nadroJ
CF Legend
I am still writing my Europa report, but am waiting for some photos from Sam, so in the meantime, have a Fright Nights review!
So I've been wanting to take my mummy to Fright Nights for ages because I thought it'd be hilarious, so we headed out to Thorpe at 12.30 today. Now, it being opening night I was holding my breath as I turned the corner into Thorpe's car park, expecting it to be heaving. Lo and behold it wasn't even half full! Wooo! We headed straight in and over the bridge, where I expected to be met with the usual Halloween hoo-ha, something to the effect of when I went to Swarm's opening day this year. Alas there wasn't really anything to speak of, although on the little patch of grass to the right where the tank was earlier this year there now were a load of makeshift graves, which was a nice touch I guess.
Similarly in the dome there wasn't anything particularly 'Fright Nights' about it, which was a bit of a let down, oh well, over to The Swarm, which didn't have a queue ^.^ We waited about 5 minutes so we could have front row because it was mum's first time, and she loved it! Coming off smiling and laughing we promptly made our way over to Stealth, whose sign said 45 minutes queue time but we could see from the tyre that the queue wasn't even under the track. Within 15 minutes we were on, in my favourite back seat, yay! As always, it was a fun but too short ride on Stealth and we quickly followed this with a ride on Nemesis Inferno, which was also a walk-on.
3 coasters in a row in such a short space of time made mum feel sick, so we sat down for a bit and went to Pizza Hut for lunch. By now I'd noticed the severe lack of any Fright Nights theming. No body bags laying around Stealth, no jaggedly cut pieces of black material hanging up, no nothing. The rides weren't playing their Fright Nights soundtrack (Stealth usually has 'it's only a dream, it's only a dream, it's only a DREAM *launch*, for instance). I was a bit peeved to be honest. I mean, I loved the fact that everything was a walk on but I'd come for the Fright Nights experience, not the generic Thorpe experience I've done a billion times!
Anyway, we killed time for a bit before waiting outside The Curse, which said it'd open at 3pm. I told mum we'd start with the tamer mazes so she wouldn't be disappointed haha XD Anyway, it was 3.15pm and the maze still hadn't opened, when an employee told us it wasn't ready yet. Bum. Instead we jumped into the queue for Saw Alive, which we waited about half an hour for. Going in I could tell mum was getting anxious, which was hilarious XD We posed for the awkward group photo with strangers that nobody is going to buy but they insist on taking anyway, and entered the pre-show room where a girl who couldn't act said some lines setting up the premise of the maze. From what I could tell, nothing had changed about the maze from last year, I still think it's fairly well themed and there are some quite cool effects, such as the pendulum, which I think is rather awesome. It was fun doing a maze with someone so easily spooked, so it was an enjoyable walk through, giggling all the way.
The Curse was up next, and whilst it was good because the actors were actually really great in this one, it didn't really work to the full effect because the sun was still up so bits of light were pouring in through cracks, which was a bit of a shame but didn't hinder the experience too much. Whilst we'd been queueing for Saw Alive, we'd noticed an air ambulance landing nearby, and as we exited The Curse a fire engine, a police car and an ambulance were driving around to the Storm Surge area. Being the nosy cows we are, mum and I went to investigate but the whole area was roped off by incident tape and loads of coppers and staff were stood guarding the area. I later hear a rumour that somebody had put their foot the the lift-hill mechanism? Don't know how much truth their is in this, but it was clearly pretty serious!
From where we were it was logical to tackle Experiment 10 next, and again I was left disappointed. Maybe it's because it wasn't very busy yet, but last year they had actors in gas masks intimidating the people in the queue and scientists with clipboards getting people to sign wavers and things. I know it's only a small thing, but I thought it was really excellent in building up the tension for the maze, and it was noticeably gone this year. Due to the way they do this maze the queue was really slow, but knowing from last year what was inside I really appreciated the extra time they spend on this one. I didn't tell mum what happens until it was about to
We were reunited once I was back on my feet and we made our way through into the asylum-style room,
This year the ending of this maze was different, and I really thought it was intuitive and brilliant!
It was bloody hilarious and really original for Thorpe, I love that they keep developing their mazes each year in an attempt to keep them fresh.
Last but not least was The Asylum, which is usually my favourite maze at Thorpe. It was a bit of a let down this year because the strobe effects were so extreme I could hardly keep my eyes open to be scared by what I was looking at! And to add insult to injury,
Super sad times, it sucks because The Asylum genuinely used to terrify me and now I think they've forgotten the direction they were going with this one.
By this time it was about 5 and we'd pretty much done everything we wanted to do. We had a quick re-ride on The Swarm, bumped into Joey, Fraser, Scarlet and Peep, had a re-ride on Stealth, grabbed a couple of bags of Pic n Mix and headed home.
For the opening night of an event they're clearly proud of, Thorpe just didn't deliver for me. I really hope they up their game for Ghosterforce in a couple of week's time because it felt really half-arsed and unready today =/.
So I've been wanting to take my mummy to Fright Nights for ages because I thought it'd be hilarious, so we headed out to Thorpe at 12.30 today. Now, it being opening night I was holding my breath as I turned the corner into Thorpe's car park, expecting it to be heaving. Lo and behold it wasn't even half full! Wooo! We headed straight in and over the bridge, where I expected to be met with the usual Halloween hoo-ha, something to the effect of when I went to Swarm's opening day this year. Alas there wasn't really anything to speak of, although on the little patch of grass to the right where the tank was earlier this year there now were a load of makeshift graves, which was a nice touch I guess.
Similarly in the dome there wasn't anything particularly 'Fright Nights' about it, which was a bit of a let down, oh well, over to The Swarm, which didn't have a queue ^.^ We waited about 5 minutes so we could have front row because it was mum's first time, and she loved it! Coming off smiling and laughing we promptly made our way over to Stealth, whose sign said 45 minutes queue time but we could see from the tyre that the queue wasn't even under the track. Within 15 minutes we were on, in my favourite back seat, yay! As always, it was a fun but too short ride on Stealth and we quickly followed this with a ride on Nemesis Inferno, which was also a walk-on.
3 coasters in a row in such a short space of time made mum feel sick, so we sat down for a bit and went to Pizza Hut for lunch. By now I'd noticed the severe lack of any Fright Nights theming. No body bags laying around Stealth, no jaggedly cut pieces of black material hanging up, no nothing. The rides weren't playing their Fright Nights soundtrack (Stealth usually has 'it's only a dream, it's only a dream, it's only a DREAM *launch*, for instance). I was a bit peeved to be honest. I mean, I loved the fact that everything was a walk on but I'd come for the Fright Nights experience, not the generic Thorpe experience I've done a billion times!
Anyway, we killed time for a bit before waiting outside The Curse, which said it'd open at 3pm. I told mum we'd start with the tamer mazes so she wouldn't be disappointed haha XD Anyway, it was 3.15pm and the maze still hadn't opened, when an employee told us it wasn't ready yet. Bum. Instead we jumped into the queue for Saw Alive, which we waited about half an hour for. Going in I could tell mum was getting anxious, which was hilarious XD We posed for the awkward group photo with strangers that nobody is going to buy but they insist on taking anyway, and entered the pre-show room where a girl who couldn't act said some lines setting up the premise of the maze. From what I could tell, nothing had changed about the maze from last year, I still think it's fairly well themed and there are some quite cool effects, such as the pendulum, which I think is rather awesome. It was fun doing a maze with someone so easily spooked, so it was an enjoyable walk through, giggling all the way.
The Curse was up next, and whilst it was good because the actors were actually really great in this one, it didn't really work to the full effect because the sun was still up so bits of light were pouring in through cracks, which was a bit of a shame but didn't hinder the experience too much. Whilst we'd been queueing for Saw Alive, we'd noticed an air ambulance landing nearby, and as we exited The Curse a fire engine, a police car and an ambulance were driving around to the Storm Surge area. Being the nosy cows we are, mum and I went to investigate but the whole area was roped off by incident tape and loads of coppers and staff were stood guarding the area. I later hear a rumour that somebody had put their foot the the lift-hill mechanism? Don't know how much truth their is in this, but it was clearly pretty serious!
From where we were it was logical to tackle Experiment 10 next, and again I was left disappointed. Maybe it's because it wasn't very busy yet, but last year they had actors in gas masks intimidating the people in the queue and scientists with clipboards getting people to sign wavers and things. I know it's only a small thing, but I thought it was really excellent in building up the tension for the maze, and it was noticeably gone this year. Due to the way they do this maze the queue was really slow, but knowing from last year what was inside I really appreciated the extra time they spend on this one. I didn't tell mum what happens until it was about to
and whispered 'we're going to be separated' into her ear quickly before the actors were screaming in our faces and shoving us down a corridor and into rooms by ourselves. This is the most terrifying part for me, you just don't want to look around in case there's some hideous person stood in there with you! I was made the crawl on all fours through the hole, like last year, but mum was spared that part!
where they had a girl in a wheelchair and a bald guy crawling around the room. I don't know why, but when the actors have obvious bodily impairments (the baldness, the wheelchair) it is truly horrifying as you feel that these people really are sick, and you really don't want them to touch you haha!
You watch on a screen as a doctor tortures a female victim on a table, when she suddenly stands up behind him and smacks him over the head with a buzz saw. She then turns and faces you, dragging the buzz saw across the screen separating you from her. From a door to the side of the screen bursts a real actor wielding said buzzsaw screaming like a mad thing chasing you out of the maze!
Last but not least was The Asylum, which is usually my favourite maze at Thorpe. It was a bit of a let down this year because the strobe effects were so extreme I could hardly keep my eyes open to be scared by what I was looking at! And to add insult to injury,
the chainsaw man at the end wasn't there =[
By this time it was about 5 and we'd pretty much done everything we wanted to do. We had a quick re-ride on The Swarm, bumped into Joey, Fraser, Scarlet and Peep, had a re-ride on Stealth, grabbed a couple of bags of Pic n Mix and headed home.
For the opening night of an event they're clearly proud of, Thorpe just didn't deliver for me. I really hope they up their game for Ghosterforce in a couple of week's time because it felt really half-arsed and unready today =/.
Hopefully they might improve for this weekend, but now I'm even more excited for Experiment 10! I'll be sure to check it out on saturday.