MattyMoo

Selling Fasttrack when the queue is 240 minutes is just turning a problem into an even bigger problem.

Thanks for the in-depth review JoshC Thorpe Park Fan. Have to say.... I don't really feel too bad about not doing Fright Nights this year. I think I did the same thing when Trailers was new and then went the next year when SG was new so the effort and expense was worthwhile  I know this is unlikely to change, and keep repeating myself, but the £10 a maze fee I just can't entertain when every FN seems to be busy now as there are purposefully no "quiet days" meaning the likelihood of a "busy" run through in a massive group is always a risk. Plus I still feel burned by paying out for all the mazes last year, and nearly not getting them all done (by mere minutes).
 
Impressed that Lucifer's Lair is evidently so good when it's not an upcharge. Bit of a shame there's no Death's Doors either this year, that was a fun - free - addition.

I'll give my honest immediate reviews now.
 
I'm honest here. This isn't "TPM Josh" talking. This is "JoshC., Thorpe Fan but fair" talking.
 
DeadBeat
Ehhhhh, not for me.
 
Visually it looks great; no dead spots. However, the story is a little...lost. The pre show talks about a rave being hosted by a DJ. But there's no reference to the DJ when you're in there. The maze is just going through a club / bar / similar areas. It's cool, but very incoherent.
 
The maze isn't the longest, but makes best use of its space. They've also cleverly designed the maze to make it feel like you're repeating yourself / going in circles, which I liked. However, this had a downside of a group thinking they'd gone the wrong way and turned back on themselves. That's just something which needs actor knowledge though, so no issues.
 
It's a bit of a passive experience too, with you watching clubbers and demons (known as "Viscerals") interacting with each other. There's nothing wrong with passive experiences / scenes, as they can create fear, but it's not for me. The final quarter is much more interactive, just focusing on the Viscerals, and is nice. The finale is great (some have said it's like The Cellar at Tulleys, of which they ain't wrong, but so what)
 
It does need time to bed in and the actors to really know what ticks. It needs tweaks with the presentation and story line too.
 
A big positive though: I did it 3 times, and it was very consistent. Consistency is a huge thing to sort out in mazes, and it's something directly within the park's control during the event (in that, they can encourage / coach / train actors to be consistent, they can't change say the space the maze takes). Based on today, it's great to see they had that right, as even on previous press nights, mazes haven't been consistent run to run. Hopefully that continues.
 
My personal opinion, is that the maze needs to start off completely as a rave. No scares. No viscerals. Just pure fun. There are already "dancers"/"ravers" actors, just make them happier, with a bit of an edge if necessary. Then have a scene where everything goes wrong, and it's purely demons. It involves you in the story, and creates the necessary distinction.
 
Stitches
This remains very similar to last year. Which means I don't like it.
 
It's a completely passive experience, focusing on creepiness and a fear of what is happening to others, as opposed to what is (or could be) happening to you.
 
Absolutely fine as a maze, and there's a place for those experiences as it gets people. but not for me.
 
Was a bit disappointed they didn't change the mirror scene at the start. They could have put something different there.
 
Survival Games
My favourite of tonight, although I will have extra bias as there was only 2 of us in the whole maze.
 
It remains intense, in your face and hands on. That's great. It's not for everyone (like Stitches), but it is for me. I heard some mixed reviews through the evening, so I think actors need to bed in and get used to what they can and can't do with guests, but that comes in time. 2022 Survival Games was exactly the same.
 
There's currently no chainsaws in the finale, for reasons I'm not sure I can say. I believe they're working on it though and they should return.
 
Trailers
A very good version this year. 
 
3 scene:
-Hell Cell has been changed into Creek Freaks
-Vulcan Voodoo has been changed into Knock Knock
-Ship Happens and Nightmare on Staines Street have been turned into The Sleeper Express
 
Knock Knock is a nod to Death's Doors, and re-uses the good costumes there. The pre-show is now no longer a cinema employee, but The Director. 
 
The pre show is a bit meh for me, but it is fan-servicey, which is what the whole maze is. However, they've completely cut the second pre show in the cinema screen - meaning the removal of what I unaffectionately referred to as the "orgasming actor" - HURRAY.
 
The premise of the maze is much the same.
 
Unfortunately, the new scenes aren't so much "new". They are just overlays of what was already there.
Creek Freaks still has the prison bars from Hell Cells, but they've got Buckwheat actors and some stuff added to the walls.
Knock Knock is still in a wooded area, but with doors added.
Sleeper Express has the same layout as the other two, just made to feel more like the maze.
It's fine, but don't go in expecting something totally new.
 
As I say though, strong maze. Good cast, and the maze works well.
 
The Crows
This hasn't quite hit the highs of last year yet, but it's still very good. 
 
The new fenced section looks cool from afar, as well as very big, but it's not.
There's two routes too: One which takes you in that fenced section, one that takes you round.
 
The ended is incredibly dense with smoke (I expect that might change soon tbh, but if it doesn't, great!). 
 
It's a great scare zone and I'm glad they've kept it.
 
One point of note: It now starts a little further down the pathway, with a little queue made of hay formed, which should help the batching into it.
 
Creature Campus
Only caught a glimpse of it due to how busy the night was, but it looks nice. The removal of the werewolves and vampires has meant they've brought the music into a more modern era, and it seems pretty cool. Will be watching properly tomorrow.
 
Lucifer's Lair
My absolute highlight of the night. There's a fire / dance show which is INCREDIBLE in my opinion.
 
It's only 8 minutes long, but there's so much crammed in there that it felt twice the length (in the best possible way). The concept of the zone is perfect. The actors are fab. I expect I'll spend a lot of time round there this year.
 
IT 4D 
Didn't watch. Will watch tomorrow. Little bit of theming dotted around the cinema. Is cool.
 
 
This is a strong Fright Nights. Maze-wise, they do have 4 mazes which are good. And I will say this again as I have done in previous years: If you take any maze this year and put it in any other FN line up from before 2020, it would almost definitely be the highlight and best received. If not, it would rival Big Top, Ex10 or Asylum. That's the quality of the mazes on show.
 
I don't think any of them are worth £10 still. The £5 mark would be best. £6-8 is reasonable. But beyond that is pushing it. And I think Thorpe are very formulaic now: pre-show, wander around highly themed sets in a linear fashion, flashy ending. It's another reason I like Survival Games so much: it breaks that formula. I hope we see something different next year.
 
There's still stuff to iron out, and not all of it is for me, but I think this is again a good showing. I hope it stands the test of time for the event.

MCDONALDS VAN.
 
Just watched the Deadbeat POV on TPM Twi....X - hmmmm. Visually it looks very impressive. But.... to me... it's giving Doom Town with a bit of Cellar: Imprisoned at the end. I remember seeing Survival Games on TOWIE Preview Night for the first time and thinking.... yep, can't wait to give that a go, that looks fantastic and intense. Deadbeat... not so much to be honest. Be interesting to see the reviews.

Tonight - BEST FRIGHT NIGHTS EVER
 
Tomorrow - where did all the actors go?!

2, 3 and 6 are definitely in them.

I feel the fault of this incident lies firmly with @JoshC. as he did not visit Guest Services to air his concerns 2 days ago.
 
Fair play for the prediction Josh, I thought I was good with my not subtle hints back in the day that DBGT was going to be themed around a train way before anyone knew a thing
 
Hideous timing, Press Night coming right up - those who were miffed that Hyperia wasn't completely in the dark will now get their wish as the thing ain't gonna be running for a while. At least they should get a repeat customer discount with the crane. Realistically what do we think? Closed for 3-4 days and then 1 train ops for a while? Nightmare stuff. The park closed dates 14-16th October will be handy.
 
Jokes and nastyness aside - I feel lucky to have ridden the thing 7 times, considering I'm not local (Portsmouth) and the absolute stress-fest that was having June 11th pre-booked and having to decide whether to change the date or not to June 12th for the rumoured Opening Day 2.0.
 
Oh, and in those 7 times - no front row, so forts and prayers xox (Got a Row 10 though, ridiculous). Absolutely love Hyperia, but it shouldn't be this stressful hun.
 
It appears to have valleyed in the same place as before, so didn't make it over the M3 Ejector Loop.
 
 

2, 3 and 6 are definitely in them.

It stalled this morning.
 
Call me Derren Brown. 

Right in time for Fright Nights :)))))))
 
It was clear it was running slow, so why not fully load the train with dummies? Especially in the morning
 
Anyway, looks like over closed season they will have to implement new procedures to avoid this occurring. It’s too late now to modify the ride in anyway.

Not nearly ambitious enough. I say this as someone who wears red tinted glasses when it comes to Chessington. I think it's mad to replace Wild Asia. This is a park that cannot afford to run Tiger rock and Rattlesnake on quieter days. So they knock down Wild Asia. 
 
An the rumoured replacement theme fills me with a sort of mehness. 

It’s a flat white so no difference in sizes

That 1 hot drink included has swung it for me, is that small, medium or large?

I find that we're having this conversation really concerning, particularly for the UK market as a whole. It kind of came and went but the attendance report for parks was released and some key sentences in there are quote below
 
 
and
 
 
I find this to be our ultimate problem is that whilst the European parks are exceeding expectations, the parks in the UK aren't despite investment. I was at Europa Park and Efteling over the last two weeks. Both parks very busy, every ride open (well apart from one but Efteling isn't a seasonal theme park). Rides open on time, fully staffed. If you think it's an unfair comparison, well it isn't. Its the same time of year, Merlin is the third biggest worldwide operator.
 
It's going to take some bold action for our parks to return to a place where they are not only highly profitable but successful. And one of the realities of the Merlin parks is the Annual Pass creates so much drag across the parks. I think a significant look needs to take place as we've seen places like Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Phantasialand either remove entirely or price accordingly and the respective parks have never been so profitable..

Yes agreed. And dare we speak of the Tidal Wave fire effect, or.....?
 
Looking at the app today, everything is open with the exception of Ghost Train that is current closed, and not marked as "Opening Soon", "Opening Later", "Planned Delayed Opening" or similar. So assume it's just playing up - for a change.

Was saying to Josh - I can afford to go this year, but, I don't think it's good value. £10 a maze is a lot. No maze at Tulleys is worth £10. If it was nearer £5 I'd go for it, but as I've said before, the Fright Night's model is not for me - I don't like the idea of one - paid - run through that can easily be ruined by the group you are batched with, or actors being misplaced/on a break etc. Am happy paying ~£90 for Tulley's VIP, because we normally get 20-24 runs in total on a night - so around £4 a run, and that's before you take off the £15 merch voucher and food and drink token. There's been times at Tulley's where we start a maze and straight away we'll be like "We'll do this again later because the group are slow/annoying/ruining it" (you know what I mean) whereas that is not an option at Thorpe unless you want to fork out again to roll the dice again for a good runthrough. And you know that run through is going to be nothing like the POVs from press night - whereas, genuinely - run throughs I see from Tulleys are at the same level for us mere mortals as that of the press night.

I wouldn't mind paying more for entry if it was unlimited runs on the mazes - like, the current price point would be acceptable if that was an option.
 
I went to the Blue Light day for Fright Night's the year before last with a mate - was just like the glory days, multiple run throughs with no stress!

Hyperia is open now, they had to remove a train on Hyperia around 5:15 yesterday due to an issue, and it was also running late last night for FN promo filming so I imagine the late opening will be to do with that. 
 
All the ones that say 'opening later' have a scheduled opening time between 12:30 - 13:30, if you click on the individual ride it'll tell you what time.

I see today Thorpe has "scheduled late opening" for some attractions, except... none of the attractions were scheduled to open late in the app or online...
 
At 1pm, Flying Fish, Zodiac and Detonator are "scheduled late opening" and WDTR hasn't opened yet today.
 
Are they low on techies so prioritising opening each day? What's going on?

I think a good indication of cuts is if slammer doesn’t get removed this year and sparkle project doesn’t happen again.
 
Both require investment and both were said to happen this coming closed season. So if it’s changed, it will be a good indicator 
 
 

Yes quite. I think the biggest tell of their state of affairs/management is to what extent the Sparkle Project continues over closed season.
 
It does feel like all of a sudden the pitch has shifted from closed season 2023/start of season 2024 to where we are now and it's quite concerning as to why and how quickly.
 
Hopefully this won't affect the taste and enjoyment of my currywurst pizza next week.

All this talk of Oktoberfest being rubbish means I really should dress up when I visit next Tuesday to help with the IMMERSION.

Just had a brainwave, if it is a club type scenario, the preshow could be doorstaff, and then you are split with a "you're on the list" or "you're name's not down, you're not coming in"... Just an idea, like. In the same way as good Vs bad wood on Creek.

I keep forgetting that we don't have a general "Thorpe Park 2024" thread, or an Oktoberfest thread. So I'll stick my review in here for Oktoberfest 
 
It's kind of apt too, as you'd think that Thorpe have forgotten they have an Oktoberfest event going on.
 
Oktoberfest came about in 2020 and whilst it was rough round the edges, it had potential. It's pretty much been the awkward middle child since 2021 though. It got better, but now it just feels a bit thrown together and rubbish.
 
The Oktoberfest area is basically to the left of Ghost Train's entrance, with the stage, the ski lift carrier turned benches (which are pretty cool) returning, as well as snow-covered...Christmas trees?
 
The event is leaning heavily on the more Bavarian Alps theme. By which I mean, it's the primary focus. The main Thorpe show revolves around it (the actors run a "fashion show" with what one of them should wear to go skiing). There's a set of roaming actors at set times who are "on skis".
 
And my god, the show makes me cringe. The dance elements are good for what it is. But the speaking. It feels like the actors were told to watch Allo Allo and just copy the German accents. It's grating.
 
Also, the Christmas trees. Why? The confused "Why is it Christmas?" vibe isn't helped by this song playing at the start of the family stage show:
Hilarious.
 
I should add: I believe in story, the actors are called the Furchtbar Gang. That's what it sounds like at least. "Furchtbar" is German for "terrible". So I guess the point is that they are terrible? Or meant to be terrible? But they're not - as I say, the dance elements make the grade. I don't get it. 
 
There's a couple of the pop up food places alongside Ghost Train's queue, which will no doubt stay through Fright Nights, and a bratwurst grill in Amity. There's a pitiful-looking bratwurst pizza available from Pizza-Pasta.
 
In truth, Thorpe's Oktoberfest has never done it for me. Maybe I just don't like fun. So maybe this is doing the job, getting good reactions and there's a wider audience who love it. But it does feel like its been scaled back the last 2-3 years, and as nice as it is to get an extra boost during September, maybe it's time to lay it to rest.

That's not the Merlin way - website, signs, emails or otherwise 🙃