JoshC.

Speaking of Press Releases, there's been a few new ones released - http://www.thorpepark.com/press/releases/default.aspx The most interesting one gives loads of facts: Sounds good!

How are you judging 'Mazes' there? Surely a maze can only be judged on the scares, set design and costume, which you've all judged in separate categories? Just interested really.

Comparisons to HHN have to be expected (especially for CITW), when the park are saying you don't need to fly out to America for a great Halloween event. In that, they are pretty much saying Fright Nights will be as good as HHN; they've set the bar extremely high. For CITW, I wasn't expecting much of an exterior - they simple don't have the logistical space, and I doubt the budget, to create of such high immersive level. Hopefully, as time goes on, we'll see more and more money splashed out into FN, and hopefully more on the actual look of the event. We do know not to judge things based on their exterior as well; look at Se7en and Curse. They had a fair amount of good quality theming in tents, so I do expect the inside of CITW to be rather special. But as Fred says, first impressions do count, and hopefully people won't be too let down by the exterior. Then again, that will come down to expectations, and I doubt somewhat that most people will have seen Universal's attempt to compare / expect..

Was expecting something different (like an introduction from the deranged film director or something), but it does the job. No where near as good as some of the previous Fright Nights trailers though, I'm afraid to say!

We best be careful guys... http://themetapicture.com/things-that-kill-more-people-than-sharks/

- The second water effect (by the fire engine) I *think* has been turned off totally now, as I think it was causing problems with the fire effect. The first one is admittedly hit and miss. - Almost every time I've been this year, the fire effect has been on, and goes off every 3 cycles. The only time I can think of was in March and April, when it was snowing... - I have noticed the staircase effect has been off. However, I think only one time I've been this year was that part of the queue even open, so maybe it's a decision that reflects that, though I think if that's the case, it is a shame. Saw did have troubles with its effects in the first season or two as well. I'm not saying it's okay that Swarm's effect aren't perfect, but from all my visits this season, Swarm's effects have been pretty darn good.

I'm guessing Carousel and Banana Boat are due to lack of popularity (especially if the entire event is for over 13s). Loggers and Rocky are interesting; wonder how much of that is due to Blair Witch? Rumba is interesting; I can only guess it's more due to the fact the scare zone could go up that end of the park as well? Can't see it being due to lack of popularity / cost cutting really; Tidal Wave surely would have been a better choice then.

But Rameses is a thrill ride, surely? What's the point in having a thrill ride running like a family ride? Also, just because they are a family park, why does it mean they can't have even one thrill ride?

Yeah, I'm not quite sure how they're going to pull it off; it's all about the building of tension, which will be difficult to achieve with a more constant and sporadic flow of people. You're Next would have suited a scare zone well, but I think the roaming actors will work well. The past couple of years, we've had 5 mazes and roaming actors, and 2010 was 5 mazes and a scare zone. So, we have effectively lost an actual maze. I do have worries about the queues this year, especially as it looks like Slammer will be out of action for Fright Nights as well. Presumably they have taken it all into account, and have worked to ensure the mazes' throughputs are high. As for CITW now being labelled a Live Action Horror Maze, I think they've done it for simplicity. Whilst it is set to be more interactive than the other mazes, calling it something different probably confuses people, and so it makes sense just call it the same thing probably.

Surely a scare zone will have next to no queue though? I can only assume that there'd be a slight wait to allow an even spread throughout the area? I'd be very surprised if there was a queue for it really.

It's nice to see the locations finally properly announced, and it'll be interesting to see how large BWP is. Also, it seems like none of the mazes bar Saw have 'ORPs'? Win. I guess it's possible the design hasn't been finalised / they want to release it after the announce any possible new additions for next year? In saying that, notice how the logo for BWP covers Slammer? Looks like that's out for the rest of the season. Could even mean they had the map ready, but they might be getting rid of Slammer, and so had to change it... Though I'm getting ahead of myself there. EDIT: The BWP logo doesn't cover Slammer, it's been entirely edited out! (For comparison purposes - http://www.thorpepark.com/downloads/plan-your-visit/thorpe-park-gatemap-2013.pdf)

Each individual attraction 'page' has links to buying the corresponding film on Amazon now (except You're Next and Asylum, of course). Also, Saw Alive has had the Saw 3D trailer replaced by one of Saw Alive (which pretty much shows the first half of the maze), and so probably means we won't be seeing an additional scene? Also, here's some more info on Face it Alone, from the booking page:

Pretty sure it was working last Sunday (the 15th).

Interesting that the Thorpe Break section calls Asylum 'Revealed: The Asylum'. Possibly a slight change to the story line could be included? Loving the updated FN section, and looking forward to this teaser 'trailer' they've got. The BWP overnight experience sounds great, shame about the cost though; a bit too expensive for me! Glad to see that the scare zone itself opens at 6pm too. Also sounds like Brave it Alone gives you a choice of mazes, which is good. So all looking good; can't wait to see what the video holds...

Yep, it's about in the Megastore by Storm Surge. (Image courtesy of Xplorer Central Facebook). It's the latest edition (3rd I think?), which includes a couple more pictures (Wardley in a prototype Air train, Th13teen's drop mechanism built in Budapest and a couple of others), and has a bit extra at the end about Smiler.

There are some pictures on Theme Park Guide: http://www.themeparkguide.biz/news-page/22nd-september-2013-fright-nights-are-coming Speakers for MBV is great. Last year, the queue was silent for the most part, bar about 5 minutes when I heard the soundtrack which was prominent in 2011. I do hope they take off all the Ex10 logos from the shipping containers though. The work on CITW looks good too; hopefully those garish vinyl morgue things get burnt as soon as possible; they were terrible!

Okay, I've read it... It's an interesting read for sure. It's quite a short book, and lots of the pages are taken up by some amazing (colour) pictures of the ride, during construction and after it had been completely. It is well written (though there's a couple of typos; though that's not really a big deal to be honest), and it explains everything really well. I wouldn't call it a must read, but if you're interested in The Haunted House in any way, shape or form or want to reminisce over it, I'd highly recommend it!

For Swarm's media night, crossing the bridge to the Dome involved being rushed along by army guards (after passing a 'secure gate'), and being shouted out that The Swarm was attacking. It was meant to be a bit frantic and hectic, and it worked well. However, there were very few people there, so it's hard to judge how well that could work on a large scale. Despite that, I think it would be great - especially in the evening when people are leaving, if some 'You're Next' characters were on the bridge 'targeting' people, chasing them to the turnstiles and such. It would certainly be more effective then as there would likely be less people on the bridge. Even though they're just roaming actors, the 'You're Next' characters has a lot of potential and can be used in so many different ways. I would have loved to have seen them incorporated into a maze, but I actually think it could end up better this way...

I'll be there on the day, but I may not properly join the meet for very long (as I'm with family and it's my only visit to FN, so do want to power through the mazes as quick as possible ), but I'll make sure I see you guys at some point regardless! I'm unsure about the Tour itself, as I wouldn't have done the maze beforehand, and I want to keep it a surprise.

I would go, but cannot justify the 200 mile round trip, and £35 train fare, when I'm making the exact same trip 2 weeks later.

I've noticed that this year in particular, Vortex has been extremely juddery; so much so, it makes me feel queasy. I guess age could be starting to show on it a bit; hopefully we'll see a bit more TLC given to it this closed season than it normal gets though.

Well, that's more what I think. But we know they do read the forums and do respond to some points, so we can only assume they do take all valid points on here seriously. The thing with Fastrack is, as you say, it's been a problem for many guest for years. But obviously the top guys at Merlin (as it isn't just a Thorpe problem) believe the positives of it (primarily the profits) outweigh those negatives. The point I was more trying to get at was that posting on here can be more than just moaning, as Thorpe will see that there are people out there who strongly dislike how Fastrack is operated.

When I complained to Guest Services last year about Fastrack at FN (30-40 people Fastrackers let into Experiment 10...), they wrote nothing down, said "It shouldn't be like that", then gave me 10 Fastrack tickets with no expiry date. Not exactly good... Thorpe read these forums, and will take any criticisms seriously.

After some random trawling through Amazon, I came across this... http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1490417087/ref=pe_385721_37986871_TE_item The foreward by Wardley should be interesting, and based on the reviews, I've decided to order it. Looks like quite a recent release; anyone here heard about / read it?

A shameless attempt to mimic Sidders' picture on the previous page...