Roll up, roll up…the Figaro Bros. have bought the circus to Thorpe Park. Crazed clowns, circus acts and more exist in their circus tent(s). But beware, these clowns are not friendly, and if you get to the end of the circus, there will be a chainsaw waiting for you…

The Big Top has a rich history at Thorpe, despite only being at the park for 3 seasons. On top of that, Big Top is remembered fondly as one of the best mazes across Fright Nights history, although it had many changes.

The Big Top Version 1 (2015)

The Big Top first came to Fright Nights in 2015, bringing about The Ringleader as the icon character for the event. For 2015, the maze took place on both sides of the Beach, signalling the first time that area was used since the 2012 event.

The maze started on the smaller side of the Beach, and went in and out of three different circus tents, with the last tent – the largest – on the larger side of the Beach. However, the maze also had scenes in between in the tents, which was also a spectacle for guests watching the maze too.

Inside the first tent was Madame Mephisto, a fortune teller. Serving as the maze’s pre-show, Madame Mephisto predicted death by the Figaro Brothers, and sent you one of two ways. which led you outside towards the second tent.

The next tent predominately featured a hall of mirrors and an intense strobe section. Unlike many mirror mazes, however, the corridor was very wide, meaning it didn’t utilise the effect well.

In between the second and final tents, guests would walk outside from the small to the large side of the Beach, going underneath the bridge. Lots of theming was present here, including carnival-style games, to give the effect that the fair had rolled up to Amity Beach. Here, clowns would torment and chase guests into the final tent, which had the huge ‘Carlos the Clown’ clown head as an entrance, and was marked as a funhouse.

The final tent featured various funhouse like scenes, before you came across a dungeon area, where the Figaro Bros would kept performers captive. This led to the dressing room area, before a chainsaw finale runout!

The 2015 version of Big Top had buckets of potential, but its construction was rushed (meaning that actors didn’t actually get to see inside the maze until about an hour before it opened!). The area was prone to flooding and struggled to have impact in places since guests could see what happened whilst queueing for the maze. The maze also didn’t feature many walls (instead draping fabric over scaffolding), which caused noise bleed and trouble for actors.

This may sound very negative, but the key takeaway is that the concept was right, it just needed tweaking.

The Big Top Version 2 – 2016

For 2016, the park set out to right the wrongs of the original Big Top. A decision was made to house the maze in one tent, next to Rush, keeping it away from the floodable Beach. This tent still looked like a circus tent, and still featured the iconic Carlos the Clown entrance feature. The park kept many of the core elements of the maze (the pre-show, the clown-chaos, the chainsaw finale), but reworked them into a tighter, more polished maze.

After the pre-show, guests found themselves in a multi-route ‘play area’, featuring intense strobes, meshed fencing and clowns in every direction. Due to this being genuinely multi-routed, it was easy to get lost and spend many minutes here.

Afterwards, guests found their way through the darker side of the Figaro Bros’ circus, passing through the dungeon and prop room, as well as a biff bag corridor, before eventually hitting the finale of a chainsaw runout.

For the 2016 season too, the park commissioned IMAScore to create a bespoke soundtrack, which was both chaotic and catchy.

The Big Top Version 3 – 2017

Thorpe Park further improved Big Top in 2017. The pre-show came from a spooky projection, meaning actors could be used better elsewhere. The middle-third of the maze was tightened up, and included a short, but winding, mirror maze section.

Just before the finale, however, guests were presented with the choice of going through 3 doors. These 3 doors led through different rooms, including a torture room (with a chained up teddy bear), rooms where a mime could blend in, and more. This gave further choice and made the maze even more multi-route than before, whilst also improving the overall quality. This section also featured a fun nod to the newly opened The Walking Dead mazes, with a “Don’t Open, Clowns Inside” set of double doors painted on a wall.

The finale remained the ever-effective chainsaw run out.

The Future

The Big Top did not return for the 2018 season, instead being replaced by a show / roaming cast of characters under ‘The Big Top: Showtime’. There were many reasons for it not returning, including costs, staffing and more. The maze is fondly remembered by all, with many seeing it as one of Thorpe Park’s best ever, and many hope for it to return. The park, however, believe for now to let its legacy stay in the past, and to not try and resurrect it, although they do pay homage to it in Trailers.

Did you Know?

As The Big Top was first designed prior to Derren Brown’s Ghost Train opening, it featured a couple of Easter Eggs towards Derren Brown prior to the announcement of his involvement in the new-for-2016 ride. Both Mephisto and Figaro were the names of Derren’s pet parrots!