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Very weird year at Fright Nights this year, on paper it should be very strong. (More scare zones/shows and a new maze). It is not strong and possibly very weak. A good line up has had to come with sacrifices which are: The removal of a free walkthrough which was pretty long in favour of a paid attraction. Tenement is good concept and great to see another scare maze at the event. The issue is its location, it’s used a l good space for a long scare zone. There are a few other places it could have gone but would have required a bit more ground work. More mazes are good but I cannot pay for mazes every visit, so I normally do one visit doing them all once and that’s it. I relied on the crows to give me the scare and in its new location, it’s so so short you just don’t get the same experience. To me the current location feels like it’s just been put there with no thought other than they need less actors. There are multiple pathways they’d could have used as a walk through but they decided to cram it in under nemesis inferno. Deaths doors was pretty short but it was extended by the fact you had to knock on each one. The queue was massively long for a 30 second experience, it was very annoying. Lucifiers lair has had the load split up between it and rebel ball Lucifers lair should have just been moved to the launchpad with the same entertainment and that be it. Not remove the entertainment from lucifers lair and then create rebel ball and I’m not really sure what the show is about or what the actors are??? It’s not really the hub of the event and I thought it would be more scare zone when teased how good the launch pad was for events. It’s just random, Lucifiers lair is very very boring and actors were hardly out. Seperate note, trailers is a shell of its former self. One actor per room and they just have a maze host inside the foyer scene. It just needs to go, it relies on having multiple actors per room

I was at the park yesterday (10/09/26). Stealth had a bad start to the day. Managed 4 laps then one of the trains had to be pulled off. It remained on reduced capacity for nearly the whole day. Engineers were consistently checking restraints each time the ride broke down which would back up that it was the back row restraints causing issues. Also both trains were finding it very difficult to enter the unloading bay. Very very slow to get round the corner and into the unloading bay. Hopefully they get her healthy again soon. The engineering team really are fantastic with Stealth. I appreciate it as it's my number 1 coaster in the UK. Stealth remains very close to my heart for the reason it's launch is something special. And now a world record holder. It'll be a real sad day when Thorpe get rid. I have to drive 3hr 40 mins each way to get to Stealth. But always it's very worth it. Can just about hack it in a day. P.s thanks to the staff for walking us to Nemesis Inferno fastrack for the breakdowns.

Today, launch platform smoke was switched on during the afternoon, apparently, the upturn smoke will return for Fright Nights.

Same as above really enjoyed the event - nice to see the park celebrate the ride with its model becoming more and more rare I do hope they do everything they can to keep it going as long as possible. Also bought some of the cable - it’s a lot for what it is but it’s presented really nicely and the little extras were a nice surprise too!

First visit of the year yesterday (10th September) as didn't manage to get a date that worked with my park buddy in April time and once it starts getting busy we CBA with the queues! Anyway, my rambling thoughts Got 3 rides on Hyperia - max queue all day was 50 mins, bottomed out at 15 minutes. We decided to wait for it to open in the morning, it opened around 10.30am. I know that it's an off peak day, but I think it's a valid point to say that as the headline (icon?) ride it really should be open for park opening. I appreciate that problems happen butit seems to happen too often. Our first ride was Row 1, second was Row 2 and last ride of the day was Row 10, so as someone who only visits once or twice a year, I was very happy with that. Row 10 is absolutely nuts. The force of being dragged over the first drop is just ridiculous. I don't care what anyone says, I adore Hyperia - I personally don't want another element, I like the fact it's compact, does just enough (in my opinion) to make it super thrilling without ruining your day. The area is looking far better now that the plants have started to bed in. Good to see station effects are all working too still. Stealth is evidently upset that my love has switched to Hyperia 🤣 Ended up on one train operation, we suspected there must be a train issue from the up and down time (no pun intended) in the morning. Maxed out at a 40 minute queue on one train which really shows how painful it is when it's not at full capacity. Still had 2 good rides, but can I just say - those Stealth birthday flags were evidently bought on the cheap because they are all missing bar one, so you have barrels there with metal poles on and nothing at the top. I say close RIta now and use it all for parts to keep Stealth alive, please and thankyou. Nemesis Inferno was INTENSE, I swear this gets more and more intense every year. Flies up the lift hill every time, and feels faster than ever, if you like that sort of thing. For me, it's a one and done really as I like to keep my stomach contents down. An advertised 15 minute queue ended up being more like 40 minutes though due to loading of guests with accessibility issues, which I understand and appreciate - but the whole thing seemed to take forever with two empty trains sitting there with no guests in sight. Empty trains were sent round also prior to this - not sure of the process they have to go through but I've never seen anything like it before. Colossus was incredibly unpleasant. Ghost Train was closed all day and then opened at 3.30pm approx, so fair play for them bothereing to do that. We didn't get to ride as didn't want to risk being stuck on it if it went down, as that seems to happen to us far too often. Have to wonder how much longer this has left in it, it must cost them a fortune in power and staff. Quantum was shut until late in the day. Samurai was closed all day and advertised as so. Vortex & Zodiac both closed of course. Walking Dead The Ride had a lot of downtime - when we did get on, a lot of the effects in the first half seemed to be inoperable, I'm guessing that's why they didn't bother opening? In the pre-show, they now have a tensar barrier infront of the board with the creator names "easter eggs" on, assume that's to stop people vandalising it but odd that's suddenly been done now as I haven't seen anyone do so prior. The walk through to the station was very dark (too dark?!) - they've turned off that car that honks all the time so that's good, especially when we had to wait to load in the station for 10 minutes or so for reasons unknown. Also, incredibly oddly, you can hear the Nemesis Inferno music INSIDE in parts of the ride?! The Launchpad has all the F&B units there - closed, and the flower entrance sign/portal, minus the central sign - so just some flowers on some wood. There were no staff in the car park directing you where to park, so went and charged my EV on the hotel charge points (as the ones in the "main" car park have a number out of action). The entrance bridge looks tired after it's glow up with the rebrand - specifically, a lot of the flags with the new branding are again missing. Appreciate these are effectively small details, but that's the entrance to start (or finish) your day and to me speaks volumes. We felt the staff in general were pretty downbeat/narked/didn't want to be there (which we totally get tbh, but still) - with the exception of a very cheery chap who was at the queue line entrance on Colossus who wished us a good time and an enjoyable ride (Colossus did not adhere to these wishes) and also a queue batcher on Hyperia who commented on my retro Stealth shirt (Human cannonball one). Tiny details but they help make the day more enjoyable. We spotted a ride op on Inferno leaning on the barrier where the train exits the station whilst waiting... now, I'm sure it's probably safe but I don't think I'd put my trust in that with the drop below and probably not in the ride handbook...! So all in all - the park is tired in places (as are the staff) - will we ever see a relaunch of the Sparkle Project because I feel the park needs it (Whilst I'm here - the Stealth tyre entrance is completely faded and unreadable again...). Hyperia still very good indeed and much needed for the park - getting queues of 40-50 minutes on a "dead day" is impressive. Will be interesting to see what 2027 brings, if anything, but it all just feels a bit stale and stagnant at the moment there, tired is the operative word and the state of the flat ride lineup (not that I really ride them, but they serve a purpose) with increased downtime ahead of the busiest time of the season is concerning, and indicative of the age of them all. It seems a done deal that Zodiac isn't coming back this year... Vortex is more of an issue as this is always popular. Hopefully Samurai is nothing too major considering it's work in closed season. One final thing - we actually saw SAW have a 5 minute queue at one point, which is normally unheard of, but for most of the day that thing still pulled in the crowds. Whoever signed that IP has a lot to be thanked for by Merlin.... PS. I await Parm Pap's thoughts on the above.

I also visited press night this year - will probably make a video on it at some point but just need a place to yap to compose my thoughts so feel like this is a great place to do so. Rebel Ball It's... fine? Very awkward, but fine. Events are really the magnum opus of Launchpad and Fright Nights has definitely given it some much needed purpose. It's nice to have a bit of a central hub for Fright Nights and Launchpad works quite well for it. The stage should be a permanent thing year-round as well imo as it really does transform that space, but that's a whole other conversation. Lucifer's Lair Now this feels very, very awkward this year. Perhaps it would've worked better at Launchpad and kinda had it revolving between the dance shows at certain points of the day? No stage setup, no real prescence - and especially during the press event where Ghost Train was closed, it felt very dark and almost out of place? No fire, no real lighting or anything from what I can remember. It kinda just feels like having roaming actors based around the food vendors rather than a scarezone. I think Thorpe could've done away with this this year to be completely honest. If it's planned to be the same scenario again in 2027, it's better to just can it imo. The Crows I've seen a lot of mixed opinions on this, but think its new space is really nice. It's really well themed, but obviously much smaller than the old site where Tenement is for this year. From a money making standpoint of course it makes sense for The Crows to be downscaled in place of an upcharge attraction - I really can't fault Thorpe for that. The Crows are still as impactful as ever and they've definitely made the most of the space under Inferno - much moreso than Deaths Doors ever did. As disappointing as it is on a whole to have one of the strongest things in recent years at Fright Nights be downscaled like this (I still think The Crows need a proper maze), I'm just glad that they've returned again this year and I really hope they continue to return indefinitely. Purgatory Town Again, this feels pretty awkward. It's nice to have an open scarezone for free interaction with scare actors, but this year compared to last year you can really tell that cuts have been made. Last year there was various bits of theming scattered throughout Big Easy Boulevard... this year, not so much. I get a lot of the theming last year was moreso to do with IT 4D (which obviously hasn't returned for this year's event, so makes sense to no longer have the Derry theming in BEB), but none of the theming has been updated to be in keeping with the new Conjuring 4D experience this year even. Something as simple as low-laying fog on the ground and a few hay bales would transform this area entirely. Trailers Really, really needs to go. I was a fan of Trailers in its first year, but became real stale real quick. No amount of new scenes will fix the real issue with this maze - the size. It's quite a big footprint, but even so, they're trying to pack waaaaaaay too much into it. You can take in the whole room in each scene the second you step into it, therefore you can easily see where the actors will lurk and jump out at you which makes this maze not even remotely scary. I don't think I jumped a single time this year, despite the actors best efforts. The new scenes stick out like a sore thumb too, because all the old scenes look really bloody tired. If you're going to add new scenes into the maze, spruce up the old ones too. A lick of paint here, a few bits of prop rejigging there. By all means keep the scenes the same if you really have to, but at least move things around to keep things interesting for returning guests. The weakest maze at this year's event - and not even just by a little bit either. Stitches Still pretty good, but missing a few elements this year by the looks of things. On my runthrough at least, the curtains were closed where the old bungee actor was - and there was a distinct lack of smoke/haze throughout the attraction. I say it every time, but it's more of an eerie maze for me personally rather than an overly scary one. A good maze, but not one that I would be particularly interested in queuing any significant amount of time for. Survival Games The second year of the linear version of the maze as opposed to the freeflow maze when it first debuted. Last year Survival Games felt super sloppy and disjointed - lots of the freeflow parts of the maze were still strewn around so it was easy to get lost and accidentally skip parts of the linear maze. This year it feels like it's been tightened a hell of a lot. I didn't get lost once, and the actors inside there are still not opposed to getting hands on whenever the opportunity arises. A bit of an unpopular opinion from me I think, but I personally prefer the medical storyline of new-era SG than I did the social media platform. The social media storyline was hideously cringe and a blatant Hunger Games ripoff, whereas the new version is a lot more typically horror maze themed. Granted, swapping out something unique for something generic is usually a bad thing, but I think it works in their favour in this particular case. I do think Survival Games is nearing the end of its life now though - again, it's a massive space that unfortunately is quite underutilised in this version of the maze. As a freeflow maze it was fine, but does a linear maze really need a space this big? Especially when for the most part the theming inside of there is quite sparce. If it wasn't for the actors making this experience much more intense, it would probably be even weaker than Trailers. Plus it's also a shame to have the cages and splitting up of your group being removed - that was the highlight of Survival Games for me when I first experienced it. Deadbeat Ugh. I feel like I'm in the minority here when I say that I just do not like Deadbeat at all. It's a unique concept and the theming and scale of some of the rooms are impressive, but that's about where my compliments end for this one. Most of the rooms feel like copy-paste duplicates of other rooms previous, and the story is super tenuous. I don't know if Fright Nights have some sort of ban on actors using bungee cords this year, but the crawling actor on the ceiling also wasn't there in my runthrough which was disappointing, because again that was one of the best bits of the maze in previous years. Unfortunately as one of the newest mazes at the park I'm sure it'll continue to appear for at least another 3/4 years, but I wouldn't be opposed to it going entirely. Not a fan of this one whatsoever. Tenement Really, really bloody good. Packed with really cool illusions and effects and the usage of the torches and how they flicker and turn off at various points in the experience is really cool as well. Using audio and lighting triggers (very Halloween Horror Nights influenced, I see you Thorpe Park!!) as opposed to actors adlibbing their lines in this maze is really sweet to see as well and is really well done. The actors weren't 100% on the ball with the lines/timing on my runthroughs... but obviously this was at press night and before the event even began, so I'm certain as the event progresses this will no longer be an issue. I'd imagine the actors are kind of learning on the job with this one rather than being able to fully rehearse it in sufficient time. The exterior absolutely suuuuuuucks though, don't get me wrong. An attempt was made to theme the outside with a scrim, but to be honest it looks really tacky and I think I would've just preferred nothing at all rather than a half-assed inbetween thing. Maybe they're working on a better exterior like the one utilised over at Stitches to be implemented later on in the event - but even if not for this year, I hope we see something like that for next year's event when it inevitably returns. If there's still no proper exterior this time next year, it's just blatant laziness. It's a technologically ambitious effort from Thorpe Park and inevitably had its fair share of hiccups on the leadup to the event as a result, so I'd imagine no time was left to construct a better looking exterior (or to put a ceiling inside of the maze - being able to look up and see the roof of the tent is kinda immersion breaking too). But thankfully what it lacks in exterior theming and a lack of ceiling inside, it makes up for with its great effects, illusions and scares. By far the strongest maze at Thorpe Park (and probably my favourite maze I've ever done at the park!) and I think has significantly better staying power than mazes like Trailers where its age has clearly gotten the better of it. I didn't get a chance to experience the new Creature Campus show or Conjuring 4D experience so far this year, but hopefully I find some time to check it out as some point this season. With the new ents company fully taking over Fright Nights this year, you can really tell which areas feel lacking compared to others. Some areas are really high quality and some areas are the total opposite - opposed to previous years at Fright Nights where everything was sort of just 'alright'. A pretty good event on the whole, but certainly a lot of questionable decisions were made this year where the park kinda just threw everything into the pot when in reality some cuts probably should've been made (such as Lucifer's Lair) and reinvested elsewhere. Sometimes less is more, and I would much rather have not as many attractions but have them all be high quality and actually adding something to the event, rather than a few heavy hitters with some totally mediocre things thrown into the mix.

I’m avoiding any spoilers till I have a go myself, but I think it’s clear if it’s struggling on press night it’s going to really struggle when the crowds hit. This was only going to ever work in much smaller groups. Lucifers lair and the Crows also look like a huge downgrade, as expected.

Doing the rounds on X, looks terrible and plastered all round the park. I know its likely outsourced, but do these not have to get checked and signed off?

I enjoyed the event, was great to see them offer something like this. Whilst I don't want to be negative, I think it is worth saying there was room for improvement. Communication and organisation was pretty poor, from entering the event, to having to literally read out 250 numbers, and whilst the reason for it was clear, holding a 2 hour ride time but closing the queue after 90mins isn't ideal. But these are things that come with experience, and can be ironed out. The enthusiasm was there. The idea is there. It was an enjoyable event with a great, positive vibe and I really hope they look at doing more of these things in the future.

It was an amazing event for sure, I was on the final train of the night and the vibe was immaculate, especially with Amir (operator) paying homage to some of the other Accelerator coasters by riddling off their announcements. It just goes to show how much people love this ride and it's legacy. 10/10 event and I would love to see something like this again soon!

Some great points raised there. I've done a couple of 'torch mazes' (including Haunted Lantern tech and other), and they work best in small groups and when the torch serves a purpose (ie the rest of the maze is in low lighting). So if Thorpe are reducing group sizes, and so lowering throughput, it does justify the higher upcharge and the fact it is not bundled with the other mazes. It may take some time to get it right operationally. Even just ensuring the torches are working, have full battery, and are transferred from exit to entrance is something which requires a certain air of slickness. My hope is that Thorpe aren't afraid to recognise that, take time to tweak things and don't give up straight away if it doesn't work.

So I have some thoughts on Tenement. The Haunted Lantern style tech is great, and Purgatory is a fun maze, but.. Throughput and batching is glaring issues, which Purgatory often seems to have crazy queues st Tulleys. I do fear for Tenement being in such a big event, is the throughput going to be enough? Also batching is everything, Tulleys were batching us at a 20 second or so interval which was timed on a big timer, and it was groups of 1-4, but bigger groups could stick together. Obviously splitting up is cool! But I hope the maze is not too overpopulated and is batched and designed with that in mind. Purgatory also had some light bleed in its first year, which could be an issue. Cool idea, and if executed well could be amazing. But selling too many tickets for it, batching improperly, and design oversights needed to be dodged. Which is hard!

I also feel like Merlin are in a good place with maintaining hydraulic launches like Stealth. Skilled engineers, best source of getting parts and general up keep of these attractions is strong. Stealth is just massively complex and to keep her going for as long as they do is breathtaking. I take each launch thinking how lucky we are to have these amazing moments ❤️

And it’s open!!

Friends with an engineer, he says she should be up today at some point, or failing that tomorrow..

Thorpe's definition of a scare zone has always been...confused. I remember when Blair Witch first opened and they marketed that as a scare zone. But it could handle the crowds and basically always operated as an outdoor scare maze. Even in 2020 when they had loads of zones, things like Swarm Invasion and the Lycanthorpe zone had very very minimal theming. Their biggest zone successes have come in the forms of Crows and Deaths Doors, which have operated like high-throughput mazes. Their other zones have relied on shows to do the heavy lifting, which is fine, but yes, they need more to bring it to life. One of my peeves in recent years is how Creature Campus is non-existent outside the show, and it just feels like a missed opportunity. Lucifer's Lair almost always had something going on, even if it was just the actors roaming. This year may be more a struggle for that zone. Part of me wonders if they've effectively split Lucifer's in two, with Rebel Ball taking the shows, etc.

Interesting report Mattymoo; Today, Monday 14th September, it looked like it was a low attendance which showed with some of the q's. At one stage Stealth had gone technical and I saw that Nemesis Inferno, Swarm and Hyperia were also closed, with Colossus' train stationary at the top of the lift hill. Not brilliant.

So far then: Glitch goes back to The Cellar New fire and dancers show/experience The Carving is basically now The Carving Backstory - called that one a mile off... Not exactly banging my gong, and that's from a Tulley's fanboi. Here's hoping the first actual NEW haunt is decent and original....

The greatest joy of the British language is how we have mastered the art of swearing.