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Maybe, but if they are to be left bare for a whole year you can bet the majority of guests won't be giving them the benefit of the doubt.
My main complaint about Chessington is their complete inability to operate their major rides with any degree of efficiency. Yesterday was not a particularly busy day in terms of physical length of queues, however the queue times were far longer than should be expected purely because ride operation was extremely poor almost across the board.
I always assumed the reason for the slow staff was because they've all been brainwashed into thinking that customer service is more important then getting the ride moving. But by reading your trip report, it just sounds like that isn't the case and some are just openly rude.
The worst part of your trip report is knowing that in most cases, Chessington have deliberately taken the decisions to lower their throughputs. Fury isn't a great people eater anyway but it is capable of 650 PPH if the staff push for it. If as you say, only 25% of those people are main queue that is appalling (and as you say it isn't getting anywhere near that, more like 325 PPH). With the examples you used Diogo, did you go to guest services and make some comments to them. Considering I'm in the same boat as you, I remember three train operation on Vampire and the days when rides were generally open, I'm seriously dreading my trip in two weeks.
I should point out, this is the first time I have ever encountered rude staff at Chessie.
We didn't bother with "Adventurer" Services, as we just wanted to get out of there and hit the bar (it was snowing quite a lot by the end of the day). But believe me, emails are being sent.
I'm impressed with vampire loading procedure. Really impressed actually. For years (literally, years) I've been mentioning having a batcher with batching lanes to increase throughputs and make everyones lives easier. They've somehow managed to make it a thousand times worse it seems.
I seem to remember there used to be a batcher in the old days of the proper trains. But it worked back then.
Of course, in those days there were no air gates, the bays actually lined up with the cars, and there were no seatbelts to faff with. There were signs all along the queue telling you that due to three train operation, you had only 30 seconds to board. And they made it work, as well.
It would work relatively well if batched correctly anyway. Of course, it won't be perfect due to awful alignment of airgates and bays, but in theory it should work better than a family of 8 in one row pouring out onto a train.
It works (well, worked) on tomb blaster. Would work on Vampire if done properly. I hope to god it's just because the operations are awful, rather than some ridiculous internal H&S ruling. As then it should be an easy fix.
There seems to be a trend in Merlin parks to say that throughputs are not a huge deal and that guest experience is more important....
... my issue with that is it's hard to have any sort of experience stuck in a 1 hour queue and your going to get more if that queue can be dropped to 30min.
Those touch-screens are the Merlin bible though, trouble is it asks you if queues ruined your day but doesn't ask if there where any queues in the first place so if you go on a quiet day you would naturally say no which scews the results...
I would say it's more like throughputs and guest experience are less important than blindly following new H&S rules that make no sense, and have not been needed in the last 20 years.
An hour queue, to have someone friendly greet me, or 10 mins queue and have someone politely direct me to my seat efficiently.
I GO with my friends, I don't need to make new ones with ride ops.
Sounds like a right load of tripe to me that. And, er, what is wrong with BOTH by the way?
You can be efficient and polite at the same time Merlin, you do know that right?
Sounds like an excuse to run things slower and save money. The more times that train runs, the more money it costs, if people are happy tolerant of an hour queue instead of 10 minutes with all cars and fast dispatch, they are running 5/6ths less efficiently (public wise) - but MORE efficiently financially.
That is a lot of money folks right there.
Naff all to do with customer experience, and everything to do with running as minimal service as possible, and that is becoming more prevalent every year now it seems.
It'd save and make them more money in the long run by running efficiently.
Chessie has loads of staff on rides already (more than 5yrs ago). Make them work harder, and more efficiently, to reduce the queue times.
Queue times reduce = people get on more rides = people have more time to spend doing other things like eating, shopping or gaming = everyone's generally more satisfied out of their day = return visits = more visitors = happier merlin = higher employment.
Chessington just tries to rip to shred everything regarding my above sentence.
It'd save and make them more money in the long run by running efficiently.
Chessie has loads of staff on rides already (more than 5yrs ago). Make them work harder, and more efficiently, to reduce the queue times.
Queue times reduce = people get on more rides = people have more time to spend doing other things like eating, shopping or gaming = everyone's generally more satisfied out of their day = return visits = more visitors = happier merlin = higher employment.
Chessington just tries to rip to shred everything regarding my above sentence.
That requires looking longer term, and developing structures and a modus operandi that is about more than than money making.
Merlin are not alone in running their parks this way of course, it is just arguable they need to do it far, far less than other independents may do. It is less profitable to operate it at full pelt when they don't "need" to.
They don't market Chessington properly anyway. If half the UK still new the place even existed (which many clearly don't) they wouldn't cope with the visitors they'd get. It can't be running to anywhere near it's full potential.
Obviously I don't know the whole ins and outs of the park, but it does seem like rank stupidity to me.
We came to the conclusion on Saturday, that the best possible thing that could happen is for Merlin to sell Chessie off. Preferably to the Mack family.
... A guy can dream.
CWOA does not hold a special place in my heart like it does for others, but I have had enjoyable days in the past. The visit on Saturday, was fun, but more to do with the company than the park.
As others have said, dispatching was slow, food quality was poor, and staff were a little rude.
I think the biggest queue we had was Tomb Blaster, 45 minutes from the fast pass entry point, and a with batching not taking place until the train had arrived, exit pass riders, and parts of the train just not being available for use, you quickly understand why it had such a long queue.
Our meal at the Mexican cantina was disappointing, mainly because it was cold. Once the wraps had been served up, there was then a wait for the wedges to be cooked, once the wedges had been added, the customer in front decided he wanted an extra meal, so instead of the cashier processing our order, we had to wait for the extra meal to be processed, and the customer in-front to pay before we could take our food and leave. The hot drink machine, was also low on flavoring, and took a while for it to be filled after we complained about it. The only good thing about food at CWOA, was that most places we saw were open, unlike at Legoland on Friday, where half the food outlets were closed.
Most of the staff, were friendly, but we had one member of staff, who lied to us, after we overheard on the radio they were closing Zafari early, we asked if it would still be open to 6, and he said Yes, it is most likely to be open.
This brings me on to my next issue with Zafari, it is a live animal attraction, and like any live animal attraction, the animals should be the number 1 priority. If the queue staff advise that a ride is going to be open until 6pm, and it closes at 4.30 due to the weather been to cold, why not train the staff to add that bit on, the ride is subject to the animal welfare, and could close at any time without notice. If we had not joined the queue when we did, and had come back at 5.30 to find it closed, we would of been disappointed, because we were assured it would stay open to park close.
Why the queue lines for Zafari could not include a couple of animal enclosures for guest to enjoy looking at, I do not know. Why not have the meetkats in the middle, and the queue circling it, so its more interesting than just lots of fencing.
The pre-show is just poor, very poor. The kids seemed to enjoy it, but when you compare it to Snitch Live, there was so much more potential. The graphics look like something from the 90's, the lip syncing is shocking (Insert Music singers not much better joke here) and makes it cringe worthy. The idea is good, and it helps break up the queue before dispatching, but the fact that someone has signed off on this, as been suitable for the park, in my opinion means they have never seen Snitch Live, and are not bothered about the quality of the attractions been added.
As with a few rides at CWOA, batching just seems a strange experience where they have got the design wrong, and had to put the square peg, in the round hole. The fact that the quests who have just finished the ride, walk past the riders waiting to get on, ruining the surprise does not help either. Again, you have to wonder if the person who signed this off, understands theme parks, or is just not bothered with guest experiences.
As for the ride itself, like I said about, it is always going to be hit and miss, because it contains live animals. On Saturday, it was very cold, and I felt the ride should of been shut earlier. The giraffe kept sticking its head inside its hut, but the door was closed so it could not fit in, and we did not see any Zebra or Flamingos. The only part of the Rhino we saw, was its bottom as it was very out of sight. Compare this to Sunday, when we went on at 5ish, it was a lot warmer, we saw the giraffe out, eating from its food on a long pole, we saw three Zebra running around, and three Rhino, with one coming within touching distance of the jeep.
The problem is that its to short, and unlike Kilimanjaro Safaris, where there is plenty to see, and if you don't see something in the first couple of areas, you might in the last couple, because Zafari is so short, you can easily miss everything. Hopefully during warmer months, it wont be as much of an issue.
Surprise Element
As for the cave, it is good, the water and air cannons get lots of screams, and the water fall effect is fun. Exiting through the water fall is a nice feature, but some of the roofs are starting to leak already, so I dread to think what it might be like if they get any worse. There could be a bit more themeing inside, but it was fun
On Saturday, the audio worked, on Sunday, it did not. When the audio fails, you have a big problem, as people who have not been on before, have no idea what is happened, and the surprise part is not much of a surprise.
Heading back to the Hotels, they had there good and bad points, fantastic room, with a lovely view. Food in the restaurant was great, but a mistake with the booking by Holiday Inn, added an extra bit of stress each day that we could of done without.
Booking cockups at the hotel are common as muck. Just ask Jared! They also have a habit of charging you more than then price you booked, as well as an unadvertised security deposit, then if you object simply stating "either pay up or leave now".
It's one of the few times I wish Merlin were in charge! (they have nothing to do with the hotel, it's all Holiday Inn's fault)
I agree with all you say about Zufari. The preshow adds nothing to the ride, that money would have been better spent elsewhere.
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