JoshC.

This seems appropriate... http://theinkblot.com/

Oh, I totally agree! What I more meant is when it get normalises as just things like slight taps and strokes is when it becomes a cheap and 'just another tactic'.

You see, I'd argue that touching is only a cheap tactic when it becomes normalised. If, like at Thorpe, touching is allowed all the time, it is basically just another way the actors can try to put you out of your comfort zone. It allows them to stroke your face / hair, touch your arm, grab at your feet, etc. It's just another tactic along with loud noises, invading your personal space and the like. That makes it a cheap scare. But with Alton, the way they are advertising touching is bigger. This isn't just 'touching' in the Thorpe sense, this is touching in the sense of they can move you, force you into certain ways, pull you from one route into another and so forth. That isn't cheap in my eyes, that's a lot more extreme, and deserves to be heavily emphasised.

I think it was too actually. Maybe they've just pushed it back to Monday because it's easier for people working in marketing?

You will also find them in several hundred coffee shops all over the country.

How long will it be until someone goes to a certain man's stage show and super analyses every fine detail of the show and try and relate it to Thorpe?

I never thought I'd see such hype over some black squares being posted!

Didn't Merlin recently trademark some space-like names (Galactica or something)? Could add up!

You can buy both an Annual Pass and FN AP ticket at the same time, yes. An Annual Pass is valid from the day you get it printed out. So, if you buy it online, it will be valid from the day you collect it at Thorpe. If you just buy it at Thorpe, it will be valid from that day.

10 minutes into TPM and Chill and Mark9 gives you this look...

It's beautiful. And that lakeside setting is just Can we have a Plopsaland Meet next year so all of TPM can come and love this and their woodie?

Scruffy Dog have published a blog about Containment (beware - contains spoilers!): http://www.scruffydogltd.com/news/thorpe-park-fright-nights-containment-maze/

That video was taken this past weekend. Also, to be Mr Killjoy, just a passing comment to say that recording equipment, including strapped on Go Pros, shouldn't be used in any of Thorpe's mazes (with the exception of Preview Night where everyone who was allowed to had signed contracts). Equally, they shouldn't be used on any of Thorpe's attractions in general. From a personal standpoint, I believe that people shouldn't watch these videos of unofficial POVs, to help try and discourage people from trying to record them in the first place.

Captain Obvious Alert - This blog may contain spoilers. So on Sunday, I did Containment, the new escape experience at Thorpe. I've never done one of these escape room things, and I've always been a bit sceptical about the idea - so many things can go wrong which can ruin the experience. But nonetheless, I was still excited to try it out... One thing which is worth noting was our group was made up of only 6 people (4 TPMers and 2 randomers), rather than the full 10. This was at the 4pm slot, so it makes me wonder if not enough are keen to spend the money on another attraction / there's not enough advertising going into it? Anyways, review time... The pre-show video was nice, and did seem to nod to Experiment 10? The trouble was, it was very difficult to hear (not helped by the nearby leaf blower and Swarm's roar). Whether this was intentional (to draw people in closer to the screen to help with scares) or not is hard to tell, but it does just need to be easier to hear. Big thumbs up need to go to the actor here though; really did a great job at creating a funny, but also slightly eerie, feel. The first room I assume is meant to play on the fear of darkness. It was a bit disorientating, but not scary or challenging really. I guess it's a nice way to introduce you to the concept and get you rolling. The second room was a lot more challenging. The actor in here gave us a great jump scare and then started acting very crazy and creepy. Constantly going 'tick tock, tick tock' and 'clock clock clock' to try and give us a hint to the situation. I'm not entirely sure how we cracked the code, but I believe we did just in time? Not really sure. So we moved onto the third room, where a lovely female actor started to cough all over me. She appeared to be dying and was in desperate need of the much sought-after antidote. Wasn't she taught about 'Catch it, Bin it, Kill it'? Anyways, this room was a bit tricky, in that it was relatively easy to figure out what we needed to do, but it was just doing it which was the problem. After a while, and following some general interaction from the actor, we eventually got it done. The final room awaited... Final room is a weird one. The lights went out very quickly and we were left really unsure what to do. The actor shone a UV light to reveal the hidden message of 'Find antidote' on the wall. After some general walking around in the darkness and trying anything and everything to get closer to figuring out what we needed to do, eventually the actor shone a torch in the general direction of a massive clue to help work out the final code. Once the code was worked out, it was just a case putting it in - in very little light - before we had escaped. And that's how it ended. We pressed a button and after a few seconds, the actor opened the door to let us out. It had all ended so...confusingly. We had cracked the final code, and got let out. The story has disappeared and it just leaves you feeling so uncertain. I had to ask the actor if we had completed the task because it just felt like the end wasn't there. Being lead outside and asked by an ordinary member of staff if we had completed it (to hence be given our wristband) feels like a missed opportunity too. Despite the sudden ending, and perhaps my less-than-excited sounding review, I really did enjoy Containment. It's a fun experience and something very different to what the park has ever offered. It needs some more work, but on the whole, it's a neat thing. So - what could be improved? 1) The preshow. Having the preshow inside would be best, as it would make it far easier to hear. Alternatively, just not have a video and let an actor give it. I appreciate space is the issue here though. 2) The scare rating. This was rated 5/5 stars, and yet was not really scary. Yes, there was a couple of jump scares and a couple of dark scenes, but not enough to warrant a 5 star rating. Arguably, this isn't scarier than Blair Witch, and so isn't even worthy of a 2 star rating. That's not to say it's not a good attraction and not something that doesn't deserve its place at Fright Nights. Either the park need to make it scarier / more intense. Make you have to work against the actors, with them deliberately trying to sabotage you, rather than have them being generic scary people who eventually point you in the right direction. Or, lower the scare rating. Given what they've tried to do, and that I assume more people will be 'got' by the scenes, a 3 star rating might have been more suitable. I guess giving it a low scare rating would make it harder to sell tickets though. Speaking of which... 3) The cost. Given the restricted numbers and the popularity of the attractions at Thorpe, I think a charge is a sensible idea. But a £10 charge is a lot. And perhaps too much - if they're not filling out the groups and have already stopped offering timed tickets online (instead giving you a time on collection I believe?), then maybe the demand for such a high-cost attraction isn't there. Lower the cost, reduce the group size or push the experience more. 4) The ending. There needs to be more of an ending. I think scene which shows you which rooms you solved and ones you didn't (say by a green / red light on a screen), along with a corresponding message, actor interaction to give you a wristband, plus a scare to get people out would really help the attraction feel complete. So - is it worth it? In a nutshell, yes. It's a steep charge for what they are offering, but I genuinely think it's a neat attraction which can only grow if they continue to offer such an experience. Let's hope it does return next year; though with new / updated puzzles and scenes!

I'm still crying myself to sleep over the fact someone told Jordan that MBV was going by Zodiac. I can't get over that traumatic experience.

The phrase "better`than nothing" springs to mind. It would be a neat little attraction, I'd enjoy going on it in warm weather, and it would probably be a well-received thing, but it's simply not what the park needs.

Out of curiosity, what is the "crap" they've spewed out? Other than a couple of marketing things (Saw being the most successful coaster launch in the world, for example), most of what I've been told on VIP tours has been very much the truth / believable.

You've completely missed the point of my post. Your trip report highlights how all of your posts read, all of the time. If that's your opinion, then fair enough. Not having a go at you for that. But in general, most of your posts just complaint after complaint after complaint. Can't you see that after all those complaints, it's easy to question why you visit the park? It simply makes it out like you don't enjoy the park. A typo on my behalf there, I meant 'sometimes', not 'something'. But my point was you sometimes complaint about the most menial of things. I'm not saying those complaints are invalid, nor are any of your complaints, but some of ones you make are just so small and petty. I'm not saying you should compliment them for getting the basics right. But it just feels like there's very few things you do compliment them about. And if that's the case, are you really enjoying the park? I'm not mentioning anything about visiting parks abroad. My point is nothing about visiting parks or anything like that. I have no doubt that when you can visit new parks, you will, and you will enjoy them My point is - the way your posts come across is that you're either: 1) A person who loves visiting the parks, but mentions only the negatives 90% of the time. 2) Someone who only visits the parks as something to do, and gets very little out of actually visiting them. Again, I have no doubt that you're the first of those two. But reading some of your posts. it can genuinely feel like you're the latter...

This thread is very keen. --- Looking back to 2013, when the park did 3 completely new scare attractions, designed an overnight event, had roaming actors and created Face it Alone, the park have shown they are capable of doing complete overhauls to Fright Nights. It's obviously going to be difficult to do an overhaul to the event given the fact that the park have been struggling this year, as have Merlin as a whole, but given that FN is their flagship event, I do have faith that the park could do something wonderful next season. Also, don't forget that one of the attractions to be rethemed would be BWP. This could easily be done with a name change and a 30 second talk at the start to explain why we are walking in some woods. "Headless Monk Hunt" anyone?

So, there are a couple of Easter Eggs (not clues) inside The Big Top for WC16. For those curious, they are... -Madame Mephisto. How this has any relation to WC16 is not known. It could be that the character has some importance. It could be the name (is it an anagram of something maybe?). It could be the tarot cards she uses. Anything. -Kenny the Clown / The Figaro Brothers. Again, not indication as to how they relate to WC16. -The Wheel of Misfortune has the 'Minds Wanted' eye on the pointer. Our tour guide said it was because the eye is 'all seeing and all knowing, and has control over everything'. I've probably made that sound quite Big Brother-esque, but I certainly don't mean to - it's basically just there to show it has control. Also, there's something neat from Containment I noticed yesterday. I'll put it in spoilers for those who have yet to do it... That's all I seem to remember. So, does this mean that WC16's theme is related to Big Top and / or Containment? I stand by my long-standing view of "No". These are clearly all Easter eggs designed to tease enthusiasts in my opinion. Once the theme and ride are fully revealed, I have no doubt in my mind that there'll be a few pages of discussion with all of us going "OOOOHHHHH, *that* was relating to this *this*" and the like. It's nice to see them doing something like that if that really is the case.

Okey dokey, let's get some facts out there... -I don't think anyone 'knows' what the IP for WC16 is (if there even is one). Everyone will have their ideas, some people will have heard things that they might not have supposed to heard, and so forth. I'm sure there's someone who could somehow suggest that Hunger Games fits into all the clues so far. I'm sure someone in the world thinks this is still going to be "Whitechaple - The Ride", based on long-dead ITV show... -There aren't "clues" in Big Top, there are "Easter eggs". These are very different. A clue is something that will help you find something out. An Easter egg is much more obscure, maybe even an inside joke, that likely won't help you figure something out. So there's every chance that these "clues" are leading us down the wrong path, and are actually manufactured by Thorpe after hearing false rumour. -For anyone curious, I will post the Easter eggs in the WC16 thread. -The Figaro Brothers are The Ringmaster, Kenny the Clown and Big Baby. I also did a backstage tour yesterday of MBV and Big Top. Some stuff we were told (I may repeat what others have said, but meh)... -The Lionsgate contract is not being renewed, and so this is the final year of the tie in. This means there will likely be many new attractions next year, similar to 2013. Big Top and Containment were introduced so that next year, these had familiar and established attractions amongst the new stuff. -When I asked about if Saw Alive was included in the mazes not returning next season, our guide simply replied "Maybe", with a smile on his face. Usually staff in the know have brilliant poker faces, so I wouldn't take that as confirmation either way. -The hospital scene from MBV was not used this season partially due to space, but also due to damage to the container. It makes me wonder what the shelf life is on these containers in a theme park environment, and whether we'll see this become a bigger problem in a few year's time. -The Big Top tents were put up by a professional circus company. The tents have currently been hired, but they are looking into buying them. It depends on the success of Big Top this season I presume; however, the park plan to have it around for 3-5 years if all goes well. -The tents were actually a lot larger than the design team were expecting. Hence why during the first few nights, many scenes with very spacious. Last week, they made some changes (as many have experienced) and made the scenes a lot more intimate, to help create the scares. Like any scare attraction, I guess it is difficult to know how something will be received until guests actually go through it. -There are at least 2 dead ends in Big Top. -A few effects in Big Top are still being played about with. Some that sounded great on paper just didn't quite work out in reality. Some are still being perfected. The maze will grow further still. -There's loads of old bits of theming in Big Top. The mirror maze section includes an old dummy from Se7en. The drum in the dungeon scene is from Miss Hippo's Fungle Safari. The dressing table from the dressing room scene is from Studio 13. Loads of old costumes from previous mazes are in the dressing room too. -Lots of the characters from inside Big Top are named after park managers and members of the design team. The exceptions are Madame Mephsito and the Figaro Brothers. -There's a neat little model of The Big Top's final tent to the right of the exit. There's a few bits of WC16 related stuff to mention, but as said, I'll put that in that thread. I'll try and get photos uploaded soon. I also did Containment yesterday - a review of that will be on my Blog soon.

But where are the valid compliments? I mean no offence here, but this is what I don't get about you. You write a trip report, which has three good comments - one saying that the first few hours on park were good, one about MBV having a quick-moving queue and another saying that Cabin was good (though the latter is quite a back-handed compliment, since you mention that you had "no issues" with the way things were managed, almost as if you were expecting there to be issues?). The rest of your trip report is essentially a rant about loads of different things about the park. And this is the thing - that's not uncommon with how you post on here. With Thorpe in particular, but also Merlin as a whole, you seem to be constantly pointing out the negatives, something making a fuss out of the most menial of things, and just generally making yourself out as someone who doesn't enjoy visiting the park(s). Yes, you occasionally post about good things that happen, but only occasionally. But then after all this moaning, you still visit and already decide to the hand over more money and more loyalty to Merlin. It doesn't add up. You portray yourself as someone who hates Merlin and doesn't support what they are doing, and yet you hand over your loyalty to them. I just don't get it - do you actually genuinely enjoy visiting these places, but use the forums as a place to rant about all things they do wrong? Or do you actually just hate the place, but go out of habit / for something to do?

Unless you're telling the park that these things are happening, they probably don't know they are happening.

Those pictures have 'John Burton Creative' written on them. John does many designs like these I believe, but they are all of course 100% unofficial. (Check his Facebook for more awesome stuff! )

Not going to lie, but an immersive tunnel isn't going to feel very immersive with a huge piece of equipment above you moving you. Honestly sounds like you're clutching at straws.