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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

The website desgin has been updated:
http://www.chessington.com/

It contains info about Azteca, and some concept art for the restaurant and Savanna Splash.

In the website update, the new map has been released, using the same design as before but with edits, quite a few edits!
http://www.chessington.com/downloads/map/chessington-2014-gatemap.pdf

Notice the layout of the west side of the Zoo has changed massively, and how Zufari has been shrunken down. The pathway from Dragons Fury to Mystic East/Forbidden Kingdom has gone. Look out for the mascots, Prof Burp is one of them!!!

It also looks like a compass in the centre of Market Square, but it is mostly hidden. :/ The only issue I have is that it looks very cramped, especially around Scorpion Express and Amazu. Still a lot better than getting a new design. This is probably the only actually useful map design Merlin ever use.
 
Still advertising the old Buddha heads though...

They've actually gotten rid of the entire pathway that led around the monkey garden... Hopefully the redesign will make it a lot easier to walk through at a fair pace then...
 
There has been BIG changes in ticketing too (http://www.chessington.com/plan/chessington-ticket-prices.aspx).

there are no longer family tickets, just a discount if you buy any two tickets, or single adult/child tickets.

I would think that the adult and child prices are intended for people using 2for1 vouchers (at £44/£37) then anyone else pays £33 per person if there is 2 or more.

There is also a new premium ticket including a meal, 1 fastrack and £5 spending money at £40 per person.


The new Amazu page shows that its mainly the bird enclosures that have gone to make room for the hotel extension, pretty much all of the monkey species are still there but no owls or birds of prey are listed.
 
Benzin said:
Still advertising the old Buddha heads though...

They've actually gotten rid of the entire pathway that led around the monkey garden... Hopefully the redesign will make it a lot easier to walk through at a fair pace then...
Click to expand...

You won't be able to walk through the whole monkey garden, most of it appears to have been replaced by the Amazu walkways?
 
The parks seemingly are trying their best to eradicate 241s - Chessington doing this pricing policy (note: You can get after 3pm tickets online for every day!) and Thorpes upgrade to annual pass policy.

Really, really interesting both of these. Wonder which one they'll eventually choose to go with
 
jon81uk said:
Benzin said:
Still advertising the old Buddha heads though...

They've actually gotten rid of the entire pathway that led around the monkey garden... Hopefully the redesign will make it a lot easier to walk through at a fair pace then...
Click to expand...

You won't be able to walk through the whole monkey garden, most of it appears to have been replaced by the Amazu walkways?
Click to expand...

It's quite clear on the map that you can still access Wanyama from that way, so you will be able to go through that way... It was awful trying to access it via Forbidden Kingdom, the park can't be THAT stupid to want it as a perm solution...
 
Benzin said:
jon81uk said:
Benzin said:
Still advertising the old Buddha heads though...

They've actually gotten rid of the entire pathway that led around the monkey garden... Hopefully the redesign will make it a lot easier to walk through at a fair pace then...
Click to expand...

You won't be able to walk through the whole monkey garden, most of it appears to have been replaced by the Amazu walkways?
Click to expand...

It's quite clear on the map that you can still access Wanyama from that way, so you will be able to go through that way... It was awful trying to access it via Forbidden Kingdom, the park can't be THAT stupid to want it as a perm solution...
Click to expand...

I can see that there will be a path to Wanyama again, but what I meant is that it may or may not be quicker than the old path through the monkey garden as you may need to walk some of the Amazu high level walkways to get through?
 
So who else is going to the pass holder day tomorrow?

I've never been to one before - should I expect it to be busier or quieter than the usual weekends? I can't even find out if all the rides are open but assume it's a warm up so everything should be up and running.

Any pointers welcome!
 
RoyalFool said:
I've never been to one before - should I expect it to be busier or quieter than the usual weekends? I can't even find out if all the rides are open but assume it's a warm up so everything should be up and running.
Click to expand...
They're usually the same as most weekends. According to Facebook, only Amazu and Safari Skyway will be closed.
 
Scorpion Express looks amazing, fire, water and smoke effects much better than expected and not a let down like most think it would be.
 
Closed season updates and speculation are rubbish. Ever since the rise of social media, it's all too easy to make assumptions and judgements when nobody really knows what tricks the parks might have up their sleeve. Even from what I saw/heard from the park itself made this new ride sound rather naff.

Well, it turns out Scorpion Express is actually a lovely, crisp and refreshing ride at Chessington. The original design was still far more substantial, but from what I have seen the crooked old Calamity Canyon character has been retained and it looks so... tasty!

It just looks like a good old-fashioned Chessington-esque ride (with fire)! Simple as that really. Isn't it nice when things actually turn out alright?

Well done! :twirly:
 
Looks better than I was expecting! Nothing spectacular but pleasant.

EDIT:

In other news, Little George and Granville have now arrived at Chessie:

1544488_712310092143040_1369188360_n.jpg

Photo credit: Chessington Buzz

I'm looking forward to seeing them again later in the year!

:)
 
The scorpion 'centrepiece' looks really small and kinda pathetic...

Wasted opportunity somewhat, whilst the back town looks nice, it just seems to be yet another mish-mash of ideas thrown together in the old Merlin pot...
 
It's rather naff when you compare it to Runaway Train. Doesn't seem like much thought or imagination was put into the new theme...
 
It's not terrible by any stretch, but it's just "meh".

Actually thinking about it that could be Merlin's brand position...

... "Merlin Entertainments.... Just meh"
 
James said:
Doesn't seem like much thought or imagination was put into the new theme...
Click to expand...
Really? I guess it depends on how you compare it. Obviously they are not breaking new ground with this theme (the whole Runaway Train concept is decades old after all), but I think the scorpion motifs are a quirky spin that successfully jazz up the ride.

They could have depicted the scorpions as real creatures 'taking over' the area as you'd expect, but I like the surprise of having a giant mechanical arachnid instead. It's some creative thinking at least and adds an almost steampunk element to the ride.

Also, the effects aren't completely gratuitous as the promo material makes out. There are several little mist effects that are timed to the train passing and they all add animation. The fire also seems humorous rather than being purely to please the crowds. Yes, Merlin does humour!

It's a nice little package.

Some more photos showing the fantastic effort Chessington have made this year, from Theme UK.
 
It's a good concept, although nothing exciting in reality - it does look like they've done very little to bring the idea to reality. Much like many other Merlin Studio projects, there is a reliance on one main feature to hold the whole theme together. Take away the scorpion and you'd be left with nothing!

Don't get me wrong it does look good and probably looks far better in person that it does on picture and video. Although it's nothing exciting or immersive - especially when you compare it to the original rockwork.
 
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