JoshC.

As has been said, loading and restraint checking systems have been slowed down in the recent wave of Merlin being more cautious on the safety front (some of the reasoning behind it is also justified). I've noticed things have gotten better recently though to be fair; likely down to staff finally adjusting to the new procedures. With a good team, Inferno can be one of the best performing rides...unfortunately that doesn't always happen. Stealth performs reasonably well and consistently. It can do slightly better than it normally does (and it does!), but it's not awful. Colossus is by far the worst (even when on 2 trains). Mixture of reasons for it to be honest.

Walking Dead ey? Who saw THAT one coming... Two new mazes is great; the last time we saw 2 new large attractions at Fright Nights was 2013 (2015 had 2 as well, but Containment is not really a large one). So it's easy to forget that sort of thing. For those saying about is this really the largest Fright Night ever... We have 6 scare attractions, presumably roamers, and the cinema. There has never been more than 6 scare attractions at one Fright Nights. Couple that in with 2 big name IPs (Walking Dead and Saw), and it's fair to call it the biggest FN in my opinion. Now for a mass quote of people in no order... A lot of Platform can't be seen from Monk's Walk, and they've had all year to add to it. So there's potential for new stuff. They could also add to the 2 mile long tunnel of nothingness for new scenes. I see nothing wrong with 2 attractions of the same general theme. I haven't watched the show either, but it does sound like the attractions are going in different directions / different stories. Plenty of scope for different ideas. I'm sure the idea of 2 mazes from the same IP will be a big draw to some people as well. Will have to agree to disagree about Saw Alive's quality. But I can't really see that going until the Saw contract runs out to be honest; it is such a staple now and it has become quite synonymous with Fright Nights. Like it or not, it's currently the new Asylum! Platform 15 has the opportunity to be a good maze, and we've seen in the past they are able to completely change and upgrade mazes in their second year (Big Top, Blair Witch, etc). Interesting you say about 5 big-budget indoor mazes.. The budgets of more recent mazes have tended to have larger budgets as far as I'm aware. Outdoor mazes struggle a bit granted, since some of that budget had to be pumped into ensuring things are safer, and it's difficult to create a scare environment outside. However, Thorpe are drastically short on locations at the moment, with I'm a Celeb not a suitable space for a scare attraction, and Thorpe wanting to avoid the beach after them having loads of flooding issues in 2015 with Big Top. With no arena now as well, and shipping containers proving to only work out as a short term solution, they're in a difficult scenario (and I reckon Towers will be in a similar situation with the shipping container usage in a couple of years time..). I heard some rumours that Blair Witch was actually meant to return this year (which would also mean this year would have been the 'biggest FN' with 7 attractions), but there were some issues with the location which meant that it couldn't. Could explain why Blair Witch was hinted at returning! I don't think this will be similar to other Walking Dead mazes. It's been said how it relates more to the recent season, whereas all the other ones have been very generic from early seasons. And I really hope it's not like the Movie Park one (I'll be doing a blog post why that one was so awful). But it is my biggest concern about Walking Dead being around - the one at MPG was said to be really good, and it seemed to get a lot of praise from AMC. So if that's the standard, the bar is set quite low... There was quite a lot of hype for this, probably too much yeah. I think there was actually slightly more planned this year, but things have fallen through / been delayed. So maybe if all the original plans worked out, the hype would have been worth it. It also doesn't help that we as enthusiasts have figured out Walking Dead weeks ago. Reckon the GP are lapping this up though... So yeah, tl;dr - I'm looking for to this. There's potential, and I know that things behind the scenes have been ever improving at Thorpe. I have some concerns, but I'm remaining optimistic that they'll be unfounded.

Very few parks will have a completely spare train. Especially with the biggest manufacturers, a complete train costs a 6 or 7 figure sum, which simply isn't cost effective to have as something on standby. It does happen (Stealth being a prime example), but it is rare and doesn't always mean the ride will run at full capacity (Stealth being a prime example). Saw has the lowest theoretical throughput of the major coasters. However, it is one of the more consistent rides and regularly achieves decent numbers. It's also one of the few rides which can exceed it's theoretical throughput if it has a large enough (and good enough!) team. Colossus and Inferno are probably the 2 worst performing major coasters at the moment, though in fairness they have been doing better this summer to be fair..

I'd much rather have Peeking Heights than Liseberg's ferris wheel to be fair. I still have nightmares about that...

^You'd have enjoyed Face it Alone in 2013 and 2014 then. Those years focused more on the alone aspect, where you were given personal interactions with actors, you had that solo rush, you did things that you'd never get a chance to do in a normal run. But at the same time, you were given the poncho to protect clothing (from water), there was nothing really sexual (aside from actors being naked in Saw...and Asylum apparently). 2015 was really the only year where there was the bordering on weird sexual side of things, with the spanking and stripping and stuff. Certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea, but again it did work at the time because of how the experience was set up. For the record, I was never stripped during FiA, I never came out with physical bruises or anything like that. Worst I had physically done to me was paint all over me and hay shoved in my boxers..

Who want's an aerial photo of Phantasialand? Everyone of course... Posted by Phantasialand's Executive Assistant Chris (who appeared in loads of Klugheim videos, winter update videos, always looks extremely happy and generally seems like an awesome guy), with the caption 'The sky is the limit'. Rumours have been 'fly'ing around that the park are going to be construction updates akin to what they did with Klugheim, and that they could be due to start soon. So we *might* be seeing a nice, official, you-can't-get-banned-from-the-park-for-life-by-looking-at-it, update on F.L.Y. soon!

So The Welcoming will be held in the Mutiny Bay courtyard area (which is being turned into a Smokehouse for next year, meaning this is likely a 1-year maze). Here's a couple of photos from Dave of TowersStreet (sourced from TS Facebook)...

From what I've heard, there's no day-to-day VIP activity during Fright Nights. That would mean no Face it Alone, no Behind the Scenes and that the Zombie Academy that ran during half term week isn't returning. Would be wrong to say Face it Alone has gotten tamer each year though. In 2013 and 2014, you were given a free poncho to protect your clothes - an idea which would have been laughed at in 2015 and 2016. 2015 was by far the most 'extreme' year - it featured overt sexual references, commonly saw people stripped, gagging, being put into physically uncomfortable positions and have uncomfortable things done to you, etc. Something else was that each experience was unique - actors were given very loose directions of what they could do, which gave them free reign to mix it up every time. In 2016 (but also 2014), each experience was a carbon copy - so every Face it Aloner would receive the exact same experience. 2016 was also tamer, reeling in on the sexual side, stripping, etc. Face it Alone isn't actually that expensive to run. Actors usually stay a fair while after park close anyways, to help with a general clean down of the maze, change of costume, etc. The set up in 2015 and 2016 (where only 1 maze had FiA each night) meant that you were only having staff on 1 maze stay an extra half hour or so at most, so it's not that much. The materials used for FiA (tape, shaving foam, paint, etc) are all very cheap and probably bulk bought anyways so wouldn't have that much affect. The one thing which people probably never appreciated with Face it Alone is just how much time goes into creating the experience. It wasn't a case of just telling the actors 'do what you want', it always had a lot of thought and effort put into it. Sure, you can bombard people with masking tape, gaffa tape, baby powder, cream pies, water, etc and put them in awkward positions, but it doesn't quite work if you don't put it in a certain order, build it up so that it actually flows. It's not something that can really be done just like that. And the designing of these experiences was done as an extra; a side project if you will. If the person / persons designing them can no longer do it (say they leave, don't have the time, etc), it's a lot of energy and time to put in for something which doesn't generate a great deal of money compared to other things. So another person might not want to take that load. For Thorpe to no longer offer Face it Alone is truly a shame, and is out-of-touch with the current scare industry. Extreme and alone experiences have been growing in popularity so much over the past few years, and they're something which are really sought after in the UK and Europe in my experience. Thorpe were actually one of the first places to really introduce this on a wider, more accessible scale (both with Face it Alone starting in 2013, and with Experiment 10's isolation cells in 2011). The experiences grew as time went on, and I think they did struggle to find a balance - some people wanted full-on extreme to rival that of specialist scare attractions, some people were expecting a standard run through by yourself. It was difficult to try and advertise - and deliver! - it as something in the middle, to make sure people knew what they were expecting, so that they weren't disappointed or disgusted with what they got. But by no longer offering it at all, it means they can't continue to grow and develop with that. I hope they don't shut the door on extreme experiences completely. There is a market for it, there is the demand at Thorpe for it, and they have a brilliant chance to deliver it. Put the time in, and you'll get the rewards out of it.

Potentially a slippery slope coming along. Many times I've seen guests be quite blunt / upfront about trying to get pin badges from staff (in some cases adults getting their children to ask to try and play the 'sweet kid' card), and said guests be quite rude if they don't get the way. Having swapathons and encouraging swapping in that respect will make it easier for guests to try and twist staff's arm to get them. And will lead to the self-entitled AP holders to get all the more agitated and rude. Could be a nice idea, but I don't think it'll work out...

The physical space where Peeking is will be used for tiger enclosures. The plans showed no new rides for Mystic East. That doesn't rule outthe potential for a new ride elsewhere, but personally I'd he surprised.

Part of me really hopes that on Tuesday they just 'announce' that Saw Alive is returning or something, just to annoy all the enthusiasts moaning that the reveal hasn't happened...

Typical 'showing nothing' style video, which is usually released in the build up to FN...

I would assume most of Experiment 10 was just reused or binned when they turned the containers into My Bloody Valentine, and there's not much of that worth reusing in my opinion... It's not *that* chalky, and certainly not worse than making people walk through Blair Witch when it was a bit wet and muddy. The maintenance shed could still be accessed. I guess they could create a pathway to the open area, and have maze and queue there. Not perfect, and I imagine a logistical pain in the butt for staff, but not impossible in my books.

I could see the space to the side of Swarm being used. It's well maintained, and aside from some gravel, easily accessible. And it is a nice open space away from the park, yet spreads the mazes around the park. Assuming they can make the gravel bits okay, it'd be fine. Would create a massive bottleneck area round Swarm mind.

In fairness, if there's any park that can make a RnR style system work, it's Efteling. They have the infrastructure and the attraction line up for people to have enough to do whilst virtually waiting. Trialling it on Python, their least popular major attraction, makes sense too. And there could be a need for it - on busy days, the park does get long queues. I don't think it'll work wide scale because people won't want to faff about with it. But it will be interesting to see how the Dutch (and European) crowds react to it in practice Still hilarious seeing Efteling essentially copy Thorpe yet again though...

What I more meant was it could be a large set piece which doubles up as a way to stop people gazing over, as opposed to a second floor. But yeah, should've been clearer. Terror of the Towers at Alton had stairs half way through the route in 2012 (not sure if it still does). It was awfully done, with only a regular member of staff near there encouraging people to go down the stairs safely - complete atmosphere killer. So it can be done, but it can be a negative effect to the experience. I'd love to have seen you in the days when Se7en was announced. Happened quite late on (about a month before the event started) and construction for the maze didn't start till there was about 2 weeks before the event. THAT was cutting it fine.

Or they might just be building really high walls so no one can look over the X queue line to see into the maze...

Rumours of a woodworm infestation have been about for a while, so potentially damage from that.. I'd be more interested to know when they'd replace it to be honest. They don't want to outright lose a major attraction for a few years; if anything, they want to expand the number of them. Imagine what the situation would be like is Colossus or Stealth at Thorpe got SBNoed...

Efteling are set to trial out a new, free to use, reduced queue time system on Python from next month... https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/8310/Doorbraak-Efteling-krijgt-gratis-FastPass-systeem.html It is exactly like Reserve n Ride.

I had suggested that we change the forum to Movie Park Mania, but alas it wasn't to be.

Yeah the Big Top campaign started around now, and they were able to carry on a big push for it till Fright Nights started. That really helped with getting tickets booked at high levels.

There have been plenty of times when they've announced new attractions for FN in September - Containment, Studio 13, The Passing, Experiment 10, Dead End were all announced in September. I'm sure if we were to go further back plenty of details weren't revealed until very late on as well. We've really been spoilt with early Fright Nights announcements the past couple of years. Maybe the early reveal meant the hype train died away too early, hence why they're trying the 'something is coming' tactic.

I'd be very surprised if this does have links with the film. I can't think of a time when Merlin has done an IP and not used the logo of that IP. Plus there's the fact the film is called 'The Wicker Man', as opposed to just 'Wicker Man'. And I have just enough faith in Merlin to think they wouldn't theme a family coaster around a dead flop of an old horror IP. The issue at the moment for me comes down to whether people will see 'Wicker Man' and instantly think of the films, the general idea of a burning wooden thing or what. And the fact it still feels a bit too much like they haven't learnt from Th13teen. If they wanted to go down the fire and wood route, I'm surprised they didn't go for a pirate theme. It practically sets itself up and could have been hilarious.

It's a shame that in this day and age it's easy enough for enthusiasts with enough time on their hands can dig through trademark websites to find out names / logos in advance.. Spoils the fun a bit more... Then again we've known this name since before Flume was fully dismantled so I guess there's that... Logo looks nice, prospect of fire is good. Somewhat concerned that a Th13teen style over-hyped marketing campaign is coming though.

To be fair, it works. Plus it is a good amount of effort creating a whole alphabet of 'ruins' and chucking in loads of random 'weird' things in the video that'll be noticed by enthusiasts watching it 100s of times. It's simple, will mean next to nothing about the ride (I expect 'Be Chosen' will be a marketing slogan and that's it), but slowly gets people talking. I'm just disappointed they didn't go for a proper code breaking thing, and instead opted for the much easier, quick to crack translation method.