SteveJ

It's ridiculously easy to knock up a cheap video to 'explain' the ride to people in the queue. These videos rarely have any actual entertainment value (eg The Swarm's patronising scriptwriting) and are an unimaginative way to tell a story. Some parks overuse them so much that each ride's theme is ultimately determined by "what's on the tv this time?" boring! But I'm partial to some of the Oblivion videos because of their dark one-liners and delivery. Well I just had to say all that because these bad attempts at preshows are everywhere now I found The Swarm's spoof news report so bad that it was funny at first, but now it's just grating.

Well it probably looks nothing like that, it's hard to make out through that filter. Plus it's not too hard to do basic set design like that. Seems promising though... yayay! Not long now... I really am hopeful of this being the best Fright Nights event for a long time.

Thank you! It sounds great for what it is. The concept of the Haunted House is a big inspiration to me so I am really looking forward to reading this book; mostly for pictures if not the text.

It's been known for a few weeks now and is apparently well written and interesting (with some nice big pictures of the ride). I haven't read it myself yet, but I know all the work this guy put into researching the ride. Here's the website in case you haven't seen it! John's (short) foreword was written two years ago and he mentions the book in his autobiography.

I think you answered your own question there! Te lift shakes because of the weight of the cars on it, and the track is built to be flexible so that it doesn't simply break when under forces. Even more forceful rollercoasters flex slightly when the train goes past, it's just not as noticeable as on spinning coasters. And some wooden coasters shake a lot!

Because by today's local planning laws Vampire is illegal as it is or something like that. They are allowed to keep it probably until the end of its lifetime but nothing as big will be built on that site afterwards. That shouldn't rule out a smaller coaster being put there in the future, I think.

Ha. But I'd rather they got rid of Gozy than Chase Van Driver!

I'm liking the variation! I hope this turns out well. I was a bit underwhelmed when I first heard this year's Halloween attractions were all based on popcorn horror films. Such mazes would still suit Thorpe Park more than their poor in-house concepts of recent years, but the monotony of it seemed to kill off my excitement. However, now that each scare attraction seems to have its own format and setting, I'm far more intrigued. A dark atmospheric Blair Witch path down the back of the park sounds like an unusual and cool experience, and quite different from a claustrophobic horror maze like My Bloody Valentine, for example. The return of the simple yet effective Asylum is also a nice way to expand this year's range of seasonal attractions. I also think the wording of "scare maze" compared to "live action horror" suggests the former will be more effects heavy and the latter actor-based. (Either that or one just has more effort put into it than the other!)

It still looks awful to me. And that last image is pretty much the same as it turned out - it's just that everything looks better in a picture than in reality. I doubt putting a boat in the roof would have actually increased anybody's enjoyment. But it's great to see some technical documents and concept art from recent projects, thanks for sharing. It's interesting to see those alternative locations; I'm very glad they put Storm Surge where they did (I never thought I'd say that).

What, The Shrieky Bat?! But yes, from what I gather there is no chance of another rollercoaster bein built on Vampire's location, unfortunately.

It's really not like that because these signs aren't "theming". These signs aren't entertaining anybody, are they? They're just there to promote the ride (unnecessarily, as I think the ride looks convincing enough without knowing what track length it has yawn) and cover up the ugly concrete/metal gaps that shouldn't really have been built like that anyway. What I mean is - a great theme ride experience is more exciting than signs with words on them. Surely? Apart from that - yes - who cares indeed?

Surely by explaining what the marmaliser is 'supposed' to do, they simply highlight the fact that it's actually just a bunch of water pistols and lights? People want to have fun on the ride, not be told a lot of facts and made-up text... I thought?

The boards are irrelevant and don't improve the experience for anybody - the same way that reading up the plot synopsis on Wikipedia does not improve your enjoyment of a film. Sillllly ideaaaa

The Asylum building will most likely be used as the entrance/exit to Blair Witch Project, if it is true that the former Railway route just behind is being used.

The singing barn is the most hellish part of the whole park - a horrific cacophony of noise and animatronics that fall apart before your very eyes. But fun. It even features a swearing pig (I never understood what he was supposed to be saying, but it certainly sounds like the S word) Oh yes, and this is the least interesting thing Alton Towers haw ever done, which is passable considering The Smiler.

Oh yes, I had a feeling those banners were new recently. I like how nobody can tell that it's supposed to be a crashed boat anymore.

Terror of the Towers has had "vampires" for the last 4 years - they are referring to the cloaked, pale-faced actors in the strobe maze finale.

But yes I totally agree that whoever was leading the project (likely a big team of people including Wardley as a consultant) did a great job at creating the ride. It really is totally out there and very entertaining at the same time, although the layout is one of its least interesting elements! I feel like riding it again now!

Fantastic you enjoyed it, but you know John Wardley had quite a small role in The Smiler right? And he wasn't really satisfied with the finished ride either (from a layout perspective)!

Erm, Thorpe Park summer nights was amazing yesterday, considering the queues were 2 hours most of the day and then they dropped to 5 minutes as soon as the event started. It was impossible not to have fun. And the staff were really helpful when the Swarm had its technical issue... it was really worth it.

It's been missing for quite a while now after having the windscreen completely smashed in. I'm surprised it lasted so long really, that rope barrier was never much good protection.

Because it is obviously from last year? Thorpe Park would have just reposted it because they haven't got one for this year yet - the package is probably the same. It doesn't confirm anything new about this year's event. The massive give-away is the URL "corporate/2012".

YAY airports! And the queueline can be immersively themed as a 3 hour-long queue to get through security and customs! Then afterwards everybody's loose articles can be returned to them on conveyor belts, except for those that get stolen or lost of course. Fun!

Yes but also because fibreglass supported by scaffolding doesn't really last 25+ years anyway. I went on the ride with all the vents open and actually thought it wasn't too detrimental to the experience. There's a lot inside the Tomb to keep the eye interested and if anything shows up more detail than the normal show lighting does. The ride has worse problems!

So judging by the lack of any Smuggler's Cove buildings next to the Galleon, are these photos from 1990? Thanks so much for sharing them! If you have any from within Transylvania that would be quite cool!