SteveJ

Sure, the other day the front of my house fell off and I found a wattle and daub cottage behind it! But I think you missed my point, I understand why they would cover up a sign, but this is an entire facade! They positioned new plaster boarding over it and built on top of that, bringing the building forward about a foot, judging from those images. Wouldn't it be much easier to remove the windows and faux-timber framing from the original wall and just redecorate? Wait, I think I can answer my own question:

Long before Storm Surge, Octopus Gardens and the adjacent Thorpe Mega Store (I think it was a themed restaurant at some point) had quite a lot of figures dotted around like this. By the time I knew the park, this octopus had long gone, but I found this great video of the sculptor making it. He also made that odd statue that is now situated in Loggers Leap. You can see it was originally intended for somewhere else that I don't recognise... is it Trapper's Trail where Slammer now is? There are more videos on his website, including many iconic Chessington sculptures, like the dragon tunnel and the carved Buddha faces from Dragon River.

Except that taking down a sign does not cost £350. And if that were the case, how come this year they have decided to strip all the old layers off if they could have just added a fourth layer? By that logic, in 30+ years the building would have extended an extra metre into the path! Whatever. I don't really care what the builders do, I just thought it was amusing/interesting how the Black Forest Chateau was still intact after 23 years.

Who seriously accepts the excuse that "rides are supposed to look rusty" just because they have a dark theme? When somebody builds a ride, they don't say "Oh let's build a ride about an oily rusty rollercoaster in a jungle! That's just what the public want!" No ride is 'supposed' to look rusty. Even Nemesis, which has painted-on stains and scars, is not supposed to have real blemishes like peeling paint and rust covering the track. There is a line between what suits the theme and what just looks poorly maintained.

Considering it looked like that when Transylvania opened, I don't see how it ruins the area. That is the original facade from 1990, as conceived by John Wardley and co. - not exactly "crap" since that was what the restaurant was intended to look like. They have uncovered it during the current refurbishment and intend to remove it, what you see in those photos is far from the finished thing. It was never intended to look like a vampire's castle, which they turned it into later. Personally I think the Count's Cauldron exterior was very badly planned - you had windows of different sizes next to each other and huge plastic bats hanging off. It was unrealistic and weird, compared to the rest of Transylvania which has a realistic European town style. And covering up a sign is very different to building a whole facade on top of another one, while leaving all the old signage and theming intact underneath, I find that a very strange practice. It's like a cake of different themes had built up over the years...

It is indeed all the old signage that disappeared c1991. The scaffolding is in the way, but I assume the banner also reads "Black Forest Chateau". Here's a closer photo from Theme UK: Quite lucky these photos were taken before it was all removed, it's intriguing the way the just covered up the old with the new. That technique seems quite common at Chessington: old Bubbleworks posters still intact under the new ones, Forbidden Tomb sign covered by Tomb Blaster logo... There must have been two extra layers of facade behind the Count's Cauldron and nobody ever knew it was still there! I'm looking forward to the new look, whatever it may be. The Creaky Café looks good, so I have faith they will make a good job of the Burger Kitchen as well. It would be great if they incorporate some old with the new.

The Cartoony Cracked Concrete Count's Cauldron is no more! Sorry, it was actually quite well themed, but - with its grinning gargoyles and oversized bats - it put a 'wacky' spin on Transylvania that didn't work. It has now become Black Forest Chateau mk3, in its appearance at least. It looks like they have uncovered the original facade from 1990 that seemed to disappear within a year. If you compare the above image with this photo from 1990, you can see the crossed beam pattern is very similar. The second image is a still from Themes Dreams and Scream Machines (which I deduct was filmed in 1991/2) showing a modified facade. 1990 1991-1997 1998-2012

What is this? An advert for a new ride at Chessington? It can't be... It's great! The Call to Adventure theme even plays in the background! I find it quite amusing how they are all driving along adventurously only for the tree to randomly fall in the way, and the driver looks around completely deadpan, expressionlessly reversing the truck, and finds no other option than to drive into an evil cave...?

Well, breaking conventions is just my opinion of it. Although factory themes are nothing new, Bubbleworks was an innovative ride with a certain eccentricity that was unique to Chessington. No other ride in Europe at the time could take you on a magical "musical" tour of an offbeat factory, then lift you up and release you into tunnels of fountains... Back in 1990 when the only dark rides in Britain were ghost trains or the Fifth Dimension, Bubbleworks was something very ambitious and different. What's more, the English sense of humour it possessed meant it stood out from the rest, becoming like a comic book with the many puns and visual gags. There's an interview of John Wardley discussing from Themes Dreams and Scream Machines, discussing the "Beaufart scale" joke and how "the Americans would never use the word 'fart'". It's true - here was a ride about hiccups, burping and farting, not your usual Disney-esque material. Kind of ironic how it is now themed to soap and cleanliness - the exact opposite. And then of course the finale itself with its bombastic lighting and loud music... I remember clearly how loud it seemed when I rode it, it was like there was no holding back on volume at all. It's sad that it apparently Bubbleworks failed the test of time - but was its ageing just down to poor maintenance? And yes, in my last post I was referring to the proper fountain finale track. The harp-based ascension track never suited the finale in my opinion, and the threatening pressure room music suited the lift even less! Silly pointless fiddling!

Bah! You are probably right, but it is so annoying that they would tame the ride because of that. Dancing in the strobes with the water towering overhead and that amazing music was the most magical experience at any theme park ever in the whole world. [understatement] Really, if one has epilepsy, why would you go on rides in the first place? They even warn you at the entrance to the ride, and it is used in plenty of other attractions. Bubbleworks was about breaking conventions anyway... so sad it has succumbed to this. However, I thought that the new monochromatic pulsing sequence they introduced in 2011 was an improvement. Before that, ever since they tinkered around with it in 2006, the gels had just kind of randomly glowed with some occasional strobing at the same time. Of course it was much better originally, when the lighting used to illuminate the fountains in bright colours (the intention being that it would appear to be fizzy pop), then the whole room would plunge into darkness for a split second, then... STROBES!

If X No Way Out is indeed turned forwards this year... Would that mean that on the second MCBR, when it naughtily rolls forwards back down the track - stops - then reverses again, it will now be rolling backwards down the track? So it would still have a brief moment of moving backwards - although only a few feet rather than the whole ride. Alternatively, they could reprogramme the computers to ignore the break runs and just ride straight through them - that would greatly improve the pace but potentially make the ride too short. They could just send you round twice to make up for the short length - like the Runaway Train! He he...

Bubbleworks is currently open to guests, I think, so I doubt any signficant work will be done. Although, every year they do make some small improvements, such as fixing lighting, music and any remaining old effects. Last year the cow's eyes started moving again...

EXPoSEd THEMInG! eXPoszEDdee THEMIngg!!11 Silly cartoon bats removed! Silly achitecturally-nonsensical windows removed!! The Refresh actually looks inviting!!11 This is the best closed season for three years!

It isn't about anything. At least not anymore. The ride experience itself is not good enough to work with any sort of new theme; unless they spend loads of money totally regenerating the whole infrastructure and surrounding area, which would be a waste. They don't allow you to queue inside the building anymore for health and safety reasons. I agree that the exterior queueline is awful. It's hardly a "garden"! It's full of broken posts and rotten wood chips, and all you can see is the bare metal pyramid next to you and Storm Surge. Rubbish. The interior corridors are boring to walk through as well, but that's another story. To lower the height limit, they would have to replace the seats. It is the loose restraints that caused the limit to go up to 1.4m in the first place. New individual lap bars, such as those on Flying Fish or Thirteen, is a very good idea because it would allow younger guests to ride (who would perhaps enjoy it more?) and give some extra longevity to the ride. If this was to happen, then I don't see the point of turning the trains around. Personally I like the sensation of going backwards, and it is only the awkward lap bars and head rests that makes it uncomfortable. X No Way Out would just be so bland and 'normal' otherwise. But I wouldn't protest if they did face the trains forward. I think the furthest they will go with X No Way Out in 2013 is a general infrastructure refurbishment - cleaning/repainting the corridors, refurbished outdoor queue, new speaker systems in the queue and on the ride (loud subwoofers in the main ride area), and some lighting/sensory effects on the breakruns. Get rid of the 'horror'/'evil computer' themes that were attempted at various points since it opened. Just make it really stupid and fun, that's all it has left going for it!

The Swarm can be turned backwards because of the very design of the wing rider. The seats are suspended from the central chassis, right? Even then it isn't as easy as just swapping a few seats around. But the seats on Oblivion are built into the shuttle in rows, so significant modifications to the cars and station would be needed. It wouldn't be comfortable falling down the drop either, since the force would push you into your restraint rather than the seat. Also, backwards Oblivion would be the height of pointless gimmickery anyway. It would ruin... everything... for the sake of being able to see behind you as you drop. "Don't look up"? What? Backwards Swarm sounds rather fun, to be honest. A random idea, the type of pointless 8-year old's daydream that you would find suggested on the internet, but they seem to know what they are doing. If it wasn't practical and safe then they would not being going through with it; they have probable consulted B&M about it. I don't mind the redundancy of the interactive theming items, as they would still be partially effective seeing them fly around and away from you as you travel backwards. I hope they take this opportunity to further improve the Swarm in general. I know they were gradually bringing in more props and theme objects, but it still felt rather inconsistent theme-wise with big gaps of emptiness and an obvious lack of landscaping. If they could properly programme the flame, sound effects and water sprays then the rhythm of the ride could be fantastic.

Interesting to see what's happening to the new Creaky Café (which has been a boring Refresh for the last few years). The whole thing will be indoors now. This also means that you won't be able to access it through the archway in Transylvania's entrance tower, only from the front. They even exposed some great facade detail during the refurbishment, back from when it was the "Alpine Spa". Though it was quickly covered up again by the new wood: There are loads more photos at ThemeUK. The new appearance fits in with Transylvania really well - a very European facade, with a certain Chessington quirkiness to it. Much better than the generic Refresh, which I never bothered visiting. Perhaps they should remove the snow, however, since it doesn't have any connection with the Alps anymore and is beginning to look old.

You definitely have a point, one would think that with new technology theme parks would be using more efficient methods of animations and effects 20 years later, but in the UK instead of innovating everything has gone backwards. Tussaudes may have been a bit overzealous when their parks were growing up in the 90s, packing animatronics, effects and theme in every corner; perhaps without fully considering the long-term, practical aspects like maintenance. But then again, thank goodness they did because the pieces that still survive and work are great. ...Who doesn't love animatronic organists?Bubbleworks is pointless case of laziness, though. I was quite young in 2005 but still remember thinking how worn out the ride was getting, and thought a refurbishment would benefit it. I didn't know they were just going to remove 90% of the animatronics, replace them with static props or leave it as empty space, stick bright white strip lights in all the former UV-lit scenes (to make it brighter and less scary for children, of course), and replace any slight hint of humour with rubber ducks. I'd much rather they had left it to rot than what they did. And yes it was 'BubbleWorks' as in hiccups from the juice, not actually a factory for making bubbles, as that would be pointless - seemingly whoever lead the 2006 refurbishment didn't get the joke. Hmm...

That is the promo photo they used in the 1990 park brochure. There's a higher resolution version at the bottom of this page: http://themeuk.net/Chessington_Site/?page_id=1296 I'm glad the current layout is less blockish and compact, but it's still a shame to lose the animatronic show. They barely use real animatronics in UK theme parks these days, strangely, but there used to be so many. The only recent ones I can think of are stuff like the Billy doll from Saw - quite rubbish really. Yet 20+ years ago they were using quite complicated animatronics everywhere they could.

Does anybody remember before Count's Cauldron it was called the "Black Forest Chateau"? It had a traditional Bavarian-style façade, like the rest of the Transylvania village, instead of the castle-like appearance it has now. And had an indoor show in which an animatronic organist (brother of the one in the station I assume) would rise up from the floor and play another piece by Graham Smart? It was where the platform seating area is. I guess it was all refurbished in 1998 when McDonalds opened, as part of Tussaudes' late 90s rebranding to make the park more wacky. Hopefully they will de-cartoon the current design whilst not losing the detail and colourfulness inside.

Well if you won't link to it, I will... There are a few more old photos on there, too, if anybody is interested. http://www.flickr.com/photos/electricbill/sets/72157629972013041/

If you insist!I am glad you have enjoyed it, although I really should have put more effort in. The audio is in mono, for example. Whoops.Thanks for the compliments. I might give it a watch myself!

Terrible addition to the otherwise great promotional build up. It seems obvious to me that this is nothing to do with any ride narrative, backstory or whatever.They just ran out of ideas, so they got a mobile phone and filmed some random people saying "I am Lez Cougan" and put it on Facebook. Just to sustain hype.I will be really surprised if this turns out to be of any importance to The Swarm whatsoever. The general public might have forgotten that the Swarm is opening next year; this video is nothing more than a reminder to provoke online participation.

A special feature of two could be hidden on the DVD as easter eggs. An interview with some of the designers or a short promo video, for example. Bonus features always feel more fun when they are hidden at first!I have never bought an on-ride video because it looks too much like an excuse to shove more marketing in your face, with the footage being quite brief. I may consider buying one if it has more personal content.

But it was just a marketing trick, wasn't it? They did not actually change the acceleration at all.

So does Bubbleworks have a future?I would much rather this be saved for a major new dark ride project with real artists, real lighting and a real budget, rather than have another stupid rush "retheme" job. This could easily be a repeat of 2006, but it could also be something so much more. I agree, do not attempt at restoring the old ride as that would be a huge embarrassment for Chessington and the past should remain where it is. It is extremely unlikely that any recreation would be as accurate, imaginative or magic as the original. Also audiences and technology have moved on, so something else is needed to pull in crowds.Dark rides are amazing. The possibilities are almost limitless, it really is a chance to let your imagination go anywhere, as long as it can be achieved theatrically and will attract crowds. So why then have so many recent UK dark ride projects been bland, confused and gimmicky? I hope Chessington are going to take the future of Bubbleworks seriously this time. They should learn from their own history on how to make a fantastic unique experience, and also learn from all the mistakes...