Thorpe Park

For the Lincolnshire village see Thorpe Park, Lincolnshire.

Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park's Logo redesigned after Tussauds took over in 1999.
Location	Chertsey, England
Opened	May 31 1979
Owner	Nick Leslau, leased to Merlin Entertainments
Slogan	Join the campaign for real fun!
Operating season	February to November
Area	500 acres
Attractions
Total	24
Roller coasters	5
Water rides	3
Website	www.thorpepark.co.uk

File:Tpskyline.jpg

Thorpe Park's rides and attractions from across the lake.

Thorpe Park is an amusement park in the United Kingdom. It is located in Chertsey, Surrey, England. It was built in 1979 on the site of a gravel pit which was partially flooded to make a water theme park. The park's first large roller coaster, Colossus, was added in 2002. Thorpe Park was originally owned by Ready Mix Concrete, but was taken over in 1999 by The Tussauds Group. In 2007, Tussauds was bought out by Merlin Entertainments, who now operate the park on a lease from Nick Leslau.

History

Thorpe Park is situated on what was a quarry up until the late 1970s. Former owners Ready Mix Concrete filled the site with water after the quarry's closure, with the intent to start a leisure park. In May 1979, Thorpe Park was officially opened by Louis Mountbatten who lent his name to the Mountbatten Pavillion, a large domed structure located at the entrance to the park.

Pre-1987

• A few attractions including the Cinema, Magic Mill, Waterbus services, Model World, Railway, Teacups, Nature Trails, Phantom Phantasia, Thorpe Farm and Sunken Gardens.

1983

• Space Station Zero opened.

1987

• Thunder River water ride opened.

1988

• Palladium Theatre opened.

1989

• Canada Creek area opened.
  • Loggers Leap (largest log flume in the UK until 1993, and again since 2005) opened.
  • Rocky Express opened.

1990

• Re-themed Space Station Zero into the Flying Fish.

• Carousel Kingdom opened.
• The Rangers Show opened.
• Drive in the country opened.

1991

• Fantasy Reef area refurbished.
  • Depth Charge opened.

1992

• Children's area refurbished.
  • Viking Rowers opened.
  • Hudson River Rafters opened.

1993

• Calgary Stampede opened.
• Virtual Reality Centre opened.
• Magic Mill closed.

1994

• Ranger County area opened.
  • Carousel opened.
  • Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride opened.

1995

• Mr Rabbit's Tropical Travels opened.
• Miss Hippo's Fungle Safari opened.
• Drive in the country closed.

1996

• X:/ No Way Out, the world's first dark backwards roller coaster opened.

1998

• The Tussauds Group purchase the park.
• Palladium Theatre closed.
• Ranger Show closed.
• Dare Devil Drivers opened.
• Wet Wet Wet! opened.

1999

• Pirates 4D, a 4D cinema attraction starring Leslie Nielsen opened.
• Carousel Kingdom closed.
• Viking Rowers closed.

2000

• Tidal Wave, a Shoot the Chute made by Hopkins Rides, opened becoming the tallest ride in the park, at that time.
• Dare Devil Drivers closed.
• Bumper Boats closed.
• On July 21 a major fire broke out in the centre of the park.
  • This destroyed The Wicked Witches Haunt and Mr Rabbit's Tropical Travels rides, which both closed immediately.
  • A Huss Enterprise was drafted in as a replacement.

The Enterprise was renamed Zodiac.

2001

• The Lost City area was established, with the Enterprise (that was introduced in 2000) being rethemed and renamed Zodiac and Vortex (A KMG Afterburner) as its first rides.
• Thunder River closed, ready to be revamped into Ribena Rumba Rapids for the 2002 season.
• Detonator, Mega Drop made by Fabbri, opened in Calypso Quay.

2002

• Colossus, An Intamin roller coaster with a record-breaking 10 inversions, opened.
• Safari High Dive show opened for one season.
• Thunder River re-opened as Ribena Rumba Rapids.
• Debut of the park's annual Halloween event, Fright Nights.
• "Dino Boats" removed in the Calypso Quay area of the park.

2003

• Nemesis Inferno, a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted roller coaster themed around a tropical volcano opened.
• Also Quantum, a Fabbri magic carpet ride, opened.
• Eclipse, a Fabbri ferris wheel, opened.
• A Spiderman show was performed in the arena. This continued into 2004 and was replaced in 2005 by Stuntzmania.
• Calgary Stampede closed, to make way for Samurai from Chessington World of Adventures

2004

• Samurai, a Mondial Top Scan, moved from Chessington, opened.
• New Spiderman show opened.
• Flying Fish closed at the end of the season to make way for Stealth in 2006.
• Eclipse closed at the end of the season due to lack of riders. It was moved to Chessington and renamed 'Peeking Heights'.

2005

• Slammer, an S&S Sky Swat, opened on March 26th, after being delayed due to technical issues.
• Rush, an S&S Screamin' Swing and the world's biggest air-powered speed swing (Until the opening of Skyhawk at Cedar Point in the US), opened during the afternoon of 27 May.

2006

• Stealth, an Intamin Accelerator Coaster which launches riders from 0-80 mph in 2.3 seconds opens with the park on March 15th. A 'Ride It First' competition was held with the lucky winner's experiencing Stealth before it opened to the rest of the guests.
• Zodiac is replaced by another Enterprise, sourced from Drayton Manor.
• StreetXtreme replaces Stuntzmania in the Arena.

2007

• Flying Fish is put back into Thorpe's offering. It will be behind Wet Wet Wet, and Depth Charge.
• Thorpe Farm is removed from attraction list. Lack of visitors is the main reason for the closure. Some animals went to Chessington.
• Canada Creek Railway stays open as a small circuit around Canada Creek, but no longer travels to Thorpe Farm. The railway takes a 'Spot the Bear' theme.
• Ribena's sponsorship contract ends. Ribena Rumba Rapids has a name change, to 'Rumba Rapids', but will essentially be the same ride, except for a few minor changes such as a few sprinklers from 'Thunder River'.
• Stealth is 'upgraded'. The ride now accelerates from 0-80 mph in 1.9 seconds, previously it was 2.3 seconds.
• No show returned to the arena. This fueled speculation about the arena being the site for a future attraction.

Park guide

File:Thorpe Park Map.PNG

Map of Thorpe Park.

Thorpe Park is split up into eight distinctly themed areas.

Port Atlantis

Known more commonly as "The Dome", Port Atlantis has a marine theme. This building contains such essentials as guest services, shops, toilets, lockers, a bar and staff areas. It includes a large restaurant called 'The Glasshouse'. When the park initially opened this was known as the Mountbatten Pavilion.

Lost City

Lost City is the largest area in Thorpe Park, hosting the majority of the rides in the park. It is based around a Mayan temple/land.

• Colossus, a roller coaster built in 2002 by Swiss manufacturer Intamin. It was the first roller coaster in the world to include ten inversions and currently holds the joint record for most inversions with an identical ride in China.
• Samurai, a Mondial Top Scan which originally opened in 1999 at Chessington World of Adventures. It moved to Thorpe Park for the 2004 season following refurbishment which included a change to the colour scheme.
• Vortex, a 32-seater park-based model of the popular KMG Afterburner. The ride opened in 2001.
• Quantum,a Fabbri Magic Carpet ride, opened in 2003.
• Zodiac, a Huss Enterprise. In 2000, following the destruction of the Wicked Witches Haunt, the park purchased an ex-German Travelling Huss Enterprise as a filler attraction. This was refurbished and themed to blend into Lost City for 2001 but was removed at the end of 2005 only to be replaced by another second hand Huss Enterprise, this time from Drayton Manor, with lack of theming.
• X:\ No Way Out. Housed within a terracotta-coloured pyramid is the world's first and only backwards in-the-dark roller coaster which opened in 1996. It has been through a number of changes, such as: the on-train sounds were replaced by on-ride sounds (sounds that were heard from the walls instead of the train) and a large section of the queue line was cut off for another attraction (now removed) called 'The Freakshow 3-D'. In 2007, the ride was refurbished and now has a storyline added and the robot dummies from the Freakshow 3-D have been put in the ride. X:/ No Way Out is one of the last major rides made by former owners RMC.
• Rush, a S&S Screaming Swing. The ride seats 32 people on two arms and uses compressed air to propel them up to a height of around 60 feet. The ride features lap bars for restraint. The ride lost its crown as the world's largest Screaming Swing when Cedar Point opened a larger model.

Calypso Quay

Nemesis Inferno's first inversion.

Calypso Quay is home to:

• Nemesis Inferno — a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted roller coaster. It's name is similar to the ride Nemesis at Alton Towers, which is also a B&M inverted roller coaster and a sign along the ride exit invites riders to visit Nemesis at Alton Towers. Themed as an escape from a volcano.
• Detonator — a Fabbri drop tower in which riders are hoisted up 115 ft, with legs dangling, and launched down by pneumatics. This gives a comparable amount of airtime to freefalling from a tower twice as tall.
• Pirates 4D — a 4D cinema with water and vibrating effects in the seats.
• Rumba Rapids — a river rapids ride by Intamin, which was updated from Thunder River in 2002 for a sponsorhip deal with Ribena (and renamed 'Ribena Rumba Rapids'). The sponsorship ended for the 2007 season, so the ride was renamed again 'Rumba Rapids'.
• Storm in a Tea Cup — this ride was rethemed to look worn down and damaged to fit with nearby Amity Cove's Tidal Wave theming.

Canada Creek

Themed around a Canadian creek, this area is home to:

• Loggers Leap — a log flume which is themed around logging in Canada (hence the boats are themed as "logs"). Features two drops (one indoors/underground). The larger of the two drops contains a straight section (double drop) which adds airtime to the ride. Currently the tallest Log Flume in the UK.
• Slammer — an S&S Sky Swat, located to the rear of X:/ No Way Out. This ride is the first Sky Swat outside of America, and only the second to be built by the company. The ride was plagued with problems in its initial year of service, stranding riders in most positions imaginable (including upside down) and regularly opening late or not at all.
• Rocky Express — small, circular roundabout-type ride for younger visitors.
• Canada Creek Railway — A miniature railway that runs through Canada Creek and around Loggers Leap, offering views of forest land and the lake the park is built inside. From 1989 until 2006 the railway ran to Thorpe Farm, but was re-routed to its current shorter route ready for the 2007 season, with the closure of Thorpe Farm. The ride is mainly aimed at family groups and since the closure of Thorpe Farm the ride has adopted a bear hunt theme, where riders are invited to see how many bears they can spot during the journey (there are models of bears at various locations around the track).

During the Fright Nights around Halloween, Canada Creek also becomes home to the "Hellgate" horror maze (previously Freakshow 3-D).

Amity Cove

File:Stealththorpepark.jpg

Stealth, looking down the track at sunset

Themed around a 1950s New-Hampshire fishing village devastated by a tidal wave. It has its own park radio station, WWTP radio, hosted by 'Big Bob'. The rides in this area include:

• Tidal Wave — a "Shoot the Chute" style ride from O.D. Hopkins, on which riders are carried in a 4-tonne reinforced GRP hull to a height of 85 feet over a 3 million gallon lagoon. The boat is then dropped down a track into the lagoon with an impact force of 1.5g, forcing 3 tonnes of water into the air. Most of this water either shoots straight up and lands back on the riders, or shoots forward in a long spray that reaches a 'Splash Zone' where spectators can stand.
• Stealth — Thorpe Park's newest roller coaster which opened in 2006. Stealth is an Accelerator Coaster designed by Intamin AG and features a hydraulic 80 mph (128 km/h) launch up a 205 ft top hat incline at approx 3gs, a vertical drop and a large "airtime" hill. Stealth has been upgraded to Stealth 1.1 for 2007. The upgrade is in the rides acceleration. The ride now launches to 80mph in 1.9 seconds as opposed to the previous 2.3 seconds at 80mph.
• Flying Fish — Small Mack powered roller coaster. Removed in 2005 to make way for Stealth, but now has been re-installed between Tidal Wave and Depth Charge. The re-installed version carries a photo section and a fastrack queue. In 2004, the Fish carriage was green, but for 2007 a brand new train has been purchased - including 'bucket' seats and proper lapbars. The original track is still used - but has been re-painted blue - and a new ride theme has been adopted. Flying fish was renamed after having been called Space Station Zero when it was installed in 1979.

Ranger County

Ranger County is themed around the "Thorpe Park Rangers" mascots. The current rides consist of:

• Mr Monkey's Banana Boat Ride — a small swinging ship type ride, themed to a banana.
• Chief Ranger's Carousel — containing figurines of the Thorpe Park rangers and vehicles themed as current and past rides. These include a Logger's Leap boat, a Thunder River boat, a Wicked Witches Haunt car, a Hudson River Rafters raft, a blue and green Flying Fish car, a Teacup from Teacup Twisters, a Viking Rowers boat and a Mr Elephant car (as well as traditional carousel horses).
• Miss Hippo's Fungle Safari — cars travel around a short track through figurines and shrubbery. Fungle Safari originally opened in 1990 as "A Drive In The Country" in the area where X:\No Way Out is currently located. This was closed in 1994 and relocated in the Ranger County area in 1995. After Tropical Travels closed in 2001, some of its theming was moved to Fungle Safari and the ride was also shortened to make room for Nemesis Inferno.

"The Showcase" is currently featuring on the Ranger County stage. This was once home to shows featuring the Thorpe Park Rangers, since then the Showcase has been used for karaoke and is currently showing the "Top Rockers" show during busy periods.

The area also contains "Calypso BBQ and Bar", a covered outdoor BBQ restaurant and "Jumpin' Juices" which sells fresh fruit juices.

During the Fright Nights events in October, Ranger County also contains a themed maze, which has been known as "The Asylum" since 2005.

Neptune's Kingdom

Themed around the mythical Neptune, this area is home to:

• Depth Charge — a 40ft tall four lane water chute ride. Riders sit in dinghies. Queue times are usually very long for this ride as the ride has a very small throughput (number of riders per hour). This is mainly due to the fact that the ride staff have to manually place the boats onto the launch ramps at the top of the tower and manually load the boats onto the conveyor belt at the bottom to carry the boats back up to the top of the tower. Riders queue up ramps which lead to the top of the tower. The ride, when opened in 1991, was advertised as being the "World's First Four Lane Water Slide".
• Neptune's Beach — two large paddling pools for small children with various fountains and an imitation sandy beach.
• Wet Wet Wet — 3 water chutes differing in height.

Octopus's Garden

Located in the area between Port Atlantis, Amity Cove and X:\No Way Out. Octopus Garden is a small aquatic-themed area with several small rides for very young children. There are seven rides:

• Swinging Seashells - a small ferris wheel which contains seashell themed cars, each seating four children
• Fantasy Fish - a small carousel type ride which contains individual fish which the children can sit on top of (like carousel horses although they don't move) and fish that two children can sit inside. The ride then rotates at a slow speed.
• Galleon Race - a round ride with boat shaped cars. The ride rotates round, and as the ride rotates the boats move over small bumps.
• Happy Halibuts - another round ride with suspended fish shaped cars which are free to swing. The ride rotates and lifts to an angle, with the cars being free to swing under centripetal force. This ride is the only ride in the area to have a minimum height restriction, which is 0.9m.
• Ollie Octopus - a round ride with one continuous ring shaped car which the children sit in. The ride rotates slowly and lifts at an angle.
• Up Periscope - a round ride with submarine shaped cars. The cars rise and the ride rotates.
• Slippery Serpent - a small track based ride, with a small train which moves slowly around the track.

Each ride has a maximum height restriction of 1.3m, the only ride which has a special exception is Slippery Serpent where a guest over 1.3m can accompany one under 1.3m.

All rides are usually open, although there are usually fewer operators in the area than rides available and so the operators rotate around the rides when they are available to do so.

The area also has a Donuts shop and an entrance to Thorpe Mega Store.

Fastrack

Fastrack is the current name for a priority queuing system in place at Thorpe Park as well as other Merlin parks. The system used to be based on the idea of assigning guests a time to ride a particular attraction and allowing them to skip the queue. The system has worked in a number of ways at the park and under a number of different names. The first such system to be introduced was the Q-Bot system which emerged in the 1990s and attracted attention from BBC programme Tomorrow's World. This system gave families a pager-like device which beeped when it was their slot on a particular ride. This system did not last long due to the high cost of the devices and did not catch on in other parks.

The next system emerged around 2000 known as Virtual Q. This method worked using a number of machines by the entrance to a ride, guests would scan their park tickets in the machine and were printed out a ticket with a time to ride the particular ride. This system remained in place until the 2005 season albeit being rebranded as Fastrack in 2002 and the number of tickets people could receive were limited to 1 per ride per day. The system was partially successful but it was not without criticism. It gave people the chance to skip queues for free but it often led to far larger normal queues than would have existed without the system. Tickets also used to run out within the first few hours of the park opening and the machines also had a button to print out tickets without scanning your park ticket in. The system was also rarely in operation on busy days and often on quieter days had longer queues than the normal queue, somewhat defeating the object of queue jumping. The system was used less frequently throughout 2004 and 2005 and has now disappeared throughout all Merlin parks.

What exists now is a similar system but one which is not free. The current system is based on the "4Play" ticket which was introduced in 2004 as an adjunct to the ticket machine issued Fastrack tickets. The ticket allowed guests to pay £4 and get a non time limited ticket for one Fastrack ride on Colossus, Nemesis Inferno, Tidal Wave and Logger's Leap. The system has remain unchanged to the present day, although the range of rides that Fastrack is offered on has been extended. In 2006 and 2007, tickets are usually purchased in a package of four rides (although there is an option to buy an individual ticket for one ride for £3 on any Fastrack participating ride except Stealth). The current packages available are:

• Adrenalin - one Fastrack ride on Rush, Slammer, Samurai, Vortex
• Extreme - one Fastrack ride on Colossus, Nemesis Inferno, X:\No Way Out and then EITHER Tidal Wave OR Loggers Leap
• Stealth ONLY (rider can choose whether they want Fastrack to the front seat or any seat)
• Ultimate - a wristband which allows unlimited Fastrack access to Fastrack rides (Colossus, Stealth, Nemesis Inferno, X:\No Way Out, Tidal Wave, Logger's Leap, Flying Fish, Rush, Slammer, Samurai, Vortex) all day.

Unlike "4Play", Fastrack tickets are printed with allocated timeslots for your rides (which saves a large group of guests all turning up at once). As there is a limited number of Fastrack tickets sold in a day it often sells out on busy days. The system is largely a success due to the limited number of tickets are issued and the main queue is less affected by the scheme. Criticism is mainly aimed at Merlin's penny-pinching, but it does allow people to ride all the rides even on busy days.

Fastrack prices are currently (as of 14th July):

• Adrenalin - £7
• Extreme - £9
• Stealth only - £4
• Stealth Pole Position (front row) - £6
• Ultimate - £50
• Single ticket - £3 (valid for one ride on your chosen ride. Time slots start at 3PM, except on Flying Fish where slots start at 11AM).

Single Rider Queue

As another way of aiming to reduce guests queuing times, Thorpe Park also operates single rider queue (SRQ) lines as an adjunct to Fastrack. Currently this is only available on Stealth and The Flying Fish, but in previous years it operated on many the larger rides. This is due to the fact that Stealth and The Flying Fish are the only rides to have a dedicated SRQ queue line - other rides relied on using the exit, which lead to congestion. The system allows people who don't mind riding alone another way to queue in a separate queue line. If a single spare seat becomes available (for example, a group of 3 board), then a single rider would be admitted, potentially reducing the queue time. Riders are informed that the queue for the SRQ may be as long as the main queue; it is not a priority queuing system, although it is often quicker than the main queue.

Records

Thorpe Park has held, and still continues to hold, a number of records for its rides. These include:

• Colossus was the world's first (and until recently, only) roller coaster to feature 10 inversions.
• Stealth was previously the fastest rollercoaster in Europe until Furious Baco took the record in 2007. Stealth still holds the record for the fastest acceleration of any rollercoaster in Europe (0-80 mph in 1.9 seconds as opposed to Furious Baco's 0-83.9 mph in 3.5 seconds).
• X:\ No Way Out opened as, and is still, the world's only backwards in-the-dark roller coaster, sometimes known as "blackwards".
• Nemesis Inferno holds the record for the longest pre-lift hill section of any B&M inverted coaster and is also the only ride of its type to feature inter-locking corkscrews.
• Loggers Leap is the tallest log flume in the UK.
• Rush was until recently the world's Biggest S&S Screemin' Swing.
• Slammer is the first Sky Swat outside of the USA.
• Tidal Wave (Thorpe Park) is the "wettest ride in England". When it was opened and until 2002 it was the tallest water ride in Europe (Hydro at Oakwood Theme Park currently holds the record).

Fright Nights

Fright Nights, or as Thorpe Park refers to them "Fright Nites", have been running at Thorpe Park since 2002. For the last 2 weeks of October, Thorpe Park dons its Halloween costume and aims to scare as well as thrill its guests. The event has changed in a number of ways over the years with the addition and removal of different scare attractions and theming. The park also opens until 10pm (11pm in 2003) to allow guests to ride the rides in the dark. Some of the extra attractions that have featured over the years are:

Scare-Zone

This was a short-lived attraction which lasted for only the 2002 season. The stretch of park from Canada Creek through Ranger County was converted into a Scare-Zone where the Halloween theme was concentrated with costumed actors walking about and smoke machines etc. At the two extremes of this area there was Thorpe Park's first two haunted-mazes, The Freezer in Ranger County and Freakshow 3-D inside the X:\No Way Out pyramid. The scare zone did not feature in the following years' event and has not returned since. The park has attempted in recent years to carry the theme throughout the park by using Halloween music, largely from the horror-music band Midnight Syndicate, and spooky objects.

The Freezer

The Freezer was the joint-first haunted maze that Thorpe Park installed, in 2002 and stayed at the park until 2004. The attraction is sited inside the Ranger Showcase building and was entered through a large freezer-style door. The concept of the attraction is a medical or scientific research establishment that is carrying out tests on bodies when they come alive and wreak havoc. The attraction is characterised by its consistent use of strobe lighting and loop-playing of the Air-Raid Warning sound. Live actors dress up as either zombies or scientists and scare guests anyway they see fit. Other features of the attraction include a corridor filled with hanging body bags.

The attraction itself underwent numerous changes during its time at the park. The first year (2002) was the only year it could truly be considered a maze as the attraction featured dead-ends. These were removed for the following years as it caused congestion within the attraction and the attraction became a simple walk-through. The Freezer in its current state was altered slightly for the 2005 season and was renamed The Asylum to help clarify the theme.

Freakshow 3-D

Along with The Freezer, the Freakshow 3-D was one of Thorpe Park's original mazes in 2002 and like the Freezer it remained in its original form until 2004. The basic principal of the attraction is very similar to The Freezer in that the guest follows a path through a series of winding corridors. The Freakshow 3D's theme is vastly different, however. The attraction was less focused on jump-out scares and more focused on spooking the guests.

The attraction was located in X:\No Way Out's pyramid in a section of the queue that was closed off from the 2001 season. It is difficult to pinpoint a specific concept for the attraction but guests must wear 3D glasses and the walls, floors and ceilings have holographic and psychedelic paintings on that appear to stick out. Live actors are also used and in the latter years of the attraction were extremely good at their task. Actors wore all black cloaks with a spooky coloured mask which gave the effect of a floating head. Due to the very limited plot of the ride it was not considered to be anywhere near as successful as The Freezer even if it was visually very impressive. The attraction opened for brief spells during the summer of 2005 but was closed and the area is now occupied by Hellgate.

Ultimate Horror Movie Bites

This attraction was only in place for the 2003 event due to the very negative response it received from guests. The attraction occupied the Pirates 4D building but the film was replaced with a film including clips from films such as The Birds, The Haunting, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Ring. During the screening, the seats would vibrate in much the same way as they do in the Pirates 4D film. At the end of the last clip, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an announcer would announce the end of the attraction before being cut off and cut up by an actor dressed up as Leatherface who then stormed into the auditorium brandashing a chainsaw. The attraction was seen as little more than an advertisement for the films shown and the live actor involvement had little effect on an audience numbering around 500. It did not return in 2004 and was replaced by the more successful Circus Of Horrors show.

Circus Of Horrors

The Circus of Horrors appeared in 2004 as a replacement for Ultimate Horror Movie Bites. It took place in the Pirates 4D building with a stage created in front of the projection screen. The Circus Of Horrors are a world famous touring freakshow. The attraction at Thorpe Park featured a small selection of freaks at each showing, a different set each time. The attraction was hugely successful and, as the Circus of Horrors are an experienced company, truly entertaining. It has returned every year since then and has become an extra-charge attraction due to demand. In 2006 the Circus of Horrors moved out of the Pirates 4D building and instead performed in giant cages outside some of the bigger attractions (eg Stealth, Colossus) and in the Dome. The Circus of Horrors will return for 2007 Fright Nights.

The Asylum

The Asylum was one of Thorpe Park's "new" Halloween attractions for 2005. In reality it is 95% The Freezer in that once you are inside the building it is exactly the same except for a few minor layout changes. The overall theme is the same. The differences are purely external, the original "Freezer" entrance door has been replaced by a more subtle prison door which is in the place of the exit of The Freezer. The purpose for this rebranding can be seen as a clarification of the existing theme or, cynically, as a way of marketing a new attraction on the cheap. The idea that it was to clarify its theme carries some weight as the plot overview now suggests that the attraction is an Asylum for freaks and zombies rather than a medical and scientific research facility that has been overrun by its subjects.

The Freezer was (and is) a very successful attraction so criticisms of The Asylum have been limited. A few minor criticisms have included the fact that there is no longer the experience of seeing terrified guests leave the attraction (The Freezer used to eject its guests onto the Ranger Showcase's stage in front of the queue) as the Asylum now uses the stage as its entrance. The Freezer also used to launch you straight into the attraction whereas The Asylum has a rather anti-climatic walk through a blank corridor after entering the door. An internal change has been the removal of the "body-bag corridor"; a corridor filled with hanging body-bags which guests had to push past, this feautre has been removed and the body-bags used elsewhere. One major change which has been widely praised has been to allow the actors to make physical contact with guests, as Thorpe Park's insignia states: "The actors will touch you, but they will not harm you."

Hellgate

Introduced in 2005, Hellgate was Thorpe Park's first attempt at creating a story-based attraction. Whereas The Asylum/Freezer had a general theme, Hellgate attempted to create a tale and a purpose for the attraction. Hellgate used the same area the The Freakshow 3D used, the inside of X:\No Way Out's pyramid but its layout and entrance was changed slightly, partly due to the construction of Slammer. Guests queue up near Colossus and are batched into a long dark corridor adjacent to the X... pyramid. In 2005 a recorded storyline was played in this corridor explaining the background of the attraction. The major downfall of the storyline idea was that the recording was not loud enough to be heard over the crowd volume. The story also had difficulty being carried through into the attraction and the recording did not return in 2006.

Hellgate was designed by Adam Slevin who was Entertainment Team Leader at that time. The attraction was based on a run down stately home, ruled by the fictional evil spirts of Lady and Lord Denham. The first half of the maze designed to resemble the main areas of the house before approaching a fireplace, behind which a secret passage leads to a dungeon of tortured souls and ultimately leads to the "hub" of all things evil; Lady Denham's boudoir.

Groups of 8 people walk through the attraction encountering costumed actors attempt to scare them as much as possible. Unlike The Asylum, Hellgate is constantly lit, albeit very dimly, and is generally seen as more of a "boo" type of scare attraction.

The attraction had some minor alteration in 2006.

SE7EN

Introduced in 2006, SE7EN is Thorpe Park's latest addition to the Fright Nite family. The attraction is situated in the Arena in the centre of the park where a temporary structure was erected inside a tent. Guests queue up outside and just inside the arena where they pass burnt out cars and obscene graffiti. The attraction's official description refers to the Seven Deadly Sins.

Inside the attraction follows the same principles of The Asylum and Hellgate in that guests follow a path through an attraction where live costumed actors scare guests any way they can. Unlike the previous two attractions, SE7EN does not continue the same overall theme throughout the attraction, rather guests walk through a series of different rooms each themed to something disgusting. One room contains an actor playing a sick slob, watching John Carpenter's Halloween on DVD and with a toilet bubbling over in the corner. Another room contains a butchered meat and rotten food in a fridge. In one room guests are squirted with water unexpectedly. Unlike the other attractions, actors have set roles and tend to stick to their own room. Despite being less consistent than the other two, SE7EN succeeds quite well in disgusting and perhaps disturbing, if not disorientating, guests.

2006 was the first time the Arena has been used in this way and judging by the queues for the attraction it is likely that this attraction will return next year and that the Arena will continue to be used in this way in future Fright Nites.

External links

• Thorpe Park's official website

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