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Interviewing John Wardley tomorrow - any questions?

nickhutson

nickhutson

TS Member
Hey guys, I am interviewing John tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2pm for The Season Pass Podcast about his BOOK (And not so much THE SMILER).

So - if you've any questions, do let me know here, or shoot me an email: [email protected].

Looking forward to hearing from you, and getting any of them answered.

Thanks!
 
Has he been on Blue Fire, and would he be interested in designing a Mack MegaCoaster if the chance came along?
 
After reading his book - several times now! - particularly focusing on his bit about The Haunted House, I'd be interested to know if John thinks that there's a future for grand, physical prop, transit dark rides on the scale of Terror Tomb, Bubbleworks and The Haunted House in the UK market these days, or if they are a dying trend from the 80's and 90's, which are on their way out in favour of more simple rides with adorning stories (I.E. Hex, Sub-Terra), or transit system with lots of projected images and screens as oppose to fancy animatronics and scenes :)
 
From the book, he obviously spent a lot of his younger life in Great Yarmouth and the place clearly still has a place in his heart. Because of this, I wonder what he thinks of the place (and particularly the Pleasure Beach) nowadays in comparison to its heyday?
 
I'll ask some of these - but please keep in mind that John has now retired, so he will be doing no more designing/consulting work.
 
what is he planning to do in his retirement, as I feel John's mind is far too active to sit in a chair watching daytime tv.
 
Hard to ask a question directly relating to his book but overall (as everytime I have met him I forget to ask these).

1) which dark ride does he think was his best

2) does he have a copy of original hex pre-show and how did they so professionally change Hex when the realised they needed to.
 
"Does the current state of Chessington make you cry yourself to sleep every night?"
 
What's his starting point when he designs coasters? As in, how does he go about it from the very beginning?
 
Has there been any other UK park you'd wish to have a shot of creating something special for them?
 
Do you think other parks in the UK will create themeing on their rides on the same levels as your rides at Alton Towers and Chessington? If so, which ones?
 
When I was a young guy I read an introductory letter you wrote to anyone about to play the first Rollercoaster Tycoon. In it you talked about the emotional adventure of a rollercoaster, how a good designer has this at the centre of what he or she does and mentioned the Nemesis layout in particular as something which manipulated this. I distinctly remember your excitement about the final 'surprise' inversion before the break-run. My question to you is, what makes a good designer? How is this fundamental sensitivity to the emotional journey of the rider borne out through your design process?
 
I'd second the question about if there's anything in particular that he's planning to do in retirement - i'm intrigued! :)

From his book, we know that John was involved in getting Oakwood off the ground, and that he was involved with Megafobia and Spooky 3D. I'd really love to hear a bit more about the work he did for the park, and if there were any other projects at the park which he had a hand in.

Jon said:
When I was a young guy I read an introductory letter you wrote to anyone about to play the first Rollercoaster Tycoon.
Click to expand...
That was the first computer game I ever played, long before I took an interest in theme parks. I remember opening the game box (yes, it actually was a box) on the way home from the store and reading that fantastic introduction from John - before I ever really knew who he was. I still have that game manual :)
 
He mentioned in ParkWorld magazine recently that he wants to see a dark ride come back - does he think this is likely to happen in the UK, perhaps within merlin after sub terra, and what kind of dark ride theme would he come up with?

Also, anything more on oakwood development would be fantastic, that's not as widely reported.

(oh, and also why is the last chapter or two so rushed! ;))
 
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