JoshC.

Source - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151856567908566&set=a.382599058565.162665.194340658565&type=1&theater A nice 3D layout picture. Don't think it looks too bad from this angle to be honest...

They have 5 attractions plus a set of roaming actors. Even if, say, 30 actors had a night off one night (don't know how realistic that is?), they could get 10 or so actors roaming around, meaning they have 22 actors for each attraction (on average). Rotate the actors' around so they all get breaks, and you could still have a good 15-16 actors in a maze at any one point; a lot more than I think I've seen in any Thorpe maze before. When you take into account BWP probably shouldn't need that many actors, and it seems CITW may only need a few actors, that means there's even more to roam about / be in the live action mazes. I think they've got plenty of actors!

I'm not sure exactly, but I think it has 5 trains, and this year can only run a maximum of 4 (now it doesn't stop on the brakes). Before, I think it could run 5 trains at any given point. As I say though, not entirely sure..

Asylum has had the layout tweaked a few times. The Freezer was sorta different, and the route was reversed at one point too. I guess by dead ends, they were talking more about physical fake routes; pretty sure they never mentioned them before? Also, I think the actors are meant to be the patients, but I guess it just means we could be new patients, who then have to escape after realising what 'The Asylum' actually is. It does say it is a live action maze, so it will definitely have actors in, and I'd assume there'll be the key aspect of the experience.

Just remembered I was gonna post in here about the 2 Blair Witch films... Blair Witch Project Alright film I guess. I like the fact it doesn't show any sort of monsters or anything actually (as it's something I've disliked in films like Insidious and Paranormal Activity). However, it's no where near as scary as it's made out to be. Tense, yes, and a couple of good scenes, but not hide-behing-the-sofa scary. 5.5/10 Blair Witch 2 Dear me, I wish I didn't waste 90 minutes of my life watching this heap of rubbish. It doesn't 'fit' with the nice story BWP created, and doesn't make sense either. The characters feel very typical of a cheap and easy horror film. It mixes between handheld and 'proper' cameras, meaning you don't get a feel of if you're there, or if you're just watching a film. It doesn't make sense, and it is just rubbish. Do not watch. 2/10 (Quite probably the worst film rating I've ever given...)

Dead ends in Asylum? Eurgh. I get a feeling that Asylum will probably be the maze that features 'Brave it Alone' too, if it ends up only being a single maze. Disappointed that it looks like it's just Asylum returning. Though, I guess the reveal isn't anticlimatic to the majority - heck, we only really knew about it because someone worked out how the images were linked... But yeah, Asylum returning with a couple of fake routes by the sounds of it. Big woop. As for the picture of CITW, it looks like a couple of doors in an incomplete corridor. Yay?

I don't think we'll see anything like. It's not really a UK or a Merlin thing to release videos like that. However, I reckon we'll see a promotional video for the event sometime. Well, hope so at least - they're always very good! I know a few people will have seen this already, but may as well chuck it here for reference: This is the entrance to CITW in Orlando. It's a shame Thorpe don't have the space (and probably the budget) to do something of this calibre. However, this is what Thorpe should be aiming for! As for Asylum, I doubt it's 'just' going to be Asylum returning; there's surely got to be a new twist or a slight retheme or something.

I think I saw somewhere that the building is a shop you pass through after your exit the ride.

There was no preview night last year! However, in the couple of years before then, it was indeed on a Thursday.

Just realised this still hasn't been answered..! Basically, a scare zone is a dedicated area, usually filled with actors and such, who aim to scare you. Some parks like to just turn an area into a scare zone, which you can freely walk around, and there's actors there who aim to scare you. The UK Merlin parks have done two scare zones between them: Zombies at Alton Towers and Dead End at Thorpe (it was only around in 2010). Both have just been pathways, with theming and actors in there, and have worked in a way that they let a certain number of people through. However, they rarely, if ever, have a queue. It's unclear how the BWP scare zone will work. Also, MBV looks like it'll end up pretty much being a clone of Experiment 10, though with a couple of scenes moved about. If it ends up like the 2011 maze, I'll be happy, but at the same time, it's a shame they didn't take the opportunity to increase the length of the attraction. Though I guess I should wait before passing too much judgement...

Looking at this photo makes me think we're going to get an onload and offload station, and maybe even dual loading again? Oddly, the batching procedures are the thing I'm most interested about this ride...

So, in effect, we've lost a maze? Can't say I'm not fearful about queues. Fright Nights is the park's busiest times of the year, and it needs as many attractions as possible to deal with the numbers. Last year, during my visit at least, I don't think the park dealt with the queues effectively. One less maze can't be good for the queues. In saying that, we don't quite know how BWP will operate, which could help with the queues. It feels almost wrong to complain at what we've got, but I just can't help but feel the park needs to be adding mazes, not taking them away.

The reason it closed today was because it valleyed, between the airtime hill and MCBR. Quite funny really as it was stuck on an upwards slant. (Before anyone asks, I don't have a photo of it I'm afraid as it was difficult to see off any rides )

http://instagram.com/p/eNTyWjkgAS/ - Judging from this update, it does really seem like MBV is going in the arena. I really still thinking CITW would have suited the arena, all the more especially after looking at those photos, and MBV suited the old Passing site. It will be interesting to see what does happen though..! Also, I think those photos are fine - they were taken from areas you can access. The request was more about people accessing areas which are off limits.

Ah, sorry, I didn't make myself clear there. I meant to say that Asylum will probably be another 'typical' horror maze like we've seen in previous years. So, it'll be interesting to see what type of attraction You're Next will be.

This is what is interesting me the most now. I'd hope, in a way, that You're Next isn't another scare zone / just roaming actors, as it effectively means we've lost a maze (even though Passing was a paid for attraction, it was still the 5th maze). Could end up resulting in longer queues I fear if You're Next doesn't end up being a maze. In saying that, we don't know how BWP could operate (I get a feeling it won't operated in the same way as Dead End and Zombies have been for some reason), and how well the new mazes will cope with the queues. Totally agree with eB about the variety in experiences though. So far, we have an 'interactive' maze, two horror mazes and a scare zone. I'd guess Asylum will be another 'typical' horror maze, so it'll be interesting to see what type of attraction it'll be. If it's a scare zone, it can - and probably will - aim to offer a completely different experience to what BWP would. As for CITW and 'scare maze', I get a feeling it will focus less on actors, and more on your decisions and what effects happen to you from there. The fact Thorpe have said they're doing scare ratings this year as well mazes me think this maze could be rated the 'least scariest' (still probably a 3 out of 5). I think there's still more information to be released - which will come along with locations and such - we should be prepared to alter expectations for CITW in particular, as I don't think it'll be like any scare attraction Thorpe have done in the past.

A scare zone for BWP is interesting. The site has been updated for it too: So, at the back of the park must mean along the service road surely, adjacent to Monk's Walk, and probably ending up towards Canada Creek. It has potential still, and will need set sounds and such for it to work well. The thing is, the film doesn't utilise people / characters to create scares, it has tension, sudden, unexplained sounds from no where. To me, that seems difficult to execute in a scare zone, but we shall see what they have planned I guess. Hopefully, having a scare zone means we have time to actually explore the surroundings more, and have time to take things in, rather than being rushed through.

I'm not complaining about them bringing one maze back. In fact, I think it's a sensible idea, and as Asylum is probably the most consistently rated maze in the past, it makes sense that they choose to bring that one back. However, it does absolutely nothing for me. I don't find it scary; all it does is give me a headache and I've found it to be a weaker maze than the likes of Se7en, Experiment 10 (2011 version) and The Passing. I genuinely don't 'get' what all the fuss or hype about it is. The only positive point I can think of is the ending. Personally, I just want it scrapped / changed heavily. Also, I don't like the 'It's pretty much there every Fright Nights so it should be kept' argument. Colossus was the ride that put Thorpe Park on the map; should that be kept at the park forever? I think it's time for change. I'm hoping that with the large investment being pumped into FN that we'll see a fair amount of work done to it. I'm willing to give it a go again this year if I have the chance, but if it remains similar to what it has done for the past several years, I'm pretty certain it won't light up my world. It will be interesting to see if we get some sort of film tie-in with it though. One possibility I'd like to see is an 'Asylum' of evil characters from various films; could work a treat...

I don't know what the difference is exactly, but you don't need actors to scare you... As for 'Brave it Alone', love the concept behind it, and the cost is justified in my eyes. It will be interesting to see what maze they end up using for that one though (presumably they'll only use one maze for the entire event). VERY tempted by that one...

Am I right in saying that, like all the other wingriders to feature the inversion and drop, it differs from Swarm's in that Swarm does a full 180 degree roll before dropping, whereas the rest (including this one), roll and drop at the same time? Either way, good to see construction is coming together nicely..

http://www.thorpepark.com/frightnights/ - MBV has been added to the list. Looks like Experiment 10's trick is sticking with the maze; fingers crossed it doesn't inherit the problems that maze had last year... As for the return of the Asylum. Yawnn. My views of the maze have been made perfectly clear a couple of times in this thread now, and I'm not thrilled that out of all the mazes to return, this was the one. I appreciate it may be a good idea to keep a non-IP maze (as we now have 2 returning attractions from last year). All I can say is I hope it receives a lot of attention and is played about with a lot...

I think it's in the region of 50-60. The current one could have up to 112 rooms I think, but only one row is up, instead of two.

So, the application has been approved... http://planning.runnymede.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/Generic/StdDetails.aspx?PT=Planning%20Applications%20On-Line&TYPE=PL/PlanningPK.xml&PARAM0=183854&XSLT=/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/SiteFiles/Skins/Runnymede_AA/xslt/PL/PLDetails.xslt&FT=Planning%20Application%20Details&PUBLIC=Y&XMLSIDE=/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/SiteFiles/Skins/Runnymede_AA/Menus/PL.xml&DAURI=PLANNING

Great find SCB - thanks for sharing! I knew a couple of people that had this project whilst they were at college; it was something that really got everyone's interest from what I heard. I don't know if they are still there, but some of the designs were placed in the Thrills Workshop. There's a couple of photos of some from when Mer got a behind the scenes tour with the ECC last year - http://s100.photobucket.com/user/mlp_03/library/SWARM?sort=4&start=all&page=2 (all credit to her for the photos of course, and I hope she doesn't mind me posting them! ). I remember that the queue line layout shown in that plan was also the original one they submitted, but thank goodness they changed it. Also, I'm glad that those water pumps aren't there just before the station - imagine being stuck there for 5ish minutes with them going off..! Out of all possible locations though, I think the one we've ended up with is the best... I can't be the only one to find it funny that one of the possible locations actually was alongside Monk's Walk either, after all that PR hype? Maybe it was true all along...