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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Glen_Belt_77 said:
Bianca's replacement sorted then


From: https://x.com/ChessingtonBuzz/status/1975179720406024672?t=BZgKCrgS50vWdexEqh9Emg&s=19
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I love how Chessington Buzz are sort of suggesting in the post that Chessington is some sort of jewel perfect example theme park and Towers needs a massive turn around….

Last time I checked Chessington continues to have poor operations, naff food, over selling of fast track and barely any decent events to speak of, just because it’s had a decent run of capex spend which has little to do with the VP doesn’t make it Islands of Adventure 🤣
 
Chessington is a mismatch of themes and ideology with some of the glory years stuff remaining but looking tired and some of the new stuff a little less quality.

I'd say all the Merlin parks are in this position but Chessington is the only one that's currently getting investment hence lots more enthusiasts are paying attention as there's not a lot else going on to follow elsewhere. When Hyperia was being built and then Reborn everyone was looking at that.

Howard was a night Watchmen, not sure he can claim any successes as most of the current projects were from the old era but he certainly seemed more engaging than the last VP and maybe Towers want a different management style
 
I interpret as AT having the most problems of the Merlin parks which I don’t think is an unreasonable opinion, even if there have been signs of improvement.

In terms of public perception Chessington feels like the most exciting park for the next few years due to multiple simultaneous ongoing projects.

- Paw Patrol world
- Minecraft World
- Water park??
- Log Flume replacement?

Obviously the last two are unconfirmed and not particularly public but even without those when was the last time a UK theme park was building two new themed areas?
 
Bowser said:
I interpret as AT having the most problems of the Merlin parks which I don’t think is an unreasonable opinion, even if there have been signs of improvement.

In terms of public perception Chessington feels like the most exciting park for the next few years due to multiple simultaneous ongoing projects.

- Paw Patrol world
- Minecraft World
- Water park??
- Log Flume replacement?

Obviously the last two are unconfirmed and not particularly public but even without those when was the last time a UK theme park was building two new themed areas?
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Also got to remember they are refurbing older rides to Dragon's Fury had a bit of a repaint and Frazzle has returned. Tomb Blaster receiving updates new theming in queue and lightning.

The only ride I actually think looks terrible is Tiger Rock and that could have either retheme or be removed in the future
 
Gotta love it when enthusiasts treat rides getting repainted as a plus point when it should just be the norm.

Fanboys (or fangirls/fanpersons) will always fanboy/girl/person. Regardless of any clear and obvious flaws that the park may or may not have. Yay Tomb Blaster may be run like turd but at least they added a new scarab target to scene 4. The boulder effect isn't that integral to the experience honest.

Probably helps that most young enthusiasts have nostalgia for Paw Patrol and Minecraft in same way that I had for Beanoland when that opened.
 
Tiger Rock looks horrendous. It's either gonna get a huge refurb or they'll pull it out

As for Towers it depends if you class Reborn as a new area? They reopened SubTerra but lost The Blade. Dark Forest looks messy but with the new maze does that show intent? Horizon depending on who you believe (no-one) is binned, delayed or still happening
 
Bowser said:
I interpret as AT having the most problems of the Merlin parks which I don’t think is an unreasonable opinion, even if there have been signs of improvement.

In terms of public perception Chessington feels like the most exciting park for the next few years due to multiple simultaneous ongoing projects.

- Paw Patrol world
- Minecraft World
- Water park??
- Log Flume replacement?

Obviously the last two are unconfirmed and not particularly public but even without those when was the last time a UK theme park was building two new themed areas?
Click to expand...
To add, I can certainly imagine

-Tomb Blaster overhaul or replacement (possibly at the same time as Tiger Rock)
-Trial of the Kings redevelopment (that was an option for the Minecraft area on planning documents and it's known they're looking to move enclosures to the Wanyama area.)
-Land of the Dragon's retheme
-Potential replacement for Elmer's Flying Jumbos (that ride will surely come to the end of it's life)
-Vampire/Gruffalo?

I'd like to imagine Tiger Rock will be rethemed and stay until after Trail of the Kings is redeveloped as that area has the potential to really expand the park.
 
Benzin said:
Gotta love it when enthusiasts treat rides getting repainted as a plus point when it should just be the norm.

Fanboys (or fangirls/fanpersons) will always fanboy/girl/person. Regardless of any clear and obvious flaws that the park may or may not have. Yay Tomb Blaster may be run like turd but at least they added a new scarab target to scene 4. The boulder effect isn't that integral to the experience honest.

Probably helps that most young enthusiasts have nostalgia for Paw Patrol and Minecraft in same way that I had for Beanoland when that opened.
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Not all parks do repaints and it isn't the norm as its very expensive to do so.

I ain't overlooking the other flaws but just pointing out the positives as well as negatives.

Tomb Blaster getting updates is good thing is it not also its a really awesome dark ride with scale of the sets.
 
Islander said:
Thing is though, it should very much be the norm, and no it's not at all expensive compared to other maintenance tasks...
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Depends on the ride bigger the ride bigger the expense for it take Vampire that would be far mor expensive to repaint than Dragon's Fury not just the paint but the awkward location
 
Bowser said:
I interpret as AT having the most problems of the Merlin parks which I don’t think is an unreasonable opinion, even if there have been signs of improvement.

In terms of public perception Chessington feels like the most exciting park for the next few years due to multiple simultaneous ongoing projects.

- Paw Patrol world
- Minecraft World
- Water park??
- Log Flume replacement?

Obviously the last two are unconfirmed and not particularly public but even without those when was the last time a UK theme park was building two new themed areas?
Click to expand...

You are talking about Capex which is not the VP’s decision, that’s Merlin decision.

Chessingtons ops, food quality and maintenance are not majorly different to Towers, and Towers events are far better than Chessingtons. I would also say general tarting up of the park is not majorly different at either park.

The point is the VP isn’t going to change the capex spend at Towers, nor did they implement the Capex spend at Chessington. Chessingtons and Towers are both fruits from the same tree, expecting some miracle (especially with the rumoured coming budget cuts across the group), is a bit silly.
 
I dunno don't work there. Hear there are a lot of departments that aren't happy in general but that's just from staff forums and could just be the usual rumour mill. Maybe they will be happier with the change, maybe not!
 
Glen_Belt_77 said:
I dunno don't work there. Hear there are a lot of departments that aren't happy in general but that's just from staff forums and could just be the usual rumour mill. Maybe they will be happier with the change, maybe not!
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Bianca was quite popular with the staff, I suspect any negativity at the park is related to the various redundancies and TUPES of teams to other companies and again a new VP isn’t going to change any of that.
 
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