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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Poisson said:
It'd be a decent ride if they demolished the danger cave and ran more trucks.
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The loading process needs changing as well. Was absolute chaos back in May when lots of kids went to a different row to the one they'd been assigned! 🤦‍♂️
My group of four ended up sitting separately when we'd been batched together.
 
It was badly designed from the off with loading bays that don't line up with the vehicle and whoever thought a separate offload that exited in front of onload clearly wasn't thinking things through. I guess that's largely irrelevant now as it doesn't run enough trucks to need offload nowadays. I strongly suspect that, like the AT monorail, several of the vehicles have been cannibalised to keep the others running.
 
Speaking of batching, I wish they would do something with CrocDrop. Everyone ignores the assigned floor numbers and twice i've had a situation where i can't sit next to my disabled son because people have rushed in and sat leaving only single seat spaces, meaning either several minutes of staff rearranging people or we have to exit that cycle and rejoin the batching, at which point there are now too many people and the mess gets even worse.

Not sure why the batching area is open rather than having people enter in a line (which they manage on Cyclonator at Paultons for example).
 
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Bowser said:
I can't believe it's only 2 years old too. Low capacity additions must be an inside joke at Chessington. Presumably they'll replace Scorpion Express with an Intamin Hot Racer.
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It also has probably one of the worst reliability records in the park. It is constantly having issues with the restraints and doors closing.
 
I also don't understand why they went with SBF Visa again this year, I hope next time Merlin need flats they actually spend a bit extra on something that will keep running.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
I also don't understand why they went with SBF Visa again this year, I hope next time Merlin need flats they actually spend a bit extra on something that will keep running.
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It's purely because they're cheap. Drayton got a lot of flak over the years for buying the entire Zamperla catalogue but don't think they've had many issues with them.
 
Chessington had the opportunity of filling in a lot of the potholes from years old problems of ageing attractions in the 80’s/90’s running on reduced capacity and shadows of their heyday.

Instead they just went for on the cheap, low capacity SBF rides with poor reliability. All things considered, I think Croc Drop is actually the worst of a mixed batch of investment in the last few years.

It might look debatably imposing, but it was built cheaply, has a shocking throughput amongst poor reliability. It was closed on 2/3 visits this year. Strangely Magma at Paultons feels better in many ways.

I want to see Chessington putting in worthwhile investments, where throughput, design and operation have been considered. Not silly below 300 PPH additions from cheap builders like SBF. It’s one step forwards and two back in some respects.
 
So I popped to chessie last weekend to check out their Christmas event. Being a pass holder we had to pay extra for anything Christmas related (we didn’t bother).

Overall the park was fine, however definitely lacks in Christmas theming compared to Alton and Lego, apart from the Christmas tree in the main square there isn’t really much else going on.

The thing I don’t get is the lack of rides open, when LEGOLAND down the road have 99% of their park open, yet chessie have fairly basic rides just sat there closed. The biggest odd one I find is the sea storm, right in the middle of the park, with everything else around it open, yet it’s just sat there in pieces looking a right state for all guests to see.

It was nice to have Jumanji open, however why they still insist on running it on “virtual queue” is beyond me. It was pretty much walk on all day long, often going round with only a few guests on the ride. yet they were still forcing you to book a slot (even though because there was no queue, these slots were instant.

Personally I would love to see more rides open here, there is zero reason why seastorm, dragons fury and the whole of wild Asia couldn’t open. I’m sure you could easily get tomb blaster and croc drop open as well. But I guess they just don’t have techies to do stuff, yet the likes of Lego manage.
 
djtruefitt said:
So I popped to chessie last weekend to check out their Christmas event. Being a pass holder we had to pay extra for anything Christmas related (we didn’t bother).

Overall the park was fine, however definitely lacks in Christmas theming compared to Alton and Lego, apart from the Christmas tree in the main square there isn’t really much else going on.

The thing I don’t get is the lack of rides open, when LEGOLAND down the road have 99% of their park open, yet chessie have fairly basic rides just sat there closed. The biggest odd one I find is the sea storm, right in the middle of the park, with everything else around it open, yet it’s just sat there in pieces looking a right state for all guests to see.

It was nice to have Jumanji open, however why they still insist on running it on “virtual queue” is beyond me. It was pretty much walk on all day long, often going round with only a few guests on the ride. yet they were still forcing you to book a slot (even though because there was no queue, these slots were instant.

Personally I would love to see more rides open here, there is zero reason why seastorm, dragons fury and the whole of wild Asia couldn’t open. I’m sure you could easily get tomb blaster and croc drop open as well. But I guess they just don’t have techies to do stuff, yet the likes of Lego manage.
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I would imagine it's economics. You went at a weekend and arguably the most popular ride was walk-on which implies the park is very quiet and/or mostly occupied by families with young children who aren't using the attractions with height restrictions.

Whereas the rides at LegoLand are all targeted at the same demographic (plus quite a few are indoors and so weather-proof in the Winter).

Overall i get the impression that going to theme parks at Christmas doesn't appeal to a lot of people, especially teenagers/young adults so the parks put the focus on the childhood element which naturally ties in with Christmas. The special events like meeting Santa and Reindeer are the main appeal and the rides are a bonus.

Thorpe Park, the most adult orientated Merlin park doesn't open at all and Alton Towers only really keep CBeebies area open.
 
Bowser said:
I would imagine it's economics. You went at a weekend and arguably the most popular ride was walk-on which implies the park is very quiet and/or mostly occupied by families with young children who aren't using the attractions with height restrictions.

Whereas the rides at LegoLand are all targeted at the same demographic (plus quite a few are indoors and so weather-proof in the Winter).

Overall i get the impression that going to theme parks at Christmas doesn't appeal to a lot of people, especially teenagers/young adults so the parks put the focus on the childhood element which naturally ties in with Christmas. The special events like meeting Santa and Reindeer are the main appeal and the rides are a bonus.

Thorpe Park, the most adult orientated Merlin park doesn't open at all and Alton Towers only really keep CBeebies area open.
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Chessington is very much targeted at families too, similar to Legoland. Maybe if more rides were open they would attract more guests?
 
But the majority of rides at Chessie are fairly child friendly, yet these remain closed, such as sea storm, wild Asia, etc.

legoland on the Sunday was far busier than Chessie was on Saturday. I’m sure if they opened more and made a bigger deal, then people would go. You only have to look abroad where christmas events are busier than main season now.
 
jon81uk said:
Chessington is very much targeted at families too, similar to Legoland. Maybe if more rides were open they would attract more guests?
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I think Chessington is more mixed than Legoland. Both family parks mostly for sure but there is a difference.

Legoland has 1 ride in the entire park with a 1.2m height restriction and it's not a major attraction.

Chessington has 7 at 1.2m and 1 at 1.4m.

I suppose it's a bit chicken and egg in terms of the Christmas selection but they've been doing the limited Christmas options for a few years now and presumably there's a reason for it. Like i said, Alton Towers do the same.

Maybe it's the risk of being unable to operate the big rides in the inclement weather? Dragon's Fury can barely stay open in the summer for more than 2 hours as it is.
 
Skyscraper said:
They're £12 as in the image. Not bad considering what it is to be honest!
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I really like it... although it looks like the track is just two separate loops which spoils the appearance somewhat.

Going to Chessington this week so will report back. Can pick you one up if you want though i presume they'll be available after Xmas too...
 
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