electricBlll

They can certainly afford to lose Tiny Truckers. By the sounds of it the ride is nothing more than an annoying blockage to the back of Land of the Dragons. In fact, getting rid of that will actually help that area of the park a lot. The park needs to prioritise.

Am I right in thinking that that was where the little wier was installed back when the ride was first constructed? There was an old photo of it, but I cannot find it as it was on the Thorpe Park Guide (which has no shut down). I cannot find it on wayback. It seems it was removed very early on for an unknown reason, sometime before or after opening...?

Also, Detonator is disguised behind Inferno's track. So you probably already know what the building is, but you might not recognise it because Detonator is hidden - a trick of the eye perhaps.

The whole park was closed? You know what, that means Colossus is now actually a bit unique! (Apart from the clone in China)

Bear in mind that Chessington's history is rich in thrill rides as well. Vampire was the Nemesis of its time.

It is a tesla coil. And, I agree, it is a fun little effect that leaves a lasting impression on riders in the queue! Hopefully it will last very long as well, although being quite complicated it might need a lot of maintenance now and then.

Or that's what you think you remember. It is actually just a false memory implanted in your mind. (Yes of course we all remember Rodeo, it was only removed about 5 years ago!)

Well, the zoo is not really purely Africa. It has large sections devoted to Asian and Southern American animals as well. None of it is really African themed. Egypt may be in Africa, but it has a totally different feel to it than, say, a savannah. Forbidden Kingdom does need an expansion, methinks. I would also like to see Tomb Blaster lose its "passive viewing of theatrics whilst accompanied by music and lasers" format to a big, special horror dark ride.Bring back some of the lost fun stuff from Terror Tomb (although no fixed storyline, just more animatronics/characters and even more use of music/sound and lighting). Refurbish everything that looks tired and dirty to make it all look new again. Make use of every possible moment, so that it is exciting the second you set eyes up the facade. There is a lot already there to build up from, since the 90s retheme was so fantastic and exactly how a retheme should be. Unfortunately it was botched up with laser guns a few years later, which means a serious thinking is once again needed. Just give it a very heavy dose of TLC. Much the same as the rest of Chessington, really.

Erm, this year? Why? Merlin have pretty much saved the whole park. It is now getting a lot more visitors than it has ever done before, and no longer is the park being left to rot. It was Tussaudes that got close to ruining the park, since they had plans to morph it into a "children's park" which goes against most of its original purpose as a theme park when it became one in the late 80s.You talk about "the time" when there were new coasters every 3-5 years. This was never the case with Chessington. They had a huge boom that sarted from 1989 and carried on after 1990. After that several more investments and a 5th Dimension retheme, that was all. And that suits Chessie fine, I think, as long as they keeping pushes the boundaries. I certainly does not need to do a Thorpe Park and get a new coaster on a 3-5 year sequence, it needs something else.However, I believe that, partly thanks to Merlin taking over from Tussaudes, Chessington is now seeing those much needed investments that were missing throughout the dark ages of 2004 to 2008. Vampire is one of the UK's greatest coasters, and that isn't because it has sentimental value. Since 2001 it has been in an awful state, and to be honest it still is. With non-existant or feeble theming being all that remains in some places, as well as tatty looking Abdab making a nice but frankly badly thought out reappearance, the outdoor queueline is still a bit of a mess. The interior is much more impessive, but frankly the theming has just got too old and would benefit well from a restructure. When you walk inside, it should feel like you are stepping into a gothic abbey that has become the lair of a vampire, not a tin shed with some flickering windows here and there.Also, when you suggest replacing Vampire with a Nemesis-style B&M invert, are you having a laugh?! Erm, how about we stay realistic and keep with the other "idea that John Wardley had" - the Arrow suspended coaster that we have today.What Vampire would benefit from is a big refurbishment. Restructure the indoor and outdoor queuelines and give the building an impressive facade. Then build a new THEMED tunnel (much longer than it is now - like it used to be) with a nice touch of strobe lighting and loud audio effects. Make it appear is if you are diving underground or in a cave, rather than swooping under a strange roof. Also, a finale would be nice. Make the drama more obvious in the ending please, nobody likes a black room. I know there are lots of computers and maintenance equipment in the way, but there must be some way to install a good looking set with an effect finale, lighting and sound effects? Maybe that is a bit much, and is perhaps too much change for a simple TLC refurb... However I am sure many people would love to experience some sort of "ending".Alternatively, leave it as it is and let it die.

Thanks to Callum Kerr for these photos.It's the Pop Pills poster! But, look what they have done. I assume it was the redesigners who did this during the retheme... As if trashing the whole ride with IL logos was not enough, they even went and coloured in Professor Burp's face! But I am glad that this has returned from the grave, it brings back many memories. I remember how it was such a magical attraction; it is shattering to think what it has become. The nostalgia is killing me...

I was against this when I first heard about it, but it is likely not to be as intrusive and gimmicky as I first thought. The old ice rink has lain unused for years now, and if it was reopened it really would bring back some attention to that area. As it stands, the whole of Adventure Land down to Old McDonald's Farm goes rather unnoticed (with the exception of Sonic Spinball). Storybook land is also tiny and sticks out strangely, with only the one ride. It is a peculiar area really, it doesn't really feel like it belongs at the park much. It is like a jumble of remains from mid 90s developments, with Spinball plonked on top. Not that the areas are not very nice or anything, just a bit lonely. Maybe this new attraction will add some life to it?I wish it had not been an IP though, but there you go...

This reminds me of the user of Wikipedia who keeps throwing tantrums because people write "Saw: The Ride" instead of "Saw - The Ride". I keep having to revert his edits that insist: "sometimes the ride is incorrectly named 'Saw: The Ride'". Who gives a damn?

??? Corkscrew had to go sooner or later. It didn't add anything to the ride line up anyway. They got a hell of a lot more attention by removing it and replacing it with Thirteen, instead of keeping it there and leaving it to rot even more.

If you want to listen to Chessington music, go to Music of Merlin.

Well, yes, the ones at Universal were huge and obviously more realistic than anything X No Way Out could have hoped to achieve. However, it would have been a nice feature nontheless. And it would mean the trains would be waiting for you before you entered the station, keeping the backwards movement as a surprise.Although only if you avoided the pointless signs at the entrance telling you random facts about how "this is the world's first and only backwards-in-the-dark-rollercoasta!!!!"

I think lift 2 is now used as disabled access, yes. Although I imagine that back in the day the both lifts were used at once, to speed up throughput. It is a shame that they just sit there doing nothing now.Yeah, they were only simulators. I assume that you were batched into two groups, one in each "lift". The doors would then shut. In Universal Studios they seemed to be quite keen on fake lifts, they had one in Back to the Future and another in Men in Black. What happened was the floor would vibrate and audio would play to make it sound/feel as if you were travelling, when you were actually just staying still. I assume the the lifts in X No Way Out were similar, with audio and vibrations.

Not at all, although a start from scratch would be easier to design. A big project retheme would make fantastic use of wasted space and fix all of X's problems. The low ceiling and floor that I described would only be the doorway upon exiting the lift. You know, you have the inner lift doors that travel with the lift, then the outer ones that stay static. I meant that the two sets of doors would be offset, giving the illusion that the lift had become stuck part way between two storeys, so that visitors would have to duck ever so slightly to get out. It isn't like the whole station platform has to be lowered or anything, just an overhead beam can be added and the lift floors raised a bit.And the lift simulators are already there, in case you didn't know. They are those wide-ish rooms that you walk through before entering the station. They just need to be fixed and updated, with working doors and better speakers. I have some photos of them as they are in their current state:Remember, this is just me brainstorming. This is not what I "want to happen" or anything. However, I do strongly think that X needs a retheme on the same scale as the one I described, with a completelt new format. It will cost a lot of money, but Thorpe Park can easily afford that. Merlin is a rich company, and they easily get backing from Blackstone, so money is not really a problem. Especially since the coaster and building are already there, which would have taken up a lot of the budget.I also think it is worth researching abandoned buildings, and finding out what a "research facility" would actually look like. It should be slightly futuristic in design, and be in contrast to Saw so as to avoid any similarities.

Surely vomit is not a large enough problem that any solution will ruin the ride?Some signs are necessary, yes. Perhaps they should make bigger, clearer signs that say "Do not ride if you easily suffer from motion sickness" or similar. But don't plaster them all over the place, you only need one or two at the entrance. Definitely not in the indoor queueline._________________________Does anybody else think that, if proper air conditioning was installed, the X indoor queue would make for a perfect set of preshow scenes, in the same format as Hex at Alton Towers? You could be sent inside in batches. It is a very long corridor, so you could have several sections themed up with new effects installed (at least fix the robot) that walk straight through. Maybe a bit of interaction with a live actor who sends you further inside a themed scene where you stop and watch a pre-show video describing the loose storyline (nothing tricky to follow or too long as we know the public don't pay much attention - just something to describe why the research facility is abandoned and what went wrong).Then you head further into the labs, where the decor around you becomes more delapidated, with flickering lights, leaking pipes and cracked walls (a bit like what it is like now really!). Different, more tense music in this area. You soon reach "the computer room" (perhaps located in that more open section where the queue zigzags upwards), where you see the huge supercomputer itself before you, fed with strange looking fuel tanks and connected with large tubes lit from inside, etc. Loud music and sound effects, as something goes wrong - make it very theatrical. The metal door blocking your escape on the other side of the room opens. The group heads away down the final section of the corridor (strobes, spark sound effects, air cannons) and into the lifts.The lifts could take you deep underground. They lifts could easily be restored, and updated with better effects and speakers to make them more realistic. There could even be some sort of power cut, making the lights cut out leaving you in pitch black, and the whole lift could violently shake for a few seconds. When the doors do roll open, you find yourself stuck part way between two storeys, with the ceiling upon exiting the lift quite low and the floor low too. You walk out into an open, dark, industrial room (the refurbished station), and board the trains that are waiting there for you.The track in front of you is lit, with arrows pointing forwards down it. Suddenly the lights cut out, a crash is heard, and the walls light up in computer error messages (?! ). A strobe is seen around the corner in the direction you thought you would be going, when suddenly the train is sent backwards instead and the ride begins.It would slow down throughput and mean that the ride would not be suitable for disable passengers (unless they come through the exit and enter the station upon a ramp). However, I think a big build up sequence would add that much needed "sense" that the ride lacks. The outdoor queueline would have to be considerably lengthened and rebuilt to cater for the loss of an indoor queueline, but it would at last make X a proper dark ride with added coaster sequence. (Instead of a long walk down a pointless corridor with a disappointing coaster at the end.) This is obviously not going to happen in 2011, but if the park wanted to spend time and money on X to keep it a solid ride once and for all, they will need to start thinking bigger.

The problem is that the trains going backwards was always meant to be a surprise. Now that they have signs telling you "This is the world's first backwards-in-the-dark-rollercoaster!" it ruins a main aspect of the ride. They also let you straight into the station before the train has arrived, so you see it roll into the station backwards anyway.Tricky one.

Well, you haven't seen the station. This is only concept art, remember, and the actual station looks slightly different in terms of lighting and a few bits of theming.

It sounds to me as if the old poster was sprayed during early stages of the retheme, to "mark" it to show it was going to be changed or something. The old posters cannot be printed off, I think, because they were drawn cartoons and not CGI'd pap like the new ones. Like you said, I doubt they would print off the new posters in case they do want a big change sooner or later.

Good and bad news then. That poster was probably my least favourite of the new posters because of its cringworthy CGI rendition of an Imperial Leather logo-wearing Bubblehead. Glad it has goneAlso, it will be good to see an old piece of Burp's come back. However, I am really quite cheesed off that they decided to graffiti an old poster, that really is how to rub it in.

Bit random...Well, concept art always looks more "fantasy" than the finished product. Apart from that, I would say that Saw does look like that. Even the very fine details made it into the ride. In fact the real life stairs look better than those depicted in the second rendition.

Waaa?Tell me more. I must know! Geekasm!

I think you have misread.You were saying "Look at Tidal Wave, they didn't gut the theming, they just removed the OS signs". I was saying that is a different situation because Tidal Wave was not rethemed around Original Source, it simply had signs added. Therefore it did not need a new retheme, and it was a simply case of removing signs.Bubbleworks, however, is actually themed around Imperial Leather's old brand image. It is more complicated than removing a couple of signs. They actually have to take out a lot of theming and effects, otherwise renew the contract. A third option is that they can't be arsed and will paint over logos but leave the rest how it is. But this is a new era for Chessington, in which things like that don't happen anymore (hopefully).