JoshC.

Thorpe have said that "selected mazes" will be open next Saturday (29th) exclusively for AP holders. The park will be open to all guests till 8pm, with the mazes open to AP holders presumably from 3pm.

To be fair, scare zones aren't necessarily meant to be scary, just add general atmosphere and introduce people to the scary stuff who don't necessarily want to go in the mazes. That's the issue with giving mazes numerical ratings - anything that's low is instantly rubbished. I liked last year's rating guide ("intense", "spooky" and "gorey" I believe?), as it didn't lower any maze, buy gave them a category. Interesting mix though. Saw and Living Nightmare being the two scariest yet already opened this year, putting a lot of pressure on Sanctum 2 to deliver. They can never make their minds up with Containment either (seesawed between 5, 2 and intense, now an ambitious 4). Vulcan Peak already sounds over-hyped though sadly.

Damnit Benin, stop making so many good posts that I have to keep liking...

Vulcan Peak teaser video:

Tried one of their escape rooms - would really recommend. Lots of fun, very challenging, fantastic atmosphere with amazing theming and detailing. Clearly has some very talented people behind it, and really hope people give it a go!

I imagine that whatever they do, it'll be pretty much just a retheme. There's not too much they can do with the space, and with the 'property advert' listing the effects and goblins, I imagine all of those would remain. Hard to know whether they'll lean towards an IP or not. Chessington have seen how well IPs work with Gruffalo and, to a lesser extent, Madagascar, but they've not done too bad with internal brands too. Room on a Broom seems like an obvious choice, but I wonder how well known it is in its own right, as opposed to 'from the same author as the Gruffalo'?

It's a marketing stunt, and one of the more fun, different and clever ones we've seen from Merlin. Do you really think they'd sell a building in the middle of a theme park for someone external to use?

With Big Top being gone, which was easily the headliner for the past 3 years, it'll be interesting to see what attraction, if any, takes that role. Every Fright Nights has had a natural headliner, the one everyone knows and wants to do. Freezer and Asylum held the role, Studio 13 kept it warm for a year, then Big Top has fulfilled that. But nothing major jumps out to me this year. With Living Nightmare and Saw already having opened this year, they are well known, but not necessarily for being 'the' Fright Nights attraction. I guess Sanctum Do or Die could fill that role, but we all know that needs significant work. Platform 15 is good, but lacks that headliner draw imo. And nothing else jumps out as major. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Without that one big draw, I wonder how much the park would be affected.

Praying for Movie Park Germany to butcher their's. Not old, but needs it...

ANNOUNCEMENT AT 7AM TUESDAY 11TH. Except we won't announce it all.

As long as the Gasten revamp gets rid of those spiders, I'm game.. ?

Be interesting to see how they use the space. Now that Crust is open this year (and is an external brand), I imagine they can't close the place due to contracts and stuff. Thorpe won't want to actively encourage people to eat at somewhere that isn't their own brand (say by having the queue pass it), so they'll have to be even more creative with the area this year...

Thorpe have been confirming via social media that the closed days that were changed to open days are now closed days again. Confusion! So the September calendar posted by Miles is the most up to date, correct, one. The two additional Fright Nights dates on Thursday 11th and Thursday 18th remain however.

Baring in mind that I was significantly younger when I did Freezer, the main thing that sticks out in my mind with Freezer is that it had actual different scenes and progression. Asylum was effectively a corridor, a huge chain mesh section, and another corridor. And don't get me wrong, I get the purpose - an endless chain line maze which seems to go on forever where you're target by loads of people, but you don't know if it's 1 or 100, etc. But it just always felt repetitive for me - nothing exciting or interesting. Freezer had progression throughout the maze - you had different scenes (even if it was just 'prison bars' or a wall as opposed to mesh), different characters who would have different things to do. It had a build up. Asylum lacked that for me. As I say, I see why people loved Asylum, but that sort of scare attraction does little for me.

Go on then, Top 18... 1) The Big Top (2017) 2) Studio 13 3) Se7en 4) Experiment 10 (2012) 5) Platform 15 (2017) 6) Cabin in the Woods (2013) 7) Saw Alive 8 ) TWD Living Nightmare 9) Containment 10) The Freezer 11) Blair Witch Project (2015) 12) The Passing 13) TWD Sanctum 14) Hellgate 15) The Curse 16) My Bloody Valentine 17) Dead End 18) The Asylum

Totally agree - Se7en was one of the few Merlin mazes which made full use of your senses, along with great set pieces, clever routes and well placed actors. Definitely underrated.

With there being potentially 6 new experiences and 6 days (including the 11th) left until this big announcement, it would be awesome if the park could give a cryptic tease about what each thing is.. Also, the website has updated, saying mazes open at 3pm, not 12pm as originally listed.

Since Fright Nights Fever is hitting... -Asylum was the least enjoyable and most repetitive maze that Thorpe Park has ever produced.

The 'X' is a cross button, and 'Escape the dead' is there to close down the jump scare of a zombie appearing on the screen. ? However, I agree with Marc that there's a possibility they could do something to TWDTR by adding in more actors. Who remembers back in 2009 when 'Saw The Ride Comes Alive' was an advertised attraction?

There's an Experiment 0/10 chance of that happening.

Thorpe have updated their opening times on their website - they are now open every weekday this month (as opposed to having 10 close days), and are open 10-5 (as opposed to 10-4). They have also added two extra FN dates - Thursday 11th and 18th.

Let's be sensible here - there's a massive Blair Witch symbol hanging up, Thorpe released a Blair Witch pop badge and there's been lots of rumours of the maze returning. That all points to one thing...

If DBGT only cost £30, it now makes perfect sense why the VR headsets are always broken! Though it does explain a lot mind...

Not sure what's happened there, but here we go...

There was a pizza called The Edge at the time, but that was sheer coincidence - there was never any talk of a pizza hut sponsorship! The 'Edge' logo looked exactly the same as the Stealth logo, with no sponsorship in sight!