Coaster

Visited Fright Nights this evening and managed to get all the mazes done, brief reviews below (in the order we did the mazes). The Big Top The Big Top is the strongest maze in the Fright Nights lineup this year IMO, with consistent scares as well as a very fun strobe maze in the first half. I felt the maze was better last year however, as the theming was much better and there were larger rooms in the second half; especially the prop store. In addition, we didn't encounter many actors and those we did didn't really do much. I did really like the mirror maze section though! Overall a solid maze, but not outstanding. 6/10 Saw Alive Yawn! Exactly the same as previous years with no changes, the actors were fairly lively but the maze has remained unchanged since 2010 and feels very tired. 4/10 Sanctum Some nice pieces of theming amongst some fairly low-key set design, however the actors were fantastic and really made this attraction! Ending was a bit naff though. 4/10 Platform 15 Hugely improved on last year! The first scene before the train is much more effective with the reduced lighting and fog, the train scene has some brilliant under-lighting and the village scene was great! I felt the ending was dire though, where was the conductor from last year?! The tunnel literally just ended with an actor running past us. 4/10 Living Nightmare Didn't really see the hype with this, there was some very nice theming but the maze felt very tame and failed to provide scares, there weren't many places for the actors to hide and it felt very short. The strobe maze was ineffective, bus scene was fantastic though! 4/10 Overall an enjoyable evening, but certainly not "the biggest year of Fright Nights" - that goes to 2011, in my opinion. I didn't feel that the acting was particuarly good other than Sanctum, with most actors merely looking at us rather than doing anything scary. I remember the days when the actors would climb above you, jump on the fences and they were generally much scarier than nowadays. Regardless of how big the IP is, I'd much rather see the quality go into original mazes.

Now this is where it gets exciting! Quote and image from Pleasure Beach Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/blackpoolpleasurebeach/

I'm expecting the launches to be more "a way of powering the ride" rather than the focal point, I won't be fussed if they're tame as long as the coaster is good as a whole. Icon looks like a complete package, almost two minutes long, full of sharp turns, twists and airtime... bring it on! The colour scheme is confirmed as white track with dark grey supports;

I think (hope) that despite a moderate launch speed, Icon will retain its sensation of speed and intensity throughout due to the low-to-ground nature of the layout and quick transitions/airtime moments. The off-axis airtime hill near the end of the ride is one of the elements I'm looking forward to the most, as are the turns under Steeplechase and Big Dipper. Having never done a Mack Megacoaster before I've no idea what to expect in terms of how it runs, but Icon looks ridiculously good for a UK coaster and seeing it come to my favourite park makes me very happy.

Interior footage of the maze! http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/thorpe-park-fright-night-sneak-13674513 CONTAINS SPOILERS

It would be useful to have a definite answer, as it won't be worth me going from work if the park closes at 9pm whereas an extra hour would make it justifiable. EDIT: Been confirmed to me as 9pm. Ahh well.

I have to agree sadly, I've said this about the state of Valhalla elsewhere but it's interesting to hear that more people are noticing. I visited BPB a few weeks ago with someone who hadn't been for a few years and they said exactly the same about Valhalla. Yeah that's accurate, it does tend to have less effects working after a lot of downtime for that very reason - however the experience in general has been extremely poor this year. So many of the ride's staple effects are broken, and even then the ones "working" are not even presentable. The fantastic feature on the first lifthill is inaudible, plus missing the trommels, fibre optics and Viking chanting in the background. The barking dog anamatronic used to look lifelike, now only one of the heads moves (on half its original animation) and you can hear air escaping from the other one! The ice room has been broken since before summer, as have the cascading waterfalls. It's not good enough. The scenes themselves are in a terrible state with blackout curtains torn, doors missing which ruins the light-locks and back-end maintenance areas visible from on the ride. In addition there's only 3 shields on the boats instead of the usual 8 and the station (which used to be AMAZING) looks a mess. I miss the days when the first lifthill used to sound (and look) like this As someone who has held Valhalla for such high regard for many years it saddens me to see it in this state. I have very fond childhood memories of being terrified of the booming voice on the first lifthill, and the boom caused by the final explosion, whereas all you hear nowadays is "is that it?" or "I thought this was supposed to be better than this." Whilst I understand the state of the ride can't be rectified overnight, I hope that some of it will be addressed over the closed season. The show aspect should have never been allowed to deteriorate as much as this, where the park is now at a point where it will require a huge financial outlay to get the experience into even a moderately-acceptable state.

Could Canada Creek be a potential location for a new coaster - given that it's pretty much a dead area aside from Rocky, which could probably be relocated or incorporated into the design? I could see a wooden coaster fitting into this space and it could have some nice interaction with the surrounding pathways. Of course, I'd much rather see Loggers Leap reopen and a coaster installed somewhere that doesn't require removal of a ride, but just an idea.

Seven hours is a long time for people to be trapped in a small space without access to a toilet etc, you can't blame them for being angry.

Very exciting! Picture posted by Blackpool Pleasure Beach to their Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/blackpoolpleasurebeach/

Not a fan of this virtual queuing idea personally, I'd much rather see one fast moving queue with efforts focused on the ride throughput.

Visited Paultons a few weeks back and couldn't have been more impressed, having not been for around 10 years it was amazing to see how much the park has progressed. Lost Kingdom is fantastic and my favourite themed area at a theme park, the two new coasters are both great fun and the landscaping/theming is of a very high standard. Operations across the park were good, staff were friendly and the park is extremely well presented, everything seems to be focused on customer experience and I'd say it offers a much better day out than other parks targeted at the same visitor range. Ridecount Cobra x12 Flight of the Pterosaur x12 Velociraptor x7 Jumping Bean x5 Catterpillar x2 Magma x2 Dino Chase x2 The Dinosaur Tour Co. x2 Raging River Log Flume x1 Wave Runner x1 Edge x1 Pirate Ship x1 Kontiki x1 Boulder Dash x1 Windy Castle x1 Rio Grande Train x1 First impressions count for a lot; Lost Kingdom; Cobra is still amazing; Japanese Garden;

Eight rides OPEN?! Now I'm sure there's genuine reasons for this but at the same time, it has never been an issue in the past to this extent, and is absolutely shambolic to people who have made the effort to visit the park. I'm baffled as to how low-level flats and some of the coasters are affected by high winds when they have operated perfectly fine in similar conditions in the past. Stealth for example has no risk of stalling, as rollbacks are entirely safe and built into the ride - so why does it need to close?

Sounds absolutely terrible and once again an extremely poor experience offered to paying customers.

They do, but the winds at Blackpool are all over the place - even on a hot summer's day it could be blowing an absolute gale and they can't change the wheels daily!

Wind wasn't the reason for one train in February, it was that the lift chain had been replaced and needed running in before it was put under the strain of running two trains. Also, I'd suggest that tampering with a 23-year-old ride system when the manufacturer doesn't exist anymore wouldn't be the best idea. If it was as easy as "just changing the proxy sensors" they'd have done it by now, why would they want huge queues and guests complaining? They do change the wheels on PMBO to match the weather they're expecting, but it's a huge struggle to keep the ride open when the wind is at 30/40 mph (watching the train struggle over the hills on a windy day is enough to tell you that!) so I'm just thankful they push to keep it operating at all.

Wait, Colossus has been on one train all summer?! And people thought that the Big One being on one train during a cold February weekend was bad...

Guest experience seems to have gone completely out of the window at Thorpe this year, and with the new closures and reliability issues I don't think the rest of the season (and indeed Fright Nights) is going to be fun. The trouble with Thorpe Park is that the park seems to operate with a "if it isn't a necessity, we don't need it" attitude at the moment. Rumba is a fun, family rapids ride and adds some variety to the day, much like Loggers Leap did, to close Rumba when the park's log flume is already SBNO just adds insult to injury. Loggers didn't always close at 5pm, it used to stay open until the park closed at 10pm until recent years as far as I remember. Aren't we forgetting that there's still weeks left until Fright Nights? It's still a gap in the ride lineup now, I'm not sure why people are happy to accept such mediocrity. Also, Derren Brown's Ghost Train isn't aimed at the same audience as Loggers so I wouldn't class it as a replacement as such. Why the need for sarcasm? Nobody is suggesting that we know the reason for the closures, but that from a customer's point of view having so many rides closed (and that's before you factor any breakdowns, power cuts, weather closures and Fastrack overselling) makes for a poor guest experience. No, but that's exactly the problem when the park already has more than one ride/attraction down - any more and the park struggles to provide a good experience. If everything else was working perfectly I doubt people would be too worried about Rush, but with things the way they are it's yet another closure. Not true, I remember riding Rumba in the pitch black during Fright Nights, I'm certain it's only the past one or two seasons that they have closed it early. Not for people who want to ride a rapids ride it won't!

Ridiculous that they're reducing the lineup when it's ALREADY reduced by Loggers, Slammer and now Rush as well. Fright Nights is going to be hell on any days resembling busy with the ride offering down by five rides/attractions - not to mention that the Rapids have always stayed open until the end of the season in past years. Clearly good ride availability and going all-out for customers is no longer a priority. Absoloute rubbish.

That HAS to be a joke, surely?! ?

Has downtime that severe ever happened before at Thorpe Park as a result of high winds? (Before this year/past few seasons I mean).

Loggers? Slammer? Whilst both are permanently closed it's still a reduction in the lineup.

Disappointing and leaves me with little enthusiasm to visit Thorpe before Fright Nights, it just seems to be more and more rides closing for a sustained period of time (or permamently in some cases). Of course it's difficult to comment on Rush as it's obviously closed for a reason, but that's the issue when you already have several other rides & attractions closed, one or two more leaves the lineup scarce as well as putting more pressure on the rest of the park. May as well rename Thorpe to SBNO Island the way things are going.

Six rides is "more than the average guest enjoys?" Really?!

I can't agree with this, Chessington used to be a fantastic place proving that imagination goes a lot further than having a high-budget, however the park in its current state is bland, featureless, dreadfully operated and generally a terrible day out. In my opinion of course!