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GooseOnTheLoose
TS Member
Amusingly not what I encountered on Saturday, weird!Was there today. Vampire, Mandrill, Dragon and Rattlesnake were all down at points. Will settle for 1 working coaster.
Bowser
TS Member
Amusingly not what I encountered on Saturday, weird!
The rain was fairly biblical today.
Mandrill broke when we were seated on it and got to watch the engineers fix it, which consisted of 2 people walking along the train spraying what looked like Cillit Bang. Did the trick.
George W
TS Member
Everything seemed to be running fine on Sunday only delay for us was on dragons fury for 10 minutes which we queued for 93 minutes (advertised 45) from near the queue line shop, they were letting an insane amount of reserve and riders on, same with mandrill mayhem so we only used single rider for that one.
Vampire however on 2 trains was absolutely eating the queue, never really stopped moving, compare to Thorpe park today and we had trains to ourselves on 2 occasions
only trade off was the weather.
Vampire however on 2 trains was absolutely eating the queue, never really stopped moving, compare to Thorpe park today and we had trains to ourselves on 2 occasions

GooseOnTheLoose
TS Member
The queue for Mandrill Mayhem must be awful today. They've pulled out the big guns and activated the emergency extended queue line, closing the M25 between Junctions 9 and 10 just to accommodate it.
Who decided that a shuttle coaster was a good idea?
Who decided that a shuttle coaster was a good idea?
Matt N
TS Member
I know your post was likely in jest, but according to the app, the queue is surprisingly at only 10 minutes at this precise moment in time.The queue for Mandrill Mayhem must be awful today. They've pulled out the big guns and activated the emergency extended queue line, closing the M25 between Junctions 9 and 10 just to accommodate it.
Who decided that a shuttle coaster was a good idea?
Rattlesnake is also on only 15, with Dragon’s Fury being on 45 and Vampire being on 80. Vampire is the only thrill ride above an hour.
It!s either a very quiet or very well-operated day at Chessington, by the looks of things!
GooseOnTheLoose
TS Member
Or the M25 is closed between Junctions 9 and 10 for the weekend.It!s either a very quiet or very well-operated day at Chessington, by the looks of things!
Visited Chessington for the first time in a few weeks (mainly due to not being able to get RAP slots, but that is another matter), and a few takeaways were:
1) The blue badge parking spaces that had been lost due to installing EV chargers are available again now the work has finished.
2) For the RAP queue for Vampire there is now a member of staff just at the top of the steps scanning the passes. For the RAP queue for Dragons Fury there is a member of staff scanning the passes as you enter the queue now - this is new from our last visit.
3) The new queue system for Tiger Rock still makes no sense. It didn't seem to matter which side you went down, the member of staff was just putting each group in a separate boat. Worked for us as we went down the 4 or more side and got on before 3 or 4 groups that were originally in front of us. But what is the point of this if they are just putting every group in separate boats regardless of size?
4) First ride on Tomb Blaster this year, didn't noticed anything obvious not working but that may have been more down to trying to thrash family members
. Dispatch was very slow, we went down the main queue as we were waiting for RAP to count down so couldn't book anything and the queue was stated as 5 minutes, but it was no way 5 minutes. It felt like it was taking the 5 minutes to get one train out, I don't know the ins and outs but why it takes so long to get people off, people on and the train going is beyond me.
5) RAP actually worked well, pretty much straight on with all rides we used it on, and that is fairly unusual for Vampire, Mandrill, Tiger Rock, Dragons Fury, & Gruffalo to name a few. The caveat to this was that the park for a warm Sunday was quite quiet, I assume down to the M25 closure and people choosing BBQ's over theme park maybe. Still waiting to experience the new system on a rammed day.
Anyway, just our observations.
1) The blue badge parking spaces that had been lost due to installing EV chargers are available again now the work has finished.
2) For the RAP queue for Vampire there is now a member of staff just at the top of the steps scanning the passes. For the RAP queue for Dragons Fury there is a member of staff scanning the passes as you enter the queue now - this is new from our last visit.
3) The new queue system for Tiger Rock still makes no sense. It didn't seem to matter which side you went down, the member of staff was just putting each group in a separate boat. Worked for us as we went down the 4 or more side and got on before 3 or 4 groups that were originally in front of us. But what is the point of this if they are just putting every group in separate boats regardless of size?
4) First ride on Tomb Blaster this year, didn't noticed anything obvious not working but that may have been more down to trying to thrash family members
5) RAP actually worked well, pretty much straight on with all rides we used it on, and that is fairly unusual for Vampire, Mandrill, Tiger Rock, Dragons Fury, & Gruffalo to name a few. The caveat to this was that the park for a warm Sunday was quite quiet, I assume down to the M25 closure and people choosing BBQ's over theme park maybe. Still waiting to experience the new system on a rammed day.
Anyway, just our observations.
AT86
TS Member
Doesn’t look like these are the originals, or perhaps they use some parts of the originals? But the chandeliers are going back into the Vampire station. Can’t say I saw that one coming.
From: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C69D3n8ImyW/?igsh=aGVkeTJmenc0bThv
From: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C69D3n8ImyW/?igsh=aGVkeTJmenc0bThv
Johnny Rocket
TS Member
Very unexpected, great news! Only took them about 10 years. It looks like the candle/actual light parts are the originals but the main circular shape holding them are new.
Trooper Looper
TS Member
I didn't think I'd ever see this day come, but wow!! So good to see them being reinstalled. I remember going on Vampire back in 2022, and always thought the station was a bit empty, so hopefully this will rectify that! All they need to do now is get the original music back in and maybe some cobwebs scattered in the station!
From: https://youtu.be/B9Bs1frc7Sg?si=SXnLU2swqJFNJQJb
From: https://youtu.be/B9Bs1frc7Sg?si=SXnLU2swqJFNJQJb
The_bup
TS Member
I didn't think I'd ever see this day come, but wow!! So good to see them being reinstalled. I remember going on Vampire back in 2022, and always thought the station was a bit empty, so hopefully this will rectify that! All they need to do now is get the original music back in and maybe some cobwebs scattered in the station!
From: https://youtu.be/B9Bs1frc7Sg?si=SXnLU2swqJFNJQJb
Speaking of which… so did that play in the station originally? Because there is a version on Graham’s bandcamp, which seems to be quite different up until the bit with the choir. I’ve heard other versions where the choir section sounds different too.
I’m guessing this has something to do with the vekoma refurb? But then why would Graham mash two versions together?
Well gang, looks like we got a mystery on our hands. Or I’m stupid.
The_bup
TS Member
So of course you have the ‘original’ version aforementioned:
From: https://youtu.be/ABE3QJMheCA?si=-KN6aWTBo0xMEfGV
But there’s also this version, which I can guess might be after the vekoma refurb:
From: https://youtu.be/UIBoQ0x7o1w?si=6M6R5eCx3k31Wzrn
So then why has Graham smart mashed two version together;
From: https://graham-smart.bandcamp.com/track/the-chessington-vampire
So which ones actually played at all?
From: https://youtu.be/ABE3QJMheCA?si=-KN6aWTBo0xMEfGV
But there’s also this version, which I can guess might be after the vekoma refurb:
From: https://youtu.be/UIBoQ0x7o1w?si=6M6R5eCx3k31Wzrn
So then why has Graham smart mashed two version together;
From: https://graham-smart.bandcamp.com/track/the-chessington-vampire
So which ones actually played at all?
Trooper Looper
TS Member
Is anyone on site today? I'm curious if the new chandeliers are already up.
Blackhole_Sun
TS Member
They are up. I’ve seen a post on Facebook.Is anyone on site today? I'm curious if the new chandeliers are already up.
Will be there Friday for the behind the scenes experience.
Johnny Rocket
TS Member
The chandeliers are now up with black fabric hiding the new metal truss work. Looks great!
From: https://x.com/vekomavampire/status/1790804758002872456?s=46
From: https://x.com/vekomavampire/status/1790804758002872456?s=46