TraX

To be honest, I would have been thrilled to have seen a river flowing through the (some of the) ride area, water coloured bright orange with bubbling effects and splashes here and there. A shame also, that the rumbling of the volcano stopped so long ago.

why? Just dont have your ugly poncho flapping around everwhere. Parks need to watch out for items out of the car.

Very sad to see Rush on one swing. Some FANTASTIC shots of the park, must have had some helicopter flyovers, makes the park look fantastic. Hell, I wanted to go again, and what a great marketing tool for the park, a showcase for all the rides they have to offer.

That response in also in detail only Seven posts above yours..

Indeed, that fire exit is the old evacuation scene, oposite the random blue ball..In regard to the music, some tracks have been kept yes, but all except the Hawaii scene are in random places and loop badly. In my video you can see and hear where the tracks once belong.

Some of my best memories came from being a kid with the Vampire..I remember standing infront of a huge billboard advertising the new land and peering through the fence down past what would be Professor Burp's Bubbleworks, the transylvania street still under scaffold, but almost complete. I remember the park having one of the Vampire ride cars (before they were butchered), sitting on the lawn at the park's main gate and later standing near Circus World, watching for the first time as the ride was testedThe very first queueline was a small cattlepen over gravel, which often backed up down the path toward the cave. The head of the queueline took you through the main gate (which has now been unused for years and been covered with the 'new' Vampire logo. The original one etched into the stone is still under there too.).When past the gate, guests would walk down the stairs and under the corridoor, which is now used as the Express Pass. Originally, there was a sign here which would warn you to 'abandon hope' and from a silver pipe along the ceiling a watery mist filled the path ahead and looked nice and creepy.From there, things are much the same a walkway through a small crypt and a dark passage ahead of you. Another sign here informing guests that this was 'the point of no return; the vampire was about to strike' and then, into what was a darker twisty corridoor into the ride station that as MikeyT described, was a lot darker with huge drapes, a lot of different lighting, including a strobe light lightning effect from the ceiling and the window beside the front seat batching coffins. There was no ride operator loudly speaking over the music and every so many seconds those black bat ride cars would rush into the station, the atmosphere was fantastic.Between that and Professor Burp's Bubbleworks upstairs, a young ride geek Fever was born!Many, many, many trips later, I gave the park a break and returned some years later to find the 'new' Vampire and it's purple 're-theme'. So much atmosphere lost, but so many memories indeed. I'm just glad that staff have looked after this one and the welcome return to the green station was a great move and some nice additions in the queueline this year too, demomstrate that Chessington are very well aware how big this ride was and it really is the icon, signature ride.

How can new pistons make it worse? The ride is up and swinging and the paint for both towers is en route, so all peachy.

Indeed, it appears that guests will be able to walk from the zoo across and into the large wooden hut in the center of the site. The view is great from the hotel too and a cleaver trick of the eye, as the site is on a hill, the bottom of which is a ditch to keep the animals in, although looking at it, it looks like a free roaming field. Very nice.So JoshC. wrong I'm afraid, both 'adventurers' in the park and hotel guests will be able to enjoy it.

[so with the awesome looking African Savannah experience opening soon and well under construction, I was wondering where the planning application for that was? Haven't seen anything, which is a shame.Looks like a fantastic addition to push the park forward again.

Just back from my first chessington visit this season and I must say I was totally thrilled with what I found! The new admissions gates are fantastic, really sets sail the whole adventure idea they seem to be pushing.Vampire detail, awesome! Great to see Abdab back and even going back further, the Zappomatic nod in the new haunted hollow-esque walk way.Kobra and the whole new Asia area totally great too, very well themed and very enjoyable (if a tad slow too load).The hotel porch, looking forward to it's new view in June. Construction rushing along for a fantastic addition to the zoo and hotel-I can't wait.New audio here and there and tons of small effects working again that I hadn't seen since the early 90's.The detail rolls out further even, and onto the main road with a new order for cars and people crossing, everything tidy and organised.TOP MARKS for everyone involved at Chessington, with a new ride and area, they still manage to put in place SO MANY small touches and details to things that really didn't need them, only to make it stand out and to be better. It makes me wince in pain and wonder WHY OH WHY can't their sister park down the road take such pride in their own park (granted they did some and are getting there). Thorpe Park is a state compared to what Chessington has once again become. The thing that stands them so obviously apart, is that Chessington is a real theme park with something to offer everyone, and Thorpe is a fun fair on an island for only teenagers. Different in their own way and to what they offer. I can't wait for my next trip to Chessington. Well done guys!

Bang on..

Ah, you should have asked him if it breaks his heart to see what Professor Burp's Bubbleworks has become..

The ride has had it's balance position altered, to lower the chances of coming to an akward upside down stop. Stopping at the top of the towers is not as serious as you would think and is more an issue with the locking pins failing to transfer I'd expect, which would prevent the ride running into rotate anyway.It's THE ride in the park that managers keep a sharp eye on and as with Alton; any power cut, or near by power cut, then Slammer is closed until the all clear.

It never had any onboard soundtrack as Space Mountain does (sometimes), if that's what you mean!

To be fair, yes it has 'trick track' one of which is a small bounce, not a 'drop' as such. Again as Saw it's a tiny detai.

I also did a Th13teen weekend too and was very suprised how quiet it was, they even had to take off one of the trains! I echo almost all of the current internet reviews. It IS a family coaster, something the park needs again and the marketing seems to be off mark. On the coaster, there is a fair bit of air time, which is great and the inside section is a great laugh too. I did however, find it odd that these talked about lightning effects inside the queueline, animated vines and more were not ready for opening day, but unlike Thorpe, they atleast had it open with no shut downs that I saw in three days. Infact, that is also resort wide. Had a blast.

I know what happened here and maybe 'just' a bang on the head, but a warning to Thorpe Park none the less. This ride is too bumpy. So much so, I'm off it all season until they do something and before another bump on the head does a lot more damage.

Also VERY nice to see a painted queue line and even better to find the walls leading into the station clear of the scratching and etching. Good job.

I really enjoyed Saw Alive yesterday, got my heart pounding quite a bit and saw one little girl (who hadn't been paid to do so) having a panic attack and left crying!The whole experience seems very frantic and obviously I had a good bunch of actors (who btw get some nasty scratches and bumps during their few hours). I was also most pleased to hear that the small jolt from the fence has been taken off as that would be most unpleasent! It will be very interesting to see how the ride can deal with peak queue lines, or if it will slip further away into a money spinner as an all year round paid attraction.I wasn't expecting much at all, maybe it's simply as the other scare mazes never change and so have become dull, but yes, a pleasing addition to the parks attraction line up. Now please can we end the SAW 'thing' at Thorpe Park, I don't want to see a SAW themed flat for the new ride in OG next season please...

An odd one with Inferno, the mist and light effects. These are turned on and off by the engineering team from inside the console, but yesterday the ride spent all morning with none of the effects, which begged the question as to why they were even fixed at all last season. All was not lost as later in the day, as the effects came on. Smoke from the queue line, in the volcano itself, with a hint of lighting down there too, not to mention the geysers under the loop! I only wish that the park were a little more hot on this and have it all running from the very start of the day as once running, it looks great.I understand that the ride has had some audio changed too, with the perhaps unwelcome return of that station theme we had a couple of seasons ago. Sadly no sign of the Inferno theme or the awesome station dispatch..

Rush has had a lot of work done to it this closed season, before anyone comments on the large patches that are apparent on each of the towers. The ride has had both of it's huge pistons replaced. S&S have been on park and done some work. Although the finishing touches are still incomplete. One of the patches is an off Gold colour and the other is just plain Red, sticks out like a sore thumb, but not to worry, the right coloured paint has been ordered and both will be painted again to match the rides real Gold look soon! The rides other swing, A is also near to be running again following the winter and once it's cables have been tightened will be up and swinging again in no time!One more interesting note is that when quizzed about the height difference between the swings, S&S commented that it will reach the same height one day and so, remains a mystery to even S&S!Points to the park for having BOTH of the S&S rides up and running a week before the official end of the closed season.

Looks awful, not for me I'm afraid. Worse than the 1994 one, atleast that one you could navigate the park, regardless how ugly it was.

The bit I was looking at is below.. shows the dark green colour that Alton are required to paint the highest point of the ride and a lighter green colour below, where the track is usually a red colour. It may however, simply be a trick of the light!

Taaa.

Anyone got a link to the full planning application?