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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

KolonelKlink said:
So important to the park that it’s worsening its carbon footprint by selling the maps with plastic sleeves and lanyards which - unlike paper maps - are much, much harder to recycle because they’re made of mixed materials and will likely end up in landfill?

It really is a cash grab.
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I’ll admit that plastic probably isn’t the best material to use for that type of thing, but maybe they’re encouraging reuse of the maps and sleeves?
 
Matt N said:
I’ll admit that plastic probably isn’t the best material to use for that type of thing, but maybe they’re encouraging reuse of the maps and sleeves?
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Can't fault your optimism Matt, but I don't think this has anything to do with the environment. No evidence has been provided that Chessington is trying to spin it that way either.

KolonelKlink said:
Chessington is risking large crowds unnecessarily congregating around its large maps - which is a *super* idea during a pandemic, even if people are outside.
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I don't think they distributed paper maps at all last season and I don't think there was an issue with people congregating round the posters.
 
OilyWater said:
Cant help but feel like the money spent on the huge croc wouldve been way better spent on finishing off the area and fitting it in more. And still have a cool, simpler central feature.

To think 10 years ago fans wouldve been saying the new ride needs more scenery, and now it has too much focus in the wrong direction? What a crazy time eh
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@OilyWater what do you mean? What is the wrong direction
 
And even then a simple, cheaper ride can really add value with good theming. But in this case, it's just not added any value to where it matters, in my opinion. It's tried to create a stunning centrepiece to interact with the ride, but the croc head just looks too forced and out of place
 
Didn't Merlin do this with Wickerman? I mean, you have a reasonable enough coaster with theming up against the best in the world behind an area that features a comprehensive Rapids attraction with almost zero theming or features that shares a tunnel with a similarly unthemed (but decent) mine train that looks like it belongs to a 1960's built motorway underpass.

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Wicker Man actually has quite a few different smaller details around the queue and ride area; even though emphasis is on the huge wicker man structure itself, there’s a lot of smaller things too that people often don’t notice, like the bunting in the queue, the wicker sculptures, the scrolls and signs with random runes sketched onto them, the themed sound tunnels. Not to mention things like the beautiful pre-show and station!

To be fair, I think Croc Drop looks to encompass some of these features too. Croc Drop has bunting in the queue with runes sketched onto it like Wicker Man does, and it also looks to have a few nice bits of theming scattered around in the queue; for example, I remember seeing a few nice crates and barrels and things scattered about. There are also apparently some very nice special effects on the ride itself, such as smoke effects, and the big square portion at the bottom almost looks like it could encompass some sort of pre-show or storytelling element a la Wicker Man. I’m not 100% sure, though, as word on Croc Drop as an overall ride experience still seems fairly limited thus far.

One thing I’ll admit I’m not too keen on aesthetically, however, is the way that the crocodile head sticks out of the big square bit at the bottom; I think it might have looked a bit nicer if they’d made the crocodile head go right to the bottom, personally. That might have made it look a bit more uniform. That’s me being very, very picky, however; on the whole, I think they’ve done a top job!
 
Matt N said:
Wicker Man actually has quite a few different smaller details around the queue and ride area; even though emphasis is on the huge wicker man structure itself, there’s a lot of smaller things too that people often don’t notice, like the bunting in the queue, the wicker sculptures, the scrolls and signs with random runes sketched onto them, the themed sound tunnels. Not to mention things like the beautiful pre-show and station!

To be fair, I think Croc Drop looks to encompass some of these features too. Croc Drop has bunting in the queue with runes sketched onto it like Wicker Man does, and it also looks to have a few nice bits of theming scattered around in the queue; for example, I remember seeing a few nice crates and barrels and things scattered about. There are also apparently some very nice special effects on the ride itself, such as smoke effects, and the big square portion at the bottom almost looks like it could encompass some sort of pre-show or storytelling element a la Wicker Man. I’m not 100% sure, though, as word on Croc Drop as an overall ride experience still seems fairly limited thus far.

One thing I’ll admit I’m not too keen on aesthetically, however, is the way that the crocodile head sticks out of the big square bit at the bottom; I think it might have looked a bit nicer if they’d made the crocodile head go right to the bottom, personally. That might have made it look a bit more uniform. That’s me being very, very picky, however; on the whole, I think they’ve done a top job!
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But that's the issue, with Croc Drop, it is just as well themed (or better) than a much much bigger ride. Croc Drop doesn't have the capacity or throughput to cope with the number of guests who will want to ride it. For once they would have been better making a smaller amount of theming and doubling the amount of ride.

Some of the theming budget could even have gone to other rides that need it. The mine train (Scorpian Express) really really needs the rockwork back.

Imagine if they did a slightly smaller but still impressive croc head, with two drop towers inside. Then also added a ride on the old Flying Jumbos site round the back too.
 
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The fact is, Croc Drop is about a cheap a drop ride as money can buy. SBF are, quite literally, the bargain basement of ride manufacturers in Europe. It is no surprise that the ride struggles in X or Y conditions. The park should have bought a higher spec tower. Obviously the budget was very tight (standard, it's Chessington). The theming is nice.

As for the £3.50 park maps, stupid. Alton have got ride of theirs too. Kids like a map as a keepsake. It's a nice souvenir. The parks should value the fact that kids want to put them on their walls, take them to school and share with their friends.
 
Out of interest, what sort of supposedly higher budget alternatives are out there for the type of ride that Croc Drop is?
 
S&S, Intamin, Zamperla and others manufacture drop towers of varying type. All of these are higher-cost alternatives to SBF.

To my limited knowledge, this ride was not originally planned to be an SBF product.
 
Charging for the maps is a slightly odd thing to do. The parking charge and Fast Track are both unpopular, but they do bring in a lot of money. Charging for the maps will bring in some money, and save the costs of providing the free maps, but I do wonder whether the money it brings in is going to be worth the negative guest experience. It does feel like the kind of thing that Six Flags would do.
 
The other thing about Croc Drop is initially the plans suggested that the loading area was going to be built at a lower level, which probably would have looked better. Also, just noticed there was supposed to be some kind of theming feature on the top of the tower, which clearly wasn't used in the actual ride.
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MaxPower said:
Even west mid Safari park has a better quality drop tower.
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I think Venom’s pretty amazing; controversially, I’d actually say it’s probably my favourite UK drop tower, closely followed by Detonator at Thorpe! I know it seems odd, but I absolutely love the pure punch those Fabbri towers provide!

In fairness, though, I don’t think Croc Drop was intended to be a really intense thrill ride, so I’m not sure a Fabbri tower would have worked in this instance, as much as I would have loved one!
 
Of course something as intense as Venom or Detonator wouldn't be ideal for Chessington, my point was mainly that the hardware was of better quality

I'm sure Fabbri or Intamin or whoever could provide a less intense version of their drop towers.
 
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