JoshC.

A significantly new entrance area is unlikely given we haven't seen plans yet, but not impossible. 
 
The park are restricted with how much they could do there, but they certainly could revamp it.

Alright, visited on Tuesday (for my first proper Fright Nights experience outside of the passholder preview day 2 years ago), here's my maze reviews and some thoughts:
 
Trailers
This is a maze that a lot of you will be aware that I have been extremely vocal about since my first runthrough on opening year. I thought it was dreadful the first time I did it - predictable scares across the board and the rooms are too small. I still think this is the case for the most part, however my runthrough this year was significantly better as for some reason or another, me and my friend ended up losing the ENTIRE group that we went in with after just the first dentist scene - so we basically had a SLKSTN EXCLUSIVE runthrough with all the actors' attention in all of the rooms fixated on us. It was our first maze of the evening too (as we both hated it when we did it last and wanted to just get it out of the way), but both came out very, very impressed. I even ended up running out of the maze, which isn't something I often end up doing in scare attractions.
 
There's definitely a few rooms here and there that are pretty weak - Hell Cell and Vulcan Voodoo stand out immediately to me, I'm sure there was others too. Room highlights though were definitely 'Nightmare on Staines Street' and the finale room. In the nightmare scene, I was so fixated by the person coming out of the bed that I totally forgot that there's also somebody behind the window and it made me jump out of my skin - not something I expected to be doing in Trailers after my last experience where I didn't jump at all. The finale was also great because we had the spark machines working for a change, which (again) wasn't something we experienced on our first runthrough in 2021.
 
Trailers was my second favourite maze of the evening.
 
Stitches
We then moved on to Stitches, which surprisingly didn't have the ridiculous queue that I expected considering it's the nEw FoR 2023 maze. I quite liked it. I agree with what @JoshC. said that it's definitely more eerie than scary - I didn't get jumpscared very often, but was definitely uncomfortable whilst walking through. Some of the strobe and LED lighting in there really did blind you which totally throws you off and puts you even more on edge for potential jumpscares (which didn't really happen for the most part unfortunately).
 
The finale room was very very creepy and the strobe lighting makes it virtually impossible to distinguish the difference between real actors and the mannequins - unfortunately, however, there didn't appear to be any real actors in there in our runthrough... or at the very least we just got unlucky and wasn't targeted which did put a bit of a dampener on what was for the most part a terrific maze.
 
Overall though, it's a great maze - and I'd be very surprised if it didn't return for '24. I just hope that if it does, they focus more on scares. The atmosphere is there, but there's no real payoff. I somewhat hope that if this maze is expected to be on the horizon for a while that this replaces Trailers and utilises the permanent exterior to model a good looking toy shop from it. I feel like Stitches could really benefit from this, and would make more sense to do this than it does with Trailers. However, the current setup does work - so if the park are looking to replace Trailers, I'd rather they replace it with something new entirely instead.
 
Survival Games
My oh my was this intense. Being separated from your group right the start sets the tone for the rest of the attraction and it's great. My favourite element of this attraction is the focus on physical touch. I wish this was something that happened across the board for the Thorpe mazes (you know, being the 'thrill' park of the UK, I think they could get away with only super intense mazes but I understand they probably don't want to open that can of worms and possibly limit their clientele). Being grabbed and dragged by the actors inside of that building really adds a whole other layer to the experience, and like someone mentioned above you do find yourself trying to evade the actors rather than actively seek them out.
 
I found myself purposefully going around in circles just to avoid actors in the hopes that they wouldn't still be there by the time I come back around. The total free-flow element of the maze is great too, because it means you essentially get to decide for yourself just how long you spend in there. Obviously you could get lucky (or unlucky in this instance) and make a beeline straight for the exit, but it's definitely part of the fun to just get yourself lost in there.
 
Me and my friend even got dragged into a room at one point, forced to kneel down and have a moo-off. 10/10 would do again.
 
The Crows of Mawkin Meadow
Gonna keep this one short and sweet - it's just as eerie as always. The Crows will forever be one of my favourite Fright Nights characters and concrete proof that loud doesn't always mean scary within scare attractions. They utilised all of that extra space perfectly too and I loved the little tents with concept art and stuff hung up on the walls.
 
Creature Campus
Gonna keep this one short too - it's much better than I expected. Dance shows aren't really my 'thing', but considering we had just got off Stealth and was like 3 minutes until the show began, I thought I'd give it a watch and was very pleasantly surprised. Good dancing, good music, but slightly awkward ending that left a lot of people standing around in silence wondering what was happening - nobody applauded as I don't think anybody really thought that's where it ended. I suppose it's a bit difficult to establish an 'ending' for a dance show though, so probably just part and parcel of that type of experience.
 
Lucifer's Lair
This was great too. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I really liked it. The guy playing Lucifer hollering out and just ripping into everybody walking past was fun to sit and observe too, with security even having to step in a couple of times due to people actually getting triggered and chatting back 💀 How people can't see that it's just a character, and that 'it aint that deep bro'.
 
Misc
Also agree re the themed audio and parkwide audio this year. With the exception of Detonator, it was very weak across the board this year. I love the Stealth default launch audio - don't get me wrong - but it's definitely one of those attractions that absolutely warrants themed audio for every event considering (at current) it is the park's staple, leading attraction.
 
Also, if you choose the 6pm-9pm timeslots for mazes, consider your night ride time extremely limited. I went on a Tuesday before kids have broken up from school, which by all accounts was considered a 'quiet' day, and still only ended up with just about an hour's worth of night rides. I can only imagine this will be even worse, if not impossible, once the kids have broken up from school. Next time I'll probably take the discount and go for the 3pm-6pm slots instead and just allow myself to enjoy the rest of the evening riding the coasters - especially if all of the mazes are indoors again like they are this year.
 
Also, to answer my previous question about whether Ghost Train shuts early on Fright Nights... it doesn't. It was on a 15 minute queuetime at closing time on Tuesday, however it's worth noting that it didn't actually open until 3pm, which I thought was a bit odd. I'd have thought the park would want to have actors in Walking Dead and Ghost Train early before they have to be pulled out and out in mazes, but I guess not!

And in an actually useful post, more supports:
 
 

And in an actually useful post, more supports:
 
 

Petition to bring back the Nemesis inferno whipping theme….

And in an actually useful post, more supports:
 
 

And in an actually useful post, more supports:
 
 

It looks striking against the night sky:
 
 

Tharrr she grows
 
 

A significantly new entrance area is unlikely given we haven't seen plans yet, but not impossible. 
 
The park are restricted with how much they could do there, but they certainly could revamp it.

Just come back from my walk by thorpe park, here's an update from the site. Contsruction walls avoided me from getting good photos, but here's the best I could get. Station's going up I believe though need to look over the plans to check. Main tower seems to be going up which was ace to see, but might pop into thorpe park next time for better photos.

Unlikely that any of the ride hardware will be for Rumba since they're different manufacturers.
 
I guess theoretically some parts could be used if they're cross-compatible, although I'm not what could potentially be.

Seems as that I'm not going anywhere else new this year, its my favourite time of year.. the top ten 2023. And my oh my there's a lot of newness out there. 
 
With Nemesis closed it has reached golden status as my 0. 
 
0. Nemesis - I think this will remain my favourite ride of all time. But as it doesn't exist anymore it wouldn't be fair to rank it against other rides.
1. Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point - Naturally moves up to the top spot. A sheer tour de force of an attraction and I'm looking forward to getting back on it next year. It was the second RMC I'd ever done but with 8 more added to the list, I wonder if it's really as good as I remember.
 
2. Ride to Happiness. Plopsaland - A revelation of a rollercoaster and one of the most reridable attractions Mack have ever made. I cannot put into words the sheer joy and excitement each ride gave me. It's ease of getting to from London makes it an easy must do for anyone wanting to ride one of the best rides in the world. 
 
3. Toutatis, Parc Asterix. People absolutely fall head over heels for Intamin and I never really have. Juvelen came close but that was a decade ago. No, it was Toutatis the ride that made me fall for this company. That launch section alone with some of the most aggressive air time out there really impressed me and I wanted more. This year I got to ride its close brother Pantheon and whilst good, the theming and story of Toutatis really pushes it all the way to third.
 
4. Wildcats Revenge, Hershey Park. This was completely out of the blew for me, really unexpected. I did not expect this to be the RMC that I would be placing so high in my top ten. But it was something else. Fantastically designed, well operated, efficient and brilliantly paced. There is not a bad seat on this fantastic ride. 
 
5.  Untamed, Walibi Holland. I don't want to be an RMC obsessed toad, but the reality is that RMC do not make bad rides. And Untamed is another excellent example of a well designed, well paced, breath-taking ride. I need to get back over to ride it as I've done several of similar size now and I'd be interested to see if its as good as I remember.
 
6. Blue Fire, Europa Park. This is a bit of an oddity as there are clearly rides that are better. But for me, an excellent ride is more than the ride experience. Ease of riding, efficiency and operations are equally if not more important. Blue Fire is this ride and to watch it on four trains, running flawlessly is something to behold. Blue Fire is the resurgence of rollercoasters as I think, without its revolutionary train, we would not see the outstanding Intamins, Vekomas and (hopefully) Zamperlas we are seeing today.
 
7. El Toro, Six Flags Great Adventure. I wouldn't say I completely enjoyed El Toro. Some of the roughness in there is borderline unridable. But, and this is a big but, I swear to god El Toro is one of the finest rollercoasters in the world with a pacing that no other wooden coaster can match. It evokes fear in me quite unlike any other in the top ten. It's not a passive experience and fully takes your breathe away. A ride that pushes you to your limits. Its outstanding even if it needs more work done to one of the downward turns.
 
8. Alpengeist, Busch Gardens Williamsburg. A B&M invert that is so massive, so dominant, there was no way I couldn't love it. I loved that sheer speed and scale of Alpengeist and how well paced that first half of the ride is. The second half is trimmed to severely to be as enjoyable but it is an absolutely fantastic old-school B&M Inverter. 
 
9. Batman: Gotham City Escape, Parque Warner Madrid. It's odd to describe this ride and I think it needs to be ridden because it is so unique. I was surprised by how much I like it, but its one of those rides that is full of surprises and variety.
 
10. Helix, Liseberg. A masterclass in building to the terrain with such aggressive air time that it begins to hurt your legs. With the advent of Taron and Intamins far faster launches, its always fun to return to Liseberg and remember just how good the Mack trains are and how great Helix is.
 
The following rides were so close but just not good enough to be in the top ten.
Iron Grawzi, Velocicoaster. Nitro, Twisted Timbers, Dominator, Superman de Acero, Abyssus, Zadra, Hyperion, Katun, Oz'Iris, Wildfire, Wodan

Did I also say that track would be installed at 12.22pm on Wednesday 11th October?
 
 

Did I also say that track would be installed at 12.22pm on Wednesday 11th October?
 
 

Nailed it 😎

Yeah I agree, its not a priority for them and thats fine, I'm just someone that has always enjoyed Fright Nights audio so its something I picked up on.
 
Even if they're not creating new audio, loads of the previous Fright Night overlays would work fine. It makes a huge difference to the atmosphere in my opinion.
 
 
Good idea about keeping the coasters and Fright Nights attractions open till 10, would mean they could still send a good amount of staff home earlier. Fright Nights and Coasters are what the majority of people will want to be doing in the dark anyway really. Its just such a shame they make a good effort of making everything look good in the dark and then not even having the time to see it all anyway, even on a quieter night.
 
I did notice a lot of people feeding this back in the passholders group as well, so I'm hoping they pick up on this and can look at bringing it back for next year as they seem to be quite good at listening to feedback recently. If they've done it before, they can do it again.
 
 
I think as long as they keep the same number of free attractions/shows, people wouldn't mind paying for another maze. If they start to takeaway some of the free zones and replace these with paid mazes, I can see people not being too happy, understandably. 
 
I would be happy if they keep the current number with 3 mazes, as I think they have a great variety of attractions now. But if they do I would definitely like to see Trailers replaced, its nice to have a fresh maze every year.
 
If I was to see anything replaced it would be Creature Campus. I'd much rather see a new scare zone or maze instead of a dance show. But I can see why they've kept this as theres clearly a demand for it, people seem to love it.

Nailed it 😎

Nailed it 😎

Yeah, this is a bit disappointing. In the grand scheme of things, it's a minor thing, and with the efforts gone elsewhere, it almost seems like a nitpick point. But the park have done some pretty awesome Fright Nights overlays on rides in previous years, and having them along with the high quality areas the park would be fab.
 
Big agree here. 
 
I'd imagine another reason for 10pm closes being something they don't want to bring back is because staff aged under 18 can't work that late, which puts pressure on staff (and then links into staff welfare and all the other reasons).
 
However, I think the park really need to explore ways to bring back 10pm closes. It would help bring Fright Nights in line with scare-specific events across the country, and just give more night time experience. Even if they just kept Fright Nights attractions and coasters open till 10pm, or considered 11am-10pm, that would be a big helpful step.
 
Another agree here. It wasn't bad, but seemed a bit...meh at the same time.
 
This is something which has been in my mind too. Obviously not to jump the gun, but where do Thorpe go from here?
 
Do the park expand their line up with a 4th maze, and if so, how? Do they just go for 4 mazes which you can buy separately, and then have a "Terrifying Quad" package? Do they go for a "Terrifying Trio" package plus a 4th maze which is entirely separate? Or do they go for 3 upcharge mazes and then 1 free maze? Or some other weird combo?
 
Or if they keep with 3, do they replace Trailers? Or just update it? Or, do what seems almost unthinkable now, and stick with the 3 mazes they currently have, have no new mazes, and instead focus on new scare zones/shows instead?
 
There's lots of options there. I wonder what the reaction would be to a 4th upcharge maze from the masses - would people be happy to pay for everything, or does it leave people picking and choosing what they're doing? It certainly is something they'd need to look at a lot with market research.

Nailed it 😎

I don't know if Ghost Train does close early. However, I'd assume it does, purely because the building isn't the most sound-proofed, and the noise from Lucifer's Lair probably bleeds in. 
 
Tbf, I doubt there's much they could do with the space and ride system by adding more actors. The trains will have a maximum number of people allowed, and they can't go for high-intensity scares there. The only place they could realistically do an extreme version for Ghost Train is in the crypt, and even then, extra actors wouldn't add a significant amount there. Better to have 3 mazes and close it early than 2 and keep it open imo.
 
---
 
It's very interesting to see the early reaction to the time slots. I still expected the later slots to be packed, but the price difference does seem to be swaying a lot of people. Wonder if that will change throughout the event or be a common theme.
 
It is a real shame the park haven't managed to sort out the queueing for mazes yet. I think it's unrealistic to expect no queues, but a minimal wait time is okay. Approx hour queues are too much. It's good to see the park have tried something different, in turn acknowledging the issues that were present, but there's clearly still work to be done.

I don't know if Ghost Train does close early. However, I'd assume it does, purely because the building isn't the most sound-proofed, and the noise from Lucifer's Lair probably bleeds in. 
 
Tbf, I doubt there's much they could do with the space and ride system by adding more actors. The trains will have a maximum number of people allowed, and they can't go for high-intensity scares there. The only place they could realistically do an extreme version for Ghost Train is in the crypt, and even then, extra actors wouldn't add a significant amount there. Better to have 3 mazes and close it early than 2 and keep it open imo.
 
---
 
It's very interesting to see the early reaction to the time slots. I still expected the later slots to be packed, but the price difference does seem to be swaying a lot of people. Wonder if that will change throughout the event or be a common theme.
 
It is a real shame the park haven't managed to sort out the queueing for mazes yet. I think it's unrealistic to expect no queues, but a minimal wait time is okay. Approx hour queues are too much. It's good to see the park have tried something different, in turn acknowledging the issues that were present, but there's clearly still work to be done.

I LOVED the strobe section in Stitches. They’re always by far my favourite part when they use these in mazes. Which is why The Freezer/Asylum will always be the most terrifying and intense maze for me. Absolutely loved Stitches, my favourite of the 3 by a mile. Brilliant atmosphere and theming with so many jump scares. The room with the dolls (I think they were?) not knowing which of them were real was a highlight, I know they sort of did that in Trailers but it’s executed so much better here. 
 
Really comes down to what you look for in a maze as I really didn’t find Survival Games that intense. The shouting and being shoved takes away the sense of the unknown for me and you can see the actors coming from a mile off. But it’s great we have 2 very strong and complimentary mazes with Stitches and Survival Games. I do think now Trailers is easily the weakest of the three and wouldn’t be surprised to see this one gone next year

Nailed it 😎