JoshuaWAHH3

Some post season thoughts:
 
So I went to Tulleys again on the penultimate night- here is my closing thoughts on the event .
 
Cellar: I believe this maze is on its last legs- it just blends with the other attractions too much for me. Really the weakest maze for me.
 
Cottage/Hayride- I think hayride could do with a refresh. It has been the same in terms of most characters and sets for a few years- it has seen refreshes in the past, I think it needs another one very soon. It is a great and unique attraction though. Cottage is completely fine as is with a cult following now it seems.
 
Chop: I think this is very fun, but obviously not everyone’s cup of tea. I think maybe a few extra actors and an extended buildup would be welcomed. It’s a great maze in my opinion
 
Wastelands/Doom Town: amazing. Doom Town in particular gave me two killer run throughs, we had 3 jump scares within the first 15 seconds on one of them!
 
Coven: I do think some of the walks between main sections could do with work- but it is a great maze with some unique ideas- the swamp, the fire finale, ect.
 
VIXI: I think this space should be reworked- maybe half a hooded maze with some more maze sections. Not my thing.
 
Electrick:
This one I have the most thoughts on- I think it’s a very good attraction. It has brilliant Animatronics, soundtrack, and scares. Though I have heard people miss the silly and trippy atmosphere that Twisted had, as it was such a stark contrast to every other maze in the park- especially with the bright popping colors. Electric is a lot more dark and filled with strobe lights- which is cool, but I’ve heard people don’t find it as distinctive. They find it a little akin to other mazes.
 
My overall biased opinion that I hope we see a more light hearted or a true clown maze appear next year- though ElecTrick is great by itself, I would call it more of a loose “clown maze”. I think also they should double down on reminding us they’re not clowns lol. But overall it’s certainly creepy in there, and I love things like the strobe filled actor runs. 
 
Overall a great year- these are just some thoughts I had after that night. Another thing I would like to mention is how I love the addition of the punk rock girls and the DJ. The street team this year really seemed to be slaying the other night- I saw all the characters while queueing at some point. Brian in particular was amazing, Romeo and Juliet was also a banger of an addition. The jokes were sharp and funny- I love the mix of new with the classics like The Nurses. The park also did a very consumer friendly move in my opinion and now make repeating haunts free with a Xscream pass- on a quiet night like the 4th, it was a godsend being able to do Wastelands and Doom 3x each.
 
I did 15 run throughs+circus of horrors without fastrack on the 4th, which compared to the 4 attractions at Thorpe for £32, the £35-40 I paid felt more than worth it.

Rocky was still there when I visited on Sunday, untouched and looking very sorry for itself indeed. 
 
I think Thorpe should be looking to spend the few hundred thousand pounds it'll cost to rebrand on more pressing issues to be honest...
 
I concur with comments above re: Swarm station. Who would have thought that having a station made mostly of wood, exposed to the elements, would start to rot....? SO much graffiti in the queue lines on Sunday, but appreciate it's end of season. The handrail on the far side of the station was completely hanging off the wall too. Suffice to say, the steel beams in the station that were once cladded and themed, are still bare, despite noises about them being returned to their previous theming.
 
Rush has a section of queue line fencing removed and replaced with temporary barriers - and spotted near the ops booth, some subsidence as the brickwork floor has caved in/sunk.
 
Still at least the new Tidal Wave effec.... oh. 
 

Yeah I mean I didn't mean a storyline for the main ride - the announcement very much sounded like a pre-requisite to another storyline for a seperate attraction (Sub-Terra). A new evil CEO, trying to entice people into entering the Phalanx headquarters for a tour of some kind, only to 'unleash' Nemesis on them to kill them.
 
I dunno, I'm no theme park storyline designer but that's very much the kind of vibe I'm getting from the announcement.

I would think any changes or additions to the story would have little impact on the ride. We know that the station is only getting cosmetic fixes, we know  very little of the ride is changing (only an extra footer and support on the downward helix) so therefore this Phalanax stuff could just be background dressing. The original legend was never pushed at people, only ever marketing fluff.
 
I wouldn’t want Towers to do things like pre shows or photo shoot rooms. Just leave as be.
 
The pictures from last night look fabulous. What a send off. I can’t imagine any other U.K. ride bringing so many people together in this way. It really is something special. 

Same with me, this is the first Fright Nights I've missed in a long time. As much as Survival games is tempting, I just simply don't think its worth it anymore for 1 run through

I think the sponge walls maybe are tighter because most of them are new. I know they used the same one for years, but last year they removed most of them because of covid, and now they are all being brought back (Island also has a horribly tight one alongside Electrick).
 
I think with the theme of Electrick it is a little confusing- basically there is a bunch of clown costumes (the ones they wore in Twisted) scattered on the walls of the first section, which kind of sets the tone of the clowns being murdered. The mannequins also have the previous costumes on them as well. The electricians in this narrative are kind of posing as clowns, they took their paint, and some of what they wore. Most of them are in boiler suits though to reflect they are not clowns. The van at the end also has some text on it which lists an electrician company with the message "the electricians you can trust!". With the lighting and the costumes being above you, it is very easy to miss. Maybe next year they can highlight some of these details a little better and elaborate on the story a bit more. I do believe it is a little Survival Games esque though, scares first and theming generally comes second.

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.

I remember in 2014 I am pretty sure I paid £20 for a backstage tour of Cabin, and £25 for Studio 13. I know that was a while back, but got that is one price bump. Also Survival Games probably is worse to tour than Trailers I bet- it barely has any theming, it is just a big black box with moving doors.
 
I think the structure like the maze prices is horribly extortinate, and one of the reasons why I do not go to Fright Nights as much. I'd love to rerun some of these mazes, but for £32, no thanks. Especially for only 3 mazes when I live 5 minutes away from a park that charges £40 for 10 mazes.

Tulleys is my annual go-to Halloween event. Living 3 miles way, and being my local farm growing up- it has been intriguing to watch the farm turn into a mega scream park. 
When I started visiting in 2012 PR was minimal, there was 6 lowkey mazes, and it had no rides! It now feels gigantic!  The park feels like a new kind of beast this year- it has a coaster now, and has a new haunt (10 now overall), and god is it a whole new world. I have visited every year, but this year I really felt it. This is the biggest scream park in the country, and maybe Europe. And it’s all on my doorstep!
 
The Island:
So with my current occupation, I don’t think I’m really qualified to fairly review this. The Island this year has been cut heavily in scale, but even with 1/3 of the maze gone, it still is a HUGE attraction spanning plenty of outdoor sections- I believe it needs tweaking but making it smaller this year was a smart move, as the attraction even now is of a pretty crazy length.
 
Creepy Cottage: The OG- sure it’s not the most intense, the most long, or elaborate. But it’s such a fun maze that I’m glad returned. It truly is a living relic and shows just how much their mazes have evolved. It is a true haunted house.
 
Hellements:
Not my kind of thing. My partner liked it though! So to those people who are new to Tulleys- it can be surprisingly popular. 
 
Cellar:
I had a meh run through- the cage bit was strong though, and the overall maze I think is a cool layout. I do believe it is on its last legs though. 
 
ElecTrick Circus:
As someone who was in Twisted Clowns for 3 years, I absolutely shook with intrigue when I was told it was to be redone. Now ElecTrick layout wise uses a lot of Twisted’s blueprints- the actual path in 2/3 of the maze is actually the same layout, but you’d never know! It feels worlds apart from Twisted with mannequins, creepy music, erratic strobes, and "clowns".
 
Twisted Clowns was a lot more humour and improvised- which I think was fun, but ultimately not very scary. Electrick certainly takes the tone from trippy and silly to serious and sinister, and I believe it is a really fun theme with its fairly misunderstood concept. To those who do not know, Electrick Circus is about a bunch of electricians who killed the clowns, and all the actors are not actually clowns! Previous nods to Twisted Clowns do remain in the attraction as easter eggs which is cool!
 
Chop Shop:
I really enjoyed this, and so did my partner! I think for anybody new to this event, Chop Shop is forever a bloody shock. He seemed so amused when the attraction just kept going with its chainsaws, it is truly a simple but completely chaotic experience. Sure I have been in this attraction dozens of times, dating back to its debut in 2015, but it always is a bit of fun.
 
Hayride:
Forever a icon at Tulleys, and this year it very much delivered as per usual. Some of the jokes this year hit very well with our group, and yeah. Its a very fun attraction.
 
Doom Town:
JESUS. Me and Will actually entered this first, as it did not have a queue for some reason. What a way to start a night! Doom Town is by far the best themed maze in the UK- I do not want to jump the gun, but I do not think another attraction in this country is as elaborate as this maze. It probably would wipe the floor with anything at HHN or events in Europe on the grounds of theming. It is stunning- armed with references, cars, a cinema, a blockbuster, a salon, a chinese, a church, and a zombie disco room. It just feels so complete, and so elaborate. Tulleys literally built an ENTIRE town for a maze. The sets are just detailed to the brim, it feels like more of an immersive experience than an Scare Maze.
 
Now Doom Town may not be what you are expecting- it is very campy, has a very cool slick 80s theme, but I would say it is a lot more fun than scary. I do believe though that the maze is by far one of the best scare attractions in Europe, probably the world. One thing I really enjoyed as well was the use of scents- the smell pods felt very strong, and this is actually a new thing for Tulleys! I really hope we have more smell pods added throughout the event in the future- it makes the world class sets feel even more immersive. The music is also a joyous 80s guitar riff which just puts a smile to my face.
 
Wastelands:
Year number three for this attraction, and every run through just makes me wanna scream, or cry at the amazing design of this maze. Scares were constant, sets were beautiful, and the maze just feels so "busy" with actors always being close by.
 
My partner's reaction was amazing- he is a hard nut to crack, but he seemed overwhelmed by the actors in the first few minutes. The first few rooms were really flowing with actors, and then when we hit the strobe maze he seemed to drop his jaw- he was shocked. It truly is a crazy moment, with the insane strobes, heavy rock music, and actors surrounding you from all angles. Probably my favourite maze at the park, but Doom Town honestly makes it a hard decision.
 
 
Overall:
Me and will had great interactions with the amazing street team, and we had a rocking night. I may be biased, but jesus it is a pretty rocking event. Doom Town, Electrick, and Wastelands  make me very excited for what they do next.
 

Tulleys is my annual go-to Halloween event. Living 3 miles way, and being my local farm growing up- it has been intriguing to watch the farm turn into a mega scream park. 
When I started visiting in 2012 PR was minimal, there was 6 lowkey mazes, and it had no rides! It now feels gigantic!  The park feels like a new kind of beast this year- it has a coaster now, and has a new haunt (10 now overall), and god is it a whole new world. I have visited every year, but this year I really felt it. This is the biggest scream park in the country, and maybe Europe. And it’s all on my doorstep!
 
The Island:
So with my current occupation, I don’t think I’m really qualified to fairly review this. The Island this year has been cut heavily in scale, but even with 1/3 of the maze gone, it still is a HUGE attraction spanning plenty of outdoor sections- I believe it needs tweaking but making it smaller this year was a smart move, as the attraction even now is of a pretty crazy length.
 
Creepy Cottage: The OG- sure it’s not the most intense, the most long, or elaborate. But it’s such a fun maze that I’m glad returned. It truly is a living relic and shows just how much their mazes have evolved. It is a true haunted house.
 
Hellements:
Not my kind of thing. My partner liked it though! So to those people who are new to Tulleys- it can be surprisingly popular. 
 
Cellar:
I had a meh run through- the cage bit was strong though, and the overall maze I think is a cool layout. I do believe it is on its last legs though. 
 
ElecTrick Circus:
As someone who was in Twisted Clowns for 3 years, I absolutely shook with intrigue when I was told it was to be redone. Now ElecTrick layout wise uses a lot of Twisted’s blueprints- the actual path in 2/3 of the maze is actually the same layout, but you’d never know! It feels worlds apart from Twisted with mannequins, creepy music, erratic strobes, and "clowns".
 
Twisted Clowns was a lot more humour and improvised- which I think was fun, but ultimately not very scary. Electrick certainly takes the tone from trippy and silly to serious and sinister, and I believe it is a really fun theme with its fairly misunderstood concept. To those who do not know, Electrick Circus is about a bunch of electricians who killed the clowns, and all the actors are not actually clowns! Previous nods to Twisted Clowns do remain in the attraction as easter eggs which is cool!
 
Chop Shop:
I really enjoyed this, and so did my partner! I think for anybody new to this event, Chop Shop is forever a bloody shock. He seemed so amused when the attraction just kept going with its chainsaws, it is truly a simple but completely chaotic experience. Sure I have been in this attraction dozens of times, dating back to its debut in 2015, but it always is a bit of fun.
 
Hayride:
Forever a icon at Tulleys, and this year it very much delivered as per usual. Some of the jokes this year hit very well with our group, and yeah. Its a very fun attraction.
 
Doom Town:
JESUS. Me and Will actually entered this first, as it did not have a queue for some reason. What a way to start a night! Doom Town is by far the best themed maze in the UK- I do not want to jump the gun, but I do not think another attraction in this country is as elaborate as this maze. It probably would wipe the floor with anything at HHN or events in Europe on the grounds of theming. It is stunning- armed with references, cars, a cinema, a blockbuster, a salon, a chinese, a church, and a zombie disco room. It just feels so complete, and so elaborate. Tulleys literally built an ENTIRE town for a maze. The sets are just detailed to the brim, it feels like more of an immersive experience than an Scare Maze.
 
Now Doom Town may not be what you are expecting- it is very campy, has a very cool slick 80s theme, but I would say it is a lot more fun than scary. I do believe though that the maze is by far one of the best scare attractions in Europe, probably the world. One thing I really enjoyed as well was the use of scents- the smell pods felt very strong, and this is actually a new thing for Tulleys! I really hope we have more smell pods added throughout the event in the future- it makes the world class sets feel even more immersive. The music is also a joyous 80s guitar riff which just puts a smile to my face.
 
Wastelands:
Year number three for this attraction, and every run through just makes me wanna scream, or cry at the amazing design of this maze. Scares were constant, sets were beautiful, and the maze just feels so "busy" with actors always being close by.
 
My partner's reaction was amazing- he is a hard nut to crack, but he seemed overwhelmed by the actors in the first few minutes. The first few rooms were really flowing with actors, and then when we hit the strobe maze he seemed to drop his jaw- he was shocked. It truly is a crazy moment, with the insane strobes, heavy rock music, and actors surrounding you from all angles. Probably my favourite maze at the park, but Doom Town honestly makes it a hard decision.
 
 
Overall:
Me and will had great interactions with the amazing street team, and we had a rocking night. I may be biased, but jesus it is a pretty rocking event. Doom Town, Electrick, and Wastelands  make me very excited for what they do next.
 

So - my annual trip to Tulleys was last night! Have never done a Sunday before. We always purchase the VIP "RIP" bundle in advance - with fees that worked out at £97 per ticket, and included a £15 merch token and a £10 food voucher according to the website - but in true Tulleys fashion, you actually got a £20 merch token, a £10 food voucher and a £5 drinks token - so that was nice! In case you don't know, the VIP RIP ticket entitles you to unlimited fast-track all night - which, with the new maze entry system where even the paupers with a standard ticket  can now go through mazes multiples times (provided they queue obvs), becomes even more worthwhile.
 
Quick and efficient entry to the park as per - they now have bag searches in the queue, and I also got patted down upon entry too - must look dodgy innit!
 
We got into the park at 5.20pm, with haunts due to open at 5.30pm. So lets crack on with my reviews and number of run throughs I had...
 
COVEN OF 13: X3
Normally my favourite maze this one. A few changes this year though - there's a smokey walk to the swamp scene and then after that there's another - pointless - walk without actors that doesn't really do anything in a corridoor. Our first run through was awful, but really because of the group in front taking photos mid-way through the swamp a number of times - despite literally being told not to use phones mere minutes before in the announcements. Also being slow as hell just meant everyone got bunched up and that kills it for that maze. Early in the evening the haze in the swamp was lacking, but this did rectify itself as the night went on. There definitely seems to be less of an outside section from what I could tell and the scares in the outside areas were not forthcoming (had some iconic moments before in the outside sections being stared out blocking the narrow paths). Great actress with a knife in the house section, and I still love the heat room bit! Had a run through effectively by myself at the end of the evening which rectified the wrong-doings of the previous 2 runs with Coven being it's former awesome self. Shout out to the witches in the swamp for now getting up and in your face, crawling on the side walls and such, really cool... and during the heat room section, I was surrounded by no fewer than 5 witches ❤️ Just a shame that this maze suffers badly when you are with a slow group or a big batch. Coven had by far the biggest queues all night - which is a little odd to me when you have newer additions. Maybe people just love that swamp still?  And can I re-iterate - having an awful run through is EXACLY why "one shot" paid mazes should not be an £8+ price point... I knew that I could at least give Coven another chance or two throughout the evening vs. "Oh well, some numpty in front completely ruined it for me and that's £10 down the drain"
7.5/10 (on the solo runthrough - if we'd had just the first runthrough, would be 3/10)
 
CREEPY COTTAGE: X3
This was actually our first maze of the night - tradition innit. Some cracking scares on the first run through - always feel the actors have to work harder on this maze. Do have a soft spot for Cottage, however, the end section (with the drapes) should go back to the white fabric from last year in my humblest of opinion - more spooky and fitting, the blue just was a bit odd and that area looked tired. Good fun, but actors seemed sparse late in the evening on this one. Wouldn't like to see Cottage go, but would be nice to have a bit of investment I think. One run was over SUPER quickly in particular. Shout out on this one to the actress with the crucifix on her head who was the perfect mix of creepy and quirky, appearing from nowhere and politely pointing me away when I accidentally ended up in actor run (I know, after ALL THESE YEARS, the shame on me!) Love the "Ring" style actress continually getting up on the ledges in one of the corridor, always looks class when you see that shadow looming at you in the distance! Loved the "there she is!" from one actress when she appeared too  
6/10
 
THE CELLLAR: X4
This was consistent during the night - I know it's basic AF, but I love that snake still, iconic. The strobe/mesh maze at the end was and still is a good addition, with some good scares as always with numerous actresses ganging up on us. On more than one occasion, an actress on one of the bunkbeds got me completely unawares due to how dark it was - one point I was literally looking where she was and couldn't see a thing, only for her to jump out at me into my face! Just a solid maze this really.
7/10
 
WASTELANDS: X2
This was pretty actor heavy but found the first runthrough suffered due to slow groups in front, meaning you end up as a conga line which just ruins it unfortunately Still an amazing area, and a very big, imposing and consistent maze. Like the "air gun" at the end being fired by an inmate, that makes a real nice change to a chainsaw. Had a go essentially by myself at 11.28pm which rectified the bad run through earlier in the night, got well and truly put upon in the centre of the jail.
7.5/10 (thanks to second solo run - 5/10 based on first run)
 
ELECTRICK CIRCUS: X3
Always liked the Twisted Clowns - not the glasses so much - but it was in need of a refresh, and my god has it got one. Still keeping the fun, silly, scares of before, but now with animatronics, and some true "is that or isn't that a person" moments - particular highlight was the actor with the mask (a la the dolls in Trailers) - spooky as hell. Just really mixes the evening up a bit this maze, something very different, quite intense at times - love the see through actor runs so they can see you coming even whilst waiting in the pre-maze announcement. Great refresh, and an ummmm interesting photo opportunity at the end! That trommel tunnel properly gets me queasy too, bleugh!  
8/10
 
HELLEMENTS: X1
Be wrong not to give this a go, but nothing really has changed. Chainsaw finale that makes no real sense. Kudos to the actor right at the start hearing me saying "We're descending to hell" and then holding down the rope meaning I ended up crawling along. Other than that - can't really say much on it at all. Hooded mazes aren't scary to me and I think the hoods should go and then do the whole fire & ice malarky "in real life"
2/10 
 
CHOP SHOP: X3
I'm saying it - Chop Shop needs change. Whilst of course you are going to dodge a chainsaw (again - must point out an actress here remembering me from a previous run and then cornering me so I couldn't escape "I remember youuuuuu!" great stuff) - it needs more. Maybe make it multi-route (Hey, bad wood/good wood works for Creek!) I'm not sure what other than freeflow/multi route but it can become processional and if there's an actor deficit, the ending can be weak - in fact, whilst I remember - we found most endings quite weak last night to be fair (even Doom Town - review next). Some great interactions with actors though in the first section "Do you like my dress, it's pretty ain't it, like you" - and then asking "you in a rush to get somewhere boy, you're moving real fast" - yes m80, I want another run on Coven innit!
5/10
 
HAUNTED HAYRIDE: X1
This ride is pure Tulleys. Simple, well executed, consistent, funny, tongue in cheek. It just works. Some new scenes/characters for this year, plus some classics too. Good moment where the hillbilly girl (the brother and sister: "Me and my brother are like cheese and ham... we're In Bread" - asked about my mate's pistol, and I said he's firing blanks - and she said - holding back the laughs - "that's what I was about to say about my brother" 😁 Sorry for ruining the gag, didn't mean to!
8/10
 
THE ISLAND: X1
Fair play to Joshua on here for calling me out on our run, that caught me by surprise - well done for getting Thorpe Park Mania in amongst your noises and chatterings, ha! The starting scenes here were good with a number of actors (except that expanse of mud with nothing in it, wtf?) - but this is maze is loooong. I still think it has a lot of potential, and other than Joshua - the two female actors in the room with the wooden blocks in that they stand on (for want of a better description) were great, blocking us off and swiping at us, and splitting up a group. The ship section is just dead and don't know why they don't do... something with it? It definitely wanes in the middle a bit. There wasn't the pointless chainsaw ending as far as I recall which is probably a good thing because I don't know how that fits in anyway  Maybe next year I'll have a banger of a run on this - I just think it's too long and too much of a time-eater vs. the payoff.
4.5/10
 
DOOM TOWN: X5
Ok, Ok, Ok - let's just cut straight to the chase here. This is brilliant. Nearly perfect. So much so, it makes everything else look so inferior. Take a bow Tulleys for creating this, because it's absolutely superb. It's got real life road that runs through (from the outside entrance), complete with traffic lights and road signs - and it's genius how you end up criss-crossing this to go in and out of shops and whatnot - through the central area, and you'd be forgiven for thinking it's free flow, but due to well hidden and cleverly disguised seemingly abandoned items, you do go through a particular route - shopping trolleys, bins and such are cleverly laid out to mark the route, but blend in as scenery perfectly. The central area is what really makes this attraction so clever, because actors can interact with you multiple times during a run. I doubt they'll end up seeing this, but there was a tall chap in the outside area who eyeballed me many times on our runs, and then effectively followed me as I went through, which was utterly fantastic.
Queue line in the graveyard is brilliant, going through a church with pews, was class - then, as I remember, there's the toilets, into a nightclub, and then there's a newsagents, Blockbuster, a cinema, a pub, a Chinese takeaway, a grocers - with real rotten fruit, you walk through a bus, a hairdressers.... there's SO much content and theming built in to such a comparatively small footprint vs. other attractions, it's top notch. Some particular interactions that I loved, other than the guy in the central area, was a zombie in the centre holding a bin lid over my head because it was raining (love that), the hairdressers making us sit down in the chairs, the cinema attendants pointing to "Small" on the popcorn menu then pointing to me, same attendants using popcorn buckets as hats in the rain, the guy in the newsagents with magazines, one of which was one from the 90s of an adult nature, getting very excited by it, the landlord in the pub reaching through the pile of chairs to grab at you as you go through, the zombies playing the fruit machine cos I told them it was going to payout, zombie in the pub offering me his drink... honestly, so much interaction and again it's something so different to anything else at Tulleys. The whole area is superb, only minor niggle is the strobe/mist finale which falls a little flat, and maybe something else needs to be in the "disco" section - more lights/theming maybe? - otherwise this would be perfect. What I will say is, even on a run through with "numpties" one time, the maze still worked well because of that central section that you criss-cross. There are references to horror films all the way through - we were chatting to one of the creators at the start on our first run through and he was most pleased with what they'd achieved - and quite rightly so. One would assume they won't be adding a new haunt for 2023, but who knows?
9.5/10
 
TOTAL RUNTHROUGHS: 26
Cost per maze (taking off merch, food and drink benefits): £2.38 👀
(£10 food voucher got us a hog roast roll and a can of Coke - the vendor strictly speaking didn't have to give us the coke but he always does!) - £5 drinks voucher got us 2 pints of Coke (fair play for doing that too, barstaff!) and the £20 merch vouchers were used for 2x mugs and then we had £10 left still of the £40, which they were happy to let us spend, so added a fiver to get a Tulleys scent candle!)
 
Good evening last night all in all - however, I will say that the new queuing system does mean the main queues were notably bigger at times - and this was a Sunday - with even Creepy Cottage having a 30+ minute main queue at one point. VIP/Fasttrack queues were either literally walk on or 2-5 people in front all night, which I think helps maintain the value of said upcharges. At only one point did a maze have a VIP queue that was too big, and that was Electrick Circus. As per above, I was a bit gutted at my poor run throughs on a couple of mazes, but having the VIP means that you do get that chance to re-do a maze very quickly and rectify. Another decent year for Tulleys in my humble opinion, and as above - Doom Town is brilliant, absolute next level - so glad I didn't read any spoilers before hand as it made the first run through even better! Goes without saying - roaming actors were great last night as always (love the spooky twins just appearing in a completely empty covered area where we having food, didn't even spot them and was only aware of the appearance when we heard a very cutesy "Hello" from behind us!... it's all that that makes Tulleys what it is. 

Ahhh, I was on park yesterday (15th October). It was a busy day, though by no means full. In fairness to Thorpe, I was impressed by the operations by and large. Long queues, yes, but most felt well managed.  
 
But that's not for the Fright Nights thread.
 
Once again, the park are having issues with timed tickets.
 
At 7pm, Survival Games had a queue which reached back to pretty much the gate by the Swarm toilets. Staff were saying it was 1-2 hours. For people with package deals, that meant if you did Survival Games then, you'd likely have no chance to do the other two mazes. The attitude from a few staff on the ground was very indifferent to this too; little care about the fact that people who bought a package would be out of pocket effectively. Also lots of people seem unaware that Trailers is 'meant' to be the first maze people do with the packages (it is a hidden sentence in the details of the package). It's also completely irrelevant and not something which has to be done. Also seems like the packages don't have strict time slots, meaning people can do mazes whenever (and, for whatever reason, choose to do them when it's dark). It's all a bit of a mess.
 
As I had a one shot ticket for Survival Games, I braved the 1-2 hour queue and it took about 90mins. And I'll give the creative and operational sides their dues here. The queue moved well. They weren't over-batching (group sizes no larger than 12). It is tempting to over-batch to clear the queue, at the cost of creating a weaker experience, but I'm glad they didn't give into that temptation. 
And the maze itself was good. Was it Press Night good? No. Was it better than the runthrough I had last Friday though? Yes. A good number of actors, all very lively, and everything worked well.
 
I think the main criticism I have about the maze would be the ending. Actors can effectively choose when people leave the maze, especially the ones by the exit. But they have no clue how long they've been in the maze. They can spend 5 minutes in the multi route 'arena' section of the experience before making they're way to the exit, or they could be there for 30 second and get there straight away. It creates wildly different experiences, and can leave those latter people short changed. It would be good if actors at the exit actively turned away people when they first discover the exit area, giving people more of a chance to explore the arena. Obviously that's incredibly difficult to do, as it involves the actors recognising faces in low light repeatedly, but if they can find a way to do it, it would be fantastic.
 
In terms of the other two mazes, I know people managed to get Trailers and Creek Freak done in the same time I go Survival Games done. That's a solid 45mins to dedicate per maze, and doesn't match up with the 2 hour limit they suggest when booking. So some more stuff needs sorting out there. 
 
I think, realistically, people should (and probably do) expect a queue for mazes on busy days, even when buying tickets. But the lengths of queues at this moment in time is too long on busy days. And really, no Thorpe maze at the moment is worth £10, let alone £10 and a 45min+ queue. That'll end up having a larger knock on effect if things continue.

I think pricing is the biggest issue, the lower the price goes > less you care about a run through. Until the wait gets longer and then you start caring again.
 
I genuinely think, if mazes were cheaper, there would be a lot less negativity. 

In hindsight for Fright Nights, I would like to outline some things that really stuck out for me when I visited:
 
Scarezones: These I thought were class- my friends and I found ourselves really enjoying these. Death Doors was way more fun that expected, The Crows of Mawkin Meadow scared us more than any of the mazes did, and Creek Freak Unchained harassed me throughout the entire park. Graduation Sucks I believe is also a pivotal attraction for the park, the show is cool and the interactions with younger guest stood out. It is not scary, but a lot of the younger guests were loving chatting to the actors- it is a perfect tamer-side scare zone.  
Legacy and Birthday Bash compliment the scare zones well- I believe the atmosphere around the park is actually good with this stuff. Maybe it is a little nostalgia when looking back at past years? Theming has been very light since like 2013- though the soundtracks and music around the park was crap though, so that is a fair comment. But I would argue the park has more atmosphere than it has in a while, especially when you have a bunch of scare zones scattered around. In previous years they have been dead set on the mazes and nothing else, I do appreciate Fright Nights giving us some nice scare zones and shows- that is WAY more than Towers is offering.  
The Mazes: This is what lets the event down a little for me- you have a really strong maze in Creek Freak, and a fun but a little short maze in Survival Games, and a meh one. Do not get me started on Terminal. This lineup for me is really just okay- it gets worse when I paid £32 for it. I found the scare zones stole the show this year, and they were free! I think charging £32 for quite short mazes with varying quality is simply not worth it, and you are better off just visiting another event for the same price if you are deadset on mazes. I think if the prices were lowered I would be less pissed, but I felt my £32 purchase was one that I kind of regret, I do not think £8 (that is discounted) was spent well with Terminal, I think Thorpe are pricing their audience away from them with Scare Mazes, especially those hardcore into them. There is plenty of other events in the neighbourhood and Survival Games is fun but it is not a very layered attraction- in particular with its theming. £32 can not be justified.  
So overall, I think this is the best Merlin event this year for Halloween. It does have its problems, mostly with pricing with the mazes. But I do think the Scare Zones really made me enjoy this year.
   
   
 

The Howl is a fairly new event- debuting in 2015 in Leighton Buzzard, it has slowly became more and more known amongst the community. It is the sister park to Shocktoberfest, so it shares a lot of DNA with its brother.
 
I first visited in 2015 on opening night- I found it to be very fun and had an AMAZING street team, though with its mazes it very much was very similar to Shocktoberfest, which meant that if you had been to Shocktober, you generally knew what to expect. 7 years on, and the event has grown and evolved into its own thing. This year it felt like a total different place to how it was in 2015, it was amazing to see the growth and its unique quirks that it has developed over the past 7 years.
 
One thing I would like to comment on first about The Howl is that I believe it is great value for money- I paid about £30 for entry, which sounds like a lot. But at Towers and Thorpe you are looking at £32 minimum for 3-4 mazes, but for £30 you get 6 at The Howl. I also believe the roaming team are amongst the best in the country- the characters are now completely different to Shocktoberfest's, but keep a lot of the wit and charm, and made me laugh in between mazes.
 
RED:
Red is a small maze- it has a pretty small building, and lasts only a few minutes. Despite this it manages to cram in so many scares in that short time period. It reminds me of a little of Creepy Cottage if it took steroids. It has a great puppet moment, and some brilliant masks mixed in with a cast who harass you. The maze is short, but jesus it packs in so much it completely makes up for it.
 
Attic:
This maze has some beautiful theming- I love the use of levels and it has a few genius moments for scares. The actual Attic section itself is brief though intense, and certainly is a quirky moment that'll stick it out from the other mazes. The cast were more than lively too!
 
Toppers Twister:
I love clown mazes- I love the interactions, the freedom for the actors, and the contrasting colors to other mazes. Clown mazes always stick out to me, and forever have a place in my heart. Toppers Twister is a very good clown maze- it has a great trommel tunnel, some weird sets like a ball pit, and a pretty tried and tested finale- a true tulleys hat trick.
The cast were very lively, full of wit, and seemed to be having a fun time- being in a clown maze is also a fun time. If you're not scared of clowns, you'll still get some laughs and fun out of this. Its a solid maze that oozes joy.
 
Howl Valley High:
First off can I comment on the theming? This maze is SO well themed it feels like a complete new chapter for the mazes at The Howl with its sets. I also love the theme, it is fairly unique in my opinion, and is a very cool concept. The cast were very interactive and lively, and in the second half became increasingly more threatening and scary. I feel the maze is a really good addition, and I cannot wait to see how it evolves over the years, and the future of new mazes at this event.
 
The Shed:
This maze is the same as it was in 2015, but I do not mind as it was great then, it is still great. I love some of the outdoor sets, and its use of hiding spots and holes for actors to come out of nowhere. There was also a moment where I saw 5 actors in one room, which was pretty amazing and equally scary as hell.
 
Squealers Yard:
Now, all of The Howl's mazes are good/great, but Squealers is by far the crown jewel in my opinion. It is the longest on park, the most varied with its sets, the most intense in my opinion, and even confusing at one point with a crazy room that ruin your sense of direction. The ending also is savage for people like me who have a certain fear. The maze even had some good comedy in the first half, which just is the cherry on the cake.
 
Overall I would say the lineup is very equal- no maze stood out as bad, and a lot of them had very spread out queues due to this.
I had an amazing night there, and I have not even mentioned the Circus Of Horrors! But yeah it is a very solid event, and great for those who are north of London and a little too far from Shocktoberfest
 
 
 

Spinball won't fit at Blackgang because it's on the side of a cliff and the footprint is massive comparative to existing attractions (I've even checked. It's essentially double in size!).
 
RCT is not real life.

It's worrying that I have to double check the poster these days to see if it's an actual joke or some made up fan rumour.

My money's on 2025 now, which will mean - finally - 2024 will see the new IP with the "Stath Lets Flats" area taking over Angry Birds land, with the long rumoured 2nd Detonator tower being installed, a record breaking 5 Frog Hoppers, a Miami, and Ramases Revenge being installed inside the 4D Cinema (it's currently in storage in one of the Shark Cabins).

I was eh on this year's event, let me review it deeper.
 
The Terminal:
This was awful- a waste of £10. It looks bad, it is boring, and has the worst ending to a scare attraction?
I like how they are trying something new, but when charging £10 you would expect something fully realized, but The Terminal is a failed experiment and the queueline tonight reflected it. The ending feels like some sort of crappy self help book. Being told to appreciate my friends in a scare attraction? I think if they are to experiment again, maybe make it free timed tickets? I am very sure anyone paying for this did not end the attraction feeling like their £10 was money well spent.. Just poor.
 
Trailers:
With the setup I really believe they could of mixed a room up or two, but it is the same, and it looks pretty. My main problem with it from last year is still there- it is simply not scary to me, and this year it felt even less scary as it had seemingly less actors. it just lacks a punch to it, with Trailers I never quite get into my flight or fight- I can't quite word it. I think the summer edition of this maze was WAY better as they used it more for laughs and made it way more camp. But yeah, Meh.
 
CF: I love this maze- actors always seem to know how to work the space and it feels like it is designed for the actors and not against them. The maze was intense as per usual, with buckwheats always being within sight in this attraction. It felt full, busy, and was fun. I have done this quite a few times so I generally know it pretty well now- but I can say it retains the position of being a really good maze.
 
Survival Games:
First off I know this has been mentioned by another, low-key superior Josh. But how did this cost so much? The theming does not exist- it is too dark honestly to even see the set, and generally the theming is a oil barrel or two. In ways I do wonder if Thorpe are falling behind a little on the theming front- just look at Doom Town or some of the mazes at Xtreme Scream.
Despite this though- Survival Games is a really fun maze, it has a pocket sized Sub Species vibe to it. Seperation, dark rooms, touching. It very much reminds me of Sub Species- which is a positive. I think its honestly a really strong maze for the event, and I hope they can expand on it.
 
I really liked Thorpe Park tonight- but I believe Terminal and Trailers need changing. I also found paying +£30 for 3 mazes and a shipping container with headphones a little too much. With an entry fee I have seen my friends spend too much money on one day- it also kicks that you only get one through, and if you want more you have to pay out even more. The scarezones though were great, and brought much joy. All four were great in their own ways- the high school in Amity seemed to really please families and seemed like some mild fun, the door knocking scare zone was actually a brilliant idea for a scare zone and ended up being something we did while walking across the park- we loved it! So yeah, it was a great night. But I do wonder if the pricing is a little extortinate.
 
+ points for good ride ops tonight as well
 

Given Doom Town is Shocktobers 1st "10 scare rated" haunt, I am somewhat curious to see how much it differs in style to their 9 scare rated ones.
 
I still firmly believe the use of touch scares would be a nice thing for Tulleys to potentially explore the possibilities of. Even if it is just with Doom Town and possibly even Hellements.
 
On the note of ticketing, I am doing the first night of the year with a fastrack 11 ticket and then the finale fireworks night with VIP. So be interesting to see if VIP is worth the additional price for what one gets in relation to next tier ticket down.
 
As much as I want to be positive about all tickets entitling guests to unlimited haunts, there is a huge alarm going off in my head saying its going to be a nightmare now in regards to the queue management and size of waits on the busier nights. I also feel unlimited somewhat diminishes the VIP value.
 
Those with standard tickets with no fastrack already was up against the tide in trying to get all the haunts done and now coupled with inevitable longer waits due to the fact people can do the haunts as much as they want to, they have next to zero chance getting a now sizeable 11 attractions done in the one night even with marching between them one after the other with zero time inbetween to just enjoy the event atmosphere.

The thing is, the theming of Trailers was top notch - can definitely see that it was their most expensive maze to date. However, the execution of it was poor in my opinion. If it was executed better (and personally, the different rooms were reduced so the rooms could be bigger and therefore less predictable scares that you can see before even entering the room), it would've been a phenomenal maze.
 
I'm super, super excited for this one. It has massive potential, and if the theming is anything near Trailers, it has the potential of being super immersive too. Let's just hope they don't go over-ambitious with their ideas in a small space which will lead to predictable scares again. I'd rather only have a few rooms but have them be massive and therefore have well-hidden scares in it, than lots of different rooms to experience and be able to predict the scares before you even experience them.

Final maze announcement - Survival Games!
From Jack Silkstone's Twitter:
 
"A BRAND-NEW multi-route scare maze and Thorpe Park’s single biggest FRIGHT NIGHTS investment to date! 
This incredibly intense indoor experience features live actors, special effects, and multiple genres of horror designed to terrify even the most fearless."
 
Now this, I am excited for. This has massive potential, especially considering it's the biggest fright nights investment to date.

I think the most expensive maze before this was Trailers (though it wasn't marketed as such). Though I guess it depends on how the measure expense, etc. And that assumes it's not just some throwaway phrase.
 
But yeah, I like the concept of this at heart. Multi route, potentially being split up and the whole "survival" aspect. Really cool. The social media side is something that's been done a lot lately (you could even argue Black Mirror does this), so I hope that's more just a backstory and not a key focus of the maze. 
 
These things are difficult to do right, and it may take some time to bed in, but I'm excited to see how this develops. 

Good 'ol memories.
I'm back from the dead.
 
After 3 years acting inside Twisted Clowns I am so sad to see it go! I saw pictures of it being completely torn down around Christmas 2021 and I have to admit it was kind of crazy (usually parts of the experience are kept up year round).
 
So to add some fuel to this fire.. Twisted was certainly ageing I have to be honest, as much as I love the set there it certainly at times showed its age. Though as a Tulleys Nerd I do know a bit of Tulleys History.
 
So if you think about it Tulleys has "redone/replaced" its clown maze in 2012 (Twisted Maze). 2015 (Nightshade Circus), 2016 (Pandemonium's 3D Carnival), and 2017 (Twisted Clowns-2021). So I personally believe another clown themed attraction is coming.
 
Clowns bring something so different to Tulleys and I have loved every minute of acting as one. I really do think that the new maze will involve the characters of clowns to some degree! I'd also imagine they'd keep the vortex tunnell potentially and maybe even bring back the bungee! I personally theorize we'll see an updated clown maze. They've done a clown maze since 2009 so I do doubt they would stop in 2022.
 
I really am going to miss my days in the room going through the mouth in Twisted, laying up against the wall in the checkered room. It truly was a treat to be able to work in there.
 
I will eagerly await the announcements..