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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

Leigh said:
I don’t get the point of this considering you can’t have more than 2 adults per row. Surely there’s other rides that would benefit from an SRQ more?
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I imagine it’ll have been one of the operations manager’s projects for their yearly objectives. It’ll tick the box when they have their year-end review, and then it will probably never be used again.

A SRQ was also added to Dragon Falls (now Tiger Rock) back in 2017 (I assume for the same reason) and was only open for a few weeks and then never again.
 
Was browsing on queuetimehub to predict queue times for my thorpe trip this coming sunday, and then had a little look at chessington's abysmal ride availability.

Why are kobra and mamba strike closed due to 'weather'? You'd think these cold blooded snakes would love the sunshine and heat
 
Bowser said:
No thunderstorms at Chessington, it's been scorching 33 degree sunshine across the south so more likely metallic elements of the vehicles have become too hot for passengers.
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Makes sense! I guess UK parks usually don't need to worry much about heat most of the time. Would this mean that some international parks that have more year-round hot periods have extra mechanisms in their attractions to keep them at a reasonable temperature?
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Bolts of electricity shooting down from the sky (which hit large chunks of metal) are usually the type of 'weather' you want to avoid, regardless of sunshine and heat.
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Would this not also apply to international parks as well? For instance orlando and tampa regularly have more thunderstorms and hotter weather, although I assume they close their rides when appropriate just like today at chessington
 
Dhev123 said:
Makes sense! I guess UK parks usually don't need to worry much about heat most of the time. Would this mean that some international parks that have more year-round hot periods have extra mechanisms in their attractions to keep them at a reasonable temperature?

Would this not also apply to international parks as well? For instance orlando and tampa regularly have more thunderstorms and hotter weather, although I assume they close their rides when appropriate just like today at chessington
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It’s usually that parts are calibrated to the expected operating temperatures (including getting the right oils for those temperatures).

Floridian parks have more detailed monitoring of local storms as it’s their daily reality so they can stay open as long as possible then close for the minimum amount of time, but they do close rides when a storm is within a certain distance of the park.
 
In Theme Park Worldwide's vlog, he suggests that the animals will be phased out/removed in the coming years at 30:10 and 59:38.


From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsrqx6Ly8MQ

Has anyone heard anything about this? I'm a bit surprised if this is the case, as the rides and animals combination seems to be the park's USP. I remember there was a plan to move the zoo in the long term development plan a few years back.
 
Probably realised that the integration of animals and rides is very expensive and leads to the mess that is Tigger Falls.

It would be sad, but the main zoo is certainly terrible given there's a massive hotel in the middle of it.
 
I could see the park potentially removing some of the larger animals such as the lions, tigers, rhinos, and gorillas, etc. I don’t think it’s hard to see Zufari leaving the park soon either.

Maybe they might just focus on the smaller animals that need less upkeep and are less expensive to maintain. Things like the birds, monkeys, and maybe the penguins might still be viable. It will be a bit of a pity to lose the larger animals but maybe if Merlin are looking to refocus the park then it’s for the best. I suppose the question is though if this change happens could it be in part a reaction to Merlin anticipating that Universal GB will shake up the UK theme park industry and/or will hit CWOA the hardest?
 
If they did do this as some sort of way to make themselves compete more effectively with Universal, then I think it would be a big mistake. I think the animals are the one legitimate USP that Chessington has that Universal will never compete with them in, and I think the fact you can get animals and rides together in one park gives them a strong selling point over the other UK parks.

Without the animal and ride synergy, I think Chessington would need some big and targeted investment to give itself a new USP over not just the impending threat of Universal, but the other parks in London/the South East and the UK at large.
 
James Watkins said:
In Theme Park Worldwide's vlog, he suggests that the animals will be phased out/removed in the coming years at 30:10 and 59:38.


From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsrqx6Ly8MQ

Has anyone heard anything about this? I'm a bit surprised if this is the case, as the rides and animals combination seems to be the park's USP. I remember there was a plan to move the zoo in the long term development plan a few years back.
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Been rumours for a little while they’re going and rides put in.

Large animals in close proximity to rollercoasters etc feels like quite an outdated concept to me anyway. No idea how popular they are anymore either.
 
Large animals in any kind of limited environment is going out of fashion as well.
Is it just me that finds fish in big glass boxes a bit sad as well...or is it all that free parking behind the sealife in Blackpool that has got to me.
 
rob666 said:
Large animals in any kind of limited environment is going out of fashion as well.
Is it just me that finds fish in big glass boxes a bit sad as well...or is it all that free parking behind the sealife in Blackpool that has got to me.
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Yep, I’m not sensitive to it, or haven’t been but it’s a bit unfair to keep large animals in small cages. As nice as they are to look at, people are there for the rides at Chessington and it’s clear to see when you visit.
 
I think it's probably the right thing to do, at least for the larger animals that should really be in a dedicated wildlife park/safari park with tons of space and a more dedicated focus on welfare, educating the public and conservation. I've never been especially comfortable with zoo animals and thrill rides in the same space.

However I do think such a move to a ride-only park will really show up Chessington's shortcomings as an attraction. I think for quite a lot of guests the zoo is the saving grace - take that away and all you are leaving people with is closed-down rides, unacceptably long queues for the ones that are open, reliability issues and below-average food and drink, and a crying child that can't be distracted from their disappointment by looking at all the nice animals. I wonder also how many autistic/ADHD kids use to zoo to decompress when the theme park all gets a bit much, so that's something else for the park to consider.

A lot of the TripAdvisor reviews also rate the animals and particularly the Animal Experiences a lot more favourably than the theme park, so I think they can expect a further drop in their review scores online.
 
I should add that I love petting zoos and fun farm style stuff, I have spent many a happy hour playing headbutts with goats of various sizes.

Sadly, I am old enough to have experienced the horrors of the final years of the Tower zoo.
So I have had a lot of years of avoiding caged animals.
Old git report...I did Chessington before the rides turned up.
 
If the animals go, there needs to be some serious investment in other attractions to address the deficiencies that the animal exhibits currently (somewhat) make up for.

It’s interesting just how much disentangling it might take though. Tiger Rock is the obvious example, but it’s also quite challenging to imagine what might take the place of the smaller exhibits. Some of the areas are really quite small to be replaced by anything as meaningful. It would also effect the hotel, its theming and the extra revenue Merlin get from charging for savannah view rooms. In fact the hotel without that view and the animal exhibits would be a pretty poor proposition.
 
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