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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Thameslink Rail said:
Chessington desperately need a big new Rollercoaster with a capacity over 1000 people per hour. Many of their rides will not last another 5 years, (Vampire, Tomb Blaster, Black Buccaneer, Rameses Revenge). Merlin need to learn that a refurbishment is not enough. No new rides for six years and no new Rollercoasters for 15 years is not good enough. We know that they have plenty of money in the bank and we hope that they will use some of that on something actually new. But this is probably just wishful thinking.
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Don't worry, they are getting a new coaster soon according to their Masterplan they submitted in 2016! According to the masterplan, it will either be a "Wild Jungle Ride" akin to Juvelen at Djurs Sommerland or a "Pirate Ride", which would be a water coaster. In my opinion, both would be a great fit, and it should be in 2021 if Merlin's 4 year CAPEX cycle is anything to go by!
 
The last thing they need right now is a big new coaster. That'd be one properly operating high capacity ride surrounded by the entirety of the park as the shambles it is.

All it would do is make the other attractions look even worse against it, and compound the problems by drawing in even more crowds that can't cope with.

They need to fix the park first, properly multi million pound fix the park in all the ways which are blindingly obvious, and all at once over one closed season. Then expand.

Ain't gonna happen, but that's what it needs.
 
Matt N said:
Don't worry, they are getting a new coaster soon according to their Masterplan they submitted in 2016! According to the masterplan, it will either be a "Wild Jungle Ride" akin to Juvelen at Djurs Sommerland or a "Pirate Ride", which would be a water coaster. In my opinion, both would be a great fit, and it should be in 2021 if Merlin's 4 year CAPEX cycle is anything to go by!
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I would doubt that because those CAPEX cycles are always inaccurate and constantly change. Under Merlin, there were big investments in 2010 and 2013 but nothing much since.
2014 refurb of Runaway train
2015 Nothing
2016 Nothing
2017 refurb of Bubbleworks
2018 refurb of Dragon Falls
2019 refurb of Hocus Pocus Hall
In that time we have lost the Safari Skyway and Peeking Heights without replacement, is Chessington still worth coming to?
Edit: Kobra only cost £1m so that is only a medium investment.
 
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Wouldn't Gruffalo count as a major investment? I believe it cost around £10m!
 
Matt N said:
Ah right. Thanks @Burbs; I was under the impression it cost more than that, so I must admit I'm surprised! By comparison, CATCF at Alton cost £8m in 2006!
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I could be wrong but I'm sure it was closer to £3m. To be fair, for that sum, they did a decent job. I can't really fault the retheme except for the bright cloud scene in the sky.
 
Burbs said:
I could be wrong but I'm sure it was closer to £3m. To be fair, for that sum, they did a decent job. I can't really fault the retheme except for the bright cloud scene in the sky.
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I haven't ridden, but I think it looks fantastic!
 
Would still love to hear their reasoning behind reduced throughput on Dragons Fury and Rattlesnake tbh. No other rides of the same model suffer the same weight "issues" as far as I'm aware, even Spinball which is literally at another UK Merlin park.
 
D4n said:
Would still love to hear their reasoning behind reduced throughput on Dragons Fury and Rattlesnake tbh. No other rides of the same model suffer the same weight "issues" as far as I'm aware, even Spinball which is literally at another UK Merlin park.
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I THINK it's linked to issues Fury had back when it first opened, overspeeding into block brakes causing the system to shut down... 3 adults rule has been around for at least a decade...

Rattlesnake I presume is under a similar thing, given they share manufacturers... Though I don't remember when it was brought in...

Having seen Fury's 8 car mode, it's no surprise they stopped using it, as it was asking for trouble...

Regarding Tomb Blaster, they make trains wait in the station for ages to space them out... This if course wouldn't be an issue if they ran 5 trains...

It does scare me that rides that once had a 30 minute queue on the busiest of days (like Seastorm) have become the norm...
 
Matt N said:
I haven't ridden
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Then how can you know what it's like? I havnt ridden Symbolica, but I saw some pictures that look fantastic, that doesnt mean I have any clue what it's really like until I go on it

I find Gruffalo a bit lifeless, parts are very pretty and parts are ugly. Overall it's a decent childrens dark ride with an interesting theme, but it's pretty bland like Charlie. No way was it £10M and I wouldnt put much faith in any of the budget numbers you hear from Merlin.

Benzin said:
I THINK it's linked to issues Fury had back when it first opened, overspeeding into block brakes causing the system to shut down... 3 adults rule has been around for at least a decade...
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This is true. The weighing scales were then brought in to make the grouping more fair, since before you could allow 4 big teenagers on a car but couldnt allow 4 small adults. It was really dumb, but the positioning of the weighing scales is now even dumber, in a place where it cant easily used. Staff also told not to tell guests they are being weighed to avoid offending them. All because of one rubbish block brake.
 
If you have to restrict your operations to ¾ of its design capacity due to a design or engineering oversight, I would have thought Merlin would call in Maurer and ask them to fix it.

How come Merlin have enough money to add a completely unnecessary pneumatic braking system to Tiger Rock but can't find the money to add an additional trim to resolve an issue that has blighted their Dragon's Fury operations for over 10 years?
 
TakeYourMedicine said:
Then how can you know what it's like? I havnt ridden Symbolica, but I saw some pictures that look fantastic, that doesnt mean I have any clue what it's really like until I go on it

I find Gruffalo a bit lifeless, parts are very pretty and parts are ugly. Overall it's a decent childrens dark ride with an interesting theme, but it's pretty bland like Charlie. No way was it £10M and I wouldnt put much faith in any of the budget numbers you hear from Merlin.
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Fair point; I suppose the camera can often hide little details that you see in real life!
 
Matt N said:
Fair point; I suppose the camera can often hide little details that you see in real life!
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Pictures and videos are nothing like the real thing, whether better or worse. Goes for anything really, you can't live life from your computer screen. Defeats the point of theme parks anyway! I personally may not like Gruffalo but I urge you to go to the park and ride it. Forget the press photos and YouTube videos.

No wonder Merlin pour all their ideas into advertising and marketing instead of the actual rides
 
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Problem with chessie, is that it’s suffered capacity issues for years and years, but all their recent investments have been returned, which means they aren’t gaining anything, but are probably getting more guests because they are marketing “new rides”. It’s a issue because most of their rides are old and need major work, so they either need to bin and replace or re theme.

What they really need is to add more rides and not lose anything.
 
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