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As others have mentioned, here are main priorities Thorpe need to work on over the closed period: 1. Set up a TLC programme. Jetwashing, repairs, painting, restoration. Relatively low cost but makes a huge difference to the presentation of the park. The sort of things that top parks worldwide do every year. 2. Motivate the staff. They deal with the guests and keep the rides going. When they are unhappy, it directly affects guest experience. A cheerful interaction can really make someone’s day but find a way to keep it going throughout the season. 3. DIGITAL TICKETS! You already have the technology, Make it happen. Reduce the strain on the ticket office. Put NFC payment on the busses. 4. Remove SBNO attractions. Communicate a decision on what’s happening with the Loggers Leap site. Dismantle and remove the Slammer. 5. Make Summer Nights a bigger and better event. Use the chilled Island theme to your advantage and make it a parkwide event. Live music, party lights, roaming entertainers. 6. Relaunch Fright Nights. Start planning next year’s event in November. Look at why the independent farm events are so popular and at least create an event to compete with them. Focus on Quality.

You know, I’m sensing a BIT of a vested interest with this one ?

Not saying Fright Nights pre-2013 was perfect in any way, as between 2006-2012 there were a few duffers and questionable decisions thrown in the mix and I remember 2010 being quite a naff year. Sure, Dead End Terror Zone and The Passing were both pretty awful, but it cannot be denied this event during the late 2000's/early 2010's was in a completely different and indeed far better mindset compared to today, and I'm not referring just to the mazes. 2009 to me was the golden year for Fright Nights, as this was when the park really took a great amount of effort at giving the park an electrifying atmosphere at night past 4pm as soon as the mazes opened. I remember every single ride had its own character and theme such as Hell freezing over for Inferno (blue lighting used in the tunnel and mist), the children's playground swing theme for Rush (miss that audio so damn much it used to play), Humpty Dumpty for Detonator (very scary theme played) etc. Every ride, and I mean every ride had brilliant theming decorations in and around the areas, and Saw had some awesome fire effects in the plaza on the shop's roof which were very loud and effective at making people jump. Certainly worked on me! Smoke machines were present everywhere at night from Inferno's loop, Samurai's platform, Saw's police car, Colossus' final inversion etc. The park lighting looked awesome at night with lots of green, blue and red filters everywhere with very little use of generic white floodlighting too. All the rides were open until 10pm, including Loggers Leap, Tidal Wave and Rumba Rapids. The park audio was also superb with Midnight Syndicate everywhere along with Charlie Clouser, and the list goes on and on... As for the mazes between 2006-2012, yes, The Passing in 2012 and Dead End Terror Zone in 2010 were both rubbish. However, to accompany them, we had Experiment 10, The Asylum, Se7en, Hellgate and The Curse - all 5 of which I truly miss and were brilliant attractions in different respects. And notice something they all have in common? Not one of them was an IP. Not one, and this leads onto my biggest gripe with the event these days. For me, the biggest problem now ever since 2013 is the focus of this event has become more centralised on the use of commercial IP's, beginning with Lionsgate and now presently AMC's The Walking Dead and as a result, the quality of the product has been diminishing gradually year-on-year quite noticeably with basic areas overlooked. The park lighting has gotten worse, the park audio has become very inconsistent, there's scarcely any park theming and loads of smaller details are now left out. Through my eyes, the focus has shifted more on trying to sell guests on the fact they have mazes and an event themed on either horror movies or a famous TV show and frankly, 2018 has shown that idea has now run it's course. A few gems like Big Top were generated during this period which I loved, but they are all gone now sadly and instead, another IP-focused maze has replaced it which honestly sucks in comparison. Some may say using an IP for a Halloween event helps boost the numbers through the gates and sure, in the short-term it might do that, but I disagree with the principle wholeheartedly. Alton Towers' ScareFest does not use an IP for their event or any of their mazes, nor does Chessington, nor does Tulleys Farm etc and look at how successful and praised they become with guests. Partly the reason I adore visiting Tulleys Farm ever since the first visit I made in 2017 (cheers for that trip @Martin Doyle!) was because the attractions remind me of what Thorpe used to be during the best years of Fright Nights - original, imaginative, unique, IP-less and very well-done. This is what Thorpe used to be before the whole commercialised IP approach began starting in 2013. I'll conclude by saying if Thorpe are indeed thinking of reimagining what Fright Nights is in 2019 (frankly, I'll believe that when I see it), they need to start fresh and take inspiration from successful attractions in their past and other attractions out there such as Asylum, Big Top, Experiment 10, Se7en, Chop Shop, Coven of 13 and The Cellar to name a few, as well as look in the archives into what this event was like previously and learn from it. They need to begin building a great reputation with this event once again, as that's how many smaller attractions out there are so successful during Halloween, the best example being Tulleys Farm. Who would have thought a remote, small farm in the middle of West Sussex could deliver what many regard as the UK's best scare attraction and attract visitors all across Europe as a result? The answer - reputation. Build a great reputation again, scrap any use of an IP, create a great experience for guests, deliver excellent mazes and focus once again on quality and originality - that's the key to "save" Fright Nights in my view.

Thorpe Park could take so many directions as a park but it needs to stick with it. Chessington is something of a wild adventure park and Legoland is, erm, well Lego. There are so many different ways and styles the park could develop in the coming years if they kept with it. Sure, there will always be people unsatisfied with things, but pleasing a majority is the important thing. 1/ The Cedar Fair Style, Attractions with appropriate style, but not necessarily theming. This doesn’t however mean attractions can share similar styling if in the same area of the park. The park is mainly based for Thrill seekers, but families are not forgotten either. Cedar Point for example still have areas clustered with family attractions, plus several less thrilling coasters with lower height restrictions. 2/ The Phantasialand Style, Different themed areas and segments with a selection of attractions. Really make the areas diverse and feature suitable attractions. Unfortunately due to space and the water table, we would never see any thing terrain like such as Taron, but if they build things upwards nothing is impossible. 3/ The Port Aventura Style Lush areas, bring back some entertainment, clean up things and give it an Island feel. The only thing notbto do is make the food or operations like it either though. These are just ideas the park could develop in, which may suite it’s style. I don’t think an Efteling or Europa type of style would fit Thorpe in any way, but that’s not to say it can take some of it’s elements from either. Back into reality now. I want the park to: Deep clean areas- including jetwash, repainting, rebuilding, tidying and restoring different places. I’d love to see Universal rocks replace the rockwork on Inferno like they did for Mamba, however they probably don’t have the budget and it’s likely low down on their list. Redevelop or Restore Canada Creek- I want to see Loggers either reopened or just demolished for redevelopment, the park need to now make a decision as it’s getting a little out of hand now. Continue with events- Keep the Summer lates, just drop the Love Island stuff, the park has a good vibe late at night. Fright Nights needs seriously reviewing with a potential refresh and the return of Big Top. I know they are limited with with they can do here, but I would like the Car Park to see some improvements as it can take in excess of an hour to leave in super peak days. Plus £10 to park is crazy. Yes Disney charge like $25 (around £19), but at least they keep theirs in spotless condition. Wow, that was long!

Legoland says Hello.

Chessington says hi

Fair play to Thorpe's engineering ladz for sorting the Swarm so quick, I tip my hat to you kind sirs and ladies.

In my opinion, they need to start thinking long-term and not just short attention-grabber IPs hashed onto existing attractions. Priorities, IMO, should be; 1 - Complete the necessary work to get Loggers Leap back open, aiming for Easter 2019 reopening. 2 - Either reopen Slammer, or take it down so that a replacement can be installed. No point leaving it sat there when it could be replaced, something like Loke for example would fit in well. 3 - Park entrance procedure reviewed and major changes to efficiency, they have had these issues during busy times for years and 90 minutes to gain access to the park is frankly ludicrous. 4 - Vast improvements to Fright Nights. 5 - Build on last year's late night openings but no need to open horror mazes during the summer, put the budget into ensuring ride operations and availability remain good. 6 - Install permament lighting to enable night operation on Rumba and Loggers.

As confirmed on Thorpe's snapchat The Swarm is back open!

I've been told that merlin want to reopen loggers leap, as its their only log flum in this country, but with the current state of repair it would cost too much. So they are after an IP, to cover the costs. If its true, which I hope it is, that could be why the old town is looking a bit untidy, as it might depend on who the IP is, maybe we'll see a complete retheme of the area in the future. Id like to see a replacement for slammer, the park is looking real untidy with the SBNO rides these days. More late nights, but no silly IP's, no one really cares, we just like night time rides. I'd also like to seem them concentrate on the little things like getting all the effects working, and generally getting the park looking better, its starting to look a little tired in places, we do really need a Thorpe TLC Program.

So tonight I decided to bite the bullet and give fright nights a chance. Before I say my own thoughts, I would just like to mention a brief chat I had with a couple I met in the Do or Die line. This years fright nights was the first year they went since 2008 (the best year in the events history) and the first thing they said to me was “what happened?? I remember this used to be so good!!” So this couple has not seen the decline of fright nights since 2008, they have seen the then and the now and that to me must be even worse than the decline that I’ve seen year on year. Without mincing my words, this years fright nights is EASILY the worst fright nights I have been too and I have been going since 2004!!. Vulcan peak is an absolute insult to the space that once occupied The Freezer/Asylum. It really is not only comfortably the worst horror maze in the events history, it is the worst horror maze I have ever had the displeasure of going through!! Honestly want to know who thought that maze was good enough to open to the public some of whom are paying good hard earned money to attend. The other new “mazes” to me also felt cheap and last minute.com and as a whole it just all felt rushed together this year. Next year, the event needs a major overhaul as far as I’m concerned as it really has now turned into a laughing stock in relation to both other events in the country AND what the event used to be back up until the damn Lionsgate IP’s came in. The event now lacks a “go to” maze that you know would salvage the event no matter how bad everything else is thanks to the absolutely ludicrous decision to not bring The Big Top back and that has always been something fright nights has had since the start of the event (Freezer,Asylum,Studio 13, Cabin In The Woods and Big Top) so now there is absolutely nothing in my opinion that saves this event. For those of you who are reading this who never got to see how great this event once was, I truly am sorry!!

The second day of the Pleasure Beach Experience European park trip took place at Toverland, where we had a full day at the park followed by 30 minutes ERT on Fenix, and then a behind the scenes tour of the ride. Toverland is a lovely theme park located in the Netherlands with lots of nice theming/landscaping, an indoor area of the park and some really unique attractions mixed with a few exceptional coasters. The park has lots of extra features such as the fountain show, assault courses and it’s clear that they put a lot of effort into the quality of the overall park. The park was quiet during our visit meaning that one train operations was all that was needed – in addition, the queueing areas are all incredibly well presented meaning you never felt like you were waiting around for too long. Ridecount: Fenix x11 (9 on ERT) Troy x8 Dwerlvelwind x2 Booster Bike x2 Djengu River x2 Expedition Zork (log flume) x1 Maximus’ Blitz Bahn x1 Toos-Express x1 Merlin’s Quest x1 Villa Fiasko x1 TOTAL: 30 Onto the rides! Fenix Approaching the ride’s area, the landscaping is beautifully done with lakes, fountain features and low fences meaning fantastic views of the ride are possible. As you approach, smaller features (such as a stream running down the path?!) become noticeable, and the effort that has gone into the area becomes evident. This place is stunning! Entering the queue-line you find yourself navigating dimly lit passageways with spiral staircases, tunnels and terrifyingly steep stairs into and out of the station. There are a few areas once the ride starts that feel incomplete, but I believe the park are planning to add to this over the winter. Passing through a mist effect you begin ascending the lift-hill, before taking a turn and entering the first drop. This felt a lot more forceful than Swarm’s, with there being much more of a “pull-over” at the back despite the shorter trains. You then enter an excellent airtime hill, diving through a near miss before going up, over and into an incredibly forceful helix. Out of the helix you enter a zero-g-roll taken at a ridiculously fast pace, and then dive into the last few turns. Fenix is an incredible coaster, and (IMO) infinitely better than The Swarm. Where Swarm takes elements slowly and crawls over the top of inversions, Fenix throws you into them at a much faster pace whilst still retaining the smooth nature of a B&M. This, combined with the incredible landscaping makes Fenix a truly fantastic coaster. My only criticism would be that it’s fairly short, but even then, it packs a punch so you don’t feel short-changed. Troy Oh. My. Word. As someone who holds wooden coasters in very high regard, I was excited to ride Troy but also conscious that I didn’t want to overhype it. Similar to most rides at Toverland it’s very well presented, with the queue-line and surrounding area offering stunning views of the ride’s imposing structure. Navigating the first corner and lift-hill, views of the ride’s obscene layout come into view, but before you realise you’ve reached the first drop. Plummeting down the twisting first drop is incredible, and what follows is an extremely fast banked turn, then two minutes of pure joy. I won’t even try and go through the layout because it’s taken at such a pace that it makes it impossible, but you’re thrown side-to-side, out of your seat on occasion (though airtime isn’t really the focus of the ride) and the station fly-through is awesome. The ride is just utterly relentless from start to finish, yet still manages to retain a sense of comfort whilst throwing you around and really bringing a new meaning to the “out of control” sensation associated with wooden coasters. I think it’s become my new favourite coaster. Dwerlvelwind A really fun family spinning coaster with some surprising force in places, and the onboard audio is fantastic. With it being compact I’d say one of these would be perfect for a UK park with limited space, and of course with it being Toverland it was fantastically decorated both inside the station and around the ride’s area. Booster Bike A fun coaster, the launch is more forceful than I was expecting and the turns/hills at the end are good fun; also, the unique seating position adds to it. Probably not quite as good as Velocity, but still good. Merlin’s Quest was a little bit of a disappointment as it was taken far too slowly, and felt like an ordeal waiting to get back into the station. With that said, the indoor section is excellently themed though I didn’t appreciate the bugs on the outdoor section! Maximus’ Blitz Bahn is a unique ride, and a lot of fun. The rapids were a bit terrifying in a full boat, and the log flume was good (though very weird!) During the behind the scenes tour of Fenix we were treated to a walk along the brake run, as well as a look into the ride’s control panel, a walk round the first turn after the station and a long look into and walk round the maintenance shed (it’s huge!) with the second train in storage – we were only allowed to take pictures on the brake run and in the station. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Toverland; it’s a lovely family owned park and they clearly put a lot of pride into everything they do. With investments such as Fenix I think it’s definitely one to watch. A few more photos below Spot anything strange about this picture? Hmm... There were YouTuber's filming a stunt show of some sort at the park, earlier on in the day they jumped onto our boat on Merlin's quest and then back off again whilst being filmed by the park! Thanks for reading

How are they even stargazing pods when they have a wooden ceiling?

I like to think I try and give a balanced view other than Merlin is the devil incarnate etc. etc. I mean I still tell people who haven't been to Thorpe before that DBGTROTD is a good experience, provided it all works. That's balanced right? ? My FN review from Press Night I still stand by. (Containment and Blair Witch being very high quality stuff, Containment in particular) To get back on topic: as I understand Gruffalo has been very well received, I haven't ridden yet but they've done a good job from POVs etc and to partially quote Merlin I would much rather they did something with Hocus Pocus than nothing. Similarly, I think to be fair what has been done to X is pretty good considering what they were working with, essentially a family coaster. What I had an issue with is Thorpe's ridiculous PR machine as always, meaning people thought WD The Ride was something brand new and not a refurb. Chessington's PR department are at least open about these things, being clear from the off that Bubbleworks was a retheme and Hocus Pocus too. As soon as you hYpE things up to such ridiculous - false - expectations a la 15 out of the 10 on the scare scale, you to stand to fail and disappoint. And also, Vulcan Peak. Sorry, that's never going to not amuse me... ?

...I'm so confused right now...

Someone eagerly wants to start the 2019 Fright Nights topic

There's a few reasons why that won't happen, the main one being it's going to be Room on the Broom. Also, why do a lot of your ideas revolve around pretty obscure IPs?

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 ?