GooseOnTheLoose
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Ug Bugs
Tussaud's. Wayyyyy before Merlin was a speck in Nick Varney's eye; although he was at Tussaud's then and Marketing Director at Alton Towers.
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ℹ️ Heads up...
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KolonelKlink
TS Member
If you have 20 minutes, enjoy a tour of the Chessington of that era and how much more charm it had:Just saw that it was the anniversary of Vampire and Bubbleworks opening yesterday which means they opened on the same day?
Feels inconceivable to have 2 rides of that quality opening simultaneously in the UK now
From: https://youtu.be/q-4GjZ4jB9U?si=9ziUi7LMNszLAn__
Bowser
TS Member
Ah memory lane. Used to love the monorail thing.
I am going to be objective and say it's probably better now. Vampire has better cars and the foliage is much more immersive. All the rides in this video are still there in some form except the monorail and there's a fair few more. I suppose it did feel a bit more themed then as the fewer rides meant more distinction between areas whereas there are rides randomly crammed in now.
And obviously the Transylvania restaurant was cooler then (i'm sure it was a McDonalds but might be misremembering).
jon81uk
TS Member
Yes Tussauds had both Chessington and Alton before 1994
I believe this showed up briefly before but the Ride Availability part of Chessingtons website is now saying that three rides are going to be closed for most off peak days
Rattlesnake
Tiger Rock
Zufari
You can see the days they are not available listed here
www.chessington.com
Chessington is my local park and I picked up a merlin annual discovery pass recently to take my 4 year old as much as possible in off peak times before he starts school. He loves animals and part of the reason for getting the pass was to take him on Zufari
I am not happy at all about this and even if you do not go to Chessington often Merlin passholders should kick up a fuss about this in case they are thinking of doing similar things at other parks.
Rattlesnake
Tiger Rock
Zufari
You can see the days they are not available listed here
Ride Availability | Chessington World of Adventure Resorts
At Chessington World of Adventures Resort we want you to have a grrreat visit. To help you plan your day, this page lists our current ride closures.
www.chessington.com
Chessington is my local park and I picked up a merlin annual discovery pass recently to take my 4 year old as much as possible in off peak times before he starts school. He loves animals and part of the reason for getting the pass was to take him on Zufari
I am not happy at all about this and even if you do not go to Chessington often Merlin passholders should kick up a fuss about this in case they are thinking of doing similar things at other parks.
Mattie boy
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shamballa
Yeah this is not good, appreciate these days are quiet, we always go in September, yet this is really not acceptable
jon81uk
TS Member
If they are regularly treating off-peak days like this then it needs to be made clear when purchasing a Discovery Pass. I know the terms state things might be closed, but the average person assumes that is because they are broken, not because they can't be bothered to hire enough staff and run all the rides.
SuperMuscleMan
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Colossus
I would have thought tiger rock is a premium experience? I find it hard to believe that they are cutting two of the most all inclusive family friendly rides. The management of Chessington is bewildering. I'd accept one of those three rides cycling on and off during quieter days but 3!
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Good news lovers of smoked meats, the Chessington Smokehouse was re-inspected on 26 March and got an FHRS of 5.
Would still love to know what went so badly wrong that it go a 0 last time.
Would still love to know what went so badly wrong that it go a 0 last time.
BigShadowtinytree
TS Member
Fair play for them getting the rating up. I’m also curious what went wrong the first time around. I’m still trying to get over the shock of those photos from the hotel inspection a while back and I think even that was a 2 if I remember correctly.
Will be interesting to see if they can maintain standards for their next inspection in presumably a year or two.
Will be interesting to see if they can maintain standards for their next inspection in presumably a year or two.
Reb
TS Member
It's not a staffing issue, apparently it's a money saving issue, though I do wonder how much it actually saves...
jon81uk
TS Member
Same thing, they are saving money by not scheduling as many staff. They aren't going to rota the staff who would normally work Tiger Falls and then just have them sit in a break room all day, they'll rota the minimum staffing number on all rides and not get the staff in to work at all on the closed rides, saving money on wages.
Staff hours is pretty much the biggest cost for all businesses, so the first way to save money is to cut staff.
Reb
TS Member
Damn, you know, I honestly never considered the staffing costs, I was more thinking about the cost of sending rides and keepings lights on and stuff.
djtruefitt
TS Team
It does annoy me when parks shut fairly big rides on off peak days, it’s like those visiting are treated as second class. If you can’t afford to open all your rides then maybe you should just be closed completely on these off peak days?
Anyway tiger rock seems to be broke even on peak days ever since Garmendale mucked about with it. I’ve yet to see it open on any of my visits during the past few years
Anyway tiger rock seems to be broke even on peak days ever since Garmendale mucked about with it. I’ve yet to see it open on any of my visits during the past few years
ItsAllGood
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Wildfire
A new VIP experience has been launched at Chessington, behind the scenes on Vampire.
Following Alton Towers the park is expanding its VIP experiences.
We did the tour sunday evening and I've got to say it was one of the best tours I've had!
Costing £60 per person its not badly priced when you get discount on top.
Lift hill walks are not guaranteed but you could get the chance to walk up the lift hill. No harness required for Vampire
My favorite photo from the tour.
There's so much detail you cant see with show lights turned on...
Its like a scene from zombie land...
Who's fancy's a walk up here? I hear you get a fantastic view of London and can see the shard from the top
themeparkguide.co.uk
Following Alton Towers the park is expanding its VIP experiences.
We did the tour sunday evening and I've got to say it was one of the best tours I've had!
Costing £60 per person its not badly priced when you get discount on top.
Lift hill walks are not guaranteed but you could get the chance to walk up the lift hill. No harness required for Vampire
My favorite photo from the tour.
There's so much detail you cant see with show lights turned on...
Its like a scene from zombie land...
Who's fancy's a walk up here? I hear you get a fantastic view of London and can see the shard from the top
Vampire Behind The Scenes Tour | Theme Park Guide
A brand new VIP experience is being launched at Chessington World of Adventures for 2024. Go behind the scenes on the iconic rollercoaster Vampire. Th
themeparkguide.co.uk
Who's fancy's a walk up here? I hear you get a fantastic view of London and can see the shard from the top
Can definitely see central London and the Shard from the top of Croc Drop on a clear day so would assume the top of the lift hill would be similar!
It all looks so.. grimy. Need a pressure washing and grass cutting outfit to come and give it all a bit of a spruce up don't they but I guess unkempt fits in with the theming a bit more than some of the other rides. Reminds me a bit of the Urbex photos of eg Camelot and American Adventure.