Everything posted by JoshC.
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The plans indicate that it's a maintenance area. -
MBV is a weird one, as it seems to just get progressively worse in terms of theming and number of actors as you go through it. After the forest scene, all I can ever remember is darkness and encountering one actor. Compare that to the decent introduction to the maze, and the hospital and mine scenes, which usually have a good few actors in them, it just feels very...weak. Maybe the effect of scare mazes has worn off me a bit, but a dark, enclosed area with an actor doesn't impress or scare me as much as a themed area with loads of actors. That's why I really loved Studio 13's ending, as I had about 3 or 4 actors in the final room before being chased out by a chainsaw, in an ending which fitted in with the whole story of the maze.
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Even the builders are stumped...
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This I think is the most important thing. Thorpe want to be a family park, but also want to still have some focus on the thrills. So they need a proper coaster which families can do. Okay, X really isn't the best example of a family / junior coaster, but it's still going to be the first 'proper' (non-powered) coaster many kids will do once they're tall enough. So in that sense, X really has a place in the park at the moment. Thorpe would be mad to get rid of something like without putting in a suitable replacement, even if it was for shows and events.
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There were rumours towards the end of last season that X would be closed down, and the space turned into an events arena. It would have held not only MOS, but plenty of other events (indeed, such a space would have been ideal for Island Beats). However, the idea didn't go through (obviously) and fingers crossed that it remains for a while yet. I'm sure this was actually mentioned on the forums previously.
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Personally, I've always felt that Thorpe have been too samey with their endings to mazes lately. Experiment 10, MBV and BWP all had / have endings which relied on a loud, scary noise happening, all in a similar vain to Freezer/Asylum/MBV. Saw Alive relies of the sound of the air gun to try and get people running out. Cabin tries to get loads of actors for the finale, but ultimately it just feels like it ends too soon. A chainsaw ending is memorable, but it's not very original and easy to know the ending from outside the maze. Don't get me wrong, I do think it's a great ending to a maze experience, and having it one maze out of 5 at Thorpe isn't something I'd be against. But I'd like to see something original and different. BWP does a good job in terms of keeping with the story and building on the tension created, but the free-flow experience ultimately works against itself!
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I don't it's been confirmed anywhere that the mirror maze is the end to The Big Top, just that it has a mirror maze? The Press Release would at least suggest that the mirror maze isn't the finale. Will be interesting to see what they decide to do, but it would certainly feel...odd not hearing a chainsaw revving around at Fright Nights..
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Hope everyone has a fab weekend. Hopefully this can be the start of some more TPM European trips.
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I couldn't see that on the website; any chance you could give a link please? --- On a random note, I did have a look at the press release again and love how they refer to The Big Top as a 'Carnival Like No Other', fitting in with the 'Island Like No Other' tagline!
From what I've heard, MBV was actually planned to go behind Swarm last year at one point, so that clearing work could take place for WC16 with more ease. However, it was decided that it would be easier / better for it to just be left in the Arena. If that's true, I guess it's possible the memo didn't trickle down to the people who update the website when the Fright Nights bit went live last year?
As well as the Escape Room experience, there are two other 'VIP' experiences available at Scarefest; the extreme version of mazes returns, along with the chance to experience the mazes alone, and there's a 'RIP tour', giving people access to all 3 mazes during the day, plus some extra experiences between experiences the mazes. All details from TST: https://towersstreet.com/news/2015/scarefest-vip-package-details-released/ EDIT: The prices of the extreme mazes are £20 in a group, or £30 to 'Maze it Alone'.
Depends on how many people do it and how quickly the queue disappears, but you should be finished by no later than 11
Yeah, I can do that.
Good to hear! Still trying to win tickets on their game; held second place for a morning once before being blown out the water..
I like the look of these S&S 4Ds to be honest and have heard decent reviews of them, so I guess it could be worse. Still would like to see one built a bit closer to home. But yeah, agree with the lack of originality and whatnot. More of the 'looper flats' sounds extremely disappointing too..
Okay, here's what I said... I said I'd be surprised if a maze went "near" where the Island Beats stage is (note, your original post said that a maze was going near the stage, not where the stage was). I didn't say nothing could go there though. Still, I am a bit surprised and its easy to forget the size of the area with a huge stage there. Your original post mentioning about using that area also said about using the WC16 building for a maze this year, which even you note imply is wrong. So forgive me for being sceptical about your source when something so ridiculously out-there is said. I didn't realise proving me wrong was such a big deal. I'm happy for you that you've been able to prove me wrong. Maybe next time it happens, you could be a bit more polite about it though?
They've been doing that photo trick for a while now at Warwick Castle; very sly and frustrating. I really hope they stop doing this and don't roll it out further!
We can only really know if it is a flop if we know what Thorpe wanted out of the attraction in the first place. The attraction itself is a well themed, non-thrill ride addition to the line up. Something which was desperately needed in my opinion. I doubt that the park were expecting this to draw the crowds in, but rather fill in a gap in the park's line up (probably for a short term basis) and fulfil the park's fetish of adding in something new every season. The point you raise about the queue and throughput is interesting. As I've said many times in the past, mazes just don't seem to work outside of Fright Nights for Thorpe (and probably for many other places too). Freakshow 3D and Saw Alive weren't popular when they were open outside of the Fright Nights season. But during Fright Nights, they are always popular attractions with very long queue, because that's what Fright Nights is about. Over the summer, if people see a 40 minute queue for IAC and a 50 minute queue for Inferno, I bet they're more likely to queue for Inferno because they've gone to ride rides and coasters, not walk through a maze. Some people will be happy to queue that, but many people probably see it as "Something they'll do later" or "Something they'll do if it has a 10 minute queue". So I think if the throughput was a lot better, there would still be a queue (albeit probably shorter), as it would attract people who see it as that something they'll do since it has a short queue. Fantastic for you, but that's not really the point being raised.
Ian Habgood; who has worked with a few parks for several bits of music in the past.
Anything not about the new attractions has seemingly just been copy and pasted from last year's press release! The thing with any carnival / clown themed maze is that they will almost always rely on similar ideas, so it'd be a surprise if Big Top didn't have similar scenes to COS in my opinion. However, by the sounds of it, there are plenty of differences, and Big Top also sounds a lot darker, so I doubt it'll be a re-hash of COS. Also from the press release is more about this escape attraction... Would suggest that the escape attraction is an after hours event? Also seems like they're going to play the mystery card and reveal it quite late on.
Samurai has been taken down for "essential maintenance"; it should return to Thorpe in the future. If it leaves, it won't return to Chessington.
