WWTPRadio

In 2016, a full 3 hour and 45 minute version of WWTP Radio's Stealth mix was uploaded to YouTube, but has since been delete for quite a while. I'm sure someone out there has at least one Stealth mix, as I heard through the grape vine someone on here made an extended mix the park used for a few years.
 
I'm very eager to find this mix and won't rest until it's unearthed and shared with the world once more...
 
Anyone who has this full mix, which includes the songs and ads and segments, please reply to this post. Or anyone who knows where it may be, please do let me know. 
 
Thank you!

I think it's worth pointing out that as Halloween event at theme parks have grown, it is very much the norm that parks charge their passholders extra for Halloween attractions. Even moreso post-Covid. This isn't just a Merlin thing, it's an industry thing.
 
Now there's loads of arguments that can be made both ways about this. And of course we can say that 'just because everyone else does it, it doesn't mean Thorpe should'. But I think it's a point worth stressing. Most theme parks charge for their mazes, and that includes charges for their passholders. Thorpe aren't some special case here. That means whatever the reasons they have, they won't be unique to the park, they're a common, industry trend.
 
I asked this to people in the know, as I was somewhat confused as to how Survival Games was the most expensive maze investment myself.
 
The answer is simple, albeit underwhelming. The cost of raw materials. At a time where the cost of everything is soaring, even things like the wood used to build sets has gone up in price (I hear it had quadrupled in price compared to even Creek Freak Massacre). That adds a significant amount of cost.
 
Another, separate issue, is that Thorpe are once again using external companies to build their mazes. That has pros and cons. One of the main cons is the price: the external company can name their price, and Thorpe will pay, and it can mean that the cost of labour is significantly more than if they had an in-house team, or even worked with MMM.
 
Obviously there's a marketing incentive to advertise mazes as expensive to build. People hear "expensive to build maze" and they think "it must be quality". Whether that ends up being true or not is a different matter.
 
Ultimately I think that the overall quality of the event has improved. The park are investing more money into the event (even scaling for inflation), and have expanded in a sensible way in recent years. 
 
 
 
Big Top is a great example of a great maze, yes. It's also a great example of what I mentioned above.
 
2015 Big Top was made by an external company. To some degree, that would have involved Thorpe giving said company a brief and a discussed-upon budget, and from there, it was out of their hands. We ended up with a maze which had potential and was different, but not well received.
 
2016 and 2017 Big Top were designed in house, by the park's scenic and tech team at the time. They had greater freedom and creative control, the money that would have gone to the pockets of an external company could instead go into the maze in some way.
 
Here's where an issue lies with the current creative identity of Fright Nights. By having mazes designed by external companies, you can get that expertise in, and get a solid product. But that doesn't mean you will get the best value for money, or the best product. But at the same time, there currently isn't the skill-set at the park is design and build mazes from the ground up. They can conceptualise, work with external companies, etc, but they can't do it all. 
 
Again, I stress that's not a bad thing. But it can hamper the processes and result in some poor experiences, or experiences not being as good as they could (/ should) be.
 
 
I don't know how true it is about 'most scare attractions allowing multiple runs'. But here's the biggest thing that Thorpe (and Towers) have to deal with: competition from scare parks. 10-15 years ago, the idea of a scare park was a huge novelty, and outside of a handful, they just didn't exist. These days, they're much more common. That creates significantly more competition. 
 
The competition from scare parks when it comes to quality is very strong. In part, this is because scare parks have...less strict H&S regulations to follow (because Merlin impose such strict rules on themselves). In part it's because they have stronger creative freedom over their attractions, usually designed in-house by specialists with a passion for the industry. In part it's just because they are a scare park, and focus solely on that.
 
It's a very broad and layered landscape now. And the comparisons that brings makes it very challenging for the parks to be on top.

Absolutely no way they would know how to operate something like that, they can barely run Fins Infinity 360 Grill

I think I remember hearing the licensing for imascore stuff is a lot simpler in the way that they pay for it and that’s that (but I could be wrong)
 
I’m sure they do still have the rights to the imascore stuff seeing as they still seem to have a continued relationship with them

In essence, contrary to many people’s knowledge or understanding, the playout of music in theme park and attractions is subject to significant licensing and cost implication. There isn’t just a free for all where you can play whatever you want wherever you want, even though this is an often overlooked misconception by even the largest corporations. 
 
Everything down to the number of speakers, the square footage of an area, the number of visitors in a set period and the piece or pieces of music dictates how much a business is required to pay on an annual basis, on specific tariffs. 
 
And let’s just say if the park or parent company hadn’t been quite so clever about who composed their music or the agreements surrounding these, they leave themselves open to enormous fees, fines and/or ongoing costs.

No.

So let's talk Carnival, the park's other new event for 2022.
 
The event is split into two areas. There is 'the' "Carnival" area, which is in the Lost City area (where various FN mazes have been) and there is the "Junkyard" area, which stretches alongside Ghost Train up to Trailers. 
 
The Carnival area is the main one, and features a stage, photo op point, some F&B places and a couple of extra sideshows (magician's tent and fortune teller). Things kick off from 12 and there's pretty much always something going on, or getting ready to happen, from then till park close (which is 7pm for the event!).
 
There's a Ringleader show, showing all the acts, a mime troupe show, a set of singers, and also some circus/carnival acts (fire breathers, trapeze artists / balance performers and the like). The Junkyard area features some "carnival rejects", who are basically just a bit more shoddily dressed, treated like outcasts, and a bit more 'crazy'.
 
All in, there's a real good variety of acts, and it's all just light hearted fun. And it does so without being cheesey or corny, which I felt the Mardi Grad stuff did too much of. I'm sure things will get polished up during the event too. The circus acts are external acts too, so are specialists in what they do.
 
One thing I wasn't keen on was the singing aspects of the performances. It would be harsh, and wrong, to say the singing was bad, but it certainly wasn't something I would call 'good'. Obviously this is a difficult thing to do, since as people we can hear amazing singing in a couple of clicks on our phone, but it does mean there's a high bar to meet. I think the performances would be better without singing, but then again, maybe the wider audience disagree. 
In any case, I think if the park want singing incorporated into these acts, they should broaden their horizons and look to people with as much experience as possible.
 
 
Now, onto the thing which I guess people are most interested in: Trailers - Breakout at Bozo's.
This...is a thing. And it doesn't know what sort of thing it wants to be. Is it trying to be a fun and funny attraction set inside a spooky setting? Is it trying to be a scare maze which doesn't take itself seriously? Is it trying to be a scare maze which has been toned down? I don't know. And I don't think Thorpe really know what they want it to be.
 
From what I understand, the plan was for it to be something which wasn't that scary, didn't take itself seriously and something you could have a laugh with. But then when it wasn't received all that well, and senior management realised it wasn't scary, they've tried to tweak that. Which adds to the confused nature of it.
 
There are some fun moments in there, don't get me wrong. But none of it feels very right. And it's all just a bit of a mess, and doesn't quite flow. I also feel for the actors: it's running on minimal numbers, and only one per main scene. When most scenes were designed for at least 2 actors, and almost always had those numbers last year, it means they have a lot to do, and in weirder circumstances. Can't be easy.
 
I don't see it being very popular now the initial enthusiast rush has died down. But with the minimal operating hours and minimal staffing, and being upcharge, I expect it will make money, and so ultimately be a plus for the park there. But still, this stinks of a decision made my people in an office with little understanding of how it would work and the consequences, leaving the Entertainments Team to just deal with it.
 
 
Anyway, I don't want to leave things on a bad note. Carnival is a really cool, fresh-feeling event. It's fun, vibrant and adds an upbeat feeling to the park. At the same time, it doesn't impede on those who aren't fussed: it's a nice, harmless addition. I hope it works out well for them, and that it's something that can continue and be improve upon in the future.
 
On a side note, with these events happening, and being a mainstay, and with shows being a thing at the park again, it's a shame there isn't an arena-like space for them to be housed, and for more work to go into them. Funny world ey.

Such a shame to hear of the system in such disrepair and in such a dire state. 
 
Even more so when there is a (admittedly very small) team dedicated to maintaining this infrastructure. 
 
What has always been ridiculous about the way TP is managed, is that whoever fancies making a decision about what plays where has the ability to do just that. It’s not governed by the park, by marketing or by Merlin. So whoever it was who asked for Carly Rae Jepsen, slip a little card in the suggestion box and you’ll probably find it happens tomorrow.
 
As for Inferno’s canons, the infrastructure is entirely capable of their continued use. It’s just lack of maintenance that stops them from doing what Bose had installed them to do in Infernos heyday. 

Such a shame to hear of the system in such disrepair and in such a dire state. 
 
Even more so when there is a (admittedly very small) team dedicated to maintaining this infrastructure. 
 
What has always been ridiculous about the way TP is managed, is that whoever fancies making a decision about what plays where has the ability to do just that. It’s not governed by the park, by marketing or by Merlin. So whoever it was who asked for Carly Rae Jepsen, slip a little card in the suggestion box and you’ll probably find it happens tomorrow.
 
As for Inferno’s canons, the infrastructure is entirely capable of their continued use. It’s just lack of maintenance that stops them from doing what Bose had installed them to do in Infernos heyday. 

Such a shame to hear of the system in such disrepair and in such a dire state. 
 
Even more so when there is a (admittedly very small) team dedicated to maintaining this infrastructure. 
 
What has always been ridiculous about the way TP is managed, is that whoever fancies making a decision about what plays where has the ability to do just that. It’s not governed by the park, by marketing or by Merlin. So whoever it was who asked for Carly Rae Jepsen, slip a little card in the suggestion box and you’ll probably find it happens tomorrow.
 
As for Inferno’s canons, the infrastructure is entirely capable of their continued use. It’s just lack of maintenance that stops them from doing what Bose had installed them to do in Infernos heyday. 

Yea but he still HAS the 3G, so that’s big news. 

I mean I wouldn't start jumping the gun just yet. You haven't seen them yet? For all we know do or die will have black walls again, does that mean it's set and design is amazing? Surely  anyone can do that. 
Would the maze have been worse if the photos were taken with a camera that could produce more pixels?

I hope everyone gets what they wish for...
 
...In reality, another year waves hello to yet another shake up in Thorpe’s management, staffing, project management and direction, meaning, yet again, consistency goes out of the window. 
 
Fright Nights is sadly an unorganised and chaotic event with little to no thought, direction or drive, and change in personnel can mark very significant differences in delivery. Big Top not returning due to lack of tent? More like lack of intent, with the creative minds and team behind its success walking away heads held high after completely turning around what was a disasterous delivery in 2015...

Documentary coming soon.
 
Its gone because those responsible for its conception and build are gone. Unfortunately there are many reasons for arguably the best park in the UK to be in the state it is now, and a lot of it is down to retention of talent and management of events such as Fright Nights. 

Hey at least the latter is likely

There you go kids - Big Top’s back. 
 
 
oh wait, no it’s not

There you go kids - Big Top’s back. 
 
 
oh wait, no it’s not

Perhaps the crystal ball shall reveal a date and time?

There you go kids - Big Top’s back. 
 
 
oh wait, no it’s not

Ah Josh, the Top has been Bigged. Platform has been 15’d and we did what we did and were very proud of it. They’ll be fine...

There you go kids - Big Top’s back. 
 
 
oh wait, no it’s not

Perhaps the crystal ball shall reveal a date and time?

Perhaps the crystal ball shall reveal a date and time?

Perhaps the crystal ball shall reveal a date and time?

Perhaps the crystal ball shall reveal a date and time?