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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

There is some background to this feud here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29366602

Chessington World of Adventures has lost a court fight to ban an email campaign criticising its safety record.

The High Court ruled Dr Peter Cave, a critic of operator Merlin Entertainments, had the right to speak his mind about the Surrey theme park.

Dr Cave's survey consultancy Peer Egerton identified 2,000 safety issues in a report for Merlin.

Merlin said his campaign of harassment stemmed from a financial dispute and it did not agree with the judgement.

Dr Cave sent 80,000 emails to Surrey residents and members of Merlin's staff and set up campaign websites.

Remedial work
His campaign began after Jessica Blake, of Sheerness, Kent suffered a fractured skull, a bleed on the brain and broken ribs in the 14ft (4.2m) fall while queuing for the Tomb Blaster ride at the park.

Judge Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing told the court Merlin had spent £4.6m on remedial work, some of it urgent.

Following financial disputes between Dr Cave's consultancy and Merlin, Dr Cave had unsuccessfully sought a court order banning the park from re-opening after the 2012 winter break.

Asking the judge to order him to stop his campaign, Merlin described his "baseless" criticisms as highly alarming, distressing and disgraceful.

However, refusing to grant an injunction, the judge said the issues he raised about Chessington's management and the regulation of theme parks were matters of public interest.

The judge ruled Dr Cave's statements did not cross the line between robust comment and unacceptable and oppressive personal attacks.

Merlin said it was considering whether to appeal against the decision.

It said Dr Cave's issues with Merlin date from his "totally spurious" demands for money, which had since been dismissed by the court and his company's appointment was not related to the Jessica Blake incident.

"Dr Cave's continuous campaign of allegations concerning the safety of our attractions is entirely without foundation," it said in a statement.

"As a business, Merlin is governed by very stringent technical and health and safety regulations, and we invest many millions of pounds every year to ensure that our attractions not only meet or exceed these, but also in continually improving our procedures."
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From what I can gather, he also asked Merlin to donate the court costs which they had to pay as they lost, to charity, so its not as though he was doing this for the money.
 
The conservation side of the zoo is a charity, but the park itself is definitely a business!
 
It's making me laugh, so I'm sat debating with him. I didn't actually realise he was being serious at first. He seems to be a Paultons fan boy. Anyone showed him the news article about the boomerang stopping on the lift yet?
 
If I remember correctly, I've read that this chap (he's the one with that stupid trailer) is the father to the child that fell through the Tomb Blaster queue line. Hence the utter hatred for Merlin.
 
Lordy said:
If I remember correctly, I've read that this chap (he's the one with that stupid trailer) is the father to the child that fell through the Tomb Blaster queue line. Hence the utter hatred for Merlin.
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I'm pretty sure that's not correct. Wasn't he brought in to inspect things post incident? That would suggest a conflict of interest, and if he is - that would be the most bizarre set of circumstances ever.

This guy is more Lez Cougan than Lez Cougan.

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I heard a rumour that it's Nick Varney in disguise as part of a very elaborate publicity stunt. Remember the water dummies on the Swarm? Come on Nick, if you're reading this, we know it's you. :)
 
Is this guy we're talking about, the one with the trailer? Coz he's the one who's supposedly the father to the child that fell.
 
Not that anyone is at all interested in this, but I thought I'd make the most of a trip to chessington and try and get some photos.

I went to chessington yesterday for their Christmas event. Can't say it was the best Christmas event I've done, legoland (which I did on Wednesday) absolutely smashed it. With only hocus pocus hall and amazu open, and few other attractions, I wouldn't recommend. There was, however, a perfect opportunity to look at what was going on over closed season.

Apologies for the quality of the following photos. They were the best I could do looking through fences on a Nokia.

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Work on bubble works exterior has started. The queue has been removed and the building painted green.

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As far as I was aware, Gruffalo was to be the only investment next year. Apparently not though, as the "adventure tree" is being built in the middle of market square. I did look through the fence and the path had been removed, but I couldn't take any photos as the gaps in the fence were too small.

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Thought the new lions were worth of a mention here.

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One of the skips outside bubble works. The fire exits in the fountain finale room were open and it didn't look like anything at all had been done in there. I'm guessing they haven't got round to it yet. I did try to get photos, but the staff saw me and shut the doors.
 
Theme Park Guide have also uploaded some pictures of the current state of the park in the 2016/2017 closed Season.
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Construction of the new Carousel.
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Removal of the old Carousel.
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Green, blue and white facades for the new/re-themed Gruffalo? Sure that's going to fit in perfectly.
 
Vampire is old but it isn't going anywhere in the near future unless it completely dies (again). There is no way it can be replaced due to planning restrictions, and it is a major ride. I expect it will just reduce the size of transylvania and ruin any form of immersion a la angry birds land at thorpe.
 
TBH Vampire at the moment is on life support at Chessington.

At 27 (nearing on 30), the ride is still arguably the signature attraction at the park, being the biggest and most dominant coaster there. Fury is the only other attraction that comes to being a second headliner given the rest comprise a powered coaster, wild mouse, Flume and dark ride attractions.

Despite it's popularity, the ride is likely pretty close to reaching the end of it's life, especially reaching it's supposed lifespan In 2015 (hence the train problems then).

Whilst I'd like to think and hope the park are doing all they can to keep the ride running as long as possible, there will sadly be a point in the future where continuing to operate it won't be viable. This will likely either be due to failing an important safety test or encountering major structural/technical complications that are either too difficult/expensive to resolve.

Unfortunately when Vampire permantly dies and needs removing, current planning regulations currently prevent anything on the scale of the ride replacing it. A legislation unlikely to change soon (if anything for the worst).

Considering the park intend to build another major coaster (or two) on the grass and/or Toadies site maybe implies the park knows Vampire is on it's last legs, could fail anytime and a more modern major coaster is desperately needed. Only time will tell.
 
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I personally think the park is just going to go back to being primarily a zoo.

I would also be extremely surprised if they get planning permission to build anything on the lawn opposite Fury.
 
I liked the idea of this tree of life style tree atop a Carousel, just not in the middle of the Market Square! Wasn't the floor there only refurbed a couple of years back?

Chessington is actually the one park that I feel is receiving some proper attention - Dragon Falls aside. I really like the cute little touches they've made to the Vampires queue line. And the added theming to the Trail of the Kings is really, really good - and unnecessary, which then makes it better IMO.
 
Lordy said:
I liked the idea of this tree of life style tree atop a Carousel, just not in the middle of the Market Square! Wasn't the floor there only refurbed a couple of years back?

Chessington is actually the one park that I feel is receiving some proper attention - Dragon Falls aside. I really like the cute little touches they've made to the Vampires queue line. And the added theming to the Trail of the Kings is really, really good - and unnecessary, which then makes it better IMO.
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I wish I could share your optimism there.

It may be receiving some attention of late, but whether it's the right kind of attention is highly debatable.

Vampire:
Repainted entrance and covered queue fences and lights are nice, but the ride is ageing, the krypt was removed snd cheaply replaced, station chandeliers removed, ambient lighting removed, original soundtrack not used, dead organist and over complicated station layout.

Tomb Blaster:
The refurbishment last season was an embarrassment. Green blocky targets everywhere, garish UV light job that exposes out of house and ride building areas, removal of extra sound effects, synchronisation ruined due to shortening stops amongst the queue and exterior remaining rundown.

Rattlesnake:
Broken animatronics, removed theming and animatronics amongst a rotting cave,

Dragon Falls:
Removed rockwork, removed rock faces, shortened tunnel and additional removed theming. A repainted station and new fences can't makeup for these drastic loses.

With the exception of the zoo and perhaps Scorpion, much of the park is still in a major state, with Ramesis on it's last legs (without major attention) and even Wild Asia & Zufari getting some wear and tear in places too. Not forgetting Skyway was removed this year due to neglect and unlikely to be replaced soon.

2017 may be the year the park gets some attention, but it'll be bright garish 'in your face' themes at the price of once creative sentimental ones. Like replacing a once much loved dark ride with a loud slap bang IP attraction and trading in their old grandiose Carousel for an exaggerated one.

We shall have to see.
 
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