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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

^ Hopefully not.

I would much rather see the money spent on improving the decent rides they already have.

'Bout time they started on the theming for Dragon Falls too.
 
That would depend on Merlin deciding to re-open their Mack Log Flumes though
 
Tomb's update sounds very promising to say the least.

No doubt the ride will hopefully be in the best state it's been in for at least 10 years.
 
I didn't get round to visiting Chessington until a couple of years ago and when I did, I was genuinely impressed by Tomb Blaster. The sheer scale of some of the set pieces is unbelievable, particularly the Anubis scene. There's detailed theming throughout and a variety of entertaining effects. It's just an incredibly fun ride and I can't believe it's not talked about more.

This might be a controversial opinion but I think it works very well as a shooting dark ride. The "mobile auditorium" philosophy behind the ride system effectively turns each scene into its own shooting gallery. There are fewer targets than Duel in more logical places. All this allows you to actually take in what you're shooting at and it feels as though you're interacting with a scene. With Duel, you just become fixated with picking off as many LEDs as you can whilst hurtling through an endless array of the things, ignoring whatever's happening in the background.

I obviously never rode it as Terror Tomb but from what I know about the ride and from watching various videos, including @British Dark Rides' excellent documentary series, I think it was quite a flawed ride. The hair metal inspired finale was a dated pop culture reference even when the ride opened and to me seems tonally inconsistent with the rest of the ride which was played very straight up until that point. Also, part of the reason the ride was changed was because the Abdab character was thought by Tussaud's to be politically incorrect and I have to say, looking at it today, they may have had a point.

I don't think it would have aged well in its previous guise. Paring back the narrative, adding some interactivity and retaining the impressive set pieces may have been the perfect way to keep the ride feeling up to date. As much as I like rides with story lines, sometimes, if it's executed well enough, laser blasters in a cursed Egyptian Tomb can be all the story you need.

Anyway, the fact that Tomb Blaster will be returning and receiving an overhaul is excellent news.
 
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CGM said:
This might be a controversial opinion but I think it works very well as a shooting dark ride.
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I don't really like adding lazers to dark rides, but (when they actually work) on this it actually adds to the ride rather than being a pointless gimmick (like on duel). Some of the sets are far better than on duel, I just wish the car would stop at anubis for a minute as it is on of the best scenes (though I have to say my favourite is the snake).

I'm not sure the zombies at the end will survive the refurb. Always seemed
 
In my opinion, if Tomb Blaster had its lasers removed it would be a very boring (albeit pretty) ride. And almost every time I've rode it since it was originally refurbed in 2002, I've used the lasers. I don't feel the same way with Duel as I think they're pointless and the ride works better without the lasers. But with Tomb Blaster, it feels more exciting when you use them.

So no, I don't want the Lasers removed.
 
If all they did was remove the lasers, then yes, the current state of the ride would be is painfully dull. But the original attraction was deliciously entertaining.
 
I do agree in thinking Terror Tomb was flawed and I agree with CGM's reasoning why, and the team that built it certainly feel that way too. The brilliantly incongruous ending was doomed to make the ride more a cult hit rather than a successful crowd pleaser, and the Abdab character was never going to last in the 21st century. However it was something of a fundamentally flawed masterpiece that was still very enjoyable, shocking and energising. The changes they made to it at the end of 2001 were ridiculous both for the ride experience and behind the scenes. A great shame that it was not treated better, the ride ended up castrated of any entertainment factor really...

On one hand Tomb Blaster works very well as a shooter ride, but considering the enormous size of the building (that was clearly built with massive spectacle set pieces in mind) it is something of a wasted opportunity. Also the fact that nothing really happens in the scenes anymore gives it an achingly slow pace, and the sense of interactivity with the laser quickly runs out I think.
 
It's people's interpretation of it really. If you didn't ride Terror Tomb hopefully my documentary on it will give you a better impression and more insight into its production as a ride. It had quite a chaotic production after months of planning were changed by Tussauds at the last opportunity, it became a mix of ideas rather than something totally coherent.

The ride's flaws were mostly that it set people up for something of a conventional Egyptian adventure dark ride, and then delivered anything but. There were also several scenes that were quite forgettable, lost in between the massive stand-out scenes. So it was by all means a fabulous unique ride, but it was a theatrical show which don't always hold up 10 years or so.

Abdab was a villainous caricature of a greedy Arab tomb robber who gets murdered at the end. A great character but one that would never get past the creative committee these days.
 
Tomb Blaster is great as a laser gun ride. It was also enormously popular when it first opened, more so than any of the previous rides housed in that building were, drawing long lines for many years. The popularity led to Duel being fitted with the same system I assume. Obviously the laser gun ride novelty has worn off somewhat with today's 2016 crowd, but they still make solid family rides that are popular with teenagers.

As mentioned, both the 5th Dimension and Terror Tomb were more "cult favourites" rather than a crowd pleaser in the way Tomb Blaster is.

I would love to see an extravagant new dark ride in the Tomb Blaster building, but it's wishful thinking really. All the rides were "of their time" I guess, and fitting the guns was a very good move at the time.

Laser gun rides are still staples at Disney and Universal, and Tomb Blaster is at least of the standard of Buzz Lightyear type rides at the Disney parks. Maybe even better since the latter uses a lot of cheap "cardboard cut out" type theming, and the actual laser gun system feels like a lower quality than the Tomb/Duel system.

It is a quality laser blast attraction and I see it sticking around for some time to come (the refurbishment further assures this)
 
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Ad Nauseum.

This is for kids, kids can be entertained WITHOUT lasers - it's lazy. The laser thing in such a huge building with that potential seems a waste and incessant and constant bleeping from the damn lasers is profoundly annoying.

For goodness sake, let's have something a bit creative to capture attention again.

I am not against laser rides, remotely, but these things inspired a generation of us to appreciate REAL theme & artistry in theme parks - and now they're just jumped up arcade games in former art galleries.
 
I think it's just indicative of the world we live in, I mean, how can anybody possibly be entertained unless they're looking at a digital screen or shooting little red dots?

Rides like Terror Tomb and the original Haunted House at Alton were carefully staged works of art, ruined by the invasion of LEDs.
 
MaxPower said:
I think it's just indicative of the world we live in, I mean, how can anybody possibly be entertained unless they're looking at a digital screen or shooting little red dots?
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This is such a lazy argument; every generation has invented some way of distracting themselves.
"People these days always have their noses in the their phones" - the person sat reading a newspaper on the bus. It's just your typical "bloody kids" argument.

While I don't disagree with the idea that rides like Duel and Tomb Blaster aren't very good since the introduction of lasers, I think blaming it on "the world we live in" is the wrong idea. These improvements were made because they were a cheap and relatively easy way to breathe life back into ageing attractions that might otherwise have been scrapped altogether.
 
Personally I enjoy shooting dark rides. It makes the rides more accessible for everyone. I think that people can still appreciate the theming whilst still being focuses on the targets. The Minataur ride at Terra Mitica (forget it's actual name) has various sections without targets and others with targets giving riders the best of both worlds. Tomb Blaster achieves this in many places too.
 
I do understand why people don't like the Lasers on Tomb Blaster considering how big the building is and how well Terror Tomb and 5th Dimension were done in the past. However, as I said before, I do like the lasers on the Tomb and just laser rides in general as well. I like Buzz Lightyear at DLP and even though it seems tacky on Duel, I don't hate them on there either.
 
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