Quorn

Don’t know if anyone will bother to read this but here are my experiences from yesterday. Spoilers (a little bit).
 
1. Creepy Cottage - Pretty much unchanged as far as I noticed, a few good jumps where I failed to spot some of the curtains, good way to start.
 
2. VIXI - Having had quite a good experience with it last year, I was let down when I went through the first two or three rooms with nobody interacting with me or anybody else in my group. After that there were very few actors at best and they didn’t do a great job of surprising any of us. The ending still manages to slightly redeem the maze.
 
3. Coven - I still love the effects in this maze, but my run through was let down by a slow group ahead of us. I’d gone first to leave myself a bit more exposed, but could already see the group ahead of us as soon as I came out of the briefing area. The swamp still gave me some good scares so I’ll let it slide.
 
4. Hayride - The same layout as years gone, but the actors seemed a bit scarce this time. Only a few hopped onto the trailer and they didn’t interact much with us as we were at the tractor end. Still enjoyable.
 
5. Chop Shop - Still one of the most intense mazes I’ve experienced. Going last, I was stopped by actors and cut off from the group on multiple occasions, making it the best run through I’ve had.
 
6. Colony - Again, batching let this maze down for me as we were stopped about two thirds of the way through by a group trying to get through the inflatables but hesitating. I went last again and was joined by the group behind us around halfway through. The final actor also failed to interact with us, meaning we just walked past and she terrorised those behind us, disappointed. The unique parts of this maze do make it memorable though, and I still enjoyed it for the most part.
 
7. Cellar - Going last again, I had the best maze experience I’ve ever had. There was no instruction to form a conga line this time (not sure if that’s an intentional change for this year) so I was free to create a gap between myself and the group which the actors abused, blocking me off and jumping out in front of me at every corner. The variety in this maze still contributes to it’s greatness in my opinion, combining Big Top’s strobe maze, Cabin in the Woods’ corridors and it’s own theming elements to create a great experience.
 
8. Twisted Clowns - The 3D element to the maze still makes the clowns stand out from anything else I’ve seen, and the interaction was great from them too. I was stopped for a while by a clown asking for a password before I could pass, separating me from the group and making it really enjoyable.
 
Overall:
Cottage - 6/10
VIXI - 5/10
Coven - 7/10
Hayride - 7/10
Chop Shop - 9/10
Colony - 8/10
Cellar - 10/10
Clowns - 9/10
 
We didn’t make any of the Circus of Horrors time slots, so can’t comment on that.

Don’t know if anyone will bother to read this but here are my experiences from yesterday. Spoilers (a little bit).
 
1. Creepy Cottage - Pretty much unchanged as far as I noticed, a few good jumps where I failed to spot some of the curtains, good way to start.
 
2. VIXI - Having had quite a good experience with it last year, I was let down when I went through the first two or three rooms with nobody interacting with me or anybody else in my group. After that there were very few actors at best and they didn’t do a great job of surprising any of us. The ending still manages to slightly redeem the maze.
 
3. Coven - I still love the effects in this maze, but my run through was let down by a slow group ahead of us. I’d gone first to leave myself a bit more exposed, but could already see the group ahead of us as soon as I came out of the briefing area. The swamp still gave me some good scares so I’ll let it slide.
 
4. Hayride - The same layout as years gone, but the actors seemed a bit scarce this time. Only a few hopped onto the trailer and they didn’t interact much with us as we were at the tractor end. Still enjoyable.
 
5. Chop Shop - Still one of the most intense mazes I’ve experienced. Going last, I was stopped by actors and cut off from the group on multiple occasions, making it the best run through I’ve had.
 
6. Colony - Again, batching let this maze down for me as we were stopped about two thirds of the way through by a group trying to get through the inflatables but hesitating. I went last again and was joined by the group behind us around halfway through. The final actor also failed to interact with us, meaning we just walked past and she terrorised those behind us, disappointed. The unique parts of this maze do make it memorable though, and I still enjoyed it for the most part.
 
7. Cellar - Going last again, I had the best maze experience I’ve ever had. There was no instruction to form a conga line this time (not sure if that’s an intentional change for this year) so I was free to create a gap between myself and the group which the actors abused, blocking me off and jumping out in front of me at every corner. The variety in this maze still contributes to it’s greatness in my opinion, combining Big Top’s strobe maze, Cabin in the Woods’ corridors and it’s own theming elements to create a great experience.
 
8. Twisted Clowns - The 3D element to the maze still makes the clowns stand out from anything else I’ve seen, and the interaction was great from them too. I was stopped for a while by a clown asking for a password before I could pass, separating me from the group and making it really enjoyable.
 
Overall:
Cottage - 6/10
VIXI - 5/10
Coven - 7/10
Hayride - 7/10
Chop Shop - 9/10
Colony - 8/10
Cellar - 10/10
Clowns - 9/10
 
We didn’t make any of the Circus of Horrors time slots, so can’t comment on that.

Not sure if anyone would agree with this, but I feel that a much simpler and actor-free dark ride like Hex would actually have been a better addition to the park. Sure DBGT could have worked brilliantly, and it did on the media night, but the lack of effort to maintain the experience has let the ride down.

Not sure if anyone would agree with this, but I feel that a much simpler and actor-free dark ride like Hex would actually have been a better addition to the park. Sure DBGT could have worked brilliantly, and it did on the media night, but the lack of effort to maintain the experience has let the ride down.

Yeah it wasn't the length of the whole park haha

I feel Tulleys is more intense as well, and I didn't experience a touch scare once last year at Thorpe. The lack of actors at Thorpe means mazes are often long and drawn out without any real scares, whereas Tulleys is full of actors hiding around every corner, creating an onslaught of scares.

The idea was there for Hellements, just not the execution.

Today was my first visit since the update to the lost city soundtrack, and despite my initial feelings of 'nothing can improve that music' and 'I'm never visiting any Merlin park ever again', the new music seems to breathe new life into the area and makes it feel much more alive. It seemed refreshed and lively compared to past experiences. Colossus on the other hand...

Today was my first visit since the update to the lost city soundtrack, and despite my initial feelings of 'nothing can improve that music' and 'I'm never visiting any Merlin park ever again', the new music seems to breathe new life into the area and makes it feel much more alive. It seemed refreshed and lively compared to past experiences. Colossus on the other hand...

Today was my first visit since the update to the lost city soundtrack, and despite my initial feelings of 'nothing can improve that music' and 'I'm never visiting any Merlin park ever again', the new music seems to breathe new life into the area and makes it feel much more alive. It seemed refreshed and lively compared to past experiences. Colossus on the other hand...

The most recent one was 2015 so I created one for this season: 
 

A bit more evidence supporting the Walking Dead idea.