Inferno

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)

A long shot, but here goes...
 
If anyone has any photos related to Face it Alone, that they are willing / allowing to have shared on TPM's website, please pass them my way!
 
And I mean any photo related to it. A photo of a ticket or a poster advertising it. A photo of the selection ceremony from 2015. Or of your wonderful aftermath.
 
I'm in the process of updating TPM's Fright Nights archive, and we don't have many photos of our own.
(If you want to check out said archive, which currently has details from the past 10 years of Fright Nights in gorey detail, it's here: https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/index.php/fright-nights/)

ParmPap translation service:
 
There might be an Easter Egg in DeadBeat this year which relates to the future of the pyramid.
 
There also might not be. Who knows?
 
---
 
As a fun aside though, which has literally just come to mind off the back of this, if Thorpe wanted to retheme The Walking Dead, it could be fun if they themed it to the DeadBeat universe. Effectively it would be taking it back to its X version, but you could have it as the rave before the demons took over. Keep it upbeat and happy. I'd like that. 

Wouldn't even remotely be surprised if this was the outcome (even as potentially one of Ghost Train's very few genuine fans) - I think its days were numbered when they stopped running the fakeout finale and just chucked ride staff in front of it to guide guests in the other direction instead of bringing it back or at the very least redecorating the fakeout finale room to be something different so that the original exit route is retained even if the fakeout was cut.
 
I said at the start of the season that I reckon Ghost Train had maybe 2 seasons left in it at most. I will genuinely be sad to see it go - but even more so if it goes without a plan for its future. It may be a bad attraction on paper, but I'd rather take something rather than nothing any day of the week. I just hope that whatever comes next isn't a demolishment of the building and another coaster built there.
 
Thorpe are crying out for a good dark ride - I love the Ghost Train building and is definitely sizeable enough to fit something else in there - the only issue would be getting the motion platform out and the new ride system in. There's many more much more appropriate locations for a new coaster when the time comes. For the love of Christ keep it as a dark ride, but do it more traditionally this time.
 
I'd love to have seen how DBGT could've gone if it weren't for the VR gimmick and Derren had been given full creative control...

In an interesting recent development, it appears most (if not, all) Ghost Train merchandise is on sale / reduced.
 
https://x.com/CalVickers33/status/1959594519923442085?t=3dYMeueKswge5Nfu0LzrBQ&s=19
 
Parks do tend to put merchandise on sale for rides which aren't returning the following season. Equally, they can just do if it's not popular and they want to clear space. 
 
I think it's fair to say that Ghost Train isn't the most popular attraction, and none of the merch is must-have stuff, so it's certainly the realm of possibility that they're simply getting rid of the range. However, given the financial issues and potential cost-cutting Merlin are facing, plus the fact that Thorpe are set to be outsourcing Ents next year, it also wouldn't be too much of a surprise if it didn't return next year...

It seems that the logo has been added to somewhat.
 
This has made an appearance on a lot of the social media posts and marketing emails over the past couple of weeks.
 

 
I have to say I’m not sure this is a step in the right direction. I know the logo has been controversial, but this busy new animated park skyline element sat on top of the existing logo doesn’t fit in with the new sleek and minimal branding.  It feels a bit like an addition that’s been made as an afterthought, by someone other than the original designers of the branding.
 
I think it’s a bit of a shame that the brand overall is already becoming muddy after just one year, and it’s being strayed from quite a lot, even with something as important as the logo.
 
Aside from that, I’m not sure what on earth they were thinking by having this as their app icon instead of the “Thorpe” text that was there before
 

 
This really bears no resemblance to the park or the brand at all. Nowhere in the branding is this standalone T referred to at all, and it isn’t an icon that’s used anywhere to symbolise Thorpe Park.
 
imagine a brand like British Airways having this as their app icon… Ridiculous.

If it’s iconic enough, like Virgin’s red V or easyJet’s lowercase orange e for example, that’s great - but BA’s B, and certainly Thorpe’s T, aren’t.
 
Again, I think the idea behind the new TP brand design has been lost a little. 
I know it was controversial, but this can’t be what the designers had in mind at all. We now seem to have quite a messy crossover between the sleek and colourful branding, and efforts made by others since it was designed.
 
I think the logo text was deliberately simple, and was always supposed to be either intertwined with the squiggly bits as shown in the reveal videos, or overlayed directly on to bold images as shown on the sample posters.
 

 

 

 

 
 

The situation is entirely caused by management loosing sight of how theme parks make money. 
 
The gate fee covers the running costs, the spend in the park makes the money. Management decided to start contracting things out and cutting on maintenance so short term spend looked good. Unfortunately this meant Merlin earns less per head as another company is skimming off the top and guests spend less when unhappy. They lost sight of the absolute basics and now there is very little room for course correction. 

Merlin entertainments credit rating has been downgraded by S&P due to its growing debts and cash outflow with declining revenues. 
 
"Persistent high cash burn could lead to insufficient liquidity after 12 months, without further cash injection"
 
All in all thats a pretty poor outlook and it does make me wonder what it means for future investments at the parks. 
 
 

Those prices are outrageous.  But then I suppose prices for everything are outrageous now, so 🤷‍♂️

Will be interesting to see reviews from Scarefest this year and if theres any difference in quality. Its a good lineup this year, new maze and a new scarezone which is exactly what they needed in my opinion. 
 
I wonder if RWS have any input in design or its purely just from an operational perspective (employing actors.) If I was to guess, RWS are purely operational. 
 
One thing I've noticed though is the prices for the mazes at Towers. 
 
Thorpe this year
4 mazes £34 or £28 with AP discount 
1 shots £8 or £7 with AP discount 
 
Towers this year
3 mazes £38 or £30.40 with AP discount 
Edge of the forest 1 shot (new maze) £16 or £12.80 with AP discount 
Compound or Mine Tours 1 shot £14 or £11.20 with AP discount
 
£16 and £14 for a 1 shot through a maze is absolutely absurd, especially considering cost of entry etc.. 

*blows cobwebs off*
 
I don't know if it's been explicitly discussed on the forums, but Towers' Entertainment function is now in the hands of an external team, outsourced in a similar way to how food is now outsourced to Aramark. The team responsible for that is RWS: https://www.rwsglobal.com/
 
I don't know exactly how it now works, and how responsible RWS are for the design of new attractions. However, the 2 new scare attractions for this year are a scare zone and scare maze, both themed and located in the Dark Forest:
 
 
https://www.facebook.com/reel/24142435788755074/?s=single_unit
 
 
It's worth noting that Thorpe's Entertainment function is going to be in the hands of RWS from 2026. So how Scarefest goes down this year might give an indication to how Fright Nights will go next year (which will be marketed heavily due to it being the 25th year)

Rode Tomb Blaster today.
 
It remains bloody dreadful.
 
-Every train had at least one car not in use. One train had two cars not in use.
-The 'story' is beyond dull, with the voiceover being one of the worst-sounding, boring and grating things I've ever heard on a theme park
-The guns are rubbish
-Pacing of the ride feels so off. Partially because of the story they shoehorned in, but also just because the ride system feels like it's on its last legs
-Audio is either too quiet or too loud.
-Most of the screens in the on ride photo viewpoint were broken (not necessarily turned off, but physically broken).
 
Honestly, of everything that the park are doing, adding and changing, sorting out Tomb Blaster should really have been number 1 priority.

Those posters - my guess, now that the new stuff doesn’t seem to fit, is that there’s a new room in Trailers based on X:\NWO   - one poster clearly says X, and the other resembles one of those manakins there used to be on the old X:\NWO brake runs.

Got to be Thorpe for me these days - they have had quite the turnaround over the last few years.

The Easter Egg culture for Merlin has become a lot. 
 
Realistically, sticking in an Easter Egg takes very little effort. Taking Toxicator as an example, it wouldn't have taken any real energy and time away from the creative team to throw in references to 1997, seeing that "Ripsaw" spelt backwards was "Waspir", and that could be used to spell something that sounded vaguely acidic in "Waspirium", a poster with "Can you cut it?", etc. It's a fun little nod. Designers putting their name on an attraction is also a trend which has been around a long time too.
 
But there's now an innate expectation for Easter Eggs which has come from influencers and enthusiasts seeking them out and really pushing them. It erred too far. My favourite example of how far it went was how Survival Games at Thorpe Park features a prop of a severed penis (behind a fence, in a box, not in an obvious place, I believe), with a tag labelled "JS" on it, which stood for Jack Silkstone, an 'Easter Egg' to how Jack was involved in the marketing for it. Again, not something that takes up time, money or energy to create really, but extremely convoluted, and by bringing it to people's attention and encouraging them to look out for it, actively takes away from the experience.
 
And that's the issue now. People fixate more on Easter Eggs and finding these nods and feeling clever than actually taking in the bigger picture. Going back to Toxicator, whilst all the references make sense and that, does Toxicator really fit and work with Forbidden Valley? Well, it's certainly changed the area more and continued to turn of it into X Sector 2.0.