electricBlll

It was a great effect.

No photos of what?

You mean the water tower that used to burst with water?There it is to the left, the 'Amity Water Co.' tank. This photo shows Tidal Wave's construction. I stumbled across the website just now, and the same company that made Tidal Wave's theming made most of Terror Tomb, Transylvania, Rameses' Revenge and Rattlesnake at Chessington, too.

Evil money grabbing corporate baddies!!Why have they done this? Surely they have enough money. I guess, like the previous Original Sauce sponsorship, it would OK if the product suited the ride and was not so in your face. This just looks silly. The new paint on the floor looks... alright... the logo on the shelter is... OK. But when they slap the words: "Dr Pepper PRESENTS TIDAL WAVE!" all over it, the ride seems like some sort of unimportant attraction which has a purpose simply to advertise their product. Dr Pepper does not present Tidal Wave, the ride has been around for ten years now. Dr Pepper has nothing to do with it! Leave it alone!:unsure:Phew, at least it is not all over the place in every nook and cranny. Or is it?

I agree with what a lot of people say here. They have turned the map from a navigational device to a colourful souvenier. Like most theme parks do. However, this year, they have just gone too far! The little people doing stupid and inappropriate things may be stupid and inappropriate, but they have grown on me. They did make me laugh when I first looked at them, purely because they are in fact an utter joke! I can see a lot of their target audience (even those too young for a few things) enjoying all the visual gags they have in there.So the big problem we are left with is the navigation. Tidal Wave's splash has obscured most of the Amity Cove area; Nemesis Inferno's suddenly giant volcanoe is 50x larger than it actually is, and people who want to actually find the entrance or restaurants around the area will have trouble; the overexaggerated rollercoasters are in a terrible proportion to the tiny flat rides. Don't say that people don't use the map to get around, everybody I see who picks one up uses it to find their way to the next ride. If we take it for its original purpose as a map, then there is no doubt that it is completetly useless!

The rides are awful. All the flat rides are worse than previous years, with tiny, weirdly angled representations. The rollercoasters are stupidly overexaggerated, such as Stealth and Saw. Colossus and Nemesis Inferno just look like a horrible clash of wiggly lines, especially with an enormous hole in Nemesis' volcanoe. The billions of chavs around actually take the mickey out of Thorpe Park's marketing team. If somebody saw this they would definitely be put off. If however, a steriotypical chav saw this they would definitely want to go, so I guess that is their main target audience unfortunately.The mooning/farting/vomiting/urinating characters look like an utter joke to sanity, and many bits are simply inappropriate such as the couple having sex by Rumba Rapids. The Saw rides look ridiculous with blood shooting everywhere like some sort of happy-do-dah human abattoir attraction. And I am sure that nobody is going to be able to actually find their way around with it.On the plus side, it looks better than previous years.

Good point, I am sure the everyday person would not think of that, however the constant barrel rolls are obviously only there to break the record and do not offer too much thrill. The final inversion before the station is quite good, however, as the train ends up quite close to the ground before going into the brake run.Also, yes that was the ride I was referring to. It could be considered that they cheated with Colossus' layout, but by being able to say that it was a record breaking ride put Thorpe Park on the map for the first time. Colossus' opening was a sign that the theme park was taking a change in direction.

The intensity of the ride always disappears at about the third barrel roll. They are just weird instead of thrilling, unlike the rest of the ride. It is a bit silly that they took another rollercoaster's layout and added two extra barrel rolls to break the record. It really does show.However, it is still a pretty good ride. I wish the tunnels and the station were actually themed, though. So much potential not being used!

It also confirms that the chairswing will be named Money Swinger; the fountain will be reused as theming for the Kobra; and the 'branch' theming shown in concept art for Wild Asia will not be actually be appearing on the Monkey Swinger.The more I look, the more I like it! Look at the entrance to Wild Asia and all those exotic trees.

This design was only new last year? The style before that was boring, generic CGI that had been introduced around 2003, how can you say it needs changing already?:)Anyway, I actually squaled when I saw this. For some extremely weird reason.I love the new map! It really shows Chessington's brand image and represents the park beautifully. This year it has just got even better! The style of Wild Asia looks great (the themed gondolas look promising for the actual ride), and the emphasis on each area's setting goes really well with what they said they would be trying to achieve.I am surprised the African Savannah Experience is opening this year, though. It sounded as if it would open at least next year if not later. It just goes to show that Chessington are putting a lot of effort into their development from now on!

No, the noise of the lift is classic. The queueline is great just because you hear it all the time! I love that "Clank-tap-clank-tap-clank-tap... Dribble-clanky-clank! *Screams* Whee!" sound!:)They are just probably sorting it out for winter maintenance. I hope they have refurbished the queueline theming, though. That fake bat model looks worse than the plastic tombstones that have fallen over!

So Black Buccaneer's boat is being replaced this season? I hope it looks better than the slightly generic decoration at the moment. Of course it won't make much difference to the fantastic ride experience.

So, both Thorpe Park and Chessington now have fantastic new websites. At least Chessington's is a bit more sane than the other one, whilst being great and adventerous.

I totally agree, and I hope they get the music sorted out quickly. last year they added new pulsing, multi-coloured lighting which really made the scenes that it was installed in look lively and often dramatic.The thing about the original is that it was full of imagination, whereas this one is not. For example, Professor Burp's Bubbleworks had the Lesser Crested Pop Whisk - a giant bird animatronic that had a whisk for a beak. A fantastic pun and a simple but memorable moment. Now you have the completely charmless 'Duck Massage Hut' which I call the 'Duck prop on a pole'. I still think the ride is great, certainly with families, however if Chessington were not prepared to spend lots or did not have any good ideas, then they should not have tampered with it.Though, it is still a fabulous dark ride and is thankfully getting better all the time.

So we can even eat like we are in the jungle? Those insects are chocolate covered and some are cheesy apparently. I am sure they will be popular...!Good news on the preview day. I hope they don't rush the opening without making sure all the effects are working on them.

Well, I would have a go, but I didn't figure out that you were not meant to look in the spoilers until it was too late.

MonsterDan's is definitely the best. By the way, JoshC has been left out the poll.

Thanks! It pretty much looks like the North Entrance is definitely going to be jungle themed. There looks like some great detail there. I hope the South Entrance is getting refurbished too, and I hope the new music is good. It probably will be, being Chessington.

Thanks a lot to those who voted! I think I will start entering regularly.

Bubbleworks! The current theme is kept, but with far more emphasis on the bubbles and little on soap and ducks. Well, I had to choose Bubbleworks, didn't I? Whoa that was long!!!

Tussaude's had a great ride and really did ruined it for no reason other than money. Prof Burp's Bubbleworks was so brilliantly designed with the audience in mind.But with Merlin showing more and more of their immersive ride capabilities, could we see some subtle changs to the current Bubbleworks in the future? It is not as good as the original, but the current version is certainly not a bad ride. Once the sponsorship has been removed (and that is the main problem gone already) a nice, funny and memorable dark ride will be left. Obviously some bad points such as lack of animatronics in a few areas and those ugly ducks will still be there, but can't something me done about it? In 2009, new lighting was installed in the Rub-A-Dub Department, Fairground and Bathtime Drop scenes, consisting of fast-paced, multi-coloured pulse lights. I think this alone added greatly to the life in those scenes and work much better than the bright spots previously seen. It is a step in the right direction to improve the ride, but is still not as good as the dim UV lighting on Professor Burp's Bubbleworks.If Merlin are willing to keep on improving like this, Chessington could end up with a very good version of the ride again. The music, as mentioned, needs fixing and to be properly edited. Does anybody actually know why the tunes were cut short in some areas? In the Fairground music there used to be a really atmospheric and magical sequence that has been edited out of the version currently used. This is the same with the Rub-A-Dub music (previously from the Hygiene Room) which had a part cut out of the original tune that featured wild squeaky noises. It does not seem to make sense why they decided to abridge the music in the first place; so it would be nice to fix this issue.I know in their recent statement Chessington talked about how they were afraid about retheming the ride again after recieving so much dislike from fans when they first did it, but surely that does not mean they can't keep improving?Eventually Bubbleworks will become one of Chessington's signature attractions again.

I have decided that Battle Galleons is actually my favourite water ride! But I shall enter the photo below anyway. It is of course Dragon Falls on its first drop.

It was great last year as the trees had not been trimmed and you could only just brush the leaves as the train flew over!Though not a very thrilling rollercoaster, I have always found that last turn into the station to be surprisingly speedy and intense! It certainly catches all the younger riders out. it is the same when it ducks into the tunnel as the train swings quite violently to the left.

I never noticed this before. Perhaps it was changed because the colours could be seen from the road, as the light blue goes higher up the supports in the first photo.

I never did like the idea of Sonic sponsorship. But now it is confirmed and details released, I think it will work. Alton Towers would not go ahead if they were not prepared to create lots of good theming. Like Spinball Whizzer, it is unlikely that it will be immersive, though it will freshen up the ride. Fans of the game will certainly be pleased, too. Also, it will only be lasting three years, which means it will not dominate Alton Towers and there will still be a lot of Spinball Whizzer in the theme. Then after that the ride is likely to be relocated as mentioned in the future plans.