Sunday, 01 October 2017 15:32

Thorpe Park Fright Nights 2017 Review

This year The Walking Dead invade Frights Nights at Thorpe Park, and we were invited to a media event to preview the new attractions as well as some returning favourites.

SPOILER WARNING: our review does contain spoilers, so if you want your experience to be a complete surprise don't read on...

The great lineup for 2017 includes two new scare attractions based on the global horror phenomenon The Walking Dead, four returning experiences and The Final Cut Cinema showing highlights from The Walking Dead as well as a trailer for the upcoming season 8.

Our first stop was The Walking Dead: Living Nightmare, an indoor free flow horror maze where you must try to escape from the notorious Negan. It is located in the former home of the Cabin in the Woods and although absolutely no effort has been made with the exterior of the attraction, once you are inside it has been completely transformed. We found it to be fully immersive with large scale sets and superb attention to detail throughout. Fans will no doubt love all the carefully recreated scenes from the hit TV show, including the hospital, prison and school bus. We particularly liked the dramatic opening sequence, fully acted to setup the story and with an effective scare.

Platform 15 was up next and after a disappointing debut last year the park has made lots of changes for 2017, with an updated story, some brilliant new indoor sections and a few extra actors too. There is still a huge amount of walking to do relative to the number of scares, but there are some great moments in an abandoned house with creepy dolls and a kitchen full of body parts. It would still benefit from a stronger ending.

With the upcoming film Jigsaw, we are glad that the park has kept SAW Alive, and it still has some of the best scares of all the attractions at the event. So there were no notable changes, but all the iconic scenes from the movies remain, and the actors were some of the best. Don't forget SAW The Ride next door, the horror movie themed roller coaster, even better at night!

The Big Top is like a new maze this year, totally different and the best version yet. It's now a free flow horror maze with multiple routes, so there are lots of new rooms with everything that you would expect from a twisted carnival filled with crazy clowns. The chainsaw finale is no more, but there are plenty of unexpected scares instead.

In a previously unused area of the park behind The Swarm, lies The Walking Dead: Sanctum. This outdoor scare attraction challenges you to navigate a compound to reach Terminus, but there are roaming walkers everywhere, who are determined to stop (and eat) you! There are some very impressive sets, with many structures and vehicles, but make sure you experience this in the dark when it is most effective. There was so much 1:1 interaction with the brilliant actors, a few gory moments and some shocking language. A very impressive new attraction that is unlike anything that the park has done before.

We finished off the night with Containment, the combined escape room and horror attraction. The puzzles have been updated again, but the premise remains the same, with four rooms based on four fears; the fear of blood, the fear of arithmetic, the fear of the dentist and the fear of time. The scare actors were once again fantastic, doing their best to completely terrify and distract us, but sometimes giving us clues along the way too. It costs an extra £10 per person but we think it's worth it.

Don't think you'll escape the terror beyond the mazes, as walkers and saviors roam the island after dark, keeping you on your toes! All in all, it's one of the strongest lineups in the history of the event.

Thorpe Park Fright Nights continues on 6th-8th, 13th-15th and 20th-31st October, with the park open 10am-10pm every day.

Book now: Thorpe Park Fright Nights Tickets and Thorpe Park Fright Nights Breaks

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