JoshC.

I was meant to be going to Tulleys tonight, but I felt absolutely dreadful before I was meant to leave, and had started being ill. So instead of experiencing all these wonderful-sounding attractions, I've experienced other scare attractions such as... -The Toilet (featuring very authentic smells), -The Sick Bucket (a not so pleasant experience that isn't my cup of tea), -The Nap (a very disorientating experience featuring some awesome special effects that I can't remember) -The Chicken Soup (almost as clichéd as a chainsaw ending) -The Getting Slightly Better / The Post-Sick Semi-Sarcastic Post on TPM (a very enjoyable thing that should signify a turn of better events).

That is the queue line entrance. You will queue on the smaller side of the beach, enter through the red tent (closest to the dome), then into the red and yellow tent (in that picture) before crossing underneath the bridge and entering the final white tent, thus exiting the attraction from the larger side of the beach. From what I've heard, the queue line will be 'themed' to some degree, with signs about the circus (possibly even giving a bit of backstory) and perhaps even some queue line interactivity. Certainly sounds like it has some promise!

The 5 years thing will include a large scope of things, from initial planning about what the park wants, where they want to put it, etc etc. The rides themselves are closer to 2-3 years from first designs to opening. Certainly the likes of Saw, Smiler and WC16 won't have taken 5 years of planning. The sheer thought of Chessington getting a SFX coaster makes me want to cry though.

You're best bet in this case would be to phone the Shark Hotel (I assume they have a number of their website?) and speak to them directly about it, to ensure you get the most reasonable price.

By jove I actually agree with you on something. 'Best' is always a tricky word to use with things like theme parks and rides, since it's always such a personal choice. Thorpe is my favourite UK park and, in my opinion, that makes it the 'best' UK park. However, I think on a more neutral basis, and looking at the parks on paper, if you will, then it is hard to argue that Alton isn't the UK's number 1.

Sorry for never responding to this! I had planned to respond and do some more work to it, but must have forgotten.. FN themed things are something I could definitely do. The project is alive and kicking...just about. I'm not sure if the same thing can be said about Chief Ranger though... It would certainly be nice to finish this and have a downloadable / printed out version to have (I'd totally make sure it makes an appearance at any overnight TPM meets), and it is in the back of my mind. I did design some Chance / Community Chest cards, but never uploaded them here. When some free time crops up, I'll try and get some more ideas posted.

I must admit the closure of IAC during all FN dates has shocked me. Whilst it's easy to suggest it's down to budget cuts, there could be other reasons. Maybe they haven't got enough actors in to cover 7 attractions plus roamers and out-of-hours events? Maybe they don't want people to do it in case they expect a scare attraction? I'm not suggesting that any of those are the only reason for the closure. It could be a mixture. But in all likelihood, budget constraints must be a factor, surely? It's not a good sign when a park isn't opening their new attraction for what is usually their most popular time of year. Tidal is closed for maintenance, for definite. It isn't for budget cuts. Feel like these comments are taking things out of context. After 5pm, how popular are Loggers, Rumba and Rocky Express? What sort of queues do they pull? Next to none I bet. I'm sure as well that Loggers, Rumba and Rocky were on a list of early close rides last season as well, and Rumba and Rocky stayed open later than the advertised closed signs anyways. Those 3 attractions aren't going to affect the queue times drastically in any way. Equally, Tidal's closure isn't going to affect the queues that much. How often does it get above a 5 minute queue after September? I bet it doesn't. Those people that would ride it aren't going to affect the queue times drastically either. IAC has the most potential to lead to repercussions around the park, due to its new-ness. However, don't forget that it's apparently getting around 200pph as a maximum. Not exactly a lot, in comparison to basically everything else on park. So even if it would have gotten a 2 hour queue during Fright Nights, you're only looking at about 400 odd people being re-distributed around the park. On busy days where a gate figure is ridiculously high, that's nothing. So yeah, these closures aren't going to drastically affect the queue times that much. At worst, you'd be looking at 600 odd people who would be using those rides that now aren't, and instead are going elsewhere. Spread that across the park with 15000 other people, and the queue time increases will be negligible. In saying all this, I think it should go without saying that I'm not actually supporting these ride closures in any way (Loggers is perhaps understandable due to lighting issues; hard to say exactly wither way without more info. To be honest, I'm surprised Mr Monkey doesn't close in the evening, given its young target market, but I digress...). But simply put, I just don't think these closed rides will affect the queues as much as some people are making it out to be.

From the FN page on the park's site...

I did my first scare maze when I was 9, just sayin'. I was scared to death throughout the whole experience, but I still did it. A strict age limit is an interesting one, though one has to wonder how strictly they will enforce it. I remember when I was 15/16, the only official form of identification I had was my passport, and I rarely carried it around with me (and I definitely wouldn't take that to a UK theme park for a day). So it could prove tricky to verify someone's age. There's also the problem that some under 15s may already have purchased tickets. I expect this is more of a marketing strategy / psychological thing than anything else. Upping the age by a year won't really give them much more lee-way I'd assume. Will be interesting to see if Towers' give any more details about the reasoning behind it.

A pretty awesome update of the overall area, featuring a look at the trains for FotP, over on Theme Parks UK: http://www.themeparks-uk.com/other-parks/news/photos-of-lost-kingdom-at-paultons-park

You're a window from some Cabin in some Woods getting a photo taken of you with some Freddy Krueger toy being cuddled by someone?

I *think* the wallpaper depends on whether or not you have unlocked the first clue.

For everyone making comments about this being an unfair comparison. Usually I would agree (and in some ways, I do), but in 2013, Thorpe made a very daring comment and said that Fright Nights is an event that can compete with ones in America (something along the lines of "people shouldn't need to fly over to America to get the best quality scare event" or something). However, I'm fine with the smaller changes Thorpe do. There's not necessarily as much scope for them with IPs (after all, they will likely want well-known / popular IPs, and these could quickly dry up) and they do have a smaller budget. They still do make changes every year to the line up, and keep things fresh and original. I do hope we see a couple of new mazes next year though replacing the current crop. I don't seem to remember it happening last year? Definitely happened in 2013, but I don't remember seeing any choices last year. Would be great if they could bring it back this year, since it really suits in style of the maze. Also, I hope there's less clowns in the maze this year (especially with Big Top around now); have more variety of monsters! (Can we have a Merman monster please Thorpe?) I remember thinking this too, but apparently it wasn't present on any previews. I think they did say 'There might be electric shocks in this maze', but it turned out to just be the vibrations (which would be just as scary with the psychological factor taken into account). It was definitely planned, but didn't seem to happen. Would be interested to see who wrote about it though!

I feel it's best not to say. Mostly because I'm not entirely certain how I did it myself (I have an idea, but not too sure), but also to keep the fun alive.

^And here we see a classic example of looking too hard to see something that isn't there. Neat little update, should keep us geeks ticking along (did you clock onto what I did there?) for the next couple of months, whilst keeping the general public entertained too. The about section is particularly interesting... I've cracked the first clue and look forward to seeing next month's clue:

Kind of a silly thing to say when Mark9, an admin, has literally just posted before you. Rest assured that the team are always checking the forums and will act accordingly to any trouble on there. Of you do have any problems, you should either file a report or contact a member of the Senior Team.. Much excite for your review.

Sounds like Marmalisation failed for someone. Get me Dr Kelman's number please.

It certainly would have been shocking if they did actually open with it... The vibrating fence left me buzzing though, and scared many others.

Sometimes, it helps just to dive straight into the deep end and just do one of the bigger, scarier-sounding mazes, since the anticipation and thinking about what could happen is usually worse than the maze itself. It may not sound like the most sensible thing to do if you are scare of mazes, but it really can help. Saw Alive would be a good shout to genuinely see what you'd be like in a Thorpe maze. It doesn't have many claustrophobic moments compared to the others and highlights many of the standard scare tactics Thorpe actors will use in the other mazes.

After not even putting a toenail out of line during this whole thing, I'd be surprised if Varney really did say it in the manner that the Fail are describing it. Then again, the victims have been very reasonable and understanding when it comes to the public speaking about the event. So it's hard to tell really. Maybe there was a misunderstanding when a question was asked or something? Whatever it was, I just can't see Varney or anyone from Merlin saying to a victim 'We're losing money because of the crash and we want to reopen the ride as quickly as possible', as is being described in the article.

My worry about any outside scene is that it could potentially lose atmosphere with normal guests going by over the bridge. I'm sure it's something that's already been thought of (and it's of course still possible that there is no outside scene), but it's something which I keep having worries over!

^ I doubt the location will affect how long the queues for Big Top will be that much. Queues will naturally be very long though, of course, because it's the big new thing and the most heavily advertised. Hopefully the throughput will be decent and, equally importantly, has a fun to be in queue line. Those set pieces do indeed look good!

Ah, I see. Don't get why they can't just do the Wheel of Misfortune at the BBQ at 9:45 though; odd decision!

The way I read the post was that X, Slammer and Loggers would be closed for 2016, and Colossus would be closed for good at the end of the 2016 season? The Colossus thing sounds like rubbish for sure; I doubt they'd have made such a decision so soon, let alone have something like that be leaked out already. Treat rumour with a hefty pinch of salt I say.