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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!

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’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!

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.

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....