TraX

I've seen a false leg come off on Stealth. I'm sure that the guy who lost it was sure that it was secured.

Before everyone gets blasted, remember that not everyone is filming. Phones, glasses (and false teeth) can easily come out of pockets that guests believe to be secure. I agree that it's pointless filming a ride when there's no doubt some kind of official HD POV available on the net, but please be grown up about pointing the finger.

The engineering team can change the cycle length by a couple of swings. This can be done in the morning if the park are expecting a high gate figure (the swings go down). If this is actually done these days is another matter.

I don't understand why so many fans are going 'omgz not Epcot!' As Benin has said, it makes perfect sense, and I'm actually all for the various countries around World Show Case having Disney character touches (no more PIXAR please). There's a load of Disney animation that actually doesn't have a home else where, so I'd love to see more of this, and more of those rare movie character touches.

Maybe they'll just focus fully on the entertainment offering and turning the place into a resort. I know they've been throwing that idea around. I mean the dome could realistically, be open all year round if they wanted too..

I dread to think what any kind of dark ride would be like at Thorpe. Merlin don't seem to understand dark rides. Th13teen, Saw, Smiler all had amazing potentials and they screwed all of them.

Er.. They have one already remember.

They did buy new and replace all of it only a few years back. It just won't last obviously. What they should have done whilst jumping on the Nemesis 'brand', is simply add some orange dye to the bubbling river.

I'm really looking forward to Hocus Pocus Hall, it was great to see so many amazing reviews last year. All of the swirling projection mapping and effects really made it stand out, not to mention the score for each scene. Best Chessington Halloween maze they've ever done.

No ice, no bucket... Merlin and their chance to self promote.

I don't think it's totally fair the abuse they're getting, seems to be the social media band wagon to hate them. As Mark pointed out, they do a lot, and prob more than other animal parks, quietly avoiding the tarnish brush. If there's anything to really hate about Sea World, it's their awful ride operation! ;-)

For me Space Station Zero, and the Depth Charge submarine being yellow.

Ride: Thor. I mean, it's rubbish so why even do your research before adding a title??

VERY good point. All their parks have this, load of cars exiting all their attractions (usually), straight into rush hour. It's a shame, are they able to re-apply? Lego really needed this.

I think we'll see a lot more immersive animal encounters like a new penguin 'attraction' or something along those lines. I'd love sea lion bay to get knocked down, it's a disgusting and needs some attention, ride wise.. There's always been talk of a coaster on Toadies 'in the future', but obviously; Chessington.. Wouldn't hold on for much ride wise.

Pirates cove had a load of new audio installed last season, which was produced else where. A member of staff pointed out that the area audio and the queue line audio for Buccaneer both have the chessington theme swirling in and out of the tracks. The area audio is obvious.

(totally off topic, I know..) Is it coming back this season?

That audio is very close to the IMAscore that Chessington used for Hocus Pocus Hall last year

I think the obvious move would be to turn the resort into a actual resort. I bet it's already been discussed, if we see it or not is another matter. Would be good for them to have a place where guests from the hotel(s) can hang around and make use of a re-imagined/new entertainment complex, something that could maybe stay open all year round?

If you look to the right whilst going along that corridor, you can often see the fire pit scene through a missing wall panel.

There was a drop in the swamp scene. You looked down into a load of greenery and 'bubbling' swamp SFX. Zappomatic appeared from behind a bush and said 'still no luck ? I've almost fixed the laser blasters...' (Or something like that). There was also a sign saying 'grog was here..' I've got a ton of pics somewhere of a lights on walk through during closed season, although they're of tomb.

The whole indoor section is a huge missed opportunity, which is (un)complete with the wasted drop out of the station. Has it ever actually been pointed out that Merlin obviously had their eyes on this for 'inspiration' http://ziogiorgio.com/2013/07/28/avolites-media-ai-infinity-8-servers-spin-visual-magic-at-glastonbury/

The fire pit used to be a swamp in the 5th Dimension, it was exactly the same in regards to size and space, although was a lot darker and moodier than it is today.

I can assure you that Merlin haven't even given this a thought. They're not worried at all. There was a quote in a staff mag that said 'It will fail, and even if it doesn't, our guests will return to us.'

Why is the smaller dive coaster track a bad thing? Krake (sorry, KRAKE) is actually really smart and p****s all over Saw (Sorry, SAW). I'm all up for swapping out Saw for the newer style DM, and I'm also very much up for Gardaland getting one too. What I'm NOT up for, is recycled Smiler swirls as question marks in marketing tease, and Oblivion 'don't look down' arrows. Seriously Merlin, second to Disney for being the laZufariiest company ever. Is there nothing else that says 'DIVE COASTER' than what we've already seenZzzz in your own parks (Sorry, RESORTS)??