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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Croc Drop has opened today at Chessington, but due to the cold weather, it can only load 8 guests at a time. It is therefore currently on a 180 minute queue:
I hope the weather warms up a bit later on so that Chessington can hopefully increase the capacity and get the queues down...
EDIT: The ride is apparently not rotating today either, also due to the cold temperatures.
 
Here are some photos of Croc Drop courtesy of Chessington Buzz on Facebook:







I’ve got to say, I think that looks absolutely stunning; top job, Chessington!
EDIT: I’ve also found some photos of Blue Barnacle, which also looks amazing:

P.S. Sorry for double posting!
 
THREE HOURS FOR A DROP TOWER?

Even with the excuse of it being cold, why does it need to be half full when it is cold?

Nonsense.
Maybe it’s something to do with the brakes or something; maybe they don’t work as effectively in the cold, so the mass of the gondola needs to be lower in order to facilitate this fact?
 
THREE HOURS FOR A DROP TOWER?

Even with the excuse of it being cold, why does it need to be half full when it is cold?

Nonsense.

Maybe it’s something to do with the brakes or something; maybe they don’t work as effectively in the cold, so the mass of the gondola needs to be lower in order to facilitate this fact?

I know that Ice Blast at BPB had to run with a reduced capacity in bad weather. Possibly due to weight maybe?
 
If you think that 8 people's bad, wait until the summer when it will only run with one person due to the heat.
Why would they only run it with 1 person in hot weather? Does the ride have very temperature-sensitive sensors or something?
 
Chessington is just hilariously bad, isn't it? What a bloody stupid thing to build when they have the capacity problems they do already.

It looks crap and it is crap, at least it's honest.

If you think that 8 people's bad, wait until the summer when it will only run with one person due to the heat.

I don't know about the heat but it could very well be one person from the main queue every ride cycle, with the rest made up from Farcetrack and RAP!
 
Chessington is just hilariously bad, isn't it? What a bloody stupid thing to build when they have the capacity problems they do already.

Doing a double Croc Drop, or making it part of a bigger rebuild of the area with an couple more new rides (where Flying Jumbos went for a bit) would have been great, similar to the new expansion Paultons have just done. But overall Chessington is contracting, not expanding. The monorail hasn't been replaced and every other new attraction is really just replacing something too.
 
Im really sorry, but I still think it looks bizarre, not in a theme parky way, just so forced.

The smoke rising out improves it, but then it looks like a volcano. On top of a box. Fantasy Island did that better years ago when the smoke shot out on the launch

Anyway whatever, I just hope it's fun enough for kids. But having ridden the same ride at Paultons, why not just go there? They have a whole new area! (And no adult enthusiasts off Twitter milling around it all day either, hehe)
 
Not really commented my thoughts on Croc Drop yet - the crocodile looks so disproportionate to the actual ride, I don't think it looks that great to be honest?
 
Cant help but feel like the money spent on the huge croc wouldve been way better spent on finishing off the area and fitting it in more. And still have a cool, simpler central feature.

To think 10 years ago fans wouldve been saying the new ride needs more scenery, and now it has too much focus in the wrong direction? What a crazy time eh
 
In fairness, they’ve included a lanyard too!
You can always rely on Matt to put a positive spin on a terrible idea.

Someone in the comments has rightly pointed out that for those who don’t want to/can’t be bothered to download the app, Chessington is risking large crowds unnecessarily congregating around its large maps - which is a *super* idea during a pandemic, even if people are outside.
 
I get the motive behind it; environmentalism is a very important issue, but the park is still providing the option there for those who want a physical map and/or like to collect park maps (like me).

Also, this will help the park make its operation more efficient from a cash flow perspective, and saves them printing out unneeded maps. Therefore both saving money and helping the environment!
 
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