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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Isn’t anyone else astonished that they actually opened the park today, rather than taking the decision Alton Towers did?

a) Asking people to stand two metres apart in queues is obviously never going to be practical
b) Having said that, today it probably was, as Twitter suggests there were tiny numbers of people (mostly AP holders) on park - meaning it probably ran at a loss.
 
KolonelKlink said:
Isn’t anyone else astonished that they actually opened the park today, rather than taking the decision Alton Towers did?

a) Asking people to stand two metres apart in queues is obviously never going to be practical
b) Having said that, today it probably was, as Twitter suggests there were tiny numbers of people (mostly AP holders) on park - meaning it probably ran at a loss.
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It's Merlin that takes the decisions, and they were going to open until today's disaster became apparent.

They will have seen how few people turned up today and made the call on that basis alone.

This is nothing to do with safety or following advice - indeed there is no new relevant government advice since their 16/17 March updates saying they were opening as scheduled. Earlier they tried to ignore it, hoping that enough people would turn out to make a profit (or less losses than opening).
 
Thameslink Rail said:
TPW are checking out the Tomb Blaster refurb
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This is a major step forward with the story line & the audio. Really does make the ride feel more complete. Love the use of set pieces used for characters voices. I think that’s genius, Lots of great improvements there. What was the animatronic before the priest revel? Also the shooting arrows look silly? How know one picked up on this? The lighting quite bad here. I would say we needs these guys passion too help duel. But they need to gut out the ride and start again. No more refurbishments. I don’t feel duel sets are even credible anymore. At least Chesington have some large great set pieces of different depths and impact. Duel just silly
 
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YouTube videos make it seem good, but the 'new' Tomb Blaster is makeshift and barely better than before. It feels far from a complete ride, this story adds no fun factor or suspense at all. It's all a load of hype over nothing.

The good aspects that have been fixed should never have been broken in the first place, and there's a lot still missing or not working, the lighting often still naff and cheap looking. The new music is an improvement though.

To be honest, I remember when Tomb Blaster was new and it was much better then.
 
OilyWater said:
YouTube videos make it seem good, but the 'new' Tomb Blaster is makeshift and barely better than before. It feels far from a complete ride, this story adds no fun factor or suspense at all. It's all a load of hype over nothing.

The good aspects that have been fixed should never have been broken in the first place, and there's a lot still missing or not working, the lighting often still naff and cheap looking. The new music is an improvement though.

To be honest, I remember when Tomb Blaster was new and it was much better then.
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Give the guys A brake. You can see how passionate they are & they have made it seem a lot more complete in my eyes. Are you talking from first hand experience on the ride? Has it changed since this video I take it, maybe just needs some bugs fixed after testing hopefully.


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It’s still just sticking a plaster on it until it’s ripped off and replaced with a Donaldson story.

Being passionate doesn’t mean it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, people have different opinions on what’s good or bad... you can’t please everyone.
 
Buster11 said:
Give the guys A brake. You can see how passionate they are & they have made it seem a lot more complete in my eyes. Are you talking from first hand experience on the ride? Has it changed since this video I take it, maybe just needs some bugs fixed after testing hopefully.
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There are plenty passionate people in attraction industry, they just don't go around trying to win praise from vloggers online. If the team behind this were so passionate then they would listen to feedback and improve it, and not take it personally.

I went on the ride with a very open mind and it's rubbish. Even for a low budget, most the changes come across incredibly rushed or out of touch. It's lit like a naff scare maze and loads not working properly, it's far from a complete show.

Think of it from the public, they are promised a shooter but when they get there half the scenes have targets off. There's no suggestion of it being a "ghost train" and there are no good scares anyway. And as an egyptian tomb, the story is very forced and unnecessary, nobody could hear what was going on, the money should have been spent fixing the ride up instead.

Personally I think it's one of the worst dark ride revamps in the UK, it's only an improvement because the Tomb Blaster revamp in 2016 was even worse!

Fans are way overhyping this because an enthusiast clique has done it, therefore they feel like they want to support fellow enthusiasts. It's "better" yes, but the ride is still a big dud. Even with tweaks to fix the timings, this project is just a misfire. Get rid of the narration for a start.
 
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I’ll never understand why Chessington feel the need to change a perfectly good ride, invariably make it worse, and then spend the rest of the ride’s life trying to make it better again.
 
OilyWater said:
There are plenty passionate people in attraction industry, they just don't go around trying to win praise from vloggers online. If the team behind this were so passionate then they would listen to feedback and improve it, and not take it personally.

I went on the ride with a very open mind and it's rubbish. Even for a low budget, most the changes come across incredibly rushed or out of touch. It's lit like a naff scare maze and loads not working properly, it's far from a complete show.

Think of it from the public, they are promised a shooter but when they get there half the scenes have targets off. There's no suggestion of it being a "ghost train" and there are no good scares anyway. And as an egyptian tomb, the story is very forced and unnecessary, nobody could hear what was going on, the money should have been spent fixing the ride up instead.

Personally I think it's one of the worst dark ride revamps in the UK, it's only an improvement because the Tomb Blaster revamp in 2016 was even worse!

Fans are way overhyping this because an enthusiast clique has done it, therefore they feel like they want to support fellow enthusiasts. It's "better" yes, but the ride is still a big dud. Even with tweaks to fix the timings, this project is just a misfire. Get rid of the narration for a start.
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Yes I see what your saying. Understandable. It’s a shame then it’s still under standards. Merlin Budgets are killing uk theme parks long term.


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Thameslink Rail said:

Opinions?
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Without sounding (constantly) negative, even on a small budget it looks extremely naff, there's nothing wrong with the ride hardware for both new rides, it's the severe lack of theming. They both just look like they've been plonked down in someone's garden and I don't even know why they've bothered with the indoor section on the car ride, I could have themed it better with products from Poundland.

*rant over*
 
Doublethink said:
Paultons did 100x better with their themed car ride
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I definitely agree with you, they clearly spent lots of money on the animatronics and the theming and the landscaping whereas this cost Chessington significantly less because the ride was already there. I am hoping that Storm Chaser will be a success and Merlin will panic.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
That's just ....

...I don't even recognise this as the same park I grew up with...
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I'm just hoping that in a few years we are not looking at the deserted, ramshackle overgrown, rusting, grafitti strewn remains of the former Alton Theme Park, as we do The American Adventure today...

...or will it just be another apocolyptic theme?
 
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Ok, since there seems to be a consensus that this ride is rubbish, what would be a better fit? I would build a bobsleigh coaster around a polar bear enclosure and have an artificial ice rink and an igloo selling slushies.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Ok, since there seems to be a consensus that this ride is rubbish, what would be a better fit? I would build a bobsleigh coaster around a polar bear enclosure and have an artificial ice rink and an igloo selling slushies.
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I like that and I couldn't do any better.

...although with some of Merlin's bizarre and inappropriate theming choices we would be more likely to get a 6D VR physical sensory experience, themed around the Adult Entertainment Industry and a private shop selling...??????

Actually us oldies will know AT tried part of that with Oblivion o_O
 
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