JoshC.

Exciting times for the park. And that teaser video is fantastic! There's been lots of rumours about what this will be. It's long be thought that it will be a Big Dipper, like Lost Gravity at Walibi Holland (where the cars have the winged seats). That visual pretty much confirms it, although it will have cars of 4 rows, rather than 2 like the other Big Dippers. That teaser video also shows Lost Gravity's layout too. There have been lots of rumours of this investment being a duelling coaster (in part because Big Dippers have low throughputs), but that's still not confirmed. More recent rumours have suggested that this will be a multi launch coaster, featuring a vertical launch. The theme is expected to be in some way connected to Nikola Tesla, who was Croatian, as well as electricity in general (which fits with the video too).

A better look at the extension if the wall feature in the Dockyard: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbNpcLXJ-mB/?utm_medium=copy_link It looks good, but the large black space makes me feel like there's more to come / it just isn't finished.

We have another resort update: https://fb.watch/bP70P-s8x_/ Really nice video; tone of it is *justttt right*. Key updates of things not known: -The addition of a playground by Depth Charge, called The Playground -The removal of Wet Wet Wet -The refurbishment of the toilets in the Lower Dome -New queue boards and an improved queue system. Some nice additions. A playground by Depth Charge is a bit full circle, given there used to be one there up till like 2008/9. Ultimately it's a harmless addition which will give the younger guests something extra to do, but it does once again highlight the ever see-sawing nature of the park. Also, slightly grumble. Loads of things are coming soon. High Striker, The Playground and a toilet refurb not ready at start of season. That's a lot of things not ready that really should be. I'm sympathetic that there's been storms which have delayed work. But really, it's a bit poor to have so many things not ready.

Let's have a crack at writing up my 2014 experience then! I was in the same position in 2014 as I saw in 2013; I could only manage one visit to Fright Nights because of being at uni. But after the successes of 2013, I had to go. And with Face it Alone returning, that just sealed the deal. When it came to Face it Alone, I took a risk on my maze choice, opting to go for new-for-that-year Studio 13. The previous year, I'd gone with familiarity in Saw Alive, a maze I knew like the back of my hand. So why not up that fear factor a bit and go with a maze I didn't know at all, and would only manage one run before my Face it Alone experience. The pre-amble was much the same; meet at the BBQ and sign the waiver. The Director and his Assistant were there again, chatting with Face it Aloners and trying to ramp up the fear. It wasn't quite as effective this time, in part because I knew what to expect, but also in part because the actor playing the Director wasn't as strong I think. I do remember speaking with him though, and the topic somehow going onto Alton Towers, where he said "Alton Towers? Yeah, they've got CBeebies Land now...THAT is f*cking terrifying!". That made be chuckle. With waiver signed, the 4 of us doing Studio 13 were taken over, a very short walk from the BBQ, and made to line up single file by the entrance. And then just left there; no one else around. This was a very different 'start' to the experience compared to last year, and where my heart did start to pump. After a truly unknown amount of time, the first person went in. The rest of us waited, silently, for our turn. Studio 13 had the chainsaw ending of course, and it was only once the chainsaw started revving when the second person was dragged in. That gave me time to rationalise what to expect: it was one person only in the entire maze. But what would that mean? Would the entire cast hound you? Maybe. Since it was only a few minutes, how intense would things be? Thoughts were running through my head. The chainsaw started to rev and then I was yanked by my shoulder into the maze. The first part of the maze just saw me pushed and pulled and hounded with loads of in-story questions. "You're hear for the studio tour?" "Why are you late?" Why are you alone?" etc etc. I then had my "photo" taken (the blinding flashing light effect from the maze), and was pulled into the next scene. This was the make up / wardrobe scene, and I was forced into a chair and had make up sprawled all over my face, before being spun around in the chair repeatedly. This left me a little dizzy, but I had no time to relax, as I was picked back up and pushed around by two actors, taking me through all the scenes. Honestly, the maze was a blur from here. Actors would invade my personal space and act intimidating. But at the same time, this didn't feel as intense as last year's incarnation. It was still a step well up from the level Thorpe mazes usually were, but it was all a bit rinse and repeat. Get pushed and pulled around, have actors crowd around you, and then move you on. Things changed towards the end of the maze. I was following the maze route, then I was pulled backwards and shoved into what I can only describe as a cupboard. I don't know what it's purpose was in normal runs (whether it was an actor hole, a storage cupboard or something designed with Face it Alone in mind), but it was very small and pitch black. I just stood there, facing the door, waiting for something to happen. To my surprise, a door opened to my side, and a new actor appeared. They had some sort of duct tape in hand, and decided to wrap a load around my head and mouth, and also tie my hands in front of me. I then had a bottle of water dumped on me for good measure too. Things had ramped up very quickly, and I was pulled around to the final scene. For those who don't remember, it was this bedroom scene: In here, I was greeted by a hillbilly-esque actor, who said he'd been waiting for me, and wanted to introduce me to his daughter (who was on the bed). Said I should kiss her. I don't know what my face would have shown in this moment, but I can assure you, I wasn't enthusiastic about the idea. In any case, the actor decided to encourage me, and pushed me onto the bed so I was lying on top of 'his daughter'. And with my hands tied in front of me, it wasn't exactly easily to move. Unsurprisingly, the hillbilly was 'disgusted with what I was doing', so dragged me off her and onto my feet. He grabbed the chainsaw and said he was going to give me to the count of 3 to get out of his sight. I started making my way to the exit corridor, and immediately heard a "3", and he started chasing after me. The chainsaw was being revved behind me and in my face, and he was right behind me even after I left the maze. And so ended Face it Alone 2014 for me. What I found particularly interesting was that all 4 of us had the exact same experience. I didn't know any of the other people doing Studio 13, but we all spoke afterwards comparing our experiences, and I remember them being exactly the same. That was very different compared to last year, where everything was a lot more fluid (in more ways the one, I guess!). It will be interesting how similar this was to @Inferno's experience! So to round off, Face it Alone in Studio 13 was not as intense as my Saw Alive experience in 2013. Part of that would be down to familiarity and knowing vaguely what to expect. Part of that might be down to the cast, or the concept not being new and so having less focus on it. But at the same time, the last minute or so of the experience was definitely up there and pushed the boundaries in different ways, which is a big part of what Face it Alone was trying to achieve.

The Access Hub felt like it was crumbling apart, so I imagine they had to knock it down - I'm sure a well placed hammer would have done the job. It has now been relocated to the right of the turnstiles, which is where people can hire wheelchairs and Radar keys (good call!). Inferno is also getting a working lift to the station again for the first time in at least 15 years. A dedicated RAP queue is good, as is the new fencing, but the mishmash of fencing and paving isn't the greatest look (a minor complaint I know). All in, some good changes on the Accessibility front.

Most newer additions do; examples off the top of my head: Swarm, I'm a Celebrity (when it existed), Ghost Train, Walking Dead The Ride and Black Mirror.

Honestly would be surprised; primary reason being the side view of the trains we've seen does not suggest a spinning back row: At the same time, I don't think we should necessarily discount it yet. After all, details like the train assembly are not something that is needed. And I wouldn't be surprised if Thorpe have at least considered it. But even then, if it's something they were to incorporate from the get-go, one would expect it to have its own queue. Current plans only show 3 queues, which we should assume to be Main, Fastrack and RAP, so it feels unlikely. tl;dr - spinning row feels incredibly unlikely, but I wouldn't discount it just yet.

Though not totally out the question, it would be slightly surprising for Intamin to go back to the old style tri-track as pictured in the plans when they've been using their new style track for original layouts. Memory may also be failing me, but I think the second row of each car of Intamin trains is raised in comparison to the first row, whereas Mack rows are all level? Might be the key indicator for the plans?

The Swarm opened 10 years ago today! We at TPM have an article looking back at 10 years of The Swarm, right from the initial plans, through construction to the changes since it opened. Whether you believe in Lez Cougan or not, have a look here... https://thorpeparkmania.co.uk/articles/12-03-2022/THE+SWARM%2C+10+Years+On

TPM now has an article up: https://thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/14-03-2022/Project+Exodus+Plans+Submitted I'll be updating it over the next day or so. It does give a fairly comprehensive look at everything covered. This is the most interesting thing to me right now. The plans don't reference theming. But what's more, they make very little reference to anything design/style related! The track colour isn't mentioned, aside from the high points being "light in colour". There's no details about the buildings beyond their dimensions. Historically, Thorpe planning applications have also shown what fences would be used in the queues, including material, dimensions, etc. Why this isn't mentioned I'm not sure. Maybe it simply isn't required now? Maybe they plan to submit those details later, if needed? Being 2 years away from opening, there's still plenty of time to finalise these things (even if the park have a solid idea in mind right now). One thing I didn't pick up on, though, was that the position by the lake will be "the main theming feature": That would certainly lend itself to being light on theming, and give us a potential direction of the style of the ride.

PLANS HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED. Some highlights: -The ride will feature trains of 20; 10 rows of 2. The trains will have lapbars. *Not too surprising, but nice to know. -No manufacturer is confirmed; this is not of interest for planning permission, but it is acknowledged it is of interest to roller coaster enthusiasts. Equally, the application just mentions ride comparison are done to a 'similar ride in Europe' -The ride will reach a maximum speed of around 130km/h (though this is not definite) -The ride will have a light track colour high up, similar to Stealth *This was mentioned in the consultation period. I haven't found confirmation of *what* the colour is for the high points, or the low points. This is usually contained within there somewhere. -The ride's highest points are: 72m, 50m, 48m and 43m *This puts to bed an initial thought I had that the park might try to go for the world's tallest inversion record. -Lots of trees will be planted around the station building -During construction, the lake will be infilled partially. Originally, the supports were meant to go into the lake, but it looks like they will go into a small part of land within the lake. I guess this is a compromise between having a nice looking lake and ease of maintenance. -The expanded construction area appears to just be for the *full* demolition of Loggers Leap, as opposed to just the bits in the way. So no extended layout. -Construction should start late this year, and the whole process should last 16 months. So Spring 2024 opening Now some more photos: An interesting look at an alternative layout Trees In past applications, we have gotten a look at the design of buildings, etc. But I can't find any of that. Usually we'd even get fencing plans, saying the style, height, material of every fence in an application. Again, doesn't seem to be here. Interesting, in a geeky sorta way. All I can say about the station is it has walls and a metal roof (a roof shouldn't be taken for granted). So there's no clarity on theming, style, colours or anything. Random note: the transfer track is after the station and at the start of the ride, as opposed to at the end of the ride / before the station. Somewhat different.

Grand National's minimum height restriction is increasing from 117cm to 132cm: The ride has been receiving a fair amount of work this closed season, so maybe this comes from a review of the ride following this.

The area has now been blocked off: Sauce is obviously Heinz It's also been confirmed to Chessington Buzz that the name of the new area will be Shipwreck Coast. The two new rides will be called Trawler Trouble (Timber Tug Boat relocated) and Bobbing Barrels (Zamperla Watermania). Whilst we're here, there's been some nice repaints to existing areas for 2022, as seen by TPG: Wild Asia: Mexicana: Forbidden Kingdom: More images and other bits from TPG's live feed: https://live.themeparkguide.biz/?live=CWOA22 Also worth checking out Chessington Buzz's Twitter feed too: https://twitter.com/ChessingtonBuzz

And a look at construction: (Above image from Chessington Buzz too) A couple of alternate views from Theme Park Guide:

One would imagine they were told at the time "the codename of the roller coaster is Project Exodus" as a bare minimum. That particular clip would have been filmed only a couple of months before the plans came out so they might have been told a bit more. As for anything else, well that's anyone's guess. At this stage, there's not much else to know. We're still 2+ years from opening, so whilst the park will have theming and name ideas in mind, for example, they might not be set in stone. We're still a while from construction even starting. They might know more (and if they do, it will all be under NDA), but really - at this stage - I imagine there's not too much more to know!

It has been confirmed that Enso (spinning Icon) will only be on one of Icon's three trains. Due to the limited capacity, it is - unsurprisingly - an upcharge. £15 - standard ticket. You virtually wait the length of the queue of Icon £25 - VIP ticket. You only wait 10% of the queue time for Icon I guess £15 is comparable to Steel Taipan's spinning seat (Steel Taipan being the near Blue Fire clone at Dreamworld in Australia, which also has a spinning row on one of its trains), although that doesn't have much of a wait to get on I believe? I get the reason for the upcharge. But even though it's a pretty unique experience, it's just so expensive considering you can literally experience spinning launched coasters at other parks included in the park ticket. Saucey: https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/icon/

It seems like Toverland are set to introduce some sort of permanent camping-like accommodation from next year, with a Greek theme, following the success of temporary pop-up options over the past couple of years. https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/19060/Toverland-wil-permanent-verblijfsresort-openen-in-2023.html It doesn't sound like a full hotel, which has long been part of their masterplan, buy definitely a step in the right direction.

Ah yes, the old "posting lyrics from a song used in a scene of a film related to the IP" gimmick, even though the IP is not exactly a well-kept secret at this point...

We have an interesting update. Pre-face: An image featured here is a drone image over the park. Whilst there is nothing 'wrong'/'illegal' about flying a drone over Thorpe without permission when the park is closed, it's not something I particularly condone. We can see that some sort of paving has happened next to Creek Freak Massacre. Here's a comparison from Google Maps, from around 2019/2020:

Following Jack Silkstone's FN2021 behind the scenes video, there was a post show which featured a brief Q&A with the park. See here: I'll highlight some key questions and answers: Q. I heard rumours of plans for a Big Top return last year that were dropped due to uncertainty over the COVID situation, are these rumours true and will these plans be resumed for FN22? A. This rumour loves to do the rounds… but we can confirm there is no truth to it. We know fans loved The Big Top, but we feel it’s best for the circus to have ended on a high! Q. What will happen to Creek Freak Massacre in 2022? A. To be honest, even we don’t know just yet! Project Exodus is only entering planning stages so until we know the outcome, we can’t confirm anything... However, we are aware The Buckwheat’s have a huge fan base – and Ma Buckwheat is a strong negotiator, so we hope we don’t have to give the mill the chop just yet! Q. Why is there a key (in the FN22 logo)? A. Okay, firstly we’ll put a rumour to bed… Locke and Key, great show – but no links to FRIGHT NIGHTS. Why the GIF? It just looked cool... So ‘The Key to the Door’ is traditionally given as a 21st birthday gift, it symbolises the start of adult life and independence – but at FRIGHT NIGHTS things are going to be far more bitter than they are sweet. We won’t give much away at this stage however we can confirm this will be the overarching theme of FRIGHT NIGHTS 2022. So there we have it. Definitely no Big Top in 2022, or in the immediate future (shock horror!) The official line is that it is undecided whether CFM will return, but one would imagine they have some sort of plan up their sleeve already, with contingencies in place. No Locke and Key maze for 2022, but the 'key to the door' idea will be the big theme for this year. I'd imagine that whilst they have ideas in place, there's a sense of fluidity about it too, and the park still don't have a, ahem, locked in plan just yet.

Recently, Jack Silkstone posted a documentary about his involvement in Fright Nights 2021, which was primarily the teaser videos, as well as some other bits: It's worth a watch to see the amount of effort himself and Kieran Adams put into the creation of the videos. I'd say they're some of the best official Thorpe Fright Nights videos to come about. I think there's some questionable things - the amount of effort and manhours that seemed to be put into creating the SuperSpark Cinema Shop feels like wasted energy as it didn't quite work. And whilst it's great to see a lot of work going into giving nods to fans and such, I hope it hasn't come at an expense of alienating a wider audience. Though that is something that the park seem to be cautious of. But yes, back to the documentary itself - it gives a great insight into the creation of the videos, as well as a little bit of the operational preparations before Fright Nights begins. Give it a watch if you can!

I wonder what proportion of adults are taller than, say, 6'4", and how comparable that is to people shorter than 1.4m. There's obviously Health and Safety issues that can be present at both ends of the extreme scale. I'd certainly have thought that with lap restraints now common over OTSRs, taller people will have the opportunity for more (comfortable) rides. Hopefully that ends up being the case in the future.

I'd say Category B. I do my best to ride all of them, and would tack them on to a trip. But I don't have the time, money or inclination to travel way out of my way for a Wacky Worm for now.

A look from the horse's mouth (park app)... They've changed the name of this place more times than I've had hot dinners from there. Given this is usually a reflection of their brand and is their premium restaurant, I wish they'd keep it under the same name and brand for longer. It's almost meme worthy in itself now. Especially since Infinity lasted 2 years. But hey, as long as the food is good (and it usually is tbf), it doesn't reallllllly matter.

Planning seems to be going smoothly... https://www.facebook.com/283706330623/posts/10166554504730624/