Luke_A

Just not long got back from Chessington WoA, Had a great day, maximum queues were 80 mins for Dragon's fury and Vampire; Rattlesnake had 15 mins max and Kobra had 60 mins. Most smaller rides (e.g Griffins Galleon) were almost walk on's all day. (We did have a few Express passes between us).Ride Count:Dragon's Fury: 4Rattlesnake: 2Kobra: 2Runaway Train: 1Vampire: 2Tomb Blaster: 1Bubbleworks: 1Dragon Falls: 1Flying Jumbos: 1Griffins Galleon: 1Peeking Heights: 1Safari Skyway: 1Toadie's crazy cars: 1TOTAL RIDECOUNT: 19Vampire was having problems on one of the two operating trains today, the restraints would not release on one train when it came back into the station; because of this the platformers all had to manually undo them underneath each seat. Not sure if later in the day they took this train off and only operated on one.Kobra is not performing as well as it used to, it does not reach the top of both towers and the airtime over the bunny hill is not as good as it used to be, but oh well - it is still a great ride! A Great day at Chessington as always, the staff were amazing and can't wait to visit again!

Why, what is the matter with it?

Tinchy Strder-In My SystemI really like this song, it's really catchy!

Dragon's fury is currently unavailable today.

I think that is a good idea, as long as they do not put them in Q-lines, people already smoke in queues; it doesn't need to be made any worse. When people do smoke in Queue lines some "pretend" that they did not know it was not allowed.

Did Edge at Paulton's Park have many of these problems, Surely Zamperla should solve the problem soon, rather than creating more! now that the Gondola has different wheels, it seems to have too much track friction and is not reaching the top of the two towers and goes over the airtime hill slower. I'm sure they will get it sorted soon though; being as it is a major ride.

What were the Queues like at Chessington today Benin? And was vampire on 2 or 3 train Operation?

Whenever I am at chessington there are usually about 4-6 people in the gate queues, and on 3 train operation team perseus really try to dispatch as soon as possible.

Vampire is still an excellent ride and still has the potential to run for at least a few more years, Yes it could do with a bit of paint, but that is about it. With it having the low height restriction it is great for kids and is one of the few higher capacity coasters in the U.K that has 3 trains. I also love how it is an Arrow Dynamics/Vekoma 50/50 cross coaster.

I would love to see a cross valley B&M hyper coaster , being that there is not yet a B&M hyper coaster in the U.K yet.We will just have to wait and see what Alton Towers come up with nearer the time of the coasters construction!

I think I remember seeing in the MTDP that there was a possible flat ride location near where miss hippos was as well as another food outlet. However I think it would be better to have a small but thrilling coaster there, e.g the Mega-lite (as I said before) and even if they might have enough money and space; maybe a Maurer Sohne Skyloop XT450, That is a skyloop with an X car coaster added to it after the skyloop. (It is on the Maurer Sohne website if you don't know what it is).

Anyone have a rough idea on how big express pass ride queues have been during the Summer Holidays?

I think Thorpe could do with a Maurer Sohne coaster, (x car) as long as it has 2 or more trains and is a bit better than Drayton Manor's. I think it is stupid how Drayton Manor only have 1 train on the ride. Maybe an Intamin Mega-Lite, although this may be similar to Colossus.

Oh that's ok, can never really predict what rides will be unavailable when though; because I am visiting next Tuesday. It is probably going to be Super busy!

I wonder where the ride will end up when the Sega contract ends, as in if it will stay at Alton or if it is moved to another park.One thing that always annoys me in the spinball queue is when you are in the part near the break run, there is a box underneath the track containing some sort of air tanks/pipes; it makes a loud noise and pushes the door open slightly for a split second then it bangs shut again. Dragon's fury at chessington has the same system, but is not as loud.

Colossus nearly always has the biggest queue whenever I visit, you can't really blame the staff for this, but one of the trains sometimes is waiting in the station for the other train to be on the breaks so they can dispatch. Maybe if it had an MCBR so it could have 3 trains, then it would have been better for loading times. I agree that it is getting a bit rough and noisy now, but it is only 8 years old and could do with a repaint.

Are all rides back up now or are some still unavailable?

Yes, I agree with MikeyT and Marc, it is probably only connections that prevent some speakers from working, although I have noticed that the Bose speakers in the electricity posts in the Amity Cove area near Tidal Wave are vibrating in the casing around them, all they need is to be secured in a better position to sound better. At Chessington WoA, in the Dragon's Fury Queue there are some Bose environmental speakers (the green ones in the ground) and when the dragon roars, they sound absolutely terrible with distortion because they are not really designed to play sounds like that continuously.

It probably could be made portable, but when the ride is lifted to the top of the tower, it uses compressed air and the tanks are massive (they are the same size as the ones next to rush but are layed down to the left of slammer in an enclosure). S&S power don't make portable rides, but they could well start to make them! One company that do make portable rides powered by compressed air are SAFECO rides.

I'm going next Tuesday (24th)

I have always wondered why air has 2 trim brakes, one in the first tunnel and another just before the final helix, but they never seem to move or slow the train down? Which of course is a good thing!

Still on 2 trains, I thought it was running on 3 trains for a short while a few weeks back anyway? - I am visiting soon so might get an express pass if on 2 trains.

Excellent Report , can't wait to see the other trips too, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter looks amazing, I would say that looks like the best themed area in any Orlando park!

I would not be surprised if next season we see a lot more effects in X:\ No Way Out, due to it getting older and the amount of people being ill because it is so disorientating. By this I mean strobe lights and smoke machines; maybe some coloured lights like Marc said as well. - And by the way the flashing battery is still in the exit path of the ride if anyone was wondering that.

How long will Vampire be unavailable for, Is it just a small problem or is it major, Just checking to see if anyone knows roughly?