yeah

Had a few more runs of each maze. 2 on Survival Games and Stitches, one on Trailers and Dead Beat. Pretty similar to last week, although had one good and one excellent run through on Survival Games. Had one good run through on Stitches, but the other three I've done this year haven't been great. Trailers has delivered every time and I really liked Dead Beat last night. On the whole, though, yesterday was not good. Not sure I've ever seen the place as busy and didn't get to go on Hyperia this time, had to bail after all the shenanigans at the end of the day. Managed to catch a bit of Creature Campus, it's really not for me, we got bored fairly quickly and left. Some very "interesting" song choices. Enjoy Lucifer's Lair though, that should stay for as long as possible. Definitely in favour of Mawkin going now, it's had it's time and everyone I've done FN with this year or have spoken to about it has felt the same way, including some first time visitors. No sign of ride audio and I don't think it's coming unfortunately. Don't know if I'll be back until the last 2 weeks or so, but plan on 2+ more visits. I think Fright Nights is in a bit of a weird place right now, with mostly good mazes across the board that each offer something different (Stitches utterly terrifies some people even if it's not for all of us), but the free attractions and scare zones are lacking a bit this year. I'm not sure a new maze is necessary next year, and I still think all four mazes have a bit more left in them. I certainly don't want to lose Trailers or Survival Games just yet. Free attractions need a bit of a revamp next year. Lucifer's Lair can stay but I'd like two proper Mawkin-esque scare zones with new themes please.

Yeah, we didn't see it the first time round. It's in the "VIP area" section, to be fair it works as a sort of distraction scare as well as you see the clubgoer and then the "Visceral" (a name, which, like most of the story, isn't made very clear to you) comes from the other side, before the effect starts. I see what you mean about it being passive, for me, it's like a middle ground between Stitches, which can be very passive, and mazes like Survival Games and Trailers. I feel like it can work, I just don't think the "music taking your soul" thing is made clear enough. Besides, we're in a nightclub with the music blaring out, why are all the clubgoers wearing headphones?? One thing I do feel like Stitches nailed, was the use of sound effects/lighting to provide scares even when actors aren't there. It won't get everyone, and on repeat run throughs the impact lessens. But I remember being really on edge my first time going through, and the little musical stabs really got me a couple of times. I remember these, would've been from my first couple of FNs, especially remember hearing Detonator's from literally anywhere on park (as usual), Stealth's speech which was very good. Also remember hearing "the irrational fear of fire" and thinking... that is actually a very rational fear. Perhaps the most rational. I remember thinking last year that they would come eventually, but I'm not sure they ever did. It's a shame, as I remember Inferno and Swarm in particular having really cool atmospheres a few years ago, with Inferno's drums and the Swarm Invasion theme. Really hope this comes this year, as I cannot stand the music in the Inferno station being interrupted by "PLEASE HOLD TIGHT". In general I think they've taken a bit of a step back this year with the whole "disciples of FEAR" theme, which is a shame as I feel like there's a lot you could do with that and Hyperia this year. Oh well. I'll be back a couple of times over the next few weeks, and then once or twice towards the end of the event, so I'm looking forward to see what changes take place.

Was there yesterday. Ride wise had a bit of a nightmare, only got about 4 I think, mostly due to Hyperia messing us around, but got on it in the dark and it was HAULING. Seemed much busier than previous first days of Fright Nights. Experienced almost everything Fright Nights wise, here are my thoughts Dead Beat I really liked Dead Beat, didn't think it was particularly unique as I saw some people say, but it's a theme that doesn't get done often in mazes. Do think the whole "music that steals your soul" thing was a bit lost in the maze, but I don't think the storyline was very coherent honestly. Think it's a bit of a missed opportunity not to have a more sound-based attraction, although the soundtrack is great. Think it lacks a few things, especially a better ending. Trailers Trailers on it's opening was one of my favourite mazes ever, had a bit of everything and was incredibly fun. Over the years it got a bit less intense each year, to the point I was scared for it's future, so I'm glad it's been refreshed in this way. The rooms that have got the "chop" are mostly the rooms I was expecting/hoping would go, with the exception of Staines Street which is kept mostly the same. I always thought Ship Happens was a particularly weak room, partially due to it's length, so I think the two rooms being one continuous room helps massively. Similar with Vulcan Voodoo not really having any good hiding places, whereas Knock Knock now has about six. The one thing I'm surprised they didn't add was a fake train scare, similar to the last Platform ending, but space probably would've been an issue for that. My first run through on Trailers was one of my best on any maze, with it being well populated with actors who used the space incredibly well, and it had me running out of there at the end. Stitches The exact same as last year. Not much to add. Could do with more actors. The weakest of the four for me last night. Survival Games Thought Survival Games was very weak in it's first season, then last season was my favourite maze. This season my one run through was sort of in the middle, the group was massive so we were never really split up at all, walking through the first half in one long line. When we got to the labyrinth, I think we only had 2 actors in there, who were trying their absolute hardest, but this maze just needs a huge amount of actors in this section to get a good run through. I appreciate that they (I think) changed the layout a bit for repeat visitors, but I still find it has the same issue it's always really had in that you need to go and find the scares yourself sometimes rather than them happening naturally. Fair play to the actors, who tried to prolong it as much as possible, I had one in particular who I recognised from a few Fright Nights gone by basically drag me to the exit, where an actor there separating people to the exit, room next door or back into the maze sent me back, before the same actor from before dragged me back again, where the actor at the exit told me to stand against a wall for about 2 minutes where nothing happened. Then no chainsaw at the end, which I appreciate was probably out of their control. The Crows of Mawkin Meadow We only had one run through of Mawkin this year due to unfortunate timing, but I feel like I'm okay with this going soon. The costumes are amazing and always have been, but I'd like the Crows to return to roaming actors. Granted we went left so didn't get to go through the house, but the constant flow of guests combined with the lack of real hiding places makes it incredibly hard for the actors to give proper scares, and it relies a lot on the creepiness of the Crows and their costumes, which lessens each time you go through. General Didn't see much of Lucifer's Lair or Creature Campus, so can't comment on them. I'm aware Creature Campus has it's fans but it's never really been for me, I don't think either really work as scare zones and I'd rather have another, more "linear" scare zone akin to Mawkin or Death's Doors (although that never really worked despite the cool concept) as a second free, proper scare attraction. That's just a personal thing. Lighting was REALLY good, something they haven't really bothered with for a few years, so that was a big plus. Shame they seem to have stopped doing the event ride overlays, always enjoyed those and thought more parks should do things like that. I prefer each ride/area having it's own Fright Nights soundtrack and announcements as opposed to one parkwide soundtrack. Overall, I think it's a very strong year maze wise for Fright Nights, it's just lacking a few little things and, in my opinion, another free scare attraction to be a very strong year across the board.

I think it's going to come tbf, the park map says something like "listen out for The Toymaker's announcements as she orchestrates a night of fear". I think last year a couple rides didn't have them on the first weekend, but did later on in the event. I think, from listening to it in queues and things, it's got different sections for each maze. A lot of it was Trailers themed, some for Stitches and some that sounded like it was themed to Survival Games. So that's kinda cool. Loved Stitches. Partially because it plays on some childhood fears but I was horrified the whole way through and was holding onto my friend the whole way through. Survival Games was MUCH improved from last year, I was pretty let down last year. The run-through I had on Friday was one of the most intense I've ever had in any maze, some great jumpscares and it felt like I was trying to avoid the actors rather than having to look for them like I was last year. I'd put Trailers as the weakest maze this year, which is a shame as it's one of my favourites ever. Death's Doors doesn't really work, nice concept but the group I was in was so big and we were near the back, I literally knocked on one door that didn't have an actor behind because I got beaten to every other one. Lucifer's Lair seems fun although we didn't catch any of the shows this time, Crows is great as always. Don't see the point in Lamity not sticking around between shows. All in all, another really good event. They're getting good at these.

Both whole area, and both playing the old soundtracks

Mainly a reference to the fact that the ending is practically his intro lol, I'm assuming Perfect Day has some kind of connection to Fright Nights but I can't find it (admittedly I've only been going to Fright Nights for two years so I'm probably not the best person for it).It's also not necessarily a bad thing that he's had some involvement, but it does run the risk of becoming too obscure in places

Just saw Legacy. I'll leave spoilers out, but it's a nice little show. One thing I can say is it has Jack Silkstone and Co's fingerprints all over it, and is absolutely lost on anyone who isn't a fan. Lots of very confused faces. But it's a decent show and a nice extra.

Christ, alot has happened since someone last touched this thread 😅 Brentford have won the Playoffs and broken all football curses by the looks of it, no matter what happens tomorrow this has been the best year of my life footballing wise haha.

Went to Thorpe today and got to experience the new Swarm stuff in person. The area soundtrack is strange, the spoken parts are pretty bland, sometimes it overexplains stuff a bit, and again the whole thing is so unrealistic to the actual situation depicted in the ride. Which is fine, if the area is also themed in an unrealistic and outlandish way. This works for WWTP Radio, the hosts are constantly cracking jokes and it's all a bit nonchalant given the town is being hit by multiple tidal waves, but not only are there actual jokes in the WWTP Radio audio, but the area isn't exactly a serious area, whereas The Swarm is literally themed to the end of the world. I'm seeing crashed vehicles and a destroyed church, yet I'm hearing a completely calm sounding reverend being interviewed by a newsreader who keeps casually mentioning that the entire country is under attack? It doesn't really work. The song choices also don't really work, unsurprisingly. I can't tell if it's some kind of attempt at humour to be playing 'Highway to Hell' on this fake radio station as the world is literally ending around us, but again, it doesn't work when the rest of the area and even the audio is entirely serious up until then. The station audio is something else entirely though, it's actually really good. You can hear a clip of it here: I really wish the area audio was closer to this than what we got.

This story is also sort of now laid out by the new audio, as seen here: Although I think this time the church is supposed to be in the 'village of Thorpe', so at least that's explained. And also the Swarm itself apparently came from a research facility. The audio is very, very strange. 'The world is literally ending around us, quick, organise an interview with the reverend of the church, and in the meantime, play You Me At Six!' At least the Swarm Invasion audio is back in parts.

Was gonna post about this but I really don't think it's worth giving a person like her the time of day. In other news, The Swarm has a new soundtrack... and it's Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen... apparently?

Teaching kids that the M25 moves at all is giving them false hope, surely?

https://www.thorpepark.com/explore/theme-park/events/parkvibes/ Right.

From the plans, it looks to be a full circuit, so I'm assuming track switches. There's also an inversion in there by the looks of it.

In a truly shocking turn of events, Tomb Blaster is... exactly the same. https://twitter.com/ChessingtonBuzz/status/1394256497517993986?s=19

I've been caught out. Do apologise everyone.

Visited Thorpe twice this season. It's still very much possible to have a fun day at Thorpe (provided you visit on a quiet, off peak day) but wow some areas are just sad at the moment. Visiting Chessington and then this place one after the other is such a stark contrast, one looks better than it ever has in the fairly short time I've been going, whereas Thorpe is almost exactly the same as it was last season. The only real changes I noticed were the interesting Tidal Wave changes, which I'm honestly not sure if they're good or bad, and on the second visit some leaves had been cleared from a fence at Colossus. It is worth noting that on the second visit, lots of effects were fixed. Off the top of my head, the water effect on the heartline roll on Saw was working (I've only ever seen that work once or twice if ever), Inferno had it's mist back, Swarm's plane, fire engine and helicopter had mist (no water or fire though 🙁), and the water tower at Tidal Wave. Nemesis Inferno has been brilliant every time I've ridden it this year, I honestly think it's just as good as Nemesis now, although that may be recency bias as I've not ridden Nemesis in a while. It also has it's old soundtrack back, with the new one playing in the station, which is good. Audio all around the park was very loud, sometimes too loud. It's basically impossible to have a conversation around Colossus, Saw and Stealth. Old Town is in a really sad state, with Slammer more visible than last season, the rotting corpse of Loggers behind a fence, and with quite a bit of Creek Freak theming still up. The tents over the picnic benches have 'Creek Woods Sawmill' on, and there's wanted posters everywhere. I saw from Samurai that there's still some bears up around Loggers, except one has fallen over, which is sad and kind of a metaphor for the whole area. Black Mirror Labrynth has a cool sign but the building isn't pretty. Overall, I still think Thorpe can be quite fun on quiet days, but, and I know I'm stating the obvious here, the park is crying out for some TLC and most importantly something new.

I visited on a random Friday a couple of weeks ago, and it was probably the best day I've ever had at Chessington. Pretty much all the rides we were interested in were walk on, and the only rides that got any queues whatsoever were the lower capacity children's rides, like Jungle Rangers and River Rafts, as you'd expect really. I loved Croc Drop, as others have pointed out the ride is nothing special, I still found it fairly fun but I also hate drop towers, so what's my opinion worth haha. The theming, though, is. Pretty much every angle looks good, and it's fairly imposing, especially when approaching from the pathway under Dragon's Fury. The whole park has had some TLC, Mexicana looks brilliant with lots of colourful new theming everywhere, although that area might not be for everyone. Dragon's Fury's entrance has had an interesting bright yellow and red repaint, Zufari has had some changes in the cave, lots of signage has been replaced and there's been lots of small repaints everywhere. It's certainly a far cry from the Chessington of a few years ago where everything was either beige or falling apart. Blue Barnacle is... probably the second best pirate ship I've ever ridden in that pit, it looks good and it's decently themed, certainly more so than Black Buccaneer was although some of the pirate figures are a bit tacky. There's also been some new audio around the park, most notably around the entrance area where they've remixed the previous entrance music and added bits from Vampire, Tiger Rock and Croc Drop. Mexicana has a nice, but quiet new soundtrack, and Croc Drop's audio is all quite good. Adventure Point had some... interesting music playing, not quite a fan of that. Overall, not really many negatives, if any. This year is, in my opinion, the best Chessington have had while I've been interested in theme parks.

Went through Creepy Caves: Resurgence as my first indoor maze the other day. Wow! Will post a full review in a spoiler tag, but I thought it was excellent, very intense, very loud, and the ending is something I have never seen or heard of before in a maze.

Video of Saw's new dispatch: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1314884471645245440/pu/vid/640x360/NBH4kLaQHV4mdM14.mp4?tag=10 Credit to @_Olli_SM_ on Twitter Absolutely love this. Always wondered why they don't use Hello Zepp on Saw, really hope they keep it beyond Fright Nights.

Just came back from my first Fright Nights, and in turn (and unexpectedly) my first scare maze. Come a long way from the boy that had to ask to be escorted out of I'm a Celeb one or two years ago 😂 I can't post any pictures but I'll do some reviews, please bear in mind, again, first Fright Nights. I'll probably enjoy these things a lot more than FN regulars will. The Fearstival Arena This was fun and creepy. Some of the costumes are terrifying, and the actors are very fun. Saw one chase a small child round a circular bench which was cute. Didn't get to see the actual show although I got to see some fire which was nice, and got some decent scares as we went through on our way to leave the park. I have nice eyeballs apparently. Terror at Amity High Wasn't very scary but very fun. Had a proper good interaction with one vampire - 'ABCDEFGH I really wanna rip your head off and suck your blood'. Oh okay. Once again saw some very small children in the scare zone who definitely should not have been, but the actors were great, heard them talking about unicorns, then saw the kids chase the actors around. Wasn't expecting the most wholesome thing I've ever seen in a theme park to come from a Fright Nights scare zone but here we are. Once again, didn't see the show. The Howling of LycanThorpe High Out of all the attractions I'd say this was probably the weakest one for me. Saw others get some good scares but the only interaction I got was one asking me if I could dance and then asking me if I'm Amity. In a common theme at this point, did not see the show. The Swarm: Invasion As Josh said, not much of a scare zone, but quite fun. Got some scares. Had a very nice interaction with one of the conspiracy theorists where we almost had a full conversation about 'the truth', before she asked us to leave with her so we can be safe. Asked us are names, then said we'd have to leave her after she saw some military alien things. Storyline was a bit confusing, not sure why the military are now The Swarm or something, but okay. Creek Freaks Unchained Oh my God. If the scare zone was this intense, I can't imagine what the maze was like 😂. First go wasn't too intense, but in the second, oh my. Had an axe swung at us, before Lucas Buckwheat sat us down in his 'office' (a picnic bench). Gave us some backstory, asked if we had any special skills (no), then said 'Well you may not have any skills but I sure hope you can count to 5'. He then started revving his chainsaw and counting. My friend's a scare actor (actually knew this actor) and he kept telling me not to show fear if I don't want to be scared but I am not afraid to admit I clung to that canopy like it was my mother. He then chased us around the scare zone with his chainsaw. We then had another axe swung at us. Then another two chainsaws. Jesus Christ. The Crows Loved The Crows. Didn't have too many interactions other than one following me around Colossus, but the costumes are absolutely incredible. Saw them spot Jack Sickstone, and every single one of them started walking towards him, so that was a pretty terrifying visual. Parkwide Theming/Atmosphere What theming? I loved the atmosphere but felt the park could do with a few more bits of theming and, please, Thorpe, for the love of God, buy some filters for those lights... Colossus' station was very nice and I loved all the audio based around phobias. Detonator was particularly good, built up so much tension and it was only my second go on it so I was still terrified 😂 Stealth was also fun, felt the atmosphere was lacking a bit in the Inferno station though. Not sure how irrational the fear of fire is btw, that seems like a pretty rational fear to me. Does take you out a bit that this is the exact same voice as New New Tomb Blaster. I also did enjoy The Swarm's audio, especially hearing the You Me at Six song, and the new dispatch is nice. Speaking of dispatches, why on Earth is the Saw dispatch audio not playing all year round? It was literally perfect? Roots of Evil My first scare maze, and I feel like it was the perfect start. Didn't get any actors in the indoor bit at the start which was a shame, but the suspense in the maze was brilliant and a few of the scares got me good. Bit short to be worth £9 mind you. What wasn't so good was the queueing system. I get that it's the first night of Fright Nights and there's gonna be teething issues, we queued 40 minutes which wasn't ideal when I have difficulties queueing and there's no Ride Access Pass, but the main thing was the management of it. For whatever reason, they aren't using any of the IAC queueline, or the large temporary queueline they've built in the back of house area, so the queue was basically all up the path going past Burger King and right up to the start of Creek Freaks, then stopping at the actual entrance, before you go through an empty cattlepen and then a small queue before the maze starts. What's the point in building that queue if you aren't gonna use any of it? Management and Security were out, feel for the staff who probably got some stick. Bit of a nightmare, but the maze was fun. Didn't get to go through Platform and not sure I'm up for spending £18 to do both in one day, but hopefully next time I'll make it there. Overall, very good day, I loved the event and the atmosphere and if I can find the time will definitely be going back. The scare zones can fall flat sometimes if you don't get enough interaction, but they can't scare everyone. Just a little more theming, some filters on those god forsaken floodlights, and a tad better queue management for Roots of Evil and I think it'd be a very very good event. One again though, not been to previous events, so for all I know, could be the worst ever 🤷‍♂️ I very much enjoyed it though and I'm glad to finally get through a scare maze after watching them from afar for some time.

It looks very very long from Saw, looks like the shack from the ending is at the end of it too. Gonna be my first Fright Nights this year, not sure I'll be doing any mazes but excited and also very nervous for the atmosphere and everything.

Fright Nights 2020 details up on the website: https://www.thorpepark.com/explore/theme-park/fright-nights/ Lots of scare zones as predicted, two mazes, Platform 15 and Roots of Evil (looks to be located where Blair Witch was). Intrigued by the Swarm one and the Crows! EDIT They're doing clowns... but not The Big Top.

Phantasialand this year. I lost my phone on the plane on the way home, so I didn't post the trip report I was halfway through writing. But oh my god. I have never been that excited for a theme park trip and it certainly delivered. It was my first trip abroad to a theme park since Florida in 2011, before I had much interest in theme parks. Almost everything about the trip was perfect and I have so many good memories. It started on the Tuesday, where we spent an hour in the lovely Cologne, looking for the Cathedral for half an hour with no luck (not sure how we missed a 515ft Cathedral but ok), only to look and Google Maps and find out that if we'd turned right instead of left out of the train station we'd have been right in front of it. I'm still not sure how we managed to navigate ourselves to Germany and back at all tbh. The Uber trip on the way there was fun, the driver was so incredible friendly, calling the drive "the drive to happiness" and insisting on driving us to our hotel that he thought was outside of the park when we insisted that the entrance was just fine. The rest of the day was like Christmas Eve, walking into the Hotel and being taken aback by the incredible theming before we'd even entered the park. I remember walking to the entrance with butterflies in my stomach, walking up that weird bridge with loads of Rookburgh newspapers on the floor, and looking around at the place I'd been wanting to go to for years. The hotel room was lovely, and massive, and the view was just incredible. If you really, really looked you could see one tiny segment of Taron track, and some rock. The next morning was probably the most excited I've ever been in my life. Standing behind those big wooden gates and hearing Taron. I remember sitting on the ride, being amazed at how comfortable the train was, and then being asked to get off as it had broken down. Oh. It came back up quickly however, and we got front row on the first train of the day. The anticipation before that first launch was something else, and then the ride... I don't think I even have to say that it was my new favourite coaster. Chiapas was obviously amazing, although I remember not being able to fully appreciate it the first time round because I was too shocked at how wet my feet were, Black Mamba took a while to warm up but eventually it was good, and the theming was (obviously) just... wow. I don't want this post to be too long, so I won't describe the entire trip here, but some of my fondest memories from the whole trip came at the end of the first day. Me and my friend took a trip back into the Ling Bao gardens, to plan out the last few hours of our time because we'd discovered the shows that we didn't know about before. We wanted to see the Chiapas projection show, the Magic Rose Fireworks show, but also had planned for night rides on Taron and Black Mamba. We'd missed the first showing of the Chiapas show, and it was going to be very, very tight if we wanted to squeeze in Taron and the two shows. We decided to risk it for a night ride on Taron, with a 20 minute queue and around 20 minutes until the show began. I'm so glad we did, it was incredible, and we made it to the Chiapas show. I'm not really ashamed to say I had to fight back tears during that show, I'd been wanting to go there for years, and thinking about the fact I actually made it, watching the beautiful show and also thinking about how we didn't have that much time there got a bit too much. I held it together though and in the end we made it to the Magic Rose which was very confusing and didn't quite have as many fireworks as we were expecting, but the fireworks it did have were good. Even after leaving Phantasialand, and losing my phone on the way, I still had one more great experience with them. On the end of the second day I bought a Taron shirt (obviously), but stressed and in a rush to get to the airport I didn't check the size and got one that was way, way too small. We messaged Phantasialand about this to see if there was anything they could do, and they sent us a new one with a really nice letter. Sorry this was so long, but I haven't really posted about this trip yet and I loved every minute of it. It obviously turned out to be my last theme park trip of this year so far, possibly the last for some time more, and I can still feel everything I felt then from my chest tightening before Taron's launch, to the hunger on the first night because we couldn't find anything we wanted to eat. Maybe I'll try a full trip report at some point. Bit glad I didn't buy an Annual Pass like I was planning too, though.

I've seen a few people say that the missing targets were intentionally turned off rather than broken. Nothing concrete though.