Fright Nights 2013

[Marc]

Here's a picture of the Hellgate layout:

Source - http://www.s104638357.websitehome.co.uk/html/magazine_23a_01.htm

Of course, no idea about CITW's layout; still managed to avoid spoilers for it (surprisingly!)

It really is nothing like that

[DangFlabbit]

It really is nothing like that

Haha - I remember going in, then turning left, onto the open room with a dining table(?) and then having to go back with an actor in the room - then left/right through the zig-zag style corridors, but wasn't there a rotating tunnel in there too?

Kinda similar to that layout - but with entrance/exit's on the bottom rather than the right of the floor plans perhaps?

[Marc]

I think from the rotating tunel is the same but all the rooms before that are new I beleve

[alexander]

Does anyone know if you can use 2for1 vouchers for Fright Nights? My friend wants to know.

[Han30]

Does anyone know if you can use 2for1 vouchers for Fright Nights? My friend wants to know.

From what I have read on their FB page, some 2 for 1 vouchers are valid, but you have to check on the back for any restrictions. Don't quote me on that cos I am a bit of a div

[Morgan]

I would say the not touching thing is an American problem that unfortunately for them probably cannot be solved without changing their culture...

"Ew they breathed on me, I'm sueing the park for mental trauma!"

Also, to do a free flow maze at HHN it would be a throughput nightmare for them. Presuming it's not changed since the last time I went, they have a near constant stream of people going through, with only a brief pause between very large groups, and they have queues that stretch into multiple hours for all there mazes. My last time in 2008 we had express passes and we still had to queue 40mins for one of the mazes later on in the night, they really do get that busy. So for them to recreate Thorpe's Cabin experience they would have to have multiple mazes for the same thing.

That's the advantage of having lower attendance to these events, it allows for a more personal and immersive experience, even if you don't get film quality sets and themeing.

[jammydodger]

I have not been to fright nights yet and I am curious to know how much difference is there from MBV and E10?

[Coaster]

I have not been to fright nights yet and I am curious to know how much difference is there from MBV and E10?

Layout is similar, but scenery and general feel of the maze is mostly different.

[applesoup]

From what I have read on their FB page, some 2 for 1 vouchers are valid, but you have to check on the back for any restrictions. Don't quote me on that cos I am a bit of a div

They said Fright Nights are not counted as Special events this year, but if the voucher might exclude certain dates which should be checked.

I'm confused though, one can't use vouchers online, right? Is there a risk of a Fright Night being booked full so if you turn up at the gates with your voucher you might be left out?

[TPJames]

They said Fright Nights are not counted as Special events this year, but if the voucher might exclude certain dates which should be checked.

I'm confused though, one can't use vouchers online, right? Is there a risk of a Fright Night being booked full so if you turn up at the gates with your voucher you might be left out?

If the voucher doesn't have a restriction it can be used on fright nights...

Yes, this does mean you can be left out however if you get there early you won't be and the park probably won't be anywhere near full until the 2nd week of half term. My friend has a tesco voucher for this Sunday and we are getting there early just in case

[JackR]

Just got back from Thorpe and the queues were minimal tonight. Managed Asylum and MBV twice, Saw: Alive once and Cabin four times. I never bothered with BWP because the queue was horrendous when it first opened, but I can do that another time I guess... I thought I'd put up a nice review for you all though and I will include spoilers, so be warned!

The Asylum

Very good as usual, seems that it's a bit longer this year which is only a good thing. The tweaked ending is also much better and I ran out of the exit both times. Lots of smoke in the corridors and the strobes were intense as usual. The only thing I would say is that the siren was quiet! This was definitely the most intense maze of the night which is to be expected I guess!

PROS: - Lots of smoke

- The actors cooperated well.

- Very good ending

CONS: - Sirens were quiet

Although nothing has changed too much, The Asylum is still the only maze that actually makes me nervous. 7/10

My Blood Valentine

I wasn't blown away by My Bloody Valentine. It was basically E10 without the gimmicks. The scares were fairly weak and the ending was even weaker. It was nice to see some roaming actors outside however. The themeing was okay I guess. I could recognise old parts of E10 such as the tunnel and cupboards, but I definitely preferred E10. I feel that Thorpe have made a mistake getting rid of that this year, but that's just my opinion... I liked how it was free flowing though; nice to see Thorpe try to work around the traditional conga line.

PROS: - Roaming actors

- No conga line

CONS: - Weak scares

- Weak ending

- Poor themeing

Overall I was disappointed by this maze, although my friend said it was the scariest of the night! 4/10

SAW: Alive!

I feel that I know the maze by the back of my hand now, so it was fairly repetitive; although if it was my first time I would have been very impressed! The actors really took on their roles well, rolling around the floor and getting multiple jump scares. There was loads of fog and it was extremely hard to navigate around the last few rooms whilst the actors jumped out at you! The policeman at the start separated my friend from the group and made the experience very interactive. He was also very physical grabbing my waist to move me. The actors being able to touch you definitely gives us one up on the Americans in my opinion.

PROS: - Very good actors

- Lots of smoke

- Great themeing

-Actors all physical and interactive

CONS: - Not intense like Asylum.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed Saw as per usual, it just wasn't intense like The Asylum is. For an over all experience, I was extremely impressed but based on scares alone, Saw Alive didn't quite cut it... 7/10

The Cabin in the Woods

My first impression of this maze was a very positive one. What an improvement on The Passing! Walking through the first corridor after the stone entrance had everybody scared even though we hadn't even properly entered the maze yet. There was some kind of material on the floor that managed to surprise everybody. The first room was very well themed and because I only entered with one other person, it made the experience of choosing a door very intimidating. After four run throughs I managed to experience every room (even the control room!) and I really like how re-rideable the maze is. The number of different routes you could take really means that each go differs from the last. The last part of the maze is nowhere near as well themed as the first part, although it's still a major, major improvement on The Passing. The scares were fairly weak towards the end in my opinion, but the actors still worked well together and they should be commended for that! The ending was very weak, which was a shame as the start was so strong! The main down fall of this maze though is the logistics of it. Because of all the routes you can take, you usually find yourself bumping into other small groups or catching up with the group in front. I suppose the number of people in the maze cannot be reduced without sacrificing through put however. It will be interesting to see how Cabin copes when the park gets busier...

PROS: - Very re-rideable

- Well themed

- Major improvement on The Passing

- A very imaginative concept that stands out from all of the other corridor based, conga line mazes out there

- The scary music playing throughout added to the tension

- A large variety of characters, although there were no pumpkin heads!

CONS: - Scares not very intense

- Weak ending

- Lots of congestion

Overall, I was blown away by the concept of this maze. If it wasn't for the congestion in each room, it would have been executed near perfectly as well. Like all of the other mazes bar Asylum, I would have liked more intense scares, but things like scares just depend on the actors I guess. 8/10

[Coaster]

Thanks for the review, it's interesting to see other people's opinions.

I can't understand why they won't turn the siren up in Asylum though!

[RobD]

So a quick Rob review.

Here we are again, the best time of the year for theme parks, and Thorpe Park are once again hitting us with a theme based event. Maybe I went with false optimism, but I was hoping desperately there would be a vast improvement on last year. There was not.

No park wide themeing. Not a sign of Halloween, and the only real effort made was to change every rides start announcement to a horrendously cheesy film director doing the stereotypical scary/cringey laugh and saying lights, camera, action. It was shamefully poorly produced, annoying to hear on every ride, and just screamed of no effort. Music wise there was no significant music change and, quite honestly they may as well not even bother anymore, without the extra themeing or effort to make each ride somewhat unique. How I miss Rush as a playground swing with chalkings, fake cob web, and test dummys thrown into the bushes

As for the mazes, I'll make this brief...(in no particular order)

1. Asylum

Very very good. Better scares, high intensity and a strong improvement on last year.

2. My Bloody Valentine

Excellent. Very intense and also fast paced, the actors were on top form and delivered a fantastic performance. They portrayed the story exceptionally well and did a fantastic job of making the pickaxe guy scary, as he wasn't in your face at all, very withdrawn until the final scene, built the intensity very well indeed.

3. (Now it starts getting a bit rubbish). Saw

Dire. Just dire. As it always was, inconsistent, ineffective and a bit wtf. For instance, the actors one minute screaming in traps the get out of these horrendous traps to behave like mental patients before voluntarily returning to said traps. Anyone not in a trap behaved like an asylum patient on holiday to the saw boat. Dire, pointless, and the lighting does not work (too bright).

4. Cabin in the Woods

A top class lesson on how not to scare act. Every actor was far too in your face,there was no variety. It got to the point where I just felt like pushing them out of my way, every single actor, literally, just walked right up to me and stared me in the face (like they were going in for a kiss), it was boring and not even close to scary. A total shambles. Theme wise they had made a good effort,but was totally let down by the storyless maze and samey acting.

5. Blair Witch Project

Worse maze in the park. Infact maze is an overstatement. It's a straight line path with a few actors who get in your face. I didn't jump once and the final scare was none existent, although I dis enjoy seeing all the old rumba boats and heaters they had gone to such extreme efforts to hide, stored at the back of inferno.

All in all, the mazes were very varied. Two strong ones, 2 weak ones, one that is neither a maze nor scary. 4/10

As a Halloween event, fright nights has sunk to its lowest in my opinion, 2/10. It's so upsetting really because at one point 2007/2008), this was without a doubt the UKs premier Halloween event.

[DangFlabbit]

Quick overview of my impressions from yesterday... We missed saw due to nothing being "new".

Cabin was my favourite. Different routes, and seemed to be literally bursting with actors. In one room there were 6 actors running around the room, in comparison to the three of us. Being continually matched on numbers with actors:guest ratios worked really well - you never knew where to look! They all seemed to know how to use the space they were using, they may have been getting very close with an "in your face" approach but I think that worked well in here. On a re-ride (if you could call it that) after the fourth door's scare the doors accidentally closed again, and re-locked us from going anywhere. The people in my group were desperate to go but with me at the front I couldn't do anything and they simply didn't understand the doors physically locked! We passed the control room but went elsewhere - where does the spinning doll door go? Two groups tried to get in but it was locked on both occasions. I do agree that theming levels drop mid-maze, the moment after you've left the "cabin" and have entered the lab though.

Asylum indeed seemed longer than normal - still very enjoyable. The only part I was genuinely "frightened" though was the suspense at the final corridor with the curtains however.

My bloody valentine was, in my opinion, terrible. Theming inside, even compared to the second section of cabin, looked poor. Very few actors actually -inside- the maze, and those that were didn't seem to be doing much. Even with nobody in front of us, they were just standing around swaying slightly, doing nothing when you passed.

Blair Witch Project was even worse - what seemed like the longest queue for any of the mazes that night (I wouldn't dare call it that) - was simply a literal walk through a long woodland path behind the buildings. A maximum of say, 5 of the actors who were there actually made themselves known. Toward the end one of them approached saying there was an "e-stop" and we had to go all the way back to restart. By this point in the walk most of the people simply wanted to leave, rather than walk up and down the entire strip again! Shout out to the phlegm-filled actor who was waiting with us back at the station to keep us entertained. In hindsight she was the most entertaining element of the entire "Blair Witch" experience.

Park was very quiet, but still managed to amass 30 minute+ queues for rides like stealth and nemesis, thanks to reducing them to only one train. Great stuff in the rain.

[AJ]

Brave It Alone needs its own topic!

It's really understated and OMG once you've done it, those mazes on a normal day will just seem sub standard.

Highly recommended, just hope word of mouth on how good it is will help this event as its going to be a fantastic addition if it continues every year!

[J.S217]

sounds Brilliant Unsure If I want to do brave it alone:P

[jammydodger]

Has anyone else noticed that on the Thorpe park website, in the fright nights part, they have changed the clip that they play on SAW alive from the Saw 7 trailer to a clip of the actual maze???

[Coaster]

Brave It Alone needs its own topic!

It's really understated and OMG once you've done it, those mazes on a normal day will just seem sub standard.

Highly recommended, just hope word of mouth on how good it is will help this event as its going to be a fantastic addition if it continues every year!

Is it different to just doing a maze on your own during normal park hours due to there being no queue?

(Which I did last weekend on Sunday).

[Inferno]

Peaj, I'm so glad you've said that! We've booked Brave it Alone but so far haven't heard anything good said about it!

I'm glad to hear that it's worth it.

Could you tell me where the meeting place is for this? Isn't there some sort of champaign introduction somewhere?? I assume not right outside the maze! :/

[Adam P]

A quick review from yesterday:

1) Cabin in the Woods, we were lucky to get in the behind the scenes but made no difference on our first route through and ended up not where we wanted to be! Very clever maze loads of different combination routes and the secret room makes it all worth while! Possibly too many people let in but the actors were fantastic at either hiding still or holding up the people and great to see another free flowing maze. The clown swaying was epic!

2) Saw Alive I hadn't been in for a while, but yet again was a top notch experience and the surprise of the night, dark, solid acting and overall very intense.

3) My Bloody Valentine just worked on every level, some intense moments held together with the different routes and experiences, once again the acting was the best I've seen in the park.

4) Asylum was good but probably the wort "Maze" if I had to pick, still very full on with actors and strobe lights the extra couple of scenes added to the length of the maze along with the new final corridor, although at the same time props seen in previous years were missing.

5) Blair Witch Project I had low expectations for, yet delivered slightly higher. It's worth noting Thorpe only rate it 2 stars so it was never going to be intense, some clever hiding and banging still gave the odd shock I think it was a great use of the route.

6) You're Next were roaming the park with an actress, although never going to be scary again added a nice touch.

Despite what others have put for me this was the best Fright Nights so far, yes some of the theme was lacking but no where near enough to distract from the experience. Curse and Passing were stale these are all new leases of life and the park have tried something different which is what most people wanted! The park just seems to have a great combination of clever, frightening and quite light hearted at the same time. I've been first to have criticism of the park this year after a shocking visit, but since June and in particular last night was the best visit I've ever had to the park, so hats off!

[AJ]

Coaster Jamie - completely different, it's nothing like going round the maze with people jumping out at you. Things will happen to you and you'll be in there for a long time

Inferno it's well worth the money and I think this event will become popular from word of mouth. Meet at calypso BBQ for drinks before you are taken to your maze.

Won't say more on the experience or it'll spoil it but its completely different - not necessarily scary (could be depending on how you scare) but certainly uncomfortable nervousness not knowing what will happen to you next

[TPJames]

Anyone on park today? What are the queues like? Going down tomorrow!

[Glitch]

Very crowded full review later.

[TPJames]

Very crowded full review later.

What are the queues like?

[OldFarmerDean]

having been yesterday....

Park was relatively quiet with the swarm being walk on most of the day, as well as Colossus in the afternoon/evening - it's worth noting that nemesis inferno had the longest queue for a ride in the park for most of the day just because it was on one train, and really shouldn't have been (the queue was at the entrance without the extra bit open!).

Got countless amount of rides in the day, and night, and due to my friend not wanting to do the mazes, managed to persuade her to go on Saw Alive which I found to be pretty decent, and couldn't compare it to past years considering I would have had my eyes shut the whole way round! (but a lot better now ). cabin the woods was amazing (the ending, and second half of the maze was a bit of a disappointment in terms of themeing) , plenty of actors in your face, and loved the uniqueness of it, so good (and because we didn't find any of the hidden doors for some reason) we had to do it again - got to the control room which was a bit meh (as it was only one room and didn't even know if the effects were working, and then the corridor with the spinning doll, is this really a dead end!?

the director and thorpe park as a movie set, seemed good as an idea, but it's pretty rubbish to be honest, it allows for minimal themeing around the park, as individual ride themeing as in past years wouldn't work or fit in, and the 'directors' voice really got on my nerves!

overall a great day, and can't wait to get back this friday!