Chessington World of Adventures Resort

[Towers4ever]

Attraction Source have found Intamin mentioned in the planning documents. Surely this is Horizon plans moved from Towers to Chessington? As long as we get the superior model I don't mind just wish Towers wasn't facing huge cuts. Looks Southern-centric

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Attraction Source have found Intamin mentioned in the planning documents. Surely this is Horizon plans moved from Towers to Chessington? As long as we get the superior model I don't mind just wish Towers wasn't facing huge cuts. Looks Southern-centric

Considering that a manufacturer has never been announced for Project Horizon, no.

The dimensions of both projects are also different.

If it weren't for both projects featuring a shed, we wouldn't even be entertaining this discussion.

As for the shed, if the Resorts have plans to become all year around attractions, as has been consistently suggested and hinted, then investing in indoor attractions makes sense.

 

[Matt N]

Attraction Source have found Intamin mentioned in the planning documents. Surely this is Horizon plans moved from Towers to Chessington? As long as we get the superior model I don't mind just wish Towers wasn't facing huge cuts. Looks Southern-centric

We never knew that Horizon is/was to be manufactured by Intamin; that was purely enthusiast hearsay.

All we know/knew about Horizon was that a big building was to be built in Coaster Corner. We didn’t know the contents of that building at all. We could make a reasonable inference that it was likely to be a roller coaster based on the dimensions and comments made in the application, but exact manufacturers/types is nothing other than hearsay and suggestions.

The biggest smoking gun for me that this isn’t “Horizon moved to Chessington” is that this has an outdoor section, whereas Horizon didn’t. The building dimensions are totally different.

 

[Towers4ever]

Maybe yes maybe too obvious to draw the conclusion. Resorts open longer and being resorts means more indoor attractions which can bolster the Xmas offerings

 

[ChrisAChats]

No idea if this was supposed to be for Alton originally. The largest evidence for me that it may have been are the public surveys, shared on this forum, that showed Minecraft proposal for Alton Towers before a CWOA one.

I think it may have even shown the location of the potential Minecraft area as near Dungeon etc. I believe the actual pictures/scans of the survey were taken down at the request of the owner.

Common sense suggests it’s completely plausible that a switch happened, but we are unlikely to find out for certain anytime soon.

Also on the £Xx million investment front. They are likely including the licensing fee in that when trying to get to the largest number for a press release.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

he largest evidence for me that it may have been are the public surveys, shared on this forum, that showed Minecraft proposal for Alton Towers before a CWOA one.

The survey was A/B tested. Half of the surveyed saw Alton Towers, the other half saw Chessington World of Adventures.

Minecraft was always going to be Chessington World of Adventures, over Alton Towers. Project Horizon had already submitted planning permission documents before the consumer research, through Branded Surveys, was commissioned too.

 

[ChrisAChats]

I don’t have the same inside information as you obviously.

If you’re saying it as a fact, that’s fine.

It would be very weird to come up for a concept for Alton Towers in relative detail just to A/B test it for no particular reason. Usually in marketing (where I work) you A/B test to decide which option to go with.

If you know that factually, then please confirm.

 

[Dave]

It’s clear the ride itself has not been taken from Horizon as the dimensions are completely wrong, it’s possible they considered the theme for Horizon and we will never know for sure but that doesn’t mean any delay to horizon is because they have moved the project to Chessie. Merlin will have multiple design streams running for all their projects.

Big companies like Merlin can always move ideas around, they seem however, to have seen potential in Chessington becoming a bit of an IP filled park. If I’m honest I am happy with that and would rather Towers had unique themes but that’s just me.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

I don’t have the same inside information as you obviously.

If you’re saying it as a fact, that’s fine.

It would be very weird to come up for a concept for Alton Towers in relative detail just to A/B test it for no particular reason. Usually in marketing (where I work) you A/B test to decide which option to go with.

If you know that factually, then please confirm.

No inside information. I took part in the survey and was shown the Chessington World of Adventures layout, as was @Matt.GC

I have a Branded Surveys account and this is the second survey that came up. I got the Chessington one.

There are plenty of reasons to A/B test, one of which is to choose between two options; you could have a bias of one option over another, and just need some evidence to back it up; you can disregard the A/B test; or, likely in this scenario, you know it's going to get leaked and the location isn't the bit that matters.

When researching things, you also tend to have a control, or a dud.

Ultimately I don't know definitively why both Alton Towers and Chessington World of Adventures were being A/B tested, I can just take an educated guess. They were being A/B tested though, at the same time.

 

[ChrisAChats]

Fair enough if you’re having an educated guess.

If you wanted an A/B control (or ‘dud’) in this scenario it would make more sense to use a different brand, rather than a different park. I don’t know, Animal Crossing land or an original non IP. Prove that Minecraft is worth the £Xm a year. Not sure what scores for the same proposal at two theme parks would help you decide if you had already made that location choice as suggested.

Nobody is suggesting this would be the exact same ride. It’s a different available space, so obviously wouldn’t be a drag and drop. Can’t remember the last time we had an indoor coaster from Merlin in the UK though, so some coincidence there if suddenly they wanted two.

There’s a chance they had a situation like Saw at Thorpe Park. That attraction was designed, permission granted, etc before the IP came along. They decided at a late stage to add an IP to help market and increase ROI potential.


Maybe they are completely unique projects. I just didn’t want to jump to conclusions because I’ve not seen anything definitive apart from assumptions based on timelines.

Am I right in thinking this new CWOA coaster is in essence, the same coaster type as Thirteen? I saw something from the recent expo that suggested it was.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

If you wanted an A/B control (or ‘dud’) in this scenario it would make more sense to use a different brand, rather than a different park. I don’t know, Animal Crossing land or an original non IP. Prove that Minecraft is worth the £Xm a year. Not sure what scores for the same proposal at two theme parks would help you decide if you had already made that location choice as suggested.

A different brand would require the appropriate licence to use for the survey. A fake IP, similar to a made up park, would be too contrasting and wouldn't lead to real measurable results.

The survey was most likely to confirm the preference of the IP at the park it was intended for. They had a hunch, but considering the cost involved of licencing the IP, they needed some form of research to back it up / get permission from the board.

Planning permission for Project Horizon was also submitted almost two years before the Branded Surveys survey, and two years before the announcement of Project Refresh and Play.

 

[ChrisAChats]

A different brand would require the appropriate licence to use for the survey. A fake IP, similar to a made up park, would be too contrasting and wouldn't lead to real measurable results.

The survey was most likely to confirm the preference of the IP at the park it was intended for. They had a hunch, but considering the cost involved of licencing the IP, they needed some form of research to back it up / get permission from the board.

Planning permission for Project Horizon was also submitted almost two years before the Branded Surveys survey, and two years before the announcement of Project Refresh and Play.

You can use brands in a private survey. Brands don’t have to be consulted to run research on them. Sounds like your suggestion is just a guess, and that’s fine as a speculation forum.

Yes the Alton submission was years ago. All the more likely they have pivoted and using some of the developed plans? As suggested I don’t think Alton’s project Horizon started with an IP, but they were possibly asked to procure one like other projects (as mentioned above). We don’t know.

You seemed confident in your opinion and did not want to not consider any other scenario. I mistakingly thought this was intel. Apologies.

Looking forward to taking my little one on this in about 3 years!

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

You can use brands in a private survey. Brands don’t have to be consulted to run research on them.

If you're going to use someone's registered trademark, their intellectual property, or their copyrighted material for public research (or really anything), you absolutely need their permission and consultation. The only exceptions in this country, are for valid critique or review.

 

[Towers4ever]

Reading in-between the lines no-one has the definitive answer (nor should they) and if both Towers and Chessington are getting a huge investment that's surely win win even if you're not in to the IP?

Horizon was a plan years ago but Wild Asia retheme I read has been on the cards since 2021. Can't recall where I saw it but around the same time Jumanji and Hyperia were being floated the board at Chessington ran Thorpe too and apparently these ideas were on display somewhere. I assume one of the big sites mentioned this years and years ago, probably AS, Buzz or a Thorpe fan site.

Plans change. Jumanji is a good addition and Hyperia is a top coaster. If Towers can get more than just a Top Spin and Chessington get an Intamin then that's a good start for the next few years before you know who start building

 

[Matt N]

To be fair, I also think that Chessington deserve to get the lion's share of the investment given that Jumanji was their first big new thing in absolutely years. From the late 1990s/early 2000s until very recently, it was pretty neglected in terms of large-scale CAPEX investment into new attractions, so I guess the double threat of Jumanji followed by Minecraft is making up for lost time, in a way.

 

[Towers4ever]

Good to see any park get investment but Chessington especially looks run down in areas and whilst it's lost some of its original themed USP the injection of IP is nothing new (Penguins of Madagascar anyone!?) and large scale investment is massively needed

Read that each project was 'russian dolls' and would double the last so with Jumanji 17m and Waterpark pushing 35m that means the next project would be 70m and that sort of rings true if Chessington is getting the bulk of the 80-90m mentioned (10-20m to the midway)

Don't play the game myself but if it's done to a Super Mario standard, and Microsoft won't suffer fools, then it could be a real earner especially merchandise (the shop almost as big as the ride)

If Chessington impress Sony and Microsoft that's two massive brands they may convince to keep investing and expanding

 

[ChrisAChats]

The plans for the areas, alongside the water park etc, show they are into the park for the long term.

Seem to have a solid plan for the target audience too. Not trying to please everyone, just sticking with full on family day out stuff.

 

[Bowser]

Am I right in thinking this new CWOA coaster is in essence, the same coaster type as Thirteen? I saw something from the recent expo that suggested it was.

Don't think there's any concrete information in that regard but educated guesses based on what we do know would suggest something very similar to Movie Park Studio Tour in Germany.

 

[Skyscraper]

Don't think there's any concrete information in that regard but educated guesses based on what we do know would suggest something very similar to Movie Park Studio Tour in Germany.

Actually it's more likely to be similar to Uncharted at PortAventura in my opinion, going by the plans.

 

[Towers4ever]

Don't forget the world's first - what can they do at Chessington that hasn't been done at Movie Park Studio Tour or Uncharted? Launch? Tilt? Rotate? Drop? Rise?

Genuinely intrigued