Fright Nights 2023 builds on the successes of the 2022 event, introducing more variety, whilst furthering the high standards that everyone now expects from the event! Scroll down to see out review!

The Crows of Mawkin Meadow

Where The Crows go…nobody knows

Review

New for 2023

There were 2 new additions to the 2023 event.

In keeping with a story they have built in marketing since 2021, the park had a ‘desciple of fear’, The Toymaker as the focus of the event.The headline attraction for the year, the new scare maze Stitches, was based all around her. It was built in a temporary marquee next to Rush/Vortex.

Despite being in a marquee, the park created a 2D facade to give it the feel of a more permanent building. The entrance to the maze is extensively themed as the entrance to ‘Howell’s Toy Emporium’, where the maze is based, with the walls also being covered by 2D shop-fronts. In the past, the park have done very minimal theming to the exterior of their mazes, so it is good to see this happening.

The maze invites you to tour Howell’s Toy Emporium, a part-toy shop, part-toy factory establishment, giving you an opportunity to see how the toys are made. However, be careful, because when the lights go up, the toys get up to sinister things…and not all is quite as it seems with the workers either!

The maze starts with a pre-show introduction from The Toymaker’s grandchild, who introduces the story in great depth. Then, the lights go out, and the tour begins. This single route maze flows through several scenes, all showing different rooms of the factory, with several actors, lighting and audio effects, smoke machines and further special effects hiding around every corner. And one of the most impressive things about Stitches is its length…the maze goes on and on and on, without ever feeling repetitive. It is absolutely incredible how much maze they have crammed into a relatively small space.

Unlike most other mazes Thorpe have tried, Stitches is not an intense, in your face style maze. Rather, Stitches is based off building a creepy atmosphere, and psychological fears, leaving guests afraid of what is around the corner, rather than what is in front of them, at any given time. The maze still capitalises on impact scares, noises and a variety of other techniques, of course, but it is a very different style of maze.

We particularly enjoyed the ‘teddy bear’ and ‘spider’ scenes, as well as the chaotic ending, featuring one of the most intense strobe sections we’ve ever experienced!

Stitches is surely one of the most expensive investments from the park into a Fright Nights attraction, and the quality of theming, costumes and effects really does highlight this. This is a huge step-up from the resort, and we’re mightly impressed!

The other new attraction for 2023 is Lucifer’s Lair. Replacing Birthday Bash, this area still includes the stage and roaming actors, as well as various shows, including dance, live music and even a fire show! All of this is themed around the devil Lucifer’s demons stalking around, and thus features heavy music, in-your-face actors and in general quite an intense atmosphere. The area is a true ‘scare zone’, with it being totally free-flowing, and a variety of shows throughout the evening.

Again, Lucifer’s Lair adds variety to the park’s line up, with a darker and heavier scare zone / show not being something the park have ever done before. However, this is also exactly what the park needed, and has already been an early favourite by visitors, and we can’t wait to see it develop even further. The theming and lighting in the area is fantastic, and it’s great to see that outside of a maze-environment!

Returning Scare Mazes

Survival Games returns for its second season. There are minimal changes inside the maze itself, although some routes have been made one-way to improve operations. However, the maze itself has kept up with the same level of intensity it had last year and, in some ways, even upped that intensity!

This remains as the only attraction where actors can touch you, and this happens from the get-go. Not only do actors touch you, but they pull and push you, force you into areas and certain directions, and remind you of how authoratitive they are. Certainly not for the faint-hearted, this maze is definitely one of the most intense Thorpe have put out.

The free-flow arena is a great design, and actors have already managed to bed in quickly to maximise scaring and disoreintating guests.

Trailers is back for its third Fright Nights. The scenes remain the same, and the actors are well aware of how to effectively use the space. There are some nice ‘cloud’ effects in the exit, which look really nice too! We also liked the little Easter Eggs referencing Hyperia’s announcement too!

Other Returning Attractions

The award-winning The Crows of Mawkin Meadow is back for its 3rd season too. This is the first year of the attraction following the removal of the Saw Alive queue and the opening up of the area. This means the scare zone feels completely different to previous years. The heart of the attraction is the same, but a completely new layout, which is long, winding and secluded-feeling, with some covered sections, makes it feel completely unlike the previous incarnations. On top of that, the scare zone has gone from strength-to-strength, with the Crows themselves being as freaky as ever, and a running story throughout which is fun and quirky. We also loved the heavy smoke throughout, which even bellows out onto the Colossus pathway!

Death’s Doors is back for season number 2. With new characters over last year, this remains a fun concept, which combines dark humour and scares into one, and is really interactive. This interactivity does mean that the more you as the guest puts in, the more you get out. In other words, knock on as many doors as you can, and interact with the actors! Again, this is really unlike anything else at the park at the moment, or ever, as it combines a certain level of silliness with some fun scares!

Finally, there is Creature Campus: Trouble’s Brewing. This is the latest incarnation in the ‘Amity High’ story. The scare zone joined the Thorpe Park line up in 2018, with the dance show and story being established in 2019. Following the warring schools of Amity High and LycanThorpe High putting their differences aside and graduating, the students from both schools have gone to college (aka American University), and are Freshers. However, the Sorcerer’s Sorority rules the college campus…a group of witches who haven’t taken too kindly to the vampires and werewolves.

As ever, there is a 10+ minute dance routine, telling the story of warring groups, with the Witches coming out on top. There is also the addition of a set of Bleachers this year, which is an exciting and fresh twist for the routine. The lighting and sound is once again incredible here, and the show ends with the Witches pointing at Stealth, and getting it to flash in all different colours.

The Bottom Line

Fright Nights 2023 once again proves why it is arguably the best Theme Park Halloween event in the UK, and perhaps even the best Halloween event in the country outright. The variety of attractions, in terms of themes and experience, is fantastic and unquestionable at this point. At the same time, the park have high-quality attractions where it is easy to see that time, money and thought has been seriously invested into them. Though the scare mazes are an upcharge, their costs are justified, especially when we see with new additions the money being re-invested into them.

The park is offering a variety of VIP experiences during the event, from behind the scenes tours to a Brunch with the Buckwheats from the now-defunct Creek Freak Massacre.