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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

John said:
Many of their recent additions have either been rethemes of existing rides (Gruffalo, Tiger Rock, Elmer), relocated rides from other Merlin attractions (Weymouth's log flume, Thorpe's rocking tug) or new rides from low-budget manufacturers (Croc Drop).

That said, they've clearly put in a lot of effort on the presentation side over the past closed season, so credit where it's due there.

Chessington has put in a quite a lot of rides over the past few seasons come to think of it, though it's somewhat slipped under the radar on here as it's mostly been family rides replacing existing family rides - the main exception being Croc Drop which is a family ride disguised as a thrill ride replacing an actual thrill ride.
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Well I can't complain, Tiger Rock was a good retheme. I really like the new station interior, from photos and footage.

Fun fact for you all, did you know that the dragon statue in the outside queue is the same dragon statue from Alton Towers 'Around The World in 80 days'

It's a shame they haven't given it some TLC, or put it indoors for presentation, like a Museum.

I don't mind Chessingtons new additions to the park, but it's Merlins treatment with its older attractions thay really make me fuming.

Even though Vampire had a good 30th anniversary with fixed amimatromics, relights, new soundtrack, for some reason it still felt lackluster. Wouldn't it had been more suitable to bring back it's more original, gothic, green lighting back into the station to celebrate 30 years to show what the ride used ro be like, instead of a simple relight? They didn't even bother to fix the chandeliers and put them back up, and the room still looks bare even with its new lighting.

Another attraction that I think is still a huge mistake that chessington got ride of was Bubbleworks, yes the ride wasn't in the best of states during its last couple years as its inferior version, thanks Imperial Leather, but that's most likely because the park didn't see the point of keeping up maintenance to a ride that won't be there for much longer before its replacement.

Look, I get that Chessington is aiming more at Families now, I get that, and I'm on board with it. But removing one of your flagship attractions that still made queues was an utterly stupid idea, instead of doing something logical and returning it to it's former glory after the sponsorship ended.

It makes me concern about the people who are in charge of the Parks development. I've put a video down below, its a behind the scenes video on Chessington, and around the 43 minute mark, Andy, the designer of chessies newer attractions said something that I still can't wrap my head around, all credit to Theme Park Worldwide.



"Bubbleworks has come to the end of its life."


What? No it didn't, it never did, You're using the exact ride system, all you've done is put up a few walls to hide the old theming and made the ride a lot darker to hide the lack of effort the ride has in some places. That quote alone is just a poor excuse to retheme something that just needed fixing up. Instead they chose to tear one of the Parks most fondly rembered attractions for a decently done cash grab to simply drag young children into the park. Remember, The Gruffalo River Ride is right next ot the Parks most thrilling ride, with a much darker theme.

Now that's what I call coherent theming. That whole retheme was done to the minimum without a single care to the surrounding attractions and the area it sits in.

Okay, thats enough on Bubbleworks, just want to look on one more attraction. Scorpion Express. Previously when it was known as the Runaway Train, the whole ride would interactive with its rockwork theming, go though tunnels, etc. Now it's been stripped out, with all the rockwork gone, and a metal insect statue just placed within the center of the ride, with effects that no longer work. Now tell me, which of the two versions of this ride would you rather go on?

Glad I got that off my shoulder, I'm interested to hear what you guys think of this post. Catch ya later.
 
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I’ve not ridden it so can’t comment on the execution of the idea but in general Gruffalo seems the better idea than reverting back to the 30 year old version of the Bubbleworks. I think the nostalgia for the pop factory version is overestimated, if you stood at the entrance and asked I’m not sure that many guests would even remember it. Gruffalo is the better choice right now.

Completely agree on the rockwork for the mine train. It should have had new rocks and the scorpion. Genuinely thought the ride was much longer when it had the tunnels.
 
Alsty said:
I will never let them get away with this massacre:
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Credit: CoasterForce
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Ah, dammit Chessie you were so close to a really good retheme!! Just had to ruin it with lazy retheming didn't you :/

jon81uk said:
I’ve not ridden it so can’t comment on the execution of the idea but in general Gruffalo seems the better idea than reverting back to the 30 year old version of the Bubbleworks. I think the nostalgia for the pop factory version is overestimated, if you stood at the entrance and asked I’m not sure that many guests would even remember it. Gruffalo is the better choice right now.

Completely agree on the rockwork for the mine train. It should have had new rocks and the scorpion. Genuinely thought the ride was much longer when it had the tunnels.
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I'm the same as well, I've never been to Chessington (yet) and I'm only taking my opinions from POVC and photos, and of course from people that act have been there. So, nostalgia really has nothing to do with me preferring it to The Gruffalo River Ride.

I'm sure a lot of Kids would remember Bubbleworks, maybe not many younger kids though, since they probably weren't born when it was around.

I never understood why they Rethemed the Runaway Train for absolutely no reason and tried to promote it as a new ride when most people know it's the Runaway Train but just rethemed with less theming.
 
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Alsty said:
I will never let them get away with this massacre:
IMG_8586.jpg

Credit: CoasterForce
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Wow, that’s absolutely shocking! I remember visiting Chessington as a kid, I think it was ‘89, and just being absolutely blown away by the theming. It really felt like you were stepping in to different lands and of course the dragon and the giant Angkor Watt stone heads made an incredible impression. What a pity it looks like that now.
 
Trooper Looper said:
I'm the same as well, I've never been to Chessington (yet) and I'm only taking my opinions from POVC and photos, and of course from people that act have been there. So, nostalgia really has nothing to do with me preferring it to The Gruffalo River Ride.

I'm sure a lot of Kids would remember Bubbleworks, maybe not many younger kids though, since they probably weren't born when it was around.

I never understood why they Rethemed the Runaway Train for absolutely no reason and tried to promote it as a new ride when most people know it's the Runaway Train but just rethemed with less theming.
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No kids will have ridden the original pop factory Bubbleworks, it changed to Imperial Leather in 2006. Anyone who rode it and can remember it will have been around 5 then so is now 21. I've not done it myself even as my first CWoA visit wasn't until at least 2006/7 I think (I lived closer to Alton Towers at the time).

I really don't think there is enough nostalgia for it of those who rode it between 1990 and 2006 really that it would have been worth the spend to rip out the soap theme and bring back the pop one.
Whereas there are a lot of children who have grown up with the Gruffalo (book was published in 1999) and therefore have an instant connection with that character.

The mine train was done becuase the rockwork was a safety risk and falling apart, but they were too cheap to replace it.
 
I have to admit, even as possibly the biggest Bubbleworks fanboy within the M25... The Gruffalo retheme was a great decision.

30 something noatalgia merchants is not their target market.

Whilst I'm all for original ride themes instead of IP's, this one made a lot of sense.
 
I’ve said words to this effect before with regards to "bringing back" the Haunted House, but I’ll say it again; I personally think that while “bringing back” an old ride like Professor Burp’s Bubbleworks is a nice idea on paper, it would be tough to justify and difficult to implement successfully compared to doing something brand new. For that reason, I personally think Gruffalo was a very good move.

The problem is, I don’t really think the average 2022 Chessington visitor would care enough to make it worthwhile, and the few who do care may well be disappointed with the end product due to differences from the original, so there's a chance that you would end up pleasing very few with that type of move.

With regard to my first point; as @jon81uk said, those who had the chance to ride Prof Burp’s Bubbleworks as children and have distinct memories of it will likely be at least in their late teens or early 20s (at least my age; I'm a child of 2003 and am turning 19 in July, and given I was not much over 2 when Prof Burp's closed, even that might be pushing it...), so it's likely that no current children or young families visiting Chessington will have strong memories of Professor Burp's Bubbleworks to lean on. As such, I can imagine that their reaction to the ride "returning" would be decidedly apathetic in terms of attracting them to the park. Even people from Chessington's demographic who do remember it likely wouldn't care enough about it "coming back" for it to have a big effect in terms of attracting guests. I'm not denying that they might well enjoy it when they're there, but I'd wager that "Chessington are bringing back Professor Burp's Bubbleworks" would attract notably fewer guests to the park than "Chessington are building a Gruffalo ride" did. Also, who knows whether the concept would even resonate with modern audiences, or translate well into a modern Chessington ride? I won't deny that Prof Burp's clearly resonated strongly with audiences in the early 90s, but both Chessington and the world at large have morphed into extremely different places since then. Heck, this change has arguably still occurred even since Prof Burp's closed in 2005 and the IL retheme happened, so whether it would necessarily still work today is a bit of an unknown.

With regard to my second point; Bubbleworks was designed over 30 years ago. There would inevitably be a fair few differences compared to the original iteration of the ride, and I feel like these differences would possibly disappoint many of those who are lobbying for the ride to be "bought back". And that's precisely why I always put "bought back" in quotation marks, as I feel that it wouldn't be the same ride returned, but rather a totally different ride experience to either of the previous iterations that simply shares a name and a basic concept with the original iteration. As such, I feel like a lot of the die-hard fans lobbying for it to come back, the exact market that such a move would be aimed at, would be disappointed in it "not being like the original", thus defeating the point of it a bit.

I apologise if that's controversial, but that's just my take on it.
 
Perhaps instead of Bubbleworks per-say maybe factoring in the points above, people want the return for an attraction with big physical props and moving animatronics to tell a story instead of just immovable props and screens which is what Gruffalo is compared to the original.
 
Sometimes the ‘devils in the detail’, so it’s difficult to say without knowing the ins and outs of what goes on behind the scenes. At least in the short term I’d agree that The Gruffalo has more appeal than bringing back the Bubble Works and more opportunities to sell merchandise. Although when it was new, they did sell Professor Burp themed fizzy pop, which was a cool idea and long before Butter Beer made this kind of thing more common. Of course, you could also argue that some parents might be sensitive to a ride themed to fizzy pop on health grounds, which could be another argument for the Gruffalo. One’s encouraging reading and a love of books and one’s encouraging fizzy pop (that’s not necessarily how I see it, but you could make that argument).

Having said that, we don’t know how much the Gruffalo IP cost, or how long the licence is for. Some of these IP themed attractions don’t last for that long before the IP expires and then it doesn’t get renewed (Beano Land, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Ride, Ben 10 Coaster etc). If in 5 years time, The Gurffalo River Adventure ends up being mothballed, we might have a different perspective on it. Chessington might have the only Gruffalo ride, but the character does seem to be used at quite a few attractions. This might suggest the IP’s not too expensive, but it does also mean that it’s not so unique to Chessington. You could also argue that The Gruffalo will appeal more to younger children, but Professor Burp might appeal more to an older audience.

I suppose it also depends on the relative costs, beyond one needing an IP royalty. At least on the surface you could have bought back the original ride more cheaply because more could have been reused. But some of the theming might have been knackered anyway.

Part of the reason parks like Disney, Europa Park and Efteling do so well is because a lot of adults visit, and one of the reasons adults visit these places is for the nostalgia factor.

On the other hand, Chessington’s had very few major new rides in recent decades. Since 2004 the only major new rides have been Kobra, Zufari and The Gruffalo. And Kobra isn’t really that big. Drayton Manor’s adding one as part of a package of Zamperla rides. Nostalgia can be a big selling point, but it can’t be the only selling point, and arguably Chessington did need something completely new. On that point, the arguments for The Haunted House might be a little different, in that Alton Towers has had a lot more new attractions.

Aside from Paultons Park, most of the UK parks have had fairly static attendance over the last 15 years, so realistically most new rides aren’t going to bring in a big influx of extra visitors, and if it does, the attendance is likely to soon drop back down again. Constantly focusing on what’s marketable and ‘compelling propositions’ hasn’t led to much sustained growth.
 
Maybe the park should never have butchered the original in the first place. But DIC gonna DIC back in the day.

Revisiting the original theme would never have worked and would've felt like a cheap attempt at gaining favour with enthusiasts.

However through Gruffalo they essentially limited the scope of the ride completely. Best thing about Bubbleworks was how it worked for all age groups. And same can be said for a lot of those classic dark rides that still exist.
 
jon81uk said:
Haven’t most of the recent additions been second hand rethemes with some sheds from B&Q. I don’t think Chessington has done anything stunning since Wild Asia.
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Yeah, I should have clarified my original post better. They've made everything in the Rainforest and (hopefully) the new Pirates' Cove look, at least to me, a very long way ahead of Jungle Bus, which I don't think has a place in one of the UK's most popular family parks anymore. I'm not saying it's Disney quality, just that the park have moved past the standard they were aiming for when Jungle Bus was more popular.
 
ThemeParkAddict said:
Yeah, I should have clarified my original post better. They've made everything in the Rainforest and (hopefully) the new Pirates' Cove look, at least to me, a very long way ahead of Jungle Bus, which I don't think has a place in one of the UK's most popular family parks anymore. I'm not saying it's Disney quality, just that the park have moved past the standard they were aiming for when Jungle Bus was more popular.
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Whereas I think given the actual ride hardware that Jungle Bus uses isn't that amazing, the paint job and look of it is Disney quality. You could take Jungle Bus or a few other of the Wild Asia rides and put them in Asia at the Animal Kingdom and the Indian theming would still work.
Whereas could you take the newer River Rafts at Chessington and put it at Disney? I don't think it holds up against Jungle Cruise at all.
 
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