A compère of a travelling freak show has rolled into the centre of Thorpe Park. But are they there just to entertain you, or are they looking to use you?

The Covid-19 pandemic required the park to be different for Fright Nights in 2020, and they rebranded the event as the “Fright Nights FEARSTIVAL”. This was due to the large number of scare zones and minimal mazes, in contrast to all other Fright Nights. At the heart of that was The Fearstival Arena.

A true scare zone, in that it was a zone guests could freely walk through, there were a variety of circus / freak show style acts. Strong men, bearded ladies, mimes, freaky characters, fortune tellers and more were all orchestrated by the compère. As well as a large main stage, there were several smaller stages for the actors to ‘perform’ on.

Again, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the park to create an experience where actors couldn’t come close to guests. This meant that, along with performing on stage, the actors instead made use of dark tactic. Though not inherently scary, this created an atmosphere and feel at Fright Nights which hadn’t been seen for many years, if at all.

There were small shows throughout the evening, including a mini fire and light show. These weren’t advertised, to stop large crowds congregating, but happened regularly enough that you were likely to see one at some point!

The Fearstival Arena only lasted for the 2020, with the area being used for Birthday Bash to celebrate the 20th and 21st anniversay of Fright Nights. However, it certainly paved the way for a more traditional scare zone in that area, as well as fire shows at Fright Nights!