JoshC.

Well Death's Doors is back up... it's a interesting scenario, building a scare zone so soon. Especially one which can be built so quickly. I guess, in part, it helps advertise the event. I'd also hazard a guess that they don't have the manpower to build multiple attractions in September, plus doing whatever they need to on existing attractions and running the other events. Thus creating a need for building stuff now. We'll be getting a new maze (presumably just the one). It was strongly suggested that it was the last year of Amity vs LycanThorpe. The space the Crows took up is a lot more open so needs more work too. Plus if they choose to bring back Terminal, that needs improvements. So there's a lot to do. I've also heard that the park now has an Events/Entertainments Project Manager, as well as more staff focused primarily on the operational and design features of Events, particularly Fright Nights. Hopefully this will allow a much more streamlined process all round.

Where has this information come from?

I've had a look around all the archives I have access to, and I don't have any images or videos of the game, or even of the minisite. I can give a bit more detail though... -The game was called "Disciples of Saw", and indeed was how you described. The objective said to do the game in as quick a time as possible, but as long as you completed it, you were entered into the Ride it First competition (fun fact: I was a winner of the Ride it First competition!) -The minisite for the ride was originally called ProjectDylan.com. When the ride name was announced, it changed to SawTheRide.com -There was a really nice blog / developers diary on the minisite...I've tried looking on Wayback Machine to get some stuff, but no luck with any visuals. I do hope there's some images somewhere - the minisite in general was pretty cool, and got 14 year old me excited!

Construction had begun on the site where Death's Doors was last year: https://twitter.com/J_Silkstone/status/1684539562230526102?t=6UwnRfKLeV6Y8I2ZZQuqjg&s=19

Did Ghost Train yesterday. A couple of notable changes: -There is now only 1 nun actor on the carriage. -The finale actor has a cloak when they appear through the wall, making them look like a druid/monk/wraith.

Went to the Carnival event yesterday. It's definitely a family-oriented event, but it's fun enough for what it is. The use of the Saw Alive pathway is perfect for these events really. Trailers is a weird one. It's not a scare maze, because it's not designed to be scary. But it's not an interactive walkthrough. It's a maze with clowns who interact with you. The park was quiet yesterday, but it had basically no queue whatsoever. One has to wonder if it would be worth them just making it a free experience to give people more options, rather than making it an upcharge.

I think in an ideal world a flat ride would have replaced Slammer this year, helping to revamp the area, draw eyes to that part of the park, then you have a ready made new support ride for Exodus next year for people who haven't visited in a couple of years. Black Mirror could still exist in the space too. Hopefully the park revamp the toilets in the area too. Again, they need it, and they're the last ones on park which need it. The biggest 'disappointment' in my eyes over the Exodus investment is the lack of anything else (as things stand). We're getting the coaster, and then either a shop or food unit with it. That part of the park is in need of another non-coaster ride, another F&B unit serving lunch options and a shop as a minimum ideally. Hopefully it'll all come sooner or later, but it's a bit of a disappointment it's not all as one big cohesive investment.

Yeah, there's no truth it that rumour. There would be no legal obligation on Thorpe's behalf to keep the ride stood there. If there was, it would more than likely be an obligation to have it actually running rather than not. The reason it's stood there now is simple: money. Why spend money removing it and replace it with nothing more than a flat space, when they can wait and replace it with a new attraction? Then the money spent on its hypothetical removal can be spent on more urgent things for now.

Equally, this could be a double bluff, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Exodus. And indeed, could mean absolutely nothing.

I completely agree about the 'auto complete' comment. Sooperdooperlooper is the one that stood out to me the most, but I could almost excuse that with its age. But the likes of Great Bear and even Storm Runner have that feel about them too. Candymonium is a real grower of a ride too; it gets better every time. I absolutely adore Skyrush and its "attempts to fling you out of the state" ride experience. But completely get why it's not everyone's cup of tea, and it seems to be one which has a "too intense for me" reaction from the masses. Having been in the park in both heavy rain and 35C blazing heat, I can also say it's one which shines best in the sunlight (pun totally intended). Wet weather does make the whole place feel a bit...drab.

There's over 400 pieces of supports, so will take many, many trucks!

I think it's worth pointing out that as Halloween event at theme parks have grown, it is very much the norm that parks charge their passholders extra for Halloween attractions. Even moreso post-Covid. This isn't just a Merlin thing, it's an industry thing. Now there's loads of arguments that can be made both ways about this. And of course we can say that 'just because everyone else does it, it doesn't mean Thorpe should'. But I think it's a point worth stressing. Most theme parks charge for their mazes, and that includes charges for their passholders. Thorpe aren't some special case here. That means whatever the reasons they have, they won't be unique to the park, they're a common, industry trend. I asked this to people in the know, as I was somewhat confused as to how Survival Games was the most expensive maze investment myself. The answer is simple, albeit underwhelming. The cost of raw materials. At a time where the cost of everything is soaring, even things like the wood used to build sets has gone up in price (I hear it had quadrupled in price compared to even Creek Freak Massacre). That adds a significant amount of cost. Another, separate issue, is that Thorpe are once again using external companies to build their mazes. That has pros and cons. One of the main cons is the price: the external company can name their price, and Thorpe will pay, and it can mean that the cost of labour is significantly more than if they had an in-house team, or even worked with MMM. Obviously there's a marketing incentive to advertise mazes as expensive to build. People hear "expensive to build maze" and they think "it must be quality". Whether that ends up being true or not is a different matter. Ultimately I think that the overall quality of the event has improved. The park are investing more money into the event (even scaling for inflation), and have expanded in a sensible way in recent years. Big Top is a great example of a great maze, yes. It's also a great example of what I mentioned above. 2015 Big Top was made by an external company. To some degree, that would have involved Thorpe giving said company a brief and a discussed-upon budget, and from there, it was out of their hands. We ended up with a maze which had potential and was different, but not well received. 2016 and 2017 Big Top were designed in house, by the park's scenic and tech team at the time. They had greater freedom and creative control, the money that would have gone to the pockets of an external company could instead go into the maze in some way. Here's where an issue lies with the current creative identity of Fright Nights. By having mazes designed by external companies, you can get that expertise in, and get a solid product. But that doesn't mean you will get the best value for money, or the best product. But at the same time, there currently isn't the skill-set at the park is design and build mazes from the ground up. They can conceptualise, work with external companies, etc, but they can't do it all. Again, I stress that's not a bad thing. But it can hamper the processes and result in some poor experiences, or experiences not being as good as they could (/ should) be. I don't know how true it is about 'most scare attractions allowing multiple runs'. But here's the biggest thing that Thorpe (and Towers) have to deal with: competition from scare parks. 10-15 years ago, the idea of a scare park was a huge novelty, and outside of a handful, they just didn't exist. These days, they're much more common. That creates significantly more competition. The competition from scare parks when it comes to quality is very strong. In part, this is because scare parks have...less strict H&S regulations to follow (because Merlin impose such strict rules on themselves). In part it's because they have stronger creative freedom over their attractions, usually designed in-house by specialists with a passion for the industry. In part it's just because they are a scare park, and focus solely on that. It's a very broad and layered landscape now. And the comparisons that brings makes it very challenging for the parks to be on top.

Yep, this is the key point: Jack, and Kieran, are not - to the best of my knowledge - directly employed by the park / Merlin. They effectively operate as contractors. This isn't too dissimilar to how Thorpe work with other companies, such as Unique Concepts. In short, by hiring them as contractors, Thorpe get their expertise, whilst the contractors (in Jack's case, himself) can get more money than if they worked solely for Thorpe, and are free to work for other companies too. If anything, Thorpe are the ones who lose out slightly, but that's the way they go about things. Access will in part be restricted for H&S reasons. I think it's notable that during Jack's on-site construction updates, it is only him (and not him and Kieran) on-site. There's a reason why we rarely see such in-depth coverage of coaster construction. I expect that the signing off and training process that Jack had to go through to be allowed on site is a lot. When Coasterstudios did their update, I noted that they were only ever on the viewing platform above the offices. So they likely went through a different H&S sign off to be allowed on site. I'm certain that their presence was pre-approved by Thorpe, and not Jack just having a jolly with mates and letting who he wanted on site. As for why them and no one else. Ultimately, Coasterstudios is huge across the pond, so will get a little more enthusiast buzz created in America, for very little cost. Now here's the thing, with the more Thorpe / UK centric sites. Who do you choose outside of Jack? Do you choose DG95, who is clearly very passionate, but has a limited fanbase and who's videos are more rough the edges? Do you choose Attraction Source, a large fansite who work with Merlin for paid extra events and produce higher quality videos? What about ECC, with their broad reach? Or CoasterForce; again somewhere with broad reach, one of the longest-running fansites about and who produce quality content? And what about TPM? We're the only sole-Thorpe-focused fansite around now; our reach on social media is very big (and our Facebook, in particular, attracts people far beyond the usual enthusiast circles). So yeah, how do you choose? Why should any of them get access? Maybe it's just a case of asking - I don't know if anyone else has, but I know TPM hasn't. Ultimately, as awesome as it would be to go onto a coaster construction site, I don't know what TPM (or anyone else) can offer that's different to the content that's already been produced by someone else. So why should anyone else get access...

I reckon they were just psychics who got confused between Nemesis Inferno's track and Fury 325's supports.

I went on Ghost Train again yesterday. There's effectively no difference to the experience, beyond a different costume for the finale actor. Presumably the 4 day closure was focusing more on technical aspects, to do with computer hardware for the ride system, and similar things.

The fact that it's all during one week makes me wonder if it's for some sort of filming / marketing, which is why the rides are opening slightly later. Obviously lots of questions remain if that is the case. Closures / delayed openings are always a pain, but ultimately 45 minutes for one coaster at the start of the day on an off peak day isn't the most disastrous case.

They do need to so what Towers did with Hex and make it a bit clearer it's more an experience than a ride. I hope they can make that clearer soon.

I think the Imagine Dragons song is a more recent addition...I don't remember it playing during my runs on the preview event, but heard it on my run on Friday.

I like the use of Imagine Dragon's Believer, in that it adds that little bit of humour. That smirk across your face when you hear it and put 2 and 2 together. However, you usually walk straight through this room; maybe held for a few moments at most. But it's not something you'd be hearing a lot of in any case. Being held in that room and hearing it a lot probably does detract from the vibe a bit. Ghost Train does well at blending the scary bits and the humour, a bit like with the Dungeons, but it has to be careful that to hit the mark each time. It's easy to go too far on the humour, or for it to just not work if the timings are off.

Construction is moving along nicely:

In terms of positive Gs, I'd expect this to be more intense? In terms of an intense / chaotic experience, RtH probably does win out though.

First of all, if an attraction is (as you put it) dire, reviews from a media / VIP preview event aren't going to call it that. Ultimately, those events are there for those people to positively talk about and hype up whatever they've been invited there for. Saying that thing is awful publicly is just a shot in the foot and ultimately leads to them not getting invited back. So it's totally worth taking any VIP review with a pinch of salt (especially with actor led experiences). For me personally, I keep a fine line. Any negative or construction feedback I pass onto management. I have said multiple times when I don't like something, when I don't think something will work, etc. But then when it comes to posting on TPM's social pages, I focus on the positives, whilst also sandwiching in a constructive improvement. I always joke about 2018 Fright Nights, and my review of Vulcan Peak, which was little more than "Something different". As for Ghost Train more specifically, I'm genuinely curious as to which VIP reviews you feel "lied to by". I ask this because, everyone I spoke to at the event had a pretty level-headed thought process about it. Thoughts were along the lines of 'Better than DBGT', 'The best incarnation of the ride', 'It's not a must-do, but it's something I'm happy to do if the queue is right'. And the reviews and thoughts I saw posted on social media from the preview reflect that. Obviously everyone will have different thoughts and reactions. And something like this, especially in a theme park setting, will receive very Marmite reactions. But I genuinely don't know of anyone who's over-stated the attraction to be more than what it is. For what it's worth too: the experience during the media event was an accurate reflection of how the ride would run normally. No extra actors in the building. The same number of roaming actors outside the attraction (which are currently there as the ride is new, but will disappear is the coming weeks/months). There was no 'special runthrough'. The experience is, if anything, still growing, as they take on board people's reviews and make tweaks. Opening of Ghost Train was delayed on the night slightly too.

It won't be a straight out doubling for the number of actors, as not all are linked to the trains. Though, in saying that, the attraction can probably run with about 14-15 actors ( ) (including actors to cover breaks, to ensure the same number are in the attraction at any given time) as a bare minimum at the moment. On top of that, they would require 6-7 ride hosts too (again, as a minimum, but also including people to cover breaks). There's currently also a couple of roaming actors outside the entrance, but I imagine these are more 'new ride hype' actors, which usually disappear, as is the case for many attractions. Last year, DBGT was running with 6-7 actors and 10-11 ride hosts. So the number of total staff isn't significantly greater than how it was last year. And it's currently less than when DBGT originally opened. Equally, the park is a lot more Entertainments-focused now, with a much larger Ents department and budget. With events most of the year, the Thrillmakers show outside of events, the park clearly have a greater scope to ensure actor levels remain high. The issue will come, somewhat ironically, around Fright Nights time, when (as with most large horror events in the country), they'll struggle to suitably staff the FN attractions, and start to pull actors from the permanent rides. TWD:TR hasn't had actors in any of my goes this year...whether that's bad luck or because the focus is away from that now, I'm not sure.

Spoiler thoughts from me: Some non-spoiler bits, found out during the Press Night: -Kieron Smith, Global Artistic Director for The Dungeons, was described as the "writer and director" of Ghost Train. What they means exactly I'm not sure, but in any case, it means that this has had significant input from someone who is in charge The Dungeons, which are very successful, and what this attraction should aim to be like. -The park acknowledge this will take some time to perfect. As with things like this, there will be a need to be responsive to guest and actor feedback, and things like timings, scripts, etc may need to be tweaked. The park will do this. -Not having the restriction of an IP means it is easier to change / update the story too. -A general consensus from everyone I spoke to who rode it was that it was perhaps the best they could have done given the constraints they had. There's a "ride system" in place, but it is minimal and restrictive, and was designed for a very specific purpose. The building was designed for that ride system. Replacing the ride system is pipe dream worthy at this stage. But what they've with it, and what they've turned Ghost Train into, is (as I've already said), on the higher end of what they could have done. They could have done more, but they've done a good job.

Very very brief thoughts from me as I am exhausted It's good fun. It's an actor led, story driven, Dungeons-esque experience. It's an improvement on DBGT and more rideable, but it doesn't have strong rerideability. It's on the higher end of what they could have done with the ride system in place. I have concerns about how it will run with full groups of paying guests. But that will be seen in time. Theming is good for the most part. Story is clear and straightforward. There's some cool, simple effects. It's up there as one of the better incarnations of the ride (probably joint with the 2017 version when all effects worked for me). It's not perfect, but it's a good, well rounded addition to the park's line up. Fuller review with spoilers to follow.