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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Skyscraper said:
Yeah it gets you a bit wetter than most would expect.
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Mainly because one of the fountain spurts has lost pressure and instead or arcing over your head as it should pours straight into your boat 🤣

Was very welcome today, on another occasion I might have been less amused!

It has to be said that the water ride offering is pretty lacking at the moment. Water effects switched off on Monkey Swinger and Tiger Rock gets stupidly long queues and closed at 3.30 so didn't get on it.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
Mainly because one of the fountain spurts has lost pressure and instead or arcing over your head as it should pours straight into your boat 🤣

Was very welcome today, on another occasion I might have been less amused!
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My sister wasn't aware it had water effects or a drop so was terrified lol. You can see her clinging on to me in the ride photo. 🤣

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NuttySquirrel said:
It has to be said that the water ride offering is pretty lacking at the moment. Water effects switched off on Monkey Swinger and Tiger Rock gets stupidly long queues and closed at 3.30 so didn't get on it.
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Yeah it's annoying that Tiger Rock closes at 3:30 every day now. I got myself worked up because I wanted to ride it again before we had to leave the park an hour before park close, but the R&R queue for Dragon's Fury took longer than expected. Alas, I later found out that my panicking was for nowt as it had closed a couple of before that. 🫠
 
It's difficult to believe Chessington are consciously adding rides with such diabolical throughput when Alton's (and Thorpe's) minimum coaster target for new additions is 1000+.

Chessington is one of the world's worst parks for queue times v ride quality.
 
4 minutes to dispatch a Vampire train is... I can't even fathom how it takes that long.

Even if you're not rushing on 2 trains should still be getting them out in a minute.
 
Benzin said:
4 minutes to dispatch a Vampire train is... I can't even fathom how it takes that long.

Even if you're not rushing on 2 trains should still be getting them out in a minute.
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Simply, not enough staff - and inefficient use of the two staff they did have. They weren't batching guests for the next train until the previous one had been emptied and the platform cleared, so the train was sitting empty in the station for at least a couple of minutes between dispatches.

That and the ride host having to clamber across railings to cross over to the exit platform behind each train coming in and then back again to batch main queue...

There seemed to be another staff member whose only job was to batch the RAP queue and nothing else, possibly not fully trained yet?

It really wasn't a busy day yesterday, if they don't sort out their staffing issues soon the summer season is going to be extremely painful for all concerned.
 
When we were there the other week Vampire wasn’t this bad, but they weren’t really making much effort to organise people. And for some reason a lot of Chessington punters seem to be surprised when they get to the front of the queue and need to dump their bag, sit in a seat and pull the restraint down.
On our visit though there was an amazing host on MM. He wasn’t there for our first ride & that was a bit of a shambles. When we went back later he was a little bit shouty, but there was no excuse for people not to understand - you stand on the leaf, you note your number, this is your row, when the gate opens, go to your row, dump your bag and get in your seat. Towards the end of the day he was still there and was losing his voice, but he was doing a really good job of trying to get people organised.
 
Alix said:
On our visit though there was an amazing host on MM. He wasn’t there for our first ride & that was a bit of a shambles. When we went back later he was a little bit shouty, but there was no excuse for people not to understand - you stand on the leaf, you note your number, this is your row, when the gate opens, go to your row, dump your bag and get in your seat. Towards the end of the day he was still there and was losing his voice, but he was doing a really good job of trying to get people organised.
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As I've said before, I'll never be able to understand why they didn't go for full-height air gates. That way the holding areas would not have been required, and staff wouldn't have to constantly explain/shout how batching works.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
Simply, not enough staff - and inefficient use of the two staff they did have. They weren't batching guests for the next train until the previous one had been emptied and the platform cleared, so the train was sitting empty in the station for at least a couple of minutes between dispatches.

That and the ride host having to clamber across railings to cross over to the exit platform behind each train coming in and then back again to batch main queue...

There seemed to be another staff member whose only job was to batch the RAP queue and nothing else, possibly not fully trained yet?

It really wasn't a busy day yesterday, if they don't sort out their staffing issues soon the summer season is going to be extremely painful for all concerned.
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Didn't need a batcher for years. Don't think ever had one in the station in my time and relied heavily on the outside batcher being good.

Couple of times on those dead midweek days you'd have 1 train and 1 platformer. Brilliant days.

2 platformers on 2 trains is sufficient, but seem dragged down by the operational procedures implemented. Though nowadays a 3rd person for RAP is probably necessary.
 
Nice morning for a visit today.

Nice and easy getting the train from Waterloo to Chessington South and walking to the park.

Headed straight into World of Jumanji. The two flat rides are surprisingly good fun.

The Mandrill The Mayhem The Ride was loads of fun, lucked out and got backwards facing row so got the bonus inversion!

Rides is loads of fun and the launches pack a great punch.

However it's just not a great fit for the park with its capacity. Maybe they rectify it with another new coaster in the near future but whilst it's the flagship ride of the park it'll be hellish.
 
Skyscraper said:
As I've said before, I'll never be able to understand why they didn't go for full-height air gates. That way the holding areas would not have been required, and staff wouldn't have to constantly explain/shout how batching works.
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I think they would still struggle with the average punter - they seem utterly bemused at the idea of just getting on the bloody ride and waste time dithering about. The number that don’t unclip themselves ready to disembark also doesn’t help. People eh, theme parks would be much better without ‘em 😁 the chimp has known the drill since she was 5 - it’s not hard!
 
Ils said:
How long afte your first virtual queue can you book again?
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We were able to book again straight away as soon as we’d had our QR code zapped. Not sure if that’s the norm though as when we visited there were lots of problems with the virtual queue system. It said my first ride was missed even though we definitely did it and were definitely zapped.
 
Ils said:
How long afte your first virtual queue can you book again?
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Almost immediately after you've been scanned to enter the queue.
After my first go today the return time was 40 minutes, the 2nd time it was now 90 minutes. Perfect for going for my lunch!
 
Ils said:
How long afte your first virtual queue can you book again?
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When I went a few weeks ago I was able to book another slot immediately so after having my code scanned at the entrance I was already booking my next ride seconds later whilst I was actually walking through the queue line. Often as well if it’s not so busy on park it will actually give you a slot time for say 50 mins time but then bump you up and ask if you want to redeem it straight away.
 
Back at Chessington South now after a fun visit.

Managed 4 goes on Mandrill Mayhem, in L7, L2, R1, and R4. So a good mix of seating options. Overall its a really good and fun coaster, a perfect sort of fit for Chessingtons usual guests. Just a pity about the capacity.

Also got a go on Vampire (front row) had forgotten how aggressive some of the banking is on it. Hope they can keep it as long as possible, or at least renovate the ride ala big one, nemesis, colossus.

Visited the Smoke House for my lunch which was alight, very happy to have the air conditioning and the refillable cup drinks.

Navigating the park is a nightmare, not enough signs. Was only my 2nd ever visit but with World of Jumanji being the main priority I didn't see half the park.
 
Smokehouse made me feel a bit ill yesterday. I'd say best position on Mandrill is a backward wing seat.
 
Ils said:
How long afte your first virtual queue can you book again?
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Well, they want you to do it one at a time but the staff won’t recognise you if you were juggling multiple accounts all with a timed ticket on.

Probably not allowed but are they going to find out?
 
Had a good but hot day there today. Got two rides on MM. My lads got the back row on our first time and we were just in front. Second time we were rows 3 and 4 and I'm still looking for my stomach after going up the spike.

Really enjoyed the coaster and had some really surprised elements. However, as others have said, I dread the thought of how the throughput is going to look on a busy weekend without Virtual Queue.
 
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