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I can't believe we're nearly at four years of this twaddle.

For me, my TP season ended yesterday having jumped in for an extra day due to the changing weather forecast, a great day for me. It could not have happened without the Staff and it would, like life, be easy to thank those who helped me directly. There are many staff whose contributions to that, and all my TP days, are normally not acknowledged. I do thank everybody from the cleaning, washroom, maintenance, management, security, gardeners and ride team, a lot of people. Just like the bus on which I ride to the Park, so seldom do I hear a "thank you". We, as visitors, don't get the chance to wish those well in their futures who, within a few days, won't have a job. Just my thoughts.

I know it's the red tinted glasses but I love looking back at the videos of Thorpe from the 80's and 90's. There's an innocence to the park that doesn't really exist anymore.

Marp backwards is Parm.

Chesington's far worse as you can see the character the park used to have and when you compare to the modern day equivalent, it has lost so so much. The way IP has become an invasive species at Chessington, is far worse then so so so many parks.

The park have released an hour-long interview with Fright Nights management about this year's event. There's some cool insight about things and is well worth a watch. Will share my thoughts about some things discussed at a later point.

Booked a visit for over the Xmas period. Can't wait to get back there! Danse Macabre is an amazing attraction!

Visited Efteling just over a week ago, I absolutely love this park and was very pleased to get on Dance Macabre for the first time (twice!). I hadn’t looked at any videos, pictures or reviews of it so really didn’t know what to expect other than it’s a bit like a ‘show’. It was incredible! Very immersive, surprising, mesmerising, and magical. I found the story quite loose but the charm made up for it! A wonderful transition from the old into the new.

👀

Thorpe Park now post on the forum under the alias' Jart and Parm Pap.

Not at all. The park changed strategy, and realised that they could communicate with more people through social media (which, 10 years ago, was a growing sector for brands to utilise). And then the way people consume online content changed, focused more on videos via social media rather than text/forums/websites.

Thorpe Park Mania was once the official fan site for Thorpe Park. One of the many perks of this was that Thorpe Park ran that account on the forum, using it to answer fan questions, add context to decisions and also just have a bit of fun with fans. It was similar to the Annual Passholder group they ran a couple of years ago to be fair.

They removed all rides that were closed for the buyout days, Tidal Wave too. There was actually some sign of life on on the last day of the season. Engineers around all day and some spinning (not lifting) so hopefully its not over just yet for Zodiac! Zodiac always looks brilliant at night so that was certainly missed during Fright Nights this year.

Earlier in the year there were also hints “Spiiiiiin, click click click click spiiiiiin” and “there may be some x citing news to come” Both of these could point to a Mack Xtreme Spinner, which would be incredible! Fits with the LSM launch, but I don’t see a connection to the phobia or foto clues.

I made an account just to have a guess! Veloxrotaphobia is the fear of rollercoasters. There was also a clue in another thread which heavily suggests an LSM launch: “They turned the launch to magnet spaces” If the clue above implies we should take the part before ‘phobia’, is it a stretch to say that ‘veloxtora’ sounds like ‘velocicoaster’? Could they be planning an Intamin multi launch coaster similar to Velocicoaster/Taiga? Alternatively, if the clue is ‘phobia’, a much less exciting answer might be a Premier Rides Sky Rocket II model. ‘Phobia Phear Coaster’ matches the photo/foto hint quite well. I imagine this would be considerably cheaper, and we keep hearing about Merlin budget cuts. With slammer having finally been removed, my best guess is a Sky Rocket II replacing DBGT and the old slammer site, to bide their time for a massive headliner on the island behind Swarm for the parks 50th anniversary.

Just to go back to the topic of attendance, it is really worth stressing that the TEA Attendance Report is not accurate for Thorpe / Merlin. This graph is from the Hyperia consultation, including numbers up to 2020: The Queue Times website also has these numbers listed, as well as numbers from the TEA Report: https://queue-times.com/parks/2/attendances#reference4 Just for some reference: 2019: Thorpe say 1.49m, TEA say 1.9m 2018: Thorpe say 1.59m, TEA say 1.88m 2017: Thorpe say 1.54m, TEA say 1.8m 2016: Thorpe say 1.62m, TEA say 1.8m 2015: Thorpe say 1.51m, TEA say 1.85m 2014: Thorpe say 1.83m, TEA say 2.1m etc, etc. As you can see, there's years when the actual attendance has gone down, but TEA say it's gone up, and vice versa. But there is no rhyme or reason. So it is certainly possible that 2024 saw an increase in attendance compared to 2023 at Thorpe. As Benin says, the late opening of Hyperia followed by its extended downtime will have hurt attendance. But once it did get running, it ran well and was a draw. Was that enough to outweigh and then eventually beat what was a quiet, but consistent, 2023? It felt like it, but we'll never truly know.

Couple of things to consider: -Merlin recently made Halloween an included day for most passes. -The excluded days, somewhat ironically, tend to be a bit quieter because: There's less passholders People expect those days to be busy so avoid them -The weather was forecast to be a bit rubbish, which can put passholders off -There were 2 severe cases of bad weather, including electrical storms in the nearby area, shutting down most rides. That, along with the rubbish weather, meant people left earlier. The park today didn't feel as busy as it was yesterday. Nor did it feel as busy as it was last Halloween. However, the park was still extremely busy and lively.

What is everyones thoughts on the capacity at the moment for Fright Nights? I know its been the same for a long time and it isn't likely to change, but I can't help but feel they are overselling tickets at the moment resulting in a really poor customer experience. - Security queue taking well over an hour to get into the park (I've seen many reports of over 90 minutes) - Multiple coasters over 2 hours queue - All mazes over an hour queue for a paid time slot - Car park nightmare getting out (again not a new issue) For comparison, I went to Walibi Holland on 2 sold out days this year. I waited 15 mins to get in one day and 5 mins the other. Getting out, about half hour one day due to a car accident and about 15 mins the other day. You also don't have to pay for car parking during for Fright Nights there. I don't know another theme park where you get greeted with huge cattlepen queues to get in. Realistically, how many people who wait 90 minutes to get in, stuck in queues all day and then another queue to get out are going to enjoy there day and return? I don't think it helps matters having the rapids closed and ghost train opening at 3pm on the busiest days of the year. The park really does need all the capacity they can get. I do think theres more they can do with the mazes too. Towers opens theres at 1pm on peak days, so opening them earlier could definitely help with the queues. And of course 10pm closes. With Fright Nights as busy as it is (and generating nearly half the parks yearly income) it would be great to see the return of 10pm closes. I know this is quite a negative post, but just something I've thought about recently. For me, the security queue is the biggest issue that needs addressing and is a terrible first impression.

Hopefully you will get to ride her before end of season .She's certainly a beauty 😍

The hiring of 300 actors on short term contracts will be the reason.

Barely much left from those days. No chill ride on the waterboat from the farm. No CCR or Loggers Leap. Spent many a time on the crazy golf or in model world. Good old nostalgia eh?

Great news, thanks.

I just came back from a pretty quiet Fright Nights (a Monday), and it was good fun! I was at the front of two of the mazes, and back at the other two, and generally I thought it was e better than last year. Anyway I'll briefly summarize the mazes Trailers: Good fun and consistent as usual, but scary is a stretch. I do think even with new rooms it is getting stale, I also find the newer rooms to be like barely noticable compared to what was there previously. Acting quality was great though. Stitches: Similar opinion to last year, it's really eerie and well themed. I was at the front and felt pretty on edge for most of it. Probably my favourite maze? Deadbeat: Last year I roasted it, and I would say improvements have been made for sure, though subtle. Last year I felt it lacked scares and felt very flat, but this year I felt like there was more actors, darker sets in places, and a lot of smoke. I thought the ending was mediocre last year but this year the two actors in the finale chased us out which was brilliant. I thought overall there was some good timed scares, a good level of them, and just overall was a good scare maze. I honestly was shocked at how much subtle changes could make Deadbeat actually really fun! Survival Games: Honestly I miss the old days when this was a intense maze that pushed limits. As the years have gone by, it seems to have just got weaker, and this year's version I thought was meh. Last year was impractical with batching, with the arena having 4 actors to 60 people wandering around. Despite this though I think removing the multi route/separation makes it feel like a tamed down version of its previous self. I do like the new beginning, I feel it gives me techno vibes and explains a narrative a lot better. Despite this though once you remove Survival Games's gimmick and USP, you begin to realize it's mostly a maze of black walls and actors insulting you. I really didn't feel intimidated enough. The lack of forcefulness like previous years felt sad. Crows: Honestly this can stay for many more years and I have no issue with it. Thorpe have literally created an iconic character, and their scare zone has been consistently fun. Purgatory Town: Cast here are brilliant, and had some hilarious interactions. Though the theming and budget of this zone can't be more £250. If the cast weren't so good, I would be more inclined to complain.