Coaster

It'll be the wildest scare maze in the wilderness.

I hope we see changes to Do or Die, it wasn't exactly special last year. Also what does Do or Die mean? Do what?

I miss the sugar puff adverts. Or was that Chessington?

I think parks should generally offer a well-rounded lineup but Thorpe is another story altogether really, I agree they have become very mismatched with removing family atttactions but opening different (poorer ones). My point is that I don't think parks should totally alienate the family market by closing all the rides when they have a Halloween event on. Maybe in the evening it makes sense, but during the day it just seems an excuse to cut costs. That said, Thorpe have basically alienated most target audiences already one way or another.

I'm not so sure, not everyone who visits is there for Fright Nights and the standard ride offering shouldn't really be affected IMO.

As good as Big Top was in 2016/17, let's not forget its debut year in 2015. It was advertised to the hilt and looked incredible from the outside but was one of the most underwhelming/cheap feeling mazes of all time IMO. Suppose it was more-or-less an entirely new maze in 2016, though. The marketing for this new maze seems weird, they're pushing the whole "most intense maze ever" thing and it looks like it's their main focus for this year's event but there is no mention of it on the website homepage and the Fright Nights page doesn't promote it as the focus. Also they sent an email with a "behind the scenes" preview but the link just went to the generic Fright Nights page. One of the pictures on the email was old Loggers Leap queueline theming (not that it really matters, if it's there they may as well use it). I am intrigued by this new maze as the idea could be good and I like that it's an original concept. I just hope Thorpe can deliver what they've promised.

Ah, 2011. Easily my favourite year of Fright Nights, the excitement surrounding Experiment 10 at the time was huge! I think for this year, at this point I'm just hoping that Creek Freak Massacre is a good, solid maze because the rest of the lineup looks poor. There used to be such a huge buzz about Thorpe during Fright Nights; the mazes around the park, the audio, sights, smells, it was such an incredible event and it just feels marketing-led and poorly executed nowadays. At least Inferno in the dark is always good.

Can we also bring the Wild Mouse back whilst we're at it?

I just don't really see it as progress. We have lost arguably the UK's best pirate ship and they are removing another of the park's only thrill rides (as well as the only inverting ride at the park). Albeit, Rameses is past its best now. This new concept for a drop tower looks good but in my opinion the above two rides make a more wholesome ride lineup than one drop tower. If Buccaneer returns or is replaced suitably then fantastic, I just don't think it's likely.

Of course it's great that we are potentially getting a fun new themed drop tower, but I'm looking at the entire picture and circumstances of the park rather than just the new ride. Another thing to consider is will it fit in with the rest of Forbidden Kingdom in the way that Rameses did?

It doesn't seem likely to return given the track record Merlin parks have with attractions closing "temporarily" and then never re-opening. Happy to be proved otherwise!

So we're losing two flats (Buccaneer and Rameses) and only getting one?

It's a shame when you think that there will only be 2 fully indoor horror mazes this year. Remember when we had Asylum, Experiment 10, Se7en, The Curse and Saw Alive as the event lineup. Or Cabin in the Woods, My Bloody Valentine, Asylum, Saw Alive and The Blair Witch Project as a more recent example. It's a joke that they still advertise Fright Nights as the UK's premier Halloween event, regardless of how good this year's new maze is the others don't really do anything for me, Platform 15 is good after it gets dark but when you look at the lineup we used to get, this year's is very sparse. Also, Thorpe Park is one of the UK's biggest theme parks, it's not really acceptable that they "don't have anyone who knows how to build The Big Top" when independent events are running 5+ full scale mazes. It was an incredibly popular maze and the park just can't deliver it? That's just sad.

Thorpe buying rides with unsuitably low throughput does ring a bell in fairness. Sorry.

If I recall correctly they could be used up until half term last year. I used mine and had it confirmed by the park prior to visiting, so it was a planned thing that they would be usable last year.

It's not the price, it's the principle of paying for the MAP and then not being able to utilise the perks. With Tulleys you get what you pay for, it's excellent.

I think it's poor, it is advertised as a major selling point of the MAP but you can't use it all the time.

Share The Fun vouchers cannot be used during Fright Nights this year.

Wow, saying it's their "most intense maze to date" is a very bold claim. They're saying it'll be more intense than Asylum and Experiment 10 so naturally expectations will be extremely high now. If it isn't as intense as E10 in its first year (which was insane) it's not good enough now that they have said that. I hope "intense" doesn't just mean more than one chainsaw, I always found the buildup to the final on Asylum worked far better than just throwing in loads of chainsaws Chop-Shop style.

That is absolutely disgraceful and it's ridiculous that the park don't even seem to understand their own ride.

It sounds fantastic and suits the retro "90's" nature of the ride perfectly, The Notable Stranger has done a fantastic job. I can't wait to hear it around the ride.

I miss Stealth's SRQ.

Stealth had an extended closure during summer last year didn't it? (I'm not suggesting that they're linked in any way I just recall it being closed at this time last year).

That's pretty incredible really.

Maybe for next year they'll refurbish it to Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise Of The Sneeze?!