MattyMoo

Hey look guys, Thorpe have posted a picture of a wooden coaster, they MUST be getting one now, otherwise why would they post it?
Right?

And who are you?

£400 each
roughly

More cracking press for The Smiler - glad I got my first ride on it a few weeks ago!
Any truth in the rumour that Thorpe's new Top Spin for 2014 is now being installed at Alton to replace the Smiler?

I think Squirrel Nutty closes at regular time even if the park opens later sadly.

They need to sort out these issues. After finally getting on The Smiler I really enjoy it and it's a great ride - now sort out the issues!

Chessington Buzz have just posted this picture on their facebook page:

Fast track no longer available on Vampire this season due to how busy the ride was with it over the summer.
Hopefully this means a more sensible, faster-moving queue over the Halloween season - and the possibility of more than one night ride!

Rode the Smiler for the first time yesterday - decided to head straight for it in the morning just in case it decided to misbehave.
The sheer size and integrity of the thing is quite overwhelming when you see it. I won't ramble on too much, but:
Even walking round it (without queuing) - that enclosed cattle pen goes on for-ev-er, I can't imagine having to queue for 60 mins plus like that (hence why I'll never visit a theme park on a peak day!) Drainage does seem to be a bit of an issue in parts of the queue Area on the whole though is very impressive as I say - very imposing and so dense in terms of track! Pre-loading area of the station would be impressive except one of the projectors had a blue screen showing "no input" which rather killed the effect! Surely that should've been spotted on a walk round in the morning as we were literally the first batch of people on? I do love the clinical look of the main station, and the lights when you leave but the station is almost "too" sparse? And particularly unappealing from the outside The ride itself was pretty brilliant I have to say - even with playing the game I had no real idea where I was heading next,other than there was going to be a bit of respite in a minute for the vertical lift hill Second section - I definitely felt that "jolt" that everyone talks about, ouch! Other than that though, I thought the ride was pretty smooth - seemed far less rough than Saw For what AT have achieved in such a comparatively small area, is to be commended in my view. I did come off the ride feeling rather disorientated, and, other than that jolt - couldn't really fault it from start to finish. I actually like the fact that after the vertical lift hill, there isn't a beyond vertical drop as it would be too obvious Loved the shop (how often can you say that...!), attention to detail is brilliant and Smiler Shop TV is spot on. Particularly liked the Smiler pen bit where the presenter uses it to write "Smile smile smile smile" over and over. Bought myself a cushion (£15) cos it matches our yellow sofa and a paperweight (reduced to £18 from £40!) as I thought that was a fair price! Loved the hype in the queue line, good mix of first time riders and also re-riders - certainly has people talking, which is good. And as a sidenote - I'm not a Rita fan anyway (Stealth ftw) - but that scaffolding in Dark Forest looks absolutely TERRIBLE. Th13teen broke down yesterday but other than that, all rides behaved themslves - and as any FB fwends would have seen, Sonic had longer queues than Smiler for a fair bit of the afternoon, peaking at 70 - yes, 70 - minutes against Smiler's 50. All other rides were 0-30 all day really, with the majority being 0-10.

Rode the Smiler for the first time yesterday - decided to head straight for it in the morning just in case it decided to misbehave.
The sheer size and integrity of the thing is quite overwhelming when you see it. I won't ramble on too much, but:
Even walking round it (without queuing) - that enclosed cattle pen goes on for-ev-er, I can't imagine having to queue for 60 mins plus like that (hence why I'll never visit a theme park on a peak day!) Drainage does seem to be a bit of an issue in parts of the queue Area on the whole though is very impressive as I say - very imposing and so dense in terms of track! Pre-loading area of the station would be impressive except one of the projectors had a blue screen showing "no input" which rather killed the effect! Surely that should've been spotted on a walk round in the morning as we were literally the first batch of people on? I do love the clinical look of the main station, and the lights when you leave but the station is almost "too" sparse? And particularly unappealing from the outside The ride itself was pretty brilliant I have to say - even with playing the game I had no real idea where I was heading next,other than there was going to be a bit of respite in a minute for the vertical lift hill Second section - I definitely felt that "jolt" that everyone talks about, ouch! Other than that though, I thought the ride was pretty smooth - seemed far less rough than Saw For what AT have achieved in such a comparatively small area, is to be commended in my view. I did come off the ride feeling rather disorientated, and, other than that jolt - couldn't really fault it from start to finish. I actually like the fact that after the vertical lift hill, there isn't a beyond vertical drop as it would be too obvious Loved the shop (how often can you say that...!), attention to detail is brilliant and Smiler Shop TV is spot on. Particularly liked the Smiler pen bit where the presenter uses it to write "Smile smile smile smile" over and over. Bought myself a cushion (£15) cos it matches our yellow sofa and a paperweight (reduced to £18 from £40!) as I thought that was a fair price! Loved the hype in the queue line, good mix of first time riders and also re-riders - certainly has people talking, which is good. And as a sidenote - I'm not a Rita fan anyway (Stealth ftw) - but that scaffolding in Dark Forest looks absolutely TERRIBLE. Th13teen broke down yesterday but other than that, all rides behaved themslves - and as any FB fwends would have seen, Sonic had longer queues than Smiler for a fair bit of the afternoon, peaking at 70 - yes, 70 - minutes against Smiler's 50. All other rides were 0-30 all day really, with the majority being 0-10.

"Civilised TPM Christmas Meet"
Civilised....Really....that makes it sound like an old persons function

Rode the Smiler for the first time yesterday - decided to head straight for it in the morning just in case it decided to misbehave.
The sheer size and integrity of the thing is quite overwhelming when you see it. I won't ramble on too much, but:
Even walking round it (without queuing) - that enclosed cattle pen goes on for-ev-er, I can't imagine having to queue for 60 mins plus like that (hence why I'll never visit a theme park on a peak day!) Drainage does seem to be a bit of an issue in parts of the queue Area on the whole though is very impressive as I say - very imposing and so dense in terms of track! Pre-loading area of the station would be impressive except one of the projectors had a blue screen showing "no input" which rather killed the effect! Surely that should've been spotted on a walk round in the morning as we were literally the first batch of people on? I do love the clinical look of the main station, and the lights when you leave but the station is almost "too" sparse? And particularly unappealing from the outside The ride itself was pretty brilliant I have to say - even with playing the game I had no real idea where I was heading next,other than there was going to be a bit of respite in a minute for the vertical lift hill Second section - I definitely felt that "jolt" that everyone talks about, ouch! Other than that though, I thought the ride was pretty smooth - seemed far less rough than Saw For what AT have achieved in such a comparatively small area, is to be commended in my view. I did come off the ride feeling rather disorientated, and, other than that jolt - couldn't really fault it from start to finish. I actually like the fact that after the vertical lift hill, there isn't a beyond vertical drop as it would be too obvious Loved the shop (how often can you say that...!), attention to detail is brilliant and Smiler Shop TV is spot on. Particularly liked the Smiler pen bit where the presenter uses it to write "Smile smile smile smile" over and over. Bought myself a cushion (£15) cos it matches our yellow sofa and a paperweight (reduced to £18 from £40!) as I thought that was a fair price! Loved the hype in the queue line, good mix of first time riders and also re-riders - certainly has people talking, which is good. And as a sidenote - I'm not a Rita fan anyway (Stealth ftw) - but that scaffolding in Dark Forest looks absolutely TERRIBLE. Th13teen broke down yesterday but other than that, all rides behaved themslves - and as any FB fwends would have seen, Sonic had longer queues than Smiler for a fair bit of the afternoon, peaking at 70 - yes, 70 - minutes against Smiler's 50. All other rides were 0-30 all day really, with the majority being 0-10.

Rode the Smiler for the first time yesterday - decided to head straight for it in the morning just in case it decided to misbehave.
The sheer size and integrity of the thing is quite overwhelming when you see it. I won't ramble on too much, but:
Even walking round it (without queuing) - that enclosed cattle pen goes on for-ev-er, I can't imagine having to queue for 60 mins plus like that (hence why I'll never visit a theme park on a peak day!) Drainage does seem to be a bit of an issue in parts of the queue Area on the whole though is very impressive as I say - very imposing and so dense in terms of track! Pre-loading area of the station would be impressive except one of the projectors had a blue screen showing "no input" which rather killed the effect! Surely that should've been spotted on a walk round in the morning as we were literally the first batch of people on? I do love the clinical look of the main station, and the lights when you leave but the station is almost "too" sparse? And particularly unappealing from the outside The ride itself was pretty brilliant I have to say - even with playing the game I had no real idea where I was heading next,other than there was going to be a bit of respite in a minute for the vertical lift hill Second section - I definitely felt that "jolt" that everyone talks about, ouch! Other than that though, I thought the ride was pretty smooth - seemed far less rough than Saw For what AT have achieved in such a comparatively small area, is to be commended in my view. I did come off the ride feeling rather disorientated, and, other than that jolt - couldn't really fault it from start to finish. I actually like the fact that after the vertical lift hill, there isn't a beyond vertical drop as it would be too obvious Loved the shop (how often can you say that...!), attention to detail is brilliant and Smiler Shop TV is spot on. Particularly liked the Smiler pen bit where the presenter uses it to write "Smile smile smile smile" over and over. Bought myself a cushion (£15) cos it matches our yellow sofa and a paperweight (reduced to £18 from £40!) as I thought that was a fair price! Loved the hype in the queue line, good mix of first time riders and also re-riders - certainly has people talking, which is good. And as a sidenote - I'm not a Rita fan anyway (Stealth ftw) - but that scaffolding in Dark Forest looks absolutely TERRIBLE. Th13teen broke down yesterday but other than that, all rides behaved themslves - and as any FB fwends would have seen, Sonic had longer queues than Smiler for a fair bit of the afternoon, peaking at 70 - yes, 70 - minutes against Smiler's 50. All other rides were 0-30 all day really, with the majority being 0-10.

Rode the Smiler for the first time yesterday - decided to head straight for it in the morning just in case it decided to misbehave.
The sheer size and integrity of the thing is quite overwhelming when you see it. I won't ramble on too much, but:
Even walking round it (without queuing) - that enclosed cattle pen goes on for-ev-er, I can't imagine having to queue for 60 mins plus like that (hence why I'll never visit a theme park on a peak day!) Drainage does seem to be a bit of an issue in parts of the queue Area on the whole though is very impressive as I say - very imposing and so dense in terms of track! Pre-loading area of the station would be impressive except one of the projectors had a blue screen showing "no input" which rather killed the effect! Surely that should've been spotted on a walk round in the morning as we were literally the first batch of people on? I do love the clinical look of the main station, and the lights when you leave but the station is almost "too" sparse? And particularly unappealing from the outside The ride itself was pretty brilliant I have to say - even with playing the game I had no real idea where I was heading next,other than there was going to be a bit of respite in a minute for the vertical lift hill Second section - I definitely felt that "jolt" that everyone talks about, ouch! Other than that though, I thought the ride was pretty smooth - seemed far less rough than Saw For what AT have achieved in such a comparatively small area, is to be commended in my view. I did come off the ride feeling rather disorientated, and, other than that jolt - couldn't really fault it from start to finish. I actually like the fact that after the vertical lift hill, there isn't a beyond vertical drop as it would be too obvious Loved the shop (how often can you say that...!), attention to detail is brilliant and Smiler Shop TV is spot on. Particularly liked the Smiler pen bit where the presenter uses it to write "Smile smile smile smile" over and over. Bought myself a cushion (£15) cos it matches our yellow sofa and a paperweight (reduced to £18 from £40!) as I thought that was a fair price! Loved the hype in the queue line, good mix of first time riders and also re-riders - certainly has people talking, which is good. And as a sidenote - I'm not a Rita fan anyway (Stealth ftw) - but that scaffolding in Dark Forest looks absolutely TERRIBLE. Th13teen broke down yesterday but other than that, all rides behaved themslves - and as any FB fwends would have seen, Sonic had longer queues than Smiler for a fair bit of the afternoon, peaking at 70 - yes, 70 - minutes against Smiler's 50. All other rides were 0-30 all day really, with the majority being 0-10.

Power cut currently on park, affecting all areas except Forbidden Valley and Katanga Canyon...

I don't want to look at naked men....

Digging down is a good option, look at Rattlesnake, it is a tall ride, but you don't notice it until you are almost on top of the ride due to it being dug down. There are always options.
I do wonder if they shut down Chessie and move it elsewhere if Kingston suddenly change their mind...? Probably not as the council are always in it for themselves/their own gain or personal opinions and not the people they serve.
I agree they can't build 100ft drop tower and traffic has to be managed, but there is no reason why Chessington can not expand and put in decent car parks and even improve the local traffic junctions. If huge supermarkets can get new roundabouts, dual carriageways, traffic light junctions put in, then so can Chessington.
*cough* back handers *cough*

Ahh okay thanks this helped a lot! My only issue now is that the website states that 'your first maze will always be at three' regardless of what time you pick... its so confusing xD but thanks a lot, I think I will get them, if only because two of my friends who are coming are really nervous and queuing for too long might just make them feel worse haha

I would say the not touching thing is an American problem that unfortunately for them probably cannot be solved without changing their culture...
"Ew they breathed on me, I'm sueing the park for mental trauma!"

I agree with the comments being made - up until this year I have enjoyed visiting Chessington.
This year they have gone completely downhill in every way possible. Rides closed, SBNO, theming falling apart, Zufari being a shambles (could have been a decent attraction, but the preshow, broken effects and tacky theming let it down greatly) and an awful replacement for Burger King - these are just a few of the many issues I have with the park this year.
- In the summer, at peak season they couldn't even be bothered to run their rides at even a suggestively high throughput.
- Vampire would have better operations if they left it to the monkeys out of the monkey enclosure (which is also a part of the park currently unavaliable to guests!!)
- Halloween event only open until 7pm
- No staff on the parking barriers on the way out, causing for long delays with only one barrier working (that didn't even work properly, causing long delays as it wouldn't scan the tickets. I Sent them an email of complaint about this, but got no reply).
Now, with Zoo days not including even the three small rides it included last year I have lost it with the park. I won't be visiting again for a while now unless they get their act together and actually make an effort.
Hopefully they will use the time that Bubbleworks is closed to sort the thing out - repaint the walls, new theming where needed and close the maintenance doors!
Chessington amazes me - it's the only park that after visiting for free (with a MAP), I still feel ripped off.

Kingston Cancel are also one of the reasons why Chessington suddenly reverted in to a family park as the park wanted to build a B&M In mexicana, but then the cancel didn't let it happen so then they decided to revert to family rides which many of those also cannot be built because of them.
I haven't spelt council wrong above, I've just written I like that because I despise them for limiting their development and as they don't have the room like towers, it becomes nearly impossible to add anything new there.

I'm there as well then... I would like to think it would be pretty quiet, although doubt it would be quiet otherwise they wouldn't put the event on for that week, and then to reverse the decision to close at 7 instead of 9 as so many people complained - so I'm not getting my hopes up, but as far as I am aware majority of schools are on half term the week after, so should at least be the quieter of the two weeks!

So, at last I have ridden The Smiler and to honest I'm still not entirely sure what I think about it.
First off, reliability is still clearly quite a considerable issue. I had about 7 or 8 goes on it yesterday, wasn't really counting, with wait times varying between 5 mins and 30 mins. It was no problem really seeing as it was a quiet day but I would honestly guess I spent more of that time waiting for a closed ride to reopen rather than waiting for the open ride to process the people standing in front of me. The thing was continuously going down for between 5 to 15 minutes, when numbers start picking up again into scarefest I imagine the queue times will not be pretty.
I don't know if it is deliberate but the queue line itself seems like the first optical illusion as when people are streaming through it without having to queue it feels like it is some sort of mirror maze, very disorientating. It is a shame the mesh has gone over the whole thing, I bet the views of the ride soaring overhead were stunning originally. The indoor queue section is a neat touch and keep the wait interesting, although all the projectors on the right hand side are about half inch out, spoiling the effect and a concerning little movement in the building maybe? I love the score which sounds stunning throughout the queue. Up into the minimalist station and ready to board...
By pure chance all of my rides were in either the front a back rows. I'm told the ride start is supposed to be accompanied by a blast of smoke, but all I ever got was a bright light. Why do we find such simple little effects so hard to maintain? So we are off with little fanfare into a drop and the first inversion which should be dark but isn't as the building seems to be coming away from the ground letting in a swathe of light. The front row gives a neat trick of not being able to tell which way up you are once you've levelled out but it doesn't work at all in the back. The direct comparison has to be with the Saw indoor section and this is a bit of a non event. It's a shame there isn't more of it and more of a shame that what is there isn't properly dark and doesn't just look like a dank dull space.
Up the standard lift hill (with a rather neat quiet anti rollback system) and the main event begins. What I was expecting was a sequence of inversions that felt shoehorned together to meet the magic number, but it is better than that. A lot lot better. The sequence flows really well and the inversions all feel natural. It is incredibly disorientating and even with my knowledge of what was going to happen I still had trouble identifying what I was doing at any given point. Then the half way brake run, which is screaming out to be enclosed, dark and with an effect or two, for more of the same on the other side of the vertical hill. As a ride, I loved it. It is relentless and goes on and on without becoming overwhelming or dull. By far the highlights for me are the two final corkscrews, the airtime hills and the dive loops, some beautiful manoeuvres. But it is far from being perfect...
There are two points on the track that are very unpleasant to get through, the lesser being the exit of the first corkscrew with a nasty jolt and the greater being the deep thud that slams through you in the cobra roll. They wouldn't be acceptable in an old ride, they certainly shouldn't be in a brand new one and knowing the one towards the end is coming is always in the back of your mind. They also exacerbate the other huge issue, and that is the restraints. On a ride like this even on sections of good track the tight transitions are always going to cause your head and upper body to shift about, what you don't need then is a big slab of useless hard plastic an inch away from your face and torso. The result is obvious, and should have been to the fool who decided not to go with lap bars. My wife hit the side of her head so hard the back of her earring pushed into the side of her neck cutting her, she also has sore visibly red shoulders, I just have some tenderness to my neck. The other problem with the restraints is whatever they have made them from stinks, a vile musty damp smell that you can't escape on the ride and gets in your clothes to follow you round for the rest of the day too. Rough and unnecessary.
My other problem is with what should be a massive strength from the effort that has gone into it, and that is the theme. A great man recently said what is important to an experience is a story, a narrative. So much effort has gone into the theme of The Smiler; the marmaliser structure and elements, the tricks in the station entrance and exit, the MoJ back story the relativity few who saw them gave. But what is the story? Why are we there? Why are we riding? The story has a middle, where you are on the ride and being marmalised, it has an end where you now belong to The Smiler, but it doesn't have a beginning so the rest of it doesn't mean much. There needs to be a point to the whole thing, as it is it has a style more than a theme even if it is a good one.
TL:DR - It's a good ride which could and should have been a lot better with a bit of thought. It is like it is trying to sabotage itself and not give the amazing experience it surely could with the many things it has going for it. At the same time I somehow loved it but struggled to actually enjoy it.

Mods - could someone take a look at planenut's account please, think he may have been hacked?

In the basement you'll find the hidden plans for 2014, I've seen them with my bare eyes and it said OPERATION: TopSpin - wonder what that could mean

Come on guys, break the park rules! What kind of enthusiasts are you not risking getting chucked out and your MAP revoked in order to get a crappy low-light video of some dark corridors and people jumping out at you?