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Captain Obvious Alert - This blog may contain spoilers. So on Sunday, I did Containment, the new escape experience at Thorpe. I've never done one of these escape room things, and I've always been a bit sceptical about the idea - so many things can go wrong which can ruin the experience. But nonetheless, I was still excited to try it out... One thing which is worth noting was our group was made up of only 6 people (4 TPMers and 2 randomers), rather than the full 10. This was at the 4pm slot, so it makes me wonder if not enough are keen to spend the money on another attraction / there's not enough advertising going into it? Anyways, review time... The pre-show video was nice, and did seem to nod to Experiment 10? The trouble was, it was very difficult to hear (not helped by the nearby leaf blower and Swarm's roar). Whether this was intentional (to draw people in closer to the screen to help with scares) or not is hard to tell, but it does just need to be easier to hear. Big thumbs up need to go to the actor here though; really did a great job at creating a funny, but also slightly eerie, feel. The first room I assume is meant to play on the fear of darkness. It was a bit disorientating, but not scary or challenging really. I guess it's a nice way to introduce you to the concept and get you rolling. The second room was a lot more challenging. The actor in here gave us a great jump scare and then started acting very crazy and creepy. Constantly going 'tick tock, tick tock' and 'clock clock clock' to try and give us a hint to the situation. I'm not entirely sure how we cracked the code, but I believe we did just in time? Not really sure. So we moved onto the third room, where a lovely female actor started to cough all over me. She appeared to be dying and was in desperate need of the much sought-after antidote. Wasn't she taught about 'Catch it, Bin it, Kill it'? Anyways, this room was a bit tricky, in that it was relatively easy to figure out what we needed to do, but it was just doing it which was the problem. After a while, and following some general interaction from the actor, we eventually got it done. The final room awaited... Final room is a weird one. The lights went out very quickly and we were left really unsure what to do. The actor shone a UV light to reveal the hidden message of 'Find antidote' on the wall. After some general walking around in the darkness and trying anything and everything to get closer to figuring out what we needed to do, eventually the actor shone a torch in the general direction of a massive clue to help work out the final code. Once the code was worked out, it was just a case putting it in - in very little light - before we had escaped. And that's how it ended. We pressed a button and after a few seconds, the actor opened the door to let us out. It had all ended so...confusingly. We had cracked the final code, and got let out. The story has disappeared and it just leaves you feeling so uncertain. I had to ask the actor if we had completed the task because it just felt like the end wasn't there. Being lead outside and asked by an ordinary member of staff if we had completed it (to hence be given our wristband) feels like a missed opportunity too. Despite the sudden ending, and perhaps my less-than-excited sounding review, I really did enjoy Containment. It's a fun experience and something very different to what the park has ever offered. It needs some more work, but on the whole, it's a neat thing. So - what could be improved? 1) The preshow. Having the preshow inside would be best, as it would make it far easier to hear. Alternatively, just not have a video and let an actor give it. I appreciate space is the issue here though. 2) The scare rating. This was rated 5/5 stars, and yet was not really scary. Yes, there was a couple of jump scares and a couple of dark scenes, but not enough to warrant a 5 star rating. Arguably, this isn't scarier than Blair Witch, and so isn't even worthy of a 2 star rating. That's not to say it's not a good attraction and not something that doesn't deserve its place at Fright Nights. Either the park need to make it scarier / more intense. Make you have to work against the actors, with them deliberately trying to sabotage you, rather than have them being generic scary people who eventually point you in the right direction. Or, lower the scare rating. Given what they've tried to do, and that I assume more people will be 'got' by the scenes, a 3 star rating might have been more suitable. I guess giving it a low scare rating would make it harder to sell tickets though. Speaking of which... 3) The cost. Given the restricted numbers and the popularity of the attractions at Thorpe, I think a charge is a sensible idea. But a £10 charge is a lot. And perhaps too much - if they're not filling out the groups and have already stopped offering timed tickets online (instead giving you a time on collection I believe?), then maybe the demand for such a high-cost attraction isn't there. Lower the cost, reduce the group size or push the experience more. 4) The ending. There needs to be more of an ending. I think scene which shows you which rooms you solved and ones you didn't (say by a green / red light on a screen), along with a corresponding message, actor interaction to give you a wristband, plus a scare to get people out would really help the attraction feel complete. So - is it worth it? In a nutshell, yes. It's a steep charge for what they are offering, but I genuinely think it's a neat attraction which can only grow if they continue to offer such an experience. Let's hope it does return next year; though with new / updated puzzles and scenes!

[spoilerS AHEAD] Now you may embark on reading this thinking it's going to be a crushing article on how disappointed I was with my first ever attempt at fright night mazes, however, it really isn't. Today, for the first time I braved up enough to actually try the mazes at Thorpe Park. I've been to Fright Nights several times before but have only done 2 mazes once, and that shook my soul, so I wasn't expecting to do any mazes, simply because I was too pussy frightened to do so. The day was spent as any other day would normally be spent at Thorpe. Paige and I doodled about in the morning, took a look at the new maze and a ceremonial wheel spin for the brave it alone goers of the day, and then we met up with some friends. I had no intention at the start of the day to do any of the mazes let alone all of them, but rather play around with my new flashy camera. One of our friends, Alex, was kind and passionate enough to persuade me, and Paige, to try at least one maze. After redoing saw for the first time in what, 4 years (?) I finally saw past the silly little scaredness I had inside and was up for trying the whole lot. We started with Saw alive, apparently a great maze to start off with. The theming was very nice, and as iconic as I remember, I just wish it was slightly better lit. The maze wasn't particularly scary but the costumes in here were probably the best of the evening for me, and the scenes were well executed, however there were no seriously scary bits. The actors are split from you by cages and mesh and none of them attempted to touch me or jump scare me, but rather hiss and bob up to my face then back away. Overall it was a cool experience and reminded me of the dungeons. We then moved on to the big top. I've already heard a lot of mixed reviews about this, and personally, I thought the experience was very odd. The first tent was rather pointless to be honest, I really can't add anything on to that. The second tent I remember being a little more exciting but besides a clown jumping out at you I don't really remember much of that tent at all, simply because again, nothing interesting happened. The out door bit we encountered the ring master, something apparently only a few groups got in the evening (and also a sad lacking of the fortune teller in the beautiful box). The final tent was fun, I loved the finale and I felt it was well executed with the chainsaw echoing throughout the whole tent. The fact the fortune teller in the first tent tells you about it though helped build up the tension but also ruined the surprise. I was disappointed again by the lack of actors in the final tent, there were so many missed opportunities here, but the actors that were there did a fab job... If only there were more! My Bloody Valentine was next, my personal favourite of the night. I have heard again mixed reviews about this one, however overall I thought the actors were all terrific, there was a perfect amount of them too and the fact the group got split up like it did and how well the maze unravlled was great. I just wish there was someone wearing a gas mask in there. Besides that the interaction in this maze was the best and whilst there weren't very many open scenes, the walls had been covered up in immense detail that was highly appreciated! (Finally a maze where they weren't afraid to touch me!) Cabin in the Woods followed, a favourite for the group we were going round with. Overall I thought the actors were good, with the groom being the stand out one. Really creepy to walk into a room and just see his head slowly look up and he maintained eye contact for looooonngg. And then BOOM he jumped at me and he was pretty much the first guy that evening to properly scare me. It was great fun, a shame the control room was out of service along with the forest scene, all the spare actors were stuffed into the final zigzag. I thought the rooms theming was weird but it probably relates to the movie well, I was just very impressed with the impression the groom actor made on me (also the roaming actors in this area were jokes). Finally it was the blair witch. Didn't think much of it, a couple of the actors made me jump a little but nothing overly creepy like in Cabin, and the discreet injections of theming are nice. The cabin bit could have been executed better however overall it was fun. In conclusion I truly can now appreciate Fright Nights. Whilst I may have critiqued a couple things the day couldn't have gone much better; I thoroughly enjoyed all the mazes, especailly My Bloody Valentine and Saw Alive. The theming level in these mazes are great and the character roles the actors play are also really nice, and, to me the whole thing was a very new and different experience. So why does fright nights smell toof? One thing I noticed throughout the evening is that if one thing merlin does 110% every time, it's the immersive smells they have in their attractions. Cabin smelt like freshly cut timber, My bloody valentine smelt like rot and mud, Big Top smelt like circus and Saw smelt like piss, meat, and that irony smell you get when things go static. It's the same with the dungeons, the smells in there are also great. I think this is a nice little touch as although I have only really visited merlin attractions of this type one thing I have always noticed is how the smells really compliment the experience. I truly think it's a great stand point of merlin and it helps you notice the attention they put into projects. If I could take anything away for next time. I'd love to see the big top once more as I've heard 'it can only get better from here' from a number of sources, but also I'd like to try Cabin and find the control room! Sorry for long post, heres a potato