MattyMoo

I bet someone at Merlin HQ is kicking themselves for not getting ahead of the game and obtaining that Peppa Pig IP in the UK. But hey - Angry Birds... guys? Guys?

I'm gutted to miss the charity preview this year - it's definitely worth it. I'm in Japan so am sort of otherwise engaged. Disneyland and DisneySea though woop!

Hocus Pocus with VR headsets coming 2018.

Can't be bothered to dig it out but one of the Towers fan pages on FaceyB posted that Alton Towers had implied SW8 will open in April next year from one of their early bird booking deals for hotels. Now I've got that getting married lark out of the way, and going to Japan in a few weeks on honeymoon, I can finally get back to visiting Merlin parks again next year, hurrah! (I do miss The Smiler though, just sayin)

I spent all my money on Pop Badges on eBay, soz.

Went to Tulley's last night so will be stinking of bonfires for ages ...we forked out for VIP (in advance) - and so glad that we did, 100% worth it. For a start it meant we didn't have to queue for 30 mins to get in. Plenty of roaming actors as always which really set the scene. Chop Shop (x3) Very good as always - so so many chainsaws and it builds perfectly to the finale. Some of the strobes were perhaps on for too long so the ending could've been a bit darker for more scares etc but was still top notch. My mate said "We've lost our friend" to which an actor replies "WELL BOOOO HOOO!" Coven Of 13 (x4) The laser effect at the start is simple but very effective - if this was at a Merlin park, people would be raving about it Definitely improved upon last year, and the two actresses in the house were amazing, the first one was giving it some proper effort (and often reappeared) and the blonde in the next scene before you go through the fireplace was great too <3 So many actors in this maze, very impressed. Horrorwood Hay Ride (x2) Brilliant as always - managed to be sat at the back of the tractor so had a lot of interaction with the actors - the most amazing scene for me was the actor on the swing with the bird-head on surrounded by smoke - they don't even get on the tractor but it was iconic! And they never slip out of character too. The new "nuns" scene is amusing Creepy Cottage (x5) Fantastic. Classic and fantastic. Love the fact the actors remembered us from before so were telling us to "Go Back to Coven!" as we'd been saying we were looking forward to going back to it Love the girl hanging from the ceiling that you have to go underneath. Plenty of jump scares... on the later runs some actors got particularly close Clowns 3D (x1) Didn't really think the 3D effect worked that well with the exception of the chequered coridoor bit. At one point we were suddenly surrounded by 4 clowns from nowhere which was BRILLIANT. The Cellar (x1) Was solid as ever - Cottage was superior, we probably should have gone on this again! The Colony (x3) Forget how HUGE this maze is - like - insanely huge. When you get a good run with lots of actors, it's fab. I could even say that the maze is perhaps... too long? Is that a thing?! Had a couple of parts where jumps/scares were lacking but enjoyed it - not entirely sure about the ending but still - it's a quality maze that seems never ending. VIXI (x1) Awful. The problem is - having a bag on your head doesn't scare me, especially when people up ahead keep stopping so it doesn't flow. It was basically walking around for 10-15 minutes in the dark holding on to a rope, getting narked with the fact that people weren't moving quick enough. Total waste of time - however, the final scenes WITHOUT the bag were good. Overall a fantastic night - as expected! No regrets paying £64 for VIP as it was a great evening. Without VIP, you would have definitely got all the mazes done in time I think, but we wanted multiple runs Love Chop Shop so much - and Hayride is iconic!

Yep, what TarinMaria said. Stop using the "abandoned" theme as an excuse and sort out what you've got already instead of spreading the company funding even thinner.

Credit to TowersStreet - SW8 logo revealed on updated signage this morning. If you pardon the pun, I do wonder if SW8 is going to be a slow-burner and is actually going to be as "world class" as Alton are promising.

When people say that Jart doesn't exist when I know that he does

That's interesting - it does mean that the new tacked on 2nd fake ending for 2018 on DBGTROTD will be a total surprise come March next year.

How long do we think SAW Alive has left? It is certainly in need of a "reboot"...

Yes - as above, it's not easy staying together in Big Top unless you put hands on shoulders! At least those wait times are in keeping with how good each maze is

Would agree on the Sanctum lack of finale - you get to the final scene, turn right into the temporary Herras fencing coridoor of doom - expecting something else, and that's it!

Look forward to the reviews. We found Big Top this year up to Tulley's standard if not better, so we can't wait for the 7th for our visit

I'd queue for Big Top first as the Living Dead mazes will probably have the bigger queues early on I would say the run through vid was very similar to my experience

Went on DBGTROTD last night for the 2nd time ever (my first ever ride was before it got the ROTD) Had a breakdown after 20 seconds in, sat there for 10 minutes or so before it restarted. My headset was glitchy, lots of headsets not working. I liked the dog We weren't rushed into the live action scene so were left to casually walk off the train and open the doors ourselves. The train in tunnel effect still isn't working. 2nd bit of VR is a lot better than before (which isn't difficult) but again my headset was glitchy. Final finale was quite clever, but as said elsewhere - the whole ride just doesn't seem to flow or make sense. Noticed that the hoodies were reduced in the gift shop, £9 down from £20 - there were other reduced items too but we were in a rush as that breakdown had taken up valuable time to ride something decent (Soz Stealth, I missed you)

I never even got to ride/break Stealth last night Blame Derren (expletive removed) Brown.

Yep agree with above - Big Top (x2) was amazing, we went in as a 3 and there was a good 5 minutes in between each of us coming out as we got lost! I literally could not get out of the strobe maze section, the dry ice was so disorientating as was the layout - people I was with literally vanished into thin air and then I was on my own! Took me a good 20 minutes before I was back to normal after Big Top (genuinely) - blew my mind, seriously impressed and intense. Saw Alive - an old classic, good throughout, not much more to say. Sanctum (x2) - OK in parts but not scary in the slightest, "scare zone" is more apt. Bit poor that Thorpe haven't put down some temporary flooring or woodchips in the queue area as that's going to get seriously muddy with rain. I fear people will feel a bit hard done by if the queue for this is big - which it will be! Living Nightmare (x2) - excellent themeing inside, great pre-show (though this could be improved if you were perhaps sprayed with water to signify the blood!) actors were decent, loved the bus bit (some chap ended up headbutting me on the way out of the maze by mistake, he misjudged his scare #compo). Platform 15 - never went on the original but this was alright - loved the new house bit, tunnel ending was pretty good and couldn't see a thing, but could've done with more actors. Felt more like a nice walk behind the scenes in parts Containment - never managed to have a go as it kept going down Manged 2 rides on Swarm and no other coasters as we were stuck on DBGTROTD for about 20 minutes which really messed up our plans. I didn't like this "ride" before in terms of the actual ride (themeing spot on though as previously said) and now despise it The second VR is a lot better but as always there were plenty of headsets out of use and mine was glitchy so you had to look a certain way for it to work properly. The ride went down about 20 seconds after leaving the station. New ending was OK but the whole ride just doesn't flow, doesn't make sense (even knowing the story) and just seems like a £30m white elephant to me - heck, Dezza B even draws one in chalk in the preshow I really worry about what they are going to do to this long term. Parkwide lighting was lush (although the lights kept going out around Colossus/Lost City....) - got some great photos. But yeah - tldr: Big Top is absolutely brilliant. Who needs an IP, Thorpe? PS. Watching the so-called "celebs" is hilarious. One in Fins was continually looking around to see if people were looking at her. I was, but for the wrong reasons Did anyone see anyone actually famous? Think I saw some TOWIE people in front of us when we left who had enjoyed the free bar... only proper celeb of sorts I saw was Chloe Jasmine off the old X Factor and Top Model. Oh and Jart of course. PPS. I found the secret room on SAW Alive - the actors dressing room. Whoops.

I will also be giving my 14 Facebook friends status updates during the night, as per the requirements of having entry to the press event. My advice to anyone going tonight is to make sure you ride Stealth early, just sayin'

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/chessington-pop-badges-meerkat-/192310070446?hash=item2cc692ccae:g:1zsAAOSw28pZv-4l Why would anyone pay £171 for a bit of yellow plastic with a sticker of a meerkat on it?

I'm avoiding the spoilers since it's my one and only visit to a Merlin park this year #truefan #MattyMoo4BestMemberInTPMAwards

I'm going on Saturday 7th Going VIP as we figure the re-runs of mazes are worth it.

That's a shame... we had a bit of confusion at the end as the door wouldn't open even though we had "escaped" but other than that, I thought it was a decent attraction.

Intrigued as to how Containment has changed - was genuinely impressed from experiencing it in 2015

They are actually rather good (from memory) - maybe that was the Maritime red ale talking but yes, I've had them a couple of times and have no complaints