JoshC.

Samurai just worked itself too hard and still wasn't appreciated by the public enough. So it threw a hissy fit and decided not to open. Y'know, like all of Thorpe's sentient rides...

They can reach capacity and turn people away, in theory, and make it strictly prebooked tickets only, but assuming you arrive early enough (which presumably you will be if you're planning to do the full 12 hours), then you'll be fine.

That's the thing, people can't know the limit! There's too many factors (time of day, temperature, how hydrated you are, how much you've had to eat, when you last ate...) to know exactly "Well, after x number of rides of this coaster, I've had enough", especially when they're sat down all the time. Personally, I think a blanket no reride policy is a tad over the top (limit it to 2 or 3 say), but I can see why parks do it. When I last went to Towers on a dead day in May (in the pouring rain too), I still got a brilliant ride count and the having to go round the queues again didn't affect any of our days in the slightest.

Seems like people are fishing for likes.

Looks like you saw a good opportunaity there. I think you sauce needs to be Heinz though... Yes; beginning of January.

Busy day all round for birthdays - happy birthday to Tommy (Coasterdude), James (kinnaird) and Olilzzy!

Why not just put a new ride in the Fungle spot?

I've been Stalin for some time about who my favourite is. I can tell that Kim Jong is not the Un, if you get what I'm Husseining. I don't have Adolf to say about Breznhev, Mugabe because I don't know a lot about him? Anyways, I've decided to vote for Other, as he's always an option in every poll ever. Seems like he just wants to run everything whilst giving us the illusion of vote - seems quite dictatorial to me! I'll stop talking now, though someone might want to pass some Gaddafi tape to wrap round my mouth.

[scratches] Slim Shady

Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge paying for a TV license. However, in the case of us as students, where we've not fine any wrong doing (in the sense of we have a license and use it accordingly), things like this are annoying. In my experience, I (nor any student I know) have never had any form of inspection out anything similar to what the letter suggests. And there's no reason to suggest I've been breaking the law (indeed, the only TV I watch is Doctor Who in our lounge!). I know that this is a serious thing, but I've never known it to be any more than just sending it to every student as a way to seemingly scare people.

Letters like these annoy me: I live in a house with 23 people, and each of our rooms has separate contracts. However, those contracts include a communal TV license (so, in theory, we're not allowed to watch live TV in our own room, just in places like the lounge, kitchen, etc.) Every one of us got sent this automated letter (which is seemingly sent to every student address ever..), despite never receiving the original 'warning' letter. And they never do any form of investigation, inspection or follow up from this. It's just pure scaremongering and trying to scare more gullible students into buying a TV license, which they may not even want or need. It's just annoying to see this sorta junk when, as a student, you have enough things to worry and pointless scare-junk mail is just not something you want to deal with... I just hope that these sorta things don't actually scare people...

Usually the rides have shorter queue times during Fright Nights, simply because there's more attractions and many people are wanting to do the mazes. This is more so the case in the first couple of weekends. If there's no standby queue for the mazes, then in theory, the rest of the park is going to be no worse than a busy summer day, at least that's how I see it. If this trial doesn't use standby queues, then that'll be great test of the system in a way closer to how it has been designed to work. The park itself isn't ridiculously busy and all guests are redistributed amongst the usual line up. It allows the system to be trialled properly, get appropriate feedback and hopefully build the system into something that works and can be understood.

Trying out RnR on just the mazes is a great idea I think. One of the issues people have with the system is that if you're not queueing for attractions, what are you going to do? It's a fair point to raise and, at this point in time, Thorpe do not have enough other things to do. However, if you try it out on just the mazes, there's a whole park still to do! It's no worse than a usual day at Thorpe, except that the ride queues will be a bit shorter as you'll have people doing the mazes as well. Yes, Fright Nights will be busy, but no busier than say a day in summer, for example. It allows people to do the mazes, without having to do an unnecessarily long queue, and they still get to do night ride and so forth. So long as the system works (and, based on previous trials, the system itself is working well), then this is just a great idea all round for Fright Nights dates.

Nice little teasers Thorpe have come up with, especially since they're all stock footage from old Fright Nights mazes (and that one even has some from Saw - The Ride!). As for Asylum's music potentially being reused - boo. The maze should have been given as much a new identity as possible, from theme and name to music and audio. I also think it'd be a shame if the ending is kept the same too, though can understand why it would be in fairness.

And yet the Priority Pass system is essentially the worst idea that Thorpe have out of that, Fastrack and RnR. You're complaining about a park then adding to the problems yourself!!

This is a coaster due to open in 2015, with all the theming of it due to be completed for 2016. Making any opinions about the ride's appearance now is, quite frankly, stupid. I don't like the fact they're doing the whole 'theme it fully a year after it opens' thing (which seems to happen in a couple of German parks?) and at the moment, that tower does not look great. Let's see what it's like in 18 months time though...

Having a standby queue makes the whole system worse. Give the improved system a chance and I reckon it will work well.

I think the point is that the two main guys in the video are meant to be 'real people'. The security guard person may or may not be one of Thorpe's actors, but I doubt it. It's clearly a video that the park fully endorsed and supported though. So in that respect, it's official. Great piece of clever marketing though.

CONSTRUCTION FOR OBLIVION INFERNO HAS BEGUN.

I personally don't think Studio 13 will be like Asylum and be predominately a maze that uses strobes. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if it does have a strobe effect at some point - many mazes do after all! Speaking of Studio 13, another apparent sneak peek from Thorpe's FB:

Poster advertising Scary Tales is up in Rita's 'tunnel': (Image from TowerStreet's FB) I still can't help but think the story would have been perfect for a maze!

Another new video - http://www.gardaland2015.it/en/operation-orange/soil-cooling-down It's quiet short. I wonder if we'll be seeing a name reveal soon? Also, construction update! Sauce - http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1507838#p1507838 (Don't hate for the TPR link ) Looks like a steepish lift hill. And is it me, or is that support a bit weirdly placed? Seems unnecessary to have a lift hill support inclined like that no?

Have to disagree with you there Jack! I thought The Curse was one of the worst mazes Thorpe have done. The theming was nice, yes, but the maze itself did nothing for me, and was a bit corny and silly; not particularly scary at all. Having loads of people jump out shouting 'Arrrrrrrr matey' and stuff like that made it laughable, and not in a good way. I'd probably rate it as my least favourite scare attraction Thorpe have done to be honest and was glad to see the back end of it!

An article about the overnight experience, The Extra Cut (Warning: Potential spoilers): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2779204/Thorpe-Park-s-Fright-Nights-guests-kidnapped-blindfolded-chased-cannibal-cult.html I wonder if these people will be turn out to be some of the roaming actors as well (particularly the younger two): Given that they've got a writer on board for the roaming characters, having the roaming characters themed around a cannibal cult (which could turn out to be inspired by The Motel or another of the Director's films) would be a great back story and one that could be feasibly created and conveyed!

Thought some people might find this pretty cool - the Stealth minisite is still online: http://stealth.thorpepark.com/default.asp?css=2 Absolutely loved it whilst following construction. (Unfortunately, the Saw and Swarm minisites seems to have been taken offline now )