terrortomb

In terms of the new queuing system, you’d think with the lower capacity the queues won’t be as long, but then again the cars will be on lower capacity as well. It might still feel “busy” and the queue times could take the same length of time as usual. Also, it may be a case of having far fewer people in the queue lines, but they’ll all be strung out and it will look really long! The hosts are likely going to have to re-adjust how to determine the queue times too!

It’s sad, but I think this was a good step to take. Well done Mattgwise and fingers crossed for the future

I hate to be picky, but I’m really not sure I like that new map. There’s not much that’s exciting about it. What’s with the blocky pathways? Also, each land looks a bit... empty? The pointers for the new additions are in solid colours. Where’s the excitement? I wouldn’t exactly call the map bursting with life, which is a shame as that’s what I imagine Chessington to be like.

Black Mirror actually sounds pretty cool. I wonder if some of the mirrors were taken from Hocus Pocus 😛 As long as there's no safety exit line on the floor, it should be decent!

Oh my, you managed to catch Swarm in the group photo too!! I’m sorry to have missed this meet, glad you guys had fun 😊

Well what a great meet! Thank you so much @Mattgwise , it was great fun to see everyone and banter again. Room on the Broom was a pleasant surprise and met my expectations The meal in Kingston was great afterwards too!

I have heard that Transdemonium may have closed. This was a strange and mysterious dark ride, it didn’t really have a soundtrack but the jingles and chimes throughout really intrigue me! I rode it quite a while back in 1999 so don’t remember much, but I would have loved to have ridden it again next week when @Loggers Creek and I are finally visiting. A real shame if it is true! I hope to find out whether it has closed temporarily or permanently too...

Thanks @Mattgwise for another fantastic TPM meet!! It was thoroughly enjoyable seeing the team again and discussing the best (and not so best XD ) moments of the new theme park season. For me personally, my highlight was seeing the new animatronics on Walking Dead the Ride, which I actually forgot were there until they popped out at the end of the ride in all their glory. I definitely feel animatronics are the way to go! For any members who haven’t been to a TPM meet before, I highly recommend coming along as we are like-minded, friendly people and it is great hearing the banter in person lol. Hopefully see you all again at the Chessington meet 2019!!

@Loggers Creek that is highly acceptable, I cannot wait until we go to Japan and visit the various parks there. 楽しそうだね indeed!!

I’ll be there Note it is the day after Brexit!! TGI’s or Pizza Hut sound good to me

Submitted

Vulcan Peak. I’m going to write a review of this as I have never laughed so hard in (or at) a maze before (Fright Night meet yesterday). The queueline wasn’t too bad, it was 40 minutes or so but the walls outside were lined with some neat looking wheat, forgetting the cheap looking plastic human hearts that seemed to have faces hanging in the bushes. At the end of the queue, our group were guided by an attendant (TP staff) to stand outside the ‘entrance’ (a standard fire exit) where we were given a speech to “never take our hats off in the maze”, then we were left there. After about 3 minutes still standing there waiting, the attendant came back round the bend in pure horror shouting directly at us “Didn’t I tell you to move?? Go inside I said!!”. Did we miss something?! So we sat down in a room already filled with other people sitting down watching a screen and a TP staff handed us small bags that were inside-out, mine had foundation smears and marks showing on it. Once the film finished people walked towards the first corridor. There was no mention of putting the bags on our heads and I noticed at least 5 bags still laying on the seats behind where some people had left them! It wasn’t particularly dark and there was no instruction of what was going on, we just followed the crowd. It became apparent that this must be the actual maze now so some people put on the bags, but the theming of IAC could be seen clearly and the bags weren’t even needed. The only “scary” part of the walk was the slightly uneven flooring. We kept stopping due to congestion ahead and the atmosphere was ruined dreadfully, we were just walking through a leafy corridor. No actors, forgettable sounds, and the lighting was still bright enough to see everything without the hood. After a few meters, we came to a tiny corridor/room with a cheap, bright white strobe light that was dreadfully placed and was lighting up the ugly ceiling, wires, and goodness knows what. We were stuck in this room for a couple of minutes just standing there due to some serious hold up and eventually the next group caught up too, causing a jam. I don’t even remember any sound at that point (was there even any??), I was laughing too hard at the ridiculousness of it all. Then, a member of staff just came finally and roughly ripped the hoods off of our heads, pulling some of my hair!! When we finally started moving again, we entered another corridor with a half deflated blow-up tight passage, and then.... the Inferno shop. That was it. It was just the most dreadful, disorganised, least atmospheric maze ever that was so bad, it was almost good. I for one could not get over the ridiculousness of it, I laughed so unbelievably hard my stomach hurt and it became a highlight. Later, the unknowing queue was coming out the entrance and slithering about 30 steps further... I’m not sure if they had as much fun as I did!!

Great trip guys, I really enjoyed the meet! Thank you so much Mattgwise for organising it, we got on pretty much most of the big stuff despite the typical Fright Nights busyness; the whole day ran smoothly at a good pace, and being our lovely critical selves we had some terrific laughs in the mazes!! ??

Thanks to some amazing people (TallGuyDom & Mattgwise), it’s looking more likely I can go again now, yaay!! So please update my status to attending, there’s no way I’m going to miss it now ?

So just now I realised that you need to pre-book at £20 if you hold a standard Merlin annual pass....... This is not a joke. I only have a standard AP, but this is quite a blow for me and I should have checked the website beforehand. As a result, I am devastated to say I don't think I can attend the meet now. I'm so sorry guys

Another meet!! I couldn’t possibly turn it down Looking forward to it and seeing all again!

Sadly I don’t think I can make this trip, but it looks epic!!

I’ll definately be there for the Chessington part! ? I’m still thinking about the Thorpe part

Is it just me who remembers the little exit walkthrough after It’s A Small World? It seems to have been demolished in the last 10 years, but I remember it always felt quite iconic as you walked round the little houses and buildings with screens inside that showed little videos. You had to go through it to exit the ride so it couldn’t be missed, and it left an extra sprinkle of magic to the experience (the large Hogwarts model in WBST London actually still reminds me of this scenic walkthrough). I’m not mortified that it’s gone but I don’t think it’s been replaced with anything else... last time I rode, the exit was just another outdoor pathway with railings. What ever became of it (why was it removed)? And what stands in its place now? *UPDATE* I found an old photo of this room, attached. So it definitely existed! You can see people looking into the little windows at the screens in the houses.

Maybe it could become a new mascot? Steel Beam the 'fun' fence... a world's first!

Old silver fencing from Thorpe Park’s entrance gate: hopefully temporary (like it’s functioned to be).

Lol, how does a Gruffalow “groove”?! In any case, it sounds definately aimed for kids and I can imagine a lot of dancing around and audience participation... come on TPM!!

They're changing the music?! Wow, I didn't see that coming... I actually liked the soundtrack and thought it fit in really well with the ride experience. I'll be sad to see it go as I love this classic dark ride. Please Merlin, please make your little old Duel good!! If it's anything to match the Gruffalow's success (the soundtrack which reminds me of Amelie!), I will be pleasantly satisfied.

I must have heard the Black Hole music when I was about 8 years old because listening to it brings fond, nostalgic memories of visiting AT around the time Tussauds was in its prime. The strange thing is, I never actually rode the Black Hole... I thought my Dad was incredibly brave as he went to try this mysterious ride that I was too small (and scared) to ride!! Did the music ever play outside the entrance or in other areas of the park at the time? In any case, with the likes of Terror Tomb, Bubbleworks, Vampire, Nemesis, and The Haunted house, etc, the soundtracks of the UK parks mystified me as a kid and all the songs had a similar kind of "sound". That could be one reason why I began to (and still do) love theme parks so much <3

Thanks Ryan, put me down as a yes! And looking forward to the meal too ?