MattyMoo

It should really be as simple as that, but budgets say otherwise!

I've corrected the last sentence for you

Fingers crossed the beast can survive two hours of solid operation.

I'd love to say that will happen - but I can't see it happening myself, ever. Flats and theming don't go together at Thorpe - Samurai's paint job looked a right state the other week, for example. Rush's signs and queue numbers etc are looking pretty damn shabby too.

I note Samurai and Quantum have been down for a couple of days now, with Vortex seemingly a bit under the weather too.

Two words. Top Spin.

I don't have a Merlin Annual pass but is there anyway of claiming compensation because I am entitled and really annoyed?

You can't even read most of the posters now as they've all been vandalised. Appreciate they were supposed to look ripped when they were first put up but now you'd do well to see the "F" word anywhere in the queue line.

This was supposed to be top secret!

Who remembers the last time time Thorpe Park had a new permanent addition that wasn't some second hand rides? It's getting a touch ridiculous now. DBGTROTD has evidently emptied their pockets and left them with their proverbial pants down. To keep it on topic - good to see a dead area of the park having some investment at Towers.

Did someone say Top Spin at Thorpe?

It was a great meet - my highlight was spotting a wild Jack Sickstone in his natural habitat whilst filling up my water bottle. Also spotted the legend that is POWERS TOWERS PRODUCTIONS too. I suppose it was alright spending time with people from here as well, in a way.

Ahahaha that's incredible.

Where did that comment from @Jack go? Care to elaborate and what you saw on the Island Like No Other last night? (perhaps with a careful choice of words regarding the clientele)

BREAKING: SAW Alive, Slammer, Loggers won't be removed/demolished until Thorpe have something to replace them with. So expect another couple of years of them gathering dust/"themeing" When does the Angry Birds IP run out I wonder? Such an odd - and pretty pointless - IP that was, even by Thorpe's standards. That area is starting to look pretty tatty now to be honest, from visiting the other week....

I had to ask @JoshC. to explain that one to me, I confess. Good work indeed.

Congratulations on the success of your campaign.

From the plans is it safe to assume there'll be a new crocodile themed area as such, that will include the new Croc-Tower.

Chessington have just posted on their "socials" that Ramases is indeed leaving the resort this closed season.

One day Thorpe Park will have a planning application submitted again, sigh...

Blimey. Am I missing something as to why it's so difficult to fix it? All about the little details...

I can't help you I'm afraid mate as I get free VIP for being an influencer with nearly 300 followers.

Thought for the day: How long does it take to fix a light? 4/5 on the green scale.

Agree entirely with the above. Similarly with our experience it took a long time to move in the queue, and once we were batched it was a good 10-15 minutes until we were in the preshow. Seeing one group enter every 10 minutes implies to me that it's either on one or two train operation? The theatrics comment is spot on, and ties in with my comments about the walkie talkies. Talk about not giving a flying fig about the guest experience on a multi million pound ride when you can hear staff conversations over the ride audio. It's difficult enough getting "immersed" in it anyway without trying to block out staff messages about preshow, batching yadda yadda. The middle section for us made no sense either, I don't recall seeing the projection of the demon - does that even happen now? - and the staff member didn't explain what was going on or what the rush was. As I understand it, the demon outfit is broken and not coming back, for this season at least. Pitiful really.. a new addition that doesn't even last 2 seasons. A bit like the old middle section that stopped working too. I overheard a couple behind us when we rode discussing it - "Well that makes no sense" and "I don't even know what's going on, I'm confused" was the main gist of the conversation. I suppose the fact the anti fracking posters in the queue line have never been replaced/repaired doesn't help matters at all. Who knows what the 2020 holds for this experience that is "the future of theme parks". I'd take a stab at even further reduced hours or opening on peak days only...

Right - got back from Tulleys at about 1.30am last night, so thought I'd write up my thoughts - we had the VIP pass as always, which I think is well worth the money as it means you never have to queue more than 5 minutes, and should you have a "bad" runthrough with a big group - which does happen - you know you can do it again to hopefully let the maze shine. Our total count of run-throughs was 21 in the night - we nearly snuck in one more but were seconds too late! Anyway, worst to best.... here we go: 9. THE WRECKONING (X1) We feared this was going to be just Colony with some ropes, pirate hats and rigging etc. - and it basically was. Not enough actors, and I joked with my mate that there better not be a pointless chainsaw ending - and there was. The UV section with "spears" on the wall looked particularly poor I'm afraid. The ships were good though. Very disappointed, couldn't wait to get out. Shame really - maybe it wasn't quite ready in time and needs tweaking? 8. VIXI (X1) It's good once you take the hood off. I don't find it scary having the hood on, just frustrating. The finale was good as before, actors were strong here. 7. TWISTED CLOWNS (X1) This suffered from lack of actors for us - not sure what happened there compared with the review above, but there were numerous parts where we were just walking with no actors at all. Shame as this was a highlight last year. No changes from last year that I could see. Disappointing. 6. CHOP SHOP (X2) A massive fall from grace here, again, due to lack of actors - not really sure what's going on as it's the first Saturday, maybe they had agency staff in for Press Night? We gave it a second go to have a second chance but we had only a handful of actors in the finale whereas previous years we've been faced with 3 chainsaws at once. Only really rated over other mazes due to the iconic theming. Good chatter with the actors in the opening scenes! 5. CELLAR (X2) Solid as always - good laughs with the massive snake head on our 2nd run through #toomanysnakes Actors in the strobe/maze part were awesome, using the strobes to great effect. 4. HAUNTED HAYRIDE (X1) A few changes this year but quality as always - highlight for me is always that SPoOKy girl on a swing, classic. If ain't broke don't fix it, this attraction is pure Tulleys and we love it. A must do, well executed, spot on. 3. WASTELANDS (X3) Well - this area, and maze, is MASSIVE. Lots of roamers in the arena, and a crazy rave/dance show goes on every 30 minutes. The maze itself had a huge queue at the end of the evening (but not at the start) so I'm not sure if people didn't realise it was there, maybe people thought the attraction was just the arena? But yes - dominating shipping container structure (Thorpe Park would get very excited about so many containers in one place), it really is HUGE and the maze itself was impressive. Love the way that all the "doors" are left a jar, nice touch. You go through various rooms with various staff - all quality actors it has to be said, before ending up in the cells themselves with prisoners climbing all over the mesh side walls and using the strobes to great effect. Interesting set up where you have the central maze section and then you can go into side rooms too that are dark. After this, there was a torture room on one side, with a finale of being chased by actors with massive weapons (oooh errr) where you then exit back into the arena itself. It was clear that the maze was still being finished - you could smell paint! - but already the haunt is top notch. Really really impressive and love the actors that wait around the entrance to the area. 2. COVEN OF 13 (X4) We were concerned with Chop & Wreckoning not delivering that our night was going to be a bit meh - but that was until we went on good old Coven (and Creepy Cottage). Always a favourite and yet again, the witches that lie in wait were bloomin' fantastic - in the swamp section, one actually climbed onto the side wall which I'd never seen happen before, and on another run through, a witch scared the living sh** out of me jumping out behind me in the swamp, making me jump out of my skin - and whack my knee, ha! The outside sections were fantastic as before, some awesome actresses in there, but a massive shout out to whichever witch hid INSIDE the fireplace and jumped out whilst I crawled through, absolutely scary as hell haha. The new finale was good - and needed - could do with more smoke at times but again the 3 witches in this bit were amazing, with some great interaction/blocking your path. Such a good maze. 1. CREEPY COTTAGE (X6) It's a classic. But in the same way Creek Freak Massacre was so good because of the cast, Creepy Cottage excelled too. On the very first run through, the very first actress appeared in the distance - then disappeared, and then when turning one corner, she screamed full blast in my ear from the left, and I can honestly say I've never had a scare like it. No idea how the actress in question manages such a blood curdling scream - and she did so every. fricking. runthrough. Iconic stuff. I doubt this will ever get back to her but massive props for her dedication! The rest of the cast made the maze too - comments of "What are you doing back here again" - in character of course - to which we reply "We're VIPs hun!" which is met with a sarcastic - in character - "Get you" Brilliant. Same actress as well at one point, my mate said "I can see someone but not sure who" to which a reply came "It's your favourite" 😆 Love it. Just gutted we didn't get a 7th run - we were close! Haha. Just goes to show, you can have all the bells and whistles you want on a maze, but it comes down to the cast - Cottage has never really changed much, and it doesn't need to. That first massive scare will haunt my dreams! Saw the nurses just the once (so sad!) but had some good chat with some other roamers! Staff were lovely on the maze entrances too, friendly and asking how our night was going! We had an awesome night - a shaky start thanks to our maze choices but those witches and cottage dwellers saved the day!