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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

I think the issue with tomb blaster compared to duel with the lasers is the long gaps throughout the ride. With duel you are always moving and looking out for the lights to shoot. However tomb blaster has the stupid long pauses (where they used to be an actual story) where you just sit there shooting at the same lights with nothing happening.

I would those sections would be improved with some kind of story and lights to shoot, but they only appear at certain points, that way you don't get bored half way through.
 
This is precisely why I think Duel is still a good ride (even if it is not what it once was), while TB is utterly ruined. On Duel you can ignore the guns, try to ignore the LEDs, and still enjoy it. Whereas on 'Blaster, if you aren't distracted zapping LEDs... nothing happens. You just sit there for five minutes thinking, "man, I remember when Abdab used to do n at this point..."
 
^ I always thought that riding tomb blaster. I bet abdab felts the same when he was dumped into the vampire queue.

I hope with this money being spent that they sort out the dispatching of the ride, as it takes an age by the time you get into the clostaphobic room before getting on the train.
How far will £800,000 go in regards to a referb I don't know, but let's all hope it's a noticeable improvement. Maybe they could use a bit of money on improving the prison bars in the queue (sorry safety fence).
 
Doubt much will happen to the queue line after the accident a few years ago as much as I would like to see it improved.

Didn't realise the scale of this. You could do alot with £800,000. Wether Chessington will deliver the full potential of this though, I'm not sure. Sounds promising though, and at very least I hope they will fix broken effects, which will improve it alot.
 
According to a post on the Chessington Facebook page today, Staff at the preview weekend were saying that Bubbleworks is to close after the 2016 season.
 
MattyH said:
According to a post on the Chessington Facebook page today, Staff at the preview weekend were saying that Bubbleworks is to close after the 2016 season.
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:(:(:(
Please say this isn't true. One of the best dark rides in the country, even if it's a shadow of its former self. Hopefully chessington are turning it back into PBB, as was their (rumoured) plan a few years ago. Not reading too deeply into this, but would be a massive mistake for chessington to remove such a popular ride.

Also, chessington have just released a mobile app. Actually features a useful map for once, and fairly accurate queue times.
 
They need to rip it out and start again. No point trying to turn it back in to what it was, it wouldn't be the same.

They could keep the boat ride, but it needs a brand new theme. Shame tomb blast has had loads of money but it's still the same ride.
 
^Agreed, turning it back into Prof Burp is probably the WORST thing they could do, as they'd never be able to recapture the original spirit of the ride...
 
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Benzin said:
^Agreed, turning it back into Prof Burp is probably the WORST thing they could do, as they'd never be able to recapture the original spirit of the ride...
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Still be better than it is now. PBB2?

Think I would be to big a risk, to rip out a ride that's so popular. In a few years? Maybe. But now it often gets bigger queues than some newer rides.
 
I've just watched a POV of the updated Tomb Blaster and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. You can tell the targets are new and the audio is much better but other than that the changes are hard to see. Now the ride is coated in UV paint the scenes are now in near total darkness and you can't actually see half of the theming, although I could see enough to notice some of the effects such as the boulder were not working.

Although some areas look more aesthetically pleasing, I don't know where the supposedly huge budget has been spent.
 
siralgenon said:
I've just watched a POV of the updated Tomb Blaster and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. You can tell the targets are new and the audio is much better but other than that the changes are hard to see. Now the ride is coated in UV paint the scenes are now in near total darkness and you can't actually see half of the theming, although I could see enough to notice some of the effects such as the boulder were not working.

Although some areas look more aesthetically pleasing, I don't know where the supposedly huge budget has been spent.
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This goes to show how you should never judge from a video, as it becomes clear in person that the audio and lighting changes do quite the opposite of what you say here (still not a good thing). The new lighting is glaringly bright, lighting just as much back of house things like roofs, bare metal walls, fire exits, access points and damage than the sets. It's all UV LED so may not show up in a video like it does to the eye, but everything is bright purple. The sets look flat, homogeneous and bland with little variation of colour throughout (ironically the opposite of how Terror Tomb's lighting scheme was designed). The grander finale & fire pit scenes suit UV but are still way off the mark.

If they were going for a more ghosttrain-style fluorescent make over then it hasn't worked and hasn't been carried out appropriately. There is pretty much no sense of darkness at all in the ride now, it feels wrong and almost as if the working lights are on as you ride through a warehouse.

The audio is now missing all sound effects (the flying axes, snakes, mummy scream at the end, etc) and for technical reasons this cannot be fixed, unless more money is spent on new equipment after the originals were thrown out. There is now some ambiance mixed into the tracks as compensation but it's very harsh to the ear and could do with remixing.

A very unprofessional refurbishment, but not surprising since the only reason the ride was refurbished was to resolve some H&S and neglect issues, and that's where most the (relatively small, for Merlin) budget went to. The quality of the ride experience was clearly not prioritised.
 
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Leah said:
Still be better than it is now. PBB2?

Think I would be to big a risk, to rip out a ride that's so popular. In a few years? Maybe. But now it often gets bigger queues than some newer rides.
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Never said to rip it out, just redo the theming to something else that fits into the area with a kid friendly vibe... Of course it's popular cos everyone can ride and a lot of people still live off the quality of the original...

Any theme but an attempt to revisit Prof Burp...
 
Benzin said:
Never said to rip it out, just redo the theming to something else that fits into the area with a kid friendly vibe... Of course it's popular cos everyone can ride and a lot of people still live off the quality of the original...

Any theme but an attempt to revisit Prof Burp...
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Tbh, I'm not reading to much into it anyway. I doubt staff wold know that without Chessington officially announcing it. I know for a fact that it will close at the end of the 2016 season anyway... Just as it did last year, and the year before ;)
 
Chessington has began replying to those on facebook asking about th future of bubbleworks, an I have they say words like "re invent", "bring in New rides", "ongoing development", "sharing plans" and "New experiences" don't sound to me like it will be staying much longer :(
 
I don't want Professor Burp to come back. I loved the ride when I was a kid (and still do now), but it just wouldn't be the same. It shouldn't have been removed in the first place, but pandering to nostalgia won't do Chessington much favours.

To me, Bubbleworks died 10 years ago. Good riddance to when the Imperial Leather version when it goes.
 
It's like watching your loving pet slowly waste away; You just want to put it out of it's misery. :cry: It's time to take Ol' Chessy out the back of the barn and introduce him to Granpa's shotgun. :cry:
 
Unless they do something to improve it, it seems very likely to me Bubbleworks is a goner.

I rode it for the first time in a while yesterday and it is in a very sorry state indeed. The fountain finale is void of any theming, music or lighting. It literally just has the fountains in a brightly lit room with black peeling paint on the walls. You slowly get damp from the faulty fountains in a silent room with nothing to look at. Very depressing.
 
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