I went to the park yesterday to take advantage of what I thought would be a 6 o'clock ride close to find out that the main park closed at 4. We all purchased our terror tickets at the entrance and headed straight for enigma. The queue was halfway up the ramp so it wasn't happening. We went on jolly roger a load of times instead then headed for wipeout, which seemed to be running better than usual with a lot of force. Following this we went for a fireball marathon because it was running on a really good cycle, but it was cut short because the ride had "ceased operation" (due to someone throwing up and not even making an attmempt to get off the ride platform).
While we waited for fireball to open, we headed to MM and wave breaker, and then hobs pit x scream. Trying to market it as anything different then the normal ride is just stupid. It is exactly the same as the normal ride. The only difference is that some of the original positions that actors where placed where being used. To give credit to the actors, they where very good, but again, marketing it as being any different is completely wrong.
We headed back to wipeout and did TTT (Boring, not even spinning and no force) and then went down to rattlesnake and back to fireball. By this time it was nearly 4 and we got a good 10 minutes of ride time on fireball being the last people on it.
After the main park closed we used the rest of our horror night tickets. Jolly Rogers lights kept me entertained in the queue for Area 51, which I thought was actually quite good. It sort of gave a sense of tension because I didnt know where the actors where and it was very aptmospheric. The final attraction was fright freight. What ruined it for me is that the actors where in the same place as last year with carridge 13, as well as the fact that I was getting pushed from my friends behind so i didnt really get a chance to look at the themeing that from what i saw looked very good.
Overall the whole thing was pretty poor. Everyone thought the main park closed at 6 and having the horror attractions open during the day made the "extreme horror nights" thing pointless because most people had got bored and went home after the rides closed. It was busy during the day, but the park was nearly deserted by the evening. If they kept the main rides open untill 6 then it would be a different story and people might no have got bored. Oh, and they need to remove that stupid once per attraction limit.
A better atmosphere wouldn't go amiss either. The only things that suggested that it was even Halloween was the thousands of pumpkins scattered around the park (most of which had been squished by little kids), the occasional figure or cut-out and very little music (In the kiddie area). A few years ago (2013 I think) was very good and there where a lot of actors outside of the attractions. This year the whole place was pretty bland, but the attractions where quite good dispite this.
-- Edited by Connor M on Friday 30th of October 2015 12:50:38 PM
The pumpkin situation is a bit of a joke really. It looks like they've literally just been throwing them everywhere. Most of them aren't even neatly placed. Around Jolly Roger there's just the odd one that was on it's side.
Unprofessional was theme for my day really. It seemed like the staff didn't care. After two really good trips to the Hills, I felt very let down on Wednesday.
Oh, and where were you told that the rides closed at 4pm? I didn't get toof anything....
I called the office the day before and they seemed as confused as us really. We found out about the ride close was 4 because it was clearly displayed at the gate and not on the website. I was thinking about going back tomorrow but iv'e been 12 times this year so i'm just about done, and I honestly don't think the 4 quid is worth it.
I obviously wasn't paying attention when going through the gates!lol but it clearly stated a 6pm close at the entrance. (On a nice new looking sign I might add).
The point is is that they made no indication on the website as far as I could see about the park close being 4. I don't see the reason why they couldn't of kept at least some of the rides open because they have 6 o'clock closes in the summer. When I did thorpe fright nights I had a fast track so ended up doing the mazes quite quickly, but I had stealth and to keep me occupied for the rest of the night.
-- Edited by Connor M on Saturday 31st of October 2015 10:06:28 AM
