Whilst I don't anticipate there to be significant discourse on here this evening, the Fright Nights Launch Event is this evening, so I'd expect there to be spoilers floating about ahead of the official opening tomorrow. Please share anything that could be considered a Spoiler here.

If you want to follow along and get some updates of the event, and insights into what might have changed and the quality this year, follow along with your favourite fansite (that's Thorpe Park Mania, in case it wasn't obvious) on all good (and bad) social media!

Tidal Wave fire effect is still not working, in case anyone didn't know.

Wild 2026 prediction for the press event. Anyone will be allowed to go if they pay £300. It’s the only upsell they have left right?

2 hours ago, MattyMoo said:

Tidal Wave fire effect is still not working, in case anyone didn't know.

Confront russ on this if you see him.

Is there something in the invite to say that all posts have to be tagged with the words VIP? Congratulations to all the influencers who made it. To the rest of us the real proof will be in the pudding. Will those who went tonight be returning to the park to pay £40 to do these mazes again and have the privilege of queueing an hour to do so? Probably not…..

3 hours ago, Glitch said:

Confront russ on this if you see him.

He no longer works at the park unfortunately

I write this on my way to work, as it's raining. I'm tired. So forgive any typos.

As always, this is "my" review, not a 'press' review.

Trailers

My favourite maze of the night. Two new scenes are one inspired by Roots of Evil (in the forest area after the Dolls scene) and an Experiment 10 inspired one replacing Brainsburys. The safety speech is done in the old pre show area, with the screen now having a pre recorded pre show.

It's the same basic maze, but with a solid cast and good scares.

DeadBeat

No changes inside maze. Pre show is slightly different but that's it.

Stitches

A couple of minor changes, but same idea.

It's hard to tell without knowing numbers, but Stitches is either the most popular or has the worst throughput because even at Press Night it gets a longer queue than everything else

Survival Games

No more splitting up. This is a single route maze.

As a result, it is significantly longer. It's also still intense, but definitely less intense than previous years.

There's a change in story line about the characters being given a serum to make them more vicious, and so the 'assassin' characters are no more. The maze does feel fresh.

For me though, it's my least favourite of the 4. It feels a bit too Tulleys-like in that there's a long maze but a few moments where not a lot happens. It is, like the other mazes, walking through a themed set more than anything else, although it is less like that than the others.

I don't know. Maybe actors just need more time to bed in and get in the groove. Maybe I'm just salty because I liked the old Survival Games. Will be interesting to re do it later.

Purgatory Town

To behonest, exactly what I expected. It's an interactive zone. You get out what you put in. If you seek the actors out, talk to them, you'll get so fun conversations. If you walk through and the actors are already talking, it'll be like the zone doesn't exist. If they're free they will approach you, but if you don't put anything in they'll move on.

It's fine for what it is. With mazes becoming more passive I think the jury is out whether this is what Fright Nights needs. And it remains to be seen how it will cope when busy.

Creature Campus

Another great dance show this year. I get that many aren't interested in it, but it oozes atmosphere. Would recommend.

The Crows

Longest and possibly best layout yet. It is basically an outdoor maze at this point. Theming and effects are cool. Music is perfect for it. It just works.

Lucifer's Lair

Say hello to the crown jewel of Fright Nights for the third year running.

The area is perfect for what it is trying to be, the hub of the event. There will always be something going on, whether it is demons going round treating it like a scare zone, singing, dance shows, stunt shows or the best version of a Thorpe fire show yet. This is just it.

Music is a bit of a mess right now. I'm sad they're not choosing to do more specific stuff for rides.

Lighting is great. Stealth has a cool light at the end of the launch track in sync with the launch lights.

All in it's another good event. It won't silence critics about the long term direction that FN has gone / is going. I'm less of a fan of the style of mazes Thorpe currently produce, but I'll still give them another go and see what changes.

But genuinely, and wholeheartedly, the stuff included in the entrance ticket is worth the visit.

Think my issue is the family friendlificiation of the event. Chessington and Legoland are just down the road but yet Merlin have opted for dance party shows at Thorpe. I guess that family money can’t be beaten but why can’t we bring back some sorta scary roamers….. Nowadays it’s bring your whole family to the event, I remember being scared as a kid of even seeing the banner for the freak show outside the cinema and really making sure I was out of the park before 3pm why can’t we bring back that vibe. There’s 2 family friendly parks down the road.

I don't think the event in its current guise is 'family friendly". It's by no means adult/mature, and has something for everyone, but it's not exactly pushed down to Chessington or Legoland markets.

Yes, there's a dance show which is for everyone, and doesn't go hard on scares. Whilst you could argue that the cast for that could be used for a "scare" attraction, it's not guarantee that all the actors involved would want / could be scare actors. Different skill set, backgrounds, etc. So not a straightforward swap.

Obviously it won't interest everyone and that's fine. But it does add atmosphere and variety to the event.

Lucifer's Lair features some dance shows, but they are certainly geared towards a more mature audience. And that whole zone does encapsulate what previous roamers were like it terms of scare factor.

Ultimately yes Fright Nights does still have things which cater to everyone. And part of me expects that that is because regardless of what Thorpe do, families still visit the park. We saw years ago that the park tried catering to just thrills and a slightly older audience, and that just led to less people spending money, and more complaints and bad publicity from families who came anyway.

There's still enough to satisfy the 'thrillseeker' audience. Even if the upcharges are too much, or the mazes lack consistency, the quartet of mazes intent is to be scary, and for the wider audience, that is what they acheive.

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see the park have Fright Nights be more mature, up the age recommendations, become a bit more scary. And that would certainly benefit some of their attractions. But I completely get why they won't do that. And if that's what people are after, I going to an out and out scream park is the best option for them.

I am concerned that creature campus is a fan service at this point. The only people I see watching it are the creators of the sound track and Merlin pass holders.

The general public aren’t interested/ understand/ aware of this show. I think the show as good as it is to a fan of a scare event doesn’t really have anything stand out away from dancers. I think realistically it needs to be a full production with stunts and effects. It needs to be different and not dancing to a mash up, there is no reason for anyone really to watch that show.

Lucifiers lair on the other hand has got that draw and appeal particularly because of the location and the variety of shows put on regularly throughout the night. Fire effects are a big draw and shows that there is something different.

Purgatory Town is exactly what I thought it would be and unfortunately adds nothing to the event. I’ve visited scarefest at Alton towers with two walk through scare zones and they are both different. One creepy and one abrupt and jumpy. I think this is what Thorpe really need rather than just crows which get you because they are creepy.

I think this year on paper is a really strong year but with no new scare mazes. It won’t have the hype to compete with previous years.

I visited yesterday, I'll start with the positives. Amazing operations on most of the major coasters. (I didn't ride Saw) Ops have been good on all of my visits this season but yesterday was top notch. Colossus was slow because the operator did not open the air gates until all of the previous trains riders had left the station. Hopefully that was a one off and not a new policy.

Mazes. Groups are far too big. 15 at a time for both Stitches and Trailers. Both experiences felt like being in a queue for large parts where nothing happened. Scares were impossible as you know from the reactions ahead what to expect.

Lucifer's Lair - highlight of this year's Fright Nights for me.

They need to address the size of the groups. Even when the mazes were free it used to be groups of four or eight Hellgate/Asylum. I understand high throughput is needed but it can't be detriment to the experience.

I just came back from a pretty quiet Fright Nights (a Monday), and it was good fun! I was at the front of two of the mazes, and back at the other two, and generally I thought it was e better than last year. Anyway I'll briefly summarize the mazes

Trailers:

Good fun and consistent as usual, but scary is a stretch. I do think even with new rooms it is getting stale, I also find the newer rooms to be like barely noticable compared to what was there previously. Acting quality was great though.

Stitches:

Similar opinion to last year, it's really eerie and well themed. I was at the front and felt pretty on edge for most of it. Probably my favourite maze?

Deadbeat:

Last year I roasted it, and I would say improvements have been made for sure, though subtle. Last year I felt it lacked scares and felt very flat, but this year I felt like there was more actors, darker sets in places, and a lot of smoke. I thought the ending was mediocre last year but this year the two actors in the finale chased us out which was brilliant. I thought overall there was some good timed scares, a good level of them, and just overall was a good scare maze.

I honestly was shocked at how much subtle changes could make Deadbeat actually really fun!

Survival Games:

Honestly I miss the old days when this was a intense maze that pushed limits. As the years have gone by, it seems to have just got weaker, and this year's version I thought was meh. Last year was impractical with batching, with the arena having 4 actors to 60 people wandering around. Despite this though I think removing the multi route/separation makes it feel like a tamed down version of its previous self.

I do like the new beginning, I feel it gives me techno vibes and explains a narrative a lot better. Despite this though once you remove Survival Games's gimmick and USP, you begin to realize it's mostly a maze of black walls and actors insulting you. I really didn't feel intimidated enough. The lack of forcefulness like previous years felt sad.

Crows:

Honestly this can stay for many more years and I have no issue with it. Thorpe have literally created an iconic character, and their scare zone has been consistently fun.

Purgatory Town:

Cast here are brilliant, and had some hilarious interactions. Though the theming and budget of this zone can't be more £250. If the cast weren't so good, I would be more inclined to complain.

Visited Fright Nights on Sunday 19th and have some thoughts from what was a bit of an odd day at the park.

Firstly some positives, Hyperia was open on time and operations were fantastic with it almost never stacking on the break run. The park wide theming seems to be better than last year with a great overall atmosphere in the evenings. Personally I preferred Survival Games in it's first year where it seemed most intense but the way they have used the space this year to create a much longer experience is quite clever, it was easily the most intense maze experience that my group and I had on the day. I also quite liked the subtle changes within Dead Beat which has made this a little darker whilst maintaining the more fun aspects of it.

Some negatives though. Trailers is getting a bit tired, no spark effects in the finale any more don't help, and sending in groups of 18-20 is not really acceptable given the amount that the mazes cost. Group sizes were smaller when the mazes were free! Queueing a bit for mazes is expected but hour long queues for the early timeslot seems to suggest that they are massively overselling tickets, especially combined with group sizes. We only just managed to complete all 4 mazes within the 4 hours that we had and that included getting in Trailers a few minutes before the official opening time. Stitches seemed to have some issues with light leaking in during our run through and again, a group size of around 18 made it quite obvious where the scares were going to be from towards the back of the group.

And then the rain started...

We had waited until it got dark to experience the Crows, unfortunately this was completely closed due to flooding when we arrived although still said open on the app. The staff running the attraction were letting people know to go and experience something else and to check the app to see if it opened later, they were doing a great job of tempering expectations but hadn't realised that the attraction was not listed as closed and so were having to deal with huge amounts of people. The Creature Campus shows also seemed to be halted by the rain as did the vast majority of rides in the park meaning that the vast majority of people were walking around trying to find things to do! In the end we decided to cut the evening short and left around 7:45. When we left there were only 3-4 major rides open in the park, most people had voted with their feet and were leaving too.

It's a shame to see the weather effect the event so dramatically and also highlighted the lack of indoor areas to go and take a break from the weather. At one point Inferno's gift shop had become some sort of sanctuary for all those cold and wet at that end of the park!

TLDR:

Operations were pretty good from what we saw as was parkwide atmosphere and theming. Some rain forces almost all attractions to close leaving some guests with very few options other than to bite the bullet and leave early.

The park have released an hour-long interview with Fright Nights management about this year's event.

There's some cool insight about things and is well worth a watch.

Will share my thoughts about some things discussed at a later point.

On 10/21/2025 at 2:29 PM, tomathy said:

Some negatives though. Trailers is getting a bit tired, no spark effects in the finale any more don't help, and sending in groups of 18-20 is not really acceptable given the amount that the mazes cost. Group sizes were smaller when the mazes were free!

This, and this alone, is reason enough for me to never visit Fright Nights on a pay-per-maze basis.

15 hours ago, MattyMoo said:

This, and this alone, is reason enough for me to never visit Fright Nights on a pay-per-maze basis.

I dont get how multi million pound rides are free and the thrown together maze is a cost

8 hours ago, LightSam said:

I dont get how multi million pound rides are free and the thrown together maze is a cost

The hiring of 300 actors on short term contracts will be the reason.

One of the few exclusion dates for annual pass is tonight, yet the app shows the park isn't that busy?

2 hours ago, LightSam said:

One of the few exclusion dates for annual pass is tonight, yet the app shows the park isn't that busy?

Couple of things to consider:

-Merlin recently made Halloween an included day for most passes.

-The excluded days, somewhat ironically, tend to be a bit quieter because:

1. There's less passholders

2. People expect those days to be busy so avoid them

-The weather was forecast to be a bit rubbish, which can put passholders off

-There were 2 severe cases of bad weather, including electrical storms in the nearby area, shutting down most rides. That, along with the rubbish weather, meant people left earlier.

The park today didn't feel as busy as it was yesterday. Nor did it feel as busy as it was last Halloween. However, the park was still extremely busy and lively.

A few things to throw out into the realm of conversation...

Fright Nights Music

I noticed during the last week of Fright Nights that many rides did have Fright Nights themed announcements, from Lucifer. Rush, Detonator and Nemesis Inferno spring to mind. It's weird that it happened late into the event, but good to see.

I do think it's something that really does add to the atmosphere, and something the park should continue to focus on and improve. Fright Nights specific audio was one of the biggest successes from early Fright Nights - even if it was just Midnight Syndicate - and something that the park should continue to replicate. Even using free, spooky audio would add an extra layer.

The park have shown this year they have the ability to programme park-wide changes to lighting and audio, so the next step is to really focus onto ride-specifics.

I've also been on park for the pop music change at the end of the day. And...I still don't get it. I've seen a couple of videos of large groups of people really getting into it. My experience was a couple of people scattered around getting into it, but most people not being bothered by it.

When I say I don't get it, I do understand the logic behind it. But I just don't see how it links to Fright Nights, how it adds to the overall experience or anything. In the BTS interview, it was mentioned they wanted to replicate the vibe that occurred in 2013 when they used Perfect Day (which was used in the You're Next film, which was part of that year's Fright Nights), and they wanted Bittersweet Symphony in particular to be another "iconic" Fright Nights song. I certainly don't view Perfect Day as an iconic Fright Nights song, or even associate it with Fright Nights all that much. That whole viewpoint comes from a very skewed perspective in my opinion.

Mazes

Thorpe have a...problem with the mazes.

I will maintain what I've always said in that the quality of the mazes, on the whole, is pretty good. Yes, there's issues, batch sizes majorly affect the experiences, costs are high, etc, but on the whole, they're pretty good. You chuck any one of their mazes into any previous Fright Nights event, or into most scare events across the country, and they'll be well received.

But the problem is that they're all so samey. You have 4 mazes where you get batched in as a group. You then watch a pre-show (3 of which on shown on a screen). You then walk round well themed sets as a group whilst actors jump out, invade your personal space and then you move on. The mazes feature quite passive scenes, where you see actors do things to others, but you experience no real scare.

Examples..

Trailers in the dentist scene, when the dentist 'beats up' the patient.

Deadbeat, just before the sewer, when a Visceral sucks out the soul of a raver.

Stitches, when a worker is sewing up a mannequin.

As I say, each maze in its own right is good. And the variety in themes of the 4 mazes is perfect. The issue simply is is you have 4 mazes which are basically carbon copies of each other, just dressed differently. I think that, in part, comes down to have a consistent creative team for many years, using UVE for many years - there's a level of comfort and knowing what works.

I think this is highlighted again in the BTS video. One notable reason for Survival Games (which, prior to this year, stood out as being completely different) being changed is because it was seen in guest feedback that people were getting an inconsistent number of scares, which was impacting experience and the perception of value for money. And their solution to that problem is to make Survival Games like every other maze they have - single route, actors jumping out, you continually moving. Thorpe know how to make that work, so they went with that.

I'm not saying that was necessarily a right or a wrong move. Nor am I saying it's easy to create a multi-route experience which is consistent. But they went with the easiest option available to their team.

The last time that Thorpe had no variety in their mazes, in terms of style of scares, was 2010. They had 4 mazes (Asylum, Hellgate, Se7en, Curse). They were all "get batched in a conga line, go straight in the maze with no pre show, and actors will jump out and touch you" in style.

In 2011, they changed things (not just for them, but for the wider UK scare industry as a whole). They introduced Experiment 10, which had a pre-show, split you up, etc. And even 14 years later, is spoken about extremely fondly.

And that kick-started a wave of creativity for them. Each year after, you had at least one maze which was completely different. The Passing, Cabin in the Woods, Blair Witch, Big Top, Do or Die...heck, even Vulcan Peak. The quality of those vary, but there is no denying that all those mazes felt different, and all for varying reasons (split up, multi-route, outdoors, hoods, etc).

There's certainly an argument that in playing it 'safe', creating the same style of maze, has allowed the maze quality to increase. But there's a parallel argument that that 'safety' is stifling creativity and progress.

I'm not saying the park should change their creative team. Far from it, as they've really pushed Fright Nights forwards. But they need to take a risk, try something different, and not be afraid to put the work in to tweak and change it to make it work.