JoshC.

Fright Nights might be over, and it might be closed season, but I'm doing a belated 15 Years of Fear Celebration! I've been fortunate enough to visit every Fright Nights, and do all but one Fright Nights maze-style attraction, so I'm going to do a quick worst-to-best ranking (16 to 1) of all those mazes. Naturally, mazes change year-on-year, and even one run through can be dramatically different to another on the same night, so I'm being nice and judging these off my best runthroughs. And, of course, I was quite a bit younger 15 years ago, and scared very easily, so there might be some rose-tinted spectacles of some sort for the older mazes. But oh well. Also, there may be some spoilers of current attractions (and retired ones). Enjoy... Freakshow 3D (2002-2004) Alas, I never got a chance to experience the Freakshow in all it's bizarre glory. Biggest Thorpe regret right there. Image from Coaster Kingdom #16 - Dead End (2010) Years experienced: 2010 I won't lie, I liked Dead End. I had good runthroughs with actors interacting with me personally, which makes a change. And I liked the idea of reusing loads of Thorpe stuff to create a graveyard idea. But it should never really have been marketed as a "terror zone", or ran like an attraction. Dead End would have made a fun 'scare zone' in the literal sense, but in the sense Thorpe tried, it just didn't work. Image from TTP #15 - Asylum (2005-2013) Years experienced: 2009-2011, 2013 Probably the most controversial one here, but as a few no doubt know, I really disliked Asylum. The constant strobes for such a long period of time just made me feel headachey, which meant I was more focused on that rather than the maze itself. And it could feel really repetitive if you didn't have a good run / the actors weren't on form. The chainsaw ending wasn't as good as all the other mazes I've done with that sort of ending either. So yeah, I never really rated Asylum. I think part of it is down to the fact I like a bit of a story with scare attractions, and Asylum was only ever 'There's scary people in there that will scare you!' to me. I might be under-rating it a bit, but I honestly think that I enjoyed / was scared by all the other attractions more. #14 - My Bloody Valentine (2013-2015) Years experienced: 2013-2015 MBV was a weird one. The maze was very in-your-face, in terms of actors and the fact most of it involved very tight spaces. But this does very little for me, and so I never got anything out of it. It also meant there was little scope for the actors, resulting in jump scares from loud noises, or just generally trying to invade your personal space. But it just never did it for me. At least the theming was very good throughout, which is something. #13 - The Curse (2008-2012) Years experienced: 2009-2011 I hear that 2012 was The Curse's best season, so it's a shame I never did it then. However, in all the times I did do it, it never really got me. It had nice theming and a nice atmosphere I suppose, but it wasn't scary really. Maybe it's because it was the first scare attraction I tried in 4 years and I was expecting so much worse, but I just never got 'it'. Image from TTP #12 - Platform 15 (2016) Years experienced: 2016 I'm really disappointed that this is so low down. It has so much potential, with the theme, location and story all being spot on for a really good scare attraction. But ultimately, it falls short in a major way: it's trying to be something it's not. Platform 15 would make an excellent, creepy attraction, that utilises atmosphere and tension more than impact scares. Instead, it just goes for impact and jump scares continuously, which doesn't work when there's too much space for not enough actors. If you're going to have a large open space, make sure there's actors to fill it! In its current direction, Platform would need at least double the number of actors to have the payoff it promises. The promising thing is that we have seen Thorpe learn their lessons in the past; notably with Big Top and Blair Witch. Hopefully history repeats itself and we see big improvements to this next year, assuming it does return! #11 - Hellgate (2005-2010) Years experienced: 2005, 2010 Looking back, Hellgate really shines through as a trial scare attraction for the park. I know they had experience with Freezer and Freakshow 3D, and they did Asylum at the same time and many felt they got that right. But Hellgate felt like it was a paint-by-numbers attractions - an easy to make, creepy-ish theme, vague story, couple of little effects, creepy audio with very standard, easily repeatable, scares. Like someone Googled "What makes a good scare attraction?" and went from there. All of these boxes were ticked, but none of them were brilliant. It was a reliable, yet unremarkable, maze. Image from TTP #10 - The Passing (2012) Years experienced: 2012 Going against a majority I think, but I enjoyed The Passing. It was clearly a cheap attraction to make, and had a lot of ideas floating around it, but none of them really made the final cut. I really enjoyed the tunnel section of the maze (certainly one of the few genuinely terrifying moments I've had in a scare attraction was when I bashed head-first into a wall, thinking I was at a dead end). But the rest of it was very meh, and the false ending didn't really work; I was more confused than scared. #9 - Blair Witch Project (2013-2016) Years experienced: 2013-2016 I'll freely admit that in 2013 this was poor. And 2016 hasn't been the best. However, it improved a lot in 2014, and 2015 was a brilliant season for it! 2015 worked so well thanks to a narrow path that got tighter and tighter, whilst starting off with few actors before loads appearing from nowhere! Loud noises, a subtle soundtrack and audio effects and a general, hard-to-describe, atmosphere made it a fun attraction, and exactly what it was marketing itself as! Image from Thorpe Park #8 - The Freezer (2002-2004) Years experienced: 2003 This has been a difficult one to place, since I remember very little about it...mostly due to having my head buried in the back of the person in front of me. With this being my first scare attraction, and with me only being 9, that reaction is perhaps understandable, and hence makes it unfair for me to judge too much on my experience. However, the things I do remember are a really good atmosphere surrounding the maze, and entering it after the Freezer door opening and smoke flowing out from it. It was probably the most 'theatrical' maze Thorpe have done. Like I say, a difficult one for me to judge. In some ways, it's probably not fair for me to judge it. And the 2002 version was a lot better as well from what I gather. But I think sitting in the middle of the rankings is probably fair! The Freezer cannot be talked about without mentioning this video, which still leaves me lost for words... The rest of the top half is coming soon...

I think one of their coffee places serves Starbucks coffee, but isn't actually a Starbucks? It's the same at one of the places at Legoland too.

Thorpe x15-ish Legoland x3 Chessington x2 Phantasialand Plopsaland Walibi Holland Walibi Belgium Quiet season, less variety and less new parks than last season, and no Towers for the first time since 2010. Next season will be better I'm sure...

Plans stated that work was due to start on the site in September, and the coaster track was due to be completed by late 2017. It's more than possible that they decided to change the start date a bit, maybe due to logistics, maybe due to a problem with a contractor, maybe a change of plan to the time scale. There's so many potential reasons, many of which would be no cause for concern!

I must be in the minority who likes Hollywood Tours. I know it's dated and sticks out like a sore thumb compared to their recent dark rides, and I won't be sad when it bites the dust, but it's at least easy to enjoy. The China dark rides and Nighthawk are poor all round though. Phantasialand have invested brilliantly though in the past few years. Chuck out the deadwood, and improve operations a bit, and it'll unquestionably be up there as one of the best places to blend quality rides for everyone and quality theming into one.

Assuming I'm not working I'll go. I'll only go to WW for Olympia Looping and then leave. May have to sell an organ to afford it though.

Much like Costa's drinks, the above post needs more sauce... Presumably this is more about promotional offers and stuff, as opposed to Merlin bringing Costa places into their parks.

The FAQ page of Thorpe's website has been updated: "Opened in 1989, Loggers Leap has been a firm favourite amongst families and young adults. As a result of many years of operation, Loggers Leap is out of action for 2016 while it’s being renovated. This was a difficult decision to make, however we hope for it to make a splash-back in the future." https://www.thorpepark.com/faqs/ It is worth remembering at no point did the website, park map or signs on park suggest it would definitely open in 2017.

I always find these sorts of points very interesting. 3 hour long queues sound ridiculous, yes. But what I think people sometimes forget is that people are prepared and willing to wait that period of time. I witnessed staff at Platform 15 say to guests how it was expected to be up to a 3 hour long queue, and that the queue would be shorter later on, yet people just shrugged at the idea and joined the queue. It's hard to blame Thorpe if there simply are hundreds / thousands of people who will see a 2+ hour long queue and just accept it. I'm not saying that the length of the queues shouldn't be addressed of course, but one of the reasons why queues are so long are because people are willing to wait, since they believe they'd get a quality product at the end of it.

At the same time, they should replace Rattlesnake with a wild mouse.

Nothing really to worry about. It's much like what happened at Paulton's with Edge and Cobra, or Plopsaland with their noise thing - someone in the local authority has seen that there was some issues with the paperwork and raised the issue. Unfortunately in this situation, it does require the ride to close, but people will always look at the worst-case scenario first. Obviously a shake and inconvenient for the park and anyone visiting in the immediate future, but it'll reopen I'm sure!

Forgive the sarcasm, but when you post about a "glaring detail" in the plans which could possibly add more details to the thread, and are laughing that it's not been mentioned, and then fail to mention that said detail is, it feels more like you're trying to get a one up on others, as opposed to actually contributing... Ta-da... (Thanks to TTP) 3 crossed boxes.

The "I know something but I'm not going to say" game...Yay...

I see nothing wrong with the above conversation.

This thread is the breast.

My reviews from 2014 and 2012 can be found by following this link: They seemed to have a change of direction and more money pumped into the event last, and from I've heard, things have only gotten better. Blackout was also nominated for the Best Scare Attraction SCAR Award in 2014-5, so they have potential to make great attractions. Don't go on expecting the best things ever, but it's a fun event to go to!

Saw's advertised max g-force is +4.7G. Like Benin says, could spike at 5G on occasions quite easily.

Walibi Belgium announced yesterday that their ferris wheel will be closing at the end of season. The ride and surrounding area will be developed for a new ride, which will probably open in 2018. As mentioned previously, the park had several issues in the past with locals / planning permission. But it seems that there is a light at the end of a very long tunnel for them, and I'm interested to see what they go for...

This is the sort of thing where a source is required as much as the quote... They're really dragging out saying that Gruffalo is replacing the Bubbleworks. Already beyond tedious.

The plans suggest that the building is being extended to build a new shop. Which would suggest that the current space occupied by the shop will no longer be used for a shop. Thus leaving a massive gap between the end of the experience as it stands and the new shop, meaning that the addition of something else isn't too far fetched of an idea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide

"My personal favourite is phobophobia...the fear of fear itself"

Cian's point, as I read it, was saying it's embarrassing that they're modifying the attraction's experience to presumably maintain public interest. It's unfair to say that when we don't know what they're doing to the attraction, or even why. If you feel the attraction's current state is embarrassing, then that's an opinion you can form fairly on your experiences. But to say it's embarrassing that they're making modifications, at this stage, has no basis. Equally, no one can fairly say this is something that should be taken pride in (or whatever the most appropriate opposite of embarrassment is in the situation) at the moment.

Many dark rides undergo modifications after they first open. Admittedly it's more changing the sequence of things, or just adding extra things, but it's not uncommon. When we have no idea what this extension is bringing us, it's certainly unfair to call this embarrassing in my opinion. In saying that, it's an...interesting development. Especially since it seems to suggest that this extension will be to build a new shop to replace the old, as opposed to an extension to the shop itself. Once again, this attraction has made me curious...