coasterverse

Yeah, I called it haha I mean, the announcement video really wasn't necessary when it's literally plastered all over their website that their 'Award-Winning Maze' was returning for 2022. I think it is just a marketing thing, yeah. I think the multi-door maze thing is still pretty much what the new maze is going to be, but they're making something else out of it to tie it all together I reckon. Plus, I know it's completely outside of the realms of possibility (especially considering Trailers has been open for the Carnival event so obviously hasn't had the full 12 months to work on making it different), but Trailers really needs a complete overhaul every year, personally. Cinemas don't just churn out the same movies over and over again and so needs to be different to keep up with the theme. I really wasn't the biggest fan of Trailers last year, but keeping everything crossed that this year is better.

Jack Silkstone's just confirmed that Thorpe Park are releasing their lineup gradually through August, and we'll be seeing the first announcement tonight. What's the betting that tonight's reveal is that Trailers is returning or something super predictable? 😂

Well that didn't give us much more information now did it 😂 But yeah definitely looks like the new maze will probably be a multi-fear attraction - probably different fears behind the different doors. Would make sense considering the character in the trailers has actually been called 'Fear'. If that's actually what it is, THIS has potential. Big, big potential. If it's a decently sized maze and the scares are good, I think this could easily become Thorpe's best maze to date - topping Trailers. But hey, we get a look behind "Door One" at 8pm tonight on the Thorpe Park YouTube channel, so let's just wait and see.

This kind of thing is what I had in mind if they opted to not have guests free-walk themselves to the farm. But I guess what @JoshC. said about noise could definitely be an issue. I still think it would be sick to have an experience totally out of the way of the park, though. Would really drive home an 'isolated' scare experience and really make you feel immersed in what you're experiencing. It's a little difficult to be fully immersed in a scare experience when you're slap bang in the middle of a theme park and the screams inside are masked by the screams from people riding the coasters.

New teaser! The description reads: Let us introduce you to the Locksmith, one of FEAR's devilish disciples😈 Hidden within the island, the Locksmith dwells in his workshop creating unearthly keys that unlock the doors to your darkest nightmares🚪🗝️ So, probably a multi-room escape room with different fears so people can choose their worst fear and have it brought to life? Certainly what it sounds like to me.

The only issue is that I think The Crows of Mawkin Meadow will probably return this year again as another scare zone as it was so well received last year (it even won an award iirc), so I can't really see them converting that into a maze/scare experience space. The fact that they are marketing something completely seperate as a 'Scare Experience' alongisde the mazes and scare zones to me suggests something bigger, but hey I could also be completely wrong. I think if we were betting safely - the space next to Trailers could be converted into a new scare maze space (although take into consideration my comments above re the proximity of the space to Trailers and the footfall of people queuing for two different scare attractions directly next to eachother) and Containment could make another return as the 'Scare Experience' escape room, similar to how it was when it initially debuted. I know that the promotional material doesn't say much as it is literally just a set at the end of the day, but I just feel like one thing that nobody would expect to happen would be an attraction at the farm. The length of the attraction alone - taking into consideration the length of the walk from the park to the farm, the experience itself actually on the farm, and the journey back to the park - would certainly give more than enough space for it to be considered a 'Scare Experience' rather than a 'Scare Maze' or 'Scare Zone' based on its sheer length alone. Is it probable? Probably not. Do I think it would be beneficial and free up loads of space to make a truly world-class scare experience? Absolutely. But if anyone lives close to Thorpe, someone should definitely take a peek at the farm and let us know if anything's going on over there 👀

But again if it is something major but was happening on Thorpe Farm... we wouldn't really see anything anyway as it's so out of the way... so who knows!

Actual building-wise we're very limited. Obviously there's the conference hall next to Depth Charge, but I can't imagine them wanting to retire that entire building for the duration of the event. The Black Mirror building is also potentially on the cards I suppose considering it used to be home to Walking Dead (can't remember if it was Do Or Die or Living Nightmare now for some reason) but can't really see this being an option either as I would imagine they would have needed to close the attraction by now to convert it, so that's off the cards too. As I mentioned above, converting Derren Brown into a Fright Nights attraction would be amazing... but much the same with Black Mirror, they'd have to have closed the attraction by now to carry out the works. That really just leaves us with the Containment container, and the plot of land next to Trailers. There has been clearance work taking place there apparently... however I'm not entirely sure if logistically the park would want two scare attractions directly next to eachother... I'd imagine that would cause one hell of a bottleneck when it comes to crowd control. I really do think our only option at this point is having the old Containment attraction re-themed and re-opened and having the scare experience on the farm.

I don't know why but I've got such an intense vibe that something will be happening at Thorpe Farm this year. The teaser trailer doesn't look like it's filmed inside of Containment and looks veeeeeery similar to the location where the teaser for Creek Freak Massacre was filmed last year (pictures below for comparison). Thorpe Farm is just used for storage at the moment and obviously is still connected to the main Thorpe Park - so my prediction is that you walk over to Thorpe Farm and this is either where the new scare experience is or is the third maze. Personally, I think there's more weight behind this being the location of the scare experience, as I have to agree that I think Containment will be making a return for the third maze this year.

Everybody always talks about Thorpe mazes (such as Trailers and Creek) being intense, but personally I've never really gotten that vibe from any maze I've done at Thorpe. I suppose because they work with such little space in all of their mazes, it ends up making the scares really predictable. It seemed like I was in the minority last year when I said that I think Trailers was personally the weakest of the three mazes they had going. Yeah, sure Trailers has really good scenery... but because they tried to pack so much into that space, you could see everything in each room well ahead of time which totally ruined the scare factor for me. A small, really intense maze (like in the Containment space) would be amazing. Thorpe Park are a park catering for 'thrillseekers' after all, so having that option there would be amazing.

Tickets for 2022 Fright Nights are now on sale - promotional material mentions scare zones, three scare mazes and a scare experience. Creek Freak is all but 100% confirmed and you can bet everything you own that Trailers will re-open as well, but what do we think the other maze is going to be? And what are we thinking is this 'Scare Experience'? Clearly something new as isn't being lumped in with 'Scare Zones'. What I'm hoping for (albeit very naievely) is them actually reimagining DBGT for Fright Nights. Such an insanely themed area and show building, a very good ride system that could potentially be utlised in some way or another (hopefully without the VR), not to mention that the space is huge. I've always said they're missing a trick by not doing something with it for Fright Nights... I mean, it is literally a year-round scare attraction, so why not?! Although this would be my dream scenario and I would pay through the arse to see it come to fruition, I think with all of the 'key' branding we've been seeing this year, odds are much higher for it to be an upcharged live-action escape room of sorts, personally. Let's discuss.

I'd imagine there's probably a reason why Stealth is painted the way it is, so I presume the transition point will be very similar to that of Stealth's. Pure assumption, mind. I could be completely wrong.

Quite like the look of the weeds growing through the paving to be honest, think it fits Old Town's aesthetic quite nicely. I guess that says a lot, doesn't it...

Now this is an idea I can get behind...

I think you should change your name to Rocky Express Fanatic

Somewhat of a quiet day at Towers yesterday. Also, not sure if it was a technical glitch or an intentional thing (for whatever reason), but Wicker Man's pre-show was cut short all three times I rode it yesterday, seemingly all around the "let the ceremony commence" part. Like I say, no idea if that's intentional for whatever reason or just a technical glitch, but thought I'd share anyway.

I'm not sure if Samurai is quite at that point yet, but Rocky Express definitely will be unfortunately.

I find it interesting how you say that Sumurai is on borrowed time (which, to be fair, it is) but refuse to accept that Rocky Express is dead. gone. buried. finished. You have to remember that Rocky Express opened in 1989... waaaaay past its prime. I think it's time to let go, man.

I really, really hope (probably somewhat naievely) that Merlin don't cut their losses with DBGT and actually invest a bit more of a significant amount of money into it. I know it already cost an absolute arm and a leg to get the product we receive today, but surely with the lessons learned after opening the attraction and taking feedback on board of guests riding the attraction, they couldn't make the same mistakes twice... or technically thrice because of Rise of the Demon. Personally, I'd like to see them get rid of the entire VR section as it currently stands and completely re-do it. For longevity, this could even be updated every season but obviously know this is very, very expensive to do and nobody could ever convince Merlin that it's worth it, but would really make people WANT to ride the attraction to see the new story. It's been essentially the same attraction with little to no re-rideability since 2016 and that's so disappointing for an attraction with fantastic potential. The theming, the ride system... it's all fantastic. It's the storyline and lack of consistency that lets it down every. single. time. The cheaper option would be to remove VR entirely, imo. Add screens in where the windows would be in a real tube train, perhaps add co2 cannisters (rather than smoke machines for quick dispersal.. or have industry grade extractor fans to remove all the smoke once guests deboard the train so there's no remnance left for the next train of people), strobes and actors running a frenzy inside the train. Probably a health and safety hazard because of the lack of restraints... so add some restraints too. Having video screens instead of VR would also make switching up the story occasionally a hell of a lot cheaper to do too, as can just be done with one camera and no special 360 degree cameras would need to be used. Oh, and bring back the demon costume. I don't care how much it costs to do, but do it. The coughing person at the end does not, and never will, have the same effect as the demon once had. It either needs to make a return, or all references to 'the demon' need to be removed. It's an absolute shambles. Now I think about it, surely these changes wouldn't even be that expensive to implement. But I guess Thorpe/Merlin's attitude to not even replacing the big finale demon costume probably says a lot more about the future of this attraction with an amazing potential than anything else. I really don't think this attraction has much time left, and it's so so sad to see. I mean, just look at the state of the Ghost Train Shop. It's bloody baron.

I've never understood why Storm Surge always manages to get such an insane queuetime - literally every time I've been it's been 30+ minutes, even on the quiet days! I've only ridden it once and am in no rush to ride it again... my feet get less wet on Tidal Wave than they do on Storm Surge! 😂

I don't know how many times you need to be told it's going to be demolished... 😂

Agreed - definitely no re-experience-ability whatsoever. I've either done it twice or thrice since it opened, and the best way to describe it is a sensory overload 😂 I can't see it lasting too much longer though, which is a good thing I think because the BML show building has got a really decent sized footprint and utilizing that space for Fright Nights (or perhaps an actually good dark ride... ehem DBGTROTD... albeit if they opted for the dark ride, it would be pretty bloody short.

Not an easter egg... certainly just a 'nod to', or whatever other buzzword Thorpe likes using these days.

To me, without the demon ending, the whole storyline is completely disjointed. Granted the 'infected' ones are the more promiment ones in the storyline, but after they got rid of the demon in the tunnel/lights on a stick schtick for Rise of the Demon - it kind of makes the demon a bit... irrelevant? They should either scrap the demon idea entirely and just focus on the people 'infected by the gas', or scrap the infected and go with the demon. 'Rise of the Demon' doesn't make any sense anymore - but to be fair, I never understood the idea of why a demon was involved when the gas was turning people infected? Really, really poor storyline.

Thank the lord for that. Christ, what an eyesore.