Spooky Season 2022: Fright Nights

Spooky season is back! Creeping slightly in to September this year (yesssss) spooky season has well and truly begun with the opening night of Thorpe Park’s fabulous Fright Nights. This is only my second year of visiting the event – it’s taken me a while to pull together the courage to take on halloween events – but after having a bloody brilliant time last year, I’ve been absolutely buzzing to see what the park would throw at us this season. And throw things at us they have! With a brand new maze, audio experience, scare zone and more, there was plenty to be excited about.

I’m going to dive straight in with what I think was my favourite thing at this year’s event: Death’s Doors. What a fantastic scare zone this is! Whilst relatively small, there are plenty of scares squeezed in to this interactive, actor-packed free experience. The premise is simple: you knock on a door and are greeted by its resident. Of course, these aren’t any ordinary home dwellers. Some of the costumes in here were truly fantastic, with my favourite being a horrific living pumpkin, and the actors brought scares by the bucket load. In fact, I think I may have screamed more in Death’s Doors than in any of the mazes. Wild! I adored the details throughout, with an adorable halloween wreath on one door (but where can I buy it? seriously.) and even beautiful embellishments above some doors that were more than they appeared – I won’t say any more!

With the introduction of a fee for the scare mazes, it’s great to see larger-scale included-in-admission offerings brought back in to the line-up, and if I get chance to return I’ll certainly be knocking on many more doors. Also, how gorgeous is that entrance sign? I’ve been obsessed since I first saw a photo on twitter and it’s even better in person!

Sticking with scare zones, The Crows of Mawkin Meadow have made a return this year- thank the spooky gods! Whilst The Crows may not have quite the following of Lil’ Boo over at Halloween Horror Nights, they already feel like iconic Fright Nights. Homegrown, instantly recognisable characters who continue to impress every year. Thorpe really hit a home run with the meadow, and it’s fabulous to see it expand year after year. This year a secondary route has been added, utilising some of the old Saw: Alive! queue line. This could have been very intense, with narrow, fenced-in walkways, but sadly was quite lacking in actors (only one in the entire section) when we passed through. But it was pouring with rain and a very quiet evening because of it, so hopefully this won’t always be the case. The main route through however had Crows aplenty, who still managed to scare the life out of me. Those masks are just something else aren’t they? Props too must be given to the lighting team for the gorgeous orange glow throughout. Long live Mawkin Meadow!

Sadly we didn’t get any scares from roaming Buckwheats as part of the Creek Freak scare zone, except a couple of mild interactions directly outside the maze itself and the passing through of the – awesome – Creek Freak vehicle. I’m a true lover of a parade, and suitably lost my mind as a full horror maze themed vehicle loaded with actors crossed my path.

Also included in admission are three shows: Birthday Bash, Graduation Sucks! and Legacy. Birthday Bash was a surprise hit for me last year. I caught part of the show on opening night, saw it was a song and dance show, wrote it off and moved on. But on returning on a miserable night later in the season and watching the whole show purely due to sheltering from the rain nearby, I actually kinda loved it. I loved the unexpectedly dark undertone to the performances, I loved the characters roaming the crowd being intense and hilarious in equal measure, and I loved the surprise of the show’s finale. Maybe taking the typical music-based theme park show and adding an element of horror is exactly what you’d expect from such a show, but it sure came as a surprise to me! This year is a sequel to the events of last year’s show, with a twist that packs an extra punch for those who joined the bash previously. Whilst at the Bash, make sure to stop in the Birthday Bash Bakehouse where we have – wait for it- THEMED SNACKS. We actually have themed snacks at a UK event!!!!!!! Top of my to-do list was the Mummy Maccaron, but sadly these were all gone by the time I got there so I settled for a passionfruit eyeball tart!

This was surprisingly delicious, sweet and fruity with a tasty white chocolate eyeball on top, I’d say this was a pretty solid deal at £3! There are plenty of cupcakes, each with different spooky decor available too as well as a pumpkin pie, also for £3. You. Love. To. See. It.

Sadly I’ve still yet to catch an Amity High show so I can’t talk about Graduation Sucks (I need to get this done) but Legacy is another show carried over from last year, but fresh and improved. Looking back at my photos from last year, it’s fantastic to see how much more advanced this year’s setup is – we love to see growth! Whilst in an ideal world, an end of night spectacular would feature fireworks, fountains, Tinkerbell… the works. Alas, this is the UK theme park scene, so grand spectacle it is not, but it is a bloody lovely way to tie up the evening featuring some fantastic audio, visuals and – if you get the right weather – plenty of pyro along the way. My favourite segment was undoubtedly the quick flash back through the history, no, Legacy of Fright Nights. It made me emotional for attractions I never even attended!

So, on to the pièce de résistance, the jewels in the crown, the whole reason people come to Fright Nights: the Mazes.

This year, the paid attraction line-up consists of three full scare mazes (Survival Games (new for 2022), Trailers and Creek Freak Massacre) as well as The Terminal, an audio-based scare experience.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t absolutely petrified about Survival Games, so we made our first stop the tried-and-tested Trailers. An absolute delight when it opened last year, Trailers is a creative, fun and varied maze with a strong collection of jump scares and unsettling environments that deliver a decent thrill without ever been truly terrifying. At least, that’s how my run last year was. This year, well, I’m not quite sure what happened. We did stop here first at about 15:45, so it was early doors, but for a paid experience, our run just wasn’t up to the standard I’ve come to expect from Thorpe. After a fantastically delivered pre-show, I was hyped and ready for some scares, but they just didnt really materialise. At one point we passed through three scenes in succession with no scares. I do hope to get to return later in the season for another run, as I do adore Trailers, but based on our run on opening day, honestly? It’s ‘toned down’ iteration for the summer Carnival event was scarier.

Next up, we swung by The Terminal. I think it’s fair to say there’s been quite a bit of controversy on social media regarding the introduction of Darkfield audio-led experiences as part of the halloween line-up at both Thorpe Park and Alton Towers this year, but hearing glowing reviews from the company’s previous attraction at Warwick Castle I entered The Terminal with an open mind and high hopes. I really, truly wish I could say to you that these hopes were met, but sadly that simply wasn’t the case. The basic idea of the attraction is that you are led to an individual pod, furnished with a pair of very good quality headphones, before sitting back, headphones on and closing your eyes for a sensory experience. I really have no idea what I expected from this, but whilst the audio was unpleasant (breathing monsters, screams etc) it never actually made me feel at all unsettled. Infact, the very uncomfortable seat did a better job at making me feel uncomfortable! (It’s a piece of wood with a sharp edge, and my feet didn’t touch the floor!) God, I hate writing negative things but this just didn’t click with me at all. Fingers crossed I connect more with Alton Towers’ version.

On exiting The Terminal, rain was coming down hard so it looked a lot like our best option would be another scare maze, meaning the time had finally come to try Survival Games. I’m still anxious enough about scare mazes that the comments coming out from the press night had me nervous. Real nervous. People had mentioned being separated, being grabbed and even being stuck in the depths of the maze for up to 20 minutes. So, after somewhat reluctantly agreeing to the terms of the maze (I would be separated, I would be touched), I stepped through the entrance to the maze with my two friends… and we were all immediately put into separate cages. After a short intro video, I felt the first hands on me as I was pulled backward out of my cage and thrust in to the darkness of the maze. From here, the attraction finds you searching for the way through a true maze, encountering scares, dead ends and strangers along the way. One of the best things about Survival Games is the friends you make along the way. Stumbling through darkness, separated from your friends, you’ll almost definitely bump into a stranger, and end up taking on the maze together. Theming-wise, I would have liked to have seen a little more detail in some of the rooms, but I guess it’s not overly needed when you’re frantically pushing your way through from room to room. I was surprised at how well I fared here, with the scares never being overwhelming either. If you’re intimidated by this one like I was, trust me, you can do this.

Creek Freak Massacre is a true Fright Nights classic and in my opinion, remains the strongest maze in the line-up this year. The pre-show is pitch perfect, and even included a little reference to a certain still-in-planning project on the island, whilst the maze itself remains the most intense, delivering the highest scream count of the night by far. It just feels like the actors are having a blast, so it’s pretty much guaranteed that you will too.

All in all, I had a bloody wonderful time at Fright Nights. Whilst the weather was most certainly not on our side – it poured down solidly until about 30 mins before park close – we managed to make the best of it. With the breadth of attractions on offer, Fright Nights truly does feel like a full event encompassing the entire park. There’s a reason this event remains a staple of the spooky calendar year after year, it’s just one heck of a good time. Even if you’re horrified at the idea of a scare event, I can’t recommend coming down enough and trying your nerve in the included-with-admission attractions. You never know, you might fall in love with the spooks just like me.