Inferno

Yeah I seem to remember this was replaced with the “we’ll refund your ticket if you buy a season pass” thing.

Oh WOW. Those tour prices are just crazy. Merlin’s scare events are getting ridiculous price wise. I’ve not been fussed enough to pay for them this year - Towers fireworks appealed to me more this year.

Good post! I’ll be honest, I’m not sure it’s a good thing. Bringing back the haunted house, bubbleworks or black hole would be very odd now adays and feel very dated. I think unless you’re Disney, attractions need to leave at some point when they feel old and tired. I think as long as what is built in its place, it’s a good thing to retire and replace attractions. Subtly throwbacks and stuff are cool though.

You don’t think Wicker Man is good? I agree about the Emily Alton thing. There must be only a few hundred (if that) people in the country who have heard of the name. There isn’t really even a reference to her in the queue line.

😂 This can be the issue with doing the mazes time and time again - it was the same in Big Top, where the emergency exit line on the floor guided the way through the mirror section (I think it was big top? I’m doubting myself now). Once you noticed it there? There was no missing it!

Completely agree with that @RobF - the newer ones just aren’t the same are they. Some have been good, but I don’t know.. they just aren’t the same! I can’t put it in to words somehow. I also think Thorpe has been very rough and ready and very inconsistent. Some run throughs are better than others, which used to be fine when the mazes were free, but not now they’re £700 a go or whatever they’re charging this season.

This is an interesting one this year. I always think that, generally, Thorpe smash it on paper nearly every year - but Towers ultimately deliver the better event in the end, with more consistent mazes, better crowd control and just generally a “nicer time”. It’s also far less likely to go to s*** at Towers when it gets busy - as I have said many times, Thorpe just can’t seem to handle a crowd for some reason. Every year I go to both events, and for almost a decade now I’ve had said Scarefest wins the battle, but it’s been close over the years. I’d say Fright Nights has been in decline since the era of the walking dead stuff - it just somehow hasn’t been was it once was. however this year seems to have turned a corner - Survival Games looks like a return to form (a very simple, intense, proper old-school scare maze with no “with a difference” bs). I hope they can be consistent and reliably keep standards up throughout the event, which they haven’t managed for years. This year I just can’t be bothered with Scarefest though - only 2 mazes on offer, very expensive, and nothing new that’s worth doing. Their event feels like an afterthought. I haven’t yet been to FN so I think that will win it for me this year. Having said that, my FN visit last year was the worst theme park visit I’ve ever had… Time will tell - but basically I think my tl;dr answer is Scarefest - but probably not this season.

That phone number is absolutely brilliant. 👏 The amount of effort that’s gone in to this closed facade, along with the new lighting for scarefest probably amounts to more care than has been afforded to the ride for years, let alone what’s happening behind those closed doors. It looks promising doesn’t it!

Oh interesting 🧐 that sounds promising for the future! Would we not have seen planning applications for this though if it were for next year?

🤯 Wow. Tbh it's no surprise Enterprise's closure has quietly been made official, but it does "officially" make the situation far worse than it was. With Nemesis closed next year, and (I assume) Retrosquad going too (???), the number of rides available for non-Cebeebiesers is getting a bit silly for such a high profile park.

I know this is sort of old news but it's pretty shocking that the Environment Agency seemingly just gave up responding etc. The applicant shouldn't have to take it upon themselves to push it through to government level should they. From what I've heard so far from being in the Fire Service it's a similar story. "On a different planet" has been informally used to describe them. I don't have first hand experience, but get the impression they don't play nicely with others and their people skills leave something to be desired. But that's none of my business ☕️ Still... Glad this project is finally going somewhere!

Really interesting - thank you for posting this! The very obvious and self-inflicted rise and fall of Thorpe Park, and the reputation damage following the Smiler crash are the standouts for me. Its also mad how erratic Alton Towers’ attendance has been over the years compared to the others. I echo what’s been said above - this is evidence that the public want to come and see new coasters and rides - NOT walkthroughs and stupid gimmicks. Semi-regular ride additions appear to increase attendance according to this graph.

This crept up! Have a great time - looking forward to hearing about it

To be honest I think they should cut their losses and abandon it now. Does it really draw anyone in to the park? Ultimately does it sell tickets and make any money for them? I very much doubt it - it must actually cost a fortune to run and staff. it doesn’t even really feature on any of the marketing material any more, which suggests it isn’t a draw at all. I don’t think it matters how much money they wasted on the experiment, it hasn’t worked, and it needs to make way for something that WILL attract a crowd and (what all businesses ultimately want) make them money. A great shame that the huge budget and project opportunity was wasted - but it’s in the past, so time to look to the future. Most companies have the occasional colossal mistake - Look at Windows 8 or even Apple’s home pod. Disasters - but instead of ploughing on regardless they moved on and all is now well. With Exodus coming soon, I suppose there wouldn’t be the budget to replace DBGT yet, but I think it should be considered as a spot for the next big thing. Perhaps closing in Exodus’ 2nd year to save money? Not many will even notice it’s gone. Good riddance to it I say - it’s an embarrassing ENORMOUS white elephant, and has no place in the middle of such a small park.

Could it be 2 of these side by side? Soarin’ (etc) have multiple rides in the same building to bring capacity up - perhaps the same?

It is interesting isn’t it. wonder if it’s fright nights related? If they’re having to partially reopen old town for creek freak, they need to do some work in the area first.

What a mess. that’s interesting the shop is near empty now. It really wouldn’t surprise me at all if it closed soon. Even just the shop for now, and the ride in a year or so.

I don’t understand it either. The tech has been blamed for many years, but if that’s the case why can’t it simply be fixed by a professional or replaced with something that works?

Interesting! I’ve only ever really seen this sort of thing happening on Slammer, where I believe they had to wait for the air pressure to build each time enough before it could dispatch - resulting in quite a lot of standing around and time wasting during the loading! There was also all the faff trying to balance each side of the arm with the other 🙄 nightmare. Clearly that isn’t the reason for Saw, but would love to know what that was about. out of interest, how many cars does Saw have, and how many usually run?

With Alton Towers also having a seemingly similar “audio experience” as their sole new addition to Scarefest, it looks like Fright Nights is where Merlin are spending nearly all of the scare season money this year. Really looking forward to Survival Games - getting all the Sub Species feels From this! Looks like it’s going to be a big maze too.

To be honest I can’t think of a good reason why anyone would object to an indoor ride, especially if the building can’t be seen easily from the neighbouring villages. It really is the ultimate compromise. A large building would also act as a sound barrier between the other rides and the park boundary, so even better really. Merlin have seriously changed gear since going private. So much going on! Towers and Thorpe might be in a bad way now, but the level of investment planned for the next few years is like nothing we’ve seen for many years.

Interesting times! Didn’t expect it, but great news it’s an indoor attraction. There is quite a lot of room back there isn’t there? I’d absolutely LOVE for this to be the next secret weapon coaster - something along the lines of Revenge of the Mummy at Universal would be the dream but who knows! The timescales feel right for the SW cogs to be turning. A flying theatre or other type would be cool too though. I can’t see the Dungeons sticking around - perhaps they could go soon to make more space? That would be a decent space for a secret weapon, and bring some life to a bit of a dead spot area of the park. interesting times!

That’s interesting that The Swarm has a couple of supports in the same flood zone. I guess the scale of this project blows that out of the (flood) water though. I have to admit I do kind of wonder if the EA would ever be that enthusiastic about any major construction on a high risk flood zone. I know there are housing estates up and down the country built on flood planes - wonder if the EA objected and were over-ruled there? No idea how to check. Will be interesting to see what happens.

Out of interest, does anyone know how long it ‘usually’ takes to build or retrofit a ride like this with a new ride system and theming? I assume they would want “Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back, The Return Of The Haunted House - Electric Bill’s Revenge” to be open from day one next year considering Nemesis will be closed. Whatever it turns out being, do we think they will keep the ride system? Would there be time to, assuming it opens in March?