JoshC.

I think the branding in general is an upgrade. It's great to see a consistent, clear tone across marketing, and it feels like the park knows itself now. I totally agree that in isolation it's a bit bland and easily missed. It doesn't exactly scream "theme park" either. But when included in videos or within other things, it works well. I also think it's got extra versatility. I loved how they used the infinity logo in different ways in the past Fright Nights blood, Oktoberfest pretzel, etc). But it was harder to achieve and only done infrequently. The current logo can be easily tweaked to suit ride/event colours and style, and it makes everything feel a bit more natural. For example, we can see Colossus, Hyperia and Fright Nights versions of the Thorpe logo, and they blend in nicely with each individual identity, but still feel part of the Thorpe brand. I still prefer the infinity logo, which probably has a bit of nostalgia attached to it anyways. But the current logo is modern, in style with how logos work these days, and is still versatile. And, more importantly, the park have a consistent brand identity, which has been a big issue in recent years.

I mean, they are running it with dummies during testing. For a whole hour, who knows. But should a ride have to run with dummies for a whole hour every day before opening? Sure it's new a is still bedding in, but that feels like a Mack issue there. Also doesn't help if the ride shuts down for a prolonged period and the park need to do test runs, which is where the ride has been running slowly.

Yep, I believe Zodiac also has a smoke machine too. Marc grabbed some awesome photos last night: Does seem like Fright Nights has had an awesome glow up - literally - with lighting. Hopefully that can be maintained in future years, and things like smoke machines become more appropriately common place too. And next, they can do some proper audio!

Nah, the land behind Swarm is fine and ready for a coaster, unless there's something seriously wrong with it. You don't need that long for the land to before you can build on. If we take a look back in 2005, none of the infilled land was present. That includes Saw, Saw Alive path, Swarm, island behind Swarm and the road linking up the old Treasure Island to the Engineering area, plus Hyperia's infilling. 2005: Google Earth allows you to look at 3D models of current buildings too. It's not accurate, but gives a rough look: Fastforward to 2008. The land for Saw was infilled and settled (completed by 2007). The park are starting on Saw Alive pathway, and the two islands. What's noteworthy is that Saw's had been completed and constructed on between 2005-2008, and neither Swarm nor the other island are complete yet. 2008: Go again to 2010 (annoying Google Earth doesn't have yearly looks). Saw open, Saw Alive pathway being used. Swarm island complete. Adjacent island almost complete. 2010: 2012. Swarm opens and Thorpe flops, apparently. Tidied up of Swarm island land. The adjacent island is now completely infilled, even featuring some of Swarm's layout. All is golden. 2012: I also haven't mentioned the building of the hotel. We see nothing in 2008, the land almost complete in 2010, and by 2013, the hotel exists. We can also see with Hyperia, some supports were built on reclaimed. Compare 2024 vs 2022. 2024: 2022: The island behind Swarm has been complete since 2012. Whilst no doubt there is a level of needing the ground to settle, it will be settled by now. If not, there's major integrity issues and the park would either be actively doing work to resolve that, or not be considering the area for rides at all. However, before Swarm's failure, a coaster was planned there for 2015. A coaster was considered there for 2020. The project that ultimately ended up with us getting Hyperia was considered for there. The park have actively considered rides there, and as I understand, it's the front runner location for the next major investment.

They did manage to get Timber Tug Boat and Lumber Jump without planning application. Equally the move of Lumber Jump to High Striker didn't require prior approval. Can't think of any other time that's happened, so I imagine it's because they're small rides which aren't technically permanent (ie if necessary, they could literally pick them up and move them at any given notice)

They're also charging £12 for a one shot maze ticket over Scarefest. TWELVE POUNDS.

Unfortunately not. The park need planning permission for any permanent ride (to the best of knowledge). Personally, I don't think a ride suits the Beach area. There's no natural landscape there, so it would be a blank slate, flat surface. It would need a significant amount of visual appeal to fit in and not be an eyesore, or spoil the the view. I'm not saying it wouldn't work, or that Thorpe couldn't make it work. But I just don't see it happening.

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Ahh man, we've had so much peace and quiet, but you've ding dong done it

I visited Thorpe on Friday and Sunday. I did the mazes again on Sunday. Friday was an interesting one: park was surprisingly quiet, as were maze queues. Not sure why, but just one of those things. Sunday was...less good. Bought the Fearsome Four package for 3-7pm. The park wasn't that busy, but it took us the full 4 hours to do 4 mazes. -Survival Games was walk on at 3pm. I was a bit disappointed that they double batched the cages. At that point, it's completely unnecessary. I'd rather wait a few extra minutes and get a smaller, more personal experience (and that's for any maze). Maze was more hands-ony that on Thursday though. -Trailers was next. Advertised as 60mins, took almost 2 hours. There were 2 shutdowns, although you wouldn't know that as they didn't do any announcements or update the app. I could tell from seeing staff going in and out of maze and not hearing anyone leave. But to someone less aware of FN operations, you'd have no clue why it wasn't moving. There's also a hidden queue line behind the building for it now, to stop the queue spilling out. Seems like a very poor design, and rushed, as there's no lighting, audio or cameras there. Maze was just as good as Thursday, though a couple less actors. -DeadBeat was a 15 minute wait. Same again as on Thursday. -Stitches was another long wait. Always seems to be, but can't figure out why. The park need to re-think the queue for this. There were multiple instances of people ducking under barriers and getting into the queue. That meant that people were getting in without paying and were queue jumping. Worse, when reported to security (as these people were being rude to other guests too), nothing was done. Maze itself was fine, again little difference compared to Thursday. Crows had improved compared to Thursday, and Lucifer's Lair was as fun as ever. There were a few operational issues too. Some of this is teething issues, some of this is staff frankly not being trained properly, of which I reported / complained at Guest Services. Needs sorting out. There were a few shutdowns too, which doesn't help when you've got the main coaster on one train. So yeah, not my greatest Fright Nights visit. FN attraction quality good, but outside of that, somewhat burdenous. I haven't watched the above vlog, because frankly I don't care to spend 20 minutes of life watching some randos talk about their day at a theme park. Especially if they wrote it all down and I could read it in 5 minutes. But there will be different opinions and all that. But honestly? I don't think the maze quality was that different between Thursday and Sunday. The bigger issue is that the park has struggled operationally. Not great security choices. Bad batching intervals. Dodgy operations and communication. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and right now Fright Nights' weakest link is not the attraction quality. The good thing is it means they can resolve that quickly, if they take action. On a tangential note, I went to The Howl (the little brother of Tulleys this weekend). I paid £30 for 6 mazes, as opposed to the £27.20 for the 4 at Thorpe (with discount). The mazes at Thorpe are vastly superior in terms of theming, scare and overall quality. The Howl is the second-closest Halloween scare event to Thorpe (after Tulleys), and it showed to me how far ahead Thorpe are on that front. In terms of UK theme parks, Thorpe's only potential competition is Towers, which has been a mixed bag for a while. Yes, there's much better events than The Howl out there, but Thorpe can only compete with what they're up against, but Thorpe are leagues ahead. I think it's easy to forget that sometimes.

Aside from Stealth, can you give any examples of a park buying more trains than they can run on the track at any one time? I know of a couple: Blue Fire at Europa, which has 5 but can run a maximum of 4. Joris en de Draak at Efteling, which again has 5 but (across the 2 coasters) runs a maximum of 4. I'm struggling to think of more examples, but I'd love to hear more. I'd be very surprised if there's any outside of the biggest theme park players. Let's take stock for a second. One of these is a Mack coaster at the theme park that Mack owns and operates, and is the only such instance where they've done that. Efteling purchased a 5th train for Joris around 13 years after opening, following issues. These are two extreme examples. You are saying that Thorpe should, in engineering terms, be in the same league - or better - than two theme parks which are considered some of the best in the world. One of which has a huge engineering advantage of being owned by a manufacturer, one of which is open daily and has huge financial backing. I'm all for aiming high and Thorpe being the best they can be, but we have to acknowledge the limitations there. To say the park "cheaped out" by not buying a 3rd train is crazy. A 3rd train is likely a high-6 / low-7 figure number. On top of that, you realistically need to include extra space for the third train in maintenance. That costs more. Then you need more money to maintain a 3rd train. All adds up. On top of this, we have an area which looks far from perfect, and money needs to be spent there to bring that up to the quality it should be. That's where they've cheaped out. If the park were to have bought a third train, and they couldn't increase the budget, that would come either at the sake of even worse presentation, or an even shorter layout. And remember, this is all in the situation for when a train cannot be used whatsoever, which is - across the board - not that common occurrence. Incorrect. The park have not sold "more" Fastrack. The park have sold Fastrack in line with the expected throughput that Hyperia would achieve. However, that, topped with shutdowns and multiple Hyperia Fastrack tickets being given out as a result, means that the queue length spiralled on occasions. I add here: I do not think that selling Fastrack for the major new coaster when it's on 1 train is a good idea. I do not think they should do it whatsoever. However, the park are categorically not selling more Fastrack, or selling it at a greater proportion compared to when it was on two trains. I expect that the lack of MCBR was, partially at least, a conscious design choice, as opposed to solely a budget choice. The ride is fast-paced, quick and relentless. It uses every inch of its layout to provide large, swooping, airtime-filled elements. It's not to everyone's liking, and some will argue that even without an MCBR it could do more. But it's also clear what they've tried to do. I do expect there's a budget-decision behind it too of course, but again, I don't think it was "How can we build the UK's tallest coaster for as cheap as possible?". Also, in terms of length, Hyperia is the third-longest coaster in Merlin's entire portfolio. Again, that's not to say the park / Merlin shouldn't be aiming to build longer coasters, but there's a certain level of context that should be kept in mind too I think. I guess the question here: is this Thorpe/Merlin's or Mack's faults? Hyperia's issues could arguably be pinned on Mack. The lift hill thrashed itself after 1 day of opening to the public. The ride has stalled twice in the same location. Was it expected that the ride would enter the station at a quicker pace? Did Merlin check? Should they have had to? Can Mack do anything about it? Or did Merlin cheap out? Would be interesting to know what the other Mack, non-launched hyper coasters are like. Kind of goes to the point: should Thorpe (or any park) have to buy a third train to mitigate for the potential of issues which could be down to the manufacturer? Or should the park buy 4 trains, in case both trains have issues? Let's look at other issues on other rides/parks. -A few years ago, Swarm's chain lift hill snapped, just as Fright Nights started. Should the park have a spare chain on hand at all times. -Formula Rossa's launch cable snapped earlier this, and it damaged a train. That happened in January and the ride is still closed. Should Ferrari World have a spare launch cable, and an extra train, on hand at all times so they can just replace them, rather than going through the lengthy wait to get them replaced/repaired? Every park everywhere will do what they can to prevent issues. But there has to be a business balance. Should parks spend millions (literally) to allow for maximum operation at all times, to mitigate rare and extraordinary circumstances. I'm a little confused by this finale point. What problem are you saying is in the company's power to resolve? Is it: 1. The company paying more to get, store and maintain a third train. 2. The company hiring more maintenance staff, so they would have the resources to maintain a hypothetical third train. If it's the first point, that's been discussed. If it's the latter, as you have said yourself, it's an industry problem. Engineers at theme parks work unfriendly hours, in all weathers, in a role which is driven by delivering immediate customer service and satisfaction. That is unlike many other engineering roles. On top of that, the park isn't as good as many other engineering roles. But that's the same at every theme park. We can argue that Merlin should pay more, offer better benefits, etc etc. But it's not just them, it's every park. It's exactly the same in plenty of other industries. Teachers should be paid more, why doesn't a school just pay its teachers more? Doctors should be paid more, why doesn't a hospital just pay its doctors more? McDonald's servers should be paid more than minimum wage, why doesn't a particular franchise just pay its staff more? As I say, we can argue that Merlin should pay its staff more, but that's a much, much wider problem. I respect you Coaster, but honestly, I think the standard you're trying to hold Thorpe/Merlin to is just completely unrealistic and unachievable for them.

For anyone wanting some photos inside the mazes / to read the official TPM review, it's now live: https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/index.php/2024/10/05/fright-nights-2024-begins/ --- I haven't notice the second effect you mentioned there in any of the 4 runs I've had. An interesting thing, but definitely a cool visual.. I think again that's my issue with the maze (along with Stitches) in that that's a very "show-y", passive thing. It looks cool and is memorable, but does it in any way create an atmosphere which is scary? If it was a clear show scene that everyone's paying attention to, yes. But just in passing as you walk through, not so much, and those 2 actors could be better used elsewhere. I think the ending works well, but it does need at least 2 actors to work. But that might be because of my aversion to strobes, so I'm happy for it to be short but sweet. Even a loud train horn would be good! But I guess also for the fact that scene-wise you go from the train to the village, it doesn't quite flow nicely. The house section isn't much longer, and whilst it has extra theming, isn't much different either really. I think this year they've tried changing things a bit with the house section featuring body bags / animals hanging from the ceiling. Almost like they're trying to tell you that The Crows are cooking / killing people in a way. It doesn't quite work. The Crows work best as a supernatural-esque identity, of people who have been turned into Crows. Last year's version was so strong thanks to the tight, winding layout and a story of there just being loads of Crows, with one actor also in the process of being mysteriously changed into one. This year is more open and the Crows feel a bit more attacky. I'd very much like it to stay, but they need to take a step back with the direction they're going. But yeah, if it does go, using them as roamers is preferable. I do hope this is on the cards. Lighting has been a longer-term project which they've nailed this year, audio should be the next step. A few years ago, the major rides had overlays which were related to fears / phobia. For example, Inferno had announcements of "Pyrophobia is the fear of fire...". That concept would still work well given the park is the "Home of Fear". Even just FN announcements / dispatches, and keeping the same audio, would be a step in the right direction.

I'll give my honest immediate reviews now. I'm honest here. This isn't "TPM Josh" talking. This is "JoshC., Thorpe Fan but fair" talking. DeadBeat Ehhhhh, not for me. Visually it looks great; no dead spots. However, the story is a little...lost. The pre show talks about a rave being hosted by a DJ. But there's no reference to the DJ when you're in there. The maze is just going through a club / bar / similar areas. It's cool, but very incoherent. The maze isn't the longest, but makes best use of its space. They've also cleverly designed the maze to make it feel like you're repeating yourself / going in circles, which I liked. However, this had a downside of a group thinking they'd gone the wrong way and turned back on themselves. That's just something which needs actor knowledge though, so no issues. It's a bit of a passive experience too, with you watching clubbers and demons (known as "Viscerals") interacting with each other. There's nothing wrong with passive experiences / scenes, as they can create fear, but it's not for me. The final quarter is much more interactive, just focusing on the Viscerals, and is nice. The finale is great (some have said it's like The Cellar at Tulleys, of which they ain't wrong, but so what) It does need time to bed in and the actors to really know what ticks. It needs tweaks with the presentation and story line too. A big positive though: I did it 3 times, and it was very consistent. Consistency is a huge thing to sort out in mazes, and it's something directly within the park's control during the event (in that, they can encourage / coach / train actors to be consistent, they can't change say the space the maze takes). Based on today, it's great to see they had that right, as even on previous press nights, mazes haven't been consistent run to run. Hopefully that continues. My personal opinion, is that the maze needs to start off completely as a rave. No scares. No viscerals. Just pure fun. There are already "dancers"/"ravers" actors, just make them happier, with a bit of an edge if necessary. Then have a scene where everything goes wrong, and it's purely demons. It involves you in the story, and creates the necessary distinction. Stitches This remains very similar to last year. Which means I don't like it. It's a completely passive experience, focusing on creepiness and a fear of what is happening to others, as opposed to what is (or could be) happening to you. Absolutely fine as a maze, and there's a place for those experiences as it gets people. but not for me. Was a bit disappointed they didn't change the mirror scene at the start. They could have put something different there. Survival Games My favourite of tonight, although I will have extra bias as there was only 2 of us in the whole maze. It remains intense, in your face and hands on. That's great. It's not for everyone (like Stitches), but it is for me. I heard some mixed reviews through the evening, so I think actors need to bed in and get used to what they can and can't do with guests, but that comes in time. 2022 Survival Games was exactly the same. There's currently no chainsaws in the finale, for reasons I'm not sure I can say. I believe they're working on it though and they should return. Trailers A very good version this year. 3 scene: -Hell Cell has been changed into Creek Freaks -Vulcan Voodoo has been changed into Knock Knock -Ship Happens and Nightmare on Staines Street have been turned into The Sleeper Express Knock Knock is a nod to Death's Doors, and re-uses the good costumes there. The pre-show is now no longer a cinema employee, but The Director. The pre show is a bit meh for me, but it is fan-servicey, which is what the whole maze is. However, they've completely cut the second pre show in the cinema screen - meaning the removal of what I unaffectionately referred to as the "orgasming actor" - HURRAY. The premise of the maze is much the same. Unfortunately, the new scenes aren't so much "new". They are just overlays of what was already there. Creek Freaks still has the prison bars from Hell Cells, but they've got Buckwheat actors and some stuff added to the walls. Knock Knock is still in a wooded area, but with doors added. Sleeper Express has the same layout as the other two, just made to feel more like the maze. It's fine, but don't go in expecting something totally new. As I say though, strong maze. Good cast, and the maze works well. The Crows This hasn't quite hit the highs of last year yet, but it's still very good. The new fenced section looks cool from afar, as well as very big, but it's not. There's two routes too: One which takes you in that fenced section, one that takes you round. The ended is incredibly dense with smoke (I expect that might change soon tbh, but if it doesn't, great!). It's a great scare zone and I'm glad they've kept it. One point of note: It now starts a little further down the pathway, with a little queue made of hay formed, which should help the batching into it. Creature Campus Only caught a glimpse of it due to how busy the night was, but it looks nice. The removal of the werewolves and vampires has meant they've brought the music into a more modern era, and it seems pretty cool. Will be watching properly tomorrow. Lucifer's Lair My absolute highlight of the night. There's a fire / dance show which is INCREDIBLE in my opinion. It's only 8 minutes long, but there's so much crammed in there that it felt twice the length (in the best possible way). The concept of the zone is perfect. The actors are fab. I expect I'll spend a lot of time round there this year. IT 4D Didn't watch. Will watch tomorrow. Little bit of theming dotted around the cinema. Is cool. This is a strong Fright Nights. Maze-wise, they do have 4 mazes which are good. And I will say this again as I have done in previous years: If you take any maze this year and put it in any other FN line up from before 2020, it would almost definitely be the highlight and best received. If not, it would rival Big Top, Ex10 or Asylum. That's the quality of the mazes on show. I don't think any of them are worth £10 still. The £5 mark would be best. £6-8 is reasonable. But beyond that is pushing it. And I think Thorpe are very formulaic now: pre-show, wander around highly themed sets in a linear fashion, flashy ending. It's another reason I like Survival Games so much: it breaks that formula. I hope we see something different next year. There's still stuff to iron out, and not all of it is for me, but I think this is again a good showing. I hope it stands the test of time for the event.

With the VIP Preview Event tonight and opening tomorrow, it's that time once again to open up a spoilers thread... This thread remains open for general, non-spoiler discussion. Happy Fright Nighting!

All spoilers for Fright Nights 2024 go here!

Once again channelling my inner Derren... As Mark says, I'd say it's been "reliable" in that there aren't many issues on a standard day-to-day operation of the ride. The issue is it's having major hurdles with stalling, the lift hill shredding itself and other issues. It seems like these are more design problems which need ironed out (this of course comes from someone with basically no engineering knowledge, mind). As an attendee at the media night tonight, I *personally* don't care that Hyperia might be closed for the event. Whilst I'd like another night ride with minimal queue, I've already had multiple. But let's not pretend that it potentially being closed for the event is fine: it will be damaging for them to not have it open and get content of it running for FN from influencers. But of course, more importantly, it needs to be running for paying guests asap. It's much more damaging being closed for them. There's certainly a possibility it could open tonight. It depends how quickly they can remove the train. They will want to avoid closing Saw, or at least minimise its downtime, so that will play a part. If they can remove it by around now, they certainly could run it today. However, if the park choose to run it tonight but then keep it closed tomorrow, that is a huge kick in the teeth and absolutely not on. I hope they don't go down that path.

It stalled this morning. Call me Derren Brown.

The closure was very much for maintenance checks and nothing else. Due to large equipment being in the plaza, I expect that logistically it wasn't practical / H&S-advised to also do things like work in the queue line. But yeah, it's a real shame to see it in such an unfinished way. I didn't expect it to be perfect (the ride area side of things moreso), but the queue line section is bland and sad. That really should have been dealt with. We can only hope they sufficiently add to that over winter. The ride area side I'm happy for them to let bed in. Many ride areas have been like that. Colossus is a Thorpe example. But even rides abroad like Baron 1898 (Efteling) and Fenix (Toverland) started off a bit bland and muddy, but grew into it naturally over time. I think the ride area for Hyperia will be the same. I noticed yesterday that the lake has 'returned' a bit more now, with the final remaining land that connected the two sides of land together now submerged (thanks to the rain). I'm sure over time things will slowly progress. The splashdown is verging on being the biggest waste of money if the park can't / don't reintroduce it. Whatever the reasons are for it not operating, it's not good that it lasted a couple of months before stopping. Doesn't help that, despite being 'okay', it wasn't a special splashdown in any way. Feels very much like a design choice which didn't appreciate the operational practicality. My biggest concern for Hyperia, right now, though is it stalling again. Yesterday, I saw it shutdown a couple of times. When it did test runs, empty, it was going through the outerbank twisted dive (and even the stall loop) quite slowly. I was getting serious déjà vu from a visit a few days before it stalled. This wasn't a case of it needing to warm up either. One instance was just after 5pm. It had been running reasonably consistently throughout the day, and then had a short (5-10min) shutdown. Both test cycles were worryingly slow through the outerbank. Yesterday was cool, but certainly nowhere near as cold as we're going to see over the next month. Should stress that with riders, it didn't struggle, but was slower than other rides I've had. I don't know how Macks run and if they have winter / cold-weather wheels. But if they do, it feels like Thorpe need to put them on now if they haven't already. A second valley would not be a good look or ideal for the park, especially in their busiest period of the year.

Assuming I'm reading this correctly as "the park was busy", I would...disagree. That was a "mid" day by all definitions as far as I'm concerned in terms of attendances. Which highlights conversations in the past of how the park struggles with more mid numbers. Yep, it was a bit of a shocker to start with. But once everything opened, everything looked largely reliable. Nemesis Inferno was pretty shocking with operations though...very slow for no real reason. Always good to hear this being mentioned. As weird as it sounds, Thorpe's toilets are currently up there with some of the best theme park toilets I've seen. The "new-ness" of them naturally helps them look cleaner and tidier in general. I hope that those standards are maintained consistently over the next couple of years. It's a comparatively cheaper job to have tarted them up, but makes the world of difference to guests, and had been a big want from the cleaning/maintenance teams on park for the last few years. I'm in two minds about this. No issue with it opening the same time as FN attractions and it just operating as if it were one. However, losing a ride for 3 extra hours - one which will likely receive increased popularity due to the time of year - is a loss. Especially on those peak days. Presumably the driving reason is so that all actors start at the same time, with added bonuses of alleviating pressure elsewhere and saving a bit of money. But not ideal really.

When I was there yesterday, I walked around the area and thought to myself "This is very dirty for a 'recent' airplane crash"...in that, the plane was covered by grime and muck and all that. The fire engine, as Inferno says, feels discoloured. We all know Thorpe loved the abandoned/destroyed vibe which leads to the joke of them not having to upkeep things. But in this case, it certainly doesn't help. It's a minor gripe, but a gripe. Swarm was - toilets aside - one of the only parts of the park to not see any Sparkle investment, and it does show. I don't mind the dispatch audio, but it certainly could be more dramatic. The lack of effects is a real shame - even something as relatively simple as the Swarm screech going through the tower before the final inversion is sorely missed. In fact, I can't remember the last time I heard that Swarm screech? The chopper had its blades spinning, but no smoke/lights (it did earlier in the year). The fire effect long gone. And the same with the water effects...it makes you question why they bothered installing them on Hyperia. If we see another new coaster introduced to the park soon, it will almost definitely be behind Swarm, so it certainly needs some love. I just hope they do that love sooner rather than waiting until the new coaster comes.

I mean, the park have Mardi Gras, Oktoberfest and Fright Nights. That's about 60-70 days of events throughout the year. In the last couple of years they also had a summer event in Carnival. So they have plenty of events. They've also had the Hyperia show this year. So they could look at having a stage with a show too.

Seems to be a common misconception going round that Siren's Curse is the SF Mexico / Energylandia coaster. It's not, but it is the same stock layout (the Cliffhanger model). Vekoma have a near 2 year manufacturer time, so it's not a quick decision made as a TT2 distraction. The decision would have been made prior the the issues.

Glad I'm not the only one thinking this. With it mentioned, I have a very vague recollection of it being mentioned. But still, that was a surprise. Consultation suggests Wild Asia replacement full plans will go to the council next month. So potentially a Spring 2026 opening. So if Merlin are on a major investment cycle strategy, that suggests maybe we're looking a big theme park investments every 3 years? Purely conjecture on my point though. The new coaster gives off strong "Studio Tour at Movie Park Germany" vibes for me. Simply because that also has a minor outdoor section. For those unaware, that is an Intamin multidimensional coaster (other examples being Th13teen, Uncharted at Port Aventura, technically Gringotts coaster, etc). In short, a coaster with trick tracks. Something like that would be great at Chessington, but they don't typically have amazing throughputs. Still, designed well it could knock around the 700-900pph mark, which would surely be the best coaster on park for throughputs? The Mexicana replacement sounds fine. However, I confess myself a bit confused by the idea to replace Wild Asia. There's parts of the park which I would consider requiring more attention, both in terms of quality and age. Seems like getting a boob job when you need a knee replacement. Looks nice but you're still hobbling about.

The selection of VIP experiences for Fright Nights is live: https://www.thorpepark.com/explore/events/halloween-fright-nights/vip-experiences/ One which stood out to me is the "Phantom Four" package. It's access to all 4 mazes, once, with a VIP guide taking you through the maze. Whether that means you just go in as your group is unclear. It also allows you to skips the queues. The time slots suggest it will take around 90 minutes to go through the mazes (I guess with walking time, waiting for safety briefings, etc, that's pretty much to be expected), as opposed to the expected 4 hours if you normally buy them. Phantom Four costs £80 (or £64 for passholders), as opposed to £34-38 (£27.20 for passholders). So, effectively more than doubling the cost for Fastrack (and potentially smaller groups). Also, for anyone wanting unlimited maze entry (plus unlimited Fastrack, a VIP host, car parking, Pizza/Pasta buffet, Freestyle vessel and 1 hot drink), you can, for the small small price of £480pp.

The park's commercial and marketing directors have given an interview with Blooloop which explains their processes behind being a thrill-focused park and the benefits of the commercial focus they've had in recent years. It's a great read: https://blooloop.com/theme-park/opinion/thorpe-park-marketing-thrill-seekers/