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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Vampires track recently got surveyed and is apparently safe enough to run until 2029, so despite my hopes before, I honestly doubt they'll be doing anything with vamp any time soon if it can still function.

Zufari would be the ride I wouldn't mind them scrapping. It's an okay concept but the actual ride just feels kind of short and underwhelming. I think the space would better be used for a new area, given that the picnic area where Jumanji now sits was their last free space.

Land of the dragons is also an area that could happily go. I've heard nightmarish stories from Dragons playhouse, whilst sea drags and Griffin's have never been popular. The area actually seemed more popular when it was Action Man's Training HQ, somehow...
 
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Can they even build much on the Zuffari area? I could be not remembering correctly but I am sure at the time as was green belt land they where limited what they could do with it and that as part of the permission it has to turned back to as before ie green space if the attraction was removed.

Obviously if that is the case they could try getting new planning to allow a bigger development, but it might be fairly difficult for this area.
 
Reb said:
Land of the dragons is also an area that could happily go. I've heard nightmarish stories from Dragons playhouse, whilst sea drags and Griffin's have never been popular. The area actually seemed more popular when it was Action Man's Training HQ, somehow...
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Loved working on Griffin's, barely any riders and most people going down there just looking for the Fury entrance. Great soundtrack too.

Sea Dragons great in cold days since the motor was in the ops cabin. Shut the door, send it round a few times and you were lovely and toasty. WOOOOAH.

Playhouse and Capers were horrid. Because children plus non-bothered parents always spells disaster. Kid actually got stuck in a slide on Capers one day I was on it. Putting the slick spray on the Playhouse slide caused some interesting results though. And when you could get into the Squirtalot cabin and turn him on.

Design wise because it was deliberately self contained it meant that there was little to entice people to actually go in. Especially as the big ride was located outside of the area itself. Typical poor 2000s design choices.

I think I'd miss Land of the Dragons, purely out of affinity from working in it for 3 years.
 
Benzin said:
I think I'd miss Land of the Dragons, purely out of affinity from working in it for 3 years.
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If I got given playhouse as a skill, I would leave on the spot lol. I would need to be paid a lot to clean up other kids muck regularly 🤢🤢🤢
 
Reb said:
If I got given playhouse as a skill, I would leave on the spot lol. I would need to be paid a lot to clean up other kids muck regularly 🤢🤢🤢
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It wasn't THAT regularly.

Besides, you'd get to close it for an indeterminate time frame for essential cleaning if such a thing happened. So bonus there.

Or watch the puppet show.

On other hand the smell of Cafe Nero makes me sick.
 
Always thought the Land of the Dragons theme was an odd choice what with one of their headline rides being Dragon Falls in the area next door! Wouldn’t mind seeing the area redone at some point, the layout is weird (still never understood why they put the Dragons Fury entrance outside the actual area entrance) and doesn’t really lend itself to a real-world theme like all the other areas at the park.

If that’s true about Vampire’s track being good for at least another 6 years, thats a bit of a shame as inevitably that means the rest of the ride won’t get any sort of refurbishment for another long while, other than piecemeal bits and bobs. The track really needs to be cleaned up, that awful vinyl stuff hanging up along the lift hill needs ripping down, and can’t believe they’ve still not done anything with the tunnel since it was half ripped out in the early 2000s! The list goes on really! It really needs a Nemesis 2.0 treatment
 
Johnny Rocket said:
Always thought the Land of the Dragons theme was an odd choice what with one of their headline rides being Dragon Falls in the area next door! Wouldn’t mind seeing the area redone at some point, the layout is weird (still never understood why they put the Dragons Fury entrance outside the actual area entrance) and doesn’t really lend itself to a real-world theme like all the other areas at the park.

If that’s true about Vampire’s track being good for at least another 6 years, thats a bit of a shame as inevitably that means the rest of the ride won’t get any sort of refurbishment for another long while, other than piecemeal bits and bobs. The track really needs to be cleaned up, that awful vinyl stuff hanging up along the lift hill needs ripping down, and can’t believe they’ve still not done anything with the tunnel since it was half ripped out in the early 2000s! The list goes on really! It really needs a Nemesis 2.0 treatment
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The “awful vinyl stuff” was replaced with a new one on the lift at the beginning of this season so I don’t think it’s going anywhere just yet.

Quite happy to have Vampire running as it is for another 6 seasons. Better than being removed or replaced with yet another boring modern kids coaster.

Repainting the track would be a good idea though, can’t imagine it looked nice new.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
The “awful vinyl stuff” was replaced with a new one on the lift at the beginning of this season so I don’t think it’s going anywhere just yet.

Quite happy to have Vampire running as it is for another 6 seasons. Better than being removed or replaced with yet another boring modern kids coaster.

Repainting the track would be a good idea though, can’t imagine it looked nice new.
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Oh no! At least there’s a new one, I guess, have always hated that though - a massive printout of some spooky windows at a 45 degree angle. Whoever said they should box in the lift hill into a tunnel was a great shout, put it in the dark with some sound effects, and block some noise from the locals.

Be great to have the crypt put back in the queue line too before you enter the building. At the moment it looks like the vampire lives in an abandoned Amazon warehouse :tearsofjoy:

On the plus side, all the refurbishment of the organist and that whole scene is fab. The rest just needs the same amount of love!
 
pluk said:
Are you sure about this? As a visitor since opening I don't recall this being the case at all, IIRC it was a reddish brown, maybe with a hint of orange about it.
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I can’t see any evidence anywhere that it was bright red on old photos/videos. I am pretty sure it’s always been the colour it sort of is now.

It would not fade to this colour if red, it would go a more pinkish colour or maybe even to white in extreme cases.
 
Poisson said:
Also more importantly, it needs the original Graham Smart music back. None of this remix. Do that, paint the entrance bit (and add some light, it is a touch too dark) and it can limp on.

The windows on the lifts still look crap.
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Will likely get an imascore reboot when the re track is eventually done. Graham Smart’s music is timeless and part of my childhood.

Haunted House > Curse
Nemesis theme is iconic and probably will be replaced.
Toyland Tours probably the catchiest theme tune in a theme park anywhere in UK
Vampire the original > Current version
 
Trooper Looper said:
Here are some picture if it back in 1991 from a distance. Perhaps blood red wasn't the best word to describe them, but they were mostly red back then.

Screenshot_20231011-173336_YouTube.jpgScreenshot_20231011-173325_YouTube.jpg
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Yeah it’s like a salmon sort of colour and roughly what it is now but faded drastically. I don’t think it would ever have been described as red track, although it probably should have been what they went for.

Looking forward to getting back on it in the dark this weekend!
 
Trooper Looper said:
Here are some picture if it back in 1991 from a distance. Perhaps blood red wasn't the best word to describe them, but they were mostly red back then.

Screenshot_20231011-173336_YouTube.jpgScreenshot_20231011-173325_YouTube.jpg
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There's some very sketchy colour balance going on in those grabs, as was standard with camcorders at the time. Even the leaves on the tress have an orange glow around them!

Yes, it's obviously faded in all those years but it was never anything like as vibrant as that makes it look.
 
pluk said:
There's some very sketchy colour balance going on in those grabs, as was standard with camcorders at the time. Even the leaves on the tress have an orange glow around them!

Yes, it's obviously faded in all those years but it was never anything like as vibrant as that makes it look.
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Ah, my mistake then! Though it does look pretty neat with that colour scheme, even if it never actually had it, ha!

Talking about its retrack, if love to see them do something with the old church site you'd used to walk into before they demolished it down.

Screenshot_20231002-143910_YouTube.jpgScreenshot_20231002-143917_YouTube.jpg
 
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