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Following Jack Silkstone's documentary, it seems that an announcement / teaser is coming tomorrow. We've also got some form of logo:

Jack Silkstone's Fright Nights 2023 Behind the Scene documentary is now live: It is again primarily focused on his, Kieran and Archie's journey and involvement with the marketing videos, giving insight into how they made the set, did the filming etc. And then some general bits about the event, SLKSTN Unlocked, wrap party, etc. There's a little bit about the build of Stitches, but not a lot. I'd love to see more of a focus on the maze building side of things, but heyho, beggars can't be choosers. As always, the amount of effort that was put into the trailer campaign is insane. It's incredible to see such level of detail put into it. I again question the worth of some of the effort - it feels a bit misplaced to, say, spend hours making a design for a toy box that is seen for 10 seconds in a trailer video in my opinion. Especially when that level of detail and effort isn't necessarily translated into overall guest experience of the event. One thing I've had specifically mixed feelings on is the 'headline character' creations from the past couple of years. We had Fear (2021), The Locksmith (2022) and the Toymaker (2023). It's shown they build in quite detailed backstories for them, much of which isn't communicated. I think that's great tbf; the worldbuilding behind the scenes is critical for creatives to build something which feels real to an audience. But it would help create such a stronger connect between the trailers and the experience if the headline character was a part of the event. They did a step with that this year, with the Toymaker appearing in a VIP experience and her voice being used in Stitches. But it would be amazing if they could have the headline character physically be a part of the event. It's difficult as it either means an actor being in a full (masked) costume or heavily make-up-ed, or having different looking-actors play the same character, or rely on 1 actor to do all the dates. But it would genuinely have such a good pay off in my opinion. If they also created a headline character which remained constant each year (a curator of FN if you will), that would be awesome and build a more consistent brand. You only have to look at Walibi Holland's Fright Nights successes with Eddie de Clown to realise the potential. That's just a me-want though. For me personally, I was watching the documentary and hearing them go "we spent *insert insane time period here* doing this", and my instant reaction is "Wow, all that time for...that?" Maybe there's a naivety from me about the amount of time required to do these things, or I have my own pre-conceptions after having flirted with the scare industry myself, but it all just feels like a ton of effort for so little guest reward. Jack has been quite open about his want to work on Fright Nights in a larger role, be it by means of a broader creative aspect, designing a maze or similar. And it feels like, together with the park and UVE, they're building towards that, with greater creative control giving to Jack et al on the marketing, them building the set themselves, etc. Certainly would be cool to see: the passion and creativity is there. From a human aspect, I still wonder the sustainability of that: the amount of work put in is clearly a labour of love, but seems all-consuming. The workload would increase ten-fold creating a whole maze / being a creative. But it's clear that they have the potential to create something cool. I fear this post may come across as a bit of a negative nancy or whiny or something. It's not. It's great to get an insight into the world of FN coming to life in a clear way. The documentary itself is incredible. And it's great there's people with so much passion contributing to the event. And with the event growing, the enthusiast community growing and more roles in the industry coming to life, that will continue. I just hope we see it get reflected in the final product.

Hyperia is open now, they had to remove a train on Hyperia around 5:15 yesterday due to an issue, and it was also running late last night for FN promo filming so I imagine the late opening will be to do with that. All the ones that say 'opening later' have a scheduled opening time between 12:30 - 13:30, if you click on the individual ride it'll tell you what time.

Was at the park today and didn't notice any reduction in staffing levels which is positive. 3 hosts on both Vortex and Samurai 4 staff checking restraints + staff batching on both Colossus and Inferno. Thought some of these would be the first to be cut, never used to see this on off peak days in previous years. Only thing I did notice was SRQ closed on Saw which probably means there was no one batching, can't confirm as I didn't ride it.

1/ A great group can make an average park day a great one I started attending meets on this forum in early 2013 and have had the privilege of attending meet ups at parks around and beyond the U.K. Though some better than others, a great group of enthusiasts on trips can really make a mid-tier visit a great one. Whether it’s game about asking what people’s chosen coaster is, fun banter and excitement or any other reason. The thorpe park ministry of sound nights were certainly a crazy time indeed. 2/ There are different types of park enthusiasts The depths of this could honestly be endless, but you have so many different factions on this area. The ones who know literally everything about rides, the ones who just ride coasters, the ones who are more about the experience or those that are there mainly for the social element. In large meet-ups such as the European Coaster Club etc., you are naturally going to get others such as the other halves are just the plus one but ok to be there. 3/ Every enthusiast has different expectations and opinions To one person Efteling will be the most magical theme park in the world, to another it will be the most mundane thing to exist. To one person Hyperia will be the best coaster in the country (if not the world). To another it will be an underwhelming experience. Every enthusiast has a different opinion about rides, parks, expectations and everything else and can say I know some from different circles with similar opinions of the above. At the end of the day, being an enthusiast would be a more boring place if we all shared the same opinions there. 4/ A return park can visit can hit different, in the best and worst ways Parks and people, sometimes we visit parks 6-8 years ago and find ourselves absolutely amazed and blown away by these places, only sometimes to have a more recent visit and whilst still pleasant, those same wow factors from that previous visit seem missing. I think this is often down to a number of factors, that wow factor from that first visit has just worn off, you are not the person you were when you went before or the park has declined somewhat. The last 5-10 years have certainly been unkind to the park industry. Contrary to that, I’ve also revisited a number of parks and have felt feelings nothing short of joy. Walking through Europa’s entrance one bright sunny day, forgetting just how mesmerising Phantom Manor is or the amazement of everything random and wonderful in Energylandia. Feelings and emotions can be a strange thing. 5/ Your expectations change over time we change through our whole lives, so naturally our expectations to being an enthusiast can and will too. Ten years ago, I was that enthusiastic desperate to travel to as many parks in the whole and do everything physically possible, whilst perhaps trying to vlog like one of those famous YouTubers. I physically wanted to do everything in a park. Over the years I’ve gone through phases of wanting to visit places based on their coasters, dark rides and even landscaping. But today, I like to value a well rounded park. I would rather value a handful of decent rides than lapping one until I’m tired and nauseous. As more and more parks gradually get ticked off our lists, through time it becomes more valuable with who you visit these parks with, rather than where you go. Some enthusiasts who you can call your mates.

Completely agree with the comments re Octoberfest this year. Wouldn't surprise me to see this go next year, and personally wouldn't bother me as I've never really thought it adds anything to Thorpe anyway. I've been to the Towers one a lot over the years and have always really enjoyed it. They really benefit from the area they've got on the lawns. The location is a big plus too, the entertainment goes on for an hour after park close and this obviously means people leaving and see it going on may go over to the lawns and stay for a bit too. I've never thought its worked as well at Thorpe, whether that be due to the location of the stage or different target audience I'm not sure. They've not even changed the entrance music this year which is surprising, could help making people aware theres actually an event going on etc.. They didn't bother with ride overlays last FN too which was a big shame. Hope they do this year as it really makes the event in my opinion. Have seen this a few times last week on Vortex, Big Easy Bumpers, High Striker, Fish, Rapids. Seems to be happening on off peak weekdays so I imagine its unofficial cost cutting or they're struggling with staff at the moment? I guess it doesn't matter too much at the moment with the off peak weekdays being very quiet but still not ideal.

I see today Thorpe has "scheduled late opening" for some attractions, except... none of the attractions were scheduled to open late in the app or online... At 1pm, Flying Fish, Zodiac and Detonator are "scheduled late opening" and WDTR hasn't opened yet today. Are they low on techies so prioritising opening each day? What's going on?

Another cut... So it seems rather than being closed on off peak days, it looks like Zufari is now closed for the remainder of the season (or forever?) Its been updated on the ride availability page as just 'Closed' and has been removed from the app entirely