JoshC.

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!

I see no reason to change my vote from the last lynch, unless other supposed 'civilians' arouse my suspicion: ##vote J.S217

For small to medium investments, the UK Merlin parks always seem to advertise from October or later. Never has been problematic in the past, and with the various online methods of advertising, even if they don't reach people when they are on park, they'll reach them through the internet. Thorpe may not even be 100% sure what they're doing next year, and if it's anything that requires planning permission, they haven't applied for it yet. No point in advertising something which they may not even get right? Don't think there's a reason to panic or anything, or suggest they've missed opportunity yet.

What makes you say that? None of the Fright Nights attractions seem to have a need for any of the trees to be trimmed, cut down or tagged at all. The park can still build hype for a new attraction if they want. The ride could open mid-season, advertising could start late, whatever. They have no way missed an opportunity!

The canopy-thing will probably only take a day to get down, so no worries there. No need for them to rush about and change the location on the website - most people won't have checked that part of the site yet, and I doubt people who have seen it will care that much anyway (given the fact that there'll be maps showing where attractions are), if they even remember.

The website says "next to THE SWARM". It won't be on the actual island since there's simply not enough room, so the only logical options to me seem to be the island behind Swarm or Lake View.EDIT: Beaten to it

With regards to the island behind Swarm being a possibility for MBV, I guess it's possible for a temporary bridge to be set up between Swarm's island and that island. Work would have to start very soon to make it happen though. Alternatively, they could make guests walk behind Rumba to Treasure Island, which is already connected to that island. Would be a long old trek though! They'd also need a lot of fences to make sure everyone is safe. The alternative would be having the maze in the Lake Side Marquee, which would likely involve the maze not being in shipping containers. Either option is interesting and gives the park scope to make some major improvements to the maze.

Hope everyone going has a fantastic time!

Ended up not posting a photo of the tent / canopy thing that DGC mentioned last night since I was on my phone, but here's a photo for anyone interested: Who I spoke to on Tuesday was under the impression that it was just for a private event and that MBV would be put up as soon as it was taken down. So very interesting development. I wonder if MBV is staying in shipping containers or is being completely redone?

Fright Nights page has been updated: https://www.thorpepark.com/events-experiences/frightnights/ Things I've noticed: -My Bloody Valentine is now located "next to THE SWARM"? -Studio 13 is (only!?) rated 4/5 stars -All other scare ratings are the same. Interesting stuff!

WE HAVE YET TO INFILTRATE THE MAFIA. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. Town-oriented civilians, WE MUST WORK TOGETHER. TOGETHER. AS A TEAM. I hope I'm getting this through your dense skulls. All of my Phalanx Operatives back in our dimension would agree that J.S217 and CoasterDude seem suspicious for their constant changing of their mind. I also have some concerns over kinnaird. I hope that we can work together to suss out if any of these people are part of the scummy mafia.

Any of them! I only did one last year (Saw), but I reckon they'll all give similarly intense experiences. So choose your favourite maze (or maze you're liking forward to most if you haven't done them before) and enjoy!

The arena has been hired out by a private company for an event and the canopy will only be there for a few days. My Bloody Valentine is still taking place in the arena and well likely be set up soon after the canopy gets taken down.

I must confess that this was me reading this thread over the past couple of days:

Fright Nights Press Release - https://www.thorpepark.com/media/1899/fright-nights-returns.pdf No new information really, but gives all the information we know in one place!

'Cashed in' my Behind the Scenes Tour and Coaster Climb. Huge thanks to TPM for being able to sort out 2for1 deals and to Thorpe for giving TPM that opportunity and for setting it up the ideas in the first place! My Behind the Scenes tour was of Saw, and was really interesting. Got given a full tour of the workshop, control room, console as well as along part of the CCR route. The engineers' knowledge is unreal, and their ability to be able to answer any question in such depth shows that they have real passion for their work! Of course, I did the Coaster Climb on Swarm. Being such a nice day, we could around for miles, and it was a really nice being up there. Photos don't justify how amazing the views are. Afterwards, I was given a closer look at the helicopter - real nice bit of theming! If anyone wants a look at my pictures, they're here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10204794539966380.1073741833.1324550230&type=1&l=81b6fdfe9a Again, thanks to TPM, Thorpe, my VIP host, the Saw engineers and the rides manager who took us up the lift hill! Will definitely be looking into doing another experience next season!

I think someone's sarcasm detector is broken...

I guess you could argue that those three rides aren't dark rides though - they're rides with an indoor section. Sub Terra, in my opinion, is a good dark ride (even if the original version was apparent rubbish and the scare maze ending is a bit of a silly idea), and shows that they can do good things. The Haunted House at Legoland Billund is apparent decent as well. I think there is hope for a good, major, dark ride at Thorpe / Merlin parks. Won't be easy and won't be cheap, but definitely feasible.