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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

It'll also give them chance to properly find and kill all the rats that currently reside in that area, and if that doesn't work, the tigers can take care of them, call it enrichment exercises.
 
Personally it looks good but i hope theres more in the way of enrichment for the animals. Tigers live in jungles and forests, the whole place seems very sparce and im pretty sure the animals will just go to a central point and stay there. Dont forget tigers like a dip so id like to see a big pool. In terms of themeing it looks half done. Its an improvement but im not keen on the animals having to put up with screams in such close proximity to there enclosure. Plus i can see kids splashing the animals if given the chance. How would you like a scream every 30 seconds in the middle of your living room?
 
I wonder if questions will be raised in terms of the proximity of the animals to the drop. Seems like something folks would get outraged about.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
I think it's safe to say this isn't going to happen. I wouldn't worry too much.
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I'm fairly sure these plans are already heavily cut-back from the original concept, which would've encompassed the whole area. One unfortunate thing about these plans is their limited scope...

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It's worth pointing out that on average Tigers hear up to 65KHz whereas humans only hear up to 20KHz meaning that noise created by the ride will often by drowned out by many more everyday noises that humans cannot hear.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Yo, @electricBill, how's that "redesign the theming" competition win working out? ;)
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Ha ha, yes. What an embarassment for the park this thing has been from the start, considering it is one of the park's biggest rides and is now 30 years old. It looks it.

This project is still criminally ignored by Merlin, the tiny budget evident by the extremely limited development area is terrible. Adding tigers is obviously not what this ride needed. However there is nothing wrong with what has been drawn up as far as I'm concerned.

But it's just another quick fix stingy budget job to "enhance the brand". The "brand" being animals shoved in everywhere possible while the park collapses and has no rides.
 
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I just wish Chessington would do away with the zoo. It holds the park back in my eyes and generally what keeps me away.
I think Merlin feel that a theme park / zoo hybrid is a bombastic enough idea to carry the park, but by pushing the animal aspects into every domain, it's left the park feeling a bit bland and dull looking.
 
I think the zoo is the only thing keeping the theme park open now, if the zoo went the nimby's would be able to reign merry hell down on the park and eventually get it closed. As it stands it's not the done thing to close down animal conservation places without a really good reason.

Not that I disagree with you, the park would be so much better with a couple more coasters and a ton of flats instead of animals, but alas it'll never happen all the time little kids still go aweee at the sight of cute animals.
 
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Zoo is the best part of Chessie right now, plus it's pretty much the only reason the park is able to expand in any fashion...

It's certainly plausible that they could produce a fantastic park balancing rides and animals, but the likelihood is so low under Merlin... Which is a shame, though this one shows some promise, the park is so limited expansion wise it's impossible to do much else...
 
The zoo is the only reason I still visit Chessington.

Vampire and Dragons Fury are both good coasters but the throughputs are dire for headline rides. The Gruffalo is good and I used to love Tomb Blaster. The rest of the ride lineup is somewhat forgettable.

The zoo however doesn't involve queueing, has a few interesting animals and is both themed and maintained to a decent standard. Take that away and Chessington loses its unique selling point.

Moving forward I'd like to see more integration with the animals and the rides, essentially a far smaller version of Disney's Animal Kingdom. The size and planning restrictions can easily be worked around if they start investing in Dark Rides and show (an idea I've mentioned all to many times before). This would set Chessington apart and truly make it a noteworthy addition to Merlin's Portfolio.
 
Chessington's zoo sucks though (for a zoo, there are plenty of far better places to go). I think it could do perfectly fine without it - if the theme park finally had the attention & investment it needed. Probably 80% of guests come just for the attractions. But it is simply a way for Merlin to stick a 'brand' on the park, give shareholders comfort that it won't compete with Thorpe Park and pretend it is Disney's Animal Kingdom in advertising.

Sure they maintain a good image with animal conservation and raising funds abroad, while keeping all their animals in dated, tiny and falling apart infrastructure. Or in Zufari, which is just weird and most the animals died after a couple years anyway.
 
I think it will take longer than they hoped, but I think they will be able to establish the 'zoo with some rides' concept that they're going for. That certainly seems like the best route for the park in terms of being able to offer something profoundly different to Legoland and Thorpe.

To think that at one time the park was going to expand considerably and get a wooden coaster, shows that things have moved somewhat in the minds of those running the park - and for good reason, I would suggest too.

Also, I am not a fan of zoos - but Chessington's is fine.
 
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