Cal

A big shame they didn't finish it this year. Strange decision, the rest of it looks so good! Not sure its been mentioned but Passholder day has been announced for next Sunday 22nd. Hours are 11am-5pm which is a shame as we got 11am-7pm last year. No night rides on passholder day this year.

Shame its closing 1 year before its big 40, and we didn't get a last chance to ride (it definitely said returning 2026 on the queue boards) but budgets have clearly changed and forced it to close. I'm not surprised and do think its the right decision. Its by far the worst rapids in the UK and it's a shadow of its former self. The more recent changes it went through took all the fun it had left out of it, removing the fun soundtrack and changing to dull colours. Last year, it was hardly open anyway so it just isn't worth the resource getting it open anymore. Whats the point in getting it through winter maintenance and ages staff training for the sake of a couple of months. Then when it is open, you have the huge running costs + heavily staffed. I'd rather have the rapids closed than cuts elsewhere on park. My favorite memory hands down is when they added that huge fire hose type water effect near the start of the ride. That didn't last long 🤣 Rumba was always good fun in my early years of visiting Thorpe so sad to see another Thorpe classic close. RIP Rumba ❤️

They removed all rides that were closed for the buyout days, Tidal Wave too. There was actually some sign of life on on the last day of the season. Engineers around all day and some spinning (not lifting) so hopefully its not over just yet for Zodiac! Zodiac always looks brilliant at night so that was certainly missed during Fright Nights this year.

What is everyones thoughts on the capacity at the moment for Fright Nights? I know its been the same for a long time and it isn't likely to change, but I can't help but feel they are overselling tickets at the moment resulting in a really poor customer experience. - Security queue taking well over an hour to get into the park (I've seen many reports of over 90 minutes) - Multiple coasters over 2 hours queue - All mazes over an hour queue for a paid time slot - Car park nightmare getting out (again not a new issue) For comparison, I went to Walibi Holland on 2 sold out days this year. I waited 15 mins to get in one day and 5 mins the other. Getting out, about half hour one day due to a car accident and about 15 mins the other day. You also don't have to pay for car parking during for Fright Nights there. I don't know another theme park where you get greeted with huge cattlepen queues to get in. Realistically, how many people who wait 90 minutes to get in, stuck in queues all day and then another queue to get out are going to enjoy there day and return? I don't think it helps matters having the rapids closed and ghost train opening at 3pm on the busiest days of the year. The park really does need all the capacity they can get. I do think theres more they can do with the mazes too. Towers opens theres at 1pm on peak days, so opening them earlier could definitely help with the queues. And of course 10pm closes. With Fright Nights as busy as it is (and generating nearly half the parks yearly income) it would be great to see the return of 10pm closes. I know this is quite a negative post, but just something I've thought about recently. For me, the security queue is the biggest issue that needs addressing and is a terrible first impression.

Its being reported that Thorpe had an 8% drop in attendance last season, the highest drop on the list. https://x.com/ThemeParkWW/status/1981330874747531338/photo/1 Really concerning with that obviously being Hyperias opening year, and this season seeming quieter? The same thing happened with Swarm and then we had to wait 12 years for a coaster... Also strange to me that Towers seemed to have quite a lot of cuts throughout the season last year and Thorpe didn't, despite the difference in attendance.

Yeah, thats what blasted out at 9:20, followed by a load of other pop music after. I'm really not a fan of it either. Really doesn't fit in with Fright Nights whatsoever and completely killed the atmosphere for me. Yeah its very interesting. I knew it would be big but didn't realize they make nearly half of its annual profit at Fright Nights. Would love to know what that figure was pre covid when mazes were free too. Would also be interested to see how much events like Octoberfest have an impact on visitor numbers, especially Towers where the event was better received. Thankyou! They're actually just taken on my Iphone 12 Pro Max which I've had for 5 years now. Currently waiting on the 17 so should be able to get some better photos with that soon

Yeah, was certainly noticeable. Really struggling on that final corner. Planned to be closed all day today too according to the app.

I do get what you mean, and think a lot of people will think the same. I still think its well worth a visit for the general atmosphere and rides in the dark, but I do wonder if people in general will be put off visiting this year as there isn't a new maze? Will be interesting to see what they do next year to change things up. The IndependentOctober is the new summer for these major UK tourist attr...Halloween thrill-seekers are transforming October into a peak month for theme parks, with Merlin Entertainments revealing the period now rivals August for profitability. This article is quite interesting and really shows how important Fright Nights is to Thorpe now. Not sure how accurate it is, but Thorpe makes 46% of its annual profit in October and sees 20% of its yearly visitors in the month. It also mentions how October visitor numbers surpassed August in 2024.

Interesting they needed to do a cable replacement so close to end of season. That'll be why they're not having to open it later on now Was running fine pretty much all day yesterday just a few short shutdowns. It did seem to really struggle on the last corner into the offload and was making quite a loud squeaking noise.

The 12pm openings seem to have been scrapped. Opened at 10am yesterday, and the message has now been removed from the availability page.

Glad to see that they've now changed the soundtrack on a lot of the rides for Fright Nights, after not doing it for a number of years. They're in the same/similar voice as the advert for this year. Unfortunately no change on Stealth or Samurai though, and you can hardly hear it in Colossus' station as its very quiet. The park is looking amazing in the dark this year. Lots of lighting changes and additional smoke machines making the park look the best it ever has done at night. A lot of Swarms effects have been restored and Infernos mist is pumping. I love this smoke effect on Colossus. StreamableWatch IMG_3720 | Streamable Hyperia is lit up in red from 7pm, and the lights go off as each train goes down the first drop. Really not a fan of the music that starts blasting out at 9:20 park wide though, including in the Hyperia queue 🤣 StreamableWatch IMG_3747 | Streamable Also really not a fan of the new scare zone and just seems like that was added for the sake of adding a new scare attraction. Would love to see another Crows/Towers style scare zone. Why not use the old Blair Witch route from Trailers to the Nemesis Inferno exit like before?

.... back open today!

I love that they've gone through the effort of adding that, timed with the launch. Smoke effects add so much during fright nights. I quite like the one they've added on Colossus earlier in the season too.

Samurai testing today which is a good sign, just in time for peak Fright Nights!

Good riddance 🤣 In all seriousness, I hate seeing SBNO rides, but really wouldn't mind seeing the death of Ghost Train. Never liked it, doesn't provide much capacity to the park, costs a lot to run. If it does close at the end of this season, would be very interesting to see what the building is used for in the future.

Love that Hyperia is lit up red this year for Fright Nights, rather than bright white. Looks brilliant 😍 https://www.facebook.com/thorpeparkmania/posts/pfbid026Rwstrftd6WfrWixrpci43qLc6PCPfHZrQTEve5Dyyrd12rC2fFvyDURntJCsK6Cl

Yeah makes sense, definitely seems like they're trying to reduce the amount of launches for one reason or another Was closed today, but is open this evening for the press event

He no longer works at the park unfortunately

Seems to be a running trend on off peak days at the moment, was back on 2 at the weekend. So at the moments its; - Running 1 train off peak - Closed 2 off peak Thursdays - Opening at 12pm on Fright Night dates up until school holidays. I wonder if they are doing this purely for cost cutting or theres another reason for it, maybe a certain amount of launches left before a cable change and they need to get it through the season?

Scarefest does look pretty solid this year. Lots of new theming around the park, a new maze and an additional free scare zone. I've decided to give it a miss again this year, as I can't go on any of the quieter days, but will 100% on my to do list next year. Compound looks solid so need to give that a go, and hopefully mine tours will get replaced new year. ____ One thing to note though, Towers are now selling one shot Fasttracks for £5 on the mobile app for mazes, which is something they haven't done before. Disappointing to see them do that, in my opinion time slots should mean you should get straight on (or at least very quickly)

@JoshC. another couple questions comes to mind... Looks like the days I'm going are likely to be very busy/sellout days. From your experience, how long have you queued for mazes and the experiences on average? Also, do you happen to know how the fast track is operated at the park on different days. Do they give you pretty much instant access or still likely to be waiting a while?

Yeah I was thinking the same, I know we have this off peak period every year but it does seem particularly deserted this year. And thats not just Thorpe either, seen videos from the other parks just as deserted. For comparison, here is the queue time calendar from last year in the same 3 week period. And then this years... Obviously not sure gate figure wise, but queue time wise they've definitely been shorter this year on average. Towers is already on 4pm closes, Legos been cut to 4:30 this year, Chessingtons cut hours to 4pm this year, wouldn't surprise me if we see more closed days or some dreaded 4pm closes next year. Especially in the state Merlin seem to be in at the moment. Even this summer the park was really filtering out way before closing at 7pm, wouldn't surprise me if we see cuts across summer too.

So it'll be opening at 12pm every day up until the start of the school holidays. I would hope that these Thursday closures and 12pm openings aren't cost cutting on one of their major coasters? Would be interested to know if any work is actually taking place on it tomorrow and next Thursday.

Ah fair enough. I assume you went when Ferrari Land was open during the day, before they changed the hours? Yeah I agree, unless you’re in the front row it’s really juddery, and that definitely took away from the experience for me. I do find it bizarre that Ferrari land has been open since 2017 and they haven't bothered to add another headline attraction? I agree its just Red Force, and that really doesn't have the capacity to be a main draw. Thoroughly enjoyed it there, PA really exceeded my expectations. Nice all round park. El Paso was very good for the price. Gold River does look like quite an upgrade though and obviously has the perk of being right next to Uncharted so definitely one to consider for next time.

I would say just as forceful if not more than Stealth. Obviously red force does have more speed, and that is noticeable. But I would say Stealth takes the crown for me. I prefer the initial launch, being hydraulic the launch is more forceful. The top hat on Stealth I prefer, Red force was too slow on the top hat but obviously did have much better views up there. And just general comfort. Unless you're front row on red force (assigned seating and no front row queue so its rare) its very rough. Even with just lap bars, the vibrations/shaking isn't pleasant.