• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Chessington World of Adventures Resort

On another note; now the Jumanji tie in is in the public eye and I’ve had a fair amount of time to process this investment, I have some definite thoughts about it. I’ll look at this from a balanced viewpoint and express what I feel are some positives and negatives.
Positives
  • Investment in Chessington is never a bad thing. And £17m is huge for Chessington; I wouldn’t mind betting that that is equal to, if not more than, the overall new attraction CAPEX at Chessington over the last 5-10 years. ZUFARI cost less than £10m (I seem to remember £8m being quoted as a figure) as did Gruffalo (not sure on this, but I remember £3m coming from somewhere) and Croc Drop (£2.5m), and I’m struggling to think of anything else major that’s happened at Chessington in the last 10 years other than those 3. With that in mind, a £17m investment is big news for Chessington! I know that inflation likely makes £17m worth slightly less than it would have been in the past, but nonetheless, it’s very big money in Chessington terms!
  • This will provide a new major attraction to help disperse crowds a bit more. While people argue that Alton Towers lacks filler, I’d argue that Chessington has the opposite problem; they are very saturated with filler and lack major e-tickets, and rides that would be considered filler in other theme parks currently masquerade as major rides at Chessington for this reason. This should go some way towards improving the balance, and helping the park ease its alleged queue problems. This is not replacing anything, this is adding capacity to the park, and quite significant capacity at that. The coaster has an alleged capacity of 720pph, and the flat rides will allegedly be capable of 600pph each, so this land will add an overall theoretical capacity of 1,920pph to the park. That’s not an insignificant number by any means, and should hopefully go some way towards easing the overcrowding burden at Chessington.
  • Building upon my previous point, I’m glad for the inclusion of supporting flat rides. These should help ease the burden on the major coaster and ensure that the park continues to have a wide variety of things to do.
  • Whatever you think of B&M in the current climate of the industry, a park building one is undeniably a pretty big status symbol. And when that park is Chessington, which I would never have pegged as getting a B&M in a million years, it’s hard for me not to be excited! Putting aside the specifics, this is a B&M at Chessington; what an exciting prospect!
  • Delving more into the ride itself; Wing Coasters a great ride type, and I definitely think this could have a lot of potential to be a good ride. Whilst I’m not expecting Swarm, it could function well as more of a starting thrill coaster for the park, and it looks as though it will add a really good ride for the older children and thrillseekers coming to the park, which it could be argued that Chessington currently doesn’t have many of.
  • I think Jumanji is a very strong choice of IP. The last film came out in 2019, there is another film in development, and the franchise as a whole has made £2billion; it’s very much still in the public conscious. Heck, I seem to remember hearing that the last film alone made more at the box office than all of the Saw films put together, and Thorpe Park has made a great success out of Saw The Ride for the last 13 years! I also think that this IP fits Chessington very well; even if the tie-in does go down like a lead balloon in the years to come (I don’t think it will, but you need to consider the possibility), the land could be quite easily retooled into a generic jungle land that would suit Chessington’s brand identity and demographic down to the ground. I have great faith that this IP tie-in is a fantastic decision by Merlin that should do very well!
  • The theming of this area looks phenomenal; the 55ft Tiger Shrine will surely be very impressive, and the planning application showed some other really nice touches as well!
Negatives
  • I do wonder whether the 720pph capacity of the coaster was what Chessington needed. The park has well documented capacity struggles, and this will be a major attraction themed to a big ticket IP, so it will inevitably get high demand. Will a 720pph theoretical throughput be enough to handle that demand? The supporting flats could help with this, in fairness, but I reckon the coaster, as the headline attraction of the area, will receive the bulk of the demand.
  • If I were to cast a slightly more critical eye upon the coaster layout, I’d argue that it doesn’t appear to play to the strengths of the Wing Coaster ride type very much. The things I feel that Swarm (the only Wing Coaster I’ve done) does well, such as the awesome sense of speed, the great near misses, and the awesome floaty inversions don’t appear to be channeled here very much. I’m open to surprises and very willing to be proven wrong, but that’s my current thought.
  • As much as I love B&M and am very excited to see Chessington working with them, part of me is slightly sceptical as to whether they were the right fit for the park and this particular project. Reviews of rides like Dæmonen at Tivoli Gardens suggest that compact, small scale rides like this one are not B&M’s forte, particularly when big trains like the Wing Coaster trains are used. I do wonder if another manufacturer and ride type could have provided something more worthwhile for Chessington with greater versatility, wider appeal (I imagine another manufacturer could have made the height restriction lower than 1.4m) and slightly more “bang for buck”. I’m very willing to be proven wrong, but that’s just my current thought.
Questions I Have
  • In spite of my negative above about capacity, I do wonder if Chessington is hiding something here that will make the coaster higher capacity than it appears to be at first glance. Merlin have hidden things from planning applications before (remember Smiler’s missing 6 inversions?), and not everything said in past planning applications has ended up true (What happened to Wicker Man’s “silent magnetic lift system”? That lift hill has to be one of the loudest I’ve ever stood by…), so it wouldn’t necessarily be unheard of. The ride has a maintenance shed, which coasters running only 1 train don’t normally have. One of the key pillars of B&M’s design ethos is high capacity, and I’d be surprised to see them betray that. John Wardley recently stated in a TowersTimes Q&A that he was impressed with how B&M had “solved the shuttle coaster capacity problem” with Chessington’s ride, which I feel is an interesting comment to make when this ride, which is being pegged at 720pph with a 24-rider train, has lower capacity than the regular Vekoma Boomerang (760pph with a 28-rider train) and the Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerang (870pph with a 32-rider train), two fairly commonplace shuttle coaster types. Given that Wardley has not shied away from criticising sub par capacity on rides in the past, I found his comment intriguing. Could B&M have invented some genius technology that allows the ride to run 2 trains?
  • I also wonder whether a lower height restriction may be in store. I’ve heard rumblings that this ride will be a “Family Wing Coaster” rather than a regular Wing Coaster, which could suggest that different seating and a lower height restriction could potentially be in store. Some Legolands are also building Family Wing Coasters, and I’d be very surprised if Lego permitted anything with a 1.4m height restriction to be built in their parks.
But on the whole, I think this is a really positive step for Chessington, and I look forward to seeing what it’s like!
P.S. I know I contradict myself a fair few times, but I should say that I am in two minds about certain aspects of this investment, so some contradiction is inevitable!
 
Last edited:
Couldn't agree more, not that I've been in half a century, but this might even get me to go again.
But what worries me more Rick, why do you hold prejudice against plant pots?
Some of my best friends are plant pots.
You hold terracotta in low esteem?
Second this
 
It's already on the way out. In a few years we end up with an area themed to films that nobody has cared about for a long time, same as Angry Birds land still kicking about long after anyone still played the game, or DBGT opening arguably after Derren Brown was last considered famous. If they'd opened this land back when it was relevant instead of four years after the last movie (and with a third still not even confirmed to definitely be happening), I'd have no complaints.

No need for the personal insult either, there are better ways to respond to someone not liking a choice made by a family theme park.
You're right, a far better way to respond would be to refer you to your own post from less than six months ago.

At least it's an IP that will still be popular by the time Merlin open their attractions based on it, as I imagine the next film will come out around summer 2024.
 
The Jumanji IP is absolutely fine, it’s a film franchise that has spanned nearly 30 years and the last films where incredibly popular. I am sad that Merlin seem to have given up on being original with their major projects but if they have to have an IP this one is a good one.

As for the ride, it looks dull, low capacity and will likely be too visually intimidating for younger guests who are Chessington target audience, and the park could almost certainly have got more ride for their money with a different shuttle coaster, so I do think the investment is a little flawed but that’s nothing to do with the IP.
 
  • This is not replacing anything, this is adding capacity to the park, and quite significant capacity at that. The coaster has an alleged capacity of 720pph, and the flat rides will allegedly be capable of 600pph each, so this land will add an overall theoretical capacity of 1,920pph to the park. That’s not an insignificant number by any means
...
  • I do wonder whether the 720pph capacity of the coaster was what Chessington needed. The park has well documented capacity struggles, and this will be a major attraction themed to a big ticket IP, so it will inevitably get high demand. Will a 720pph theoretical throughput be enough to handle that demand? The supporting flats could help with this, in fairness, but I reckon the coaster, as the headline attraction of the area, will receive the bulk of the demand.
That's... OK I know you confirmed that you'd contradicted yourself, but this is severe contradiction lol
 
None of the information "leaked" or "hinted" by any fansites is interesting or matters to your day out at Chessington anyway
 
Last edited by a moderator:
World-of-Jumanji-Jaguar-Shrine-Press-Images.jpg

world-of-jumanji-entrance-portal-press-images.jpg
*sigh* I'm not surprised, but still...
 
...

That's... OK I know you confirmed that you'd contradicted yourself, but this is severe contradiction lol
I am in two minds about the capacity, and I will digress that I am struggling to make my mind up a tad.

I was trying to refer to two different things when talking about the capacity positive and the capacity negative. I apologise if that wasn’t clear, and I definitely understand why you’d think these two points contradict each other, as I think I worded my response poorly, but I was trying to talk about two slightly different things, even if I didn’t execute it that well.

On one hand, I’m glad that this is adding to the overall park capacity. 1,920pph as an overall addition to capacity is not insignificant, and should help to ease crowds on an overall basis in the long run. When looking at this addition from the standpoint of the overall park, I think this capacity addition should work well. It should reduce strain on the park’s other rides and make queues more bearable across the park on average.

On the other hand, I do wonder whether the headline attraction in isolation will have enough capacity to deal with the demand it will inevitably get. I maintain that 1,920pph is not an insignificant addition to overall park capacity, but I do wonder if this addition would have worked better had the coaster had a capacity of 1,320pph and there had only been one 600pph flat. The net capacity gain would be the same, but the headline attraction would have better queue shifting capability, which would really help it deal with the demand it will get as a headline attraction. I do wonder whether 720pph will be a high enough capacity for the headline coaster in isolation, as it will inevitably get high demand compared to the other two; even if the capacity addition should be beneficial to the overall park, as it should reduce the strain on the other rides, I have my doubts about whether the capacity is sufficient for the headline coaster on its own to deal with the demand it will get, at least in the short term. I’d imagine that the coaster will get vastly higher demand than the two flat rides, so I do wonder whether it should have had higher capacity.

Am I making any more sense? Or have I dug myself a deeper hole?
 
As much as I’d wish merlin had come up with their own theme I don’t mind the Jumanji ip, I enjoy the new films, the idea fits in well with chessington in general, and once the ip contract is finished they can change it to a generic jungle/rainforest theme with little effort. Just hope they don’t ever give the giant jaguar the Dragon Falls treatment.

The biggest let down for me, is that this coaster is looking to have a 1.4 restriction. I don’t know what Merlin are thinking if that really is the case. In a world where there are now so many options when it comes to family-thrill coasters, with a wide variety of height restrictions, I think Merlin could have done better with this one. One of the reasons I’m so fond of Vampire is because my family can go on it together (as well as it being a good coaster). I guess time will tell but I won’t get to experience this ride with my family group for ages. It’ll be solo rides for me and my partner as long as queues aren’t ridiculous (maybe they will put in a single rider line, that would be useful).
 
Last edited:
My big question with this coaster is what does it actually do? We know it’s going to be a launched shuttle coaster and we can see the big helix and the spike but what other elements are there to it? It’s going to be a bit boring if that’s all there is to it.

However, I do wonder if maybe something is being kept back from us. We’ve seen before with The Smiler how Merlin like to hold back revealing some aspects of the ride. Given that the ride has a height restriction of 1.4m is there any kind of possibility that it could have something like axis seat element to it? Probably not, but it does seem a little strange for Chessington to build a coaster with that height limit, low throughput, and bland looking layout unless there is some kind of interesting twist somewhere.
 
Last edited:
My big question with this coaster is what does it actually do? We know it’s going to be a launched shuttle coaster and we can see the big helix and the spike but what other elements are there to it? It’s going to be a bit boring if that’s all there is to it.

However, I do wonder if maybe something is being kept back from us. We’ve seen before with The Smiler how Merlin like to hold back revealing some aspects of the ride. Given that the ride has a height restriction of 1.4m is there any kind of possibility that it could have something like axis seat element to it? Probably not, but it does seem a little strange for Chessington to build a coaster that that height limit, low throughout, and bland looking layout unless there is some kind of interesting twist somewhere.
Only other notable element is a roll.
 
The Smiler is often used as an example of Merlin ‘holding back surprises’ but remember this is due to the specific set of circumstances around the location of that ride. The rollercoaster portion did not require planning consent, due to the rules at Alton Towers. So technically they didn’t have to show any of the coaster in the plans at all - it was the station that needed planning permission.

However they decided to include rough coaster plans to show the wider context of why they wanted to build that big ugly concrete box. Of course the added element was that they could keep their plans for the record inversion count quiet.

Chessington doesn’t operate under the same rules and I don’t think they have the flexibility to do anything like they did with The Smiler’s application. In terms of the track layout, what they got permission for, is what will be built.
 
My big question with this coaster is what does it actually do? We know it’s going to be a launched shuttle coaster and we can see the big helix and the spike but what other elements are there to it? It’s going to be a bit boring if that’s all there is to it.

However, I do wonder if maybe something is being kept back from us. We’ve seen before with The Smiler how Merlin like to hold back revealing some aspects of the ride. Given that the ride has a height restriction of 1.4m is there any kind of possibility that it could have something like axis seat element to it? Probably not, but it does seem a little strange for Chessington to build a coaster that that height limit, low throughout, and bland looking layout unless there is some kind of interesting twist somewhere.
My guess is:
  • Initially launches forwards out of the station, but doesn’t quite make it up the first curve.
  • Launches backwards through the station so it can go up the spike on the other side of the station, but not quite make it to the top.
  • Launches forwards with more velocity so that it makes it round the course.
  • Goes through in-line twist.
  • Curves down into second launch.
  • Twists around helix, but doesn’t quite make it to the top.
  • Repeat in reverse.
As for the unique element, I think the winged seating fills that role here. There’s never been a shuttle wing coaster before.
 
My guess is:
  • Initially launches forwards out of the station, but doesn’t quite make it up the first curve.
  • Launches backwards through the station so it can go up the spike on the other side of the station, but not quite make it to the top.
  • Launches forwards with more velocity so that it makes it round the course.
  • Goes through in-line twist.
  • Curves down into second launch.
  • Twists around helix, but doesn’t quite make it to the top.
  • Repeat in reverse.
As for the unique element, I think the winged seating fills that role here. There’s never been a shuttle wing coaster before.

But what does that add? Other than the pop of floating you get on a shuttle Swarm down the road is going to do everything a wing coaster does better than this.

It seems oddly over engineered, there are any number of more interesting things they could have done as a shuttle coaster, such as a Mack extreme spinner or a vekoma launch coaster.
 
Top