Inferno

Looks like it is happening, with this being a project that was tendered over a year ago...

Something that I often find weird is how much the height restrictions can differ between similar rides at different parks.

For example, to ride Marauders Mayhem or Dobble Teaparty you have to be 1.1M tall, but Mad Hatter’s tea party at DLP, essentially the same ride, can literally be ridden by a newborn baby as there are no restrictions.

That same newborn baby could also ride Pirates of the Caribbean with its drops and spooky scenes, but would have to wait until they’re 0.9M to ride Curse at Alton Manor.

Similarly Runaway Mine Train at Alton Towers has a min height of 1.3 meters, but the likes of the far more intense Wickerman and Big Thunder Mountain is only 1.2. Although Wicker does have individual restraints rather than the single bar between 2 people on runaway and BTM

Tower of Terror can surprisingly be ridden by someone just 102CM tall. So most 4 year old children can ride that before they’re allowed on the teacups at AT & TP.

Is anyone else aware of any bizarre height restrictions, or any of the reasoning behind some of them?

For the record I’m not arguing against any of these restrictions, clearly there’s a reason for them, I just find it an odd and interesting quirk.

I agree it is a huge shame that there is quite literally nothing going on.

Although to be fair over the last decade there has been a lot of rubbish advertised as “new” - the various year-round mazes and some of the events for example. The absence of those sort of things isn’t that bad in my opinion, and realistically something new isn’t needed every year. Not many parks do that do they.

In recent years they have also made a lot of improvements to the areas other than the rides - the toilets to name one example.
Thorpe is probably one of the (if not THE) best Merlin park in terms of general upkeep.

I agree though that it is a shame there doesn’t appear to be anything at all happening again. It’s been a few years now since they’ve been able to boast anything notably new.

I wonder if Colossus will finally be finished in the next couple of months at least? Despite all the cuts to spending at Merlin I’d at least expect that to be done before opening, as well as Zodoac getting sorted.

I wonder if the beach project will ever happen now? I can’t help but think the money would be better put towards a larger project.

I took a wander down Monks Walk on Monday and I didn't take any photos/videos, simply because there was nothing to take photos of.

I think in some ways we've been spoilt over recent years, with lots of works visible from Monks Walk (from Hyperia, to Fright Nights, etc) as well as many in-park updates. But it hasn't always been like that - rewind 10+ years ago and Monks Walk never really showed anything particularly interesting beyond the odd glimpse, despite many things happening. Okay, we still got the odd in-park update too, but right now the level of updates is going back closer to a reset of what was once the norm.
I do also think compared to many other seasonal parks, Thorpe gets a heck of a lot of eyes put on it out of closed season, with many updates shared and visible. Thorpe have, in some ways, been the exception to the rule in that case.

That's not to say the lack of any visible updates isn't disheartening though. Finishing off Colossus' repaint would be amazing. Inferno and Swarm would benefit from TLC. Rumba Rapids is dying. The fact there's been no visible work there is a shame, and indicates we're unlikely to see much there. The Beach area cannot really be seen from outside the park, so we're none-the-wiser about anything happening there.


The 'New for ___' is a double-edged sword. New stuff each year can be beneficial, but Thorpe in particular are seeing the dangers of adding in new hardware/rides yearly as now they have several 'old' rides which are going to require more work all close together. New events can be okay, but gimmicky and don't really draw people in.

If you look at some of the better-received parks, the likes of Phantasialand and Efteling, they don't add in many new things. Since 2015...
Phantasialand have added in 3 new coaster, rethemed a coaster and a 4D show and added in a couple of walkthroughs / play areas.
Efteling have added in 2 new coasters (I guess technically 3 as one is a duelling coaster), 2 new dark rides and rethemed a couple of things.
In that same time, Thorpe have added in 1 new coaster, 1 new dark ride, rethemed some things and done a couple of walkthroughs.
The level of investments isn't as big a difference in the overall park experience and quality. And that's the bigger issue - Thorpe haven't consistently been able to upkeep their attractions (or revitalise them) the same as other parks that invest at a similar frequency.

I think the other issue - which is Merlin-wide - is Thorpe does rely extremely heavily on returning visitors, as opposed to new visitors. Whether that's them, over a 10-20 year period, having exhausted the market and not been able to expand it or a purposeful strategy to not try and reach more people, or another reason entirely, is unclear. But it is certainly the bigger issue that the park face. They've had a huge new coaster for 1 and a half seasons - that's still a big deal, and not really something that should be viewed as stagnation.
But when the park aren't pushing it and rely too heavily on repeat visits, then it will feel like that.


You say that, but then they've recently announced Legoland Germany are getting a Lego Harry Potter Land, which will be Merlin's single biggest investment into any theme park. Legolands California and Florida are getting substantial new coasters next year. Chessington are getting Minecraft World soon, and Towers' big new coaster seems to still be going ahead. Gardaland invested 12 million Euros into retheming their indoor boat ride this (where that 12m went I don't fully know, but that's what they did).

They're financial issues have been documented in the press, and their selling / closing down of midway attractions, outsourcing and structural changes are further signs of that I expect. But they are still making investments, and notable ones at that, in many places. But it feels like Thorpe is being brushed aside a bit right now (along with Heide Park...if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought Merlin forgot they still own it).

I agree it is a huge shame that there is quite literally nothing going on.

Although to be fair over the last decade there has been a lot of rubbish advertised as “new” - the various year-round mazes and some of the events for example. The absence of those sort of things isn’t that bad in my opinion, and realistically something new isn’t needed every year. Not many parks do that do they.

In recent years they have also made a lot of improvements to the areas other than the rides - the toilets to name one example.
Thorpe is probably one of the (if not THE) best Merlin park in terms of general upkeep.

I agree though that it is a shame there doesn’t appear to be anything at all happening again. It’s been a few years now since they’ve been able to boast anything notably new.

I wonder if Colossus will finally be finished in the next couple of months at least? Despite all the cuts to spending at Merlin I’d at least expect that to be done before opening, as well as Zodoac getting sorted.

I wonder if the beach project will ever happen now? I can’t help but think the money would be better put towards a larger project.

Does anyone feel like Ready Player One has overstayed its welcome at the cinema?

Sonic Spinball had to be rethemed for similar reasons, the allegations that Knuckles filed meant they had to quickly drop the brand in closed season so it's definitely possible they could reopen as just David Land and drop the Walliams.

Ah love these.

Unfortunately my lists are very short nowadays, but I've had a fair year theme park wise (considering how life is now!)
Thorpe Park x1
Alton Towers x1
Legoland Windsor x1
Disneyland Park Paris x3
Walt Disney Studios Paris x2

I do miss the days when I had huge lists, and I was at Thorpe & Towers 10-20 times each!

Sad to have not been to any fireworks events or halloween this year, for the first time in... I don't know how long.

Still, could be worse.

Paulton's next year for the first time in 20 years!

Ah love these.

Unfortunately my lists are very short nowadays, but I've had a fair year theme park wise (considering how life is now!)
Thorpe Park x1
Alton Towers x1
Legoland Windsor x1
Disneyland Park Paris x3
Walt Disney Studios Paris x2

I do miss the days when I had huge lists, and I was at Thorpe & Towers 10-20 times each!

Sad to have not been to any fireworks events or halloween this year, for the first time in... I don't know how long.

Still, could be worse.

Paulton's next year for the first time in 20 years!

I know it's the red tinted glasses but I love looking back at the videos of Thorpe from the 80's and 90's. There's an innocence to the park that doesn't really exist anymore.

The park have released an hour-long interview with Fright Nights management about this year's event.

There's some cool insight about things and is well worth a watch.

Will share my thoughts about some things discussed at a later point.

I just came back from a pretty quiet Fright Nights (a Monday), and it was good fun! I was at the front of two of the mazes, and back at the other two, and generally I thought it was e better than last year. Anyway I'll briefly summarize the mazes

Trailers:
Good fun and consistent as usual, but scary is a stretch. I do think even with new rooms it is getting stale, I also find the newer rooms to be like barely noticable compared to what was there previously. Acting quality was great though.

Stitches:
Similar opinion to last year, it's really eerie and well themed. I was at the front and felt pretty on edge for most of it. Probably my favourite maze?

Deadbeat:
Last year I roasted it, and I would say improvements have been made for sure, though subtle. Last year I felt it lacked scares and felt very flat, but this year I felt like there was more actors, darker sets in places, and a lot of smoke. I thought the ending was mediocre last year but this year the two actors in the finale chased us out which was brilliant. I thought overall there was some good timed scares, a good level of them, and just overall was a good scare maze.

I honestly was shocked at how much subtle changes could make Deadbeat actually really fun!

Survival Games:
Honestly I miss the old days when this was a intense maze that pushed limits. As the years have gone by, it seems to have just got weaker, and this year's version I thought was meh. Last year was impractical with batching, with the arena having 4 actors to 60 people wandering around. Despite this though I think removing the multi route/separation makes it feel like a tamed down version of its previous self.

I do like the new beginning, I feel it gives me techno vibes and explains a narrative a lot better. Despite this though once you remove Survival Games's gimmick and USP, you begin to realize it's mostly a maze of black walls and actors insulting you. I really didn't feel intimidated enough. The lack of forcefulness like previous years felt sad.

Crows:
Honestly this can stay for many more years and I have no issue with it. Thorpe have literally created an iconic character, and their scare zone has been consistently fun.

Purgatory Town:
Cast here are brilliant, and had some hilarious interactions. Though the theming and budget of this zone can't be more £250. If the cast weren't so good, I would be more inclined to complain.

Not sure if it still does, but in the first few days of the event, the park was playing The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony shortly after closing. Apparently the reason is to represent the same feeling you get when the last song plays at the end of a good night out (ie bittersweet). Apparently meant to recreate when the park played Perfect Day in 2013's Fright Nights (which was in the film You're Next).

I...don't get it frankly. But I've also seen some really positive reactions online.

For me, it just doesn't make sense / fit with Fright Nights. I got why they did it in the exit area of DeadBeat (since it's nightclub themed). But parkwide? I don't know; I just don't get it.

Playing other pop music too, again I don't get it. Probably has some 'hidden meaning', but yeah...doesn't do it for me.


Really good point, and I certainly didn't think of it that way.

Obviously there will be different schools of thought. I do still think there will be plenty of scare actors who would be more than willing to give it a go...even if just as a once off, but there will definitely be people who aren't keen on the idea (or choose to go there and then realise the style isn't for them).

I'm very intrigued by how Universal will set up HHN (or whatever they end up branding their Halloween event). The European market is very different and has very different expectations and standards for Halloween attractions. Do Universal stick with what they know, and bring that slice of American culture with them, or do they try to still keep it in the same form, but add the European flair to it. If they can bring on board British / European creatives with experience of creating and running Halloween attractions, they definitely could find a way to make it work.


One thing which I've noticed is that it would be very difficult for your average guest on your average night to do everything (ie all Fright Nights attractions and shows and major rides in the dark). There will definitely be many, many people who don't manage that. Whilst the park will have a lot of repeat visitors thanks to Annual Passholders, and I'm certainly all for keeping things fresh, for many people, a show feeling very similar won't have that much impact.

I'm sure that there are people who are going "we didn't do X last time, let's do it this time". Equally, people who are going "we did Y last time and enjoyed it, let's do/watch it again".

Of course, there will be people on the other side who crave new things / got everything done last time. It is all about striking a balance.

I still maintain that one year with no big new things is fine. Equally, I'd have preferred to see some extra work go into things like park-wide theming, themed audio, etc.


Doesn't surprise me. The profit in particular makes perfect sense given they're effectively introducing 4 paid attractions now, so they make more money from passholders as well as non-passholders.

Halloween events always do well for parks, given the later openings and limited-offering attractions, and that's true anywhere.

Equally, for Thorpe, I think it's a telling statistic. It's not necessarily that Fright Nights has become more visited, but that the rest of the year has become less-visited. Obviously both things could be true (and probably are), but I think that statistic is driven by the park being quieter the rest of the year.


I'm too lazy to look at what the days were last year, but this year, Thorpe has 207 open days and 24 of them are Fright Nights dates. So they're getting about 20% of their visitors across 11.5% of their open days. Those numbers are pretty meaningless without additional context, but I'd be interested what is was like in past and how important that is.

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.

Streamable
Watch 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 🤣

Streamable
Watch 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?

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

Tidal Wave fire effect is still not working, in case anyone didn't know.

Whilst I don't anticipate there to be significant discourse on here this evening, the Fright Nights Launch Event is this evening, so I'd expect there to be spoilers floating about ahead of the official opening tomorrow. Please share anything that could be considered a Spoiler here.

If you want to follow along and get some updates of the event, and insights into what might have changed and the quality this year, follow along with your favourite fansite (that's Thorpe Park Mania, in case it wasn't obvious) on all good (and bad) social media!

Paid mazes combined with no "off peak" days killed Fright Nights for me, simple as.

Pot luck to your group size and number of actors you will see, therefore experience, with no option to go again.
You pay your money and you make your choice. No thanks.

This is a perfect summary of my thoughts as well.

It’s quite an interesting subject really, because now that they’ve chosen to go down this new route of highly themed walkthroughs and dance shows etc I imagine it would be difficult to change course.

The Asylum, Experiment 10 and Cabin in the Woods are examples of excellent Thorpe mazes in my opinion at least - but I imagine they would be poorly received if they “came back” exactly as they were, even if they were still “free” (or included in the event ticket price as I prefer to say!).

I think now people have grown used to what a Thorpe scare maze “is”, and something like Asylum would probably now be seen as lazy, as it had next to no theming and just 2 stock songs playing in the queue, even though it could be an extremely intense experience.

I also wonder if these sort of “more basic” attractions won’t be able to compete now adays due to the need for things to look good for social media etc, especially with Universal a few years away, Thorpe need to have impressive looking attractions I suppose so they can directly compete with HHN.

I expect however, the real reason is that they need to justify the prices they’re charging for a run through, so it needs to look like it’s worth paying for, more so than the need for it to be scary.

As you say Cal, times have changed I suppose.

Unfortunately I agree with the above posts - other than the night rides, I just can’t get excited for FN anymore, and the teaser trailer does nothing for me at all. These new style trailers they’ve been doing over the past few years are so vague, and rarely bear any resemblance to the event what so ever.

FN is massively successful, so it would be wrong to suggest that the event has lost its way. I suppose it’s more accurate to say that its new format with highly themed walkthroughs and more passive scares (at sky high prices) just doesn’t appeal to my tastes.

If this new scare zone is going to be similar to Swarm Invasion however then I’m not sure it’s just me that it won’t appeal to… it was genuinely crap, and honestly was barely recognisable as a scare zone.

I have to say as well, the relentless flow of throwback scenes is tedious. Clearly the past has been very much left in the past by this new direction - it’s best to leave the old stuff behind and move on since realistically FN isn’t about out and out scares anymore.

I miss the genuine scare opportunities that the mazes used to offer the actors, and as mentioned above I too really miss the ride overlays, even if it is just a bit of nice dispatch music. I miss the simplicity of it all - not long ago the mazes were designed to be scary, and elsewhere in the park efforts were made to level the experience up with different music and simple smoke machines etc. Although to be fair the lighting across the park is very good now isn’t it.

Having said that, I’m very aware that the event hasn’t even started yet this year, so who knows, perhaps some of this has been considered and addressed. I look forward to hearing about it!

I hope it’s a successful year for Thorpe this FN, and I’m pleased to see that so many people do seem to love this new style of scare event.
I’m sure it will be well received.

This is a perfect summary of my thoughts as well.

It’s quite an interesting subject really, because now that they’ve chosen to go down this new route of highly themed walkthroughs and dance shows etc I imagine it would be difficult to change course.

The Asylum, Experiment 10 and Cabin in the Woods are examples of excellent Thorpe mazes in my opinion at least - but I imagine they would be poorly received if they “came back” exactly as they were, even if they were still “free” (or included in the event ticket price as I prefer to say!).

I think now people have grown used to what a Thorpe scare maze “is”, and something like Asylum would probably now be seen as lazy, as it had next to no theming and just 2 stock songs playing in the queue, even though it could be an extremely intense experience.

I also wonder if these sort of “more basic” attractions won’t be able to compete now adays due to the need for things to look good for social media etc, especially with Universal a few years away, Thorpe need to have impressive looking attractions I suppose so they can directly compete with HHN.

I expect however, the real reason is that they need to justify the prices they’re charging for a run through, so it needs to look like it’s worth paying for, more so than the need for it to be scary.

As you say Cal, times have changed I suppose.

^
I'm not either, in fact I've only just watched that trailer for first time which shows my excitement level.

I don't think thats a this year only thing though, for me Fright Nights was good in the old days of the stronger mazes and being able to lap them till 10pm free of charge. I don't have an interest in the dance shows, scare zones, or paying money to stand in queue to get a weak runthrough in a maze. I miss the old intense Fright Nights days, getting locked in cupboard in experiment 10 and having actors in queue lines etc..

I do appreciate that times change though and theres clearly a market for what they do now though, and I do think that Fright Nights is in a much better place now than it was a good few years ago. Its a strong lineup again this year so I hope they have another successful year.

I will still go to Fright Nights this year multiple times for the longer hours for rides and general atmosphere. I might give the odd maze a try if it has no queue and I'm with someone that wants to, but certainly won't be going out of my way to do so.


I do get the vibe that they've just added this scarezone for the sake of having something new this year.

I'll reserve my judgement until we see what it is but its a shame if that is the case, as everything else on the lineup is of high quality and will be a shame if they've just added this for the sake of it.

Would rather they just use them actors and have a couple in Swarms area and SAWs queue for example. Would add more than a weak scare zone IMO.

On another note, I do hope they make more of an effort with ride soundtrack overlays this year. They've been redundant for a good 2-3 years now which is a shame.

I'm not really feeling it for FN this year, normally by now there is a bit of excitement, and although I think that trailer isn't bad I can't put my finger on it as to why i'm not feeling it. We shall see!

So let's dissect this a bit more / share some of my thoughts...

I really like that they're making Lucifer a central figure this year. I've said repeatedly that this is something that park should look to do - have a headline character who is prominent in both marketing and on park.

When the park introduced the Director character in 2013 and 14 (and even the Governor character in 2012), it was a nice touch. It didn't necessarily fully hit the mark as there was a lack of consistency due the character (naturally) having to be played by different actors. And the on-park character didn't quite marry up with the marketing character. But the park have had form there, and it worked.

One criticism that occurred in 2015 was that the Figaro Bros were featured so heavily in marketing, but had no on-park presence (even in the original Big Top), which is why the park veered away from central characters. They've slowly reintroduced the concept of headline characters with "Fear" in 2021, the Locksmith in 2022 and the Toymaker in 2023. Again, they featured heavily in marketing. But aside from the Toymaker (who was only used for a special BTS tour of Stitches), had no physical on-park presence.

Lucifer's Lair - in my opinion - has been the highlight of the past two Fright Nights. And given the plan to have the stage on the Beach this year, it wouldn't be surprising if they were hoping to turn that zone into a bigger thing this year. Having Lucifer has that central figure just works for the current Fright Nights set up.

As a slight critique (possibly even a long-term suggestion), I'd rather the park have an 'original' character, as opposed to 'just' the devil, but they can make it work.

I've banged on about this enough times on here, but if you look to Walibi Holland, their Eddie the Clown character has been a headline character for much of the park's Halloween event's history. Eddie the Clown and Walibi are synonymous now. And it leads to great marketing (and more recently, merchandise) opportunity. Thorpe can recreate that, in their own way.


Now, the actual event.

Upfront, I'm not enthused by Purgatory Town. It's being marketing as an 'interactive' scare zone, or a speak-to-characters zone. I'm getting a bit of a Swarm Invasion vibe, in that I expect there will be minimal theming and minimal actors, and guests will 'get out what they put in'. That is, you can walk through the zone and have basically no interaction with the actors, or you can spend time chatting with them and find out their story and lore and build up from there.

The key difference is Swarm Invasion had an actual coaster with a backstory to help it, whereas Purgatory Town has...well, no pre-existing lore.

Another issue is that Fright Nights has become quite...passive. A common discussion point on here, at the very least, is that the mazes are like walkthroughs of very well-themed sets, with less actual engagement. I'd argue Stitches and Trailers highlight that extremely well, but even DeadBeat has its moments.

Now whether that's a good thing, a bad thing or just a thing is almost a mute point. If the reason the park are creating these passive experiences is because that's what guests enjoy and respond best to, then creating a scare zone which is the opposite to that is a hard sell to guests. Again looking to Swarm Invasion, that didn't exactly light the world on fire, and that could be because of the high engagement level required.

The fact we're less than two weeks from the event starting and we have no theming or build is also telling of what to expect on that front (ie: not a lot).

I'm certainly not writing it off, as we don't really know a lot about it still. But all signs point to this being little more than a nice experiment for the park to try. However, it is great to see Fright Nights further spread out across the park.


Next thing to note is Survival Games changes. Hard to know what expectations should be, but the video and promo image make it look like the characters in the maze will be different at the very least:

There's mentions of a "toxic twist", and any part of the marketing related to Survival Games does feature a strong electricity motif too.

Trailers getting two new scenes is perhaps not unexpected given the new posters that appeared. A little excerpt from the park's press release gives us a bit more on what to expect...

Evil experiments could be Experiment 10 (which could be the X poster seen)
Forbidden Forests could be a Blair Witch throwback

I hope that - unlike last year - the new scenes are more than just a redress of existing scenes.


I know it's a less-common opinion, but I'm fine with a quieter year with no major new attractions as a one off. I'd argue that Purgatory Town isn't even necessary this year. But we'll see what happens!

Not necessarily. A simple retheme could be hinted at over Fright Nights (to give people a chance to have a final ride), then marketed from early next year. Or even just announced next year.
 
I agree a complete new ride is extremely unlikely, if for no other reason than the fact planning permission would be a nightmare. Plus the fact there is still the Beach development which could happen.
 
One would certainly hope there's thoughts/conversations about the next *big* thing for the park. Though I imagine there's a level of dependence on what the situation with Merlin is there. Arguably though, a major investment shouldn't be the next priority, but rather a couple of medium investments to sort out the support line up (Zodiac and Rumba, I'm looking at you)