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Shots fired from tulleys ?

Doesn't need a world's first, it's a quality long-term ride which is the most important thing. IMO.

The first thing that caught my attention with that sign is that it looks like, again, there will be a focus on events in 2019. No mention of a new attraction. So there's a decent chance there could be nothing 'new' in terms of rides, mazes, etc for next year. Also going to address 2 points which keep bugging me... Loggers Leap. If this thing was going to be opening next year, we'd have seen some work to it by now. We'd have heard something. Anyone saying, thinking, wishing, whatever that it'll open next year is living in dreamland at the moment. And it's still very much a case of 'if' it will open again, and not 'when'. We need to be realistic with expectations there. I agree they need to make a decision and stick to it though. Slammer. Slammer is gone. Dead. Finished. It ain't coming back. I agree it would be nice for them to dismantle it. But, realistically, it won't be dismantled until something replaces it. What do I want for 2019? -Thorpe to start truly focusing on presentation. Having a proper budget to fix and maintain stuff, repaint things and make the park look and feel good. This shouldn't be part of an advertised 'Thorpe TLC' programme like Towers do. By all means call it that behind the scenes, but don't advertise it - just do it. -A solid event line up. It's scary to think it was 10 years ago, but in 2009 and years around then, the park had a solid events line up. You would have a big buzz for opening. Easter holidays had something. May half term had something different. Summer had something. Then you had Fright Nights. They tried that this year, but it fell flat due to the Year of TWD being advertised poorly, the conflict with that and Love Island, and scary stuff not working outside of the Halloween period in theme parks (shock horror!!!). They need to bring back a solid, varied, events line up, to give people reason to visit. Hopefully this is on the cards. -Fright Nights. Fright Nights is poor this year, but it shouldn't be. It is the park's headline event and should be their best time of year. Go for quality over quantity. Actually spent time designing mazes, putting a budget in to build them, rather than just giving actors a space and hoping they can scare people. -A vision to go forward on. Once again, we find ourselves asking "Who does Thorpe Park cater for?". They've had The Year of TWD, Love Island Lates and the scariest Fright Nights ever. Yet families still come to visit, Thorpe push families a lot. They've got out of their way to keep Timber Tug and Lumber Jump open during Fright Nights. They kept the beach open till the end of September. If Thorpe are ready to accept that families will always visit, show that in the brand, attract more in and make them welcome. -Signs for the future. Related to the above really. The park needs a new roller coaster. It's what Thorpe do best, it's what everyone expects from Thorpe. We need to know that it's going to happen, and that it's going to happen soon. If they don't want a coaster just yet, get a log flume (confirm what's happen with Loggers) or a shooter dark ride. Just something big, substantial and good. Please

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

The third and final day of the Pleasure Beach Experience European park event took place at Phantasialand, where we were expecting a 30-minute ERT on Black Mamba and lunch included. Before I review the park itself, can I just say what incredible treatment we had from their corporate/events team. Having expected the above, we also got a night time ERT on Taron (joining the hotel guests) followed by 2 PBE group rides, early morning rides on Maus au Chocolat and Chiapas (before the park opened) as well as both cycles on Mystery Castle at the end of the day. In addition, we were given four fast passes each and of course the lunch, it was truly incredible and the park went above and beyond to make sure we had a good day. Onto the park itself, I was absolutely blown away by the scale and detail of some of the theming, it puts anything in the UK to absolute shame in that respect; from the dark tone of Klugheim to the vibrant areas elsewhere, and queueing for Talocan felt more like watching a show! The landscaping, theming and audio truly sets this park apart from anywhere else I’ve ever seen in terms of a themed experience park. The park was incredibly busy on the Saturday however operations were slick meaning we managed to ride most things, unfortunately River Quest was only using one of the two elevators and the queue moved extremely slowly as a result but apart from that, everything else was run very efficiently and queues were always moving. Saturday Ride count Taron x11 (10 during night time ERT) Black Mamba x8 (ERT) Chiapas x2 River Quest x1 Talocan x1 Winjas Fear x1 Winjas Force x1 Raik x1 Colorado Adventure x1 Mystery Castle x1 Maus Au Chocolat x1 Geister Rikscha x1 TOTAL: 30 Sunday Ride count (non-event day, in park 10:30 – 4pm) Taron x1 Black Mamba x1 Raik x1 Winjas Fear x1 Colorado Adventure x1 Talocan x1 Feng Ju Palace x1 Temple of the Night Hawk x1 Hollywood Tour x1 Wurmling Express x1 Geister Rikscha x1 TOTAL: 11 Onto the rides! Taron Taron is truly an incredible coaster in every respect, from the landscaping, theming through to the coaster itself it’s near-perfection. Entering Klugheim the twisted metal track becomes visible through literal mountains of rockwork, with the audio blaring out, it’s just stunning and features such as the waterfall, launch audio and night-time lighting all add to the experience. The queue-line starts well but unfortunately goes through to a poorly-decorated cattlepen area, a shame really as all the work building that immersion into the area is lost the moment you enter that. Queue aside, you enter the station, board the train and the launch audio kicks in… following a short corner you’re launched forcefully into an overbank, followed by an incredible airtime hill (it looks tame but is crazy!) and a sharp turn then snap to the right; following a few more meandering turns, you’re dropped down into the second launch which is INCREDIBLE. The surrounding walls and nearby theming adds to the sensation of speed as you enter the second launch, and the sound is just amazing… following this you’re thrown up (getting splashed slightly by the waterfall if you’re on the left) and into a fantastic second half; it has all the qualities of the first and more, with closer interactions with the theming, sharper transitions and some very forceful turns. The only criticism I have is the trim brakes on the final airtime hills. Overall, Taron is an absolutely spectacular roller coaster. I actually like the fact that it isn’t flat-out intense all the way through, with some of the turns offering breathers before you enter the next section. The theming is incredible for the most part, audio is fantastic and the coaster holds its own and would be amazing even without everything else. 10/10. Black Mamba A very fun B&M invert, again the theming is incredible and some of the near-misses are terrifying, I’d go as far to say it’s the most effective use of near-miss elements I’ve ever seen on a coaster. I really enjoyed not knowing where the layout was going next due to all the theming, and the spiral section at the end adds a lot to the ride IMO. The queue line and station are very atmospheric, with the station area being in near-darkness until the train enters the station. Very fun coaster. Chiapas A fantastic log flume, I loved the catchy music and it’s clear the ride system is very smart and manages to do a lot very efficiently. Much like everything else the theming/landscaping is just incredible, walking over the bridge with the drop on one side and the splashdown on the other feels quite surreal with all the decoration. River Quest River Quest is absolutely insane, having not done much research my reaction upon exiting the elevator and seeing what followed was basically, what the...?! Good ride, came off drenched, only downside was the capacity issues. Winjas Fear and Force How haven’t I heard about these before? They look like standard Maurer spinners in a building on first approach, but caught me completely off guard with all the surprises. Absolutely excellent coasters. Mystery Castle is absolutely amazing IMO, the queue theming is stunning but the ride itself is just so much fun, without ruining too much I’ll just say it’s become my favourite drop tower ride by a country mile. Talocan is a topspin, but with the added thematics it's transformed into a really good experience; with the audio, fire and water, it feels more like watching a show from off ride! Colorado Adventure is decent enough, the pitch-black section was fun and the capacity excellent. Raik is okay, but much more about the theme than the ride experience itself IMO. Temple of the Nighthawk – how can you do so little in so much time? May be an unpopular opinion, but I really enjoyed the dark rides Geister Rikscha and Hollywood Tour – definitely in the “so bad, it’s good” category but IMO parks need rides like this to fill a gap, and they were great examples of how dark rides used to be. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Phantasialand, from the rides themselves, theming and of course the way the park treated us, it has instantly become my number 2 park. Thanks for reading

Sadly there’s a better chance of me becoming divisional director next season than there is of Loggers ever reopening and Slammer being removed. The park really need a good look at what they are offering and how they can be different from other attractions. A new attraction would be nice but is somewhat unlikely. If it means giving them more time to make their next big thing special then so be it. It’s sad but no surprise that despite the theme park division doing well, the park is by far the worst performing in the group on both attendance and positive feedback. Sadly the staff don’t have enough motivation as many either leave or lose any form of initiative as a likely result of lack of morale. Oh and £15 for parking won’t improve Park incentive for anyone.

I bet Merlin/Thorpe are kicking themselves now since they are the ones that claimed that the fake train section (Middle Section) was the main reason that the ride was breaking down all of the time...

Legoland says Hello.

Chessington says hi

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.

I'm sure the event will be back to 2010 era soon, it will still make money this year, but I sense movement back to years past. On that note, I'm off to create the 2019 FN rumours/discussion topic.

They are leaving Rumba Rapids empty of water for 2019, adding a rope to the side and re-opening it as a year-wide "Vulcan Peak II" due to the resounding success of the groundbreaking, immersive maze "Vulcan Peak". Source: Lord Sanbrooke

Hey all, Due to the change in leading these meets this has obviously meant a change in the calendar for 2018. As a result of the change the calendar will also change: September abroad trip will no longer take place (this year anyway) October - TPM Fright Nights Meet December - TPM Christmas Meet A provisional 2019 calendar will come around November time. In the meantime keep your eyes peeled for information on the Fright Nights meet. Matt