The time has come that we have all been waiting for, Fright Nights: 20 Years of Fears has commenced and the night went off with a bang!
To start the event we were greeted at the event by the terrifying Crows, chasing guests over the bridge and into the Dome to get the night started. The Crows were outstanding once again, with additional masks and theming around the park to help locate the Crows, but no one knows where they go!
We continued our journey around the park to join the celebrations at Birthday Bash. This scarezone is very unique and introduces Hattie and Hugo and all of their party planners and acts. Bright balloons and colourful bunting surround Birthday Bash, adding some bright colour to the creepy story. The costumes are all incredible, our favourite being the piñata who endured a horrible ending. The show was fantastic, with live singing and dancing to get everybody in the birthday mood. We can’t wait to experience this scarezone again to see the characters develop their story and grow throughout the event.
Next up, Trailers. The maze on everybody’s lips since construction has started in the building this year and of course we had to be the first to experience it. Trailers is everything we ever wanted in a maze from Thorpe Park, especially on this special anniversary. It encompasses all of fan’s favourite mazes from their time in a great way. The journey through SuperSpark Cinema takes guests into the famous movies, experiencing the terrifying scenes one after the other. The pre-show makes the story very clear and the finale is awesome! Throughout the maze there are so many nods to old fan favourites, whiteout being overtly obvious, making it enjoyable for all. And yes, you’ll be pleased to hear, the Big Top is back! The acting was incredible, the whole cast are fantastic and really take you through the story. We loved this maze a lot and cannot wait to experience this again multiple times throughout the event.
Time to be reunited with the Buckwheats at Creek Freaks Unchained. The whole family is back in full force, encouraging visitors to take the pledge to become an “honononoary Buckwheat” and join their family. Although this scarezone is very similar to last year, it introduces the maze well and is a great taste to see what is going to come. A highlight was playing scrabble with Ma and Pa!
Creek Freak Massacre was up next and we were ready to be chased down by chainsaws once again. Not much has changed in this maze but the acting was top notch as always. So many intense sciences with actors in your face, the interactions are always incredible. The soundtrack, once again, adds so much to the maze, especially the strobe section. We always love a chainsaw ending and this maze does not disappoint.
We took a final walk down Platform 15: End of the Line, to see the maze in its final form. The story remained very similar but we were excited to see extra theming right at the entrance - the animatronic swings and seesaw really got us pumped to experience this maze again. Throughout the maze, the acting quality was superb and had multiple jump-scares and creepy moments. The finale to the maze is something that you may not understand if you are unfamiliar with the story, but we enjoyed it anyway. It will be sad to see this maze go but we are excited to see what will replace this in the future!
We found the Crows original home and took a journey down to Mawkin Meadow. This scarezone is beautiful and may be the most well themed zone we have ever seen. You would never be able to tell what was there before! Transported into a new world, it is stunning, with so much lighting and spooky elements that will fill any Halloween lovers dreams! Pumped with smoke and smells that really set the scene. The Crows are always on point, with no speech to terrify you even more, we will be spending a lot of time here in the future I’m sure!
The Swarm Invasion was next to explore. This zone has seen the most improvement since last year, with much more scenery and scares added. The acting was even more intense and really immersed guests into the world of the invasion!
The final stop on our journey was to check out LycanThorpe vs Amity High: Love Bites. We love the combination of the two schools this year, allowing for a lot more interaction and story to happen between the vampires and warewolves! From what we caught of the show (we missed the start) the dancing was incredible, everyone was on point and there’s a new storyline with some old favourites in there too. It’s great to see so many of students from last year return to continue the rivalry between the schools.
What an event that Thorpe Park put on, with a huge dance floor and DJ, themed cocktails from a witches cauldron and so many different foods to try, we had an incredible time. Unfortunately Legacy was not quite ready tonight but we will come back and review that very soon. The new IMAscore audio park-wide set the scene and brought the creepy atmosphere to the park, we loved it! Thorpe Park have really gone above and beyond and this may be the best Fright Nights yet!
