Rach666

An interesting question with a few answers.
 
First off, to answer you concern: it was nothing to do with it being "too extreme". There wasn't enough serious complaints from guests who did it to warrant its removal. Frankly, I don't even know if there were any complaints - everyone knew what they were getting themselves in for. These sorts of experiences have a niche market (albeit, Thorpe and Towers' alone experiences expanded and simultaneously watered-down the niche).
 
A short answer: There wasn't a strong enough drive internally to get it to come back.
Devising the experience takes time (it wasn't simply "actors do whatever they want"), and there was no one who was in a position (in terms of the time-commitment required) to create it. There had been some backlash from actors about the experience who didn't feel comfortable doing it (something I'll go into later), plus it could add another hour onto an already very long day, where they have to work 10x harder. Those two together meant it just wouldn't get off the ground.
 
A long answer: Less of an answer, and more of a story..
Face it Alone came about in 2013, with the park trying to diversify their line up and really focus on becoming a bigger, better and more unique Halloween event. The Lionsgate IP bought in the brands and the interest, completely refreshing the concept of Fright Nights. They tried new maze concepts: choices (Cabin in the Woods) and outdoors (Blair Witch Project). They introduced a (sadly poorly received) overnight experience, which was trendy at the time, and pushed forward with the Face it Alone: an extreme and an alone experience in one; again something which was trending and on the up in the scare industry at the time.
 
For anyone that did it in 2013, you'll no doubt know that every experience was different. The actors were given a scope of things they could do, boundaries they could push and ideas they could toy with. It was free-reign, but it gave the actors a much freer realm to work in. Another important thing to note is that Face it Alone wasn't particularly popular in 2013. People were unsure what exactly it was, whether it was worth the £15, etc. You could also choose which maze to experience. Which all in all meant it was easier to organise, give a personal touch, etc.
 
When 2014 came along, the experience changed somewhat. Whilst it was still 'extreme', the actors stuck to much stricter roles. Basically, actor 1 did x to you, actor 2 did y to you, etc. By no means a bad thing (if planned correctly, this can be a very good thing), just different. Again, this year you could choose your own maze and, whilst it had gained popularity, it was still pretty calm.
 
2015 is when everything changed, and was arguably the beginning of the end. Face it Alone became a much bigger spectacle. Gone were the days of choosing your own maze, and it was instead replaced with the Roulette Ceremony by Big Top. A great idea in fairness, and one that many enjoyed. This meant it garnered more attention and became much more popular, and went outside of the niche. Already teetering on the edge here.
 
2015 did go back to 2013's free realm style too. There were clearly things that certain actors had to do at certain points to progress you through the experience, but in between actors had a very large scope of what they could do.
 
The next thing with 2015 was the overt sexualisation of the experiences. It's probably not suitable to discuss the details on a public forum, but many things done within the experiences weren't scare tactics, they were simply there sexualised things made to make people feel uncomfortable, humiliated and uncertain. This was the first year that a safe word was introduced too. Safe words do appear in many extreme attractions, but I don't think it's a coincidence that a safe word appeared at the same time the sexualised content of Face it Alone occurred. 
 
This was a completely different direction to what had happened before. Whilst Face it Alone may have featured things like nudity/being tied up/etc - ie things that COULD be sexualised - they never WERE. By doing so, it adds a very different tone. And this tone meant that people were enjoying these experiences in a very different way. There were plenty of times that people within Face it Alone experiences were asking for certain things to be done to them so that they could 'get their money's worth' and be satisfied with the experience. These sorts of things had happened in previous years, but not to the degree they had happened in 2015. This, unsurprisingly, led to some actors being rather uncomfortable with the experience.
 
Come 2016, things had been toned down again. It went back more to 2014's "carbon copy" style experience. Originally it led to some complaints that it wasn't as extreme. I think one issue was that the 2015 version of Face it Alone had created a following of people who hadn't experienced extreme attractions outside of Face it Alone, so they had a very set idea of what should happen. When this didn't happen, it lead to that sort of backlash. Getting the balancing act right likely proved hard. And yet there were still people asking for certain things to be done to them, etc.
 
Then 2017 came along, there had been a feeling of discomfort for a while from some actors. The experience had expanded too far out and wasn't something that could be controlled and marketed as it should. People changed roles. The amount of work required to hit that sweet spot was ever-growing, for perhaps diminishing returns. Fright Nights also focused on The Walking Dead, and AMC are known for very strict guidelines about their attractions. Working out a Face it Alone experience for those mazes would have been near-on impossible. So everything together just meant it didn't happen, and it hasn't returned since.
 
And that's that. New external IP, internal concerns and arguably a bit of apathy/running out of steam all really finished it off.
 
 
Maybe in the future it can return. With the AMC contract disappearing soon that would help. Seeing the extreme version of Creepy Caves at Chessington being a success probably helps. But it requires a lot of work, a lot more than many perhaps realise and appreciate. And I'm not sure I could see it happening soon.

I hope this means they will FINALLY start cleaning the headsets on DBGTROTD effectively ..... or even better just keep the darn ride closed!

No idea.
 
Assuming it's something that is coming back this year, it'll probably appear at some point shortly around the start of season.
 
Your best bet is to email the park though and find out. Given its premium nature it's possible they may not be considering bringing it back, so an email might encourage them to bring it back!

What everyone wonders; How many seasons does it take to change a lightbulb?

😂😂😂😅😇
 
( Edit - I don't know where those last two emojis come from, I do know I can't delete them. It's the glitch!)

Can't wait for sex education the experience xx
 
 

Well I never, it’s... it’s....
 
a WoRld fIrSt!
 

I was a bit less subtle and just typed Black Mirror in a post instead.
 
Hope it doesn't have live actors in as year round attractions with live actors have an amazing track history.
 
And yes - socials have confirmed entrance will be behind Colossus so therefore must be the Living Nightmare space. Look out for that yellow schoolbus in the new attraction.

If it were The Goblin King, Sarah, Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didimus I'd have been interested.

Yes, because the engineers are the ones filming, editing and uploading the videos to social media, instead of, yknow, the marketing department?

Looking forward to Jack Silkstone's 15 minute video analysing two words
 

They've stopped because groundwork has started for the RMC lads.

How did they come about with the idea of a man in a t-shirt in the gift shop section last season? 

Thorpe: the redheaded step-child of the Merlin family since 2016. Getting new screens and maybe a bench if we're lucky?

Derren Brown's Ghost train....enough said
 

Me when Thorpe opens an RMC

 
like that’s gonna happen ever, let alone soon!

It's for that RMC opening this year! 

Looks like someone has done no growing up in the last 5 years.
 

 

You're telling someone to grow up on here when all you do is come on here and whine about what people post?
 
The words 'pot', 'kettle' and 'black' come to mind...

Mate, I need to know what plane you're catching to do that.

Noooooo! The classic noise those grabber machines make is one of the last things remaining that has been there for years! Can't imagine walking in the dome and not hearing this... 
https://youtu.be/AO-p-KRZDgA
 

They have one of those, too!

Enthusiasts can be way too critical. Regardless of your opinion on the individual rides, a top 5 coaster line up of Colossus, Inferno, Stealth, Saw and Swarm is a good, varied line up which do offer a lot of thrills. Couple that with some of their flats and support rides, and they do have a very good thrill line up.
 
It's certainly not difficult to justify it as the best UK park for thrills imo

2020 SeASoN pReDicTiOns:
 
Slammer remains untouched
Loggers remains untouched
Green light on Stealth remains broken
Exclusive Thorpe only flavour added to the Freestyle machines #worldfirst