jessica2

agreed I am pleased with this! It never made sense for me to have a random bitty unrelated land breaking up amity, bigger lands/themes have more impact.

I love Tulleys but I was picking between thorpe and tulleys this year, and decided that as Thorpe had 2 mazes I hadn't done and new shows etc and tulleys had no new mazes, it made more sense to go to thorpe. Agreed that tulleys needs a new maze to keep the interest, and perhaps consider retiring e.g. hellements.

I went yesterday and will do a more detailed review in the spoilers thread. I also wanted to echo JohnnyRocket's point above, I was very confused as to why the maze queues between 3-6pm were all a good hour or so long (so I imagine many people did not get them done in their timeslot) but when walking past the mazes at 7/8pm there was a 5-10 min queue. This is with the trio of mazes being sold out in both the afternoon and evening timeslots! Also- Thorpe telling people the maze queues were all 0 minutes on Saturday was definitely a load of rubbish as the app said 0 minutes for all of them despite them being around an hour. We did survival games last and interestingly it had a sign up to say to do it at the end of your slot, as it was 'very busy'. Makes me dread to think how it will cope on busier days assuming once the trio packages sell out more people will book one shots. Overall though despite that I thought it was the strongest fright nights in a very long time and I don't think any element/attraction was bad at all, which is a first, and we managed to do everything pretty much. Highlight had to be the crows, I love the theming and the atmosphere was spot on! But genuinely thought all the mazes were quality this year for different reasons, just a shame about the queueing but hey that's thorpe for you!

Same re first Sunday! Its always my choice too- I think the nice weather will certainly make it busier than usual though its now saying Saturday will be the warmest day. Is anyone going to press night on Thursday?

just as a practical update, I saw the evening maze ticket for this saturday and the 28th have sold out, I guess even when they're indoors people do prefer to do the mazes in the evening and are prepared to pay extra for it. This weekend is predicted to be good weather too so I imagine saturday will be heaving. I am due to go sunday but slightly concerned it will be packed! I think I will stick with an afternoon maze ticket regardless.

Hadn't seen anyone posting these yet but some pictures of fright nights construction on theme park guide: The front looks pretty cool. You can also hear the audio testing on the theme park guide page and it sounds cool if a little different to what I expected, hard to comment too much at this stage. I did notice some of the adverts on Facebook for the maze had very erm basic makeup going on and didn't look scary at all, I hope that the actors will actually look scary and not just like they've put on too much blusher/about to star in a school play/going on a trip down the shops. ...then there's this bus which I must admit I'm slightly puzzled by, at the moment you can't really see it much at all which slightly defeats the point of it. I guess we will see how covering the bus with these stands works into the dance show.

It wasn't super clear from the video, is this just some new/updated scenes rather than a complete overhaul?

Theme of new maze could be good as I guess scary/creepy dolls can be effective. Not sure how you make an entire maze out of it (e.g. in the attic at AT there is a toy scene which is cool) but I guess we will see. It does also put me off going to fright nights nowadays the fact that you get one chance (unless you're buying multiple entries) at having a good run through on a maze, so I tend to go on what I predict will be the quietest day (maybe the first Sunday), and STILL the couple of times I've gone I've ended up in a huge group with a load of teenagers and there's hardly any actors in most of the rooms hah. Go figure... I will say, mazes like asylum with strobes, loud noise and general chaos meant that, even though you were going through in quite large groups in a conga line, you still always got good scares and in a way it didn't matter so much about where you were in the group, it was still intense. I think thorpe may now be missing a maze which has an intensity like asylum (and to some extent creek freak) had, but who knows maybe stitches will bring that. Haven't done survival games so can't comment on that. I hope they do consider things like this when designing mazes, I.e. how will it perform in sub optimal conditions, rather than when one influencer goes round with the full cohort of actors.

Maybe not, but I do remember them saying this was the last year of amity high vs werewolves. I guess yes that's factually correct, but I had assumed it would be replaced by a new concept rather than something tacked on.

So hang on, they'll now have lycanthorpe, amity high and some sort of witch coven all together? This does feel a little random or even lazy, as a way to keep the lycanthorpe/amity thing going but chuck in a random extra element so it can be 'new' again.

On this one- the ember things look a bit like burnt/flaming feathers, and Icarus flew too close to the sun and his wings melted/burnt off. But I also may be looking into it too much. If they wanted to do a full on Icarus story, and then are unable to call it Icarus, perhaps they changed their mind. But flying too close to the sun does go with the tall height part.

When I saw the photos on thorpe park manias facebook page, I thought it looked like something off of a run down pier! Baffling. Agreed the outside I thought looked great... it seems such a shame to cover that up like this. Whoever makes decisions at thorpe needs to give their heads a wobble! I'll try to remain positive but I think its going to be dire.

I saw this.. I'm wondering does anyone know what the safety checks like at WW? Are they comparable to say Thorpe?

I found I always had to explain to the people I was with what the theme was, as usually friends would ride it and say afterwards they had no clue what the theme was and ask me to explain lol. It was the same for inferno at Thorpe. I personally like thought-out theming, so I would like the use of screens, effects, props etc in the queue line. The red river would be ideal, if it cant be dyed then perhaps steam effects or some sort of lighting could work instead. No need to reinvent the wheel though. I agree I'm less keen on a full on pre-show if its not optional. Having said that, the swarm's screens seem to be broken or at least not on most of the time so I would say if they go down the screen route, to make sure its not like they work for 6 months then are off forever more.

Ah- I should have bought for next year then while I was there! Good tip for 2024 as Mat says hah. A complete retheme of the hayride would be great IMO!

My review from last night: Summary Tulleys is a really strong Halloween event in my opinion and certainly has the best atmosphere of any I’ve been to, which is really what makes it strong. I think generally you can have a good or bad run through on any of the mazes (excl hellements which is awful every time). The live music, bars, roaming actors etc are great. The night we went (wed 19th) wasn’t overly busy, queues were for the most part fairly short and even in a couple of cases we went in on our own or in a 4 (and managing to loose the other 2) which was great, and I managed to be at the front for every maze. As always think the event is well run and the actors are great and I always appreciate the effort that’s gone into the event! Also- this is the first time an actor accidentally slapped me in the face when trying to do the classic stamp and hand in face thing, wasn’t painful but certainly contact there haha! So I’ll list these in the order we did them. The only one we did twice was Doom Town, wanted to do Coven again but it was a 35 min queue even at 10.30! Coven of 13 9/10 First maze of the night and it didn’t disappoint, there were a lot of actors and a lot of scares, we loved it! I think based on that run through it is my favourite maze. Creepy cottage 8/10 So this maze had no queue at all, so we went in as a 2 which I think really made a big difference. The actors spent lots of time with us- even stopping me from leaving for quite a while ha! Although of course it feels a bit pokey and old school in terms of the decoration, I still enjoyed it so id give it a solid 8, if we were in a big group I imagine more like a 7. Wastelands 7/10 Advertised as a 20 minute queue but actually was 5 minutes, again being up the front gave the best chance of a good run through, but I found this a bit light on actors overall or at least not overly scary. I also find the going in different rooms thing halfway through quite pointless and also the bunching up in the strobe bit is terrible. Electrick Circus 7/10 Again I enjoyed this, I think it is an improvement on the previous maze and a bit darker, the animatronics work well in some cases but in others it feels like they are just plonked there instead of having actors. I think the theming could be a bit more rich. We managed to lose the rest of our group which was good so plenty of jump scares. The sponge wall things feel firmer than normal for some reason?? I also don’t really get the theme, clowns are dead and scary electricians but the electricians in some cases are dressed as clowns…I don’t know how many years this will continue as it is but I do find something about it a bit jarring. Maybe a bit more variety in the maze might be good. Doom Town 8/10 for the set (6/10 otherwise) So I give this maze 8 for the theming really. I enjoyed it, I thought the detail is incredible especially the pub and a creative route around it, fun soundtrack too. It really does show up the other attractions in terms of the set, 10/10 for that! However- my issues with it are that the acting fell a bit flat for the most part, I didn’t get many scares both times, even at the front. The middle area where you keep coming back to I think although looks good, isn’t scary as you see other groups walking in and out of the places and bunching up, it kind of kills the immersion. I don’t know how that is fixed but perhaps breaking up the view a bit more. Also I felt like there were not enough actors, and no storyline at all not even in the pre recorded message like other mazes which is really bizarre. With a set this good, why would you skip the story? Maybe there needs to be some panicked people or something telling the story, then falling to the floor and getting eaten by zombies, that would be good. Just needs to be more terrifying rather than aimless groaning. The second run through unfortunately actually had fewer actors than the first so wasn’t any better. The cellar 7/10 Good run through, went in as a 4 and lost the other 2 quite quickly. Felt like a good amount of actors there, I think it is due a bit of an overhaul though as you know exactly whats coming. I still find the prison bit very random and jarring, I don’t think it fits with the rest of it. Some good scares. I think if we were in a bigger group, the rating would be lower. The Island 7/10 Again a very solid run through, the actors really got in your face and even sent us on different routes. Had some funny dialogue (who has my bananas) and things like that which was cool. I think there does need to be more scenery and maybe more indoor sections, it is a bit dull after you've done it before. The chop shop 3/10 Wow this is a fall from grace and very disappointing. It used to be my favourite maze, but in the first few rooms the actors were softly talking to us, no jumps, nothing scary at all, was just a slow walk through. Then the chainsaw bit- nowhere near enough actors, long periods of time not seeing any actors at all, really I think this maze needs a big overhaul or putting more actors in it. The weakest run through I’ve ever had. The hayride 9/10 This really is a tulleys signature attraction, and still delivers. I think its good because it is unique. I’d like to see more additions, perhaps changing some of the themes up, but overall really enjoyable. I do think sitting in the middle row is the worst and for some reason the actors ignore you when you’re there lol. Didn’t bother with hellements but I don’t like bag over head mazes. Also didn’t do the circus but in previous years its entertaining and if you’ve not seen them before then check them out.

Having now done both, I personally prefer Thorpe's fright nights over scarefest at Alton. I really enjoyed the attic at Alton, very well done maze and actually possibly one of my favourite mazes/run throughs of any maze I've ever done. However, they do not seem to change their line up very much by all accounts, and the new addition for their 15th(?) anniversary sounds pretty terrible (the lie down in a dark room with headphones thing), whilst thorpe has had some strong new additions like trailers and the crows (but granted also some weaker additions). Another issue I have with scarefest is, because the park is so spread out, in most places there was no halloween theming at all, and no scare zones either (with actors) which I think is a mistake. Sure, near the entrance looked good, but how often are you walking past there? At least with Thorpe, they do have a scare zone or two and by being smaller I think the atmosphere is better on the halloween front as you often will walk past these, whereas with towers I was walking around for ages not seeing anything remotely themed or halloweeny, unless I wanted to go back to the entrance or pay to go in another maze. I did walk through the whispering woods walk thing, but no actors and pretty low effort. I also know Thorpe struggles with queues, however if you look at last saturday at alton, it was insanely busy with many rides hitting 120 minutes, the previous saturday when I was there it wasn't much better either and we certainly queued a lot longer for rides than I ever had done at thorpe on similar days. For example, smiler ended up being 2 hours and all single shot fast tracks sold out on most coasters fairly early on, which is pretty crazy for the opening weekend.

I went to towers on Saturday, the first saturday of scarefest. This was my first time at scarefest so here are my thoughts. It was absolutely packed, probably one step down from school holidays but the busiest I've personally seen the park. The busyness predictor website got it quite wrong. Think next time I'll avoid a saturday! We got on Rita, Thirteen, wicker man, nemesis, galactica, smiler and oblivion, so pretty much the main rides once, this is with being there shortly after opening to beyond closing with a very short break around lunch not queuing. We also did the attic. We found the queue times pretty inaccurate in many cases, smiler was advertised as 70 but ended up being around 90 and I doubt it dropped below that all day, one shot fast tracks sold out early on and I could see the fast track queues were quite large for rides like smiler. Also long RAP queues at each ride. Perhaps this all contributed to the queues moving slowly across the board. Rita said 15 but was 50, thirteen said 40 but was 65. Wicker man was fairly accurate at least at 75 min. I also hadn't personally seen nemesis get a queue like that (around an hour). Was kinda gutted not to have time to fit in one final ride on Wicker Man, but that can wait until march. We did notice they'd invited quite a few 'celebs', e.g. we saw curtis prichard, I also heard 'lad baby' was on the park to try to pretend the invitation was good. I assume this is the route their marketing team is going down. We did one maze (the attic) as we personally find £9 each a bit punchy, and the invitation sounded awful. The attic was really great, I actually think it was one of my favourite mazes ever, the setting and decor was second to none and the actors made a lot of effort- the devil guy especially made me jump several times. They got the smoke effects and lighting just right and actually it was very intense. Definitely worth the £9. I did however think the effort made across the park for scarefest, other than by the entrance, was pretty poor. I think they need some scare zones, roaming actors, or similar. The rides have cool themes, they need to make the most of them.

Thanks for the tip. It seems that at alton unless you're booking the 4 maze ticket, you can only buy a £10 per maze ticket on the day on the app or in person. Seems a bit strange, not sure why they want to do it that way vs trying to upsell when people book online! I was keen to give the invitation/the passing etc a miss this season, even paying £5 for it is too much in my view from the description given lol. Also seems like the two mazes are very similar, I've heard something about a lift mechanism in both.

I saw that the one new 'scare experience' will not be a maze in the 'traditional sense'. It looks like it will be like the passing in a way, sort of you lying in the dark with headphones on while someone brushes your leg occasionally. Either way I think its a hard pass for me, but hey here are some shipping container pics from towersstreet: The other 3 mazes are not changing which understandably has left people annoyed given its supposed to be the scarefest anniversary, and no scare zones which I think is also a shame given theres plenty of room. I think I will do one maze but will wait for staff previews/press night reviews to pick.

It is unfortunate that there is no approval and no date for it to be discussed. To be honest, they should have been working on a new coaster several years ago rather than wasting time with black mirror/derren brown. So I do hope they are really pushing and lobbying for this to happen asap as this is what they really need. A new flat ride on the slammer location would be a nice way to tide people over but I doubt will help visitor numbers that much.

I also can't wait and have open dated tickets, haven't picked a date yet but likely mid week early on!

Personally, I think thorpe shouldn't try to appeal to young families, especially not in the half hearted fashion of adding a playground, realistically why would you go there when you have the likes of chessington, legoland and paultons as alternatives with a lot more available for kids? It just leads to a day of saying 'sorry you aren't tall enough for that ride'. Frankly there isn't enough space to make it a park that appeals to literally everyone and I think that would be a waste of time and effort. I think there is nothing wrong with thorpe focusing on families with older kids, teenagers, adults etc. There is a market for that, but having said that they are harder to impress and with the lack of any decent additions over the past 9 years I'm not surprised by the attendance figures. Agree with above- black mirror and derren brown were way too niche to appeal to the majority of adults/teens and wouldn't be enough to draw someone to the park that wouldn't have been going annually anyway. I think exodus with the right advertising will bring people to the park, and hopefully will have results that demonstrate to management that the park should focus on these sorts of things that will appeal to its main audience- adults, older families and teenagers. On chessington- I'd be interested to see how these figures compare to paultons, having been to both I think a day at paultons is much more pleasant, much shorter queues, and plenty of rides for kids of all ages, so without hesitation I'd recommend to families with kids <10, I just wonder why chessington struggles so much more with queues.

sadly can't attend as I'm at alton towers that day!

Agree that allowing standard ticket holders to do redos will unfortunately result in the more 'popular' mazes having a much longer queue, whilst perhaps any maze that is more 'average' will have a shorter queue as people may think, why do a scare rating 6 or 7 when I can redo a 9 or a 10? However, now the cats out of the bag of allowing redos, could they ever go back to one go per haunt for standard tickets? Is this some sort of test run? I don't know. I have open dated tickets and struggling to pick when will be the least busy time, I went on a random weekday in mid october last year and there was a long queue to even get in the car park, all the mazes had long waits, and that was on a day with torrential rain! the videos I have seen again of this doom patrol maze suggests there is some sort of game and one guy is wearing a blockbusters shirt, I don't quite get the theme myself but perhaps later videos will be a bit clearer.