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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Matt N said:
I apologise for going back a bit in the conversation, but am I right in saying that the SRQ on Mandrill Mayhem means that you don’t have to use the virtual queue at all?

I’m going this time next week on my own, so if it does mean you don’t have to use the virtual queue, then that is a huge weight off my shoulders ahead of my visit!
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That is correct! No booking required.
 
Interesting… I’ll probably try and reserve a slot just in case, then!

I’m going to try and hit Mandrill first, as I’m sensing that the SRQ won’t be overly long regardless of whether I need a slot or not, what with Chessington being more of a family park.
 
If I'm on my own and prebooking I'd be asking to join the main queue so I can at least try to have some say in what row I'm assigned.
 
Matt N said:
I apologise for going back a bit in the conversation, but am I right in saying that the SRQ on Mandrill Mayhem means that you don’t have to use the virtual queue at all?

I’m going this time next week on my own, so if it does mean you don’t have to use the virtual queue, then that is a huge weight off my shoulders ahead of my visit!
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When I visited on Tuesday you could just walk in to the queue without a booking. And what’s more, I walked straight down the queue and was immediately batched on to a spot on the floor (I was given a row to myself with nobody next to me). I couldn’t believe it, the single rider queue was essentially functioning as a free unlimited fast track and I was able to get back on the ride immediately within minutes after getting off of it and walking round around.

It seems that they “patched” the hack later in the day though and the SRQ was working as it should to wait and fill up single spaces as they became available rather than immediately being ushered on.
 
On paper at least, adding a SRQ now is a bit silly. If you can use it without a reservation then the SRQ could easily get extremely long (once reservations run out). Conversely, if you NEED a reservation to access via SRQ, then why even bother anyway as the time saving should be minimal at best - it's not as if there'll be a 90min main queue to bypass
 
If anyone’s interested, I rode Mandrill Mayhem and saw the World of Jumanji for the first time today.

I’ll split my review into two parts; a brief review of the land as a whole and a longer review of the main point of interest, Mandrill Mayhem.

Let’s start with the area as a whole…
The Area
Overall, I have to say that I really liked the area itself! It’s got some very nice theming; the main jaguar shrine centrepiece provides a really striking visual, and there are some other really nice sight lines and really nice bits of theming within the land.

In terms of some of the subtler bits of theming, I quite liked the Bazaar section; to me, it gave off almost Animal Kingdom-esque VIBES! There are also various other nice bits of theming around the land, and while the landscaping is still a little scant at the moment, I think it will look really nice and make the area look really wooded when it’s grown in!

One thing I did notice is that while I like the area soundtrack and think it’s quite a cool, motivating piece, the loop is quite short. I can imagine that it might get a little grating to hear the same thing over and over if you’re in the area for any extended period of time. Short music loops do seem to be quite a Chessington-wide thing, though, so perhaps I’m just being overly pedantic…

If I’m being pedantic, it is also somewhat lacking in seating. As far as I could tell, I couldn’t really see any benches or anything for people to sit down on.

Overall, though, I did really like the area; from a visual standpoint, it certainly looks very nice, and overall, I think it’s quite well executed and will grow to look really nice once the landscaping is bedded in!

Now let me move onto the main point of interest…
Mandrill Mayhem
I was interested to ride Mandrill Mayhem, as it’s certainly one of the more unique contraptions I’ve ever seen from B&M. I was very intrigued to see how a family launched wing shuttle coaster rode, as to me, that seemed like quite an eclectic combination of ride types; I, for one, was certainly very surprised when Chessington announced that Mandrill Mayhem was to fuse all four buzzwords together! But did Mandrill Mayhem live up to the hype and the fairly positive reviews for me? Well, I’m sorry to say that overall, I was definitely somewhat disappointed with Mandrill Mayhem as a coaster. I had 3 rides, and don’t get me wrong, it’s far from a terrible coaster, but I wouldn’t say that it was an especially brilliant one either, and it wasn’t one I overly rated.

In the interests of fairness, I’ll start with the positives…
The Positives
  • It’s a very striking ride visually; B&M track is always very visually attractive, and Mandrill Mayhem is no exception, with the track winding around the Jaguar Shrine making for a very nice visual!
  • I think the audio sequence in the station is quite good fun. I particularly liked the “not that way!” when the train shot backwards!
  • The initial sequence of elements is quite good fun, particularly towards the back. The swing launch sequence has two reasonably potent launches that are fun and punchy, the little mild pop of airtime off the launch track is quite fun, and towards the back of the train, the Junior Scorpion Tail provides some very fun floater airtime! It’s an element that I felt worked really well on Ice Breaker back in June, and it’s an element that works well here too. The Junior Scorpion Tail didn’t really do anything on the front, though; that one is definitely best experienced towards the back, in my view.
As inferred by my initial line, however, there are quite a few negatives I feel I need to discuss…
The Negatives
  • Once you get past the initial swing launch sequence, I honestly found the layout a little bit bland. It just lacked a certain spark, a certain… je ne sais quoi for me. I just found it a bit something of nothing, if I’m being totally frank. There were bits that I thought looked quite spicy and like they might provide some really fun moments before I rode, but they didn’t really do anything for me when I actually rode. I also don’t really think the layout plays to the strengths of the Wing Coaster as a model, and that was a concern I had from day one. In my view, it could quite easily have not been a Wing Coaster.
  • I wasn’t a fan of the principal helix stall at all. The helix itself was perfectly OK, but I found the stall at the top very uncomfortable and awkward to experience; it’s a part of the experience that looks a lot better than it rides, in my view.
  • While it’s absolutely not horrifically rough in the same vein as, say, an SLC, Mandrill Mayhem definitely isn’t smooth for a brand new B&M roller coaster. I found it to have a very noticeable rattle in both the inner and outer seats, and on all 3 rides, I came off with a bit of a headache. In a somewhat linked point, I’d also argue that in some aspects, the ride generally feels a little bit awkward and unrefined in its execution and the way it navigates the layout. For instance, in some of the more dynamic parts of the layout such as the dive to the left out of the station and the s-bend before the principal helix, the train almost seemed to shudder up and down quite noticeably, and the whole backwards lap felt a bit awkward, in my view. I don’t think dynamism and snappy transitions are really where the Wing Coaster shines as a model, and I think Mandrill Mayhem evidences that quite well, personally.
  • In terms of the trains, I feel that it shares the same flaws as The Swarm in that I don’t find the vests particularly comfortable, and the restraints do seem to tighten and leave you feeling quite uncomfortably constrained during the ride. That is more of a general Wing Coaster flaw than anything specific to Mandrill Mayhem, though, so that’s by the by.
  • Away from the ride experience itself, I do also feel that the throughput is an aspect that leaves much to be desired. The ride was being operated very well by the staff on the ground with all things considered, but I think that even for the type of ride they went for, there were some ways that throughput could easily have been increased. For instance, they could have found some way of running 2 trains and some kind of dual station mechanism on the ride, and in terms of a simpler fix, even installing full height airgates in the station would have increased the throughput by not forcing riders to wait off the station platform and only cross onto the station platform when the ride has ended. Mandrill Mayhem was the highest throughput coaster at Chessington today by my measurements, but I think the park needed a queue muncher and I don’t think Mandrill Mayhem fulfils that particular brief, personally.
So overall, then, I liked the land, but was disappointed by Mandrill Mayhem itself. The land is nice and Mandrill Mayhem itself is by no means terrible or without merit, but I do personally question whether this coaster was the right fit for Chessington as a park, or the best 1.2m calibre coaster they could have built.

Perhaps I’m just somewhat out of touch, though. I am not the ride’s target demographic; it’s aimed at kids riding their first big coaster, whereas I rode it as a 20 year old enthusiast who was riding his 111th coaster. It did seem to be going down quite well with the kids who were riding, from what I could tell, and that is the important thing after all!

I apologise if I come across overly harsh or nitpicky, as I’m aware that some of my points are quite pedantic, but those were just some of the thoughts I had.
 
I really like Mandrill Mayhem. I have to admit that when I first rode it back in its opening week I didn’t quite get it. Poor throughput, bland layout and the wrong choice for the park. I think it was looking at it in terms of other B&M coasters and it just seemed like a bit of a weird experiment and a ride that was ok but nothing too exciting.

But the more I ride it the more I can’t help but feel it’s actually a damn good ride and a very fun experience. I haven’t experienced any rattle or bounce on it, when I rode it last week it felt extremely smooth and launches pack a nice little punch without being too intense for younger riders. For me the in-line twist and LSM boost are the highlight of the ride, going through that combo forwards or backwards is a lot of fun and that’s what the ride is meant to be. My son rode it for the first time and it immediately went straight in at #1 in his rankings. If instead of seeing it as a B&M to be compared against their other coasters, and is instead viewed as more as a high quality alternative to the commonly found (and much less thrilling) Vekoma Family Boomerang it becomes easier to see why the park went for it and what they were trying to achieve. For my it’s firmly in that group of very nice family thrill coasters we have in the UK (alongside Storm Chaser and Flight Of The Pterosaur) and all three of them are very fun rides that can offer some great forces for a family ride. I can definitely feel something when going up the helix on MM!
 
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Shaggy_Dog_ said:
I really like Mandrill Mayhem. I have to admit that when I first rode it back in its opening week I didn’t quite get it. Poor throughput, bland layout and the wrong choice for the park. I think it was looking at it in terms of other B&M coasters and it just seemed like a bit of a weird experiment and a ride that was ok but nothing too exciting.

But the more I ride it the more I can’t help but feel it’s actually a damn good ride and a very fun experience. I haven’t experienced any rattle or bounce on it, when I rode it last week it felt extremely smooth and launches pack a nice little punch without being too intense for younger riders. For me the in-line twist and LSM boost are the highlight of the ride, going through that combo forwards or backwards is a lot of fun and that’s what the ride is meant to be. My son rode it for the first time and it immediately went straight in at #1 in his rankings. If instead of seeing it as a B&M to be compared against their other coasters, and is instead viewed as more as a high quality alternative to the commonly found (and much less thrilling) Vekoma Family Boomerang it becomes easier to see why the park went for it and what they were trying to achieve. For my it’s firmly in that group of very nice family thrill coasters we have in the UK (alongside Storm Chaser and Flight Of The Pterosaur) and all three of them are very fun rides that can offer some great forces for a family ride. I can definitely feel something when going up the helix on MM!
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See, that’s interesting. I wouldn’t even say that I didn’t rate Mandrill because I was viewing it versus big thrill coasters, because I don’t think I necessarily was. I suspected that it probably wasn’t going to be a top 10 contender, and I even suspected that it probably wasn’t going to top Swarm for me in the sphere of Wing Coasters.

For me, family or family thrill absolutely does not mean that a ride can’t be great. I have 3 coasters aimed at a very similar demographic with the same sort of height restriction in my top 10 (Hagrid’s, Ice Breaker and Wicker Man). Based on my experience yesterday, I’d personally argue that I far preferred the likes of Pterosaur and Storm Chaser at Paultons Park, which I remember finding really good fun, and I’d even possibly say that I preferred the Family Boomerangs I’ve done (I know a lot of people don’t like them, but I find them to be very comfortable and often packing some really fun forces and turns on the forward lap, even if the backwards lap isn’t my favourite). I am a firm believer in the notion that family and family thrill coasters can be every bit as good as out and out thrill coasters, and I think some of the types of rides I have at the higher end of my rankings prove that family thrill coasters can be rides that I rate really highly.

But for whatever reason, Mandrill Mayhem just didn’t really hit the spot for me. Perhaps it wasn’t helped by the fact that I personally found it rattly and got a bit of a headache from it, or by the fact that I’m not a massive fan of the vest restraints on B&M Wing Coasters, but I just thought that the layout seemed a bit awkward in execution in places and didn’t have the fun factor of numerous other family thrill coasters I’ve ridden. I’ve ridden many family thrill coasters that are great fun and really pop despite not being the most intense rides, but I didn’t really get that from Mandrill.

I don’t know. Maybe I have ridden too much other stuff and have gotten a bit out of touch and am viewing it from the wrong viewpoint as a result (I know I’m not the most well travelled of folks, but I imagine my age and coaster count of 111 are still quite a bit higher than that of those who this ride is aimed at). I was on my own; perhaps not riding it with a child who was doing it as their first “big” coaster put me into too much of my own echo chamber and didn’t really put me into perspective. But for whatever reason, Mandrill Mayhem disappointed me and didn’t really do it for me, even compared to numerous other family thrill coasters I’ve ridden.
 
There are definitely a few dead spots on Mandrill Mayhem, which I think brings the ride down in terms of its overall quality, but I find the launches, the inversion and the junior scorpion tail good fun. I agree with you that it can be rattly, but this has varied. The inner seats seem to be less rattly.
Matt N said:
See, that’s interesting. I wouldn’t even say that I didn’t rate Mandrill because I was viewing it versus big thrill coasters, because I don’t think I necessarily was. I suspected that it probably wasn’t going to be a top 10 contender, and I even suspected that it probably wasn’t going to top Swarm for me in the sphere of Wing Coasters.

For me, family or family thrill absolutely does not mean that a ride can’t be great. I have 3 coasters aimed at a very similar demographic with the same sort of height restriction in my top 10 (Hagrid’s, Ice Breaker and Wicker Man). Based on my experience yesterday, I’d personally argue that I far preferred the likes of Pterosaur and Storm Chaser at Paultons Park, which I remember finding really good fun, and I’d even possibly say that I preferred the Family Boomerangs I’ve done (I know a lot of people don’t like them, but I find them to be very comfortable and often packing some really fun forces and turns on the forward lap, even if the backwards lap isn’t my favourite). I am a firm believer in the notion that family and family thrill coasters can be every bit as good as out and out thrill coasters, and I think some of the types of rides I have at the higher end of my rankings prove that family thrill coasters can be rides that I rate really highly.

But for whatever reason, Mandrill Mayhem just didn’t really hit the spot for me. Perhaps it wasn’t helped by the fact that I personally found it rattly and got a bit of a headache from it, or by the fact that I’m not a massive fan of the vest restraints on B&M Wing Coasters, but I just thought that the layout seemed a bit awkward in execution in places and didn’t have the fun factor of numerous other family thrill coasters I’ve ridden. I’ve ridden many family thrill coasters that are great fun and really pop despite not being the most intense rides, but I didn’t really get that from Mandrill.

I don’t know. Maybe I have ridden too much other stuff and have gotten a bit out of touch and am viewing it from the wrong viewpoint as a result (I know I’m not the most well travelled of folks, but I imagine my age and coaster count of 111 are still quite a bit higher than that of those who this ride is aimed at). I was on my own; perhaps not riding it with a child who was doing it as their first “big” coaster put me into too much of my own echo chamber and didn’t really put me into perspective. But for whatever reason, Mandrill Mayhem disappointed me and didn’t really do it for me, even compared to numerous other family thrill coasters I’ve ridden.
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Where I'm from and my lack of B&M riding, Mandrill Mayham will have sadly nothing to lose in my book...even though I will say it is such a baffling coaster choice for that park.
 
sillyrooster said:
Does anyone know how much the park enforces the maximum height limits? I've found at Thorpe and Alton they don't really do this aside from Spinball. I'm 196 and wouldn't mind getting out MM and DF.
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Having now been I can say I had no issues with getting on any of the rollercoasters. There's fairly inconsistent messaging about this in the park, no one was checking and I fit fine. Thought DF was probably the strongest coaster. MM was good but it's a bit rattley, definitely preferred the back rows for the launches.
 
They were indeed doing maximum height checking on mandrill mayhem today unfortunately, quite hot on it too, I did manage to get on during hotel ERT and fit nice and comfortably but they checked me and turned me away everytime after that.

Dragon's fury and vampire they weren't checking fortunately.
 
George W said:
They were indeed doing maximum height checking on mandrill mayhem today unfortunately, quite hot on it too, I did manage to get on during hotel ERT and fit nice and comfortably but they checked me and turned me away everytime after that.

Dragon's fury and vampire they weren't checking fortunately.
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This was also the time I rode it. I wonder why these limits are in place, clearly it's fine...
 
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