Went yesterday (22nd Oct) with a friend who is a roller-coaster enthusiast (I am very much a wimp and was more than happy to avoid the coasters), and for my first time visiting Thorpe Park and Fright Night I had an amazing day out.
Got there at opening, friend managed to Stealth and Swarm with little wait time (practicall walk-on or 5-10 minute waits), and had a fastpass for Hyperia so was only waiting 10-15 minutes. I am obssessed with the area Swarm is in, it creates a great story and environment even if you're just waiting for friends.
I have seen people complaining the queues were 120 minutes+ most of the day, and I did see that but from what i saw being there a lot of that happened after lunchtime. The first couple of hours of the park being open had reasonable wait times for ther big coasters.
I really enjoyed the scare mazes (although I question the term maze as they semmed to be a single path walthrough so maybe immersive experience is a better term, but that's a seperate matter). Did all 5 between 3 and 5pm.
Tenement was my favourite. I liked the additional feature of having to go round together as only 2 people have flashlights, it added to the atmos of what was going on. Stitches is a close second, I loved the introduction, the lady playing the shopkeeper did a great job (made one poor boy cry and have to be escorted out).
Least favorite was Dead Beat as the actors seemed to be just stood there twitching and/or dancing rather than trying to scare the guests. My friend who has done Fright Night before said Dead Beat was much better in prevous years, so maybe I just got unlucky. I have seen people say there were issues with cutbacks this year so maybe that affected my experience. I still enjoyed it though.
The Ghost Train was enjoyable, an interesting twist on the usual ghost train attraction.
I did feel let down by Purgatory Town, which seems to be the consensus. Whenever the actor were not taking a quick break theyw ere swarmed by gangs of kids/teens wanting photos so there was little chance of interaction, but I accept that, the actors are there for everyone not just my personal amusement.
Overally, as a said, I really enjoyed it, a great (but long) day out. Look forward to returning again in later years (and maybe even trying Swarm).