JoshC.

Walibi Holland (when I last went in 2019) was by far the best Halloween event outright I've done. Their standard mazes are good quality. They excel with their 'experiences' (of which they have 3), which are more intense, smaller groups / alone. Their scare zones, which they have several of, are brilliant, along with whole park atmosphere. It gets CRAZY busy though. I'm returning there this year for the event. I've had to budget to include ride and maze Fastrack - whilst it's possible to do all the Halloween stuff without extras, you will be rushed off your feet, and will almost definitely not get a chance to do any rides in the dark without it. I did Traumatica at Europa Park last year. Given it's Europa, the operations leave a lot to be desired (their Fastpass is necessary), and the quality of the mazes is very mixed. Atmosphere is very good though. You need to book in early September to have a chance of getting Fastpass / doing the alone experience. Linnanmaki have a fun event, but nothing to write home about. I haven't done any more, but some notable ones... -Walibi Belgium rebranded their event last year into Ibilaw. The best years of their Halloween event are arguably behind them, but they still do well (the Zombie Bar hasn't been around for a while) -Spanish parks tend to do great Halloween events, if you can deal with the queues / atmosphere. There's also a very well received scream park, Horrorland -Liseberg is pretty consistent

Potentially weather related; been storms about in the local area.

Certainly seems to be an operational cost-cutting measure. I wonder whether those dates coincide with Fright Nights rehearsals too? Not to say that Ghost Train will be closed over the event (cos I don't think it will be), but if some actors are moving over to working in mazes, it's possible that they're still being used and paid. That makes the cost-cutting sound a little less severe (even if it's not ideal to close any ride). Agree with Cal too that I'd rather see less popular closed than hours cut though.

They certainly have looked into restoring, but the fact they haven't been successful in doing so so far is pretty telling. I would say there's still a chance of it returning, but if it's not back early next season, then it's probably gone.

Not necessarily. A simple retheme could be hinted at over Fright Nights (to give people a chance to have a final ride), then marketed from early next year. Or even just announced next year. I agree a complete new ride is extremely unlikely, if for no other reason than the fact planning permission would be a nightmare. Plus the fact there is still the Beach development which could happen. One would certainly hope there's thoughts/conversations about the next *big* thing for the park. Though I imagine there's a level of dependence on what the situation with Merlin is there. Arguably though, a major investment shouldn't be the next priority, but rather a couple of medium investments to sort out the support line up (Zodiac and Rumba, I'm looking at you)

A slight correction I need to make: Ghost Train merchandise has been on sale all season, so this isn't a recent thing. Much less likely it's a decision in anticipation of its closure, but rather a way to shift stock. But hey, anything can happen I guess!

A long shot, but here goes... If anyone has any photos related to Face it Alone, that they are willing / allowing to have shared on TPM's website, please pass them my way! And I mean any photo related to it. A photo of a ticket or a poster advertising it. A photo of the selection ceremony from 2015. Or of your wonderful aftermath. I'm in the process of updating TPM's Fright Nights archive, and we don't have many photos of our own. (If you want to check out said archive, which currently has details from the past 10 years of Fright Nights in gorey detail, it's here: https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/index.php/fright-nights/)

In an interesting recent development, it appears most (if not, all) Ghost Train merchandise is on sale / reduced. https://x.com/CalVickers33/status/1959594519923442085?t=3dYMeueKswge5Nfu0LzrBQ&s=19 Parks do tend to put merchandise on sale for rides which aren't returning the following season. Equally, they can just do if it's not popular and they want to clear space. I think it's fair to say that Ghost Train isn't the most popular attraction, and none of the merch is must-have stuff, so it's certainly the realm of possibility that they're simply getting rid of the range. However, given the financial issues and potential cost-cutting Merlin are facing, plus the fact that Thorpe are set to be outsourcing Ents next year, it also wouldn't be too much of a surprise if it didn't return next year...

Parm Pap translation service: Wait, this one actually makes sense. These must be troubling times.

ParmPap translation service: There might be an Easter Egg in DeadBeat this year which relates to the future of the pyramid. There also might not be. Who knows? --- As a fun aside though, which has literally just come to mind off the back of this, if Thorpe wanted to retheme The Walking Dead, it could be fun if they themed it to the DeadBeat universe. Effectively it would be taking it back to its X version, but you could have it as the rave before the demons took over. Keep it upbeat and happy. I'd like that.

Article here: https://archive.is/20250820155054/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-20/theme-park-operator-merlin-s-bonds-slide-after-credit-downgrade Realistically and practically, I don't really understand what much of this means or what we might see as a knock on effect. But it certainly doesn't sound positive.

Last year the package was £34 for all four thrill mazes. I believe the mazes were priced at £10-12 per person.

Yes the costs are horrific. £14-16 for one go in a maze is gobsmacking. And certainly, neither Compound or Mine Tours are worth anywhere near that price. All that does for me is make Thorpe's maze seem good value in comparison (though, I stress, I believe £10 is also too much). But then again, I guess people pay those prices. The whole cost vs demand thing probably plays a part in their logic, so there we go. Personally, I still feel £5-8 is what these mazes are 'worth', in the sense that of that's the quality they provide in comparison to what's out there (both in terms of other theme parks, and scream parks). But maybe that's just unrealistic of me. I wonder if the increase in prices is directly linked to using RWS and needing to generate more money so all parties get money. Again, thinking in terms of Fright Nights, we might need to brace ourselves...

Were either of them actually ever open until 10pm? Maybe Rumba, but I always seem to remember Loggers closing when it hit dusk / night, and Rumba certainly closed at dusk in the early 2010s.

*blows cobwebs off* I don't know if it's been explicitly discussed on the forums, but Towers' Entertainment function is now in the hands of an external team, outsourced in a similar way to how food is now outsourced to Aramark. The team responsible for that is RWS: https://www.rwsglobal.com/ I don't know exactly how it now works, and how responsible RWS are for the design of new attractions. However, the 2 new scare attractions for this year are a scare zone and scare maze, both themed and located in the Dark Forest: https://www.facebook.com/reel/24142435788755074/?s=single_unit It's worth noting that Thorpe's Entertainment function is going to be in the hands of RWS from 2026. So how Scarefest goes down this year might give an indication to how Fright Nights will go next year (which will be marketed heavily due to it being the 25th year)