Ben1990

Just to re-clarify the incident did not occur on one of the 'bridges,' it occured on the raised walkway near the ride exit, where presumably one of the wooden fence panels was missing (most likely thanks to a guest during the day). I believe the HSE investigation is complete now so it should be interesting to see whether Chessington are a little more open and informative of the whole thing, as I imagine they weren't at fault.

Just to add, the park was fairly busy on Thursday, and there was a queue stretching right around the courtyard at times when I passed. It was during half term, after all.

Reading through some morons' posts on the CWoA Facebook page has really angered me. Those who work on the rides thoroughly check queue-lines and public areas every morning before the park even opens to the public, and I refuse to believe that this 'huge gap' was present in the morning. They would not have opened the ride at all until the issue was fixed, if it had been present in the morning (and presumably picked up on by staff). Having visited twice already this year, I can safely say that whilst the ride (and the queue-line) is a bit tired, it is by NO means falling apart; this damage to the fencing must have been sustained at some point during the day. I have every faith that if the gap HAD been reported by a guest that the park would have responded immediately- after all they will take H&S extremely​ seriously. These imbeciles on the FB page claiming CWoA 'don't care' or that they are simply negligent are complete rubbish imo. Of course this is tragic and must be horrible for those involved, but it seems like a freak accident as opposed to anything else.

Chessington was plastered all over ITV1 this morning (and will be all week)...This Morning's competition VT's were filmed at CWoAR, and were shown at least 4 times within the 2 hour show. They showed the park in a really good light, and each VT was effectively a 2-minute advert for the park. It did also mention Madagascar, and focused heavily on the 'resort' aspect :)Looks like they really are making the most of the Madagascar brand, and there's a new Madagascar movie this year so that can't hurt

Like it or not, this advert is getting shown a LOT...I've seen it 3 times today and that was within 2 hours on the same channel (Dave)! We'll most probably get a completely fresh advert next year along with the Safari attraction

Yeah, whilst the investment might not be huge, there's no doubting the power of Madagascar as a brand and its' suitability to Chessington's visitors!

With Chessington officially opening tomorrow, I thought it'd be interesting to start a topic based on Chessington's media coverage- after seeing some interesting pictures yesterday/today aimed at promoting Madagascar Live ^^Very nice way of getting the word about and creating attention, and the idea of the animals in the city even fits in with the story of Madagascar itself! :DAround 5.20pm today I also heard the end of a Chessington television advert downstairs but didn't see any of the advert itself! :(It is very nice to see that despite their low investment in Chessington, Merlin are still serious about getting people through the gates and that they're giving CWoAR some TV advertising just like Alton Towers and Thorpe Park

Absolutely amazing! Am I right in assuming that the version posted just above is a slightly shorter version, and that Channel 4 (& More4; Film4) showed a longer version? The one I saw was on More4 and was similar to that above, but it was longer and the THORPE PARK logo was shown at the beginning and end for a considerable time :)Although the area isn't as 'immersive' as I'd have hoped, I absolutely cannot fault the marketing/PR that's gone with the launch of this ride, it's been spectacular- and far exceeds anything we've seen in this country for a LONG time (the campaign, not just the coaster itself).

Bit off-topic but does anyone know if Alton or Chessington have these 'rehearsal days'?

Hate to say it but I REALLY dislike the station :/ Of course there's no doubting the amount of effort and level of detail, but it just doesn't look right imo...although the area as a whole, they've excelled themselves!

I think the Jumbos being moved and not rethemed is most likely because the ride is clearly coming toward the end of its life, and they thought they might aswell keep it for now until they have something to actually replace it with...Although I have faith that they may have done something with it, given that they are retheming Berry Bouncers Jumbos will probably not make the 2013 season tbh, given that the ride is so outdated and the awkward location it now finds itself in...I doubt it will get many riders this season, and with the safari trail and new pathway next year I really can't see the Flying Jumbos being kept- what's the point?

They probably wouldn't show an advert for Thorpe Park/The Swarm before 'The Artist,' it wouldn't make sense. Just in the same way you wouldn't expect to see a Durex advert during Countdown

So what rides are part of which teams (I.e. Crusoe, Dora, Indie etc)?

Why? What's so bad about working for Chessington?

Why's that?

Thanks so much for your help :)By the way, I'm planning on dressing pretty formally, so from your experience, just how formally do the majority of people tend to dress? I.e. tie/no tie? and is a shirt with a hoody acceptable? I just don't want to look out of place that's all

Are they actually joking?So TP decide to stick a few old mannequins (probably left over from SAW) into the front row and say their LEGS BROKE OFF from hitting the church (even though it's plainly obvious from the image that that would never happen)!? (Also, it's plainly obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes that those are not test dummies, rather clothing mannequins, and that only the front row actually have arms and legs).It's just the useless, non-imaginative nonsense we've come to expect from TP- the marketing team have done fantastically with THE SWARM but its the public-relations side of things (such as these press releases) that really takes the biscuit.All these rubbish 'stories' are just desperate attempts to create attention in accordance with the brand to which TP has tried to conform recently-personally I don't even find the 'stupidity' and 'reckless-ness' of the brand appealing whatsoever- it's quite childish imo, and I'm right in the middle of their target age-band!Back on topic though, I did like the way towards the end of the article, the writer mentions all of the park's previous nonsense press-releases, and the general subtle patronising nature of the article Edit: really not sure about the plain white appearance of the majority of the wall! Boring much? Churches don't even usually have plain white exteriors; why make the wall so boring when the detail on the edges with the brick is so brilliant!?

I'm going on Friday afternoon Anyone else?So what exactly can I expect from the 'assessment'/group part, what activities? Also finally, what happens if successful (please please )..with regards to induction and training?

Thank you so much I hope so too!

I've got my interview for Chessington in just under two weeks and was just wondering if anyone else does too?Also, I've got a few questions that I'm hoping somebody might know the answers to...-Firstly, how many people (roughly) are in attendance at each assessment centre / interview session?-What sort of activities does the team-based part of the day involve?-As a ride host, what time are you expected to arrive to work each day?-What exactly is a Merlin Magic Pass and what does it offer?If anyone knows of anything else that might be helpful or interesting, I'd really love to know! Thanks

A few minutes ago...So far today there is a new footer in the foreground, presumably for one of the engines attached to the plane's wing; More catwalk has been added to the lift on the right side; The 'medium' support after the base of the first drop has been taken down and two track pieces are now being joined to form part of the TP inversion.

More progress on the drop...this was 5 minutes ago :)EDIT: Check the track piece in the water on the right (!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8THDPZTebISorry about the quality!

Around 9am yesterday...in case anyone was still in doubt as to just how gargantuan this thing is, have a look at those two orange dots at the top of the lift hill for some perspective!They are working on the maintenance 'basket' which is suspended beneath the top of the lift on a rail (which can be seen in some of the earlier pictures of that track section), and allows for access below the track and to the chain. This next photo shows the other end of the site- where work has been done on the shell of the station building and the helicopter section of the track has begun erection- look how close it appears to be to the ground!And finally, this is how the island appeared at around 7am this morning!

Not too sure I like how the supports will totally dominate the bulk of the island's open space...and can't help but doubt the effectiveness of theming such as the plane when it will be dwarfed by the huge supports!