JoshC.

Went to Tulleys last night. Some thoughts (will put spoilers for Wastelands and Wreckoning): Wastelands Penitentiary Non spoilers review: Great maze, needs a bit of work, but still very, very good! And make sure you're near the maze at quarter-past / quarter-to an hour! The Wreckoning Non spoilers review: Wonderful theming, okay maze. Twisted Clowns This was one of the few mazes I really rated last year, and I still enjoyed it last night. It's great how it blends scares and humour, and the cast are brilliant with hitting that sweet spot. Haunted Hayride Great fun again. Couple of minor changes, but like Clowns, hits a sweet spot between scares and fun. The Cellar Another typical Tulleys maze - a bit too long with a couple too many lulls. There's a new ending which was confusing, but it worked well. Chop Shop Chainsaws do little for me, so Chop Shop doesn't get my motor running. We bunched up with a group in front too which meant we got even less scares. Coven of 13 Same criticism of going on a bit too long / too much lull-time for my liking. However, I still adore the swamp section, and there's a new ending which is pretty clever and I liked it! Creepy Cottage Fun little maze. Again, seemed like there's changes to the ending. For what it is, it's fine. VIXI Eurgh, this. This ended up being the absolute longest wait last night: almost 40 minutes! And anyone who's done it knows it isn't worth that. Still by far the worst maze at the place. Circus of Horrors Great 20 minute show which runs on the hour, every hour (including 11pm). Would really recommend as it helps breaks up the day, and the intimate atmosphere works very well. Roamers Absolutely brilliant again. Didn't see the nurses though 💔 So there's been an improvement across the park this year with Wastelands, and there's been some improvements in quite a few mazes. And with 10 attractions now, it's a very full on night! But for me personally, Tulleys are just such size queens with their mazes, and I'd love it if they just shortened their mazes a bit / made the lulls in the mazes a bit shorter - that would make a BIG improvement to the overall event imo.

Track has arrived on-site for the Vekoma mine train which also opens next year...

A sign outside the ride has appeared suggesting it's temporary, but we all know in the grand scheme of things this means nothing: In any case, it's a shame to see the park lose a flat ride for Scarefest.

Went back tonight, some more reflections based on more reasonable experiences: Creek Freak Massacre Already, some effects are broken, and some aren't as effective. Pre show seemed to have a louder backing track (making it harder to hear) and dimmer (making it harder to see). I think the maze is a bit marmite and a bit hit and miss. But personally, I don't think it's really my thing. It's good fun, and miles ahead of the other 4 mazes though. Blair Witch Somehow felt darker and more secluded now, which was great. But also the queue seems to move very slowly and I still can't quite work out why. Do or Die As expected, this has changed significantly from press night, and really suffers. The first container scene is okay I guess, but the rest of the maze really is a mess. Platform 15 / Living Nightmare Both mazes still pretty weak this year sadly. Amity High Still very good; actors have great energy. Wasn't being performed every 20 minutes tonight though because of how quiet it is. This evening was very quiet, and there definitely seemed to be minimal actors in the mazes. Disappointing, but perhaps not wholly surprising either. I still fear how the park, and quality of mazes, will cope on busy days. But hey, at least they've made steps in the right direction.

Blade was refurbished to a degree over this closed season (I think it was discussed in the general AT thread), but it has recently been removed: Could this finally be the end?

Track is onsite.. Plans indicated it would be repainted silver/grey, so if that's still the case it'll presumably happen onsite.

Thing is, combing the attendances of those two companies together, they would only have slightly more than Universal. And of course Disney is still a huge powerhouse in the states. To even keep those number up they'd have to invest regularly in most places. I'm sure there'd be some changes in investment and it would have a knock on effect, but if they were to do it, I don't think they could treat it as if they've monopolised the market.

I'd be very surprised if it happens. Six Flags are only marginally larger than Cedar Fair. I'm not sure what sort of offer they could put on the table to tempt Cedar Fair people. Normally when these out of nowhere offers happen, it's because they're unlikely to happen. So I wouldn't worry yet.

Fair enough. But could that partially be down to your lack of interest about Fright Nights / Thorpe in general? In fairness it's been pretty prevalent in marketing. Maybe you should get out more then?

Has Coaster believed/accepted/gone along with it though? His review doesn't seem to suggest he was expecting Creek Freak to be the most intense maze? If you go into an attraction not clouded by the hyperbole and with reasonable expectations, I still think it's fair to bring up the park's hyperbole when reviewing. We should still call out the park's BS when it's there, even when it's clear as day. It's better than just brushing it off. Good point about intensity. It's in no way quantifiable. So it can mean anything. It's just another buzzword. But it doesn't have to be one or the other. Let's look at what Thorpe are saying: They could instead go for... Builds hype, still sounds exciting, is to the point, but doesn't go for any hyperbole.

*world's smallest violin plays in background*

A stand alone horror maze in Croydon: https://xscream-events.com/?fbclid=IwAR17JhDGgAJTDMaaJ8Hu0RVNdcFao5SZTVxTDbJZj5qcrsOYavCadpeFYMA Croydon is petrifying by itself, so this should be great!

I don't think anyone actually visited the park; more likely sarcasm in the comments! But yeah, this is social media 101 surely? Word your posts right otherwise you'll be torn to shreds. Unless they literally do it so they get interactions? 🤷‍♂️

I genuinely hope we see Belgian parks develop over the next decade like Dutch parks have over the last decade. Plopsaland, Walibi and Bellewaerde all have big companies behind them who aren't afraid to spend money. Bobbejaanland has Parque Reunidos, who can invest well when they put their hands in their pockets. That's an exciting quartet right there. I don't think it's crazy to suggest that Bobbejaanland or Bellewaerde could introduce a big headline thrill coaster in the next few years to truly compete with Plopsa and Walibi's 2021 investments. Very exciting times.

Coming from Benin, this is a huge achievement glitch.

So that Loggers Leap auction was incredible ey guys???

Debated about where to put this, but here seems good for now. A new Legoland park will open in Sichuan, China in 2023: It's hardly a surprise that Merlin are doing this, what with the rapidly growing (perhaps unsustainably so?) theme park market in China, with Disney already there, and Universal and Six Flags getting in on the action too. This has been in the works for a LONG time, and there were rumours that they were looking at a more southern location too. Sichuan is more centrally located in China, and it's fair to say it's further away from foreign tourist sites (which is more Beijing, Shanghai and southern China), so I'd guess they're doing this to try and really tap into the Chinese audience. The only other major park in that area is Happy Valley Chengdu, which has a heavy thrill focus. So a Legoland / family park in that area could be quite successful. There's questions as to whether Merlin should still be expanding of course, and when you look at their recent investor reports, it seems like they're cooling off China a bit. However, it's no secret that Merlin loves expanding their portfolio, so this was always a case of when, not if, it was going to happen.

The first Pulsar (Walibi Belgium) clone has opened in Happy Valley Shenzhen: There's another one of these coming to a Six Flags park too next year. These are genuinely fun ride experiences and look amazing too, so it's great to see them popping up elsewhere. Plus, more Macks is always good.

Annnnd plans have been submitted for the Bumba the Clown indoor area: The area will include a dark ride (top right), a theatre and some kids rides. No word yet on what the dark ride is exactly. This is going somewhere between the park's kids land and the entrance area. It was originally planned for 2020, and was meant to include a kiddie coaster. However, with plans changing and the park now opting for the big coaster in 2021, they have scrapped the kids coaster and are planning on opening this in 2022.

Where was this said? Not doubting you, just curious as there definitely was no plan for I'm a Celeb to return this year! There used to be a small stage roughly where the query for Jungle Escape is called the Showcase. The space was probably used as a backstage and storage area for any shows before it was used as a maze (and probably throughout the rest of the year when the space was a maze!). On a serious Jungle Escape note, I hope that they make suitable changes next year. It was hardly used this year, which feels particularly wasteful given there's two routes for competing teams. Either make it significantly cheaper (or free and just bookable) or make it much more involved and suitable for smaller groups. That way, it at least uses the space more effectively for the crowds it gets. I still think that there's room for an escape room at theme parks / resorts if done correctly. But right now, Jungle Escape misses the mark.

Not all French people are terrible tbf. But in saying that, the French, as well as Dutch school kids, are the worst guests I've ever encountered at parks, so... I'd personally be surprised if we see the park do anything. The set up of train rides is pretty universal. I'm sure Europa realise this is a rare incident with stupid guests and don't need to take action unless it becomes worryingly common.

Now this is an interesting one. At what point should they start reducing the group sizes? And at what point should they start increasing them again if the queue becomes too long? It's something that has no clear cut answer, but I'd be interested to know what Thorpe's take on it is. The park want to get as many people through the mazes as possible to increase maze 'ridership' (and we see that especially during half term when the mazes struggle to cope), so it makes sense to keep group sizes the same in that respect. That number is going to be one of the most important numbers to them. But then, generally speaking, small groups = better experience (not always, but often). The park should want to give better experiences and improve maze satisfaction and guest scores as much as possible. But how many people are going to notice (or care) that they're getting a better experience for waiting slightly longer? People are more likely to moan about a longer queue time than they are to praise a really good experience. My guess is the park try and just make it so a maze is effectively a walk on before batching smaller groups. Internally, it will make for better numbers (more people going through the mazes quicker) and reduces the risk of complaints. Room 1 is the same basic principle, but with new theming. Room 2 is completely different and has a completely different phobia as it's theme. This intrigues me. Midnight Syndicate are royalty free as far as I know; all they need is permission and to have a notice somewhere saying they use the music. Presumably it's not as simple as that and that could be hidden issues, but the park never seemed to have said issues up to 2015 (and then 2016/17 they used IMAscore). This is a shame. Platform had been one of my favourite mazes in 2017 and 2018, though I thought it was a bit flat on Thursday. I had hopes it may have been the actors just needing more of a chance to get into the groove of things. Hopefully it grows as the event goes on. The Towers team were involved, as were MMM (the first time the company's higher creative team have been involved in a Fright Nights attraction since Asylum I believe, since they usually only work on main rides). I also believe that Theme3 (who were involved in Experiment 10 and Cabin in the Woods' theming) were involved with the theming of the attraction. Creek Freak had a very big budget this (definitely one of the biggest a single maze has had in recent years), and I think that shows. I hope that Thorpe realise that by putting the money in, they've reaped the rewards out with a maze which, so far, has received very good reviews. If we had 4-5 mazes of Creek Freak's quality, I don't think anyone could complain about the attractions.

The rate it sold tickets, it'll be at Thorpe for a good 20 years before it makes its investment back.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-49868179 A serious accident involving Quimera at La Feria Chapultepec Magico, Mexico City, killing 2 people and injuring 2 more. Reports say people fell from the train. BBC's article seems to use 'crash' and 'derailed' interchangeably though. The coaster opened in 2007 and was formerly Magnum Force at Flamingo Land, where it operated between 2000 and 2005. Just as a warning: there's some pretty graphic images circulating social media / some foreign news articles on this.