Thorpe Park - Fright Nights

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Jcoaster
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Me and my friend are planning a Fright Nights trip and we want to dress up but are wondering if we’d be the only ones with makeup on and stuff like that ... so my question is, do people dress up for Fright nights or Not??
Swarm Chris

Jcoaster wrote:Me and my friend are planning a Fright Nights trip and we want to dress up but are wondering if we’d be the only ones with makeup on and stuff like that ... so my question is, do people dress up for Fright nights or Not??
Some people do. Last Saturday there were few people dressed up during the day, but some more did arrive in the evening. At a guess, maybe no more than 10% of guests were dressed up, but it was also very wet. I don't know if this changes the closer to Halloween you get.

Park rules are no masks and no weapons, regardless what they're made out of.
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Fright Nights Review 2018:

I visited the event as a last minute plan on Friday 12th October. We arrived at Thorpe at around 1.30pm, and please bear in mind we DID purchase Fastrack on our visit (in order to do everything we wanted). The Fastracks we purchased were 'The Triple Threat' and 'The Terrifying Trio' (both £28 each, per person).

TWD: Do or Die - 7/10

We did two run-throughs of this maze, once with fastrack, once without. The first time we went through this maze I was towards the back end of the group, so missed most of the scares or knew they were coming (due to chain reaction) and the second time I got most of them (as I was at the front). For The Walking Dead, this is definitely the better maze of the two Thorpe have on offer this year, although it is quite bland in theming terms the theming that has been done is done to a good standard and does add to the experience. By no means is this maze exceptional but I'd say it was my second favourite attraction they have on offer this Fright Nights. I'd recommend this maze also to be done at night, as it does feel much more intense once the sun goes down, overall, Thorpe has done a decent job with this maze, however, you can tell it has been done on a very light budget. 

TWD: Living Nightmare - 6/10

Pretty much untouched from previous run-throughs of the maze. It's nothing special, but if you're a Walking Dead fan I suppose you'd enjoy it. It does feel shorter than how it once was, however, it did come across as if the actors were trying to push you through quickly, perhaps due to the maze having a 70-minute stand-by. With a bit of work this maze could definitely be so much better, all it really needs is a bit more smoke and some hiding areas for the actors as otherwise, you can see them all coming as they have nowhere to pop out from. Overall, it is a decent maze but I know Thorpe can produce mazes so much better than this, so hopefully, they do aim to change things as the event progresses or for next season (if it were to make yet another return).

Deadcreek Woods (or imo should be called 'Deadwood) - 3/10

Quite literally summer's Zombie Hunt, without the guns. Felt very lazy and a last minute decision on Thorpe's behalf to add more capacity to the event. There were, however, two good scares in the mazes, but I do feel if you towards the back of the group, you would again, miss them - which seems to be a common theme in most of the attractions this year's event has to offer so I do advise to be as near to the front as possible in order to get the scares. Overall not impressed with this maze and hope they get rid of it for next year, as ironically the maze is almost definitely deadwood at the event.

Blair Witch - 8/10

Despite this attraction being at the event before but taking a hiatus, it has made another welcome return to the event (imo), both run-throughs of this walkthrough I thoroughly enjoyed along with having multiple intense and funny scares. The acting cast in this maze was very strong and knew how to work it to its full potential. Sure it does have some flaws, with the main one being it feels far too rushed and so much shorter than previous years, but otherwise, I'd say it is the best attraction on this years lineup and is worth the pretty disgusting lengths of queue's it's getting. Overall I recommend doing this maze both during the day (well, at dusk) and at night as it does feel like two separate experiences.

Saw Alive - 7/10

Does what it says on the tin, and has been doing since 2010. The actors we had were great and knew the maze well so did there best to make it as intense and scary as possible. This maze is usually quite 'hit or miss' depending mainly on the actors who are in. It does, however, need some new scenes adding, maybe adding some from the new film 'Jigsaw" as it is starting to feel dated, other than that one of the better attractions of this year, but overall, it's okay but nothing amazing and easily forgettable. 

Platform 15 - 5/10

This maze just lacks everything to be quite frank, scares, theming, atmosphere... It's just not all quite there. Just a long walk with a few actors popping out every now and then. It's by no means worse than Vulcan Peak of disappointment, but it's still pretty bad, last years version was better but it did feel as if they've made the tunnel scene more intense which was a plus. Overall, again pretty 'meh' and easily forgettable.

Vulcan Peak of disappointment - -1000000000000000000000000000000000/10

Don't even know where to start with this maze... It is well and truly the WORST maze/scare attraction/walkthrough I have ever done, it is in another league of bad. The only good thing about the maze is the exterior music and theming, which is almost fully unapparent in the interior of the maze, the IAC maze is far scarier than this was, and IAC isn't intended to be scary, unlike this. Surprising though I would actually recommend going through, as it really is that bad you have to experience it (obviously don't if the queue is a posted 70 mins or you have limited time at the event). But yeah, in conclusion, this maze deserves the negativity it's getting as I'm pretty sure my go we didn't have one team member in there 'scaring', it is well and truly AWFUL - it's almost comical. 

Amity High - 8/10

Decent scare zone, great cast and they were one of the highlights of this years event, would recommend looking out for them especially if your riding Stealth.

The Big Top: Showtime - 7/10

Nothing amazing; felt like a last minute decision to make The Big Top apparent at this year's event. Not very well advertised either however the actors and their make-up was great as per usual. 

Overview - 

THE WORST Fright Night's at Thorpe I have ever experienced, agreeing with many other reviews this event needs "quality over quantity" as it really is lacking in quality. Also, I must point out I didn't do Scareplexx 4D due to it having a very large wait time. If you are already booked to visit FN this year, the best attractions of the event this year would be Blair Witch & TWD: Do or Die. But all in all, very forgettable and not a good event at all, I really hope this year will be a one-off and we see a total rebrand next year, even if that means they will start charging for their mazes (much like Alton) - even though I still haven't done Scarefest yet this season, I can say with confidence it takes the crown so visit Towers next year! Finally, I do hope Thorpe see and more importantly act upon the criticism Fright Night's is receiving - left me leaving Thorpe Park with a VERY sour taste left in my mouth. 
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PsychOXRat
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So, I visited Fright Nights for the first time on Thursday and Friday, so I'll give my review of the event as someone that's only been to Scarefest, and had been reading the reviews here of mazes to see what should be good and what isn't, which led to some disappointments and surprises.

First of all, the Thursday was a quiet day, since not many people were off for half term and the park was running smoothly with just a few rides temporarily going down, the Friday was far busier with a lot more issues, such as half the park going down due to a power outage leaving just 4 large rides and the mazes open. One of the things I found disappointing was that TWD:TR had no live actors in it despite trialing them the last time I went to TP, although some effects were added in the indoor queue section.

I'll preface the maze reviews by saying I've never been a fan of scare mazes as I'm quite jumpy, but I will do them. 

TWD: Do Or Die - 4/10
We did 2 runs of this maze, once on the Thursday whilst it was still light, and once on the Friday in the dark. The first time was by far the best run of the maze for reasons I'll get on to soon, b ut overall the maze left a lot to be desired, with the scares being few and the intensity quite low, and the ending was really anticlimactic, with no actors in the final container. The second run through... It annoys me just to remember about it. Instead of batching groups of 6/8, they let the entire line of 20-30 people in at once, skipping scenes entirely, pushing people through as fast as possible, and ending up with a terrible experience with not a single scare moment.

TWD: Living Nightmare - 2/10
Only ran through once as this maze was such a disappointment, 2 actors for the first half of the maze and predictable hiding spaces (or lack thereof). The second half was quite forgettable as nothing really happened, leaving us with the idea that this was ridiculously rushed and not worth the 10 minute wait. Would probably be better if they used the Extreme version, but as the standard version it's not worth looking at.

Deadcreek Woods - 3/10
Nothing too special, like Zombie Hunt without the guns, actors had some funny moments, sending out one person of our group alone as they talked back to the actor at the start about being infected, scares were similar to ZH but they felt more natural and a bit better as they didn't have to run until their HP depleted.

Blair Witch - 1/10
I know what you're thinking, "how the hell could he put this at 1/10?!", but it was truly a massive disappointment. After waiting 20 minutes for it, an experience that feels like it took 1 minute outside of the starting story explanation was shockingly bad. The initial story explanation told us about the Blair Witch and not to look at "her", but we never saw "her" and the few actors in the maze were almost laughable, like one holding a stick to their face for seemingly no reason, making no attempt to interact with guests. The finale was also terrible, with just an actor with a light before we left, making us feel like the maze's story never concluded, or began for that matter, and we just walked through some shrubbery with obviously placed speakers, leaving confused with no idea what the hell we just went through, or how any of it was really relevant to the introduction. How this is some people's highest praised maze I don't know.

Saw Alive - 7/10
This was my best run through of the maze yet, with actors that were really intense, pushing and pulling people, really making you feel uncomfortable to be there. Same layout as always, so it could do with a refresh at some point, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Platform 15 - 5/10
Done 2 runs of this, the first in the day, the second at night, In the day the actors were quite easy to see, even in the tunnel, so it took away from some of the scares they could have had. At night, however, the actors seemed more into it, interacting far more and utilising more scenes than when we went through in the day. This meant that the scares were better, and the tunnel section was far more intense.

Vulcan Peak of Surprisement - 6/10
I'm going against what everyone else is saying here. I went into this expecting the worst, and came out thoroughly surprised by it. Could it have been improved mid season, who knows, all I know is it was quite a good maze, second best imo. After the introduction to the maze we were put into a conga line with the hoods on, with me at the front. There had to be multiple actors in there that got into my way and blocked me multiple times, got close and uncomfortable, grabbed my shoulder at various points and end up making me question whether a plant up against my leg was a plant or an actor. The use of some of IACs elements also worked well for this maze, such as the shaking floor. Once we got to the unhooded section things went down a small bit, with me getting confused where to go as an actor wasn't where they were supposed to be, but there were points where I was scared because I was expecting things to happen in places where they ultimately never did as there were quite a few places that looked like hiding spots. that went unutilised to good effect.

Amity high - 4/10
Only went through this section once whilst their thing was happening, but there wasn't a lot of interaction by the actors, and it just felt quite... ordinary? Like it never really made me feel like it was intended to be frightening, but the changes to Stealth's audio and the radio station in this area was quite refreshing.

Big Top Showtime - 6/10
I only went through the dome a few times over the 2 days, but we caught the beginning and end of their section, which seemed quite intense, with some of them getting right up into your personal space and edging closer and closer until you notice them. I did see more of them when they were just roaming around the park, and imo that is what they should be doing more of the time, as you could always tell where they were as they'd be walking in a large group, chasing people away from areas, or in one case surrounding one person in a group with 10 actors which made the phrase "nowhere is safe" seem like it wasn't a lie - at least when they were roaming.

Conclusion
IMO the mazes at Fright Nights leave a lot to be desired when compared to Alton Towers' selection, in terms of theming, actors, uniqueness and story. I think the main reason why Vulcan Peak was good to me was because it didn't follow the same routine as every other maze bar Saw Alive, with actors making the same noises in each, doing the same movements, and offering an experience that wasn't like the other mazes. Compare this to Alton, where although you need to pay per maze, each maze feels more full and worth it. The Mine tours, Welcoming, Terror of The Towers, and Sub Species were mazes that were all distinctively different experiences, and they didn't end up feeling the same at all as they all had completely different themes, stories and actor interactions (For example the Mine Tours had the helmets that would be controlled remotely, Sub Species had the actual maze section where you'd be literally pulled away from your friends and be allowed to make your own decisions, the Welcoming with it's heavily story driven maze and unique hooded section, and Terror of The Towers being the standard maze). The amount of times I heard the standard "blurgh" noise at TP followed by a hand to the face from an actor to the left or right, along with the lack of story telling just made most mazes feel the same, with very, very little to distinguish them from each other.
Swarm Chris

PsychOXRat wrote: Vulcan Peak of Surprisement - 6/10
I'm going against what everyone else is saying here. I went into this expecting the worst, and came out thoroughly surprised by it. Could it have been improved mid season, who knows, all I know is it was quite a good maze, second best imo.
The majority of reviews for Vulcan Peak here came from the same run-through, day or weekend, when literally nothing happened inside. :P

I've heard that this changed recently, with there now meant to be non-hooded scenes and actual actors, not just a single regular Thorpe attractions staff member at most.

Everything from the marketing side of things suggested to me that this should have been one of the better mazes. So I'm glad that it sounds like it has improved (or been finished...).
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PsychOXRat
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Ah, so before it was all hooded? I can see why that would have been worse. 

It's still a shame that most of the mazes didn't feel finished, as some of them, especially Do or Die, would have been far better if they had more effort put into story, acting, and maze design
Swarm Chris

Pretty much. Hoods came off and you went through some air bags and exited into the Inferno photo area.

There was certainly an unfinished feel to a lot of things. We had fun, but I can easily see cases where people would go through and possibly not enjoy themselves as much.

Have to also agree that the actors were nearly all doing the same thing. The noise and hand to the face was pretty much the go to thing in the mazes, and at times to me felt like they were the same thing, just with different costumes.
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Justin
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To be honest, Vulcan Peak sounds no different to what we experienced. First run we had no actors. Second, 1 who just yelled once or twice and touched a shoulder. It still sounds the peak of disappointment to me!
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Yesterday was my first Fright Nights. I have been to Scarefest and an abundance of different Halloween attractions before, we heard loads of good things about Thorpe and that Fright Nights was another level!

I can’t belive Merlin allow such discrepancies between their parks, like wow. Each maze was terrible including Saw. It could have been the run throughs but I doubt it. I like to feel on edge and tense when in a maze and these just didn’t create that atmosphere. The organisation and running of the queues was appalling, letting all of fast track and disabled in before the main queue moving, not even half and half so some queues were upwards of 2 hours but advertised at an hour.

I am so disappointed as we don’t plan on returning to a Fright Nights and would rather pay for decent attractions. I usually appreciate the little details or the build up but I just couldn’t find anything to get me excited!

Even the lights outside of the entrance plaza, if you are not going to use smoke then they need to be pointing at something or they are pointless.

Even the staff at the entrance of the mazes just didn’t want to be there! Such a shame, I’m not going to bother reviewing any mazes as there isn’t much to say and would be worse than what others think!
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Morgan
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It seems Saw: Alive may not be returning, thanks to this post on Instagram, which shows the logo on the side of the boat being painted over.
Swarm Chris

As posted by SouthParks News, SAW: Alive is very much not returning this year, having had all of its paintwork removed.

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Vulcan Peak is another attraction not returning, with its building in use by Jungle Escape until the event starts.

Elsewhere signage states Containment will return and The Walking Dead: Living Nightmare looks likely with its attraction signage still in place. Whilst Blair Witch looks largely untouched since last year, plus scaffolding has appeared at the old Loggers Leap station.

With BounceZilla leaving early September, giving plenty of time to repurpose the site for Fright Nights, what could be resident there this year, Do or Die, or perhaps the return of THE BIG TOP?
Swarm Chris

The first Fright Nights teaser has appeared.

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82 days to go...
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I'm really hoping this year is better than the last, hopefully there will be more focus on the quality rather than the quantity of mazes as the vast majority did really fall flat last year.

As seen above, Living Nightmare and Containment are set to return but I'm hoping we see another 1/2 existing mazes return with hopefully some new mazes thrown in.
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KaiPhillips
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I saw activity around Containment around two weeks ago.
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Swarm Chris

KaiPhillips wrote:I saw activity around Containment around two weeks ago.
Yep, there's a whole load of white paint cans in the tent at the moment, and few broken things like a cabinet. :)
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Please! No more IP's Thorpe! I'm begging you!
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KaiPhillips
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Wonder if it actually means anything.
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Swarm Chris

As reported by SouthParks News something freaky is coming to the creek. Construction has begun on a new scare maze in the former Loggers Leap queue and station at Thorpe Park Resort.

Scaffolding has been erected at the back to repair tiling on the roof, and work is currently underway to clear the building, with new materials stacked up outside.

What fearful attraction do you think this will be?

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Swarm Chris

As reported by SouthParks News, a new Fright Nights teaser image has been released by Thorpe Park Resort. Putting a fearful spin on the infinity imagery used by the Resort earlier in the year, a new freakish hooded character is seen wielding a chainsaw.

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In a departure from the last two years, the imagery appears more focused on the Resort's own branding, than that of IPs like The Walking Dead.

Has this got you excited for this year's event?
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I'm enjoying the "sheet with eye holes" ghosts in that image. A maze with those would probably be better than most of last year's mazes :sus:
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