Having had the opportunity to try Jungle Escape yesterday I have to say it was a lot of fun. The games are well designed and did very much remind me of some of the games you'd see in The Crystal Maze. The group I experienced the attraction with didn't manage to solve the first room, but did manage to complete the second room. I do feel that the ending of the attraction needs a little bit of work - whilst some elements of it fit well, the first part of the finale felt a little flat (although this was absolutely not the fault of the actor who gave a great performance). The script perhaps needs some slight tweaks to better explain a couple of thing in that first finale section (I won't say what so as not to spoil it).

Overall it is a very fun experience, and one which I think is something that is good to do with a groups of friends, or even as a family (the age rating is 10 and over). It perhaps is something that you would do just the once, however it may be that if you are unable to solve one of the puzzles you will want to try again to try and figure out where you went wrong the first time. I think Thorpe do need to be given credit for making sure the former IAC building hasn't sat out of use for very long, and for trying to introduce something different to their line up. Whilst Thorpe have had an escape experience previously with Containment at Fright Nights, it is good that Jungle Escape is more family friendly and doesn't feature a horror based theme.

The last time I went into the former I'm a Celebrity building, I came out extremely disappointed by what was the actor-less version of Vulkan Peak. So whilst the adverts that had been up around the entrance in previous weeks looked interesting, I was cautious as to what this attraction would actually be like. Especially given it would be a reasonably expensive upcharge and that it had been pushed back from its original opening date.



So it was both a surprise and to some extent a relief that within just a couple of minutes I was smiling and completely taken in by this attraction. The single actor they had at the start gave a brilliant performance, that was both warm and welcoming, whilst also cheeky and authoritative. The first set alone felt like it had received more love and attention than perhaps some other recent actor led attractions at Thorpe Park had in their entirety. Little trinkets, sounds and the interaction of the actor, all made for a great first impression.



Then into the game part of the attraction. The quality of the puzzles impressed me greatly, both in terms of physical construction and their problem design. Immediately it felt like walking into The Crystal Maze, and I'm fairly sure everyone in our group had a similar level of excitement and awe that I had myself. With group sizes of around 5-7, the puzzles are well thought out such that everyone could participate, and in some cases had to participate in order to succeed.

So it's slightly sad that the ending doesn't seem to be quite there at the moment. The issue is entirely on the creative and story telling side, with all actors providing a brilliant performance and the sets still having the high production quality. Whilst it's possible a change will come before the attraction fully opens on Saturday, I'm not overly sure what change could feasibly be made in the time available to solve the problem it has. However, the current ending does not massively detract from the overall experience. My only thoughts after more time thinking about it, were that if the number of rooms you experienced had been doubled, then the experience would have been exceptional and a great ending perhaps easier to devise.

Ending issues aside, after riding the slide into the Inferno gift shop, I came away with a really good feeling about Jungle Escape. So much so that I went straight back around for a second go. The puzzles were the same, but the overall positive feeling of the attraction remained. Even after two attempts, there was one puzzle that I'm not convinced any of the groups managed to solve.

As posted on SouthParks social media, staff training has been occurring on BounceZilla today, in preparation for its opening next weekend.



Part of the training appeared to involve a few staff members trying out a small portion of the attraction. They certainly looked like they had fun!

As a bouncy castle, that looks like a whole lot of fun. But as an attraction in a theme park..? Given that there isn’t any extra charge, I certainly hope it will be popular. But then again, most of GameFX (everything except the VR?) is free to use, and that looks as if it’s been a bit of a flop... so I don’t know, only time will tell I guess.

But I think Thorpe Park have (for the most part) invested in the right areas this year, considering they’ve been given next to nothing to work with. Which means if Merlin don’t get the returns they are wanting, it’s on their own shoulders, not Thorpe Park’s.

Robert.W wrote:

But then again, most of GameFX (everything except the VR?) is free to use, and that looks as if it’s been a bit of a flop... so I don’t know, only time will tell I guess.

What has surprised me is that the VR section has been perhaps the most popular part of GameFX, and has been growing in popularity.

I'm glad, because that part is entirely an outside small company, who have been adapting the offering as the event went on and have some pretty decent offerings. At the moment they have a multiplayer zombie shooter, racing game and some weird contraption that looks like it could simulate sky diving, plus other games/experiences without additional hardware required. There was a queue for it today and a lot of laughter coming from that area.

The rest of GameFX, well very few people were using the consoles when I wandered in today, or a few weeks ago.

The idea of the regular gaming consoles was very silly, it’s like what people said right at the beginning when GameFX was announced; people just don’t go to theme parks, only to spend time doing something they could do at home instead.

But I’m glad that the VR area is seemingly more popular. I imagine the concept of VR is still very novel to a lot of people, obviously helped by most people not having that kind of thing at home.

BounceZilla will hopefully benefit from being out in the open, as its more exposed to passing custom. And it’s obviously not something that many people will have in their gardens, so there is that as well. XD

I'm very excited to have a go on Bouncezilla and Jungle Escape. They are both totally different ideas for a theme park to add and I have to give Thorpe some credit for trying something new. Jungle Escape looks like its had a lot of care and attention with the way it looks and hopefully the puzzles are a range of easy and hard. What i do like is that it is something different and to me that is part of what a theme park should offer. A park should offer different experiences, be them rides, experiences or food. I think if Thorpe can find a balance between ride offerings with experiences than they are half way into becoming an all round good place. They still need to have a huge look at their food offerings and and quality of the food they have, but its not a huge issue for them at the moment

Agree that the parks should always be looking for new and different experiences. Whilst BounceZilla is perhaps not quite the new and different experience people may have initially had in mind when thinking about Thorpe Park, I get the suspicion it will be something of a memory maker.

I really wish there was a food related event! The park's offerings are not great this year, with this weekend being the worst with several units normally open being closed. At one point this weekend I wondered whether I should have just brought food with me.

Cue more wishing for a Food and Wine type event.

It's Thorpe Park's 40th birthday today!

First opening on 24th May 1979, the park has come a long way since its initial offering as a water activity and exhibition centre.

I'm told my first visit was in 1985, when was yours?

Happy Birthday Thorpe Park!

As reported by SouthParks News, Thorpe Park Resort celebrated a major milestone this weekend with the Island reaching its 40th birthday on Friday 24th May. To mark the occasion, the Island hosted a long weekend of celebrations including the launch of their newest attraction for the summer – BounceZilla! SouthParks visited the Island to experience the celebrations. Also celebrating a significant birthday in 2019 is Saw – The Ride which has seen Jigsaw play his twisted games at Thorpe Park Resort for 10 years.

Bouncezilla is everything you’d expect from it. It’s fun but my god is it exhausting! I got half way round and I was dead. It’s such a fun thing for the park to have and I recommend that people go and give it a go.

Jungle Escape is a weird one. It’s like two separate attractions merged together. The escape room puzzles are fun and some thought is required, but there are only 2 rooms of puzzles, so once you start getting into the escape room side, it’s over. The second part of the attraction is basically I’m A Celebrity with a really bad story that doesn’t quite make much sense. In its current form, it is not worth the price, both normal and MAP, but it’s nice to see the park trying to do something a bit different. I do wish there was more puzzles to solve and less of a story that’s a bit confused. They could easily add at least one more puzzle room and make that last room a big group puzzle to unlock the exit.

Some news:



Source

Swarm Chris wrote:

Some news:



Source

Good

Jungle Escape has now dropped in price by £3 across all tickets to be: £7 on the day; £6 pre-booked; and £5 for annual pass.

Swarm Chris wrote:

Jungle Escape has now dropped in price by £3 across all tickets to be: £7 on the day; £6 pre-booked; and £5 for annual pass.

Thorpe Park in “upcharge attraction not being as successful as we hoped so we’re having to drop the price” shocker.

Along with the AT Dungeon struggling to attract visitors too, will this show Merlin that upcharge attractions in the theme park environment don’t work?

Thorpe Park will be the venue for the 2019 Malibu Boats Wakeboarding Nationals on the 22nd-23rd of June, offering the garden area by Fin's as a viewing point for the event.

Dan wrote:

Swarm Chris wrote:

Jungle Escape has now dropped in price by £3 across all tickets to be: £7 on the day; £6 pre-booked; and £5 for annual pass.

Thorpe Park in “upcharge attraction not being as successful as we hoped so we’re having to drop the price” shocker.

Along with the AT Dungeon struggling to attract visitors too, will this show Merlin that upcharge attractions in the theme park environment don’t work?

Hopefully someone will realise that this is not the way to go! Yes nobody was keen on IAC but at least it was free!

ProfBurp wrote:

Hopefully someone will realise that this is not the way to go! Yes nobody was keen on IAC but at least it was free!

Really hope so too. It's a great little attraction, with some fantastic characters that the actors portray and decent quality puzzles. But it sadly seems to have sat empty for the majority of its time, seemingly due to the cost. With the new lower cost this weekend, there were certainly more people going in, which I'm sure is a major boost for those working on the attraction.

The capacity of it will mean that it needs to be ticketed one way or the other. But I think it would have been better if operated similar to Zombie Hunt last year, rather than opening with what was a very high price of admission.

Some new merchandise available today. Perhaps we could see a BounceZilla pillow in the future?