and was lighting up the ugly ceiling, wires, and goodness knows what. We were stuck in this room for a couple of minutes just standing there due to some serious hold up and eventually the next group caught up too, causing a jam. I don’t even remember any sound at that point (was there even any??), I was laughing too hard at the ridiculousness of it all. Then, a member of staff just came finally and roughly ripped the hoods off of our heads, pulling some of my hair!! When we finally started moving again, we entered another corridor with a half deflated blow-up tight passage, and then.... the Inferno shop. That was it. It was just the most dreadful, disorganised, least atmospheric maze ever that was so bad, it was almost good. I for one could not get over the ridiculousness of it, I laughed so unbelievably hard my stomach hurt and it became a highlight. Later, the unknowing queue was coming out the entrance and slithering about 30 steps further... I’m not sure if they had as much fun as I did!!

I see from Facebook that today is "that" particular day where people Travel from far and wide to Thorpe Park & Alton Towers... #prayfortheannualpassholders EDIT: my fave tweet thus far is someone asking why there are so many people in high heels on park today ?

Rumour has it Thorpe Park knew they were thinking of removing it, were about to contact them to purchase it as a replacement for Rumba for 2019 and then they went and freaking removed it.

And I remember the days when Wildmouse was a coaster at Blackpool

I need to voice my honest opinion. This year's Fright Nights is the worst I've ever been to. Compared to last year, which in my opinion was damn near the best year of Fright Nights in the now 5 years I've been visiting for, this year is shocking. I've tried to squeeze as many positive aspects out of this year's event but the truth is there simply isn't many. A positive to start: Platform 15 is genuinely great. In my opinion it's the best it's ever been. The cast are fantastic, set is fantastic, even the tunnel is scary this year. I have to say as well, I have had some great runs in Blair Witch too. Admittedly this has definitely been more hit and miss and yes, it is VERY short. But as a maze in general, it's okay. This is where most of the positives end for me. Zombie Hu... I mean Dead Creek Woods. It's lazy. It's there just to say it's the park's biggest lineup ever. Quantity over quality is a phrase said many times in this thread and for good reason. There's no set, there's... nothing. The cast are great and are trying their best to make a poor maze the best they can, but you simply cannot fix a poor maze, no matter how good the cast is. Saw Alive is Saw Alive. I don't mind it, the theming is fantastic. I don't find it particularly scary and I've done it so many times at this point it's just boring. Living Nightmare is Living Nightmare. The extreme version was terrifying, and the maze really should be running at that intensity. Obviously not with the amount of actors it had during the extreme run, that's not possible. It's short, Negan has gone and walkers just are not scary. The sets are brilliant but that's about the only redeeming quality. Do or Die. It's worse than Sanctum. I'm sorry, but it is. Sanctum was bad, but it was funny! The cast threw in some brilliant improv dialogue that made the maze just great fun to go in, as bad as the theming and overall scare quality was. Do or Die is Sanctum, but with all of the fun sucked out of it. Black walls, awful Chop Shop rip off soundtrack, very little scares. Sure you go in a few shipping containers but literally nothing happens in either. To be fair however, the bus scene at the start is pretty good. As a whole though, it's very unimpressive. I'm not even going to talk about Vulcan Peak because it's actually disgusting that it's even allowed to operate. It's the worst scare attraction that I have ever done in my life. Seriously, who the f*ck thought it was acceptable to open that? The Big Top: Showtime is just depressing. Why is it not a maze? Why? Why!? I don't understand why it was decided that the best at the park for the past two years should go? I'm all for the idea of a show in the Dome but it should not have been The Big Top. The best part is hearing the soundtrack blared in the Dome. Saying that, I do love the roaming team this year and again, I'm all for having a set of roamers but it should not have been Big Top. I can't judge Amity, Screamplexx or Containment as I've not done them but I doubt my opinion on the event will change. Sure, 7 attractions is a great idea in theory. But when only three of them are all indoor and four of them are either partially or entirely outdoors, it doesn't work. And when the majority of those scare attractions are the lowest quality of scare attractions in the country, it doesn't work. It's quite depressing that the worst maze at The Howl, a low budget scare event on a small farm, is better than all but one of the mazes at Fright Nights, one of the biggest scare events in the country.. I've tried to see as many positives in this years event as I can, but the truth is there is not many. Platform 15 is genuinely great and I have had some good runs on Blair Witch. Those aside... well what can I say? I feel sorry for the casts that have been put in some of these mazes, they are all great actors but the quality of mazes they've been given to work in is simply awful. If the lineup remains the same next year with no sign of improvement, I won't be going back. And I won't go back until the improvements that are desperately needed are made. Bring back The Big Top, scrap Vulcan, Sanctum and Dead Creek. Bring back longer, quality indoor mazes that we had in previous years! I would much rather the smaller lineups we've had in previous years which have had quality mazes, than the bigger lineup with the absolute dire quality we've had this year. I'm going back tomorrow, for no other reason that I promised to go with friends months ago. Should've convinced them not to waste their money and go to Tulleys instead. I'm honestly more excited to get a Bacon King meal from Burger King than I am to go in the majority of the mazes. At least a burger is enjoyable, unlike half the mazes the park have installed...

So I went to Fright Nights last Sunday, having been going to Fright Nights every year now since 2012 I must say this is the worst one I have experienced. It's been said loads, but its very clear Thorpe went for quantity over quality and it does really show, and is such a shame as I'm sure most people would agree but would just prefer 4 or 5 high-quality mazes than this. Hopefully, the event is completely revamped next year as it really needs it. First of all I must say, I stayed at the Shark Hotel and was very very good value. Was £110 for 2 of us, bearing in mind I didn't buy an annual pass this year it included park tickets, car parking, containment, breakfast the following morning, and they even gave us unlimited fast track all day for rides and mazes!? The fast track alone is worth £300 (£150pp.) Park atmosphere felt very dead this year, I liked the sound of some of the new audio but it's either just played way too quietly or speakers are broken so in some places it can hardly be heard, some rides not even playing any music at all? Walking dead Do or Die - Yes it was better than last year, and I liked how you went inside the shipping containers this year but it just didn't feel complete? Parts of this was really good and parts of it are just lazy. A shame as this attraction has high potential. Walking dead living nightmare - Pretty much the exact same as last year for me, dislike this maze as although the theming is good its just too short and just lacks scares. Still don't know what's going on with the ending but its awful? Dead creek woods - Don't know why some people have rated this highly? Just a walk through the woods with some old toilets used as themeing, lacks scares as actors have nowhere to hide? Worst out of all of them for me. Oh actually haven't got to Vulcan peak yet ? Vulcan peak - Don't really need to give my opinion on this but worst fright night maze I've experienced to date. Don't know how they get away with calling this a scare attraction, just a walk through IAC with a bag on your head and 1 or 2 Thorpe park staff standing there with a feather to try and scare you. No atmosphere at all as way too light in there and there's annoying music/ announcements the whole time. Saw - Same as every other year, I've never been a fan of Saw but was one of my favourites this year. Blair witch - Not much happened and was way too short. Platform 15 - Although I prefer last years version of Platform, purely because of the storey and the ending, this was my favourite maze of the night. The ending was really poor, should've kept it the same. Apart from that though not a lot has changed since last year (not a bad thing), could have done with some more actors in the tunnel as there seemed to be quite a few more last year. The mid house section is still very good. Big top showtime - Was actually pleasantly surprised by this, yes it wasn't a show but I liked the idea and it worked quite well, was nice to still have clowns at the park. Just sad hearing the big top music and seeing such good actors wasted running around the dome when they could be in the big top maze Terror at Amity High - About 4 actors standing around chatting with each other/security around Stealth. This is not a scare zone. Didn't even try to be scary? It was lovely to speak with some of the management and owners of Tulleys, look forward to experiencing their event this year to see what's changed It's such a shame to see Fright Nights just get worse and worse, and other events like Tulleys and Scarefest get better and better. To think this used to be one of my favourite events and have made such high-quality scare attractions such as Big top, experiment 10, asylum, cabin in the woods its a shame to see the event fall apart.

Great summary of what we experienced. It was so bad it became absolutely hilarious, and as you said, then the highlight of the day.

I’m not going to complain about Hocus Pocus being changed. The Gruffalo has been done very well and I still believe that it’s the best attraction at Chessington currently. So I have no worries about Room on the broom. My only criticism is that for many years now, Chessington has only done refurbishments rather than building any new rides. I wonder if it’s an excuse to not repair older attractions and leave them until they need to be completely redone.

2016, Small things make the world of difference... The park has sure gone for "FLOOD LIGHT THE MAZE" Approach, rather then smartly lit. I mean, why is Stealth being lit with RGB MoS night look? Stick it on Red or Orange for god sake.

This ride was insane yesterday. Yeah not quite as insane as the travelling fair versions, but it was probably the fastest and most intense I think I have ever seen it since its Chessington days. Many of the group yesterday also agreed. Incredible! Would love to have known what setting it was?

Was a fantastic day, apart from the up to one and half hour entry AND exit time it took some of us. Thanks to everyone who came. Highlight of the day certainly has to be Vulcan Peak.

My thoughts based on this evening unfortunately echo the above, parkwide atmosphere felt poor (apart from some decent audio in places) with flood lights completely killing the atmosphere, no attempt made to disguise mazes from the queuelines, the entire event felt very rushed, last minute and lazy. Dead Creek Woods A few actors here and there doing a decent job, not much in the way in the theming aside from some old toilets. Ehh. 1/10 Vulcan Peak What. The. Hell. This has to be the laziest most poorly executed scare attraction I've ever come across, there were no actors (apart from a Thorpe Park staff member holding some noisy box thing) and it was just generally an uneventful walk through IAC without being able to see the theming. 1/10 Blair Witch Much shorter than previous years, and lit up far too much meaning that the previous ambience and element of surprise was completely lost. 2/10 Platform 15 Sadly we were ushered through the first section without being told any of the storyline, the only dialogue we got from the actor was "stay together" - extremely poor when in previous years there's been the storyline told, a short walk followed by another stop before completing the rest of the maze. A few actors in the last section, house section was still good. 3/10 Living Nightmare Some nice theming but felt very dull and not many actors, the ending seemed to not work properly (it was clear the actor went to try to set something off, but alas nothing happened). 3/10 Walking Dead Do or Die If the brief was to use the shipping containers from MBV/E10 but strip the theming out first, they're onto a winner. The section where you were forced to push through the hanging meat was well executed and there were some decent props here and there, but overall it felt very lazy with the majority of the maze being made up of black hanging cloths and floodlights illuminating everything way before you approached. Also what is "do or die" actually referring to? What does it mean? 3/10 Sadly I'd have to say it's probably the worst year I can remember, we're talking about an event that has produced gems such as Asylum, E10, Cabin and Big Top (the latter version) yet this year felt like the laziest most ill-thought out scare event ever. Everything feels like it's been done on a shoe-string budget with no effort put into making sure actors know their lines, awfully "thin" sets and just a general lack of care. How have standards been allowed to fall this far? On a completely separate note it was also a shame that night rides weren't possible as almost everything was closed for the majority of the evening due to weather; this also created a backlog of people meaning the maze queues were much longer than they would have otherwise been. Didn't get time to do Saw Alive unfortunately.

On another note, I did think the illuminated loggers looked quite surreally beautiful lurking above platform 15. Some people in my group thought that it was the lift hill for nemesis inferno or saw. Odd considering neither look remotely alike.

Long time since I've posted here sadly, but I've just got home from Thorpe Park and my god... I feel the need to post here after reading other people's experiences. To be fair on the park, at around 3pm hundreds upon hundreds of travellers arrived and the park and caused a bit of a stir, however security and police were very good as keeping things as orderly as possible. It was clear that all the staff were getting progressively more agitated throughout the afternoon and evening, but to be honest, I don't blame them for a second. I visited Fright Night from 2010 to 2015, and today in 2018, and this year is by far the worst. It's a shame as it's an event me and my friends have always felt close to, and we loyally attended for years. But sadly this year there was just no magic. Do or Die was a travesty. Very unfinished and I spent most of the run through cringing and just feeling pretty uncomfortable. Saw Alive was decent. I've never been a fan, however the actors seemed to try a little harder than they have done during previous visits. As for Dead Creek Woods, I'm assuming this was a joke? It was just a path with some toilets on the ground. Living Nightmare I actually enjoyed. We did two runs through, the first being superior. Theming was good, good enough that it made the other mazes actually feel quite sad to walk through. One thing I did notice was the use of a microphone in the first scene with the headlights. Being able to hear the actress speak clearly without her having to shout made it appear far more polished and professional in my opinion, something I wish they would utilise more often. Platform 15 is laughable. I'd never done it before today, and will never do it again. It's just a tunnel of nothing. Oh, and Vulcan Peak doesn't deserve a review. I will say however that the roaming actors and the performers in the Dome were fantastic on my visit today. They were all so enthusiastic and seemed up for a laugh, definitely a highlight of the day for me. It's really a shame. Like I said earlier, I used to be so loyal to this event. But after this year, I just don't think I can bring myself to go anytime in the foreseeable future, which sucks because I've had so many fantastic experiences at FN. So yeah, just thought I'd put my two cents in.