Cal

Looks like the park have decided to open Ghost train at 12 instead of 3 on these busy days too which is good, and very much needed.

Just had a quick mid day check and this is the current state of things. 5 coasters closed and 1 on half capacity. Genuinely feel sorry for the people that have paid a lot to be there. They'll probably never come back...

At 5pm the only coasters open were Nemesis on 1 train and Wickerman 🤣 Twitter is a great read today. They really need to sort this out as they're seriously ruining their reputation. So glad I didn't bother with Scarefest this year. For the first time in a long time, I've not renewed my merlin pass and bought a Thorpe one seeing as they're the only merlin park worth visiting at the moment.

Sold out day today!

Last week I decided to do a couple of European parks for the first time, Plopsaland and Parc Asterix. Ride To Happiness has been high on my bucket list for a long time and I've always wanted to do Asterix, especially since Toutatis opened. I looked at a few different options, originally I was going to do Walibi Holland and Efteling too but doing this solo meant it would’ve been quite expensive, and I didn’t know how comfortable I was going to be driving in Europe on my own. Another option I looked at was Liseberg but flights from Gatwick were about £200 for a return, so I could do Plopsa and Parc Asterix for the same price as 1 day/night at Liseberg. I knew it was the holidays but looking at the queues in previous years, that week didn’t seem particularly busy. Day 1 - Plopsaland I set off around 5am for the 8:15am ferry over to Calais, which arrived in Calais for 11am, aiming to get to Plopsa for 12ish. I could’ve got an earlier one to get there for opening, but it was open till 7pm and I've heard you didn’t really need a full day there anyway, and I didn’t want to knacker myself out too much. I’d heard that food and drinks were very expensive at Plopsa so I went to the supermarket a couple of mins away to grab myself some lunch before I went in. I drove past Plopsa to get to the supermarket and realized how close it was, so I decided to leave my car parked at the supermarket and walk to the park (took about 5 mins) which saved me 15 euros on parking. I got to the park at about 12:15, and there was obviously 1 ride I was going to go for first, Ride to Happiness. First impressions of the park were nice, the entrance plaza was cool. On my way over, I noticed there was some work taking place on Heidi on the turnaround section so it was looking unlikely that it was going to open. Turns out it had actually been closed all month, but reopened the day after I went, on the Friday. I wasn’t too fussed about not getting on it, the main reason for visiting was Ride to Happiness and with the park being very easy to get to I’ll most probably be back there at some point anyway. I love the plaza and the area music, very calming. The food unit did have pop music playing though which was a shame though. Brilliant theming in the queue, it was running 1 train but only queued around 10 minutes, I went straight for the backrow which is normally my favorite seat on most coasters. The trains are comfy, and it was interesting to see the bars come down automatically so there was no need for the staff to check restraints. The trains also have an onboard sound track and lighting. I came off my first ride feeling very meh. It was good, and different to any coaster I've done before, and absolutely loved the on-board soundtrack, that really added to it. But was I blown away? Absolutely not. Didn’t live up to the hype for me at all. After that I decided to have a wander around the rest of the park, did the log flume and Drakk the parks mack powered coaster which were good. Dinosplash the log flume was cool, although the water was an interesting color… Next I did Nachtwacht Flyer which is the parks Starflyer, as I thought it would be a good way to see the rest of the park, and then went onto do Anubis, a Gerstlauer launch coaster. I did go past a couple of other little coasters but these had large queues so decided to go back to them later. Anubis has a brilliant station building and indoor queue line, running 2 trains with no queue. This was a good little coaster, the launch is very snappy and the top hat is great, however the ending is a little dull. It was very smooth for a Gerstlauer. I did the Superspash as I noticed people didn’t look particularly wet, which just consisted of a lift, drop and then a slow return to the station. The lift is quite cool though. I also did the Big Wave which was the parks Disk’O coaster. This was the best themed one I've ever seen, even had a little water feature on it and had great interaction with the nearby Splash battle. At this point I had pretty much done the rest of the park so I went back to the Ride To Happiness, this time I went for the front row. Now, this absolutely blew me away, completely different to my ride earlier. I was laughing and smiling to myself the whole way round, and the hangtime you get on that first inversion on the front car is great. It's rare I prefer a ride on the front row but getting pushed into the airtime moments and other elements on this was better in my opinion. The rest of the day just consisted of lapping this, with the occasion ride on Anubis. It didn’t really build up much of a queue all day and in total managed to get on it over 20 times. Operations were okay, but with no batcher and no effort from the staff to fill up seats there were a lot going round empty. I even had a car of 4 to myself at one point even though there was a queue. The queue was around 10 minutes most of the day and peaked about 30 minutes at one point. At first I wasn’t really taking empty seats due to the language barrier but as the day went on, I got more confident getting on earlier trains taking empty seats which saved a lot of time with it being on 1 train. Each ride I was laughing the whole way round, and left me smiling on the brake run. Every single ride is different no matter where you sit, and experiencing all the different elements facing a different way each time is so fun. Its so re-rideable, the front car was definitely my favorite. The airtime at the end of the ride is brilliant. Everyone is so happy on the break run and the on board soundtrack fits it perfectly. It is a little inconsistent though, and some rides on it are better than others. The queue closed at 7pm, and the staff kindly let me stay in the station for a few rides taking empty seats. Sunset rides on this were brilliant, it didn’t quite get a dark ride but the area looks brilliant in the dark. Lots of great lighting, including lighting on the train too. I exited the park, grabbed some dinner and had a 2.5 hour drive to my hotel for the night near Parc Asterix ready for the following morning. Overall, I had a good day. Shame about not getting on Heidi but I'll be back. Plopsaland is a charming little park, and although I was originally a little disappointed with Ride to Happiness I finished the day absolutely loving it. Plopsaland is obviously more aimed for kids so without Ride To Happiness I probably wouldn't return, but with how easy it is to get there, I'll definitely be back.

Something really does need to change, they must be killing their reputation. Apparently Oblivion was on 1 station yesterday too on a 2 hour queue. Hardly helping matters. They’ve also sent out notifications to guests saying queues will be closed early once capacity is reached. Does it though? I’d argue Thorpe. Yes Hyperia has had issues this season but apart from that everything has been pretty reliable and running on full capacity. Chessington can’t seem to keep Fury open longer than 5 minutes and Tiger Rock seems to have evacs multiple times a day, if it’s open at all.

Queue closed at 9.05 last night. Seems the information about early queue closure has now been removed from the app now too, so think its safe to say it'll close at 9 every night for Fright Nights. Hopefully that'll be the end of it and we won't see the return of the early queue closures next season

So after doing Fright Nights a few times now, I'll give my review. Dead Beat I did this for my first time yesterday. After seeing lots of mixed reviews I hadn't bothered with it before but kept it spoiler free for myself. But I was really pleasantly surprised with this, was my favorite maze last night by far. Its long, themeing is great, great smells, loved the soundtrack, lots of great scares (actors had some really good hiding places.) The ending with the actor flying above your head was my favorite part by far. That got me good, never seen something like that in a maze before. Survival Games Did this on the opening night and last night. On the opening night it was great, pretty much the same as last year. It was having a lot of issues that night though and saw the area got evaced at least 3 times due to the fire alarm going off. Yesterday however, it wasn't so great. Absolutely no smoke in the main area which made a huge difference. Potentially due to the fire alarm issues? But they really need to sort that out. What made this maze great was that you couldn't really see where you where going in the main part and it was confusing. With no smoke, you can see everywhere you're going. Actors seemed very hands-off yesterday too. Stiches Pretty much the same as last year. I don't know what it is but I feel like I've never had a particularly good run through in this maze. I want to enjoy it but its not for me and has never been one of my favorites unfortunately. Trailers Another one where I've never been the biggest fan off. This year does seem consistent though, good amount of actors and its a decent length. Just always felt this has lacked scares though. Bit cheeky calling them new scenes this year as not a lot has really changed. Crows Decent scarezone, pretty much an outdoor maze. Not as strong as last year though unfortunately. Lots of security/staff visible throughout the walk really kills the atmosphere too. On the first couple times I went they were constantly telling us to keep moving which was annoying, less of that yesterday but still does kill the atmosphere having them visible everywhere. Hopefully they can improve on this next year or have a change up as Crows are getting pretty stale now. Lucifers Lair and Creature Campus Can't really comment on either of these as I haven't really spent any time in either of them. Luciers Lair is decent and creates a nice atmosphere at the center of the park. I think its pretty cheeky calling Creature Campus a scarezone, its a dance show. I don't go to scare events to watch people dance to be honest, so not a bit of me. Not for me and I'd rather the budget was used for a different scare attraction instead, but I do understand the reasons for keep bringing it back as it does seem to be popular. Everything else Fright Nights will never be as good as it was in its old days, but overall its another strong year for Fright Nights. Yesterday in particular was great, got 3 mazes done in less than an hour. Operations across the park were great and didn't see a single breakdown or ride shutdown all day. Park wide audio I'm really not a fan of this year. Disappointing they haven't bothered with individual ride audio again too. Was always one of my favorite things about Fright Nights. Lighting looks great though this year, great to see so much permanent lighting. Best the park has ever looked at night. Theres still improvements that could be made though. Detonator for example had programmed lighting not long ago which seems to have disappeared. Would like to have seen them do more with Hyperia too. Imagine if the lights flashed as it went down the lift hill? Or flashed a different color even? There used to be a lot more smoke machines around the park as well which was cool, so would be nice to be see them return, especially with the new lighting. Vortex is looking great with a smoke machine, but other rides would benefit from this too. Samurai was always a good one. Stealths hasn't worked the last few times I've been which is a shame. Oh and lastly, I'll keep saying this every year. But 10pm closes are missed as there isn't enough time in the dark. Even if it means doing 11-10 or 12-11. Or as Josh has said before, even keeping the mazes and coasters open till 10 would be good.

Vortex has been consistently running so well ever since it got its new PLC a couple years ago. Noticed the cycle slightly changed too, it stops spinning midway through so more seats reach full height, rather than the same seats all cycle. My favorite flat at Thorpe flat at Thorpe now. Nearly 25 years old and looks and runs as good as new. Its also looking amazing at night. Lots of coloured permanent lighting added and they've got a smoke machine under the floor which goes off as the floor is going down 🥰

Queue closed at 9 again tonight, so seems they're pretty consistent at closing at park close on fright nights dates which is good. Hugely overstating the queue though, probably to put people off getting in the queue. Advertising and multiple announcements that the queue was 200 mins (over 3 hours) when it wasn't over 90 mins. Fingers crossed they can get the 2nd train back asap! They're going to need it for half term week...

And the cuts at Towers continue... - Rapids closed for the season from from 14th October - CBeebies land closes at 5pm daily on scarefest dates (previously 7pm) And worst of all, more staggered openings. To me they just make no sense. Why have Spinball closed till 11 when its close to the entrance and popular in the mornings? Why open Thirteen at 10 when pretty much everything around it opens at 11? Just an absolute pain when everything is so far away from eachother. You can't just complete an area and move on as there'll be attractions closed. Can imagine there'll be a lot of confused guests in the morning finding closed rides. Just open at 11 if you can't commit to opening everything at 10 in my opinion.

Noticed a message has appeared on the Hyperia page on the app today explaining reduced capacity. Hopefully this isn't a sign that its likely to be on 1 train for a while longer? Also, I really hate the randomness of them closing the queue early. Friday and Saturday 9pm close, advertised queue of over 2 hours = Queue closes at advertised closing time. Off Peak Wednesday 5pm close, advertised queue of 1 hour = Queue closes early. Really hope they can scrap this and just close the queue at closing time permanently next year. Or at least some consistency/better communication.

In my opinion, Hyperias layout doesn't support the need for 3 trains, they just need to sort out the time it takes on the break run. Look at Thirteen. The train practically launches you back into the station. Wardly spoke to Intamin and made sure the trains get back into the station as quickly as possible to achieve a decent throughput. Why wasn't the same thing done for Hyperia? 1 train ops are even more painful when it takes 30+ seconds for the train to crawl back into the station. Having a third train as a spare is a different matter though. Would it actually make any difference in situations like this as surely it would be stripped/having its winter maintenance done anyway? Buying and maintaining a third train and keeping it readily available when it isn't needed is a huge expense which isn't entirely necessary

Nope same price, £8 for afternoon slots and £10 for evening slots. I've noticed lower queues for mazes this year too. Friday in particular, none of the mazes seemed to have a queue all evening and the park wasn't dead. Whether this is because a 4th maze has relived a bit of pressure on queues or people just aren't as willing to pay for them anymore? Not sure. Time will tell I guess.

Got to the park in the afternoon yesterday. Hyperia was having issues and had a queue evac and was down for around 3.5 hours. Maybe an issue with the train as they removed the train at one point so no train was on the circuit. Spoke to quite a few unhappy people yesterday who waited over 2.5 hours and didn't even get given a priority pass to get back on. Seems some people did and some didn't. Really disagree with them selling Fasttrack on 1 train though, especially with the amount of RAP too. Yesterday the RAP, SRQ and Fasttrack queues were all full at the entrance. Even right now, they're selling Fasttrack and the queue is advertised at 240 minutes. Credit where credit is due though, they were smashing the trains out as per. I expected them to close the queue fairly early yesterday but they didn't close it till 9pm. I assume this was due to the issues it had earlier in the day? It was running gone 10:30pm...

And shes back open! Fair play to them for getting it back open so quick. Will be interesting to see how they go about getting it back on 2 trains. Maybe open slightly later tomorrow with testing in the morning? But no idea how long it'll take them to get it back on the circuit and do relevant checks.

Seems the whole train has been removed from the track now (this tweet was posted at 3:21) so certainly possible to be open on 1 train tonight and tomorrow.

Oh dear. Pretty dreadful timing with press night tomorrow. Worryingly, it looks like the train has a full train of dummies? But they may have started to empty the water out of them I guess. They really need to get on top of this though for the remainder of Fright Nights, its only going to get colder. Was going to head over Friday afternoon but probably won't bother now 🤣

The queueline TVs have actually all been replaced/fixed earlier this season as I've seen a few photos of them working, hence why the news audio has also returned playing in the queue. However for some reason, they're never on? I've never seen them on since. Strange. I agree the area could do with some TLC, would be great to see all the effects return as it definitely makes a difference. Personally quite like the area music how it is, however it would great for the sound effects to return. There used to be loud sound effects as the train passed certain areas, such as the tower at the last inversion. Agree the station music is very dull and boring though, could definitely do with a change there.

It'll be interesting to see if they make any improvements to the area over closed season. I wonder if we'll ever see the return of the splashdown? I also really hope over closed season they can speed up the time it takes for the train to come in the station from the breakrun. Hopefully they'd be able to get closer to 1000 an hour rather than the 700-800 we're currently seeing.

Ghost train will be open from 3pm daily instead of 12pm during Fright Nights this year, the ride availability page has been update to confirm.

A poster has been seen which says 'the final beach party', interested to see what they do with this space!

Yeah it does, certainly worked on my visit last season and I've seen clips of it on this year. Don't think they have it on year round though. Also was quite surprised to see the decision to replace Wild Asia. Shame to lose that theme too its always been one of my favorite areas at the park.

Good news, very much needed. A new family coaster will be a great addition. I’m shocked but pleasantly surprised that Rattlesnake is staying. No monkey swinger is a great loss though. I know it’s a simple flat, but the water makes it good fun and is one of my favourites there.

Nice well rounded lineup for this year, good to see a 4th maze, and a good mix of everything else. Crows was great last year and lucifers lair was cool too. Creature Campus has never been my thing, I don't go to a scare event to watch people dance but I can see why its back as its extremely popular. My problem echos whats been said above though. I get enjoyment by having multiple run throughs on the mazes and getting to experience them properly. At the current price for mazes, I'm not really willing to do that. I will still go to Fright Nights this year but my experience last year with the queues and then getting a weak run through really puts me off the mazes. I'll probably just buy the odd 1 shot when they have small queues and try to go to one of the private events at the end of the year where I can have unlimited run throughs of the mazes.