JoshC.

It's interesting, I've seen this said a lot. However, I'm pretty certain that none of the walls move at all! I could be mistaken, but I am very much under the impression that everything (aside from doors, obviously) are fixed. But since so many people are saying walls move, it shows how disorientating and well done the actual 'labyrinth' sections are.

Interestingly, I heard that Thorpe were the first park to come up with the idea of running an Oktoberfest event (discussions took place during 2019). However, they weren't given the budget to execute it, so it was never part of their (pre-Covid) 2020 line up. At some point, Towers then went for it, and then with all the changes that happened due to Covid, Thorpe had enough budget to do some form of Oktoberfest event. Quite how and when Towers got the Oktoberfest idea is a little up for debate. I heard one version of the story that said Thorpe came up with the idea, but Towers' size and scope meant they were effectively given it. Others that it was just a coincidence. I don't see the problem with the parks sharing events, as long as they're different enough. No one complains that they both have Halloween events, for example. My main, albeit slightly stupid, worry with the ParkVibes event is that it starts right after Towers' Mardi Gras finishes. Could that just have been done so there's no overlap? Or is it because a lot of the external food stalls are the same and just going from one location to the next? Also feels weird that there's no event happening in August.

Drone footage: https://www.facebook.com/339404516145478/videos/202303211743707

Testing, 1, 2, testing...

Oh my, this thing. I rode it today, and I think for the first time, I really regretted it. Timed tickets I don't know what happened earlier, but they didn't seem to work. We had 2-2.30pm entry, got in the queue at 2.30, and weren't on the ride till 3pm. People with 2.30-3pm time slots weren't being let in until almost 3pm, for reasons I will never understand. Operations It seems to be 10-15 people per train (a far cry from the 58 capacity) Pre show It's nice to experience this without being smashed in with 50 other people. Audio seemed a bit clearer too. Pre show 2 Before going into the Hanging Carriage scene, there's a spiel from an actor. It's pretty bad, as it feels like it was written by someone in a minute who was told to try and tie up all the plot holes. It ham-fists an explanation for the Victorian-tube carriage transition, the need for the VR and loads of other stuff. But it's just awkward. Scene 1 The usual Scene 2 Audio seemed better and louder (felt particularly strong from behind the train fronts), but the new script trying to tie everything together feels awkward again. Asking people for a code to escape (given in pre show 2) just feels bad. Scene 3 We seemed to be in some sort of short shutdown / delay. This would usually be manageable with the holding sequence, but it seemed to be shortened down? I swear in the holding sequence, a demon would pick up loads of the characters you can see and drag them away. Ended up waiting for a while, even getting a 'please remove your headset' message for a while, before setting off again. The motion base wasn't working, so no fun gentle rocking as we fell to oblivion. The video message from Derren played on the screens afterwards, but no audio. Scene 4 This is incredibly awkward now. With no Picsolve green screen photo point in the queue, it makes no sense why we're looking at photos. The new story means the actor says something about a finalising some parts of our experience to make sure we're all okay or something. There's no effort to get people to look at the ouija board. The demon scene happens (yay, at least that's there!), but it feels awkward when everyone is away from it and not invested in it. Oh, and the floorboards don't shake. Obviously I had a bit of a bad run with a shutdown and broken effects. And it's nice to see they've tried something, and improved some audio. But the new story doesn't work and it feels like a dreadful attempt at trying to be clever, when really all it does is make you cringe. It's a shame as there has always been so much potential with this, and this is a step in the wrong direction in my opinion. A good point to raise though: all the staff throughout the attraction were good. They were doing the best they could with the tools they have. The script and story is dodgy, but the actors do what they can with it. The ride hosts seemed friendly. Whether this is because the attraction being open is still a novelty and it's like 'new ride vibes' is hard to tell. But for now, credit where it's due, fair play to them for that. Really and truthfully, I do think they should have taken the hit with this. Kept it closed forever more, blamed Covid, paid off the rest of the contract with Derren and just taken the loss. I'd rather it sit dormant for a while and be an elephant in the room, than give people the half hearted, shell of an idea, experience it's giving now.

Oooooh, I think I get the honour of writing the first full Black Mirror Labyrinth review online. What an exclusive! I should start by giving a disclaimer: Yes, I attended a preview event which invites celebrities and influencers, and the intention of these events is for such people to share positive thoughts about the experience. If you want to see that stuff, check out TPM's social pages, and a review will be live on our website later. What follows is a balanced reflection of my genuine thoughts of the experience. As always, whenever I attend these events, I try to give my feedback to staff/managers/creators too, good, bad, or ugly... Slight spoilers follow. --- "It's...interesting" That was my immediate reaction. It doesn't sound very positive, but it's also not very negative either. I guess a good way of describing it is a grown up Hocus Pocus Hall. And that's not a bad thing. It's a multi-route experience, with dead ends and multiple special effects. There is a mirror maze in there, yes, but that is just one part of the experience. Your name and face is used at a couple of points too. The story is that the Labyrinth is an AI creation which has become self aware. It's stolen all its information about you, and now wants to 'delete' you. So the premise is original, but slightly Black Mirror in tone. It's a fun experience with some quirky moments. We got lost a few times. We became disoriented. There were some moments which were a bit of a surprise. There's nothing special, but it all works and flows pretty nicely. After having done the experience twice, though, I'm not clambering to do it again any time soon. That's just the nature of this experience - there's not enough multiple routes to keep it completely fresh each time, and it is kind of 'one and done'. That's not a bad thing really, as it is an enjoyable enough experience in its own right, but I don't think it's what Thorpe need right now. Some assorted Q&As: -Is it scary? No. And I wonder if that will lead to complaints with people expecting a FN like maze... -What is batching like? You're batched in your household group exclusively. And it seems like it will be a group every 90 seconds. -What would batching be like without Covid? It seems like there's space for 12 people per group normally. That would give a throughput of 480pph in theory. Bog standard for a Merlin maze really. -What are Covid rules like? This is a weird one. You have to remove your mask whilst your photo is taken (this is for a special effect). And inside you naturally end up touching things as you find your way round, and you may come into close contact with people due to the non-linear route. I expect this may make some people feel uncomfortable. Some fun facts: -Figment Productions have been involved with parts of the experience -The experience was rethought and had extra money put into it last year, since they had extra time -Though nowhere near as much was invested as in a new ride, a lot more was invested in this compared to a Fright Nights maze (about 7-10 times the budget of a maze I believe) -There's a couple of little Easter eggs about (and some I probably missed) There's a couple of photos on TPM's Facebook, I won't post them here because effort. So all in all, the premise of the experience is interesting. As I say, it's not something I'm itching to get back to doing again, but it's a fun experience. It's another indoor experience for the park, which is needed, but ultimately it is very much a 'one..possibly two... and done' type thing, which is perhaps not what the park needed. I'm very much worried about how this will cope with the crowds. It seems like an operational headache. However, given it's going to be Timed Tickets for a while, and it should be pretty reliable, hopefully it means physical wait times are minimal for now, if done right. So definitely worth giving it a crack when you're next on park.

Is 'she' a Pokemon?

It really is a mystery why the train arm effect didn't work reliably. In theory it should be a very simple effect, but I think that it was just overcomplicated to try and 'fit' in with everything else, leading to it having a mind of its own and just being temperamental. And in some ways, that's Ghost Train down to a tee. Much of the experience has stuff which, in their own right, should work reasonably well. But put together, it just doesn't work.

Thunderstorm in Chertsey, which meant all outdoor rides have to close. Ghost Train and Angry Birds are also open, but I guess the way the app is programmed means they show up as closed.

Tucked within the consultation plans for Chessington's new land showing attendance of the 4 UK Merlin parks: Unlike with the TEA attendance, I believe these represent accurate numbers (the TEA reported figures are usually fudged to some degree). Each vertical line represents a million visitors. There's a couple of mistakes with the investment timelines, particularly with Thorpe, but it gives a very interesting insight into the state of the Merlin parks. Hard to know whether the 2020 numbers are end of year figures.

Here's a post from Jared on CoasterForce (who also runs Chessington Buzz), which clarifies some points raised at the in-person consultation:

I feel like I'm just spamming at this point, but oh well: https://www.facebook.com/thorpepark/posts/10159147696830867 She watches you when you're queueing She knows when you're irate She knows if you've booked a time slot So book a slot for goodness sake!

Where have I heard these things before? Let me ask my buddy, Derren: "I don't know Josh, I just don't know..."

The trouble with the 4pm closures on weekdays is that the park have had them for so long now, it's hard to know for certain how 5pm weekday closures would be received. There's some logic at the park at the moment though: They've realised people didn't like the fact there were less rides available, so they've temporarily bought in more to see if it works. They've realised people didn't like the fact they closed between 5-6pm on weekends, so they've increased those open hours (though for some reason, they only announce it like a week before...) So either they've realised people don't like 4pm weekday closures, but don't have the budget to extend them, with focus being on the more profitable weekend. Or there isn't a problem with 4pm closures. OR they haven't realised 4pm closures are the problem. There is still the issue of British logic of leaving early, beating the traffic and being home for dinner, yes. But credit where it's due: Towers are at least sticking with later closes this year, and hopefully that shows the demand is there.

We can get a pretty good estimation tbf. If the ride is programmed to stop at each scene for x number of seconds, and has y number of cars, then that will be done to match the story and flow of the ride. So we can easily get an idea of the max capacity from that, once they start mixing groups in ride vehicles. They may be able to add more cars (genuinely no clue as I don't know what the situation is); if they can, again, it's fairly straightforward to figure out what sort of throughput this can get. Doesn't matter if it is meant to be a flagship ride or not. What matters is if the ride has a throughput that will reflect its popularity. We as guests won't really be able to gauge that for a while yet, but given the push it's had in marketing and the level of popularity of the IP, one would expect that the ride will garner a certain level of interest for a while yet. A lower throughput is a potential worry at this stage. And with the length of queue they've built for it, they must be expecting long queues. I guess your point here is the rumour circulating around that the ride system was actually designed for another Merlin attraction, but that project got cancelled and the ride system was bought to Towers? A fair enough point. But equally, I don't think there's much more the park could have done with the space available. They're not exactly going to be able to fit any big ride (in terms of physical space) there. So you either build a non-stopping ride which is very short, and has a larger throughput, or a stopping ride which is longer, and has a lower throughput. Both have their pros and cons, and it's too early imo to decide whether what they've done is right or not. It's points like this which I never fully get. The Wallace and Gromit building is roughly twice the size of the Gangsta Granny building. Something has to give somewhere. Obviously atm Covid is restricting it to one household per vehicle, but in normal operation, it's - somehow - meant to be 8 people per car,

You see, I think it's the opposite - it's quite creative to be able to take a short snippet of audio, and blend it into different loops with different vibes. I'm not musician so don't know the ins and outs and it might be something incredibly boring and simple, but for me, it just works. Of course, it has to be done rightly, and it does run the risk of becoming boring / repetitive, or just not really working. But I'm fine with it for now. ITHOTMK is a weird one. Yes, Towers don't own it, but when people in the UK hear it, I'm sure lots of people associate it with Towers. I honestly can't remember. But I guess, for me, that kind of solidifies the effectiveness of using that loop. I could mimic the 'island theme' in my head, and I could imagine what Colossus / Inferno variants of that would sound like. But I can't say with certainty if they actually occur. That's a good level of subtlety for me.

And the proposal itself: https://www.cwoa-consultation.com/proposals It is not clear when the area will open, but construction is due to start in January 2022, making 2023 the most likely opening year. A boomerang style launch coaster is interesting, particularly because it won't be able to manage a particularly high throughput. However, curiously, Chessington Buzz (who were at the consultation itself today), seem to think the layout shown is not final, the ride will have a 1.4m height restriction, and will feature winged seating: https://www.facebook.com/ChessingtonBuzz That very much goes against what is shown on the online proposal, but we'll have to wait and see what extra details they may have been verbally told to give them that impression...

Keep an eye on TPM's Facebook for some updates. I hear our very own @Marc has bagged himself one of those elusive time slotted tickets and will be experiencing it today...

I see why it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's meant to be the same. Just like how Towers' new stuff has leaned into using In the Hall of the Mountain King, Thorpe are leaning into using the 'Island Theme' for stuff. As a small part of a larger loop, I think it's a really cool idea. Also, saying it's on everything is a stretch, no? It's in and around the entrance, used at Fright Nights, Walking Dead, Black Mirror, Old Town and maybe the Donut Factory? I don't think it actually appears in Colossus' or Inferno's loops, or surrounding areas? So it's only pockets of the parks that actually use it.

A snippet of the audio, which has been done by IMAScore:

We have two sets of TV ads released today. There is the one featuring Black Mirror, and a more generic Thorpe Park one: Happy to see the return of the 'Island Like No Island' tagline. I'd love to see the park continue to lean into that a bit more (as long as it doesn't result in another total rebrand). It's kind of sad, and telling, though that this entire advert is basically a rehash of the 2014 advert's visuals, and the style isn't far different either...

2021 TV ad featuring Black Mirror...

https://www.instagram.com/p/CO3ON_BBg4x/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link I assume it was this person. Post features a video showing the inside (so spoilers)

I mean, some would class that zero.. Not me tbf, but 2010 was a long time ago. And the park did have a scare zone called 'Scare Zone' in its first year between the mazes. It might not be zero, but it's so close to be zero it may as well be. I see both sides of it. If you reimagine Fright Nights into a separate event, with an age restriction or similar, it gives a much wider scope for what can be done. If you create an event where everyone is there exclusively to be scared, no asterisks, you can in particular make scare zones and pathways and street entertainment more intense if you want. But if families can go and choose to go (as happens at Thorpe, regardless of Thorpe's attempts), it can complicate things. But equally, the current set up can work. I think Thorpe are doing fine with what they're doing; it's not really their fault families choose to go. Really what the park should look to do is pump more money into the event so they can have the wide variety of stuff, keeping up with high level scares, plus having stuff which is a bit more family friendly.

Work is very much still carrying on with this. This latest update comes with a spoiler warning: https://www.facebook.com/MovieParkGermany/posts/4157919480919941 As said in previous, it very much seems to be a 'dark ride with coaster section', as opposed to a 'coaster with dark ride section' as some may have first thought. Hard to say whether this is still on track to be ready for early June. In any case, the German parks still don't have a reopening date, and they may only open with outdoor rides, so it'll be a while before this opens I reckon.