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Enter Valhalla
TS Member
I seriously don't see why they have that pre-show if it's never going to be used on off peak days, it just makes the park look like such amateurs. I'd forgotten about the silly fiasco with the loading gates, yes I agree they're just a waste of time.
djtruefitt
TS Team
I don't really see the point in the pre-show, it holds up the queue, and adds nothing to the ride what so ever, infact it probably makes the ride worse due to how crap and laughable the pre-show is!
I wonder if anything will be done to the ride over closed season?
I wonder if anything will be done to the ride over closed season?
Enter Valhalla
TS Member
It really has been a let down. Delusions of it being akin to Disney's version really didn't turn out the way Merlin had planned. If the pre-show is indeed as bad as everyone seems to be suggesting, then I guess this area could be used to house a queue extention as when I went, despite the pre-show not being in use, for some reason a staff member was still holding people outside the theatre.
Really though, what I'd like to see is a pre-show which is of good quality and which actually operates every day of the season to make the ride more worth while. As for the ride, it needs more animals first and foremost and just scrap the strange storyline about going inside the cave, it makes little sense. And for goodness sake- just stop trying to be Disney!!! It's only going to end in disappointment. Chessington should make rides 'their own' by giving the character and creativity, rather than just trying to be something they're not and can't reasonably afford to be.
Really though, what I'd like to see is a pre-show which is of good quality and which actually operates every day of the season to make the ride more worth while. As for the ride, it needs more animals first and foremost and just scrap the strange storyline about going inside the cave, it makes little sense. And for goodness sake- just stop trying to be Disney!!! It's only going to end in disappointment. Chessington should make rides 'their own' by giving the character and creativity, rather than just trying to be something they're not and can't reasonably afford to be.
djtruefitt
TS Team
I really don't know why the ride needs a storyline or a ending. 99% of the guests are going on it to look at the animals, they could have spent all the money from the pre-show and finale on more animals and a longer ride.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
That's a good point about the pre-show. It definitely is not needed, it's a safari ride, that's pretty self explanatory. I suppose they thought that it would make the whole experience more immersive which I can understand but they money would have been better spent elsewhere.
I do quite like the story element once you are on the ride though. It does add that extra element a little like Rhino Rally did at BGT; although obviously Rhino Rally before it was modified was far far better than Zufari. I think one of the main problems with the story in Zufari is that the finale is, well, crap. Nothing much really happens, it's a let down.
I do quite like the story element once you are on the ride though. It does add that extra element a little like Rhino Rally did at BGT; although obviously Rhino Rally before it was modified was far far better than Zufari. I think one of the main problems with the story in Zufari is that the finale is, well, crap. Nothing much really happens, it's a let down.
Benzin
TS Member
What story?
The references to the markings are fleeting at best, the whole ride is an example to the world how not to design a ride...
They really should've just marketed it as a safari attraction and nothing more... If Disney decided that the story on Kilimanjaro wasn't working, Chessie weren't going to make it work...
The pre-show is just awful... As much as I think Chase is a good idea, it's such a waste of time and money (and causes a fair amount of complaints due to 'queue-jumping' and the general way the exit area was designed... Why they didn't make a proper station building like the plans showed I have no idea... Would've been nicer than a pre-show so badly animated even the Brazilian Pixar rip-offs are embarrassed...
The references to the markings are fleeting at best, the whole ride is an example to the world how not to design a ride...
They really should've just marketed it as a safari attraction and nothing more... If Disney decided that the story on Kilimanjaro wasn't working, Chessie weren't going to make it work...
The pre-show is just awful... As much as I think Chase is a good idea, it's such a waste of time and money (and causes a fair amount of complaints due to 'queue-jumping' and the general way the exit area was designed... Why they didn't make a proper station building like the plans showed I have no idea... Would've been nicer than a pre-show so badly animated even the Brazilian Pixar rip-offs are embarrassed...
E
electricBlll
There are still infinitely better ways to start a ride experience than just playing people a video.
Perhaps on Zufari a video room would have been alright, since it could educate guests, in a fun way, on the animals they were about to see. Instead you get a forgettable "backstory" about African country which has just been discovered (by crossing a boardwalk behind Runaway Train of course) by a boring company called ACRE. There's nothing exciting let alone immersive about that, it's just the same formulaic approach that is used with most of Merlin's ride projects these days. The whole theme probably took 5 minutes to think of.
Gozey is funny but in the most unfortunate way.
The thing is, it shouldn't have been so hard for Zufari to turn out well. I think the truck tour itself is a great attraction to do in between the other, better rides. But the theme design is sterile and ordinary, like it's straight out of Merlin's build-your-own-ride kit. Whoever's creating these ideas, it's like they're too focussed on value analysis and theme park gimmicks to grasp what actually surprises and entertains people; which is very silly considering Chessington was once home to the most creative rides in the country.
Perhaps on Zufari a video room would have been alright, since it could educate guests, in a fun way, on the animals they were about to see. Instead you get a forgettable "backstory" about African country which has just been discovered (by crossing a boardwalk behind Runaway Train of course) by a boring company called ACRE. There's nothing exciting let alone immersive about that, it's just the same formulaic approach that is used with most of Merlin's ride projects these days. The whole theme probably took 5 minutes to think of.
Gozey is funny but in the most unfortunate way.
The thing is, it shouldn't have been so hard for Zufari to turn out well. I think the truck tour itself is a great attraction to do in between the other, better rides. But the theme design is sterile and ordinary, like it's straight out of Merlin's build-your-own-ride kit. Whoever's creating these ideas, it's like they're too focussed on value analysis and theme park gimmicks to grasp what actually surprises and entertains people; which is very silly considering Chessington was once home to the most creative rides in the country.
These are the only two I'd like to argue against.ILC said:
You're not MEANT to see them checking on the animals. I happened to ride when you could see someone checking on them, management were on the ride and they went ballistic about it. Yes, check up on the animals but don't be in sight of the guests. It ruins everything.
Single riders is not needed on anything ever. Just better operations would be.
John
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
A well operated SRQ on rides like Smiler and Rita should increase the total throughput, as it takes longer for staff to close the restraints than just check them.
A SRQ would be difficult on Zufari though - it would have to skip the pre-show to be effective, but I don't think there'd be as much demand for an SRQ at Chessington anyway due to the family audience.
A SRQ would be difficult on Zufari though - it would have to skip the pre-show to be effective, but I don't think there'd be as much demand for an SRQ at Chessington anyway due to the family audience.
CGM
TS Member
thefatone said:
As if that's the thing that would ruin the safari illusion and not the massive concrete giraffe house in the middle of the ride area.
I thought I would have a look at the pre-show on Youtube to see what all the fuss is about and it's a special kind of bad. The sparse, wooden clad room, the cheap outsourced animation with disturbing out of sync lip movements and a cringeworthy script. It's just awful and made for difficult viewing.
It's not only an embarrassment to Chessington but to the entire UK amusement industry. It's supposed to be 2013, that animation would have been seen as ropy even 10 years ago! The fact that it's at Chessington which is supposedly one of the country's premier parks shows how bad the state of the UK theme park industry is right now. As usual, Merlin have put the absolute minimum amount of effort / investment into a project as they can get away with.
What's perhaps saddest is that 20 years ago, the park would have almost certainly implemented the Zufari concept much better.
So yes, it turns out that any pre-show is not always better than no pre-show. I'm quite happy for as few people to see that as possible.
Benzin
TS Member
There is no point having a SRQ on Zufari as it is a ride for families to ride together... Who would actually use it? Enthusiasts? How many people go around Chessie by themselves? Zufari doesn't always have a stupidly long queue to warrant it (mainly because no-one went to Chessie this year)...
If a ride at Chessie needed one Fury would be ideal, but only because of the stupid 3 adult rule...
Not as if the staff can handle it without one anyway... The boarding procedures for Zufari are daft, as is the post-pre-show queue... Everything about it is just badly done...
In regards to the giraffe house, it's placement is actually good, as it means that the Giraffes are always near the truck's path... Considering the amount of space available (i.e. Zufari is on the park boundary), there weren't many options for that issue... Out of all the issues with Zufari, the actual safari portion of it (up to the tree and Danger Cave) isn't one of them...
If a ride at Chessie needed one Fury would be ideal, but only because of the stupid 3 adult rule...
Not as if the staff can handle it without one anyway... The boarding procedures for Zufari are daft, as is the post-pre-show queue... Everything about it is just badly done...
In regards to the giraffe house, it's placement is actually good, as it means that the Giraffes are always near the truck's path... Considering the amount of space available (i.e. Zufari is on the park boundary), there weren't many options for that issue... Out of all the issues with Zufari, the actual safari portion of it (up to the tree and Danger Cave) isn't one of them...
I've never witnessed Single Riders working well on smiler, unless you class dumping all the SRs into the loading bays as the turnaround has taken them too long and they've run out of main queue.John said:
As for Zufari animal house.. I'd prefer to see their house than see no house but keepers watching them. Everyone's perceptive isn't it. I don't need to physically see animal keepers to know they're being looked after.
Enter Valhalla
TS Member
The same reason they removed the very popular SRQs on Nemesis Inferno and Colossus.
I do remember one summer they had a SRQ on Tomb Blaster, which I think they implemented shortly after Fury's was removed. Sadly nobody, literally nobody, used it so it disappeared.
I do remember one summer they had a SRQ on Tomb Blaster, which I think they implemented shortly after Fury's was removed. Sadly nobody, literally nobody, used it so it disappeared.
jon81uk
TS Member
Zufari is a good effort but I agree that it could of been a lot better, a longer route for a start, take the trucks all the way up past the viewing platform in Wanyama, I don't care if you can see the trucks from the Wanyama area but the opportunity to see some of the animals from on and off the ride is good. The animal houses do feel a bit too close to the current truck route, but if the route was longer you wouldn't notice this as much (plus get to see more animals!).
If theyare going to do the cave finale they need to make sure it works 100% of the time, or have a back-up narration and route that by-passes it. When it works its not a bad ending.
Same goes for the pre-show, the reason it often fails is that British people aren't into audience participation as much as in the US, so unless Gozi works well and tries hard, people aren't interested and then if the character gives up trying then the audience are even less likely to play along.
I had a great trip on Zufari on a weekday when there was no queue, the truck parked up and we took a very slow trip, with an extended narration to match (compared to a busy day with a full queue). What let it down on the quieter day was that Gozi didn't seem to even try to give an interactive pre-show and only the sound was working in the cave, this is when a by-pass was probably needed! But on those busier days the cave adds extra capacity as can fit more trucks onto the track.
If theyare going to do the cave finale they need to make sure it works 100% of the time, or have a back-up narration and route that by-passes it. When it works its not a bad ending.
Same goes for the pre-show, the reason it often fails is that British people aren't into audience participation as much as in the US, so unless Gozi works well and tries hard, people aren't interested and then if the character gives up trying then the audience are even less likely to play along.
I had a great trip on Zufari on a weekday when there was no queue, the truck parked up and we took a very slow trip, with an extended narration to match (compared to a busy day with a full queue). What let it down on the quieter day was that Gozi didn't seem to even try to give an interactive pre-show and only the sound was working in the cave, this is when a by-pass was probably needed! But on those busier days the cave adds extra capacity as can fit more trucks onto the track.