JoshC.

Been a long time coming really. The extension means the current 'outdoor' seating area will become fully enclosed, and there will be a further extension of outdoor eating on top of that (again, still under some form of cover). There's been a lot of demand for more indoor seating (as seen with the extensions to the Mexicana Cantina and Stealth Diner), and this is just more of the same. The application also states they're improving the entrances and exits to the building, which is nice. Hopefully we'll see plenty of these little touch ups next season too.

No new cred for the rest of the year, so may as well follow the crowd and do another Top 5 coaster list: 1) The Swarm (forwards) - I don't think I need to explain how much I love it... 10/10 2) Nemesis - Again, don't think I need to explain why it's here. Same reason as before for the rating... 9/10 2.5) The Swarm (backwards) - As I've said before, I think I'd love Swarm whether you were facing forwards, backwards, sidewards or whateverwaywards. Of course, the loss of the 'near miss' theming brings it down. Again, feels like a cheat giving it its own entry in my Top 5, so I'll just slot it here for comparative purposes. 8.5/10 3) X - Okay, so it's a junior coaster in the dark, with some flashing lights and loud music. Big woop. But I still love X. As ever, the ride is no doubt over-rated by me because, compared to other coasters at the park, it is more 'relaxing' and has a more 'fun' theme to enjoy; it is totally different to the rest. The rides below it are probably 'better', but meh, I still enjoy this more. 8/10 3) Nemesis Inferno - Okay, there's a tie for third place. Inferno is getting better with age. The first half of the ride is brilliant and gives exactly what you want. The second half dies away a bit and feels a bit meh, yet I find myself not caring since the first half makes up for it. 8/10 5) Saw - The Ride - I sit in the camp of few people who actually like ride. It missed out on my Top 5 last year, but after being able to ride Th13teen again, and ride Saw a few times again, Saw sneaks into fifth. I like the indoor section, the outdoor section is intense and pacey. It has so many ingredients to be a great ride, but then falls short a lot... I do like it, but it could be so much more. 7.5/10 Honourable Mention) Ben 10: Ultimate Mission - I had to think about this for a second. Did a junior Vekoma boomerang, with little exciting things in its layout, themed around a kids TV show that I've never watched, deserve to be mentioned in my Top 5? Probably not. But it was so darn fun and I found myself with a smile on my face every time I got off the ride; what more could you ask for from a ride? However, when I ask myself what I would rather ride if I had to choose one, I found all of the above winning out. No doubt, this is another ride suffering from the X-case, whereby the fact it's the only complete ride at Drayton makes it seem better than what it is. So yeah, it misses out on a place on my Top 5, but it's worthy of a special mention. Th13teen has dropped out of the Top 5 - the outdoor section just kills the ride for me. The indoor section is so much fun, yet it's the only highlight of a ride which could have been so, so much better. Are there any rides which have narrowly missed out of the list? Well, that's the reason why I'm only doing a Top 5 - there aren't! Okay, I haven't done many coasters, but the main 5 I've got here are the ones I truly enjoy; everything else is just 'okay' for me at best. There's too many rides which I rate too close together too. But these 5-6 rides are ones that I would put at the top of my list any day... It's quite a similar list to last year, so will it change any time soon? With my plans to break into Europe next year, hopefully!

Since you get one free Director's Cut ticket if you buy the Horror Pass, I expect the price rise is also done to make that seem better value too. Good idea making it more expensive, but I doubt it will discourage too many people from buying it really!

My visit back in April was rather poor (can't remember if I ended up doing any for of TR about it in the end). At the end of the day, it felt like 2013 with a polish up of a couple of areas and an old ride with a couple of snazzy effects just chucked at it. Haven't visited again this season, and given how my 2015 is possibly shaping up to be, I dunno how likely it is that I'll go next season. At least other's are enjoying themselves and giving the place positive reviews; so that's a start I guess!

It was just for one ride following a short technical fault; I guess staff simply forgot to turn them back on.

https://www.thorpepark.com/events-experiences/frightnights/ - Page updated confirming MBV is staying in the arena this season. Don't think it's been mentioned yet either, but BWP is being advertised as a 'Walkthrough' now, as opposed to a Scare Zone - fairer reflection on the attraction to be honest!

Got a rather different ride on X today with no lights on at all Surprising just how much the lights make a difference. Sure, with no lights at all, it adds to the sense of the unknown and whatnot, but the lights make it so much more fun. Said it before, but despite being a fan of X:\NWO, I'm a huge fan of X and really glad that the park finally decided to give it a proper refurb last year..

As far as I know, a Swarm train won't leave the lift hill until it has cleared the penultimate set of brakes (the one just before where the trains get moved into the workshop). On a different note, Swarm's fire effect went off every circuit today! Though I've noticed it was going earlier than usual - just at the train was starting the zero-g roll, as opposed to when it was half way through. Is there a reason to that that anyone knows of?

Essentially the actors can do anything and everything to you. There is bad language, nudity and possible adult themes as well. I definitely think the 18+ restriction is justified - it is very intense and extreme!

I just don't think chucking a top spin in the mix will suck up the queues that much. In my visits, Ripsaw is usually quiet, but given the small selection of flat rides AT has, it wouldn't surprise me if it does get queues - simply because it's something to do! Also look at Rameses at Chessington; not exactly a popular ride and attracts more spectators than riders. Getting a top spin gives the park another 1.4m ride, which it doesn't really need, and is just another ride to spin you and get you wet, which it doesn't really need. Top spins aren't exactly unique or overly exciting, and are hardly going to pull in crowds that much in my opinion. Add nothing and just improve the park would be much better for the place.

Even if you put some jazzy fire or water effects or whatever on a top spin, it's still a top spin. They're not hugely popular rides, they're very common and any effects other than the jets of water to your face are likely gonna be lost on ride. Thorpe could do so much better I think, even by adding nothing.

The bridge that connects Swarm's island to the main island of the park was one of the later things done during Swarm's construction I think, so I wouldn't necessarily see this as an early sign of construction of a major ride on the island.

Because themed areas?! As much as I'd like to see more Swarm-related attractions, I think it'd be very difficult to pull off unless they kept with a very similar theme of 'ALIENS ARE ATTACKING TAKE REFUGE'. And at this time, I'd want to see something different; certainly a big attraction that's a lot more upbeat. One day maybe, but not any time soon..

When I was 'getting used to mazes', I noticed that they would try to scare the ones that looked the most scared; by getting in their face, shouting boo, playing with their hair, whatever. So if you don't look scared, you're less likely to be picked on in that respect. I expect that if they were to take one person away from the group, they'd focus on someone who genuinely doesn't look afraid and looks like they could handle it.

In Saw and Asylum, you weren't taken away, so there's no need for them to mention it. I think when it happened in Se7en in 2011, it wasn't mentioned in the pre-maze warnings. However, I think it's clear now that all Fright Nights mazes are extreme and, as such, you should expect anything within reason to happen!

Perfectly plausible. There's no age restriction; it's simply a recommendation. I went in The Freezer when I was 9 and no member of staff stopped me / questioned it (though I wish they had! )

I remember when Experiment 10 first opened and no one had a clue what it would be like. There was no indication whatsoever of being split up, stuck in a small room by yourself or anything like that. As far as everyone was concerned, it was your standard conga line maze. Yet when in the maze, you get split from your group, isolated and maybe even spend the rest of the maze without the rest of your group, or maybe even by yourself for a while. To my knowledge, there were very few complaints about the maze (if any!). In my experiences, actors weren't abused, physically or verbally, when when they physically separated people into separate lines / directions. You'd be very surprised how people react in such situations, especially since before going in the mazes, they (should) know that the experience will be extreme and anything can happen. This is one reason I think (and have done for a while now) that the mazes at Thorpe should have an older recommended age to go in. The mazes are intense, they are extreme - that's exactly what Thorpe are aiming for. I know that when I was 13, I wouldn't have liked or even coped with the likes of MBV, Ex10 or The Passing, and I'm pretty sure others wouldn't either. And if Thorpe want to make Fright Nights as extreme and 'adult' as possible, maybe upping to age restriction is the perfect thing to do - even if they don't change a thing to the mazes, it will create a different psychological reaction before going in the mazes.

It is something the park have tried before - in 2011, actors 'stole' the person at the end of the line in Se7en occasionally, and made them sit on a chair in one of the rooms (can't remember which mind ). Of course, actors should only target those who are more brave-looking; I imagine that even after a small bit of experience, actors can quickly tell who are easily scared, and who are not, then take away those who are braver-looking. With the likes of The Passing, My Bloody Valentine/Experiment 10 and Cabin separating people, and indeed separating people who are in the same group, I see no reason why they can't try and do something similar with a conga-line maze!

I'm never normally a fan of actors pretending to be ordinary guests - it's normally quite easy to suss out if someone is acting like a member of the public. There could also be logistic issues (ensuring that an actor always conveniently joins the group before the maze). Would be interested to see it happen though. Personally (if we get a conga-line maze), I'd love to see people just picked away from the group every so often and left to wait for another group / venture the maze alone. Much scarier not knowing what's happened to the person who's been left behind!

Let's remember the premise of the maze - we are going on a tour of Studio 13, where the new film - The Motel - is being shot. Our tour leads us through sets of film, as well as make up booths and what not. If the corridor still exists (I assume it does, but if it isn't a structural necessity, maybe they'll get rid of it; who knows!), then I'd want it to be used to tell us a bit of the story. Have one the film crew let us know about the film, what we're gonna see, etc. Maybe hint at things going wrong, or that something will go wrong. Be eerie, crazy; whatever. It would be much better than a corridor with an obviously-placed scare actor and a couple of painted-on doors. It worked with My Bloody Valentine (indeed, probably the best part of that maze), and given that this is an original idea from Thorpe where thought has gone into the story, I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work with Studio 13. Of course, the way that corridor is used would depend on how we're meant to walk through the maze. As I've said before - I'm hoping we get something other than the 'traditional' conga line!

In fairness, Fright Nights aren't recommended for under 13s at all. I guess since everything only kicks off at 3pm, there could still be under 13s on park during Fright Nights dates, but I'd consider that somewhat unlikely! On a different note, I think the current playlist for X is around 2 hours (so a similar amount of time as WWTP radio) and, as has been mentioned previously in the thread, is updated to some degree on a regular basis. Pretty decent I think.

The thing with the old layout meant that the queue to get in the maze had to have a hole in it to let people out. So, you had to have a batcher where this hole was to ensure people in the queue didn't 'fill' the hole, and make sure people in the exit didn't sneak back in the queue. On top of that, they needed a second batcher to give safety instructions and let people in the maze. Bit hectic! Since this was only during the first 3 Fright Nights, the event wasn't as busy, so there wasn't as much a need for a long queue line. If memory serves me correctly, the queue for the Freezer took up the MHFS queue and did a shorter cattlepen underneath The Hideaway which was a couple of lines back and forth to the stage.

^ Yeah, you're right. I feel like we need a thread dedicated solely to the music currently being played in X so it's all in one place.

I doubt it - they've used footage from previous years on loads of different occasions (clips from Curse and Se7en are about in clips from the past couple of years, the sackheads from 2012 appear on the screen at the main entrance, etc.). Asylum is gone and Studio 13 well be rather different - time to let go!