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The tunnel effects are very on and off it seems. I have always experienced the ride with at least some of them working. In Fright Nights the mist was spectacular and worked together with the lights really well, as you could barely see anything past the heavy red glow. It is great that they have fixed the smoke on the entrance to the tunnel, which adds a little bit more drama to the first drop into the volcano.However, if nothing in there is working, it must be rather anti-climatic. The thing is, it relies on these effects to impress, and they are simple sensory effects that vary in performance. Not much else can be added without ruining the 'inferno' effect, but in the case that the mist breaks the effect will again be ruined. I think there simply needs to be a good upkeep of effects (this has certainly improved recently but will naturally fall over the year); as well as rock face theming throughout the firey cave, so that riders are not left with corrugated metal if the mist isn't working.A shame that Inferno suffers from failing effects every now and then, but overall the ride is so good because it has these twists. The volcano tunnel is a great start to the ride, and so are the little touches like the volcanic rocks in Calypso Quey and ponds under the loop and photo point, with those geysers sometimes adding another effect. I am so glad it has been saved from the same fate as X No Way Out and Tidal Wave in which there used to be many good effects that have since been forgotten.

Oops, I missed this deadline by quite a lot! So, who will I be voting for in this Bubbleworks-style election?SmartGuy, well the concept is not very imaginative and it would be impossible to make the current channel transit sytem more rapids-like. So, I won't be voting for your black, red and purple retheme idea, sorry!Treeis, I think any chocolate factory theme will be bogged down by sponsorships and gimmicks. As you said, it has already been done at Alton Towers, meaning the resulting ride with your chocolate fountains and giant lollies would be too similar. Sorry!Noob230 has a very creative idea, but it sounds too much of a mash of Bubbleworks as it is now, old Bubbleworks and a new monster-type theme. It is not very clear what the factory is about, but the scenes sound very distinct and characteristic. Some great ideas, especially having the band play the music in each scene. I love the simple humour of having little music in one scene and seeing the band frozen. However, I am not sure all of the ideas would work on a real ride and still look as fun as they sound, for example the 'Staff Room' would be a bit drab. It does have good consistency with the previous incarnations of Bubbleworks, however, and if it did come about it would be a lot better than what is there now. You entry almost gets my vote, but not quite.Benin has an amazing concept. Firstly, the name and setting of a 'Phantom Factory' is both simple and imaginative. It has a lot of potential and within your description it sounds as if you have created some great ideas for scenes. The station sounds well themed and I like the idea of the chandelier and arched roof, even if it is not as lively as it could be. Each scene has been well thought out and has its own characteristics, with charming effects and animatronics in a similar style to the old Bubbleworks. The actual theme of a monster factory is a bit dodgy, simply because Transylvania was initially meant to be 'a calm Bavarian village' with Vampire being the surprise around the corner, but this original setting has mostly worn off anyway, so I doubt the clash would be much of a problem. The characters are pretty lovable from the sounds of it and I would really enjoy going on your ride. I am voting for this entry.MikeyT has a good backstory, though it would suffer from the problem of most riders not understanding it. The idea of Dr Chessington going insane from 'emotional torture' is also rather frightening! Therefore it needs a bit more potential to actually become a ride, but is still a very good backstory.

Runaway TrainSea DragonsHocus Pocus HallOld Entrance ThemeGriffin's GalleonThere are most of them. I would love to hear the 5th Dimension track, thanks!

Even if I don't get it finished, I am still having fun designing my own Bubbleworks! It feels great being as creative as possible and thinking of new weird ideas. I have actually spent all my time so far on the exterior and station. I really try and push myself to make an idea appeal to everybody, as in big overall appearance and memorable effects, as well as detail appearance and immersive atmosphere. Plus I like doodling the concept art! Or, maybe I am just rambling. One problem that I have noticed is the restriction of space around Bubbleworks. Thanks to an old photo, you can see that the cattlepen queue in front of the building was actually added later (probably at the same time that the entrance was moved from under the arhway). The available space must have been even worse then. There is barely anywhere else other than the covered walkway behind the arches to place a good, interesting queueline compared to rides such as Vampire or Dragon Falls. However, in the station, there is currently a lot of space not being used, even if it is also quite small in there.

Wow! I have been wanting that for years! Thanks a lot. Listening to that tune in the queue for Professor Burp's Bubbleworks was one of my happiest childhood memories, as well as walking into the station and being blown away by the loud music in there too. I was so pleased to hear it playing again on the exterior this year. And now I have got it!Out of interest, Mattia, how do you have all this music? You have done a great job with making it available online, too, thanks!

The full Bubbleworks exterior music (a shortened version of the sneezing section is available, but the official loop is much longer and has a totally different section), the official Vampire station music, the Wild Asia music , the old Terror Tomb music and some tracks from scenes in Tomb Blaster (the main theme is available, however). That is all I can think of, that I want anyway. I am sure there is more...

John Wardley Returns Part 2Last week was "Thirteen Talk", now it's: "Dark Ride Talk!" Fantastic! I surely can't be the only one without that jumpy-immature-excitment feeling, now? He talks about his work with Chessington for the 5th Dimension and Bubbleworks. He also talks about the creation and story behind Hex at Alton Towers. Just what I hoped for in my life.

Which means you could kindly put it online? Please? I won't use it for anything that will go against copyright. I just want to listen to it, so personal use as well.Well done on receiving it, though, you must have asked nicely!

There are some very creative ideas here. I love hearing and creating theme concepts, especially for dark rides.I will be entering, but not the same Bubbleworks retheme that I entered for the other challenge. Since that has already been done, and I have now decided I want the ride rethemed totally and started again from scratch, I am working on a new one.If only the real Bubbleworks was as unique as some of these ideas!

It has not worked completely because I have never heard of this Fright Nights Ouja Board event. And I would be somebody who would be looking out for these things. Well, it sounds just as ridiculous as the rest.

That is not because they have broken, but because they really are just static props. Scenes like the Hawaiian Room where there is now only one thing that moves - I think it is just embarrasing to be in! Everything looks frozen with absolutely no life in it at all, and then just before I cry out in annoyance, there is a sudden shock of relief when the hippo's mouth opens. Who actually designed the concept for the new Bubbleworks? Or was this a case of turning up and seeing how many ducks you could fit into one scene? There was some concept art. That means it was actually designed. Who could be dum enough to think this would turn out to be a good ride, let alone better than its predecessor? Oh dear...

Well, the could add a strong, coloured spot light pointing at the doors and hide the wrong doors under theming. They should think about slightly altering the pathways in some areas to make it so that there is only one route without room to be able to turn back or go in a different direction.

Well, they were serveying lots of people who came out of the attraction, and this was pretty soon after opening. I was asked a few questions about how I could improve the maze, for example. It seems they know it does not really live up to expectations and want to improve it. I hope so, because, whilst you can see effort in some places, the whole thing is a bit of a cop out. I doubt one day will allow for anything big, and 'maintenance' suggests little tweaks and improvments, but something can be expected for sure. I think it will most likely be something like improved directions, since so many groups are getting lost through the wrong doors. They will probably make the right route more obvious somehow.

Actually there has been a bit more than fixing old animatronics. Last year new lighting was installed in the Rub-A-Dub, Fairground and Bathtime drop scenes. They are the multi-coloured, pulsing lights that flash different colours, and they add liveliness to the said scenes if my opinion. Also, the new bubble machines in a few scenes were installed (or just fixed) this year.I know what you mean, though. There are many places that look cheap, boring on static throughout the ride and, if Chessington could be bothered, new animatronics would make a big improvment.

If I am correct, the Hygiene Room music (now played in the Rub-A-Dub scene, and often referred to by ReRide as the 'Ice music' for some reason ) now plays on full loop. Last year I heard it cut out at some point as with the rest of the music, as pointed out above. However, when coming up from the exit pathway from Vampire, I pressed my ear against a door on the right before you go down the steps to the shop. I could clearly make out the Bubbleworks music playing and I recognised it as the Rub-A-Dub scene.To my surprise it did not cut out where I thought it did and kept playing the whole loop, including the squeaky sound effects which I had only ever heard on my iPod before. Have they attempted to fix the music, or has this scene always had its full loop playing. I am pretty sure the squeaky sounds have not been played for quite a while.I expected to find all the music fixed, but I went on the ride to discover that the Fairground still had its huge gap and also the Factory room 'pop, squeak' sound effects and Fountain Finale music cut at one point.

Both of those would be costly and mostly pointless. Professor Burp's Bubbleworks has been lost and there is no way it could simply be rebuilt. The company that did all the visual effects for the ride has gone bust anyway, and John Wardley does not have the same job anymore. Also, it would be a boring cop-out to just do another Bubbleworks! Something really quirky, magic and atmospheric with amazing theming and a Transylvanian appearance has lots of potential. The old Bubbleworks would not fit anymore.An indoor rapids ride would not work, either. The whole warehouse would have to be rebuilt in order to allow for the new track, since rapids have to be flowing down all the time with the lift at the end. That building backs on to Vampire by the way, so the station would also have to be rebuilt. The room Trail of the Kings and the rest of Transylvania is simply too small for anything on that scale. It would cost so much and the ride already has a perfectly good transit system already. The end ride would be pretty poor if you try and combine a dark ride with a fast-flowing rapids in that small a ride.I am looking forward to seeing what happens to Bubbleworks over the course of time. I hope it does get a major refurbishment and not some tacky improvments. I would be sad if the theme is changed completely, though, because it has always been great fun and anything else might not feel at home. As long as they plan it out, think of intruiguing concepts and spend a big budget on it, I am sure it will be good.

The scaffolding needs something else to it to make it less confusing to the general public. Yes, of course it is just theming, but the less intelligent riders would not know that unless you sat them down and said it to them. You can't do that, though. It is hardly like you could put up a sign saying, "This scaffolding is not real."Therefore, it would improve the look greatly if there was some sort of obvious reason to why the scaffolding was there, such as branches tearing through the cover sheets, broken scaffolding or perhaps the more grisly approach of a worker's body seen hanging by a vine in the distance. Even just some plaques on the walls stating: "Warning: Do not enter. Unsafe building." and "Restoration work in progress - access forbidden." As long it suits the 'haunted' appearance of the crypt, anything to back up the scaffolding will improve the loose backstory greatly.

The big mistake they made when retheming Bubbleworks was not to think through what it was going to change into. The result was a mixture of non-sensical bubble factory with old left over bits, badly edited music, rushed decoration and some unimaginative duck props to go with the sponsorship. They didn't think about concept, atmosphere or magic; they just saw an opportunity to make money in the short term. Professor Burp's Bubbleworks only needed a clean and some improvments. By retheming it into something worse, they cut its life span by at least five years, and now Bubbleworks will probably only last until 2012 until it will desperately need a big change. Professor Burp's Bubbleworks had loud music, memorable smells and a truly great atmosphere for a family audience. It genuinely captured riders' imagination. That is why it was regarded as such a good ride compared to what it is now. I certainly loved it and my memories of riding it are like magic to me. Perhaps the Father Christmas-like Professor Burp character would not appeal so much to today's audience, but the ride itself could have kept on going for a good long time afterwards until it would have needed a retheme.If it was rethemed now instead of then, we would have a better ride by far.

I saw that post a while ago, too. Don't worry, Nick, you do a great job on the podcast and I only really subscribed to Season Pass to listen to you, as you bring in the British side of the discussion which the Season Pass team do as well as the American/Global discussion. You do know a lot about theme parks and are clearly interested in them, and having somebody who likes them because of the theatrical aspect instead of the gimmicky 'white-knuckle thrills' aspect that the general public seem to latch on to is a nice break. And, yes, you are pretty funny!Also, the people interviewed on the show have always been quite fascinating whatever they talk about. it has opened up my mind away from the UK theme park business, too. Even if there are no special guests, it is good simply to listen to the team and their conversations. The development of Thirteen was great, and it really shows how humble John Wardley is. He will not put his name on anything unless he is really urged to. A shame he did not have such a say on the actual turn out of Thirteen and the Dark Forest, otherwise we would probably have a more 'all-round good' area of Alton Towers in real life. Since, though Candy Holland proposed and created a winning theme, it does not seem to have turned out quite as expected. What it does show, is that Thirteen had a lot of effort put into it from everybody involved, which does show.I am looking forward to part two!

Sorry to double post. John Wardley has returned to Season Pass! This should be fantastic and really interesting.John Wardley Returns - Part 1

On my last visit, the operator used the microphone for quite a number of announcments, lots of which were just him playing around. He was a really happy, fun person, but really all the Vampire operators ought to cut down on using the microphone so much!"Welcome to the Vampire. Place all loose articles on the floor beside you.""I can fly!!" (Whilst fiddling with the air gates to make them look like wings)"WEEEEE!""Mwahahaha!""Bit scared, eh?"

I think Transylvania is first on Chessington's list of "areas being updated", because it needs a clean up and improvments would benefit the theme park greatly.Being a major area and home to what used to be Chessington's flagship rides, it deserves more than it has. The back entrance to Transylvania was a bit of an issue, which has been mostly improved with the new Black Forest Pass. It would be great also if Pirates Cove was rethemed to become an extension of the Transylvania land, because it is small as it is at the moment and has a weak theme. Black Buccaneer would suit it very well with the rocky queueline and its location in a pit, whilst Seastorm could be part of Market Square, (which makes more sense than having it in Pirate's Cove anyway).Bubbleworks has massive potential. A total redesign would give it a great new lease of life and make it the signature ride that it once was. This would incorporate a new style and look that suits Transylvania, so the exterior and station is themed as an old castle that has been taken over by the crazy Bubbleworks factory. This way, the scenes throughout the ride could be completely overhauled with new effects, lighting, and themes whilst keeping the consistency with the old Bubbleworks. Whether it will stay as a bubble factory could be decided.Vampire deserves a repaint, at least. The track looks extremely worn, and the original black supports look very ugly with their current mash of brown shades. Small improvments have recently been made to the queueline, and they showed what little things can do to make the experience better. The station and indoor corridor only need some small improvments, such as reinstating the exsessive cobwebs, dim lighting and restoring the coffin-themed air gates. The tunnel should once again be themed to a cave: rock faces on the outside, and permanent sound effects and strobe lights on the inside. FInally, the indoor block section should be themed with a finale to the ride. It would be impossible to heavily theme the brake run because of the maintenance shed and storage area, but various pieces of UV lit theming would work well in the dark, and a good finish in the area after the train turns a corner could be the place to install an impressive animatronic that give the jump scare to end the ride.___________________This is if Chessington have the budget, or if they even want to spend this much on improving Transylvania. Obviously these are only my brief concept plans and are not going to materialise in real life, but something along these lines is what Transylvania and the whole of Chessington will really benefit from. Who knows? Chessington might focus on a completely different area first, but what is confirmed is that they are going to "update existing areas" over the next years. We saw what they did with Beanoland, so the future looks very adventurous!

You mean only 10 seconds of it was played? No, it was definitely playing all the way through and I heard it loop a number of times. I was queueing for the front row which meant I was in the station for longer. Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Chessington often borrow each other's music for events like these or even for rides.

There is a 'letterbox' in which signs invite you to put your rubbish. When you push your litter through the hole, he opens and says something. So far I have heard him say:"Ah, thank you very much! In return for you, I have old Chinese proverb. Those who are the shooting master always win in Tomb Blaster.""Ah, thank you very much! In return for you, I have old Chinese proverb. [Muffled] ...make your way to Mystic East."Unfortunately he is quite old and the audio is very quiet and often muffled. Also, the tube in which you have to put your rubbish is very long and litter often gets stuck on the inside without going all the way through. This also leaves sticky goo on the 'letterbox' which puts people off from using it! The actual animatronic looks hideous, too. Quite freaky actually! They need to fix him.At least he is working again. 2008 was the first time ever I saw the hatch open. I always assumed what the hut was for and who 'Peeking Tom' was. I thought it was the remains of some sort of live action show. Then it was revealed to be a very large bin when they got the hatch working again. I just wich they would give him a new face because this one is falling off!

Terror of the Towers Maze 2002That was the music playing in the Nemesis Inferno station during Fright Nights. It does not have the 'Freeze their souls' sound clip, but it was definitely the background music. It was originally used in the maze secne of Terror of the Towers at Alton Towers in 2002.