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In other words “we can’t be asked” Just goes to show how this once great event has been handled in recent times. Honestly don’t get why people are so shocked at how last year turned out. The writing was on the wall the very second it was announced Big Top was gone. Big Top in its final year was the ONE thing that held that event together so to lose it and not improve anything else was always going to be a disaster. I really do hope the event turns the corner one day. It’s going to take more than a new maze to do that however In my book. One of the many reasons the event was great back in its early days was the park wide atmosphere,unique themes to each ride when it got dark, park ride decoration and in general the organisation of the event aswell as the quality of the mazes. The park has really strayed from that in recent years as far as I go or certainly compared to the first few years and now just feels like a massive cash grab. I know it comes across at times that I borderline hate the event and frankly in it’s current state as of last year, I do. However, I was a massive fan of fright nights from 2004 right up until 2013 and the event would always be the very first thing I looked out for when the season calendar was released as well as being the first event I would aim to schedule when October came round. Heck if it wasn’t for fright nights of the past, I don’t think I would have come to enjoy scare mazes and Halloween events half of what I currently do. I just now feel the event has strayed so far from what made it great to the point I now have zero interest in going especially when I stop to consider the other Halloween events out there.

It's a shame when you think that there will only be 2 fully indoor horror mazes this year. Remember when we had Asylum, Experiment 10, Se7en, The Curse and Saw Alive as the event lineup. Or Cabin in the Woods, My Bloody Valentine, Asylum, Saw Alive and The Blair Witch Project as a more recent example. It's a joke that they still advertise Fright Nights as the UK's premier Halloween event, regardless of how good this year's new maze is the others don't really do anything for me, Platform 15 is good after it gets dark but when you look at the lineup we used to get, this year's is very sparse. Also, Thorpe Park is one of the UK's biggest theme parks, it's not really acceptable that they "don't have anyone who knows how to build The Big Top" when independent events are running 5+ full scale mazes. It was an incredibly popular maze and the park just can't deliver it? That's just sad.

Does anyone know the reason Big Top was scrapped? It seemed to be really well received... Fright Nights is a poor event these days it used to be something to get excited about but now it’s just lacking anything that exciting... kind of sums up the state of Thorpe Park... it was once arguably the best park in the UK and now it’s just rubbish “investment” after rubbish “investment” The last few years have been so disappointing I miss the days when flat rides opened in between the years of coasters being added and then we got a rollercoaster to be excited about... those were the days

One of the beauties of Big Top was the fact it changed in each of its three years. Of course, 2015 to 2016 was the biggest change, but 2016 to 2017 saw quite a few changes too. And I'm sure they could have kept chop and changing if they wanted. And even if they had a completely different design team, they could still reinvent it (the quality is a different matter, mind), and it would still be Big Top. If you have a good core idea, you can keep it fresh and keep it for a long period of time. Some of the best received events in Europe have staple mazes that have been their for years. They still receive new experiences and the staples get tweaked too. And it's that long lasting consistency which makes it good. There's always a time and a place for the big attractions to go and for something new to come along. Big Top really hadn't reached that time yet.

I think it depends. Screamland do this with their lineup, pretty much all the mazes get either completely replaced or built completely differently to the year before. This is good though some mazes that were bloody excellent only lasted a year, When a scare attraction is so polished and works (Asylum, Haunted Hayride, Creepy Cottage) there is no point in changing it for a decent while. With Thorpe I think the quality of the event and the mazes has just dipped in general, even if they got a completely new lineup every year it would still be bad. You can pump new attractions like crazy but if there is no creativity or heart involved then there is no point..

In fairness, Buccaneer was clearly a last minute thing - the ride was advertised and expected to be open this year, but didn't. The Rameses closure is probably something that's been in the mid-term plan for a while, given the ride is on its last legs. It's not necessarily feasible to amend those plans to replace something that wasn't meant to need replacing. Hopefully we'll get something in for Buccaneer soon; it's in too prominent a position to just be left empty for too long.

Merlin actually buying a flat! 😱 The writing has been on the wall for a fair while with Ramses so glad to see it’s actually being replaced unlike Ripsaw. Meanwhile Jumbos, is that the third spot for this ride now?

Gassed to hear Silkbrooke is back on the island like no other for a hot minute from #monkswalk for some sick visuals. Also did someone mention the nurses again?

What severely worries me is how this is such a low capacity, but supposedly heavily themed ride. The park struggles to get through queues with its current rides and this only seats 16. When you think it will be new, well themed, have to cater for RAP and fastrack as well as probably have one member of staff working on it I can forsee a Very Very long queue for this. It is going to be painfully slow!

No.

That particular Sunday is usually the first or second Sunday of Fright Nights. Traditionally it always was the first, but they seemed to have strayed from that a bit recently and sometimes do it as the second.

Well I didn’t see this coming! Ok, I saw Ramesis being spited coming as that thing has been struggling for years. So glad they are investing in new hardware, let alone a flat ride. If if it isn’t opening next year, I wonder what is?

Does anyone remember when Traveller Sunday is at Fright Nights? As I wouldn’t recommend that Sunday.

Documentary coming soon. Its gone because those responsible for its conception and build are gone. Unfortunately there are many reasons for arguably the best park in the UK to be in the state it is now, and a lot of it is down to retention of talent and management of events such as Fright Nights.

Not so gassed for a free wristband and Terror At Amity High show tbh.

Just to advise I'm going to THE ISLAND LIKE NO OTHER on 3rd October, so if Stealth is down for the FN's meet, it's my fault xoxo

Bob closed yesterday, with much fanfare and had definitely seen a spike in popularity over summer (was usually one of the busiest rides on park!). It never had a great throughput so usually had a queue anyways, but at least it managed to remain reliable during its final months. Some stuff from the park... A tribute on Efteling's blog A song dedicated to Bob: And a look at what's to come: A clear jovial style for the new Mack duelling powered coasters Demolition is already underway. Clearing around the site had started a couple of months ago and trees within the ride area had already been felled before the closure. A bit of a shame, since trees in the ride area added to the experience of Bob, but I guess schedules and all that.. Still not a fan of Max and Moritz. Certainly fills a gap - coasters for the very young - but it feels like they could have done something better. Maybe not being Dutch and knowing the story is something to do with it. I think it's worth saying again how much of a family treasure Efteling is in the Netherlands. Like, pretty much every Dutch person will have visited the park. It's like with Python when that was being refurbished - most Dutch people praised the park for keeping it and their childhood memories, rather than replacing it. With Bob, I think there's acceptance that the park will have tried everything, but it's still a sad time.

Hansa Park are replacing their bell-themed pendulum ride with a family drop tower and kids log flume next year: https://m.facebook.com/hapaforum/posts/3014862091889408 Hansa Park concept art is usually pretty damn close to the real thing, so looks like a cute little area.

Why are they unpopular opinions? I think most would agree with most of those.

As the sun was setting after a fun day in London, I headed to the Vaults of Waterloo, a place which I have visited before generally for music, however today it would take a more menacing turn of events, the IT experience promoting IT Chapter 2, in cinemas on Friday. When joining the queue down a back alley the suspense was created, with two security guards to greet and a standby line for the peasants who were unable to get free tickets through the eventbrite booking engine, the music however set the scene with a menacing tone. The entrance. 9.30 quickly approached and we entered. Upon signing a waiver which I didn't read, but I guess I was signing my life away and then was given a wristband and lead into an interactive carnival scene. There were tw games hook a duck and pop a balloon. I played hook a duck and was rubbish at it, collecting a measly one duck, however this still gained me entry. The baloon game looked fun however we were ushered on before getting a chance to play. After an actor spiel we were made to walk through the clowns head, into the trommel tunnel and this had some force to it, making me loose my footing few times. The next room contained some UV clown punch bags to play tricks with the mind. We were then greeted with the house from the movie and some characters arguing about not wanting to go inside. After a photo opportunity with the Loser gangs bikes we went through. Thememing wise it was stunning, however some members of the forum would not be impressed as the roof was not themed therefore ruining the 360 immersion effect. From this point on wards no cameras were permitted. We came to three doors, Not scary, Scary and Very Scary. The actor then split us up, I was given the Scary door which was filled with balloons that I had to run through and pop, as the lights went out an actor jumped out to scare me. The other rooms contained a mirror maze and Jack in the box however I didn't get to experience them. Next we were in a Chinese restaurant, not sure what the relevancy was here but I assume its in the new movie. I was thinking great an eating challenge as a lazy Susan and baskets were placed in front of us however all we got was a fortune cookie, my fortune being losers stick together. Inside the basket was an oversized cassette player and headphones, to be worn for the tour of the sewers, as the tones of new kids on the block blared down my ears we met our tour guide and torches were distributed into groups. In the sewers we were taken down many tunnels to a room which reminded me a lot of the middle show of DBGT. In our group the torches started to malfunction, then the boy in the yellow raincoat appeared, and then lights flickered and Pennywise himself appeared, went dark, he appeared closer to the group, that type of ending which we have all experience before, despite tension being high, I found the ending to be quite weak. However one surprise was went placing the cassettes back an actor was in the lockers for one final jump scare. The overall attraction lasted 15mins, short but sweet. I'd rate the attraction a solid 7/10 and I think the likes of TP could learn a lot from it. Overall it was fun, and had some good photo-ops despite being not too scary. I would highly recommend although the attraction closes on Wednesday. A great marketing campaign as I will not go and see the film when it comes out Friday.

They are free to trial things, and we are providing the feedback. There's only a problem with trialling things if they dont listen to feedback. Plus this idea sounds like its such a bad fit that they may as well trial painting Nemesis pink, putting VR on The Blade, getting Durex to sponsor Oblivion, etc It was fine in the past because it was maintained properly in the past. If you remove or don't maintain the lighting that was designed to guide people on cue then they're not going to realise an entrance has opened up, and they don't understand that they're supposed to move forward. If there is a group that still refuses to budge, use a pre-recorded announcement to tell them to move forward. It's really basic operational show stuff, there's not been some kind of cultural shift that means people no longer move through dark rides. It's the same story with all of Merlin's dark rides, bad maintenance. Hex on the whole has seen better days, and people no longer respond to it as well as they used to. It needs a proper refurbishment to get it back to its original standard. The lighting was bodged a fair bit in the TLC redo (people woudlnt have noticed specific changes, but you probably noticed it isn't as dramatic anymore, with lights going up and down at random.. meh). The cinema video needs a technical update too, find an inventive solution to keep the video but make the room more interesting ie Wickerman's preshow. Easy! But it won't happen sadly.

Sounds great, will be nice to have you to join the fun. We always have a great day.

Halloween is without a doubt, my least favourite time of year at theme parks. Nothing could interest me less then a bunch of dressed up students ignoring me too make some girls scream in a maze, or the park over run with people in the dark looking to make trouble.