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JoshC.

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Posts posted by JoshC.

  1. 1 hour ago, Benin said:

    Towers might need to get a priest in soon though. 3 cursed rides now. Plus an alien with a clutch of eggs. Plus In The Night Garden. Horrifying.

     

    You don't find cursed rides at the UK's thrill capital for this exact reason...

    https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/nostalgia/opening-day-stealth-rollercoaster-thorpe-23115667

     

    Father Michael Hereward-Rothwell blessing his parishioners before they took the first ever ride on 'Stealth'

     

    That was a really humdinger on a marketing stunt, left everyone on the edge of their seats.

  2. All for rowfacing the other way, but having one is just very odd.

     

    The choice of mandrills for a winged coaster is still taking some getting used to. I get the idea, but I guess I still have the preconception that if a winged coaster has an animal theme, an animal with wings would make sense.

     

    1.2m rides all round is good. The concept art looks good, and is something that feels realistically achievable.

     

    I'm still concerned about the throughput and how this will cope in terms of popularity, especially at first, but we'll have to wait and see on that front.

  3. 16 minutes ago, MattyMoo said:

    Is that sarcasm m8?

     

    January 2023 plus 15 months = mid April 2024?

     

    I am clearly not with it.

     

    I did 01 (January) + 15 = 16. 6th month of the year is June, so June.

     

    *goes to hastily edit a Facebook post I may or may not have made*

  4. 11 hours ago, StevenVig said:

     

    That, has to be a mistake. All things related to the Derren IP have been ripped out.

     

    I love how you say ripped out as if there is anything to rip out. 

     

    All stuff specifically related to Derren is digital, or simply the ride's signage.

     

     

    In any case, the ride has been receiving its winter maintenance, which suggests that - in one way or another - the physical hardware will be operational this season.

  5. The "we're a small park" excuse is rubbish.

     

    Go back 20 years, when the park was (excluding The Farm) technically smaller, and they had defined areas, with portals and signage. 

     

    Look at a park like Phantasialand, which is small and compact, and they have some of the most well-defined, high quality themed lands out there.

     

     

    The simple and honest reason why the park don't do themed lands is because they don't want to. That's fine too, if that's the case. But let's face, it's not because they couldn't.

  6. 19 hours ago, Mark9 said:

    It just feels like Chessington is making a statement with first this and then the water park expansion. 

     

    It sounds like this very much is a statement, and also just the beginning. 

     

    I've noticed there's a job advert for engineers at Chessington, which very much reads like they're expanding the team: https://merlin.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/16836?c=merlin&lang=en-GB

     

    Quote

     With significant investment over the next 3 years, beginning with the opening of the World of Jumanji in Summer 2023, we're looking to expand our team of Engineers, working on maintaining and improving rides at Britain’s wildest adventure!

     

    3 years would include the water park no doubt, as well as Jumanji. There's also rumours floating round of other medium-to-large investments coming next year. Obviously this could all be standard marketing spiel, but still interesting.

     

    Also interesting to note them saying Jumanji opens in summer, rather than the advertised spring, so probably isn't worth reading into things toooooo much. 

  7. 11 hours ago, coasterverse said:

    I'd probably even argue that Russ Gaines' departure from his role probably set that back too.

     

    As I understand it, Russ hasn't left the park, he's just taken on extra responsibilities in overseeing Chessington too. Unless things have changed..?

     

    In any case, his role was/is as Commercial Director. Whilst he'd have an input on those things, one would like to hope that input wasn't the be all and end all of things like special effects on rides!

  8. 11 minutes ago, Benin said:

    Thorpe (and Towers) used to be really good on the flat ride front.

     

    Whilst they haven't had a new (non-kiddie) flat ride in 9 years - yes, I'm counting the Dodgems - I'd still argue Thorpe's flat ride collection is decent. Good variety and good amount.

     

    Is it as impressive as it was 10 years ago? No. Is it still better than a lot of other parks? Tbf, yeah

  9. Saw's single rider trial came as a result of a lot of pushing and campaigning from a Rides Team Leader I believe. Was a bit of a passion project in some sense. Glad that's paid off and they're looking at rolling it out further.

     

    Agree that, in practicality, Stealth is the only ride which has the capability to have a single rider queue (re)introduced, mainly because it was designed to have one in the first place. I guess a couple of flats could too.

     

    I hope that they see the worth in it and can consider some minor changes to Exodus' queue lines and include one for that too.

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