Chessington World of Adventures Resort

[Joel3]

Wild Asia is one of the very few areas that Merlin have got almost completely right in terms of theming and guest flow. I am a little bit apprehensive.

Same, its a bit weird replacing Wild Asia when its one of the best if not the best area in the park... Jungle Bus was only replaced a couple of years ago, and Monkey Swinger is still an excellent ride. This screams of Project Horizon to me, I wonder if its been moved from Alton to Chessington? Maybe Alton will get something different instead (flat rides please!)

 

[Blackhole_Sun]

Looks like Rattlesnake is staying by those plans?

100% confirmation that Scorpion is gone for good, although they still don’t have the balls to actually say it outright.

Wild Asia needs a bit of TLC but Kobra is absolutely clapped so it needs a refurb and retheme. Minecraft area?

 

[dave___]

The wild asia plans are all very box-like aren't they. Would fit in with a Minecraft theme and also allow Merlin to cheap out and use their favourite construction material of shipping crates all over everywhere too.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Surely if they are going for a minecraft coaster, it'd have to be a retheme of Rattlesnake?

 

[benpicko]

Interesting photo of the coaster -- hopefully this doesn't mean Project Horizon has been cancelled and moved here? I presume they're different plans as this has an outdoor element too.

 

[Matt N]

I’m going to take a stab that this isn’t a relocated Project Horizon purely on the basis that that ride didn’t have an outdoor element whereas this does.

In terms of what we can see; I’m thinking an Intamin Multidimensional Coaster could be on the cards here, personally. It would be a relatively good candidate for a mostly indoor coaster, and I’m also getting a strong Intamin vibe from that rendering of the outdoor track section…

 

[Danny]

Looks very Movie Park Tour-esque for the coaster?

 

[flyingguitar]

I am wondering on the manurfacture for the coaster, the track type can tell use some info (although it may not be that accurate as it is just plans) it looks like it obiously isn't RMC, GCI or any other wood type, it also looks like it isn't gerstlaur or mack (not turss track)

It could be a b&m like penguin trek as I can't tell if the track spine is a box or tube but also could be the intamin multidimension or vekoma but also could be premier rides (manurfacture of mummy at universal)

 

[Rob]

Interesting photo of the coaster -- hopefully this doesn't mean Project Horizon has been cancelled and moved here? I presume they're different plans as this has an outdoor element too.

Project Horizon has not been cancelled and moved to Chessington. As you say yourself, Horizon does not have any outdoor track.

A primarily indoor coaster would be a good move for Chessington, certainly something they lack (as do most UK parks really). Bit surprised that they're completely re-doing Wild Asia as I've always thought it was one of the better areas of Chessington, but they do have a lot of space to play with there, especially by going in to the glamping area.

 

[Quantum]

Merlin seems to be avoiding Vekoma for some reason. It's a safe bet it will be an Intamin coaster

 

[flyingguitar]

It could be a b&m like penguin trek as I can't tell if the track spine is a box or tube but also could be the intamin multidimension or vekoma but also could be premier rides (manurfacture of mummy at universal)

just had a look, and realised the supports don't look like B & M (normally they have one vertical and often another one for lateral loading)

 

[Skyscraper]

Looks very Movie Park Tour-esque for the coaster?

Agreed, it certainly does. Would make sense in my opinion.

 

[Roz123]

As someone with young children this is welcome news to me. I have felt the park has needed a coaster little ones can ride since Scorpion Express broke

 

[Ash]

What’s the building size like comparative to PH?

 

[tayspru]

The building is *very* boxy, with some areas that could be slanted being very blocky - I’m looking at the elevation to the left of the track and that could easily be a sloped roof yet it’s 3 flat tiers. Between this and the fact there’s a large retail space, I’d be very surprised if this isn’t Minecraft themed.

 

[Cryptocoaster]

This is all great news. A new junior coaster can’t come soon enough. For a family park not to have one is really bad, and I think they should actually have more than one.

As for Wild Asia I can’t say I’m surprised tbh. Although it’s themed to a good standard I don’t think it makes the best use of a large open space so I’m happy to see it being redeveloped, especially with the plans put forward. An indoor coaster will be great. It does look like Minecraft is a strong possibility.

Now for total speculation. I don’t think this will have any impact as to what happens with project horizon, I think that delay is purely because of higher priorities at AT. I do think this addition will clear the way for the removal of the Vampire & a redevelopment of Wild woods in the medium term though.

 

[Benzin]

Not sure if they'd be able to replace Vampire if they did remove it. Lot of unknowns over that area.

Refurb would be more likely. Again.

 

[BooMT]

On the Minecraft land speculation - it did say in the research survey that there would be 1-2 indoor attractions, 3-4 outdoor rides plus themed retail/f&b with optional interactive wristbands. We can see from the plans that there are 2 indoor rides, one existing outdoor ride outlined plus the playscape and use of the terms interactive/fully themed/immersive experiences - this kind of 'fits the brief'.
It feels far better suited to Chessington than Alton Towers (I'd like to see Alton rely solely on their own IP other than Cbeebies) purely because it has a mystical and 'lore' based feel to me! I want Towers to continue to tell stories using their amazing landscape and history. I did see a comment somewhere about Universal (US) possibly getting Minecraft rights, not sure how that would impact Merlin here if UK Universal goes ahead?

IP is a good thing for Chessy though & having more portals to different IP lands like Jumanji, possibly Minecraft, Julia Donaldson etc works really well for families with younger/pre-teen children. It's great to see so much potential development in the pipeline! Looking forward to more reveals over the next couple of years.

 

[Danny]

If it is Minecraft, there's the potential for this to be Merlin's version of Super Nintendo World - not only from a visual perspective but also from an interactivity point of view. Where Universal have the RFID Power Up bands, this would be great for RFID pickaxes or other tools. Hopefully there are more interactive elements throughout the land, however - my biggest peeve with Nintendo World is the queues for the interactivity points because they are few and far between.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

In terms of what we can see; I’m thinking an Intamin Multidimensional Coaster could be on the cards here, personally. It would be a relatively good candidate for a mostly indoor coaster, and I’m also getting a strong Intamin vibe from that rendering of the outdoor track section…

A ride like Studio Tour at Movie Park Germany but themed to Minecraft could be a really nice addition to the park. Uncharted at PortAventura is a really nice family ride as you’ll know so I think it would be a good choice of hardware if that is indeed what this turns out to be.