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CK: The mazes were originally set up by the Sudden Impact! Entertainment Company – why have Thorpe Park since gone it alone, and did you make any changes? If so, why?

The idea of a scare maze was new to Thorpe and something we hadn't done before

AS: "Initially the idea of a “scare maze” was new to Thorpe and something we hadn’t done before, so we went to Sudden Impact! to install and direct two mazes for us which were The Freezer and the 3D Freak Show.

"The following year having the actual mazes already set up and the experience of running them we decided to facilitate their direction and operation in house. Minor alterations were made to the attraction, in particular The Freezer where the maze was changed to a linear maze meaning there was a single route through the attraction.

"Previous to this, dead ends meant some groups would take twice as long to get through the attraction, which led to longer queuing times.

"By having a linear maze it allows us to control the flow of Guests through the attraction. Some minor operational changes were made to both attractions and we also employed the direction skills of Ollie Frith for both attractions who in previous years had directed street theatre at Thorpe Park."

CK: Why did you replace 3D Freakshow with Hellgate? Was it an easy decision to make, and did you have any qualms about removing the 3D element?

AS: "We wanted to alter our offering for Fright Nights 2005 because guest feedback suggested the 3D Freakshow was being overshadowed by The Freezer.

Feedback suggested the 3D Freakshow was being overshadowed by The Freezer

"We started looking at various new themes for the maze, which included a twisted circus, a demented world of toys and a haunted house (which later became Hellgate). We felt a haunted house theme would work well so I spent time developing some ideas for the attraction which became ‘Hellgate’.

"Removing the 3D element from the attraction was sad as the artwork was fantastic and part of an established attraction. Once we had a vision for Hellgate though it became a lot easier to say goodbye to an old friend! It can be quite hard not to get attached to things, I am sure I would shed tears if we decided to replace Hellgate!"

CK: Why did Freezer get renamed to Asylum in 2005?

AS: "We felt the attraction name did not truly reflect the direction we had taken with the maze, which was more akin to a lunatic asylum. We felt as a name, The Asylum, clearly summed up the feel of the attraction and was memorable.

"We also reversed the maze so that the exit became the entrance and vice versa which meant we could use the existing staging to develop a fantastic new entrance set based on a 1960’s municipal building.

"Some other alterations included the removal of the Tesla Coil which was replaced by a Hannibal-style cell and alterations to the layout of the attraction.

CK: A film, False Sense of Security, was added to last years’ line up, but spent much of the event closed due to technical difficulties – is this why the show hasn’t returned this year?

AS: "It was unfortunate but the bad weather and forces of nature were against us last year and meant we did not get to show the film as many times as we would have liked.

"Because of the unpredictable British weather, we have replaced the outdoor film in The Arena in favour of our third maze; Se7en."

CK: What happens to the mazes during the summer months? Do they stay in-situe or is the space used for something else?

AS: "Hellgate and The Asylum pretty much stay as they are all year. We remove some of the external bits of the maze around the queue areas and store them away until the following year. The Asylum area is used during the main season for costume character shows and events on the stage so the maze is used to store different bits and pieces.

"Our new maze, Se7en, will be removed at the end of the run to go into storage off site." Continues...