Coaster
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Posts posted by Coaster
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Woah, how can you turn people away who have prebooked tickets already?
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3 hours ago, SteveJ said:
It's been suggested the drop tower will be another second hand ride, if so, no, not really a proper investment. Bears a striking resemblence to Detonator. I guess we'll find out.
Lumber Jump?
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4 hours ago, Mattgwise said:
It's reasons like this that have led to the ridiculous OTT health and safety measures that end up being why we can't have fun these days. Petit things like this that lead to these things then getting closed down.
I mean, it was this attitude that led to the closure of the Wild Mouse for goodness sakes.
Injuries can and will happen everywhere!
This is nothing like the situation that lead to the Wild Mouse's closure. No similarity whatsoever.
I agree that a lot of new measures are OTT but in this case it clearly isn't the fault of the guest, if a nail is sticking out of the floor and able to cut into someone's leg in the pitch black I think that is quite serious.
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3 hours ago, Glitch said:
People just always love o complain. Perhaps tie your shoelace next time with a double knot.
People love to complain? Is that really the case when it's caused serious injury to people?
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6 minutes ago, JoshC. said:
Curious to hear more about this. I haven't seen any reports on social media about injuries (and usually these things have a way of cropping up somewhere).
Every maze is checked by an external H&S audiot prior to the event opening I believe, and then the park's tech crew will do a daily sign off to say it's safe. Of course, things can happen throughout the night and these can't always be picked up instantly. To suggest that things aren't checked it's a foolish thing to say though.
As an aside: did you mention your shoelace getting caught to anyone at the park?
I have attached the Tweet I saw regarding an injury in Creek Freak.
I didn't report the shoelace incident as it unfortunately didn't cross my mind after exiting the maze, it was only after seeing this Tweet that it jogged my memory and I realised it was most likely the same nail that caused serious injury!
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I'll try and get around to writing a full review soon, but Tulleys Shocktoberfest was absolutely incredible this year. The mazes were all on top form and Wastelands Penitentiary is unlike any scare attraction I've ever seen before in terms of both the exterior show and interior.
The atmosphere around the attraction is phenomenal and I would highly recommend a visit for fans of scare events. Whilst I felt like last year was a bit of an off-year for the event, it feels refreshed and at the top of its game this year. Just amazing.
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There have been a few reports of people being injured in Creek Freak's tunnel, my shoelace got caught on a nail on the first weekend but I believe some people have actually been seriously injured by it.
Horrendous that these things aren't checked really.
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It seems that every year a flat ride closes as Fright Nights starts.
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26 minutes ago, Wumbamillio said:
I agree, we shouldnt actually believe hype and should just go in with an open mind whatever it is. Creek Freak was good for what it was. In this case I think the 'most intense maze ever' thing thankfully wasnt much present around the park, more just a silly post online. So luckily it's not in most the public's minds unlike other hyperbole claims Merlin like to make
I thought about that, it seems deliberate maybe that the park have plastered it on videos, social media and the website to get people to visit, but there's no mention of it in the park or on the map because they hope people will forget that it's how the maze was advertised to sell the tickets and therefore not have those expectations?
I always go into scare mazes with no prior expectation, however, that doesn't change the principle of the marketing for this maze IMO.
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1 hour ago, Mark9 said:
So here's my question. We know parks use hyperbole to talk about their attractions so why do you believe/accept/go along with it?
Of course parks exaggerate, but to claim that Creek Freak Massacre is the most intense horror maze in the event's history is an incredibly bold claim and there is no room for interpreting it differently (unlike many of their claims) - they have literally guaranteed 100% that the new maze is the most intense scare attraction they have ever created.
Whilst I didn't personally expect it to be my favourite ever Thorpe maze, ultimately the way it has been sold by the park is a significant contributing factor to my impression and review of the maze. It's fun but it does not deliver what Thorpe promised.
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I visited Fright Nights on both Saturday and Sunday and experienced each maze multiple times, here are my reviews.
- SPOILERS BELOW! -
Creek Freak Massacre
The new maze for 2019 has a fantastic presence from the exterior, however the queue-line feels a bit sparse with you being able to see the workings of the sign. There are theme music and announcements however I couldn't hear these very well due to there only being two speakers towards the end of the queue.
Onto the maze itself, it's very good fun. There is some good theming, multiple routes and the actors really get into their roles. The maze uses some really ambitious effects such as the heat room, the "blade table" with water and the strobe flash rate near the end is excellent and reminiscent of The Asylum's chaotic feel. It felt as though some of the effects were not working as intended, for example the blade was just round, did not move and I believe it is supposed to have a lighting sequence on the theming object itself? Hopefully they are able to rectify this.
The chainsaw scares were mixed. Out of six goes in the maze, I had one excellent one where I encountered three chainsaws; one in a corridor, one in the strobe room and one at the end. Unfortunately, the first time I saw three chainsaws however the first one wasn't working. On all four other run-through's I only encountered two chainsaws.
I'm not sure whether one chainsaw was broken and they had no spare or whether it depends on how busy the maze is, but I noticed a severe lack of actors (and chainsaws!) towards the end of the evening on Sunday. We walked thorough many corridors without encountering any actors, with there only being a few in the key scenes. This was a massive contrast to Saturday evening where the maze was full of actors who took us aside into corners, split us up etc. The maze is very inconsistent.
In my opinion, some more low-level scenic lighting would be beneficial in places such as spotlights highlighting the "good wood" and "bad wood" signs in the first scene as these are currently not visible under show conditions.
I feel that the park's marketing let the maze down by building falsely high expectations which the attraction did not deliver.
It is not the most intense Fright Nights maze ever - in my opinion. The maze is not intense; it's well themed with some good effects/scares, but even on the best run-through it felt very calm and controlled with the exception of the short strobe maze section. Claiming it to be the most intense Fright Nights maze of all time is an insult to the creators of Experiment 10 and The Asylum, both of which were, in my opinion, far superior and much more intense than Creek Freak IMO. I have also seen it claimed on the park’s website that it’s the UK’s most intense scare maze? Laughable.
Overall, Creek Freak Massacre is a solid addition to the Fright Nights line-up and a huge improvement on anything the park did last year. I wouldn't consider it a top-tier Thorpe maze and unfortunately it was let down by it being over-hyped, but it's definitely one of the better ones in recent years and there is still room for improvements to be made.
6/10
Platform 15
I felt that Platform 15 was improved on the whole this year. The actors made much more of the story-line on our walk-through's and there seemed to be a good balance between scripted scenes and scares throughout.
Unfortunately, there was light leaking into the long tunnel which completely spoiled the effect and made it far too predictable in terms of where actors were positioned. I could see Saw: The Ride at one point through a hole in the sheets!
The new final scene was excellent on the Sunday run-through and genuinely made our group jump!
4/10
Blair Witch
Again, a lot more scripted talking from the actor during the early scenes and a new addition of going around and around in circles made it... different.
I really liked the long periods of pitch darkness from the original version of this maze and it unfortunately feels too illuminated now and therefore does not have the same effect. With that said, I liked the more creative route this year.
3/10
Walking Dead: Living Nightmare
The maze remains largely the same as previous years but with an improved ending. The actors were doing a great job during our goes however I feel the attraction misses the mark somewhere.
There is some good theming but nothing particularly stands out, it isn't scary and the strobe maze feels poorly executed compared with others.
4/10
Walking Dead: Do or Die
I don't understand this attraction, why are we sitting in a bus, how are we supposed to be scared walking through temporary tarpaulin sheet fencing with bright white floodlights and what are we supposed to be "doing"?
The interior of the containers was better than last year and the actors were brilliant once again, but it's just a poor attraction IMO and I really don't think we need two Walking Dead mazes.
2/10
Overall Event and Park Atmosphere
Fright Nights feels improved on last year with the addition of Creek Freak Massacre and a reduction in poor quality attractions, however the event still feels a shallow rendition of its former self.
Whilst we gained a new horror maze, we lost Saw Alive and are down to just two indoor horror attractions. This is not enough and we found ourselves having to wait until it got dark to walk through the remaining three attractions after doing the first two as both Platform and Do or Die rely on darkness to create a sense of mystery that would be lost during daylight. The event used to have five full-scale indoor horror mazes, what happened?
I like how every scare attraction has had an improvement made to it and I have to say that the actors were largely fantastic throughout both days/evenings. It appears as though the park have taken feedback on-board from last year and tried to make changes where they can, which is great.
The Amity High show outside Stealth is brilliant and created a fantastic atmosphere around the area.
Lighting around the park is terrible with floodlit queue-lines (and mazes!) and hideous emergency lighting left on around Platform 15’s queue which ruined the effect that the scenic lighting would have otherwise created. One particular annoyance was that there is a bright white floodlight shining directly onto the Derren Brown’s Ghost Train entrance sign which destroys the effect it used to have with the blue light shining through and illuminating the letters (similar to the effect The Asylum’s sign also had). How can they build such an elaborate sign only to have such terrible attention to detail a few years down the line? Will we see bright flood lights shining onto the Wicker Man structure in a few years? So, so poor.
The park did not feel like Fright Nights was running at all, there was none of the smoke effects in vehicles we have seen in recent years and a lack of coloured lighting as mentioned above. With that said, there was some theming dotted around in places such as old Vulcan Peak queue theming and body bags. It was a shame to see old Big Top theming dumped in a visible location whilst queueing for Do or Die.
Nemesis Inferno looks fantastic with the mist working fully and a new orange light, Colossus’s station has also seen some theming added which is great and reminded me of the event’s glory days.
There was some good themed audio around the park, more could be done but what was there was good. With that said, it was amusing to hear the original upbeat end-of-the-day track on Saturday night whilst leaving the dome!
Overall, I enjoyed my visits to Fright Nights this year and particularly enjoyed Inferno in the dark. Creek Freak Massacre is a solid addition and with improvements could be up there with the best Fright Nights mazes, however I feel that the overall event is still lacking in quality and depth.
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I just wanted to praise the way Nemesis Inferno looks at night during Fright Nights this year.
The mist was fully working at the weekend with a new orange light in the queueline, it looks incredible and the best I've seen it look after dark for years.
The ride itself was running very well by the evening, by far and away the best coaster experience at Thorpe in my opinion.
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18 minutes ago, Mark9 said:
I thought I deleted that post whoops.
But as its stuck now thanks to you two quoting it (gee thanks lads grumble grumble) my point probably lies in fright nights being fantastic when its empty like a Sunday night but probably won't be as good when Coaster goes.
Saturday was moderately busy and Fastrack ratios were poor. Sunday was much quieter and a better day overall.
I was at the park on both days.
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The ratio of fastrack and/or RAP to main queue is terrible tonight.
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I really dislike the way people take artificial lights into the mazes when filming. Surely that completely ruins the experience they're trying to create as well as revealing too much?
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32 minutes ago, JoshC. said:
Removed ride gets demolished? Shock horror.
Did people expect it to be taken down piece by piece like a loved Lego model?
It's the first picture of the ride's demolition that has come online so I thought it was worth sharing on here, that's all.
On that note though, Pleasure Beach did say it was carefully dismantled...
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7 minutes ago, Glitch said:
It's better than nothing.
Why not go on the Sunday instead then, the crowd levels will still be low and probably even lower than this event where all MAP holders are running to put 1st group in Creek Freak 2019 and simply avoid the spoilers coming from the 'press' night for a few days.
Also if I was a full paying guest and was told to go away when the mazes open at 3pm, I would see it as being quite exclusive.
It's not better than nothing though, it's actually pretty poor that they think this is acceptable to sell as an "event" after weeks of people asking online about the passholder preview night.
It was a staple part of Fright Nights from 2013 onwards and this just feels like they want to sell the passes with the expectations of similar events but when it comes to actually running the events they can't be bothered.
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Passholder preview "evening" is from 3pm to 5pm?
That really stinks of doing the absolute bare mininum, passholder night used to be 6/6:30pm - 10pm and it was the entire park open exclusively, not just letting people go in the mazes during normal opening hours.
They sell the passes with the promise of exclusive events but this is just lazier than lazy. 3pm to 5pm is no use to me and I suspect many others who are at work, and 2 hours wouldn't be enough to justify a visit anyway.
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Thorpe Park have updated the description of Creak Freak Nightmare on the website;
QuoteHow much wood would a wood chop chop if a wood chop could chop YOU?
The old abandoned Creek Woods Saw Mill is no haunted house attraction - it’s home to a real life family of deranged lumberjacks. Tread carefully through the forest, or you may find yourself falling victim to the latest chainsaw massacre!
As they hack their way through the woods, these Creek freaks are armed with chainsaws and a thirst for gore.. In this extreme scare maze experience, a quick death is actually the merciful way to go. With chainsaw-wielding lumberjacks on the loose, only time will tell who will survive, and what will be left of them…
If you’re looking for a maze that scares you, we mean truly terrifies you, this extreme maze experience is set to be the most intense scare maze in the UK. Brand new for 2019, this is no scary maze game… this is the ultimate Halloween maze attraction. Brace yourself and prepare for the worst as you take on the gruesome chainsaw massacre madness that lies within Creek Freak Massacre. We’re done playing scary games - this is the most extreme Thorpe Park scare maze ever opened!
Creek Freak Massacre scare maze is included in your FRIGHT NIGHTS entry ticket. Book now from £33pp - and be warned, booking online is the only way to guarantee your entry!
Face the maze that scares you, makes you jump and sends you running for shelter from the lunatic lumberjacks.
This extreme maze is open from 3pm on all of the following dates.
Other dates:
3-6 Oct, 10-13 Oct, 17 Oct-3 Nov
https://www.thorpepark.com/fright-nights/creek-freak-massacre
They really are pushing the "most extreme maze ever" line, will it really be scarier than Experiment 10?
I am confused by the dates, does this mean the maze will not be open for the first weekend of Fright Nights?!
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Blackpool Pleasure Beach was fun today after a 5 month break, I enjoyed getting back on the rides with The Big One being the highlight.
Even after riding many coasters elsewhere, The Big One is still very special and one of my favourite rides ever. I am still yet to find a better first drop and the ride was flying round, absolutely incredible coaster and I'll never tire of it. It was running two full trains all day, excellent.
Speedy Pass unfortunately continues to destroy the ride's operations by causing the trains to stack and making extra work for the platform staff which then causes the throughput to plummet. The Speedy Passes had been massively oversold today with the queue down to the bottom of the exit path from midday onwards, I saw two full trains of Speedy Passes sent as well as multiple rows in the others.
The new outlet in the Sky Force shop is being used to upsell Big One Speedy Passes at the expense of guest experience, it's worse than ever now. It was noticeable that on the occasions where there was a break in SP users, dispatches were much better. Disgraceful that they allow fast pass to slow down the rate at which trains are dispatched whilst also blocking the exit path. The ride isn't designed for it, total mess!
On the plus side, the new Big One soundtrack is excellent and the retro feel of it suits the ride perfectly. It adds a great atmosphere around the ride's queueline/station and is a brilliant improvement IMO.
I rode Icon once today and didn't enjoy it at all, the layout is good but it's taken much too slowly IMO. I appreciate why a lot of people enjoy the smooth nature of the ride but it's not for me, there are other far better examples of smooth coasters elsewhere.
In the interests of saying something positive about it, the soundtrack was nice and loud!
Valhalla remains dreadful, however River Caves (interior) was looking fantastic with audio levels good, scenes looking great and most of the animations working. There was some lovely new timed lighting in the first scene as well as a new sound effect and the inside felt refreshed in general whilst retaining the classic feel of the ride. Brilliant!
Grand National was noticeably bumpier than on my last ride in April, but I still really enjoyed it. Sat in the back row.
Park hours were very stingy, 6pm close on a relatively busy sunny Saturday is no good. Big Dipper and Infusion went down to one train towards the end of the day.
The Noah's Ark park exit is looking very tired and could do with some TLC!
We had a look at Boulevard Hotel and the staff were willing to take us for a look into one of the rooms, I have to say the entire hotel looks incredible.
The park looks and feels worse than it ever has done in my opinion, devoid of any of the character, charm and colour it used to have and many of the rides/areas look in need of TLC.
Whilst the staff were fantastic throughout the park, unfortunately Speedy Pass made queueing for The Big One a misery and reiterated to me why I spent 5 months away from the place. It's not good enough when an older Arrow hypercoaster runs 3 trains with 30 second dispatches, the SP system on Big One is an absolute joke.
Overall I had a good day at Pleasure Beach and it was great to get back on some of my favourite rides, but IMO there are still many issues which detract from the overall enjoyment of the park.
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I'm intrigued as to why there is the red canvas on the outside of the old Loggers station/Creek Freak maze?
What has happened to Thorpe Park?
in General Discussion
Posted
The 8pm closes during summer were changed to 6pm at the last minute "BPB style" if I recall correctly.