JoshuaA

I think this will incorporate some sort of innovation. Maybe it'll use multiple splash downs? B&M have mastered them by now, maybe even a launched water coaster? It needs a hook to be fair, like why should a park go to B&M when they have Mack, Intamin, S&S, Premier, Gerstlauer, and Vekoma that already make launch coasters and have been doing so for a while..

Sorry double post! I know! This a good idea, I think something akin to the street at Tulleys would be so good at Thorpe. Though I guess it does pose some challenges as roaming actors do tend to be more at risk from troublesome guests. I guess maybe thats why they have been doing them in large groups over the past few years (or, not at all?) I do think having some dedicated outdoor scare zones would be a good idea, maybe add some comedy like Tulleys do and make the event just more about being fun.

It certainly is ambitious thinking to advertise the event basically as normal. As a former scare actor, these attractions are exceptionally difficult to run without a high risk of transmission (actors getting close to guests, actors with other actors).. The mazes as it stands are a breeding ground for common colds for actors, when you get close to 1,000's of people a night for nights on end, it is kinda a high risk. As JoshC said, we could see some modified mazes, though honestly that would take a lot of thinking outside the box, and also probably a lot of money and trial and error. They would have to completely change the way they build mazes. Would all that effort be worth it? Considering they would have cut capacity by a lot? I'm not so sure. I guess by August/September we will know more about the future of scare attractions. But as of now, them coming back is somewhat of a dream.

Then why is a park 10 minutes down the road priced around a tenner cheaper? Legoland too. Looking at it further, I think its an target demographic thing. I bet you the types of people who visit Chessington are more likely to stay at home, families with young kids who probably aren't quite ready to venture a theme park just this yet. Where Thorpe attracts your teenagers, probably the most likely to return asap, but with that audience comes less spending while in the park. Which maybe explains the price hike, as they'll probably get toss all from their pockets when their actually in the park. I guess that would make more sense, still kinda bloody cheeky though.

I wouldn't say there is much in it to be fair. Chessington is really on the smaller side too. Sure they have the zoo, but even with the zoo its still small. Their capacities cannot be too different, so I think saying the pricing for Thorpe coming down to capacity is kind of a BS excuse. Yeah I guess that is a pretty good positive. People just love having a 70% chance of getting caught in a traffic jam while en route to the park.

I think its awful. Chessington is compact and small too, but that is priced modestly.. Thorpe Park does not warrant that price jump. It should be the lowest in price IMO, as it has the least to offer. Lets also consider that the park has not received a proper new ride since 2016 (and that ride will most likely be closed for sanitary reasons and also because its terrible lol).

The thing is though, some RMC's only really roughly use the existing structure (RMC Gwazi is a brilliant example of this). But in general, they are usually a fairly budget manufacturer and a good deal. Zadra only cost around 12.5 million pounds, which for a Hyper coaster with over 4,000 feet of track, it really speaks to how economical RMC is. Remember RMC got their start with Six Flags, they got their start working for a chain that infamously only builds cheap rides. Their Raptor model probably doesn't cost much either, especially considering a random waterpark in South Dakota just reportedly just bought one.

So I had this review all edited and ready back in October, though I forgot about it for some reason. So better late than never? So I have been visiting Fright Nights since 2012, I very vividly remember walking into the white marquee which housed The Curse as a scared 10 year old. I remember the heavy smoke and the abundance of actor holes allowing for a ton of jump scares, it was scary but 10 year old me craved that fear and ever since I have been back nearly every year. Sadly 2018 was that one year that I didn't find time to go. I honestly kinda missed Fright Night, even if the maze quality was low it triggers a bit of nostalgia for me and I'm so glad to have had experienced it again. The event since 2012 has evolved and the lineup has changed a bit from 2017, so how did the lineup stackup? Containment Containment feels incredibly refined and polished in comparison to how it was in 2016/2017. The pre-show is now actually fun and not a bore, the first two rooms are actually interesting now, and the actors seem to know exactly when to help and when to meddle with the group. I loved some of the actor interaction in here and I liked how it didn't take itself too seriously. Containment is a ton of fun and honestly I would recommend it. Its not really scary but I would say it was my second favourite attraction on offer this year. Living Nightmare: My last run through of this maze was amazing- actors a plenty, intense, well themed.. Sadly this year missed the mark. The sets are still beautiful but I felt this maze really lacked actors this year and honestly I didn't get a single jump scare. The maze is also really short which doesn't help whatsoever... I also feel like this maze needs more actor holes for jump scares, actors at times felt kinda trapped within groups and it kinda made the maze feel more empty than anything.. Platform 15 Platform in 2017 was one of my favourite mazes, period. I only experienced this maze in the day this year though I honestly think it wouldn't of been much better in the dark TBH.. Platform 15 this year simply didn't have enough actors. When you have a maze that big you need a decent sized cast to back it up, sadly Platform felt very uneventful. The ending tunnel also felt so drab, in 2017 it had a lot of atmosphere and actors. This year it was just as boring as it was in 2016.. Platform overall reminds me of its 2016 state- boring and long, well at least the village section is still good! Creek Freak: In a sea of mediocrity lies something that is actually pretty great. Creek Freak really has everything- brilliant actors, brilliant set, length, crawl sections, chainsaws, intensity... Its not quite as intense as Asylum or quite as fun as Big Top, but this easily is the best attraction of Fright Nights this year and probably one of the best mazes to ever exist at the event. Both run throughs left me laughing and running in equal measure, I found the maze was swarming with actors in places and the multi-route sections combined with creative actors make every run through different. I loved how Thorpe tackled a mini Sub Species style section with various points where you can be split up, I felt Thorpe really integrated this in well and it added a extra layer of dread while walking through. Overall a solid addition to Fright Night this year and easily the most fun I had all night. Do Or Die: This was hard for me. The actors inside were really going for it! They really are a brilliant cast and it really pains me to be so negative about this maze.. Despite top tier acting, everything else about Do Or Die is terrible. The lighting is awful, the outside sections feel bare, and the containers mostly feel empty. I have heard they have isolation chambers in the first container which is a great idea but on my run throughs they were not used at all.. I honestly think the heavy popularity of the event makes using that technique hard, unless you go all out like E10 did.. Do or Die is surely interesting but overall as a attraction it falls flat, the actors do redeem it a little though. Blair Witch: Solid maze- has some issues with it being quite a open space at times though actors generally were rocking it. Nothing special, but its a fine maze. Atmosphere: I like this event, though I have to admit it really lacks a soul and a atmosphere. Outside of the mazes, it is easy to forget you are at a Halloween event. I hope in future years they try and make roaming actors and park-wide decoration more of a prominent part of the event. Overall: Overall a mixed year for Fright Nights. They introduced a brilliant maze in Creek Freak, though everything else is either okay, or terrible. I hope the event continues to add mazes like Creek Freak, as that maze does really give me hope for future mazes to come at the event. I do think also shifting some focus to the event as a whole could really make this event much better than it currently is. A event is so much more than its mazes.

Agreed with Inferno being the best. It runs really good these days, love how intense but smooth it is.

Yeah Festino was strange. Though most mazes at Screamland could of made this list to be honest (their mazes tend to be on the weirder side) And yeah Cabin was very close to making this list.

I agree with the post above me. It is interesting to why the community is so white-male oriented, but I wouldn't say our community is unfriendly to anybody who was of a different race or a girl. I think its just the hobby, like we can't hold people at gunpoint to join our community just to tick diversity boxes. Also when it does come to the LGBT community we are very well represented within the community, so I guess it isn't like minorities are excluded from being enthusiasts. I think its a bit dramatic to say that the forum isn't equal, they don't make people admins just because they are white males lol. There is a lot of inequality in the world, but there is better places to look than on a forum for a pretty niche hobby..

Can't go wrong with a blitz, probably a top 5 Orlando ride. Though its throughput concerns me.. Maverick is advertised at 1200 rides per hour (not very good figure to begin with), though ElToroRyan (a ex ride operator at Cedar Point and a pretty reputable youtuber) claimed the ride could only chew through 936 riders a hour. The ride is physically incapable of achieving a higher throughput, and that the throughput was inflated by Intamin and incorrect. Even if the ride dispatches as fast as humanly possible, it can only achieve 936. There is a informative video in depth on youtube about it. I am unsure how Taron and Taiga fare, I am unsure if Intamin have rectified their mistake on Maverick, But even if they have, 1200 is probably not good enough for a park like Universal surely? Unless they find a way to magically up the throughput by a lot. I hope they do, or this thing will have stupid queues.

Scare attractions are usually very formulaic, a bunch of corridors with actors in them, a chainsaw finale, a strobe maze. Though there is some attractions that I have been through that are just plain weird. Today I'm gonna be counting down the top 10 most weird mazes I have experienced. Now I have not been to every event, so this won't be include every weird maze out there sadly, but if you do have any mazes you think are bloody strange leave em in the comments. Here is a few mazes that were close to making the cut, but ultimately failed to make the top 10. Twisted Clowns 3D: The bungee chord is unique in the UK, the vortex tunnel, and the heavy use of 3D and UV make this maze worth mentioning. I decided I was a tad biased towards it, so I decided to not include it. Though it does have a good case as it is quite unique. Its flooring is also quite brutal. Altonville Mine Tours: It is quite a interesting maze. It does have that mine lift scene which is pretty cool, and the finale in 2017 was pretty unique and cheeky. Though I did not think it was quite enough to make it worthy of this list. The Cabin In The Woods: Good use of multi routes, and the control room make this maze unique IMO. 10. Sub Species: The End Games- Alton Towers Scarefest (2015-present) Now despite not being the first to utilise this concept (Mazes at Thorpe had been doing separation and multi-routed mazes since 2011), Sub Species I feel like takes it to the extreme. The separation in Creek Freak/My Bloody Valentine feels like child play compared to the sheer brutality that is Sub Species. In the Thorpe mazes separation is a threat, but the mazes usually only have a few multi-routed sections and actors tend to not have the power to properly separate and isolate people within groups like Sub Species does. I think the real benefit this maze has is that it feels designed specifically for separation in sections, the room with the opening doors is a great example of the maze basically just double downing on splitting as many groups up as possible. The heavy amount of multi route sections and very hands-on actors really compliment this. Actors are not afraid to get hands on, and it really adds to the intensity and make a experience that is unlike any other maze. I experienced Sub Species in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and each time I found myself alone at some point. This is a real testament to how effective the maze is at splitting up the fairly big groups they batch through. And this is why it makes the list, no maze takes the multi route and separation concept as brutally as Sub Species. Not any I have experienced anyway. 9. Studio 13- Thorpe Park Fright Nights (2014) This maze was kind of a shock on its debut. Taking over fan favourite and the very traditional 'Asylum', Studio 13 had a lot of weight on its shoulders. Though looking back, this maze was nothing like The Asylum, and something very unique and interesting. To begin with Studio 13 was a free flow attraction, this at the time was unique and different. The maze also had some weird actor placements at times, it seemed there was a point or two where actors could just swarm you. The theme in itself was interesting, having a maze themed to a horror film studio proved to be interesting and also went along with the park's other mazes that year. In hindsight Studio 13 I think was a maze that really didn't get enough attention, I think a lot of people forget about it due to Asylum kinda overshadowing it. 8. The Sanctuary- Alton Towers Scarefest(2012-2014) Now the only reason this maze is not higher is due to its finale, which to be frank, is pretty run of the mil. Though everything else about this maze is weird. The queue line plays tranquil and happy music, for a moment you can easily forget it is a scare maze. The first few rooms are pretty huge for a maze, the maze in its first half is completely eerie more than actually scary. The lack of traditional scares or typical scare maze stuff just is bizarre, and I think it is the main reason people like this maze. This peaks in the Marmalisation Room. This room makes this maze worthy of this list alone. Its foggy, weird, slightly hypnotising, and very creepy in a strange way. This room honestly feels like an acid trip in the middle of a gothic ruins in the middle of Staffordshire, its strange. 7. Vampire: Haunting In The Hallows- Chessington (2012-2013) Before we got Creepy Caves, Chessington had a pretty scary maze in its lineup a few years back. Haunting In The Hallows in a way kinda reminds me of a dungeons style attraction, with proper scripted scenes and effects to compliment the script. The maze really told a story, and each scene built up the atmosphere and the narrative. Haunting In The Hallows really was a unique maze in that only its finale was really a true scare maze. Every other part of the maze is scripted and more theatrical, and it made this maze stick out from the many scary mazes at Fright Nights. 6. The Volt- Tulleys Farm Shocktoberfest (2015) I have talked about this attraction a fair amount now, so I think you guys get the picture. Pitch black maze with a intentionally jank-y layout to force people to touch the walls, the walls have panels that can give you a mild electric shock. This in itself is just odd, and really enough to make it worthy of this list. Though there is one maze that used this gimmick and made it even more weird.. 5. Scary Tales- Alton Towers Scarefest (2014) 2014 was a controversial year for Scarefest. Carnival Of Screams was axed and Scarefest were down a proper maze, though we what got in its place was true-ly interesting and unique. Scary Tales was a 'scare zone', it had a constant flow of people, but had a clear path with a entrance and exit and at points felt like a maze. The attraction had tons of actors, so even with no grouping actors still seemed to be able to interact and give good scares to as many people as possible. The maze had a brilliant cast full of different fairy tales characters that gave some laughs (Hansel and Gretel) and good scares (the three piglets and their ugly masks). Scary Tales makes this list as it really straddled the line between scare maze and scare zone, the theme was also pretty strange by itself. I really hope Alton bring back this type of 'scare zone' again as Scary Tales was a brilliant attraction 4. Festino's Forgotten Funhouse- Screamland Margate (2016) Screamland Margate really nailed making their clown maze unique back in 2016. The most standout part of this maze was its use of props and costumes, many times in this maze would you walk through a room for a camouflaged actor to jump out from absolutely nowhere! The maze also had a brilliant use of large props (the skeleton hands being absolutely a highlight). After about 5-10 minutes of a normal maze the attraction began to adopt a Dungeons-esque flow with scripted scenes from a knife thrower, and the Bearded Lady. This was particularly odd, the maze was slightly odd up to this point, these scripted scenes later on in the maze just escalated the quirkiness of this maze. 3. The Paradise Foundation- Screamland Margate (2016) This maze makes this list as it really focuses on its concept and the macabre nature of its theme. In any other maze, the actors not doing jump scares at all and screaming for "help" would be boring and not scary. The Paradise Foundation flips this and the actors crying for help in their disgusting costumes only make you feel even more uneasy and grossed out. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of actors in here. But a lot of them were playing victim over aggressor, which for a scare maze, is unique. Well unique in that it actually worked. I didn't get many (if any) jump scares in here, but I felt uncomfortable during the experience and for all the right reasons. Like Festino this maze does have a few scripted scenes at the beginning of the maze which further separates this from other scare mazes. I felt Screamland really nailed this attraction, the theme is pretty gory, and they didn't hold back with theming and costumes, as well as building up backstory and finer details (roaming actors who are 'ex-victims' of the foundation, and some scripted scenes to explain the narrative). The maze is currently defunct from Screamland, though you can find its spiritual successor at Scare Kingdom up north, so it still lives on today. 2. The Legend Of Crank Jack- Screamland Margate (2017) Screamland are the king of odd mazes. But Crank Jack takes the cake for being the strangest concept for a maze. The maze's exterior is literally just a white marquee, though the intro room is very themed. What? After the intro video you are a ushered through a foggy entrance to a crawl space, this crawl space is unlike other any crawl space you have experienced. Its long, it has plenty of zigzags, and there is even sections where actors have crawl height holes to deliver scares. Even weirder, there was some parts of the crawl maze where actors could deliver scares right above you! This crawl space went on for a eternity, but after you start to stand up, it honestly just got weirder. The next section was a bunch of confusing corridors with the exit being kinda hard to find, I got lost in this section on both run throughs. Actors were equipped with loud horns which made getting lost even more annoying. The use of crawl space really makes this maze worthy of this list. This is by far the most elaborate and largest crawl space in any maze to date. 1. The Dark- Tulleys The Howl (2015) Now I have spoken about The Volt at Tulleys Shock a couple of times now. Though honestly its sister attraction that existed at The Howl was even more weird. If being shocked by wall panels wasn't unique enough, The Dark had even more weird crap to throw at you. The floor being one, the floor seemed to change a few times. Sometimes it felt like you were walking on sand, next you were walking on straw. The floor was elevated at points too, which just added to the oddness of the maze. The actors were mostly dressed in werewolf costumes, this gave great scares with torches which was a shock to the eye of after extended darkness. The lack of traditional jump scares, the shock gimmick, and the weird floor in this maze really made it a standout experience. Unlike The Volt this maze really worked in a weird way, and it is a shame it only lasted a year. The Dark's shock gimmick combined with some of the best use of the floor in a maze makes this maze easily one of the most odd mazes to grace the earth. Hope you enjoyed folks. If you have any other mazes that you think deserve to be on this list then let me know!

Because it is a 'live experience'. Black Mirror is somewhat of a tale we have all heard before. IAC- Basically phased out of the park. Probably down to not being popular and draining staff. Also a live experience maze-esque BS Saw Alive- Different case. But live attraction that just wasn't popular enough after a couple of years Sub Terra- Technically a ride. But had huge emphasis on its story and the actors. Was neutered before being murdered for good. DBGT- its a ride okay. But like Sub Terrible, big focus on its flashy bells and whistles. Seems to be on the decline on popularity TLDR: Live attractions don't end well in parks. People want fun rides, not a bunch of bells and whistles disguised as a ride. I would rather Chessington receive a mini log flume with bad theming than receive a tryhard attraction that burns out in 3 years time..

As much as I bash the sh** out of Merlin, I honestly think this area is fine. Its a very small kids area, its not really meant to be immersive or high budget. Its a fresh lick of paint on two old kids rides, and a new kids ride that fits the park's audience perfectly with a small bit of theming. Nothing more, nothing less. I would take this over Black Mirror any day of the bloody week.

I disagree. The area for sure is nothing to write home about, but they didn't exactly have much space or much to work with in the first place. It is a really small area, honestly I did not mind the lack of theming considering the area is two rethemes and a mini log flume. I experienced River Rafts back in March with the nephews and it was a good addition, its good for the children who aren't tall enough for Tiger Rock. Its not elaborate, but it does the job just fine.

Very good to show all the measures the park is taking. Really makes the best of a bad situation.

I haven't experienced many, though this is my list. 1. Valhalla: When running at its full potential, easily one of the best dark rides ever made and easily my favourite water attraction. 2. Journey To Alantis (Seaworld Orlando): Brilliant Mack water coaster. Great theming, and fun ride. 3. Fjord Rafting (Europa): Currently my fav rapids ride. The theming is on point, the ride is exciting, and I love how it weaves around the area around it. Even the bloody lift up is themed! 4. Grand Canyon Rapids (PortavenAwful): Great rapids, if only it wasn't a park like Portaventura. 5. Poseidon: (Europa) Great water coaster. The theming is what keeps it here, the finale is also really fun with a pop of air to boot. 6. Tutuki Splash (PortavenBadOps): Another PA ride. Love the second drop. 7. Angkor (Portaventura): Brilliant water ride. Best of its kind IMO. 8: Tirol Log Flume (Europa): Love the cave section of this ride. It is a magical moment and absolutely makes this ride alongside its neighbour. 9. Supersplash (Europa): Short but sweet. Great airtime pop and interaction with Wodan. 10. Tiger Falls (Chessington): It isn't perfect. But its a fun ride where you get to see tigers. Also a fun log flume.

The perk of Europa is that a lot of there rides have amazing throughputs to begin with. Even with reduced throughputs the rides will still have better throughputs than what some rides at Thorpe probably achieve. A ride like Silver Star or Euromir will probably still get more riders through than any Thorpe coaster, even if they do enforce staggered seating and operations are slowed down. I honestly think the park will be operated with high efficiency while ensuring safety. I see the park having a lot of initiative and common sense, they are one of the best operated theme parks in the world.

Man that is a pretty high capacity. I think if any park can make this work, its Europa. The park is so huge and spread out, and the rides probably won't get much of a queue anyway with the limited capacity+Europa operations.

Honestly the poor operations and people who pay to skip the queue offend me more. Especially on rides like DBGT that have a throughput of 20 people per hour..

I wouldn't even say testing arrivals, testing in general is something the government failed horribly at doing. Testing, tracking, and tracing is something Germany did a lot of. Arrivals would be a start, but ideally we need as many people being tested as humanly possible. But the government probably won't, because we don't have a smart leader and government like Germany. I think its no surprise that the UK and US are the worst affected..

Tbf it does seem really fast for a B&M hyper, like its taking those airtime hills faster than most hypers. It also has that floatjector Shambhala esque hill. I think B&M have really been killing it with the pacing recently on their Hypers. Even if Candymonium is a little bit short, I guess Skyrush is too. Talking about RMC. They have a pretty good candidate in the park for one lol.

That is hauling a** man. I see this being amongst Mako and Shambhala for hypers (very good). I think its really down to Intamin's reputation. Rides such as Skyrush or I305 are popular with us because they are intense, but the GP just find them too intense so they don't get enough ridership to be worth investing in. This is made worse by the various problems that Intamin coasters have had (I305's black out turn, Maverick's Heartline, constant downtime, throughputs that are way above what is actually possible being promised). B&M is just a no brainer I guess. High throughputs, reliable, and the GP and enthusiasts are happy.

The Walking Dead is a coaster that IMO worked best in its X format, because to put it simply, it is a family coaster. Even when it ran backward and in the dark, it was a tame ride that had lower ridership as the height restriction stopped families from riding and the ride was too tame and the ride was also uncomfortable. X fixed this, ditched the stop and start breaks, lowered the height restriction so pretty much anyone could ride it, and consequently was a lot more popular among the GP. TWD right now is IMO the second most expendable ride at the park. The ridership seems to be criminally low, the past few visits during peak times this coaster was completely walk on when other rides had 2 hour waits. It is not a bad ride at all, but it certainly has failed to keep people coming back to it. I do enjoy the ride, but I do think retheming X was a stupid decision as this ride will always be a family coaster. Even when you throw barbed wire around it and cover it in zombies.