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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Trooper Looper said:
Ah, my mistake then! Though it does look pretty neat with that colour scheme, even if it never actually had it, ha!

Talking about its retrack, if love to see them do something with the old church site you'd used to walk into before they demolished it down.

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Woah!
I have never seen it looking like this before.
I knew they cut that building down, but the pictures I've seen of this part of the queue have it with an open roof.

Does anyone have a picture of what the inside looked like? Every time I see that grave thing before the cave, I can't help but wonder if that's really all it ever was.
 
The Rita moving to Chessington rumour that keeps coming up is of course almost definitely nonsense, BUTTT the footprint does look like it would fit nicely in the space where Rattlesnake and Scorpion Express are. Station, maintenance and final turnaround where Rattlesnake is, rest of the layout over Scorpion site. Just leaving that thought here, just in case... 👀
 
Johnny Rocket said:
The Rita moving to Chessington rumour that keeps coming up is of course almost definitely nonsense, BUTTT the footprint does look like it would fit nicely in the space where Rattlesnake and Scorpion Express are. Station, maintenance and final turnaround where Rattlesnake is, rest of the layout over Scorpion site. Just leaving that thought here, just in case... 👀
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They could always replace Rattlesnake with one of those new RMC Wild Moose coaster designs...

They should demolish the whole lot but I guess with them spending all the money on the new splash park any changes at Chessington would realistically be limited to whatever tin of dulux is the cheapest.
 
Visited on Saturday for something to do for a few hours having visited Tulleys the night before and then The Howl that evening.

Arrived about 10.30am, Mandrill Mayhem, Dragons Fury, and Kobra all closed at that point.

Enjoyed the parakeets, the Sealife, and seeing more of the zoo than my previous visit.

Eventually got a ride on Mandrill Mayhem which was alright, felt blander than it did in June.

Did the Vile Villagers scare zone when it opened, was good fun.

Left after that and went the pub outside for lunch.
 
Matt N said:
There are/were rumours of Vampire receiving a retrack for 2025, so I wouldn't be surprised to see that one be among the attractions on the list. Although I'd have expected to see a certificate of lawfulness or similar prior to Chessington removing it like we did with Nemesis, so maybe not...

In terms of what else, I'm not too sure. I wouldn't be surprised if Scorpion Express ended up permanently axed, although recent developments with it infer that it may yet make a comeback. And if Scorpion Express were to go, it wouldn't surprise me if Rattlesnake was also killed off at the same time, as it's a bit of an outlier in terms of height restriction and its demise could free up a fair amount of dormant land for a big investment...
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I’m not certain a certificate of lawfulness is needed. Nemesis had some minor changes to the supports which I suspect is why they wanted the certificate of lawfulness to show that the minor changes where within scope of the origional planning permission.

If you make no changes to the supports or layout of vampire then I think it will be fine. It’s not like you need planning permission to replace a roof of a house so long as the style of the roof is exactly the same as the one that replaces it.
 
I also think if worded correctly, it'd be easier than imagined if necessary. Just have to tell them it'll quieten the coaster down and you're on to a winner.
 
Visited for Howloween yesterday and enjoyed it. I don’t take the park too seriously but if everything is working well and the queues aren’t too long it’s still a decent park in my view.

Few things I’ve noticed since last visit in September. There is some new themeing elements in the Rattlesnake queue line (couple of cactus and snake animatronics I haven’t seen before) if they are new they are now lighting up. Vampire station had some new disco type lighting effects and candelabras which looked pretty cool.

Got a decent dark ride on Vampire to finish the day which is always a personal favourite of mine. Mandrill still has that weird “bounce” which I am unsure when or if they will sort. The single rider queue is a god send too.
 

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Weirdly, I rode Swarm and Mandrill within 2 days of each other last month and would actually say that I found Swarm smoother both on the inner seats and on the outer seats, despite that ride being 11 years older and notably more forceful.

Mandrill’s rattle was definitely more noticeable on the outer seats, but even on the inner seats, I found the bounce quite noticeable. It seemed to be worse during the backwards lap, for some reason.
 
Matt N said:
Weirdly, I rode Swarm and Mandrill within 2 days of each other last month and would actually say that I found Swarm smoother both on the inner seats and on the outer seats, despite that ride being 11 years older and notably more forceful.

Mandrill’s rattle was definitely more noticeable on the outer seats, but even on the inner seats, I found the bounce quite noticeable. It seemed to be worse during the backwards lap, for some reason.
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I would agree, it’s not rough by any means but it certainly didn’t do that at the start of the season. I wondered if it was something to do with the fact the wheels park in the same spot all the time?
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
I would agree, it’s not rough by any means but it certainly didn’t do that at the start of the season. I wondered if it was something to do with the fact the wheels park in the same spot all the time?
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I don’t really know, to be honest.

I didn’t ride it when it first opened, so I can’t compare how it rode in September to how it rode in its opening weeks, but while not horrifically rough or anything, I was certainly surprised at how bouncy it was for a B&M that’s only a few months old, particularly one of its intensity level. I stepped off my rides, particularly the outer seat ones, with a little bit of a headache, which I wouldn’t typically expect from a brand new B&M.
 
I am pretty sure that people complained about the bouncing as soon as it opened. I personally don't think that the bouncing has become any better or worse since the opening weeks.
 
zeock said:
I am pretty sure that people complained about the bouncing as soon as it opened. I personally don't think that the bouncing has become any better or worse since the opening weeks.
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The difference between May opening and September was massive for me. Seemed less so yesterday. It’s not a massive concern, seems a bit more forceful at the bottom of the helix too!

I’ve now done the ride about 24 times in total and row 6 on the right-hand side appears to be the best for me.
 
I think it's the fact it's so bloody slow doesn't help, you feel the trains flexing more which is probably what the bounce is.


Still nothing on Furious Brainache. Horrid contraption.
 
The bounce is just plain old physics. I remember back at uni around Swarm opening I was doing Vibration Analysis as the topic and it clicked to me that it was essentially a Wing-Rider set up.

Going this week. First theme park in 2 years and it's going to test me I just know it.
 
Did my first ride on Mayhem Sunday with my just about tall enough 6 year old. I wouldn't have gone on it otherwise, and my expectations for it were practically zero.

I really enjoyed it (despite it being so woefully inadeuqate for the park), but I probably wouldn't have done if I was on my own.

I would suggest it's good for its target audience but its not one for us main thrill seekers.
 
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