Benenen
Hyper Poster
I went tonight and it wasn't great. I had to shoot off to my night shift after two hours in the park but in that time I managed three mazes and a general look round.
Creak Freak Massacre was up first and it was actually fantastic. A really solid maze. Straight away your group is split up Sub Species style and this continues throughout the maze. People are pulled into rooms by themselves, others are split down multiple routes. It keeps you on your toes and makes you feel exposed as you can go from being comfortably in the middle of your group to leading the front of a smaller group. Theming inside is nice enough, there's a few good props but the maze is very much corridor after corridor until a lovely little strobe cage maze at the end with chainsaws in. There's even a HHN style set piece where an actor lying on the floor is being cut up by a huge buzzsaw. Unfortunately you then walk past it side on to leave the room and the illusion is completely broken. It's not the best themed maze but it's intense and feels like the headliner the park has been missing since Big Top. Great start to the night.
Next we did Platform 15. I've never been a fan of Thorpes outdoor mazes and this is one of the worst they've done. It's so long winded and it feels like mainly padding. The house scene is great but it makes up about 20 seconds of what I imagine to be close to a ten minute runtime. Most of the outdoor sections have no theming, just a wide pathway between tarpaulin or fences. I have no clue how this has hobbled on through so many seasons, it's just so poor and underwhelming, get rid of it.
Finally I did Walking Dead Living Nightmare. I've enjoyed this in previous years but tonight I wasn't feeling it. My group waltzed through very quickly with few scares, the lighting seemed off as well with most scenes in the first half being way too bright. It's not a bad maze but it's so short and very average. It's nowhere near the standard to bring back year after year.
Park wide theming was non existent, lighting wasn't noticeable but the ambient music around the park was pretty decent. The area near Creak Freak is fairly atmospheric because of how loud the chainsaws are through the walls but the rest of the park feels dead. It doesn't feel like a special event.
I didn't have time for Blair Witch or Do or Die but I did both last year and didn't really like either. Outdoor mazes always feel cheap and amateurish. You can't get immersed when there's minimal theming or all you can see is forest or a shipping container.
So yeah, a poor offering this year overall. Creak Freak is a brilliant maze but it just doesn't pull the rest of the event forward. A Halloween event where there's only two proper mazes will never be great.
Anyone else planning on visiting this year? Post your thoughts and reports in here if you fancy, I'd love to hear some differing opinions.
Creak Freak Massacre was up first and it was actually fantastic. A really solid maze. Straight away your group is split up Sub Species style and this continues throughout the maze. People are pulled into rooms by themselves, others are split down multiple routes. It keeps you on your toes and makes you feel exposed as you can go from being comfortably in the middle of your group to leading the front of a smaller group. Theming inside is nice enough, there's a few good props but the maze is very much corridor after corridor until a lovely little strobe cage maze at the end with chainsaws in. There's even a HHN style set piece where an actor lying on the floor is being cut up by a huge buzzsaw. Unfortunately you then walk past it side on to leave the room and the illusion is completely broken. It's not the best themed maze but it's intense and feels like the headliner the park has been missing since Big Top. Great start to the night.
Next we did Platform 15. I've never been a fan of Thorpes outdoor mazes and this is one of the worst they've done. It's so long winded and it feels like mainly padding. The house scene is great but it makes up about 20 seconds of what I imagine to be close to a ten minute runtime. Most of the outdoor sections have no theming, just a wide pathway between tarpaulin or fences. I have no clue how this has hobbled on through so many seasons, it's just so poor and underwhelming, get rid of it.
Finally I did Walking Dead Living Nightmare. I've enjoyed this in previous years but tonight I wasn't feeling it. My group waltzed through very quickly with few scares, the lighting seemed off as well with most scenes in the first half being way too bright. It's not a bad maze but it's so short and very average. It's nowhere near the standard to bring back year after year.
Park wide theming was non existent, lighting wasn't noticeable but the ambient music around the park was pretty decent. The area near Creak Freak is fairly atmospheric because of how loud the chainsaws are through the walls but the rest of the park feels dead. It doesn't feel like a special event.
I didn't have time for Blair Witch or Do or Die but I did both last year and didn't really like either. Outdoor mazes always feel cheap and amateurish. You can't get immersed when there's minimal theming or all you can see is forest or a shipping container.
So yeah, a poor offering this year overall. Creak Freak is a brilliant maze but it just doesn't pull the rest of the event forward. A Halloween event where there's only two proper mazes will never be great.
Anyone else planning on visiting this year? Post your thoughts and reports in here if you fancy, I'd love to hear some differing opinions.
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