1 hour ago, Cal said:

for me Fright Nights was good in the old days of the stronger mazes and being able to lap them till 10pm free of charge. I don't have an interest in the dance shows, scare zones, or paying money to stand in queue to get a weak runthrough in a maze. I miss the old intense Fright Nights days, getting locked in cupboard in experiment 10 and having actors in queue lines etc..

This is a perfect summary of my thoughts as well.

It’s quite an interesting subject really, because now that they’ve chosen to go down this new route of highly themed walkthroughs and dance shows etc I imagine it would be difficult to change course.

The Asylum, Experiment 10 and Cabin in the Woods are examples of excellent Thorpe mazes in my opinion at least - but I imagine they would be poorly received if they “came back” exactly as they were, even if they were still “free” (or included in the event ticket price as I prefer to say!).

I think now people have grown used to what a Thorpe scare maze “is”, and something like Asylum would probably now be seen as lazy, as it had next to no theming and just 2 stock songs playing in the queue, even though it could be an extremely intense experience.

I also wonder if these sort of “more basic” attractions won’t be able to compete now adays due to the need for things to look good for social media etc, especially with Universal a few years away, Thorpe need to have impressive looking attractions I suppose so they can directly compete with HHN.

I expect however, the real reason is that they need to justify the prices they’re charging for a run through, so it needs to look like it’s worth paying for, more so than the need for it to be scary.

As you say Cal, times have changed I suppose.

9 hours ago, Cal said:

^

I'm not either, in fact I've only just watched that trailer for first time which shows my excitement level.

I don't think thats a this year only thing though, for me Fright Nights was good in the old days of the stronger mazes and being able to lap them till 10pm free of charge. I don't have an interest in the dance shows, scare zones, or paying money to stand in queue to get a weak runthrough in a maze. I miss the old intense Fright Nights days, getting locked in cupboard in experiment 10 and having actors in queue lines etc..

I think there's a bit of a rose-tinted specs here to be fair.

2013 was the only year when maze queues had actors. Saw The Ride had a couple of actors in the queue on and off (both during and outside of FN). But it was more the exception than the rule in the past.

The "getting locked in cupboards" only happened in one maze, for 2 years.

Now, the likes of 2011 and 2013's Fright Nights still remain some of the strongest editions of Fright Nights even now. So it's completely valid to miss those editions and compare to them. But they weren't always like that, and still had their own issues. Queue times back then were very long even back then, outside of a few select dates, making lapping mazes uncommon.

Sadly, anyone under the age of 20 won't understand what those amazing Fright Nights of yesteryear were like. Even anyone under the age of 25 won't fully appreciate what it was like. We're in a complete new age of Fright Nights, and of Halloween attractions.

9 hours ago, Cal said:

On another note, I do hope they make more of an effort with ride soundtrack overlays this year. They've been redundant for a good 2-3 years now which is a shame.

This certainly should be a focus for a quieter year. Spending time, resources and money on ride soundtracks - whether it's a park-wide idea or ride-specific takeovers - will really add to the overall atmosphere of the event. It's not exactly necessary (many parks don't do it at all), but it will improve an event like Fright Nights.

In the past, simply using Midnight Syndicate (which of course is royalty free) did the job. That could still work now to be fair. But if they wanted to be more original, that would work too.

8 hours ago, Inferno said:

The Asylum, Experiment 10 and Cabin in the Woods are examples of excellent Thorpe mazes in my opinion at least - but I imagine they would be poorly received if they “came back” exactly as they were, even if they were still “free” (or included in the event ticket price as I prefer to say!).

I think now people have grown used to what a Thorpe scare maze “is”, and something like Asylum would probably now be seen as lazy, as it had next to no theming and just 2 stock songs playing in the queue, even though it could be an extremely intense experience.

I think it's easy to forget the shortcomings of each of the mazes you listed (as well as other well-loved Thorpe mazes from the past), and those may be highlighted more in the current line up, even if they were including in the ticket price.

-Asylum is repetitive, and it's 'trick' (a strobe, mesh maze) is used as scenes in so many scare attractions. I get why people loved it (even if I didn't), but a maze which is an elongated scene from other mazes might not capture people's imagination.

-Experiment 10 was short, even by 2011's standard. It worked, and the first half made up for it. It might work well as a free maze now, given the other mazes would be notably longer, but its length would be an issue.

-Cabin in the Woods suffered from a very congested second half. It also got progressively worse each year, with the first half becoming further and further away from the original design and plan.

This is me trying to be objective and nit-picky, yes. But I think there's lots of discourse about previous mazes in general, and people do look back too fondly. Give it a couple of years, and I reckon there'll be people crying out for the returns of Do or Die, Roots of Evil and even Vulcan Peak.

But yeah, there is now a clear identity of what a Thorpe maze "is". It's very similar for Tulleys - everyone knows what a Tulleys maze "is". It's fine to have an identity and to do what works for you and your audience. But it does create a bit of a 'same old, same old', doesn't it.

8 hours ago, Inferno said:

I also wonder if these sort of “more basic” attractions won’t be able to compete now adays due to the need for things to look good for social media etc, especially with Universal a few years away, Thorpe need to have impressive looking attractions I suppose so they can directly compete with HHN.

I expect however, the real reason is that they need to justify the prices they’re charging for a run through, so it needs to look like it’s worth paying for, more so than the need for it to be scary.

As you say Cal, times have changed I suppose.

The social media thing is a good point, with the rise of it all. Prior to 2015, you never had anyone allowed 'officially' to take footage inside mazes except the park really. I'd argue that leaves us with these rose-tinted specs more, but that's a different point. People do judge on the look things a lot more.

It will be interesting to see how Universal manage HHN in the UK. The near continuous flow of guests is very uncommon across European Halloween attractions in general. So I wonder how the public will react to that compared to how we usually operate.

I don't think Thorpe (or any scare attraction in the UK) should try to play the same game as HHN though. They'll lose. Better to craft out a niche than play someone else's game and lose terribly. I imagine many guests however will look at it as a direction competition regardless though, so they'll have to compete.

I think the biggest issue that Thorpe will face, at first at the very least, is that I expect actors will be chomping at the bit to work for Universal. If I was a scare actor, the opportunity to work at the first HHN UK would be something I'd be hugely tempted by. And if Thorpe is my otherwise closest major event, Bedford isn't exactly a huge upheaval to my life for a couple of months.

On 9/21/2025 at 10:13 AM, JoshC. said:

I think there's a bit of a rose-tinted specs here to be fair.

2013 was the only year when maze queues had actors. Saw The Ride had a couple of actors in the queue on and off (both during and outside of FN). But it was more the exception than the rule in the past.

The "getting locked in cupboards" only happened in one maze, for 2 years.

Now, the likes of 2011 and 2013's Fright Nights still remain some of the strongest editions of Fright Nights even now. So it's completely valid to miss those editions and compare to them. But they weren't always like that, and still had their own issues. Queue times back then were very long even back then, outside of a few select dates, making lapping mazes uncommon.

Sadly, anyone under the age of 20 won't understand what those amazing Fright Nights of yesteryear were like. Even anyone under the age of 25 won't fully appreciate what it was like. We're in a complete new age of Fright Nights, and of Halloween attractions.

This certainly should be a focus for a quieter year. Spending time, resources and money on ride soundtracks - whether it's a park-wide idea or ride-specific takeovers - will really add to the overall atmosphere of the event. It's not exactly necessary (many parks don't do it at all), but it will improve an event like Fright Nights.

In the past, simply using Midnight Syndicate (which of course is royalty free) did the job. That could still work now to be fair. But if they wanted to be more original, that would work too.

I think it's easy to forget the shortcomings of each of the mazes you listed (as well as other well-loved Thorpe mazes from the past), and those may be highlighted more in the current line up, even if they were including in the ticket price.

-Asylum is repetitive, and it's 'trick' (a strobe, mesh maze) is used as scenes in so many scare attractions. I get why people loved it (even if I didn't), but a maze which is an elongated scene from other mazes might not capture people's imagination.

-Experiment 10 was short, even by 2011's standard. It worked, and the first half made up for it. It might work well as a free maze now, given the other mazes would be notably longer, but its length would be an issue.

-Cabin in the Woods suffered from a very congested second half. It also got progressively worse each year, with the first half becoming further and further away from the original design and plan.

This is me trying to be objective and nit-picky, yes. But I think there's lots of discourse about previous mazes in general, and people do look back too fondly. Give it a couple of years, and I reckon there'll be people crying out for the returns of Do or Die, Roots of Evil and even Vulcan Peak.

But yeah, there is now a clear identity of what a Thorpe maze "is". It's very similar for Tulleys - everyone knows what a Tulleys maze "is". It's fine to have an identity and to do what works for you and your audience. But it does create a bit of a 'same old, same old', doesn't it.

The social media thing is a good point, with the rise of it all. Prior to 2015, you never had anyone allowed 'officially' to take footage inside mazes except the park really. I'd argue that leaves us with these rose-tinted specs more, but that's a different point. People do judge on the look things a lot more.

It will be interesting to see how Universal manage HHN in the UK. The near continuous flow of guests is very uncommon across European Halloween attractions in general. So I wonder how the public will react to that compared to how we usually operate.

I don't think Thorpe (or any scare attraction in the UK) should try to play the same game as HHN though. They'll lose. Better to craft out a niche than play someone else's game and lose terribly. I imagine many guests however will look at it as a direction competition regardless though, so they'll have to compete.

I think the biggest issue that Thorpe will face, at first at the very least, is that I expect actors will be chomping at the bit to work for Universal. If I was a scare actor, the opportunity to work at the first HHN UK would be something I'd be hugely tempted by. And if Thorpe is my otherwise closest major event, Bedford isn't exactly a huge upheaval to my life for a couple of months.

I'm not sure I'd prefer working in a HHN maze to a Thorpe maze. The whole acting like an animatronic sequencing of the acting style looks incredibly boring compared to the improvisation you get at typical Thorpe and other events but yes first year certainly.

That said out in the scare zones at HHN or working shows would be far better!

I thought I’d share some thoughts on Fright Nights and the new scare zone.

Firstly, I think the new scare zone is a good addition, and the location works well since it’s in a main part of the park—unlike Swarm Invasion. That said, the theme feels a bit strange. I read an excerpt that linked it to Lucifer, but I don’t really see the need for two similar zones. On top of that, the area itself has a Mardi Gras theme, so why not go with a creepy New Orleans–inspired zone instead?

I’m also not a fan of conversation-based zones. As someone who’s more introverted, I find it hard to play along and create stories with the actors, so I usually avoid them. Amity High was a good example of this—it was only fun if you already knew the performers.

That being said, the more scare zones the better in my opinion. Especially now with paid mazes, since I can’t afford to do them every visit, the scare zones give a free alternative for a spooky experience. Since 2020, the number of scare zones has decreased in favor of paid mazes. For example, Amity High used to be staffed all evening before the shows, but now they only appear during show times. I’m not entirely sure what scare zone style would work best at Thorpe Park, since The Crows feels more like an outdoor maze than a true zone. But I do know that conversation-based zones just aren’t for me.

The mazes themselves have become pretty consistent, which is great if you’re paying for them. Deadbeat and Stitches are especially reliable, maybe because they’re well-themed walkthroughs—although Deadbeat does lack actor-driven scares. I think less-themed outdoor mazes could actually work really well as free alternatives to the current scare zones.

One of my favorites in recent years was Lucifer’s Lair. A couple of years ago, the insults Lucifer hurled around made it hilarious and memorable, though last year it felt much more toned down. Hopefully, now that it’s become a bigger part of the event, the zone will keep improving year after year.

no clues to hide in the mazes this year,

for nothing, is happening

:(

Glad to see that they've now changed the soundtrack on a lot of the rides for Fright Nights, after not doing it for a number of years. They're in the same/similar voice as the advert for this year.

Unfortunately no change on Stealth or Samurai though, and you can hardly hear it in Colossus' station as its very quiet.

The park is looking amazing in the dark this year. Lots of lighting changes and additional smoke machines making the park look the best it ever has done at night. A lot of Swarms effects have been restored and Infernos mist is pumping.

I love this smoke effect on Colossus.

Streamable

Watch IMG_3720 | Streamable

Hyperia is lit up in red from 7pm, and the lights go off as each train goes down the first drop.

Really not a fan of the music that starts blasting out at 9:20 park wide though, including in the Hyperia queue 🤣

Streamable

Watch IMG_3747 | Streamable

Also really not a fan of the new scare zone and just seems like that was added for the sake of adding a new scare attraction. Would love to see another Crows/Towers style scare zone. Why not use the old Blair Witch route from Trailers to the Nemesis Inferno exit like before?

On 9/21/2025 at 10:13 AM, JoshC. said:

I don't think Thorpe (or any scare attraction in the UK) should try to play the same game as HHN though. They'll lose. Better to craft out a niche than play someone else's game and lose terribly. I imagine many guests however will look at it as a direction competition regardless though, so they'll have to compete.

I think the biggest issue that Thorpe will face, at first at the very least, is that I expect actors will be chomping at the bit to work for Universal. If I was a scare actor, the opportunity to work at the first HHN UK would be something I'd be hugely tempted by. And if Thorpe is my otherwise closest major event, Bedford isn't exactly a huge upheaval to my life for a couple of months.

I actually really disagree on the scare actor sentiment as someone who has done it for about a decade. Imagine being able to have creative freedom to scare how you like, make interesting noises, and be able to try different scares and interactions with different groups. And in between a group, while like 30 seconds, you can have a nice drink of water and get ready for the next group.

HHN has endless people, no creative freedom, jump out, reset, all night, no improvisation. Endless boredom. I also worry it being such a big corporate company would make it less desirable than let's say the nearby Howl, which is run by a pretty tiny company.

I actually think Universal are going to have to make some adaptions, the UK audience are very used to being batched into groups, having unique interactions with guests, and theming is only going to reach so far. Obviously you have IP's, but I don't feel IP's are enough to carry HHN in this country. Even quantity of attractions might be tough, Howl is now on 7 attractions with a live circus to add. I would argue theming in our industry is also actually pretty good now. Stitches for example, or especially Doom Town at Tulleys, which basically has HHN theming without the HHN downsides.

I actually think HHN might start off like Disneyland Paris did, if they assume what they do Stateside will work perfectly in England, they're wrong. But if they adapt to use group batching, and/or give their actors creative freedom, maybe then they will dominate over Howl/Xtreme Scream/FN/Shocktoberfest

I went to fright nights for the second time in 2025 last night and had a few thoughts since my first visit.

First of all, this is the first year since 2020 where fright nights has been the same and I’d say since then, every year has been different….. until this year.

I genuinely think this year is boring and not worth multiple visits unlike other years.

Mazes: I’ve now done all the mazes multiple times over the years, I have no urge to go back into them but that’s only because I’d have to pay to go in them

Zones: There is one scary zone and that’s the crows. Deaths doors a few years ago was a good walkthrough too but with only the crows really holding the line. It means that it can get pretty boring doing the free stuff.

Shows: The shows are pretty much the same as last year except different soundtracks. Amity show is good and they’ve slowly transitioned the theme and story away, it makes me slightly nolstalgic for amity high. As a one off dance show with a lot going on it’s good! But lucifiers lair is difficult to judge as it’s a really solid area with a lot going on and really brings the event together. However, it feels like I’m watching the same shows as last year.

The event is just like it continued from last year which to me makes it less enjoyable and I am unlikely to go again. I get however it is now a solid event, it feels more professional and you know what your going to get.

I do get what you mean, and think a lot of people will think the same. I still think its well worth a visit for the general atmosphere and rides in the dark, but I do wonder if people in general will be put off visiting this year as there isn't a new maze?

Will be interesting to see what they do next year to change things up.

The Independent

October is the new summer for these major UK tourist attr...

Halloween thrill-seekers are transforming October into a peak month for theme parks, with Merlin Entertainments revealing the period now rivals August for profitability.

This article is quite interesting and really shows how important Fright Nights is to Thorpe now.

Not sure how accurate it is, but Thorpe makes 46% of its annual profit in October and sees 20% of its yearly visitors in the month.

It also mentions how October visitor numbers surpassed August in 2024.

On 10/17/2025 at 12:52 AM, Cal said:

Really not a fan of the music that starts blasting out at 9:20 park wide though, including in the Hyperia queue 🤣

Not sure if it still does, but in the first few days of the event, the park was playing The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony shortly after closing. Apparently the reason is to represent the same feeling you get when the last song plays at the end of a good night out (ie bittersweet). Apparently meant to recreate when the park played Perfect Day in 2013's Fright Nights (which was in the film You're Next).

I...don't get it frankly. But I've also seen some really positive reactions online.

For me, it just doesn't make sense / fit with Fright Nights. I got why they did it in the exit area of DeadBeat (since it's nightclub themed). But parkwide? I don't know; I just don't get it.

Playing other pop music too, again I don't get it. Probably has some 'hidden meaning', but yeah...doesn't do it for me.

On 10/17/2025 at 12:56 PM, a guy said:

I actually really disagree on the scare actor sentiment as someone who has done it for about a decade. Imagine being able to have creative freedom to scare how you like, make interesting noises, and be able to try different scares and interactions with different groups. And in between a group, while like 30 seconds, you can have a nice drink of water and get ready for the next group.

Really good point, and I certainly didn't think of it that way.

Obviously there will be different schools of thought. I do still think there will be plenty of scare actors who would be more than willing to give it a go...even if just as a once off, but there will definitely be people who aren't keen on the idea (or choose to go there and then realise the style isn't for them).

I'm very intrigued by how Universal will set up HHN (or whatever they end up branding their Halloween event). The European market is very different and has very different expectations and standards for Halloween attractions. Do Universal stick with what they know, and bring that slice of American culture with them, or do they try to still keep it in the same form, but add the European flair to it. If they can bring on board British / European creatives with experience of creating and running Halloween attractions, they definitely could find a way to make it work.

17 hours ago, MattL28 said:

Shows: The shows are pretty much the same as last year except different soundtracks. Amity show is good and they’ve slowly transitioned the theme and story away, it makes me slightly nolstalgic for amity high. As a one off dance show with a lot going on it’s good! But lucifiers lair is difficult to judge as it’s a really solid area with a lot going on and really brings the event together. However, it feels like I’m watching the same shows as last year.

The event is just like it continued from last year which to me makes it less enjoyable and I am unlikely to go again. I get however it is now a solid event, it feels more professional and you know what your going to get.

One thing which I've noticed is that it would be very difficult for your average guest on your average night to do everything (ie all Fright Nights attractions and shows and major rides in the dark). There will definitely be many, many people who don't manage that. Whilst the park will have a lot of repeat visitors thanks to Annual Passholders, and I'm certainly all for keeping things fresh, for many people, a show feeling very similar won't have that much impact.

I'm sure that there are people who are going "we didn't do X last time, let's do it this time". Equally, people who are going "we did Y last time and enjoyed it, let's do/watch it again".

Of course, there will be people on the other side who crave new things / got everything done last time. It is all about striking a balance.

I still maintain that one year with no big new things is fine. Equally, I'd have preferred to see some extra work go into things like park-wide theming, themed audio, etc.

15 hours ago, Cal said:

This article is quite interesting and really shows how important Fright Nights is to Thorpe now.

Not sure how accurate it is, but Thorpe makes 46% of its annual profit in October and sees 20% of its yearly visitors in the month.

It also mentions how October visitor numbers surpassed August in 2024.

Doesn't surprise me. The profit in particular makes perfect sense given they're effectively introducing 4 paid attractions now, so they make more money from passholders as well as non-passholders.

Halloween events always do well for parks, given the later openings and limited-offering attractions, and that's true anywhere.

Equally, for Thorpe, I think it's a telling statistic. It's not necessarily that Fright Nights has become more visited, but that the rest of the year has become less-visited. Obviously both things could be true (and probably are), but I think that statistic is driven by the park being quieter the rest of the year.

I'm too lazy to look at what the days were last year, but this year, Thorpe has 207 open days and 24 of them are Fright Nights dates. So they're getting about 20% of their visitors across 11.5% of their open days. Those numbers are pretty meaningless without additional context, but I'd be interested what is was like in past and how important that is.

Cal, your pictures are very good, can I ask what device you used?

Fred (planenut)

2 hours ago, JoshC. said:

Not sure if it still does, but in the first few days of the event, the park was playing The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony shortly after closing. Apparently the reason is to represent the same feeling you get when the last song plays at the end of a good night out (ie bittersweet). Apparently meant to recreate when the park played Perfect Day in 2013's Fright Nights (which was in the film You're Next).

I...don't get it frankly. But I've also seen some really positive reactions online.

For me, it just doesn't make sense / fit with Fright Nights. I got why they did it in the exit area of DeadBeat (since it's nightclub themed). But parkwide? I don't know; I just don't get it.

Playing other pop music too, again I don't get it. Probably has some 'hidden meaning', but yeah...doesn't do it for me.

Yeah, thats what blasted out at 9:20, followed by a load of other pop music after.

I'm really not a fan of it either. Really doesn't fit in with Fright Nights whatsoever and completely killed the atmosphere for me.

2 hours ago, JoshC. said:

Doesn't surprise me. The profit in particular makes perfect sense given they're effectively introducing 4 paid attractions now, so they make more money from passholders as well as non-passholders.

Halloween events always do well for parks, given the later openings and limited-offering attractions, and that's true anywhere.

Equally, for Thorpe, I think it's a telling statistic. It's not necessarily that Fright Nights has become more visited, but that the rest of the year has become less-visited. Obviously both things could be true (and probably are), but I think that statistic is driven by the park being quieter the rest of the year.

I'm too lazy to look at what the days were last year, but this year, Thorpe has 207 open days and 24 of them are Fright Nights dates. So they're getting about 20% of their visitors across 11.5% of their open days. Those numbers are pretty meaningless without additional context, but I'd be interested what is was like in past and how important that is.

Yeah its very interesting. I knew it would be big but didn't realize they make nearly half of its annual profit at Fright Nights. Would love to know what that figure was pre covid when mazes were free too.

Would also be interested to see how much events like Octoberfest have an impact on visitor numbers, especially Towers where the event was better received.

52 minutes ago, planenut said:

Cal, your pictures are very good, can I ask what device you used?

Fred (planenut)

Thankyou! They're actually just taken on my Iphone 12 Pro Max which I've had for 5 years now. Currently waiting on the 17 so should be able to get some better photos with that soon

2 hours ago, Cal said:

Yeah, thats what blasted out at 9:20, followed by a load of other pop music after.

I'm really not a fan of it either. Really doesn't fit in with Fright Nights whatsoever and completely killed the atmosphere for me.

Yeah its very interesting. I knew it would be big but didn't realize they make nearly half of its annual profit at Fright Nights. Would love to know what that figure was pre covid when mazes were free too.

Would also be interested to see how much events like Octoberfest have an impact on visitor numbers, especially Towers where the event was better received.

Thankyou! They're actually just taken on my Iphone 12 Pro Max which I've had for 5 years now. Currently waiting on the 17 so should be able to get some better photos with that soon

2 hours ago, Cal said:

Yeah, thats what blasted out at 9:20, followed by a load of other pop music after.

I'm really not a fan of it either. Really doesn't fit in with Fright Nights whatsoever and completely killed the atmosphere for me.

Yeah its very interesting. I knew it would be big but didn't realize they make nearly half of its annual profit at Fright Nights. Would love to know what that figure was pre covid when mazes were free too.

Would also be interested to see how much events like Octoberfest have an impact on visitor numbers, especially Towers where the event was better received.

Thankyou! They're actually just taken on my Iphone 12 Pro Max which I've had for 5 years now. Currently waiting on the 17 so should be able to get some better photos with that soon

CalCal, they certainly are very clear pictures. I certainly wouldn't expect that quality from my phone, well done.