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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.

Closed season bingo!

I have some throughput timings from my trip to Thorpe Park yesterday that I’d like to report! I managed to grab the following timings in the park yesterday: Colossus (Theoretical: 1,300pph on 2 trains): 717pph (unknown number of trains, average of 3, 20th September 2025) Hyperia (Theoretical: 1,050pph on 2 trains): 833pph (2 trains, average of 10, 20th September 2025) Nemesis Inferno (Theoretical: 1,150pph on 2 trains): 977pph (2 trains, average of 5, 20th September 2025), 1,024pph (2 trains, average of 4, 20th September 2025) Saw: The Ride (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 8 cars/2 stations): 742pph (unknown number of trains/2 stations, average of 10 singular cars, 20th September 2025), 788pph (unknown number of trains/2 stations, average of 4 dual dispatches, 20th September 2025) Stealth (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 2 trains): 975pph (2 trains, average of 10, 20th September 2025) The Swarm (Theoretical: 1,100pph on 2 trains): 1,046pph (2 trains, average of 9, 20th September 2025) In terms of some specific insights: Stealth had possibly the best operations I’ve ever seen on there; these operations were phenomenal! The staff were sprinting down the platform, and they were very frequently outpacing the 40s dispatch timer on the platform, something which I’d largely thought redundant in previous years! 70-75 second dispatch intervals were being hit very consistently, and the slowest I saw was about 80s, which is incredible! The Swarm was also operated very well given that it seems to have been a tad inconsistent as of late. When I was in the area, the ride was consistently achieving minimal to no stacking, the staff were efficient, and I saw some dispatch intervals as quick as 90s or below. Great job! Hyperia was operating well, and seems to have improved compared to its opening year, with 80-90 second dispatch intervals being attained pretty consistently where closer to 100-120 seconds seemed par for the course in 2024. From what I could see, the ride was consistently not stacking and was very often dispatching before the train in front hit the brake run; at its quickest, I saw them dispatch when the train in front was negotiating the final outerbank after the splashdown. I do think the slow brake run on here makes throughputs slower than they could be when the ride isn’t stacking; if the brake run was faster, I think it would shave at least 10 seconds off the dispatch interval! Nemesis Inferno seemed to be operating well, with minimal to no stacking being quite frequent. I noticed the staff were trying to hurry people along on here. Overall, then, I thought operations were broadly very good at Thorpe yesterday! Stealth was phenomenally operated, I also thought The Swarm was particularly well operated, and overall, most things seemed to be doing well! I’ve given up hope of Colossus ever attaining a particularly decent throughput at this point, but even that didn’t appear too slow by Colossus standards.

On Stealth today and a guy next to me announced that he first rode it twenty-five years ago. What large sticker is on the front of each train? 20 years old. He must have had heat stroke.

I did 6 hours of driving today to get back on Stealth. (3 hours each way and going around the theme park). She really did well. I managed to get 8 rides on her whilst doing the other coasters. No fast track. Really so chuffed with engineering 😀. Great job Thorpe 😀 Just about managed it all in a day. Knackered myself but worth it. It's always a massive gamble with the cost of fuel and getting up at 4am to be home for 9pm.

If anyone’s interested, I have a few throughput timings and insights from my Thorpe visit last Monday: Colossus (Theoretical: 1,300pph on 2 trains) - 786pph (2 trains, average of 4, 13th April 2026) Hyperia (Theoretical: 1,050pph on 2 trains) - 770pph (2 trains, average of 4, 13th April 2026), 763pph (2 trains, average of 10, 13th April 2026) Nemesis Inferno (Theoretical: 1,150pph on 2 trains) - 1,023pph (2 trains, average of 6, 13th April 2026) Saw: The Ride (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 8 cars) - 854pph (unknown number of cars, average of 8, 13th April 2026) Stealth (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 2 trains) - 827pph (2 trains, average of 9, 13th April 2026), 860pph (2 trains, average of 6, 13th April 2026) The Swarm (Theoretical: 1,100pph on 2 trains) - 946pph (2 trains, average of 10, 13th April 2026), 1,022pph (2 trains, average of 5, 13th April 2026) Overall, then, I would have said ops were pretty good, but perhaps not as high-end as I have seen in a couple of cases. Colossus was doing pretty well in my brief snapshot by that ride’s standards, and Saw was smashing it! Inferno and Hyperia were also doing well. Some others were still good, but perhaps not as high as I have seen. For example, Stealth, consistently attaining slightly below 90s between dispatches, seemed somewhat slower than on my last visit back in September, where the staff were pumping out trains at a rate of knots and attaining nearly 1,000pph. Swarm also seemed slightly less consistent. That is me being persnickety, though; operations were generally good, and ride availability was also strong throughout the day! One thing I did notice is that Inferno was batching at the station entrance, which I found a bit odd… I wonder why they’ve changed this for 2026?

Hello. How was your year? Here's mine- Parks visited Efteling X5 Animal Kingdom X3 Hollywood Studios X1 Southend Adventure Island X1 Chessington X1 Schwaben Park X1 Tripsdrill X1 Legoland Deutschland X1 Hong Kong Disneyland X2 Ocean Park HK X1 Himeji Central Park X1 Parque Espana Shima X1 Nagashima Spa Land X1 Fuji Q X1 Disneyland Tokyo X2 Tokyo Disney Sea X3 Thorpe Park X2 Wiener Prater X1 Fantasiana X1 Epic Universe X2 New Rollercoasters ridden - 62 I'd say my top ten new rollercoasters of 2025 are as follows- Flying Dinosaur - The most intense flyer out there. It is absolutely fantastic. Stardust Racers Green - I love this ride, the flowing elements and air time are excellent and the duelling with yellow is so good. Stardust Racers Yellow - I mean come on, they are both so good and theres very little in between them in terms of quality. Steel Dragon 2000 - Aside from the really frustrating loading, this is a really long ride that does deliver. The air time at the end is also excellent. Pyrenees - An Inverter that sits under the radar, this is a very good rollercoaster, it just has a really odd ending. Hals Uber Kopf - The vekoma STC is so good. Both it and Fienna Force are so class. I thought this was a surprisingly forceful rollercoaster and really enjoyed it. Hollywood Dream - A surprisingly good hyper coaster. I only got the chance to ride this backwards but I thought it was excellent. Harakugei - A very good RMC but I find the loading procedures really take away the fun from a lot of Japanese parks. This is still awesome but its tiresome waiting for it . Diavlo - I don't really care that this is just a batman clone, it really is an excellent version of the ride. It looks a little rusty and run done and its amazing that the park have bothered to keep it running. Glad to have got on it. Zokkon - An excellent Intamin straddle coaster. Full of unique elements and excellent pacing. Landmark moments from 2025 Rollback on Mandrill Mayhem where we were stuck just before the Statue helix. Star of some B- tier tiktok vlogs. Loved it. Evacuated from the break run on Stardust Green. Lots of fun watching Stardust Yellow continue to run. Also managing to get on it after the death in September. Finally making it to Tokyo Disney and getting on all the major rides multiple times. Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Sinbad, Indianna Jones, Winnie the Pooh and Beauty and the Beasts felt like life changing rides in my theme park career Reclaiming the 'ridden all B&M's in Europe' after getting to Legoland Deutschland Saying goodbye to way too many attractions this year. Kingda Ka, Muppets 3D, Six Flags America, Tough to be a Bug, Scorpion Express, Blade. Also our last ever rides on Dinosaur before its closure in 2026. So please share your 2025. We love content.

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.

Glad to see that they've now changed the soundtrack on a lot of the rides for Fright Nights, after not doing it for a number of years. They're in the same/similar voice as the advert for this year. Unfortunately no change on Stealth or Samurai though, and you can hardly hear it in Colossus' station as its very quiet. The park is looking amazing in the dark this year. Lots of lighting changes and additional smoke machines making the park look the best it ever has done at night. A lot of Swarms effects have been restored and Infernos mist is pumping. I love this smoke effect on Colossus. StreamableWatch IMG_3720 | Streamable Hyperia is lit up in red from 7pm, and the lights go off as each train goes down the first drop. Really not a fan of the music that starts blasting out at 9:20 park wide though, including in the Hyperia queue 🤣 StreamableWatch IMG_3747 | Streamable Also really not a fan of the new scare zone and just seems like that was added for the sake of adding a new scare attraction. Would love to see another Crows/Towers style scare zone. Why not use the old Blair Witch route from Trailers to the Nemesis Inferno exit like before?

Love that Hyperia is lit up red this year for Fright Nights, rather than bright white. Looks brilliant 😍 https://www.facebook.com/thorpeparkmania/posts/pfbid026Rwstrftd6WfrWixrpci43qLc6PCPfHZrQTEve5Dyyrd12rC2fFvyDURntJCsK6Cl

I'm not really feeling it for FN this year, normally by now there is a bit of excitement, and although I think that trailer isn't bad I can't put my finger on it as to why i'm not feeling it. We shall see!

Stealth is back open today 😃

False alarm everyone. Sorry Aerie Force One, into the bin you go.

They've done quite a lot in recent years which has collectively improved throughput. - Increased the amount of bag storage - Pretty much always have 4 hosts checking restraints rather than 2 - Pretty much always have someone batching to fill empty seats - Pretty much always on 2 trains - New PLC means all restraints don't have lift all the way up - Queue line announcement with boarding instructions - Boarding instructions/screen before entering the station

I’ve definitely noticed a massive improvement in operations in the last few years. Especially on off peak days (or the season it was on during one train for awhile), throughputs were terrible. They dispatch much quicker nowadays and that queue just keeps moving. In general, Thorpe’s operations are something they should be proud of!

I was there Tuesday, and yes, the forecast for Wednesday was correct with heavy showers. I know the TP rail station bus is always busy but not been on it; being an old fogey, I can use my bus pass on the service buses. With a really low attendance, there is much more chance of banter between people on and around the rides, it's good. And for us nuts, it's certainly a great chance to meet like-minded types.

An absolutely crazy day TP has been closed on some recent Wednesdays, but I noticed it was available today and with the weather looking the better option, I went. A staff member who knows me told me that there were maybe only a couple of thousand people attending. oddly enough, I wanted to ride Stealth, and as there were hardly any guests on the ride or platforms, the gate was kept open so that people could re-ride, and that continued to beyond the lunch hour, with so many guests telling me that every ride was walk-on. During the time, some people wlo lived within a few miles had also then attended due to seeing online the short queues. As much as it pained me, I left Stealth and had two walk-on rides each on Nemesis Inferno, Hyperia, Saw, Colossus and Swarm before dragging myself back to Stealth, where the re-ride gate was open and announcements of "re-ride just get on", several were running to get on again, and there were loads of conversations between people and staff, many discussing their crazy ride totals for the day. There really were few guests and no waiting for rides one wanted. Staff were really upbeat and helpful. It really was a crazy day..

Though a different situation to last year (where Stealth effectively opened weeks into the season), it must be a concern for the park that for the second year running they've had early-season issues with Stealth. The issues with hydraulic launches are well documented now. And one as powerful as Stealth will add to that complexity. At the same time, Thorpe are well-versed in dealing with complex, unique and temperamental rides (for better or worse). So hopefully they're not thinking of giving it up yet. But equally, from a purely business perspective, if this keeps happening, one has to expect they'll at least consider changes to it.

I believe it sounds an alarm if the restraint comes down enough to indicate that the person in the test seat would fit. Very annoying I know - would be better to have a green/red light like I've seen at other parks 🤣 At least its working though I guess! SAWs test seat does the same.

And what does Parm Pap like, beyond long-winded ways of saying (I presume) "the water effect won't make a splash back soon"?

Zodiac has been doing a lot of testing so far this season so will likely re-open soon. I do agree with your point though. I’d love to see Thorpe add some new flats rather than slowly losing them like we’ve seen at other parks.

Fantastic news about Zodiac seemingly making a comeback soon. It seems Thorpe are a lot more prepared for the season ahead than Alton Towers, which has several rides closed for the foreseeable future, and is continuing to struggle to open rides at opening time every day. Hopefully Thorpe will be able to continue with their good operations and availability that they’ve had for several years now. It’s encouraging to see only 2 rides listed to be closed, for just 2 days at that.

Top Spin: The Musical?

Another square for Thorpe Bingo everyone!

I agree it is a huge shame that there is quite literally nothing going on. Although to be fair over the last decade there has been a lot of rubbish advertised as “new” - the various year-round mazes and some of the events for example. The absence of those sort of things isn’t that bad in my opinion, and realistically something new isn’t needed every year. Not many parks do that do they. In recent years they have also made a lot of improvements to the areas other than the rides - the toilets to name one example. Thorpe is probably one of the (if not THE) best Merlin park in terms of general upkeep. I agree though that it is a shame there doesn’t appear to be anything at all happening again. It’s been a few years now since they’ve been able to boast anything notably new. I wonder if Colossus will finally be finished in the next couple of months at least? Despite all the cuts to spending at Merlin I’d at least expect that to be done before opening, as well as Zodoac getting sorted. I wonder if the beach project will ever happen now? I can’t help but think the money would be better put towards a larger project.

Some would say it's the past of theme parks.

Sonic Spinball had to be rethemed for similar reasons, the allegations that Knuckles filed meant they had to quickly drop the brand in closed season so it's definitely possible they could reopen as just David Land and drop the Walliams.

Ah love these. Unfortunately my lists are very short nowadays, but I've had a fair year theme park wise (considering how life is now!) Thorpe Park x1 Alton Towers x1 Legoland Windsor x1 Disneyland Park Paris x3 Walt Disney Studios Paris x2 I do miss the days when I had huge lists, and I was at Thorpe & Towers 10-20 times each! Sad to have not been to any fireworks events or halloween this year, for the first time in... I don't know how long. Still, could be worse. Paulton's next year for the first time in 20 years!

Park Count Thorpe - Loads Phantasialand x2 Towers x1 Legoland Windsor x1 Chessington x1 Efteling x1 Holiday Park (now Plopsaland Deutschland) x1 Walibi Belgium x1 Bellewaerde x1 Gardaland x1 Movieland Italy x1 Walibi Holland x1 Coasters New coasters: 26 New parks: 4 Current cred count: 434 Top 5 new coasters Kondaa, Walibi Belgium. Sitting just outside my Top 10 outright, this is absolutely bonkers in the best possible way. The only mark against it is the double down which starts off the final third of the ride, which just feels a bit unnatural to me. Karacho, Tripsdrill. Gerstlauer with some of their finest work. It sits just outside my Top 10%, is a great deal of fun. If the MCBR was slightly less harsh, this would be a lot higher in my rankings. Expedition GeForce, Holiday Plopsaland Deutschland. It's good. The middle third is a bit boring, but the first drop and finale are fab. It's very classic early 00s Intamin. Raptor, Gardaland. Good, not great. But theming is fab. MecaLodon, Walibi Belgium. The Gerstlauer family triple launch coaster is something which people have raved about. I like it, especially once it warms up, but I'm not as big on it as most. The ride type has buckets of potential though. Disappointments YoY, Walibi Holland. I liked Jersey Devil at Six Flags Great Adventure. I was disappointed by YoY, which didn't offer much even with the duelling. I also have aged and the leg arrangement was uncomfortable for me. Gardaland. It was nice and I enjoyed my day there. But it did feel a bit meh at the same time. Hals-uber-Kopf, Tripsdrill. Unlike Mark, I haven't been blown away by either of the Vekoma STCs. They're fine, I can see why people enjoy them, but they don't click for me. Other Notable Things Danse Macabre, Efteling. This thing is superb. Movieland Italy. What a strange park. But I had an absolute blast of a time. Amazonia, Bellewaerde. A fantastic rapids-esque ride from Intamin with lots of cool quirks. Slaughterhouse, Walibi Holland. I returned to Walibi's Halloween event, and this alone experience is so raw and visceral and just genuinely fabulous. Us vs You, Walibi Holland. An international scare maze which feels like it's slipped under the scare attraction's radar, because this is bloody great.

Whilst I don't anticipate there to be significant discourse on here this evening, the Fright Nights Launch Event is this evening, so I'd expect there to be spoilers floating about ahead of the official opening tomorrow. Please share anything that could be considered a Spoiler here. If you want to follow along and get some updates of the event, and insights into what might have changed and the quality this year, follow along with your favourite fansite (that's Thorpe Park Mania, in case it wasn't obvious) on all good (and bad) social media!

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.

Pretty sure it still has its cable - can see it’s 2 cables going into the launch shed here and the one cut up on the floor will be the old one. It’s not completely unusual for it to be a bit temperamental right after a cable - just a shame it had to be done at fright nights!

.... back open today!

Well, you know, race cars don’t need headlights, because the track is always lit.

its a interesting quirk of Stealth and a few other coasters like it. The magnetic brake fins have a couple of brake pads on them so in the event of a rollback the train will stop on the launch track so the train can advance the moment the launch fins are up rather than once the train has cleared the top hat which allows for the ride to operate as quickly as possible. Source below

I write this on my way to work, as it's raining. I'm tired. So forgive any typos. As always, this is "my" review, not a 'press' review. Trailers My favourite maze of the night. Two new scenes are one inspired by Roots of Evil (in the forest area after the Dolls scene) and an Experiment 10 inspired one replacing Brainsburys. The safety speech is done in the old pre show area, with the screen now having a pre recorded pre show. It's the same basic maze, but with a solid cast and good scares. DeadBeat No changes inside maze. Pre show is slightly different but that's it. Stitches A couple of minor changes, but same idea. It's hard to tell without knowing numbers, but Stitches is either the most popular or has the worst throughput because even at Press Night it gets a longer queue than everything else Survival Games No more splitting up. This is a single route maze. As a result, it is significantly longer. It's also still intense, but definitely less intense than previous years. There's a change in story line about the characters being given a serum to make them more vicious, and so the 'assassin' characters are no more. The maze does feel fresh. For me though, it's my least favourite of the 4. It feels a bit too Tulleys-like in that there's a long maze but a few moments where not a lot happens. It is, like the other mazes, walking through a themed set more than anything else, although it is less like that than the others. I don't know. Maybe actors just need more time to bed in and get in the groove. Maybe I'm just salty because I liked the old Survival Games. Will be interesting to re do it later. Purgatory Town To behonest, exactly what I expected. It's an interactive zone. You get out what you put in. If you seek the actors out, talk to them, you'll get so fun conversations. If you walk through and the actors are already talking, it'll be like the zone doesn't exist. If they're free they will approach you, but if you don't put anything in they'll move on. It's fine for what it is. With mazes becoming more passive I think the jury is out whether this is what Fright Nights needs. And it remains to be seen how it will cope when busy. Creature Campus Another great dance show this year. I get that many aren't interested in it, but it oozes atmosphere. Would recommend. The Crows Longest and possibly best layout yet. It is basically an outdoor maze at this point. Theming and effects are cool. Music is perfect for it. It just works. Lucifer's Lair Say hello to the crown jewel of Fright Nights for the third year running. The area is perfect for what it is trying to be, the hub of the event. There will always be something going on, whether it is demons going round treating it like a scare zone, singing, dance shows, stunt shows or the best version of a Thorpe fire show yet. This is just it. Music is a bit of a mess right now. I'm sad they're not choosing to do more specific stuff for rides. Lighting is great. Stealth has a cool light at the end of the launch track in sync with the launch lights. All in it's another good event. It won't silence critics about the long term direction that FN has gone / is going. I'm less of a fan of the style of mazes Thorpe currently produce, but I'll still give them another go and see what changes. But genuinely, and wholeheartedly, the stuff included in the entrance ticket is worth the visit.

Tidal Wave fire effect is still not working, in case anyone didn't know.

Portaventura Trip Report – Day 1 Travel & Hotel Huge bucket list park for me: PortAventura. I’ve been watching vlogs and reading plenty of reports from PortAventura since a young age, but I’ve just never got around to doing it. They don’t have a huge coaster lineup, and with so many mixed reviews, particularly on operations, it’s never been high up on my list to tick off. I found a great deal on the hotel and flights that worked perfectly, so I booked a solo trip. 3 days and 2 nights, arrive Weds 17th and return on Friday 19th. I bagged return flights from Gatwick for £45, and booked Hotel Roulette for £210 (also got £20 cashback so worked out to £190), which also included 3 days entry at PortAventura and 1 entry for Ferrari Land. Absolute bargain. If it was for 2 people it would’ve been an even better deal as the hotel was the same price. Hotel Roulette is slightly cheaper and allocates you a random hotel - I was allocated El Paso. I got an early flight and arrived in Barcelona at around 11. I arrived at the hotel around 2pm, checked in, dumped my bag and walked straight round to the park. Whats that peeking through the trees. PortAventura First impressions were great. Lovely area of the park with great theme music playing, lots of nice seating and food outlets overlooking the lake. Furious Baco was the first attraction I came across being at the entrance, so I headed straight for the single rider queue. I was sat towards the back on the right side (normally being a single rider you get the left side, but as the group I was allocated with sat there I took the empty seat on the right). The initial launch and pop of airtime at the end of the launch is great. Very unique having the launch on an upwards slant too. But from there, I didn’t enjoy any other part of the layout and it was quite rough. Obviously I needed to ride it more and in different seats to share my thoughts properly. Spoiler: it gets worse. Having just arrived I was pretty eager to get on some more coasters, so I walked past Tutuki Splash then a very long way towards Shambhala and Dragon Khan, B&M land. I had no idea where I was going, just following paths till I found the B&Ms. The views of the 2 B&Ms are stunning. On my approach I noticed Dragon Khan was walk-on, so got straight on. I didn’t know what to expect with this - I love an old B&M but had heard lots about it being rough and showing its age. It looks absolutely stunning with its recent paint job, and I loved the colours of the train. And that roar. You just can’t beat the sound of these old B&Ms. And how did it ride? I absolutely loved it. Thought it rode excellently for an old coaster - I really don’t understand the noise about it being rough. It was very forceful, that zero-g roll in particular was ridiculous. The interlocking corkscrews look great. The cobra roll perfectly placed over the brake run looks stunning. Think I prefer this over Kumba, but hard to say as its now been 10 years since I've been on Kumba. But I don't remember Kumba hitting that hard intensity wise. Went straight back round for another go as I thought it was rude not to with no queue. I was then itching for the big B&M towering above me. I walked round to Shambhala and saw the SRQ was chained off, so joined the main queue which was advertised at 25 minutes, but was on in 20 mins. It wasn’t until I got to the station I realised the SRQ was still in use even though it was chained off - you just had to go over the chain or jump the main queue. That explains why I saw a few people jumping the main queue whilst I was waiting. Anyway. Once again, I didn't know what to expect. Lots of mixed reviews - some love it, some say it’s very overhyped. With all these new Intamins with aggressive airtime, I didn’t know if I was going to like it. I loved this thing. Really loved it. Completely exceeded my expectations. Brilliant first drop, and then floater airtime for pretty much the rest of the layout. The turnaround section is ridiculously forceful, a near grey-out on exit, then straight into a speed hill. My favorite part of the layout. The train design is perfect, I particularly love the ‘outer’ seats which pretty much feel like winged seats. The views from the lift hill are great, and I absolutely love the way the 2 lift hills are placed for this and Khan. So unique, and you get some funny interactions when they’re dispatched at similar times. Lots of waves. The splashdown was off but was randomly turned on midway through Thursday. Good fun on the outer seats and you can touch the water. Pretty much a flawless coaster for me and I decided pretty early on this is my favourite B&M. Nice to have a B&M back in my top 10 😃 After a couple more rides using the ‘closed’ SRQ, I continued to wander round the park and came across Hurakan Condor. I love a drop tower, particularly these Intamin ones. It’s brilliantly themed. I didn’t realize the roof was actually a bit tilted until I saw it in person for the first time. Had to Google if it was meant to be like that 🤣 I entered the queue which was very short, and there was no one waiting in the SRQ so I went for that. I was quite surprised to see all 5 towers operating, after seeing other people report it being on 2–3 in peak summer. I had 3 quick rides using the SRQ, first one being standard sit down and the other 2 being stand up tilt. Great drop tower with great views. I didn’t actually realize how huge this thing is until I was there. Bit of a shame you can’t pick to stand up or sit down, even if you were to go in the main queue. I do love the atmosphere around drop towers - it’s always the one ride at a theme park which scares people. Lots of people getting to the front of the queue and requesting the sit-down tower is quite amusing to watch 🤣 I continued to explore and stumbled into the Wild West area. Beautifully themed. I jumped straight on Stampida (blue side) and had no idea what to expect. I do like that you can choose which side in the queue. Groups together were going separately so they can race. It was not very enjoyable at all unfortunately. Very rough/jolty. Shame as it’s a fantastic layout (John Wardley classic), I particularly like the bit where the 2 trains go towards each other. But yeah, too rough to enjoy any of it really. Next up I wanted to try Uncharted. It was advertised at 50 mins, and unfortunately has no SRQ as that’s been replaced by an express queue. Shame this wasn’t designed with both, seeing as it’s a new ride. Even though it had the highest queue on park (which was a running trend) I just went for it as I know it had a terrible capacity and wasn’t likely to change. I hadn’t actually seen much about this coaster so didn’t know what to expect. The exterior and the indoor queue are both fantastic. Very highly themed. It’s a decent ride. The ride system is absolutely fantastic, really comfy trains and fun launches, and it’s brilliant how the ride vehicle rotates. However the theming on ride is dire. It’s just a dark building with a couple of screens. And I really hate that you can see the track in front of you so you know what’s coming. It’s a fairly short ride too, but the main problem is the theming for me. Big shame as that ride has a lot of potential. Fantastic ride system though so I look forward to seeing what other parks do with them. And that was it for my first day. It was about half 5 so I still had half an hour till queues closed, but Ferrari Land opened at half 4 and Red Force was calling my name. Ferrari Land There was only 1 reason I was bothered about Ferrari Land, Red Force, obviously. Walking into the park, everything looked very new and clean, as you’d expect from a fairly new park. Walking towards Red Force, you can’t help but notice the noise it makes. It’s so loud - love it. Sounds like a plane taking off every couple minutes, very fitting with it being Ferrari Land. I headed straight for the SRQ, walking past huge cattle pens almost backed up to the entrance. Main queue was advertised at 30 minutes which was nonsense. Later on in the evening when the queue was 1/3 of the size it was advertised at 1 hour and 20 mins. Strange as they seemed fairly accurate in Portaventura, most of the time. In Ferrari Land though, they were always wrong. This park seriously needs more capacity though. Queues like that on an 'off peak' day. Amazingly, I only waited 15 minutes in the SRQ, and even more amazingly I lucked out and got allocated the front row on my first ride. Thanks to 2 out of a group of 3 being too scared for the front. Unfortunately you have to wear glasses on the front, similar to Energylandia, but that didn’t take away from the ride too much. It’s a great coaster, the launch is fantastic, particularly at the end of the launch you can really feel the LSMs kick in. I love that there isn’t a pause either — straight out the station into a launch. Amazing views on the top hat. No airtime at the top as it goes over very slowly, but you do get some great views. This is the tallest coaster I’ve done and it feels like it when you’re up there. You then have a brilliant drop, and a nice pop of airtime before going into the brakes. I went round another 4 times all in SRQ and was allocated row 5 the first 3 times, then lucked out and got another front row ride. It is a great coaster, but I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed by it. The launch is great, but it really doesn’t have that same kick to it as the hydraulic launches. Which does make me sad I never got to do TTD or Ka in their original forms 💔 It’s a little rough too. Unless you’re on the front row, it shakes a lot the further you get down that launch track, and it isn’t comfortable. I probably prefer Stealth, purely due to the acceleration and it not being rough, but Red Force is still a fantastic coaster and does create a fantastic atmosphere in Ferrari Land. As I mentioned earlier, the noise that thing makes is incredible. On my 5th ride, whilst I was in the airgate, it had a short breakdown. The train advanced onto the launch track but didn’t launch. But it was dealt with quickly - engineers arrived and reversed it back into the station. They sent the train and it was back in operation, all within 10 mins. After 5 laps, I headed over to the Thrill Towers which were walk-on. This park really filters out as time goes on. It gets really busy at PortAventura park close (6pm), but it seems most people go in the park and have 1 lap on Red Force then leave. Except people like me 🤣 1 of the towers is on the ‘shot’ setting and the other is on the drop setting. You don’t get to choose, you just randomly get allocated one. I had 1 go on each. The shot tower was okay but I’ve definitely done better, the drop one was really good though. Very forceful. There wasn’t long left till park close at 10pm, so I decided to spend the rest of the evening on Red Force. The main queue was empty so I just used that, and managed 3 rides which were all in row 2. This also included another 10 minute breakdown, just a quick reset from engineers. This thing is absolutely incredible at night. There was such a good atmosphere too - the only people left in the park were all lapping it, and the staff on offload were encouraging us to run round to get a last ride in. I was on the 2nd-to-last train and everyone was clapping and cheering. Great fun. I then wandered back over to the hotel, had some fajitas in the restaurant (open till 11) which were nice, and went to sleep ready for a full day in the park tomorrow. Wrap up & Operations What a great first day. I just couldn’t believe how nice the park was and instantly fell in love with it - the pathways, landscaping, music, and views all create such a nice atmosphere. The weather was perfect too. Food was reasonably priced for a theme park, though drinks were very expensive. I wizzed round and got a feel for the park in the short time I had there so was looking forward to spending a full day there on Thursday. And the operations? Honestly, better than I expected. I’d heard horror stories, but on my trip it wasn’t too bad at all. I imagine busy days would be different, but I didn’t see much queue jumping or overuse of express. Furious Baco: 2/2 trains Shambhala & Dragon Khan: 2/3 on each (a third wouldn’t have helped, they were stacking). They had all 3 available as they were swapped throughout the 3 days. Hurakan Condor: 5/5 towers Stampida: 1/2 on each side (but didn’t need more) Uncharted: 3/3 trains Red Force: 2 trains (not sure if it can run 3). Again all 3 were available as they were swapped on Thursday. The big issue is Red Force. It’s the headline attraction and it draws a huge crowd, but dispatches averaged around 90 seconds — only about 480 pph. That’s terrible, especially once you factor in express and disabled access. Stealth dispatches faster, even with more seats and seatbelts to check. Red Force needs a better baggage system if they want to seriously increase throughput. They should also advance trains into the station quicker - waiting for the train to clear the top hat each time kills throughput. I didn't see any breakdowns all day apart from the 2 short breakdowns on Red Force. Will write up Day 2 & 3 soon with thoughts on the rest of the park and thoughts on re-rides.

This is a perfect summary of my thoughts as well. It’s quite an interesting subject really, because now that they’ve chosen to go down this new route of highly themed walkthroughs and dance shows etc I imagine it would be difficult to change course. The Asylum, Experiment 10 and Cabin in the Woods are examples of excellent Thorpe mazes in my opinion at least - but I imagine they would be poorly received if they “came back” exactly as they were, even if they were still “free” (or included in the event ticket price as I prefer to say!). I think now people have grown used to what a Thorpe scare maze “is”, and something like Asylum would probably now be seen as lazy, as it had next to no theming and just 2 stock songs playing in the queue, even though it could be an extremely intense experience. I also wonder if these sort of “more basic” attractions won’t be able to compete now adays due to the need for things to look good for social media etc, especially with Universal a few years away, Thorpe need to have impressive looking attractions I suppose so they can directly compete with HHN. I expect however, the real reason is that they need to justify the prices they’re charging for a run through, so it needs to look like it’s worth paying for, more so than the need for it to be scary. As you say Cal, times have changed I suppose.

^ I'm not either, in fact I've only just watched that trailer for first time which shows my excitement level. I don't think thats a this year only thing though, for me Fright Nights was good in the old days of the stronger mazes and being able to lap them till 10pm free of charge. I don't have an interest in the dance shows, scare zones, or paying money to stand in queue to get a weak runthrough in a maze. I miss the old intense Fright Nights days, getting locked in cupboard in experiment 10 and having actors in queue lines etc.. I do appreciate that times change though and theres clearly a market for what they do now though, and I do think that Fright Nights is in a much better place now than it was a good few years ago. Its a strong lineup again this year so I hope they have another successful year. I will still go to Fright Nights this year multiple times for the longer hours for rides and general atmosphere. I might give the odd maze a try if it has no queue and I'm with someone that wants to, but certainly won't be going out of my way to do so. I do get the vibe that they've just added this scarezone for the sake of having something new this year. I'll reserve my judgement until we see what it is but its a shame if that is the case, as everything else on the lineup is of high quality and will be a shame if they've just added this for the sake of it. Would rather they just use them actors and have a couple in Swarms area and SAWs queue for example. Would add more than a weak scare zone IMO. On another note, I do hope they make more of an effort with ride soundtrack overlays this year. They've been redundant for a good 2-3 years now which is a shame.

Had my first ever visit to Gröna Lund last Saturday. It’s a nice little park, and really impressive how much they’ve managed to cram into such a small space. Monster is a brilliant little B&M Invert. It’s amazing how well they’ve made it fit in the park - it just looks like it’s always been there. The underground station is really unique, and so is its layout for an invert. That airtime hill completely took me by surprise and was easily the best airtime moment I’ve had on an invert before. It’s silky smooth and definitely sits high on my invert list. Unfortunately, I got spited by Insane, which didn’t operate all afternoon/evening while I was there. I was particularly looking forward to it since I’ve never had the chance to do a Zac Spin. Not sure why it was closed or how long it’s been down? As a big drop tower fan, I was really impressed with their lineup - three towers all offering different experiences. Definitely the best drop tower selection I’ve seen at any park, and it makes sense given how limited their space is. The S&S tower was solid. It starts with the “shot” mode, then slowly takes you to the top for the drop. I like the towers that do both rather than just one or the other. Ikaros is an Intamin Skyjump, and after doing some research in the queue I learned Falcon’s Fury is the only other one, which I've also ridden. Surprised Intamin hasn’t sold more of these. The views were fantastic, but I found the ride itself pretty forceless. Hard to compare directly to Falcon’s Fury since it’s been 10 years, but I’m pretty sure Ikaros breaks lower down and swings a lot more on its return. Falcon’s still looks more intimidating though. Fritt Fall was my favorite of the drop towers - an Intamin the same as Apocalypse and Condor. These never fail to deliver and this was no different. The park also had a nice bar with views over Stockholm. You’re not allowed to leave the bar areas with drinks though so they can “watch” you, which made me laugh. ‘Vilda Musen’ the parks Gerst bobsled is decent, and Twister the gravity group woodie was okay. Smooth and a decent family coaster, but nothing to write home about. The day ended on an annoying note. The park closed at 10pm, and while I was at the front of a queue for my last ride, the host came down the queue to tell us their boss had said they had to close now and we wouldn’t be able to ride. The time was 21:57. Bit annoying since it was still before 10 and I was already in the queue, but it is what it is. On the way out I also saw them turning people away (already in the queue) for one of the drop towers too. Its a great compact little park with a great selection of rides, Monster being the obvious standout. Not somewhere I’d rush back to without a good reason to or in the area again, but I enjoyed my time there and do recommend a visit 😃

So let's dissect this a bit more / share some of my thoughts... I really like that they're making Lucifer a central figure this year. I've said repeatedly that this is something that park should look to do - have a headline character who is prominent in both marketing and on park. When the park introduced the Director character in 2013 and 14 (and even the Governor character in 2012), it was a nice touch. It didn't necessarily fully hit the mark as there was a lack of consistency due the character (naturally) having to be played by different actors. And the on-park character didn't quite marry up with the marketing character. But the park have had form there, and it worked. One criticism that occurred in 2015 was that the Figaro Bros were featured so heavily in marketing, but had no on-park presence (even in the original Big Top), which is why the park veered away from central characters. They've slowly reintroduced the concept of headline characters with "Fear" in 2021, the Locksmith in 2022 and the Toymaker in 2023. Again, they featured heavily in marketing. But aside from the Toymaker (who was only used for a special BTS tour of Stitches), had no physical on-park presence. Lucifer's Lair - in my opinion - has been the highlight of the past two Fright Nights. And given the plan to have the stage on the Beach this year, it wouldn't be surprising if they were hoping to turn that zone into a bigger thing this year. Having Lucifer has that central figure just works for the current Fright Nights set up. As a slight critique (possibly even a long-term suggestion), I'd rather the park have an 'original' character, as opposed to 'just' the devil, but they can make it work. I've banged on about this enough times on here, but if you look to Walibi Holland, their Eddie the Clown character has been a headline character for much of the park's Halloween event's history. Eddie the Clown and Walibi are synonymous now. And it leads to great marketing (and more recently, merchandise) opportunity. Thorpe can recreate that, in their own way. Now, the actual event. Upfront, I'm not enthused by Purgatory Town. It's being marketing as an 'interactive' scare zone, or a speak-to-characters zone. I'm getting a bit of a Swarm Invasion vibe, in that I expect there will be minimal theming and minimal actors, and guests will 'get out what they put in'. That is, you can walk through the zone and have basically no interaction with the actors, or you can spend time chatting with them and find out their story and lore and build up from there. The key difference is Swarm Invasion had an actual coaster with a backstory to help it, whereas Purgatory Town has...well, no pre-existing lore. Another issue is that Fright Nights has become quite...passive. A common discussion point on here, at the very least, is that the mazes are like walkthroughs of very well-themed sets, with less actual engagement. I'd argue Stitches and Trailers highlight that extremely well, but even DeadBeat has its moments. Now whether that's a good thing, a bad thing or just a thing is almost a mute point. If the reason the park are creating these passive experiences is because that's what guests enjoy and respond best to, then creating a scare zone which is the opposite to that is a hard sell to guests. Again looking to Swarm Invasion, that didn't exactly light the world on fire, and that could be because of the high engagement level required. The fact we're less than two weeks from the event starting and we have no theming or build is also telling of what to expect on that front (ie: not a lot). I'm certainly not writing it off, as we don't really know a lot about it still. But all signs point to this being little more than a nice experiment for the park to try. However, it is great to see Fright Nights further spread out across the park. Next thing to note is Survival Games changes. Hard to know what expectations should be, but the video and promo image make it look like the characters in the maze will be different at the very least: There's mentions of a "toxic twist", and any part of the marketing related to Survival Games does feature a strong electricity motif too. Trailers getting two new scenes is perhaps not unexpected given the new posters that appeared. A little excerpt from the park's press release gives us a bit more on what to expect... Evil experiments could be Experiment 10 (which could be the X poster seen) Forbidden Forests could be a Blair Witch throwback I hope that - unlike last year - the new scenes are more than just a redress of existing scenes. I know it's a less-common opinion, but I'm fine with a quieter year with no major new attractions as a one off. I'd argue that Purgatory Town isn't even necessary this year. But we'll see what happens!

At TP today, as the weatherforecast was so good. Luckily got to ride Stealth and thought it was a little slow going over the top, so (as I am familiar with the them) I mentioned it to the team. I observed the next twelve launches, thought that the transitions over the top were getting even slower, and again expressed my concern. The team offered me a ride and I informed them that I would not, as I believed the next launch would rollback. They launched, and it rolled back, I went for lunch.

Wouldn't even remotely be surprised if this was the outcome (even as potentially one of Ghost Train's very few genuine fans) - I think its days were numbered when they stopped running the fakeout finale and just chucked ride staff in front of it to guide guests in the other direction instead of bringing it back or at the very least redecorating the fakeout finale room to be something different so that the original exit route is retained even if the fakeout was cut. I said at the start of the season that I reckon Ghost Train had maybe 2 seasons left in it at most. I will genuinely be sad to see it go - but even more so if it goes without a plan for its future. It may be a bad attraction on paper, but I'd rather take something rather than nothing any day of the week. I just hope that whatever comes next isn't a demolishment of the building and another coaster built there. Thorpe are crying out for a good dark ride - I love the Ghost Train building and is definitely sizeable enough to fit something else in there - the only issue would be getting the motion platform out and the new ride system in. There's many more much more appropriate locations for a new coaster when the time comes. For the love of Christ keep it as a dark ride, but do it more traditionally this time. I'd love to have seen how DBGT could've gone if it weren't for the VR gimmick and Derren had been given full creative control...

The situation is entirely caused by management loosing sight of how theme parks make money. The gate fee covers the running costs, the spend in the park makes the money. Management decided to start contracting things out and cutting on maintenance so short term spend looked good. Unfortunately this meant Merlin earns less per head as another company is skimming off the top and guests spend less when unhappy. They lost sight of the absolute basics and now there is very little room for course correction.

*blows cobwebs off* I don't know if it's been explicitly discussed on the forums, but Towers' Entertainment function is now in the hands of an external team, outsourced in a similar way to how food is now outsourced to Aramark. The team responsible for that is RWS: https://www.rwsglobal.com/ I don't know exactly how it now works, and how responsible RWS are for the design of new attractions. However, the 2 new scare attractions for this year are a scare zone and scare maze, both themed and located in the Dark Forest: https://www.facebook.com/reel/24142435788755074/?s=single_unit It's worth noting that Thorpe's Entertainment function is going to be in the hands of RWS from 2026. So how Scarefest goes down this year might give an indication to how Fright Nights will go next year (which will be marketed heavily due to it being the 25th year)

Rode Tomb Blaster today. It remains bloody dreadful. -Every train had at least one car not in use. One train had two cars not in use. -The 'story' is beyond dull, with the voiceover being one of the worst-sounding, boring and grating things I've ever heard on a theme park -The guns are rubbish -Pacing of the ride feels so off. Partially because of the story they shoehorned in, but also just because the ride system feels like it's on its last legs -Audio is either too quiet or too loud. -Most of the screens in the on ride photo viewpoint were broken (not necessarily turned off, but physically broken). Honestly, of everything that the park are doing, adding and changing, sorting out Tomb Blaster should really have been number 1 priority.

Its cool to have an Easter Egg or two within a new or reimagined attraction (say for example, Piraten in Batavia having a survivor boat from the fire and a Roland Mack animatronic), but when the majority of the attraction becomes "DO YOU GET IT?" it misses the point somewhat as you feel like they're trying too hard to bash you over the head with references. The other issue is that the park has been so run down that a number of rides have needed a full refurbishment. Sub Terra came back out of necessity more than anything, Duel was in a sorry state since it opened, Nemesis was also refurbished out of necessity or be closed. Don't really think it's anything to do with nostalgia. Just those are the rides they could either redo over a closed season or needed to be done for reasons.