1993
30th – 31st October – Fireworks
From the 1993 park map – “On the evenings of Saturday October 30th and Sunday October 31st, the Thorpe Park season ends with a bang, with our spectacular fireworks display. If you’re spending the day at Thorpe Park you can enjoy all this extra fun at no extra cost. It’s the ideal way to make the most of your trip, as you’re thrilled by the sights and sounds of the most colourful and loudest fireworks we could find. Guy Fawkes day was never this much fun.”
1994
29th – 30th October – Fireworks Spectacular
From the 1994 park map - “To close our season with a bang. Join us for a fireworks spectacular that will take your breath away, on the evenings of Saturday, October 29th and Sunday, October 30th.”
1995
Batman Forever Exhibition
In 1995 the old Cinema 180 building was used to house what the park map called ‘Seasonal Attractions’. One of these was an exhibition showcasing props and costumes from the latest Batman movie ‘Batman Forever’. Amongst the items in the collection were one of the full size Batmobiles from the movie and many costumes including the Batsuit worn by Val Kilmer. Inside the domed building U2’s soundtrack to the movie played on continuous repeat. As well as advertising the new movie they were also showing off a new gaming technology, it was a virtual reality/ 3d games system that involved the player having to wear a big visor on your head whilst controlling the game using a traditional d-pad style controller.
28th – 29th October – Firework Time
From the 1995 park map – “To round off the season, on 28th and 29th October the whole park really lights up to fantastically elaborate displays – it’s really spectacular stuff!”
1997
25th – 26th October & 1st – 2nd November – Thorpe Park Fireworks
From the 1997 park map – “Don’t miss the Thorpe Park Fireworks. Our fantastic displays really light up the park and are an unmissable spectacle. The dates for your diary are the weekends of 25th and 26th October and 1st and 2nd November. See you there!”
1998
25th – 26th May – Funrise to Funrise
On Bank Holiday Monday 25th May Thorpe Park remained open for 24 hours straight, a first for a UK park. The park was open from 5am Monday to 5am Tuesday and guests could spend the whole 24 hours at the park all for the normal one day entry price of £16.50 per adult. There were also special Nightrider tickets available costing £8 for guests entering the park after 8pm. Thorpe Park laid on a free breakfast of cereal, rolls and juice for guests that were in the park before 7am, they also handed guests that were still in the park after midnight a free return ticket that could be used during the summer. Alan Randall, Head of Marketing, said the park would only need 1,000 extra guests during the 24-hour period to pay for the extra costs of keeping the park open.
1999
August – Midnight opening – Late Thrills!
From the 1999 park map – “Every August Saturday and the Bank Holiday Monday in August, you can enjoy 14 non-stop hours of excitement and fun, when Thorpe Park hosts a party atmosphere ‘til midnight (last rides 11pm). So, you’ll get even more entertainment and can enjoy your favourite attractions for longer at no extra cost in the special summer evening atmosphere.”
23rd - 24th & 30th - 31st August – Fun Under the Stars
From the 1999 park map – “Don’t miss our spectacular fireworks funanzas on 23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st October at 7pm. Come for the day at no extra cost and enjoy the oohs and aahs of the breathtaking and dramatic lakeside display. Alternatively come for the evening with our reduced entry ticket. All major rides and attractions remain open until 7pm.”
2001
20th – 21st & 27th – 28th October – Fireworks & Laser Spectacular
From the 2001 park map – “The most awe-inspiring display of fireworks, pyrotechnics, lasers and special effects ever!”
2002
25th – 27th October – Fireworks Spectacular
From the 2002 park map – “Don’t miss the most awe-inspiring display of fireworks, pyrotechnics and special effects ever on October 25th, 26th and 27th.”
Created by LCI this was display set on the lake around a specially built floating volcano. The volcano was used as a launching site for fireworks and as a projection surface. The reason for the Volcano theme was to celebrate the upcoming opening of Nemesis Inferno in 2003.
Related Video:
Related Links:
- http://www.lci-uk.com/job.php?filter[]=28 – Information about the project on the LCI website.
31st October – 3rd November – Fright Nites
From the 2002 park map – “Watch out after dark as Fright Nites transforms the Park into a real life grisly horror movie. Unexpected sinister surprises lie in wait in chilling new walk-though Mazes. Hideous, terrifying monsters will be around every ghostly corner. Experience the blood-chilling, hair-raising terror of Colossus, Detonator, Vortex and Zodiac in the dark. This petrifying fright-fest promises to scare the living daylights out of the most fearless.”
This was the first year of this now classic Thorpe Park event. Attractions at the first Fright Nites included two horror mazes The Freezer (now Asylum) & Freakshow 3D (replaced by Hellgate) and a ‘Fright Zone’ between the two areas. The event was sponsored by Capital FM and
ran for four nights.
Uploaded to YouTube by andylci.
Description: A video of the Volcano firework show.
2003
24th - 26th October - Thorpe Fireworks
From the 2003 park map – “Don’t miss the most awe-inspiring display of fireworks, pyrotechnics and special effects ever seen.”
This was a spectacular fireworks display set on Abbey Lake near Vortex and the entrance bridge.
27th October – 2nd November - Fright Nites
From the 2003 park map – “Pray you make it to the morning. Unexpected sinister surprises lie in wait in two chilling walk-through Mazes. Should you escape them, experience the blood-chilling, hair-raising terror of riding the terrifying new Nemesis Inferno, Colossus, Detonator, Vortex, Zodiac or Tidal Wave in the dark. You have been warned.”
In 2003 Fright Nites returned to Thorpe Park, sponsored by Capital FM. The Freezer & Freakshow 3D horror mazes were back, joined by a new film ‘Ultimate Horror Movie Bites’ that was showing in the Pirates 4D building. This time the event ran for 7 nights.
2004
21st May - Most Naked People on a Rollercoaster
On 21st May 2004 81 students took part in an attempt to set a new world record by riding Nemesis Inferno naked. Although 81 people took part the official record was set at 28 as that was the largest amount of people who could ride in one go. To encourage the volunteers, from 15 of Britain’s universities, Thorpe Park offered a £1000 prize for the best group On-Ride Photo. The riders also raised money for charity at this event that help marked Thorpe Park’s 25th Birthday.
This world record had since been beaten twice: The 1st was set by 32 people riding Nemesis at Alton Towers on 27th August 2004 and the 2nd was set by 102 people riding Green Scream at Adventure Island, Southend-On-Sea on 8th August 2010.
22nd - 31st October - Fright Nites
For Fright Nites 2004 The Freezer & Freakshow 3D
were back again and a new show ‘The Carnival of the Bizarre’ was playing in the Pirates
4D building. This new show featured the cast of The Circus of Horrors. This year
Fright Nites was sponsored by Kiss FM, who broadcast live from the park on 29th and
30th of October, and ran for 10 nights.
2005
1st - 4th September - Playstation®2 Freedom Weekender
From the 2005 park map – “A Party. And then some.”
This was a special event hosted by Thorpe Park as part of the Sony Playstation Summer of Freedom promotional campaign. For these four days Playstation took over the park adding a number of special attractions including Free to Party Beach Bash, Smallest Disco in the World, Singstar Party and Free to Fight inflatable Sumo Wrestling. As well as these small stages were set up around the park, one near Colossus and another near Nemesis Inferno, over the weekend these were home to performances by The Bravery, The Coral, Faithless, Feeder, Goldfrapp, Hard FI, Ian Brown and Razorlight. Channel 4’s T4 were also at the park filming these live performances plus segments on the beach and the T4 bus. With all these great extra attractions Thorpe Park created a special version of the park map just for the weekend to show where these Playstation attractions were.
On the Saturday there was an exclusive after-hours Faithless gig performed on a large stage in the arena to an audience of 450 lucky competition winners. Footage from this performance was broadcast along with footage from the rest of the weekend on both Channel 4 and E4.
Photos:
Related links:
- http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/ConCaseStudy.401 - A short video of footage from the weekend.
21st - 30th October - Fright Nites
From the 2005 park map – “Fear grips Thorpe Park again this October when Fright Nites return for a truly terrifying experience only suitable for the most fearless. Encounter the Circus of Horrors, two improved terror mazes and a park full of adrenaline soaked high-octane rides in the dark.”
For Thorpe Park’s forth Fright Nites season the two horror mazes were re-themed, The Freezer went through a few small changes to become The Asylum but Freakshow 3D was replaced with a new maze called Hellgate. The Circus of Horrors were back performing ‘The Carnival of the Bizarre’ in the Pirates 4D building whilst a new short film called ‘A False Sense of Security’
played in the Arena. This specially created short film only managed to be shown a few times before bad weather damaged the screen it was being projected onto.
This year Fright Nites ran for 11 nights.
Photos of the Playstation 2 Freedom Weekender.
Supplied by Neil Zone.
2006
14th - 17th April - Be Discovered
From signs in the park – “Got Star Quality? Come to Thorpe Park 14th – 17th April for your chance to be spotted by top talent scouts! 10am – 10pm Open late so you can ride in the dark!”
This Easter weekend event was an X-Factor inspired talent contest held in the Dome where guests got to perform on stage in front of ‘celebrity’ judges for the chance to win a ‘celebrity’ VIP prize. On the judges panel for this event were Coronation Street’s Richard Fleeshman and S Club 7’s Jo O’Meara. Elsewhere over the weekend Capital Fm’s Richard Bacon was DJing live in the park.
12th - 25th August - Sprite Urban Games
This Sprite sponsored event featured workshops and demonstrations by some of the
UK’s best Skaters, BMXers and B-Boys. Thorpe Park even built a special Skatepark
just for this summer event.
13th - 31th October - Fright Nights
Starting on Friday the 13th Thorpe Park’s 5th
Fright Nights season featured a brand new horror maze based in the Arena called ‘Se7en’.
This year The Circus of Horrors were ‘let loose into the park’ to perform a series
of shorter shows in caged stages around the park. This was the longest Fright Nights
season so far lasting a total of 19 nights.
2007
6th - 9th April - Be Discovered
In 2007 the Easter weekend ‘Be Discovered’ talent
contest event returned to Thorpe Park. On the judging panel this year were Coronation
Street’s Richard Fleeshman, X-Factor’s Ben Mills and Atomic Kitten’s Liz McClarnon.
Up for grabs was the chance to record an album professionally and a nights stay at
the Ritz. This year’s event was sponsored by PJ Smoothies. Other attractions at the
event were a couple of Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne lookalikes.
3rd August – Virgin Radio Thorpe Park Roadshow
On Friday 3rd of August the Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show, from Virgin Radio, broadcast their show in a ‘one off’ outside broadcast live from Thorpe Park. This was part of Thorpe Park’s 2007 ‘Campaign for Real fun’. The OC and his breakfast show team broadcast their full morning show, from 6 – 10 am, from the park featuring exclusive live performances by The Hoosiers. For this event a temporary studio was set up in the Glass House bar in the Dome. During this event The Hoosiers performed a number of songs on a stage in the Dome. These songs included ‘Worried About Ray’ and a cover of Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’.
Photos:
9th August – World’s Largest Queue Line Karaoke
On Thursday 9th August 2007 Thorpe Park attempted a world record for the Largest Queue Line Karaoke. Kylie Minogue’s Locomotion was played out to the queue lines for 13 of the biggest rides at the park as 6,321 guests sang along.
12th – 25th August – Sprite Summer Sessions
Returning to Thorpe Park for a second year the Sprite Urban Games were back with the Sprite Summer Sessions. This 14 day action sport event mixed freestyle extreme sports with a soundtrack of urban and rock music. The event featured the talents of Shaun Scarfe, Robin Fenlon, Dan Cates, Mark Nicolson, James Hitchcock and many more that performed demonstrations and hosted workshops with park guests.
8th - 31st October - Fright Nights
Now in its 6th year the Fright Nights season started even earlier running for 24
nights. There were not many changes this year but The Circus of Horrors were back
performing ‘Carnival of the Bizarre’ in the Pirates 4D building.
2nd - 4th November - Thorpe Blast
In 2007, for the first time in 4 years, Thorpe Park ended its season with a fireworks display event. Stretching out across the lake this fireworks display had a very panoramic feel to it, amongst other fireworks it used brand new aqua fireworks that actually burst on the surface of the water. The whole display was set to a sound track featuring songs like Insomnia by Faithless and Galvanize by the Chemical Brothers.The display was created by Alchemy Fireworks.
More info on the display and a case study can be found here: http://www.alchemyfireworks.co.uk/portfolio/2007/thorpepark.html
Photos of Christian O’Connell and The Hoosiers broadcasting live
from Thorpe Park. Supplied by David Jones.
2008
21st - 24th March – Head Rush
Special stunt packed Easter weekend event featuring: Jet Ski shows on the lake, the ‘Bolddog Extreme Action’ stunt show in the arena, other stunts and tricks around the park including skate tricks in the Dome and special guest appearances from Matt Pritchard and Pancho from MTV’s Dirty Sanchez.
8th – 24th August – August Action
During these events the park was home to two special shows: ‘Freestyle Moto-X’ in the arena and ‘Streetball Extreme’ in the Dome. Chupa Chubs were also at the park celebrating their 50th birthday, EA sports were at the park with The EA hub showing off all the latest EA games for the PS3, Xbox 360 & the Wii and the wacky Thorpe Park Fungineers were walking around the park entertaining the guests.
13th October - 2nd November - Fright Nights
From the 2008 park map – “Fright Nights returns for its seventh and most chilling year, transforming THORPE PARK into a world of thrilling insanity. Get ready for exhilarating rides in the dark and live horror mazes, including a terrifying new attraction for 2008!”
For their 7th Fright Nights season Thorpe Park added a 4th horror maze to their list
of attractions ‘The Curse’. This water based maze was situation on Neptune’s Beach.
Also The Circus of Horrors returned in 2008 with a brand new show ‘Apocalypse’, performed
in the Time Voyagers building this show featured acts never before seen in the UK.
The 2008 Fright Nights season ran for 21 nights.
7th - 9th November - Thorpe Blast
From the 2008 park map – “Open till late and set over water to a backdrop of thrilling rides. THORPE PARK is the ONLY place to experience exhilarating fireworks whilst screaming on all your favourite rides in the dark!”
After the success of 2007’s Thorpe Blast it was back bigger and better for 2008. Featuring even more special effects, state of the art fireworks and a soundtrack featuring hits by Fat Boy Slim, Prodigy, Alphabeat, Sonny J, Kylie and Leona Lewis many guests said that this display was even better than the year before. The Thorpe Blast display was again created by Alchemy Fireworks. More info on the display can be found here: http://www.alchemyfireworks.co.uk/portfolio/2008/thorpeblast.html
2009
10th – 13th April & 23rd – 31st May – Head Rush
Head Rush was back at Thorpe Park for the 2009 Easter Weekend and the May Half-Term. This event featured the ‘Xtreme Action Moto-X Show’ in the arena, the show featured stunts and tricks performed by a mix of Moto X riders, Inline Skaters and BMXers.
22nd – 31st August – Sun SCREAM
This new summer event sponsored by Dr Pepper featured a new stunt show ‘Xtreme Action Stunt Show’ in the arena where members of the audience were chosen to judge the stunts, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ which was a live game show where guests competed against each other to win prizes, The EA hub was back and the Fungineers returned to entertain/torment guests around the park. During Sun SCREAM the park was open until 8pm.
12th October - 1st November - Fright Nights
From the 2009 park map – “Fright Nights is back and even more terrifying than ever, transforming THORPE PARK into a world of twisted insanity! Experience exhilarating rides in the dark, terrifying live action horror mazes, and dare to Face Your Fears as Jigsaw subjects you to the ultimate test on SAW – The Ride!”
The main change for Thorpe Park’s 8th Fright Nights season saw the new horror themed roller coaster ‘Saw - The Ride’ come alive. This involved a number of actors wearing pig masks walking around the Saw - The Ride area and an actor trapped in one of Jigsaw’s traps in part of the inside queue line. New for 2009 in the Time Voyagers building was ‘Saw – Movie Bites’, this short film featured clips from the first five movies in the cult series. This Frights Nights season ran for 21 nights.
2010
2nd – 5th April – Cirque Du Freak
Britain’s Got Talent’s dance group Flawless were the stars of this event performing a number of shows daily on stage in the Arena. Other special acts performing around the park included Stilt performers, Contortionists, Acrobats, an Escapologist and even a Psychic entertainer.
23rd May – Peter Andre Live
This event was a one off performance on stage in the Arena by Peter Andre, featuring support acts Miss Frank, X-Factor’s Lucie Jones and the return of the popular Flawless.
4th – 6th June – Extreme Weekender
Presented by Rustlers this event featured a new stunt show in the Arena featuring stunts from Moto-X, Quad Bike and Superbike riders.
21st – 31st August – SunSCREAM
From the 2010 park map – “It’s Back! Get ready for another extreme summer with Dr Pepper as SunSCREAM returns this August for more fun in the sun.”
New for 2010’s SunSCREAM was the ‘What’s the Worst that can Happen?’ Stunt Show in the arena, also “The Incredible Human Beat Boxer” THePETEBOX performed in the Showcase plus the Pineapple Cheerleaders and UK B-Boy crew Soul Mavericks showed off their skills at various times of the day next to Stealth.
8th - 10th, 15th - 17th & 22nd - 31st October - Fright Nights
From the 2010 park map – “Fright Nights are back and even more terrifying than ever. Experience exhilarating rides in the dark and terrifying live action horror mazes, including Jigsaw’s newest nerve shredding game, SAW Alive.”
New for the 2010 Fright Night season was Thorpe Park’s year round horror maze ‘Saw Alive’. This was joined by a new walk through ‘Dead End Terror Zone’, situated in the Lost City near Rush and based on a virus wreaking havoc in the park’s ride graveyard this attraction made use of a lot of old theming and signage from Thorpe Park’s history including some of the models of the Thorpe Park Rangers from the retired Miss Hippos Fungle Safari. 2010 also had a new live show in the Time Voyagers building ‘Barry and Stuart’ starred the award winning comedy magicians as they performed their own brand of twisted magic live on stage.
The 2010 Fright Nights season ran for a total of 16 nights.
