Why did Thorpe do away with face it alone??

[Martin Doyle]

So today I was remembering doing face it alone. Doing so made me think of one question and I apologise if it was already discussed. Why did Thorpe do away with it??

 

If its what I think it is in regards to it being "too extreme" then frankly I think that's ridiculous. Those who participated in it knew what they was getting themself in for given they had to sign a disclaimer which explained clear as crystal what was about to occur aswell as being told at the time of purchasing the tickets exactly what was about to happen. If it's because people complained then I personally feel that they should be more concerned with reading a disclaimer properly before signing OR paying attention at the time of purchasing the ticket.

 

Obviously it's been gone for years now but I was just curious 😛

[JoshC.]

An interesting question with a few answers.

 

First off, to answer you concern: it was nothing to do with it being "too extreme". There wasn't enough serious complaints from guests who did it to warrant its removal. Frankly, I don't even know if there were any complaints - everyone knew what they were getting themselves in for. These sorts of experiences have a niche market (albeit, Thorpe and Towers' alone experiences expanded and simultaneously watered-down the niche).

 

A short answer: There wasn't a strong enough drive internally to get it to come back.

Devising the experience takes time (it wasn't simply "actors do whatever they want"), and there was no one who was in a position (in terms of the time-commitment required) to create it. There had been some backlash from actors about the experience who didn't feel comfortable doing it (something I'll go into later), plus it could add another hour onto an already very long day, where they have to work 10x harder. Those two together meant it just wouldn't get off the ground.

 

A long answer: Less of an answer, and more of a story..

Face it Alone came about in 2013, with the park trying to diversify their line up and really focus on becoming a bigger, better and more unique Halloween event. The Lionsgate IP bought in the brands and the interest, completely refreshing the concept of Fright Nights. They tried new maze concepts: choices (Cabin in the Woods) and outdoors (Blair Witch Project). They introduced a (sadly poorly received) overnight experience, which was trendy at the time, and pushed forward with the Face it Alone: an extreme and an alone experience in one; again something which was trending and on the up in the scare industry at the time.

 

For anyone that did it in 2013, you'll no doubt know that every experience was different. The actors were given a scope of things they could do, boundaries they could push and ideas they could toy with. It was free-reign, but it gave the actors a much freer realm to work in. Another important thing to note is that Face it Alone wasn't particularly popular in 2013. People were unsure what exactly it was, whether it was worth the £15, etc. You could also choose which maze to experience. Which all in all meant it was easier to organise, give a personal touch, etc.

 

When 2014 came along, the experience changed somewhat. Whilst it was still 'extreme', the actors stuck to much stricter roles. Basically, actor 1 did x to you, actor 2 did y to you, etc. By no means a bad thing (if planned correctly, this can be a very good thing), just different. Again, this year you could choose your own maze and, whilst it had gained popularity, it was still pretty calm.

 

2015 is when everything changed, and was arguably the beginning of the end. Face it Alone became a much bigger spectacle. Gone were the days of choosing your own maze, and it was instead replaced with the Roulette Ceremony by Big Top. A great idea in fairness, and one that many enjoyed. This meant it garnered more attention and became much more popular, and went outside of the niche. Already teetering on the edge here.

 

2015 did go back to 2013's free realm style too. There were clearly things that certain actors had to do at certain points to progress you through the experience, but in between actors had a very large scope of what they could do.

 

The next thing with 2015 was the overt sexualisation of the experiences. It's probably not suitable to discuss the details on a public forum, but many things done within the experiences weren't scare tactics, they were simply there sexualised things made to make people feel uncomfortable, humiliated and uncertain. This was the first year that a safe word was introduced too. Safe words do appear in many extreme attractions, but I don't think it's a coincidence that a safe word appeared at the same time the sexualised content of Face it Alone occurred. 

 

This was a completely different direction to what had happened before. Whilst Face it Alone may have featured things like nudity/being tied up/etc - ie things that COULD be sexualised - they never WERE. By doing so, it adds a very different tone. And this tone meant that people were enjoying these experiences in a very different way. There were plenty of times that people within Face it Alone experiences were asking for certain things to be done to them so that they could 'get their money's worth' and be satisfied with the experience. These sorts of things had happened in previous years, but not to the degree they had happened in 2015. This, unsurprisingly, led to some actors being rather uncomfortable with the experience.

 

Come 2016, things had been toned down again. It went back more to 2014's "carbon copy" style experience. Originally it led to some complaints that it wasn't as extreme. I think one issue was that the 2015 version of Face it Alone had created a following of people who hadn't experienced extreme attractions outside of Face it Alone, so they had a very set idea of what should happen. When this didn't happen, it lead to that sort of backlash. Getting the balancing act right likely proved hard. And yet there were still people asking for certain things to be done to them, etc.

 

Then 2017 came along, there had been a feeling of discomfort for a while from some actors. The experience had expanded too far out and wasn't something that could be controlled and marketed as it should. People changed roles. The amount of work required to hit that sweet spot was ever-growing, for perhaps diminishing returns. Fright Nights also focused on The Walking Dead, and AMC are known for very strict guidelines about their attractions. Working out a Face it Alone experience for those mazes would have been near-on impossible. So everything together just meant it didn't happen, and it hasn't returned since.

 

And that's that. New external IP, internal concerns and arguably a bit of apathy/running out of steam all really finished it off.

 

 

Maybe in the future it can return. With the AMC contract disappearing soon that would help. Seeing the extreme version of Creepy Caves at Chessington being a success probably helps. But it requires a lot of work, a lot more than many perhaps realise and appreciate. And I'm not sure I could see it happening soon.

[LukeP_8]

2013 face it alone Asylum... I cant imagine how scary that must have been. Id give anything to do that. 

As for guests being all creepy and sexual, I feel being tied and **** like that kind of gives opportunity for things to take a different path down that direction. So perhaps if they remove any things that could be interpreted sexually then Face it Alone could be less of an issue.

Hopefully it'll return one day as I think it hits the spot for guests who don't find ordinary maze experiences particularly scary anymore...

Great answer from Josh...

[Martin Doyle]

1 hour ago, LukeP_8 said:

2013 face it alone Asylum... I cant imagine how scary that must have been. Id give anything to do that. 

 

My last ever go through Asylum was indeed Face It alone...and it was every bit as surreal and crazy as you could imagine 😕

 

I did face it alone every season when it was about and by its final year, it was watered down quite considerably.

 

Whilst I personally cant see Thorpe bringing something as physical as face it alone back, I certainly think a more psychological "alone experience" which doesn't rely on man handling you and covering you in God only knows what could be the ticket for the event. When I did the Clinic at Walibi Holland, first thing I thought when I finished it was that something along those lines would fit the bill for Thorpe one day.

[Glitch]

25 minutes ago, Martin Doyle said:

 

Whilst I personally cant see Thorpe bringing something as physical as face it alone back, I certainly think a more psychological "alone experience" which doesn't rely on man handling you and covering you in God only knows what could be the ticket for the event. When I did the Clinic at Walibi Holland, first thing I thought when I finished it was that something along those lines would fit the bill for Thorpe one day.

Lets be honest though, that would never work at Thorpe capacity wise.

[JoshC.]

9 hours ago, LukeP_8 said:

2013 face it alone Asylum... I cant imagine how scary that must have been. Id give anything to do that. 

As for guests being all creepy and sexual, I feel being tied and **** like that kind of gives opportunity for things to take a different path down that direction. So perhaps if they remove any things that could be interpreted sexually then Face it Alone could be less of an issue.

Hopefully it'll return one day as I think it hits the spot for guests who don't find ordinary maze experiences particularly scary anymore...

Great answer from Josh...

The issue is, being tied up is a great - and easy - way of turning up the intensity of an attraction. Restricting movement, going to the next stage of the touch barrier, etc. It all works, and a large quantity of intense scare attractions do it.

 

I think the challenge that faced Thorpe was that it hit a slightly wider audience than it should. Particularly theme park enthusiasts and the like. When many people get introduced to extreme experiences, they never know what to expect. So when a large number of people experienced the 2015 iterations, it gave a very specific idea of what extreme attractions were and what they could do. Unlike in 2013 and 2014, when people stuck to the encouraged 'don't tell anyone about the experience', plenty of people were online saying "I did Face it Alone, I had x, y, z done to me". This then led to people wanting x,y,z done to them, and going so far as asking for requests. And from there it's a slippery slope..

 

For now, Chessington's Creepy Caves After Dark is probably bang on the money for what should be offered for people wanting a mainstream extreme experience. I sadly didn't get the chance to do it, but from what I've heard, it ticks all the right boxes. Hopefully it sticks around. But again, like with Face it Alone, there was a small team that was very dedicated to getting it just right, and worked extremely hard in doing so.

 

7 hours ago, Martin Doyle said:

My last ever go through Asylum was indeed Face It alone...and it was every bit as surreal and crazy as you could imagine 😕

 

I did face it alone every season when it was about and by its final year, it was watered down quite considerably.

 

Whilst I personally cant see Thorpe bringing something as physical as face it alone back, I certainly think a more psychological "alone experience" which doesn't rely on man handling you and covering you in God only knows what could be the ticket for the event. When I did the Clinic at Walibi Holland, first thing I thought when I finished it was that something along those lines would fit the bill for Thorpe one day.

Clinic at Walibi Holland is a very isolated case and I don't think it could ever happen in any other theme park. The staffing levels required for it are insane to start off with - I'm fairly certain that one person will interact with about 20 actors during their alone experience. And I'm sure there's more actors too. They then have people operating and overseeing the experience (effectively like hosts and operators on a ride), etc. And because of the type of attraction it is and the scares needed, you need a strong cast to do it. From what I hear too, last year's event still had quite a few actors who were there in its first year, and every year since. That's something which is less and less common for many Halloween events.

 

Walibi Holland has built a huge name for itself in its Halloween event and pumps an insane amount of money into it. They can afford a ton of actors, and there's not enough local competition that they risk losing seasonal actors, which means they can risk investing in training them more.

 

Somewhere like Thorpe has a higher staff turnover when it comes to actors (though a lot still do return year-on-year in fairness) thanks to higher local competition for actors, and other factors. They also don't have as strong a name built for themselves compared to even the like of Tulleys, so more talented people are tempted by them for example. So it would be a huge risk for Thorpe to introduce something even vaguely like Clinic.

 

Don't get me wrong, something like that would be great for Thorpe and I'd love to see it. But I don't see it happening.

 

7 hours ago, Glitch said:

Lets be honest though, that would never work at Thorpe capacity wise.

An in-hours alone experience could be similar to Containment, no? Market it as what it is, have it as a ticketed attraction, etc. Plenty of people would just brush it off, and enough people would be interested by it. Make it a premium product and charge a premium price and it'll be fine as long as it's not at the expense of a normal attraction.

 

The issue at Thorpe is they wouldn't have the resources available to make it a premium alone experience.

[Mattgwise]

Want something extreme, go and sign up for Mcamey Manor 😂.

 

Search it on YouTube at your own discretion if you don't know what it is! 

[LukeP_8]

20 hours ago, Martin Doyle said:

My last ever go through Asylum was indeed Face It alone...and it was every bit as surreal and crazy as you could imagine 😕

I'm jealous. I only ever got to do Asylum twice and the second time I just stared at the floor with my ears plugged I found it so scary. I was only 12 at the time though so it pains me to this day having only done it once really... 

Face it alone in there sounds amazing. Something that nowadays would really hit the right button for me. Was there anything different that happened in your face it alone experience compared to a regular conga line run through of it?

[Martin Doyle]

14 minutes ago, LukeP_8 said:

I'm jealous. I only ever got to do Asylum twice and the second time I just stared at the floor with my ears plugged I found it so scary. I was only 12 at the time though so it pains me to this day having only done it once really... 

Face it alone in there sounds amazing. Something that nowadays would really hit the right button for me. Was there anything different that happened in your face it alone experience compared to a regular conga line run through of it?

 

Actors could literally grab you,push you,pull you,swear at you,carry you,cover you in all sorts of stuff like water and powder to name but a few. It was a complete departure from the feel of doing a standard go through the mazes during regular hours.

 

It was an intense experience when it was at it's peak and was a good addition to the event while it was about 

[LukeP_8]

1 hour ago, Martin Doyle said:

 

Actors could literally grab you,push you,pull you,swear at you,carry you,cover you in all sorts of stuff like water and powder to name but a few. It was a complete departure from the feel of doing a standard go through the mazes during regular hours.

 

It was an intense experience when it was at it's peak and was a good addition to the event while it was about 

That sounds insane. Asylum was scary enough on its own... Hooefully face it alone might come back some time in the future with fright nights hopefully improving again in the near future

[LukeP_8]

14 hours ago, JoshC. said:

The issue is, being tied up is a great - and easy - way of turning up the intensity of an attraction. Restricting movement, going to the next stage of the touch barrier, etc. It all works, and a large quantity of intense scare attractions do it..

Yeah it is for sure it is. Does also lend itself to other suggestive things unfortunately as you said. It works well with smaller audiences

[Han30]

On 4/21/2020 at 10:09 AM, Mattgwise said:

Want something extreme, go and sign up for Mcamey Manor 😂.

 

Search it on YouTube at your own discretion if you don't know what it is! 

I’ve read about and seen a fair few vids on that place.  The guy that runs it surely has to be some sort of sadist?  There’s a huge waiting list for it and I question why anyone would want to experience what looks like torture 😮

[SteveJ]

Mcamey Manor is one of those garbage things that only thrives off word of mouth and shock factor, it isn't actually that special or worth looking up

[JoshC.]

McKamey Manor's "success" is down to how well they've - for lack of a better word - marketed it. But it's not a scare attraction.

 

If you look within scare communities and scare attractions, very few people have done and even less have taken inspiration from it. The types of people who do it are people who don't usually do scare attractions as much, and are more inclined to something to challenge their mental survival capabilities, or people who are 'into' that 'sort of thing'.

 

 

[Cathy]

Hiya , 

I kno ethos is a long shot , but had anyone got the Thorpe park , Teacup pin badge lying around that they no longer need , it’s not for me it’s for my husband , 

many thanks 😊