MattyMoo

Festive Zoo day 7th December 2013
To start of with I was in two minds if I was going to go at all. The reason for this is that Legoland have been advertising on the local radio that they have 8 rides open, each child gets a Lego toy, free entry for the kids, it all sounded too good to be true. In reality all the rides Legoland had open were pants, and the cost to get in for adults was £20 for normal guests and £15 for annual pass holders. So this means two adults who own a pass will pay £30 to get in for most of the park to be closed, but if they went during the main season it is free entry and for normal guests it is still cheaper for them to go on a BOGOF and get the full experience..... Still a hell of a lot cheaper than Lapland UK of course. Where as for Annual pass holders it was free to get into Chessington.
Then put the added advantage that our lunch would get MAP discount, free fizzy drinks, it was going to be a cheap day out.
Looking on the Chessington Website, it is very clear there was going to be very little open.
"7th - 9th, 14th - 16th December, 19th December – 5th January (excluding 25th December) - Open 10am - 3pm.
NEW FOR 2013 - Take a magical adventure to visit Father Christmas* and his elves in a brand-new walkthrough attraction "The Night before Christmas - A Magical Adventure". When you enter the home of Father Christmas, you’ll find yourself in a world of wonder and excitement!
Journey into the Elves workshop and help them make some very special toys. Discover how Mrs. Christmas makes all those delicious Christmas cookies in her kitchen. Assist the Head Elf in sorting through all those Christmas cards and letters in the Mail Room. Finally, enter the study of Father Christmas and show him your Christmas lists! Don’t forget to collect your free chocolate as you leave! That's not all - take your photo with our Reindeer or have a walk on the wild side and visit Trail of the Kings. See our Lions, Tigers, Gorilla, Binturong, Fossa and Lynx, then come face to face with the creature beneath the waves including sharks and rays in our SEALIFE Centre. Don’t miss our Sealions making a splash over at Sealion Bay, and be fearless explorers and brave snakes, lizards and spiders in Creepy Caves.
Plus, with our daily animal shows there will be lots to see and do this winter."
For those people who have moaned they don't get a present, it states you only get chocolate. I was disappointed to see there were no rides advertised as open on the website as previous Festive Zoo days have included Seastorm, Bubbleworks and Hocus Pocus.
But it was very clear what you were going to get, half the Zoo, see Santa and no rides. If you had any additional expectations, you will only be disappointed.
Plus there was no map to download showing you what was open. Here is a copy for those who are going to be visiting

Entry to park
This is something they got very right and very wrong at the same time. Let me explain...
I checked the website the night before and the scrolling message said to get there early if you were an Annual Pass holder. So we got to Chessington at 09:25, we were the second lot of people at the gates. We were greeted by locked gates, no Christmas decorations, no members of staff. As the queue started to build guests were queuing on the Zebra crossing and delivery trucks were trying to get through, not very safe for young children. It really would not have hurt for Chessington to have a member of staff on the main gates to talk to guests and manage queuing on the Zebra crossing. It was not until 09:55 that a member of staff came to open the main gates. They were playing Christmas music inside the park, but guests queuing outside could not hear it.
Now this is where things could have improved. Have at least one member of staff on the main gates at 09:30 to answer any questions and greet the guests, this really doesn't cost much but gives a better impression. Let guests through the main gates at 09:45, allow those purchasing tickets or retrieving Annual Passes to get them and other guests to go directly to the turn styles. It is madness that they have a perfectly good queuing system inside the park, but they choose to have their guests queuing over a zebra crossing with traffic trying to use the road. I won't go into details about an extremely rude guest who though queues were not for her and that everyone else "had to get out more" or "Have a hernia" when they pointed out she was queue jumping.. This would have been fixed with a member of staff getting guests into line.
Then we were let in, got up to the machines to scan our tickets and I can say the staff were brilliant, asking guests if anyone had a birthday, singing happy birthday to somebody and getting everyone excited. Then at 10am we were let in, and Chessington have indeed done up the park. The lights are still in place from Halloween too.

The Night Before Christmas walk-through
Located in the Creaky Cafe, the venue itself is very small. After visiting and reading the description, Chessington really did oversell this attraction. The staff were very friendly and professional, yes we were the third group through the door as we chose to run directly here rather than queue for ages.
Journey into the Elves workshop and help them make some very special toys. - You just walk into a room and a member of staff chats to you to kill time, this is all really Discover how Mrs. Christmas makes all those delicious Christmas cookies in her kitchen. - I didn't see any kitchen, there was talk about things she makes and some fake food (See picture below), but I'm sure everyone who has done this bit will remember "Don't touch" is all I can remember Assist the Head Elf in sorting through all those Christmas cards and letters in the Mail Room. - I must have missed this bit To be honest for a free attraction it was good, if you had paid just to come to see Santa, then I can understand how people would be disappointed with this. The theme was good, it was warm in there and we didn't queue, but there was a very big queue outside most of the day.
AND of course there is the up selling part which Merlin can not resist, the photo with Santa, we got a photo and it was good quality, the Picsolve guy was on his own, he couldn't get the photos into the holder as they were not fitting, he couldn't get the photos into the photo Christmas tree decoration as the plastic was not fitting together. We were the 3rd group of guests through as a disable group had been fast tracked in front of us and already the queue to get photos was causing a delay in guests getting out of the Santa room. I mentioned to a member of staff about this bottle neck, I'm not sure if anything was done about it or not.
I guess if I had waited 30+ mins for this, I would be disappointed.
Employee of the month

Somebody said they didn't have Christmas trees, I saw 4 of them in the kitchen area and more with Santa, here is proof of one of the trees

The kitchen

Meeting Santa

Picsolve picture

The queue was very long

Rides
I was very happy to see that there were rides open this year, I am guessing the reason for these not being advertised on the website is to only attract guests who want the Zoo and Santa and not guests who are expecting a full theme park. I can understand this, but looking at what was on offer, you have half the Zoo missing, some guests would be put off by no rides. But the park was very busy indeed, so it looks like they got this one right. I won't be returning for February half term as it was too busy last year and Alton Towers have a much better line up of things on.
The Bubbleworks was the same as it always is, one or two effects fixed, but still in need of a good clean. Seastorm was good, the first time I went on it, I didn't realise the cars turned around. Hocus Pocus was good, either I had a pair of 3D glasses which were working well, but it looks like the place has had a good clean and the 3D effects looked better than normal.
Food
This is what really let our day down. They had the doughnut shack open at he main gate and the Market Square sweet shop open, but the only resturant open was the Chicken Shack. We wanted a Burger Kitchen, but that was closed and we could not get to Pizza Pasta as most of Market Square was a construction site. Now unless you could gain access to Pizza Pasta from the Childrens Zoo, it all looked very much closed off to us(See picture below).
The Chicken Shack is just a nasty place, every time I go here, either high season, low season, it is just a nightmare.
Now I have never had any complaints about the quality or taste of the food on any of my visits, in fact I prefer the food in there to Burger Kitchen, but the service is just so shocking and it is the same every time we go in there.
Queue to get a table, the tables are too close so you bash into guests to get to your table. Then the queue to order food is always out of the door, the staff are either too slow or they do not have enough staff on and the knowledge of their very limited menu was not good. They could not work out how to get the post mix machine working so we could get our drinks.
We had 1 kids chicken meal, 1 beef burger, 1 chicken burger and 1 Panini. We waited over 10 mins at the main counter, then was given a hot panini and no drinks as they would bring them over when they worked out how to use the machine. So 1 child had their full meal, but we we waited for ours. After 15 mins we queued up to remind the staff they had forgotten our drinks. Then the food I had seen under the hot lights for a good 10 mins was brought over to our table. It tasted good, but it is really not that difficult to have the food arrive at the same time. They really need to sort out the queue system or employ more staff as it is always very bad in there.
Plus they need to learn how to clean properly, we sat at the table far right at the back, near the door where the staff took the used plates. The windows next to us had 6 live flies crawling over it, there were two dead wasps on the window seal and the amount of dust and old bits of food which had clearly been there since the main season really is off putting. The tables and the kitchen looked clean, but you would think that with the park being closed for 6 weeks, they would have done a deep clean of the whole place.
But they put up some decorations

Sealife
Being an indoor attraction this was very popular, to be honest way too popular and busy, but the staff were on full form and for us it killed 20 mins of our time. The displays were fine and guests looked like they were enjoying themselves.
Animals
Sea Lions were good as normal, we missed the Penguin presentation, Otters and didn't bother with the Childrens Zoo as we have done those many times this year. Creepy Caves were closed but advertised on the website as open. The Reindeer were popular which you would expect. The Trail of the Kings was good and most of the animals were out despite the cold weather. Most of the glass viewing windows have been cleaned or replaced, so you can now see through and take pictures which has made a huge difference



Construction work
Market Square was closed and lots of building work was taking place, there were at least 3 lorry sized skips near the Black Buccaneer so it looks like the £5 million upgrade is going well. I was not able to get close to the Mine Train or RR. Fury did look in need of a good paint.


Other photos taken on the day

At the moment I can make any of these dates. I'm really looking forward to actually making the Guildford meet this/next year!

We might be surprised that Chessie are actually doing something?
I mean like, RMT and Dragon Falls only needed for the stuff to be redone to the same standard as it was before, but considering Merlin's fondness for 'the cheap' or 'the bare minimum' when it comes to theming there's not exactly many reasons for enthusiasts to be excited about when it comes to Chessie...
Sure an aviary walkthrough for the Monkey/Bird Garden would be good (as it should've happened back in 2011, but budget cuts), but the park has a LOT of work to do on itself to actually stop the rather bad plunge it's taken the past two years... Having some rockwork theming is actually the least of the park's worries currently, though it was the last straw for many fans as to how the park was going...
The thing is, we know what's due to happen with RMT, and that's the rocks are coming back... But the question is, in what FORM are they coming back? Bear in mind the original set of rockwork was brilliantly done in order to make one of the most basic track layouts going quite interesting, and linked well with the overall theme and queue-line itself... But what have Merlin done to lead us to believe that the same level of intricacy will continue onto the new rocks?
People are negative at Chessie quite simply because they haven't been good enough, and need to actually prove that they will improve... Problem is, we've also heard it time and time again from the same park that 'next year will be different' and 'it will improve'...
It rarely did... 2010 has been the exception to the rule this past decade... And it's embarrassing that one of the UK's top parks is in the state it's in today, with poor operations, half the place falling about and piss-poor designed new attractions (including Land of the Dragons)...

I can only agree with this. Also think it is worth pointing out as you bring it up that there is a real wide range of ages attending these days, from mid teens up to a few of us around the 30 mark and a couple even older (I won't guess at stretchys age out of respect for my elders! ). My point is the meets really are for everyone so if you are thinking about it then just do it!
As for what I want / expect from a meet, it is pretty much what we get! Always a good time.

Saaaaafsea!
Not sure on this one, so it's a maybe at the moment.

Scorpion? Sounds a perfect excuse to stick some decrepit Abdabs in the queue line to me!

Advertising a 26 year old ride as new really shows how far Chessie has fallen...

Judging by the rumours I've also heard, I'd happily take money from you you up on such a bet...
It sounds like a bitter disappointment quite honestly... So it suits Chessie...

Don't forget that Chessington ran a competition for people to submit ideas for the theme of Runaway Mine Train and Dragon Falls (http://www.chessington.com/updates/) There were restrictions such as it had to fit with the Mexicana theme but something completely new wouldn't be unexpected if they have used a child's submission. Some kids imaginations are great so they could of got some good sketches in.

The trough itself is my biggest problem with the way the ride looks. We know it doesn't fit and was poorly thrown in but there is no reason for it to look quite so much like that is the case. Painting the trough and some sort of blending and softening of the ride against it's surroundings could make it look much less turd like for no great cost.

You can say that again! So much advertisement was released back in 2010 (construction fence banners ect.)...and all that hype was somehow wasted into such a bad attraction!

Facebook competition on their page at the mo, like and comment for chance to win a 'goodie bag'.
Worth a go, I wonder what is in it?

Pieces of Slammer that they don't know what to do with?
I hope it's that...

You're welcome! Beautiful day today - bit chilly though!

Thanks for these, TPM and Thorpe It does fascinate me seeing rides in closed season in their dismantled state

Pretty amazing stuff!
I imagine at least one of those songs is written about you then, I wonder which?!

Assume this is OK putting this in here!
My other half, Becky, is a songwriter from Portsmouth - she has plenty of music online, both covers and original - she works with publishing companies who pitch songs for artists, adverts, films etc and has had a few songs placed, her biggest placement being "La La Love" on the trailer for "Love Wedding Marriage"
Anyway - have a browse on her two channels here, I recommend "Weird Nerdy Crush", "Biggest Regret", "Sing With Me" - and the promo for her Delicious Sessions EP is rather s****y!
http://www.youtube.com/user/beckyjerams/videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/beakyboo123/videos
Soz to spam!

Interesting is the word. It would be impressive for all the wrong reasons if 2014 surpasses 2013 for rubbishness!

What a brilliant idea this thread is
I would like to add to it to say how flipping awesome Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Triple Chocolate Cookies are. Give them a go, £1.65 well spent (they were on offer at £1.00 a while ago and damn that marketing, because I'm hooked haha)
Yum!

But the mood doesn't need lightening...

I did have really bad psoriasis which really affected my self confidence, but thanks to these awesome creams I have, its about 95% gone, only abit of the scalp left now and I will be psoriasis free for the first time in 8 years!!

I am now... employed!! My first ever job, I am so grateful for the opportunity I got given by college to go and work there for work placement and at the end of it, they gave me a temporary Christmas job! Very happy Liam is happy!

I haven't gone running around shouting about my private life, but...
This summer my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fast forward to now and she's finished her chemo, is due to start radiotherapy in a week, and is doing really well! She hasn't been given the all clear yet but after the initial surgery she was told things are looking positive, and she was given extra treatment as a preventative measure.
As much as I could rant about how cancer is horrible, blah blah blah, I don't see the point. I'd rather focus on how well my mum is doing than fixate on the fact she was diagnosed with it in the first place.
Proud daughter right here!

There doesn't seem to be any positive equivalent of the ever popular rant thread. What a miserable bunch. I'll start...
Right now I am on a month long driving course at work where I get to spend all day every day driving a variety of fairly high performance vehicles very very fast. Learning to do it safely of course, and the concentration required is very draining, but I don't know how it would not be possible to not love every minute of it. Three weeks still to go, big grin on my face at the thought of going back to 'work' on Monday.

Naked Swarm trains make you glad Merlin actually bothered to theme them...