SteveJ

Unprofessionalism from many people at the park this year.  Certain people predictably still obsessed with using theme parks to further their careers and trying to earn status amongst fans then.

Would theme park 'personalities' please stop trying to be the Fright Nights mascot. In reality, a huge amount of collaboration and differnt teams go into putting on these events, most the work never gets seen – because what matters is the end result. But when people start going online to claim "hey I've done this, it's mine, enjoy my work everyone" then you know what people's real agendas were.

Fright Nights this year is clearly very poor, perhaps budget from the lords above was a big factor in that. Either way it's a bit sad to see we've got to a state where the people involved in an event and their mates come on to a forum to tell people how clever and smart their work actually is.

A bit like when we had Bradley Wynne tell people on Facebook how actually clever Derren Brown's Ghost Train was and how its "supposed" to be disjointed. That's not the point when the end result just doesnt entertain.

I'd wish Thorpe Park all the best for next year and hope it goes better. The park needed a really strong Halloween event this year and just didn't manage it.

Unprofessionalism from many people at the park this year.  Certain people predictably still obsessed with using theme parks to further their careers and trying to earn status amongst fans then.

Would theme park 'personalities' please stop trying to be the Fright Nights mascot. In reality, a huge amount of collaboration and differnt teams go into putting on these events, most the work never gets seen – because what matters is the end result. But when people start going online to claim "hey I've done this, it's mine, enjoy my work everyone" then you know what people's real agendas were.

Fright Nights this year is clearly very poor, perhaps budget from the lords above was a big factor in that. Either way it's a bit sad to see we've got to a state where the people involved in an event and their mates come on to a forum to tell people how clever and smart their work actually is.

A bit like when we had Bradley Wynne tell people on Facebook how actually clever Derren Brown's Ghost Train was and how its "supposed" to be disjointed. That's not the point when the end result just doesnt entertain.

I'd wish Thorpe Park all the best for next year and hope it goes better. The park needed a really strong Halloween event this year and just didn't manage it.

Anything will be better than what's currently there, because the park have been using the same dodgy mp3 that you used to hear all over YouTube since the change a couple years ago.

Very silly when Vampire used to look and sound so fantastic. It's like if Wicker Man's audio was 'lost' and replaced by a bad quality download in 10 years time and all the lighting and scenery stripped out with no replacement. Very careless and unprofessional.

The vampire station needs a lot more than just a change of soundtrack though. It needs all the speakers repaired and the dead spots fixed, and really just a total overhaul of the station now that it's become incredibly bare.

Unprofessionalism from many people at the park this year.  Certain people predictably still obsessed with using theme parks to further their careers and trying to earn status amongst fans then.

Would theme park 'personalities' please stop trying to be the Fright Nights mascot. In reality, a huge amount of collaboration and differnt teams go into putting on these events, most the work never gets seen – because what matters is the end result. But when people start going online to claim "hey I've done this, it's mine, enjoy my work everyone" then you know what people's real agendas were.

Fright Nights this year is clearly very poor, perhaps budget from the lords above was a big factor in that. Either way it's a bit sad to see we've got to a state where the people involved in an event and their mates come on to a forum to tell people how clever and smart their work actually is.

A bit like when we had Bradley Wynne tell people on Facebook how actually clever Derren Brown's Ghost Train was and how its "supposed" to be disjointed. That's not the point when the end result just doesnt entertain.

I'd wish Thorpe Park all the best for next year and hope it goes better. The park needed a really strong Halloween event this year and just didn't manage it.

Couldn’t say it any better myself ?

- Fan boys ‘designing’ audio for Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights and then watching the forums for comments and getting all defensive because nobody really understands the complete lack of artistic or creative design. “Woo cameos from the theme park community - intense!”
 
- Flashing, multicoloured LED park wide  lighting with no design or thought whatsoever 
 
- Significant lack of maze design, coherent theme and complete lack of quality
 
- No Big Top
 
- A non-show in the Dome where actors chase guests to some music because the competency to build the maze was no longer available 
 
- Another laughable, confused, messy marketing “campaign”
 
- Black walled mazes (oh, they almost left Fright Nights)
 
- Vulcan Peak
 
 
Goodbye Fright Nights. 

Agreed. I see where Nick was going with the whole Amity audio but it just didn't work at night, it was too subtle and way too cheery for halloween. Just sounded like a normal WWTP radio unless you sit and listen closely, the music needs to be made with the general public in mind, not so subtle that only enthusiasts notice. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Park audio this year was generally disappointing
 
For those who have played Fallout 4, Diamond City Radio is a great example of what WWTP should have been similar too.

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!!
 

Quite sad to see the person involved in something creative responding to criticism in a very "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE SUBTLETY OF MY DESIGN" approach...
 
Like, I've no idea how it actually sounds, but most people aren't going to be sat around Amity Cove listening to the music in order to 'get' it... You might get lucky and hear another part of it as you pass through, but if you need extensive listening to understand it then you've already failed at the job at the creative aspect of passing on the story for guests... 
 
Consuming other media to get the full story only works for those who are dedicated, this goes for games, movies and anything else...

Anything will be better than what's currently there, because the park have been using the same dodgy mp3 that you used to hear all over YouTube since the change a couple years ago.

Very silly when Vampire used to look and sound so fantastic. It's like if Wicker Man's audio was 'lost' and replaced by a bad quality download in 10 years time and all the lighting and scenery stripped out with no replacement. Very careless and unprofessional.

The vampire station needs a lot more than just a change of soundtrack though. It needs all the speakers repaired and the dead spots fixed, and really just a total overhaul of the station now that it's become incredibly bare.

Having ridden Vampire yesterday, I certainly didn’t find it too rough or comfortable, although I think rows, weight and time of day may be contributing factors. 
 
I just wish they were able to return/restore the chandelier lights. They used to help so much with the atmosphere of the station. However now it just looks like a terribly lit school disco and will probably continue to do so for the forseable future. 
 
Restoration of the original soundtrack would be nice too whilst they are at it.

OH MY DAYS THATS SOME TOP BANTZ!

"I hate nitpickers" lol

There are plenty better locations than this for the attraction. Year on year Legoland loses its lush setting and any respite between the loud/crowded areas by building over every single landscaped patch possible. There will soon be no transition, just big attractions squashed in next to each other. That area by the driving school is already extremely crowded. The train also runs right behind the warehouse.
 
Very typically cheap of Merlin to just leave the rear end exposed too – Legoland didn't do that with the Dragon castle 20 years ago and that was when the park was much smaller.

It's such a shame because these parks could be really good, they were in the past and that was with budgets a fraction of what Merlin could offer. The whole of Chessington's initial theme park idea (Dragon Falls, Runaway Train, 5th Dimenstion etc.) probably cost lest to build initially than what Merlin could supply the park with now. It wouldn't be too hard to bring it up to standard but it would take pride and investment. 
 
I'm not so much a theme park enthusiastic, I'm generally interested in engineering and theme park rides are absolutely fascinating in their workings. That being said I do like a good show with top notch sound & slighting and dark rides offer just that experience and when done well (Original Bubbleworks, Forbidden Tomb, 5th Dimension) they can be something absolutely spectacular. To me it seems that Tomb Blaster would be acceptable to run if the ride went round the track with none of the animations working, just the ride is running so "that'll do". There doesn't seem to be anyone there anymore who care about the show & if there are they're being ignored. 
 
By looking at the Youtube videos it seems to me that Tomb Blaster is getting lighter year by year and if they continue they may as well buy some LED light panels, put up a ceiling and call it "Office Block - The ride". 

Who's to say this wasn't their plan all along with Tomb and Bubbleworks? It's either that or sheer idiocy on the part of who looks after the attractions.
 
Either way, Chessington and by extension Merlin's budget strategy don't care for quality or for entertaining the many thousands of paying guests who go through these attractions every day.

An absolutely insulting and ridiculous situation. The ride is a joke and an embarassment on what it used to be!

Oh yes I'm sure they have tried to remove its queueline. The only alternative is a cattlepen shoved in the available space on the ground. Trust only Merlin, "second largest entertainments company globally", to not be able to 'do' first storey queuelines or look after them properly.

Oh my goodness, how bright is it in there?!

How terrible does Tomb Blaster look this year?! 
 
 
No music at the start, boulder not working, audio jumping in the axe scene, light not switching off meaning you can see the effect resetting, STILL no mummy audio at the end?!
 
How can they let it get as bad as this?  Absolutely shameful.

I’m almost certain that’s what they’re already doing. There’s now way its this bad by accident. They wanted to re-do Tomb properly years ago, back when they were told it barely passed the safety tests Runaway Train and Dragon Falls failed. 
 
For whatever reason (perhaps because of the need to do it sooner rather than later), they were granted a small budget to sort out the problems in 2016. So it’s quite likely they’re pushing to make the ride worse in order to follow through with their original plans. 

I think it's sad that park staff feel like they have to make a ride so awful just so it can actually be fixed up...
 
Like, that's no way to run a park...

Hate to admit it but the ride has definitely gone down a similar route to how the Bubbleworks. The ride audio, scenery and exterior remain in an extremely poor state. The Bubbleworks in it’s final year comprised broken effects, generally poor lighting and audio missing from key scenes (although some actually repaired). 
 
With the current stste of the park, I can see Tomb Blaster ( along with Forbidden Kingdom as a whole) being one of the next areas on the chopping board for redevelopment. Then again a reduction in Park capex who’s to say when that may be. 
 
Hocus Pocus Hall too is probably on borrowed time (with it’s missing glasses thing).

Wow, what a joke! I can't believe that things like this are still continuing, do Merlin have no pride?
 
It's reasons like that why I didn't bother going to any of their attractions last year. There is absolutely no defence for this behaviour, they really do not care about their customers, it's just fortunate for them that most people don't seem to notice or care about the state of their attractions. Some serious investment needs to be made in all of their parks. I do find it very amusing how they're publicising a little bit of painting here and there as if it's some big thing - no, it's day to day maintenance!

Merlin constantly compare themselves to Disney in their weird Power point propaganda for staff. Every staff member for any role gets inducted with a "catch the mouse" presentation where Disney are made out to be the enemy and Merlin the brilliant competitor. Last I heard it had been updated to "crush the mouse". Uhh.
 
And nothing really to do with visitor numbers, that's just the numerical way Merlin back up the claim. They want to open a new Legoland every other year until they reach the top spot for visitor numbers, for the only company benefit of being able to say they are "first in the world". They are more like the most incapable theme park attraction company in the world, desperate for expansion without knowing how to properly run a theme park, and winning by buying out so many commercial brands.

The Vampire (in its better days when it was ACTUALLY properly creepy) was my favourite ride when I was 9... It depends how the horror style is done.
 
I Also think lots of enthusiasts are getting wound up over nothing with whether SW8 "fits in" with Mutiny Bay. I certainly agree a theme park shouldn't be jarring changes between rides with themes that don't go together. But The Flume site was always set back from the rest the area, and since when was Mutiny Bay a particularly interesting theme anyway ? Would a "pirate" themed wooden coaster really be very good? Pirates is literally the most generic theme in the box!

What will make SW8 good is if it is designed well with fun features and atmosphere, not thinly spread token theming with a humourless grey theme like The Swarm or Saw

Are you the garden centre person?