JoshC.

Moving coasters, though cheaper than getting a new coaster, is still a costly and time-consuming exercise. The logistics are a lot more difficult when dealing with a wooden coaster... I'm struggling to recall the last time a wooden roller coaster was relocated. The only example I can think of was more than 50 years ago. The other coasters from Oakwood have gone to other parks owned by Aspro, making it an easier and cheaper deal in that regard. It'd be a huge surprise if Thorpe went for Megafobia, or frankly if any park did.

Just to go back to the topic of attendance, it is really worth stressing that the TEA Attendance Report is not accurate for Thorpe / Merlin. This graph is from the Hyperia consultation, including numbers up to 2020: The Queue Times website also has these numbers listed, as well as numbers from the TEA Report: https://queue-times.com/parks/2/attendances#reference4 Just for some reference: 2019: Thorpe say 1.49m, TEA say 1.9m 2018: Thorpe say 1.59m, TEA say 1.88m 2017: Thorpe say 1.54m, TEA say 1.8m 2016: Thorpe say 1.62m, TEA say 1.8m 2015: Thorpe say 1.51m, TEA say 1.85m 2014: Thorpe say 1.83m, TEA say 2.1m etc, etc. As you can see, there's years when the actual attendance has gone down, but TEA say it's gone up, and vice versa. But there is no rhyme or reason. So it is certainly possible that 2024 saw an increase in attendance compared to 2023 at Thorpe. As Benin says, the late opening of Hyperia followed by its extended downtime will have hurt attendance. But once it did get running, it ran well and was a draw. Was that enough to outweigh and then eventually beat what was a quiet, but consistent, 2023? It felt like it, but we'll never truly know.

A few things to throw out into the realm of conversation... Fright Nights Music I noticed during the last week of Fright Nights that many rides did have Fright Nights themed announcements, from Lucifer. Rush, Detonator and Nemesis Inferno spring to mind. It's weird that it happened late into the event, but good to see. I do think it's something that really does add to the atmosphere, and something the park should continue to focus on and improve. Fright Nights specific audio was one of the biggest successes from early Fright Nights - even if it was just Midnight Syndicate - and something that the park should continue to replicate. Even using free, spooky audio would add an extra layer. The park have shown this year they have the ability to programme park-wide changes to lighting and audio, so the next step is to really focus onto ride-specifics. I've also been on park for the pop music change at the end of the day. And...I still don't get it. I've seen a couple of videos of large groups of people really getting into it. My experience was a couple of people scattered around getting into it, but most people not being bothered by it. When I say I don't get it, I do understand the logic behind it. But I just don't see how it links to Fright Nights, how it adds to the overall experience or anything. In the BTS interview, it was mentioned they wanted to replicate the vibe that occurred in 2013 when they used Perfect Day (which was used in the You're Next film, which was part of that year's Fright Nights), and they wanted Bittersweet Symphony in particular to be another "iconic" Fright Nights song. I certainly don't view Perfect Day as an iconic Fright Nights song, or even associate it with Fright Nights all that much. That whole viewpoint comes from a very skewed perspective in my opinion. Mazes Thorpe have a...problem with the mazes. I will maintain what I've always said in that the quality of the mazes, on the whole, is pretty good. Yes, there's issues, batch sizes majorly affect the experiences, costs are high, etc, but on the whole, they're pretty good. You chuck any one of their mazes into any previous Fright Nights event, or into most scare events across the country, and they'll be well received. But the problem is that they're all so samey. You have 4 mazes where you get batched in as a group. You then watch a pre-show (3 of which on shown on a screen). You then walk round well themed sets as a group whilst actors jump out, invade your personal space and then you move on. The mazes feature quite passive scenes, where you see actors do things to others, but you experience no real scare. Examples.. Trailers in the dentist scene, when the dentist 'beats up' the patient. Deadbeat, just before the sewer, when a Visceral sucks out the soul of a raver. Stitches, when a worker is sewing up a mannequin. As I say, each maze in its own right is good. And the variety in themes of the 4 mazes is perfect. The issue simply is is you have 4 mazes which are basically carbon copies of each other, just dressed differently. I think that, in part, comes down to have a consistent creative team for many years, using UVE for many years - there's a level of comfort and knowing what works. I think this is highlighted again in the BTS video. One notable reason for Survival Games (which, prior to this year, stood out as being completely different) being changed is because it was seen in guest feedback that people were getting an inconsistent number of scares, which was impacting experience and the perception of value for money. And their solution to that problem is to make Survival Games like every other maze they have - single route, actors jumping out, you continually moving. Thorpe know how to make that work, so they went with that. I'm not saying that was necessarily a right or a wrong move. Nor am I saying it's easy to create a multi-route experience which is consistent. But they went with the easiest option available to their team. The last time that Thorpe had no variety in their mazes, in terms of style of scares, was 2010. They had 4 mazes (Asylum, Hellgate, Se7en, Curse). They were all "get batched in a conga line, go straight in the maze with no pre show, and actors will jump out and touch you" in style. In 2011, they changed things (not just for them, but for the wider UK scare industry as a whole). They introduced Experiment 10, which had a pre-show, split you up, etc. And even 14 years later, is spoken about extremely fondly. And that kick-started a wave of creativity for them. Each year after, you had at least one maze which was completely different. The Passing, Cabin in the Woods, Blair Witch, Big Top, Do or Die...heck, even Vulcan Peak. The quality of those vary, but there is no denying that all those mazes felt different, and all for varying reasons (split up, multi-route, outdoors, hoods, etc). There's certainly an argument that in playing it 'safe', creating the same style of maze, has allowed the maze quality to increase. But there's a parallel argument that that 'safety' is stifling creativity and progress. I'm not saying the park should change their creative team. Far from it, as they've really pushed Fright Nights forwards. But they need to take a risk, try something different, and not be afraid to put the work in to tweak and change it to make it work.

One thing I've noticed with Thorpe is that such a large number of people arrive for 10am. As in, they see the park opens at 10, so they think 'Well let's aim to arrive at 10ish'. Whether that's something embedded deep in UK culture or something the park can get better at communicating, I don't know. With multiple thousands of people all doing the same, it will inevitably cause issues. That issue was particularly compounded during Fright Nights, when even more people attend. The simple answer is security is slow. What they choose to do takes a while. Simply put, if they want to continue with the level of security they are doing, they should look to invest in better scanners which means they can get through people quicker. The alternative is to reduce the level of security check (which they could do, as it is a very thorough process; significantly more thorough than most parks who do manual bag searches). Hiring more security is impractical, as has been discussed. This Fright Nights I've been impressed with all of my exits from the car park. Yes, it's busy and again many thousands of people are leaving at once. But it does feel smoother compared to previous years. The biggest issues I've found is the quality of parking (when people arrive later in the day and just park wherever and however they please) and the red and white dividers getting blown around. It would be nice if the park could manage what many other parks do with paying for the car park before entry, but realistically, I don't think the park have the space, design or capacity for that to be feasible.

Couple of things to consider: -Merlin recently made Halloween an included day for most passes. -The excluded days, somewhat ironically, tend to be a bit quieter because: There's less passholders People expect those days to be busy so avoid them -The weather was forecast to be a bit rubbish, which can put passholders off -There were 2 severe cases of bad weather, including electrical storms in the nearby area, shutting down most rides. That, along with the rubbish weather, meant people left earlier. The park today didn't feel as busy as it was yesterday. Nor did it feel as busy as it was last Halloween. However, the park was still extremely busy and lively.

Y'know, ParmPap has grown on me over the years, despite their crazed posts. For what it's worth, Se7en was a maze at Fright Nights which was based in The Arena from 2006-2010, and on the larger side of The Beach in 2011. Obviously The Arena was replaced by Derren Brown's Ghost Train. The larger side of The Beach is earmarked for the stage redevelopment. Whether that's still the plan is anyone's guess for now. So maybe Parmesan Papa is hinting at a DBGT replacement?

The hiring of 300 actors on short term contracts will be the reason.

I don't know if it's still the case (but I expect it is), but theme parks / companies are under no obligation to be truthful to TEA for reporting their attendance figures. Obviously they can't outright lie, but their numbers don't have to be accurate. I've been aware of some parks' TEA numbers being off by 300,000 in the past. So definitely take with a pinch of salt. They'll be good ballpark numbers, but obviously could be off by 10-20% in some instances. In the context of Thorpe, I'm going to outright say I don't believe the 2023 figure. The 2024 figure seems plausible. But just from my visits, I do not see how 2023 ended up being more visited than 2024. I caveat this by saying I'm just going off my experiences, so I could be completely wrong. The big question is - if Merlin haven't necessarily been truthfully accurate with their attendance figures - why have they made Thorpe seem like it's had a big attendance dip when they open a big brand new ride? Surely it would make sense to keep the fabrication alive and make it seem like Hyperia had a positive impact? Few possible factors. Could be that they are now reporting more accurately. Or they could blame 2024's "poor" performance on Hyperia's reliability. Or they could pin it to Hyperia opening in May. It could be part of a narrative they're building that will see increases in 2025 and how Hyperia is a long-term draw. Who knows. As I say, I simply don't believe that Thorpe's attendance dipped from 2023 to 2024. I could be wrong, and I'm no doubt sounding pig-headed stubborn right now, but that's a hill I'm currently going to stand on right now.

The park have released an hour-long interview with Fright Nights management about this year's event. There's some cool insight about things and is well worth a watch. Will share my thoughts about some things discussed at a later point.

Reasonably common for Colossus. They do it just to check for any signs of wear and tear at the joints of the ride. It will be a part of their routine and nothing to be concerned about.

700pph across all attractions is definitely an overestimate. Mazes probably average around 400-500pph. And I can't think of any non-major coaster that would we get above 700pph consistently.

Not sure if it still does, but in the first few days of the event, the park was playing The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony shortly after closing. Apparently the reason is to represent the same feeling you get when the last song plays at the end of a good night out (ie bittersweet). Apparently meant to recreate when the park played Perfect Day in 2013's Fright Nights (which was in the film You're Next). I...don't get it frankly. But I've also seen some really positive reactions online. For me, it just doesn't make sense / fit with Fright Nights. I got why they did it in the exit area of DeadBeat (since it's nightclub themed). But parkwide? I don't know; I just don't get it. Playing other pop music too, again I don't get it. Probably has some 'hidden meaning', but yeah...doesn't do it for me. Really good point, and I certainly didn't think of it that way. Obviously there will be different schools of thought. I do still think there will be plenty of scare actors who would be more than willing to give it a go...even if just as a once off, but there will definitely be people who aren't keen on the idea (or choose to go there and then realise the style isn't for them). I'm very intrigued by how Universal will set up HHN (or whatever they end up branding their Halloween event). The European market is very different and has very different expectations and standards for Halloween attractions. Do Universal stick with what they know, and bring that slice of American culture with them, or do they try to still keep it in the same form, but add the European flair to it. If they can bring on board British / European creatives with experience of creating and running Halloween attractions, they definitely could find a way to make it work. One thing which I've noticed is that it would be very difficult for your average guest on your average night to do everything (ie all Fright Nights attractions and shows and major rides in the dark). There will definitely be many, many people who don't manage that. Whilst the park will have a lot of repeat visitors thanks to Annual Passholders, and I'm certainly all for keeping things fresh, for many people, a show feeling very similar won't have that much impact. I'm sure that there are people who are going "we didn't do X last time, let's do it this time". Equally, people who are going "we did Y last time and enjoyed it, let's do/watch it again". Of course, there will be people on the other side who crave new things / got everything done last time. It is all about striking a balance. I still maintain that one year with no big new things is fine. Equally, I'd have preferred to see some extra work go into things like park-wide theming, themed audio, etc. Doesn't surprise me. The profit in particular makes perfect sense given they're effectively introducing 4 paid attractions now, so they make more money from passholders as well as non-passholders. Halloween events always do well for parks, given the later openings and limited-offering attractions, and that's true anywhere. Equally, for Thorpe, I think it's a telling statistic. It's not necessarily that Fright Nights has become more visited, but that the rest of the year has become less-visited. Obviously both things could be true (and probably are), but I think that statistic is driven by the park being quieter the rest of the year. I'm too lazy to look at what the days were last year, but this year, Thorpe has 207 open days and 24 of them are Fright Nights dates. So they're getting about 20% of their visitors across 11.5% of their open days. Those numbers are pretty meaningless without additional context, but I'd be interested what is was like in past and how important that is.

I don't think the event in its current guise is 'family friendly". It's by no means adult/mature, and has something for everyone, but it's not exactly pushed down to Chessington or Legoland markets. Yes, there's a dance show which is for everyone, and doesn't go hard on scares. Whilst you could argue that the cast for that could be used for a "scare" attraction, it's not guarantee that all the actors involved would want / could be scare actors. Different skill set, backgrounds, etc. So not a straightforward swap. Obviously it won't interest everyone and that's fine. But it does add atmosphere and variety to the event. Lucifer's Lair features some dance shows, but they are certainly geared towards a more mature audience. And that whole zone does encapsulate what previous roamers were like it terms of scare factor. Ultimately yes Fright Nights does still have things which cater to everyone. And part of me expects that that is because regardless of what Thorpe do, families still visit the park. We saw years ago that the park tried catering to just thrills and a slightly older audience, and that just led to less people spending money, and more complaints and bad publicity from families who came anyway. There's still enough to satisfy the 'thrillseeker' audience. Even if the upcharges are too much, or the mazes lack consistency, the quartet of mazes intent is to be scary, and for the wider audience, that is what they acheive. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see the park have Fright Nights be more mature, up the age recommendations, become a bit more scary. And that would certainly benefit some of their attractions. But I completely get why they won't do that. And if that's what people are after, I going to an out and out scream park is the best option for them.

I write this on my way to work, as it's raining. I'm tired. So forgive any typos. As always, this is "my" review, not a 'press' review. Trailers My favourite maze of the night. Two new scenes are one inspired by Roots of Evil (in the forest area after the Dolls scene) and an Experiment 10 inspired one replacing Brainsburys. The safety speech is done in the old pre show area, with the screen now having a pre recorded pre show. It's the same basic maze, but with a solid cast and good scares. DeadBeat No changes inside maze. Pre show is slightly different but that's it. Stitches A couple of minor changes, but same idea. It's hard to tell without knowing numbers, but Stitches is either the most popular or has the worst throughput because even at Press Night it gets a longer queue than everything else Survival Games No more splitting up. This is a single route maze. As a result, it is significantly longer. It's also still intense, but definitely less intense than previous years. There's a change in story line about the characters being given a serum to make them more vicious, and so the 'assassin' characters are no more. The maze does feel fresh. For me though, it's my least favourite of the 4. It feels a bit too Tulleys-like in that there's a long maze but a few moments where not a lot happens. It is, like the other mazes, walking through a themed set more than anything else, although it is less like that than the others. I don't know. Maybe actors just need more time to bed in and get in the groove. Maybe I'm just salty because I liked the old Survival Games. Will be interesting to re do it later. Purgatory Town To behonest, exactly what I expected. It's an interactive zone. You get out what you put in. If you seek the actors out, talk to them, you'll get so fun conversations. If you walk through and the actors are already talking, it'll be like the zone doesn't exist. If they're free they will approach you, but if you don't put anything in they'll move on. It's fine for what it is. With mazes becoming more passive I think the jury is out whether this is what Fright Nights needs. And it remains to be seen how it will cope when busy. Creature Campus Another great dance show this year. I get that many aren't interested in it, but it oozes atmosphere. Would recommend. The Crows Longest and possibly best layout yet. It is basically an outdoor maze at this point. Theming and effects are cool. Music is perfect for it. It just works. Lucifer's Lair Say hello to the crown jewel of Fright Nights for the third year running. The area is perfect for what it is trying to be, the hub of the event. There will always be something going on, whether it is demons going round treating it like a scare zone, singing, dance shows, stunt shows or the best version of a Thorpe fire show yet. This is just it. Music is a bit of a mess right now. I'm sad they're not choosing to do more specific stuff for rides. Lighting is great. Stealth has a cool light at the end of the launch track in sync with the launch lights. All in it's another good event. It won't silence critics about the long term direction that FN has gone / is going. I'm less of a fan of the style of mazes Thorpe currently produce, but I'll still give them another go and see what changes. But genuinely, and wholeheartedly, the stuff included in the entrance ticket is worth the visit.

I wouldn't read too much into it. That poster is in a scene with 4 other posters, all of which were designed from the "Make Your Mark" VIP Easter Egg thing. The price included getting your name on a poster which related to an attraction of your choosing. Jake Clarke obviously likes Ghost Train, and The Last Train is a good discourse. There's another next to it which is Creek Freak 2, but don't expect a sequel to that maze. Obviously it's possible that it is closing, and this has been hidden in in such a way that it feels more subtle. But I don't think it's the nod people think it is.