JoshC.

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.

I totally agree with you on this, but I always find myself asking at this stage "What more could they have done?". That section is meant to represent the chaos of loads of people being murdered, whilst rushing around a facility. A lot of the deaths occurred in the facility's corridors and the like, which aren't much more than white corridors! There's certainly other things they could have done, like adding in a trashed office scene for example, but obviously space is a limitation. So yes, whilst I see what you are saying, it's true to the film and is basically the best they could do given the constraints. Dreamland's mazes look great from those photos, and the reviews sound even more promising. Funnily enough, one thing I almost immediately noticed in one of the Dreamland photos was the unthemed ceiling, much like in many of Thorpe's mazes too. A lot of Thorpe's mazes have shown great set design and the like, not too dissimilar to Thorpe's I expect. tl;dr - Thorpe have shown they can create some very good themed mazes. So have Dreamland. Yay.

I assume that's your list from favourite to least favourite Benin, since I can't work out any other logical ordering for them? If so, glad Baron is high up on the list! How on earth do you manage to rank so many coasters though?

If the rumoured high investment costs of this thing hold true, then I don't think a trackless dark ride is outside the realm of possibility to be honest. I think it's doubtful given we've got an attraction which surely takes place over two floors, but I don't think it's necessarily a laughable option. Just looking at the building makes it seem like there's so much structure and so little room for much actual hardware, which throws out so, so many possible ride choices that we know of. I'm just curious as to what on earth it could be..

I see what you are saying, but given a new one will last a good number of years and Samurai is still a popular enough ride (when it is open), I would say it is worth it. Of course, the ideal would be to get rid of the ride altogether and invest the money in something else which will help improve the park and the like, but getting a new topspin would be an alright, medium-term, solution for the park all things considered.

Teacups / restaurant building update... And for all you mid and dirt enthusiasts... Source: http://plopsafansite.be/Nieuws/2015-10-15/nieuwtjes-in-plopsaland-de-panne-14-oktober-2015/

My thoughts exactly. A way for getting some very tall screens in (and out) possibly?

MarkC, Graw, imindetonator, toofpikk...

Now that is very awesome!

At least it had a good run - opened end of May and operated every day until this week I believe? Definitely seems like one of the best continuous opening times for the ride in recent years... With reduced merch and it's closure, it does at least give more fuel to the 'Is it going?' discussion. It'd of course be a shame to lose a ride to the line up, but as I've said countless times in the past, I'll be glad to see the back end of it.

An overhead shot of the layout has appeared online... (Found image on CF, don't know the original source). Looks positively ridiculous. Can't wait for next year though!

With an attitude like that, the only thing you'll be able to pull is one of these leaflets from your local community help centre...

I was actually glancing over all your previous FN reviews before seeing you'd added a review of this season, and that really is one of the most damning comments , and review in general, you've made against a Thorpe maze! It's clear that Big Top wasn't ready this past weekend, and that Saturday in particular was an awful, awful day for the attraction. It's a real shame too, as it does have a fair amount of potential. What worries me the most is the lack of actors in it on Saturday though - surely they can't have planned things that poorly to only have a handful of actors in the maze at any one time? From what I understand, the maze has been having some more work done to it the past couple of days, with some tweaks to some sections, and possibly even more theming on the inside (and it does need it). The first tent altogether needs a bit of a rethink too. With those two things sorted, it would be a fab attraction in my opinion. But then, with such a tried and tested theme, why didn't they get things right in the first place?

Interesting giving it such a high rating - wonder if it's solely because "YOU WILL BE MADE TO WEAR A HOOD SO IT IS SCARY" or if it's something more. I'm curious to find out what End Games will be rated, as I felt like that would be the more 'extreme' of the two. On a complete off topic note, I'm surprised Thorpe never gave one of their mazes an 'Unrated' rating (or even advertised Face it Alone like that). It would have suited the film theme perfectly, and would be a great way to get people talking.

You've hit the nail on the head here as to why it's a bad idea to compare the two. Star Wars is a massive brand with a huge, huge following. Quite a large percentage of people who will watch the film are probably following any and all updates prior to the release, and will probably also jump at the chance to buy some merch. Thorpe is different. Of all the people who will ride the ride next year, only a very small percentage are following construction and build up in a similar way. And of those following, not all will be inclined to buy a t-shirt about it I expect, especially when it's so generic. So doing a bit of a reveal about the ride (not a full reveal of course) may help raise more awareness about the ride, and encourage more people to buy this merch. A much more sensible comparison is to Smiler's logo merch that was sold in 2012. That worked well, but I personally think that's down to the fact the logo was so in itself quite cool and interesting to look at, and the fact that the logo was plastered all over the park at the time. Those pieces of merch worked well as something complete separate from theme parks. This I'm not so sure has the same power.

Towers most certainly do get those types of visitors. There's well known 'Traveller Days' where the atmosphere on park is very different, and there's a noticeable increase in security. Then again, this also occurs at Thorpe.

A visit to Madame Mephisto should help us answer this question... The future is unclear, with many outcomes possible. If you take a trip to the Carnival for the full day, you will likely experience all of the fairground rides, experience some movies up close and personal, and be able to visit the Figaro Brothers. Only fate knows for certain...

Good to see! Clearly they've noted the success of Smiler's advertising campaign and want to build on it. I'm intrigued to see where they go from here. Selling some merch is surely an indicator that the the next clue coming towards the end of this month will give some sort of substantial info?

Something which I don't think has been mentioned in the thread yet is how there were random power outages on park yesterday. This is what led to many closures. This also happened Thursday night apparently, which was why Containment didn't open to the press. Of course, it's hard to say whether these power problems are just very bay luck or if Thorpe are at some sort of fault. I wonder if Thorpe investing in some back up power sources is in any way feasible / viable?