Fright Nights 2014

[jammydodger]

Went to fright nights twice this year, just gonna give my thoughts and opinions of the mazes. This will contain spoilers just to prewarn you.

In total we managed to do CITW, Blair witch and studio 13 twice. Saw & Valentine we only managed once.

Saw-Alive

Last year this maze was my second favourite and was very chaotic. This year it was shocking. As far as I can remember, pretty much all the rooms were lit up, and although you could see the detailed theming really really well, it completely killed the atmosphere and the tension.I only counted around 6-8 actors in there and no pig men at all. This was by far the weakest maze and for that reason we didn't do it again. Theming 10/10 definitely. But overall experience, I would say 3/10.

My bloody Valentine

I was pretty nervous about this one because I had heard a lot of things about how you get split up and made to crawl through tight spaces. However, when we went in it seemed very rushed, we didn't get split up, or made to crawl through a tunnel. Instead, we were rushed through with little to no scares whatsoever and it felt only 60 seconds long. I was also disappointed to see no Harry warden. My bloody Valentine was better than saw alive, because it was very dark and the actors did a good job of coming out of nowhere to scare you. The actor at the end was the best actor all night though, and was great fun to watch from the queueline. 5/10

Studio 13

I was at the front for this one and I was very excited after hearing a lot of good things about it. There was a lot of actors in this maze and the theming was excellent. I especially liked the part where there was about five actors in a freeze frame and they all came running at you. It didn't feel like asylum at all. There were some great scares in the maze, and it produced a lot of tension as you wait to see what is around the next corner. The chainsaw ending, I believe would work really well if you are at the back of the line, but it isn't that effective otherwise. Overall it was a good, solid maze but it wasn't the best. 7/10

Cabin in the woods

This maze was absolutely brilliant both times we went in, and was definitely the most scary and fun maze that we did. The dark corridor at the start was really effective in building the tension. I loved the forest scene, even if there weren't any actors in there the first time we went through. It has much improved from last year and it was jammed packed full of actors. They just came out of nowhere, blocking your path, dragging you away from you group, or shoving you in another room. Cabin in the woods was intense, chaotic, and a whole lot of fun. The best maze this year. 9/10

Blair witch project

We were evacuated from this one, aswell, and it did kind of add to the experience. Last year this

attraction was very poor and this year it has been greatly improved. The use of torches was great and some of the actors really did make me jump. Although it didn't fit to the film, it was still loads of fun and I really enjoyed it. The b&q half price summer sale shed was much better aswell. 7/10

The roaming actors were fantastic, 10/10 for them this year, absolutely amazing. All in all a great year for fright nights and I'm looking forward to see what next year brings!

[ATF]

Am I the only one that feels that CITW is terribly executed? Giving the choice of way, and having so many doors (many which people try to open, yet can't as they are one way doors) just spoils the fun and fear, as it just clots the flow. Throughout the first half of the maze, the main concern of the people is to go to the control room, or to get out of the crouded corridors, and hope that you can do most of the remainder of the maze only in your small group, and that just distracts too much from the scare factor.

Having said that, this year, the second half was mental, and had me screaming like a little girl.

On another note, I reckon that if we push hard enough on it, Thorpe Belle might float away and end SA's days.

[TPJames]

Thorpe park 2nd November:

Time in park: 9:15am-7pm.

Ride count:

Vortex x1

Rush x2

X x1

Dodgems x1

Stealth x2

Nemesis x1

Swarm x2

Loggers leap x1

Rumba rapids x1

Banana boat x1

Teacups x1

Rocky road x1

Quantum x1

Zodiac x1

Saw x1

Maze count:

Blair witch project x1.

Total: 19.

Notes:

-Annual pass holders were let in at 9:15, due to the weather being horrible in the morning. Luckily this was the only shower the whole day and I went in for a hot chocolate until around 10:20 until my friends turned up.

-Park was insanely busy from the time it opened, the coasters were above 100minutes from around 12pm onwards and didn't drop until the time I left.

-Got to Blair witch at 4:30 and was first through at 5:30, when we asked the lady at the entrance, she said it was at least 3hours when we were about to go in. The queueline was full and the queue was extending all the way round to the loggers leap entrance the long way(past rocky express entrance etc).

-The mazes were particularly busy all day, I didn't particularly see but the one time I looked the mazes were all above 90. I did see saw alive later and it was out of the entrance so must have been above 2hours.

-A LOT of queueline smokers.

-My run on Blair witch was really good, top quality walkthrough.

-Didn't see any roaming actors, the park need to invest in more.

-Swarm, saw and stealth in the dark were all great.

-Park lacked atmosphere, needs more theming etc.

-Saw swarm testing in the afternoon, presumed they were adding the second train so we rode soon afterwards(the cattlepen of doom was open!).

-Most effects on park were broken, fire and water on swarm, axes and the air on saw, mist on nemesis and stealth and tidal wave area. Think most of the effects which operate during the year were off or broken.

-Slammer, Colossus, samurai and flying fish were closed all day.

If fright nights returns, it needs a revamp. The event proved very popular this year and the park needs more roaming actors and park wide theming. New mazes would be nice as well as I'm sure people will start to get bored of the current ones very soon. I like Blair witch though, that can stay if the partnership with LIONSGATE remains.

[Graw]

Went to Scarefest (and Alton Towers!) for the first time ever on Friday/Saturday. In comparison to the Fright Night mazes, The Sanctuary knocks every single one out of the water, in terms of theming, pace, atmosphere, actors and variety of scares. It's honestly the best maze I've ever done. It was incredible! It really showed me how good mazes could be, and actually lowered my opinion on the mazes at Thorpe to be honest! (This years FN were the first scare mazes I've done, really.)

 

Terror of the Towers was great fun, however in our opinion, the people I was with spent more time laughing than screaming, so I'd say scares-wise it was on par with say, Studio 13 or Saw for the most of it, except the final section which was extremely intense. However, I'd still say that our runs through of MBV and CITW were both scarier than ToTT. Despite that, this maze was still better than every maze at Thorpe, with the exception of CITW to be honest (MBV was a lot more intense, and scary, but overall I've decided that ToTT is a much better maze, despite MBV being our favourite on the night, only due to the actors and the hilarious reactions of our group members). The atmosphere in ToTT was great, but not as good as The Sanctuary's. However, the tension of this maze, due to loads of extremely dark (by far the darkest maze I've done I think!) sections with slow, tense music and no actors, but some sneaky effects, was definitely the highest out of any event, probably thanks to the length of it! We thought that The Sanctuary was long, but this felt even longer! Overall, it wasn't as scary as the 2 best mazes at Thorpe, or The Sanctuary, but it was still better than every maze at Thorpe with the exception of CITW!

 

The mazes at Scarefest were of extremely high quality, and honestly much better overall than the ones at Fright Nights! I think I've fallen in love with The Sanctuary (and The Smiler, wow!). 

 

Overall tho, I still believe Fright Nights to be a stronger scare event, solely due to the fact that it has 3 more mazes than Scarefest (yes, Scarefest has the scare-zones, but honestly these were all tamer, even the 7pm+ version of Zombies!, than every maze at Thorpe and Alton, maybe with the exception of Blair Witch, despite their brilliant theming!).

 

So the mazes at Scarefest were way way way better, sort of lowering my opinion of Fright Nights, but overall if I was to choose to go to one or the other based on just scare attractions, I'd still go with Fright Nights..

 

Scarefest's atmosphere on Halloween day/night was unmatched however, so there's that.

[James39]

So the only days to avoid horrible queues on fright nights seem to be the annual pass preview evening and the first Friday and Sunday? Let's hope they add more dates next year due to the massive popularity this year!

[TPJames]

So the only days to avoid horrible queues on fright nights seem to be the annual pass preview evening and the first Friday and Sunday? Let's hope they add more dates next year due to the massive popularity this year!

This has been brought up before, I think thorpe park should do a full two weeks like scarefest meaning there are off peak days on the first week before half term. This would also allow the park to incorporate theming as there wouldn't be non-fright nights days in between.

[BEN17BOII]

Ride count for the 1st November

 

Saw x1

Nemesis Inferno x2

Rhumba Rapids x1

X x1

Rush x1

The Swarm x1

Storm in a teacup x1

Angry Birds 4D x1

 

My Bloody Valentine x1

Studio 13 x1

Cabin In The Woods x1

Blair Which Project x1

Saw Alive x1

 

The Slammer

Colossus

Samurai

Flying Fish

were all closed and Saw opened 20 minutes after opening due to technical issues.

[Flipper]

I have a lot of respect for Graw;s post, just saying.

 

I think the perspective of the mazes is a case of each to their own. With Fright Nights I felt that you have to know the brand to understand the maze. Cabin did absolutely nothing for me; and whilst I can appreciate that MBV has the potential to be terrifying, I felt myself questioning what was going on more than anything else; whereas Studio 13 was far my favourite. But then I am in the minority that side with Graw whom prefer the Sanctuary to TOTT at Alton, and that I think is helped by the group you're in. But I preferred it last year and the same this year, TOTT only is good for it's ending to me.

 

This year has proven very popular for Fright Nights at Thorpe, and if what I've heard is true, then next year they need to push it a bit more as the final run with Lionsgate. These mazes will be back (maybe not Studio, but the rest) and they've proven that it's got the people in. But when you reflect on Scarefest for overall experience with regards to theming, and dare I say the superior yet Howl'o'ween at Chessington for decoration and atmosphere, Thorpe needs to ramp it up a bit more.

 

I still question as to how SAW and Blair Witch get such lengthy queues, unless its solely popularity, as surely out of the mazes they must be the highest for throughputs? SAW Alive seems to chomp through people as intended, and Blair Witch seems to be a fair sized group every 30-45 seconds when I went through it.

 

I also can't help but question, ten years of SAW (as a film franchise) why the park didn't make an effort with that, surely SAW is easy to create Fright Night ambience with, some roaming pig heads in the plaza would do the trick, but to say this year marks the film's anniversary and nothing was really done to tie this in at the park surprises me. I thought Lionsgate would have pushed something...

[MarkC]

Mbv was amazing! Fell over as one of my group grabbed me for protection and one of the Harry's grabbed me and started to drag me backwards and another one was smashing the pick axe by my head. Then when I was out of the maze this women, not sure what she was supossed to be grabbed me and pulled me back into the maze in front of the whole queue screaming I'm keeping this one.

A maze ing

[BenC]

Had a good time at Fright Nights this year - although I went on the weekend of 25th/26th Oct, and the Park was rammed. 17,000 gate figure, 45+ min queue to buy maze Fastrack tickets (then the same again in the actual maze Fastrack queue), and one Cabin in the Woods attendant was claiming a 4 hour standby queue at around 6pm. Grim.

 

So the "Halloween" element of the event was only really enjoyed if you spent the £25 for the Director's Cut Fastrack. However, I thought the maze quality was pretty good this year, with noticeable improvements in MBV and Blair Witch Project.

 

Mbv was amazing! Fell over as one of my group grabbed me for protection and one of the Harry's grabbed me and started to drag me backwards and another one was smashing the pick axe by my head. Then when I was out of the maze this women, not sure what she was supossed to be grabbed me and pulled me back into the maze in front of the whole queue screaming I'm keeping this one.

A maze ing

 

I had a very similar experience - I think the MBV actors this year were the most brutal I've ever experienced in a Thorpe maze!

 

That said, Studio 13 is an inferior replacement for The Asylum, containing none of the disorientation and intensity.  Far too many "dead spots", both in terms of themeing and scares. A shame because I liked the concept, but The Asylum was routinely for me the most impressive attraction of all those in the history of Thorpe's Fright Nights - so very hard to replace...

 

As ever, full review and photos can be found on Total Thorpe Park!

 

[Dodge2002]

Just a thought, but perhaps Thorpe should also consider opening the mazes from 11am next year too.

[alexander]

Park dead today, longest we queued was 20 mins for stealth at the front

Blair witch also claimed by us and many others as the best maze

Edit: just did cabin in the woods when it was just 2 of us in there, was seriously amazing, can't get over how good it was

[lukefamz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdEo8vgMuHc&feature=youtu.be

 

Scary stories from The Cult at Thorpe Park 

 

[Whatever]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdEo8vgMuHc&feature=youtu.be

 

Scary stories from The Cult at Thorpe Park 

So now we know the cult are actually called the 'Night Terror' and the Director is a victim of self-harm.

[JoshC.]

So now we know the cult are actually called the 'Night Terror' and the Director is a victim of self-harm.

 

The Cult are the people dressed in red robes.  

The 'Night Terror' are those with the black and white painted faces.  

 

From what I heard, they were two separate groups of roaming actors during the event.

[Whatever]

Ohhh. But they both had painted faces, as you can see in the video.

[JoshC.]

Ohhh. But they both had painted faces, as you can see in the video.

 

It's a bit of a weird one I guess.  

 

Here's a closer-look at The Cult: http://instagram.com/p/u_36_CuQdy/

The Night Terrors were more like the person on the far right of this photo:

 

[Whatever]

So one is a group of Murderers and one is a group of Cannibals, and they both have similar face paint.

[Kerfuffle]

So one is a group of Murderers and one is a group of Cannibals, and they both have similar face paint.

Possibly. But what's important is that both groups were created by the amazing Michael Grant.

[MachoMachine]

Went for the first time 1st November, got picked on a lot due to my appearance but I felt the lighting ruined some of it? Especially in Studio 13. Trying to admire sets and stuff was hard, couldn't really tell it was supposed to be a 'studio' as such with the strobes going mental especially with almost neon colours?

Also in BWP the sound effects ruined it for me but it was a nice walk and lovely to hear the screams of pre teens

[Coaster]

Just thought I would share this, it's the dispatch music used for Nemesis Inferno and Colossus:

[J.S217]

It's a bit of a weird one I guess.  

 

Here's a closer-look at The Cult: http://instagram.com/p/u_36_CuQdy/

The Night Terrors were more like the person on the far right of this photo:

 

Ik the Brunette 

[JoshC.]

Turns out Thorpe made a video just after Fright Nights ended (don't think it made its way on here either)...

 

 

A very nice video really showing off attractions!

[Ricky]

The only good thing about that video was Colossus crashing into each other in the Cobra Roll.

[Coaster]

If only the actors put the same amount of effort in when they weren't being filmed!  Really enjoyed the mazes on the preview night (when there was press there filming them) but the actors seemed to go downhill from there (based from my experiences).