Matt 236

Last weekend (April 12th), I finally got to meet industry legend John Wardley. It’s pretty clear 2025 is not the year to be visiting Chessington. With Project Play under construction and Wild Asia mothballed, under the guise of early construction for the Minecraft area. Operations were mixed, with mandrills being decent, despite a breakdown and Vampire doing a decent 2 train op, with just two platformers (one of which was batching). Rattlesnake’s operations were atrocious. The less said about the hideous Tiger Rock tunnel changes, the better. It looks more like an industrial estate than a theme park now. Now onto the event. At first there was a Vampire themed buffet in the temple restaurant. Buffets are known for either quality and quantity, unfortunately this one was neither. Burgers were the main event and as expected tasted vile. Salt, pepper and ketchup couldn’t polish this monstrosity. The curry was at least was just about edible. The desserts were comparatively bette. Black died soft serve, sundaes, sweets and jellies comprised the selection. Thankfully the event improved from here, the VIP team were generally attentive and chatted to everyone and we got a Vampire themed welcome drink. After making our way to the event suite, the main event kicked off. In the first segment John Talked about the different projects he’d worked on. Things mentioned included how the park almost became a housing estate, due to it being a failing attraction, his work with the McNamaras at the (sadly now closed) Oakwood and early ideas for the Vampire. Wardley reckons the ride still has much life left and the trains have less impact on the track than say Nemesis. On the second segment, John answered attendees questions. He said Universal GB wouldn’t impact the U.K. parks as much as people think and it’s not a David and Goliath battle. He also mentioned as far as developments go at the park. We would be in for a treat. At the end, one of the park’s long serving ride engineers Martin went through a lot of the ride’s mechanical statistics and gave away a few random ride bits to some who answered the most correct/accurate answers. There was then an opportunity to meet John, have things signed and have pictures with him. And now the 12 million pound question, was it worth it? At £125, even after discount it was perhaps an eye watering amount to spend, regardless of circumstances. On hindsight the food was mostly disappointing and other features were interesting, but I guess the important thing was this. I finally got to meet John Wardley. The man and legend who brought many of the countries most exciting attractions to life and such an inspiration to many. Without Wardley, Chessington may have well become a large housing estate.

Went to Vibes last week, without a doubt one of the best meals I’ve had in a UK park for years. The wrap was tasty, flavoursome and decent value for money amongst the chilled yet vibrant atmosphere of the restaurant. Even the service was to a decent standard. As long as this standard continues, will definitely go here again. A contrast to the awful meal I had at Chessington recently.

Thought I would celebrate the arrival of the 2025 season, by recording and arranging the ride’s theme.

Visited Towers this weekend for the first time this season. First impressions weren’t great, from the misleading car park layout, various delapited areas and the monorail running just two trains. Rather embarrassing to what could be argued to be the UK’s flagship park. Operations seemed noticeably inferior to previous standards, with Rita on just 1 train and Galactica on just 2 trains and 1 station, disappointing every 5 minutes. Having 3 rides closed ( albeit expected) is also a shame for a park that’s had 4.5 months to sort things out. On the p,us note, the Thirteen team were doing great! Although not rammed, queues often reached/exceeded 90 minutes. Spinball,oblivion, Wickerman, Galactica and Rita at the very least experienced lengthily shutdowns. This excludes the heavy rain closure that evening where most rides understandably closed for a short while. However closing Spinball in the rain (as opposed to reducing capacity) now is just disappointing. Despite running the Alton After Dark and being the start of season, there wasn’t any real buzz or atmosphere at the park which I’ve felt previously, even post Covid. The vibe improved noticeably after dusk, but there was just something missing and I can only put it down to further quality retraction from the Merlin machine. I had a Toby carvery breakfast, so therefore didn’t need to eat the overpriced and underwhelming food selection. I don’t want to be constantly negative about the resort, so I do have some positives. Toxicator is a great addition to the park, it looks the part more than I was expecting and looks great off ride. The setting was the right level of intensity and adds more to the area. Curse is still an exceptional dark ride and epitomises what the creatives can do with the right resources. Although a little rattly, Nemesis Reborn is still fantastic and looks stunning at night. I really want to be more appraising and positive towards the park, because they have so many great rides. But I can’t sugarcoat the place solely on this. Towers has a lots of operational issues at the moment and with current trends I see things getting worse rather than better. The park ideally needs millions spent on infrastructure upgrades, however this will probably never happen.

Well, this news just swung in. But yes. Very exciting, might have to fly back up there in 26 then.

Ahh, the late 2000’s. Definitely a lot more optimism when it came to the parks and maybe professionalism too. Wild Asia closing (suddenly) at the start of this season, (rather than near the end) without any fanfare definitely comes across as a cost cutting measure. Which Merlin have implemented in all their parks this year. Though interesting developments may well be on the horizon, this is looking like a bleak year for the park currently.

Yeah sadly this park closed last year. A lot of their main rides including their Hornet coaster failed their Adips inspection earlier last year, which was perhaps the beginning of the end for the place. It really hasn’t been a great time at all for the U.K. park industry lately.

Imagine someone revisiting Alton Towers this year after previously going in 2015 who’s not an enthusiast? Essentially they are witnessing an upgraded Ripsaw, plushed up Nemesis and a modified Haunted House. Essentially in their eyes Wickerman is the only new ride they notice since last time besides maybe some bits and bobs in Beeb land. No Blade, no Flume and couple of other missing attractions, amongst some yet to open attractions and some of the most ludicrous park food. In both price and substance. Certainly makes for a rather negative return visit so far. We shall see how this season goes, but can’t hold too much optimism so far.

Not gonna lie, I’m pretty gutted about this news and this closure hits hard. Even if the writing was on the wall. I only visited the park a few times, but each trip had significant memories. The first in 98, as part of a family trip to Wales. Though too small for Megafobia then, I remember rides like the long closed Nutty Jake’s Gold Mine. Then fifteen years later in 2013, an iconic trip in which I finally rode Megafobia, my first wooden coaster, amongst the then new Never Land and other additions. The TPM meet in 2015 was my third and final trip. Certainly an iconic one to end on I guess. Shame to see this happen, but unfortunately Aspro really did run this park into the ground. Another major loss for the uk industry.

About as excited as ordering a burger kitchen meal.

This weekend I returned to Phantasialand, almost 6 years after my last visit and 8 since my last Winteraum. So a return was probably largely overdue. First things to say are just how stunning the park looks, not only in winter but overall. The glow ups to Africa, Mexico and Berlin look great. The Winteraum event was just as spectacular as I remembered, from its stunning night time and stage shows to beautiful winter decorations throughout the park. The (new for me) Rookburgh area looks spectacular and arguably amongst the best park areas ever created. Whilst FLY isn’t my top coaster, it’s still a spectacular ride and feels more of an experience than a coaster. The perhaps extreme security measures are the only thing I can really fault. As for the rest of the park, Taron was just as great as I remembered (if not a little better), Chiapas delightful and still enjoyed Black Mamba, Colorado, Winjas, Maus and Mystery Castle. Now the negatives, as great as the park is, I cannot help but feel just how busy and overcrowded it becomes, especially around the shows in the evenings. The park is clearly attempting crowd control measures, but it felt rammed to the rafters at times. Crazy Bats & Geister Riksha feel like the weak links in the park currently, with Geister featuring many broken effects, poorly synched audio and a general sense of fatigue, as if the park are waiting to rip it out. For the second time running, my VR broke on Crazy Bats, as the monitor crashed and rebooted at the start of my ride. The park just needs redevelop that whole area of the now because it really sticks out, especially with the abandoned Hollywood ride sealed off. It would be the perfect site for a large scale modern dark ride and more. Stayed in Matamba this time, had a park view (could see some of Mamba) and a tasty breakfast and dinner meal. Only setback was the service at dinner left something to be desired. Overall, it’s easily amongst the best festive events at any European park and feels magical in numerous ways. The vast amount of crowds and demand are the only thing I can fault here. I won’t be leaving it another six years for Winteraum, let alone the park!

Sounds a very paramount decision

2024 Park Count: Thorpe Park x5 Alton Towers x1 Legoland x1 Europa Park x7 Energylandia x2 Legendia x2 Liseberg x1 Skara Sommerland x1 Parque Warner Madrid x1 Cedar point x3 Kings Island x1 Six Flags Magic Mountain x2 Universal Hollywood x1 Disneyland Anaheim x4 Knotts Berry Farm x1 Santa Monica Pier x1 Some of my highlights include riding Hyperia & Nemesis Reborn and spending new years at Europa Park, which was a lovely experience. Probably the only time a European park will be my most visited park. My California trip is naturally a major highlight, visiting several top bucket list parks such as Six Flags Magic Mountain and Disneyland, which was a truly amazing experience. 2024 has been one of my busiest years for trips (some non-park trips). It’s also been the first time in 12 years without visiting fright nights and Chessington. Wow. Shall see what happens next year, but I’m doing Phantasialand Winteraum in January and Japan later in the year, with another US trip planned. More to come for sure.

Even from my glossier perspective from last year, the park still left a lot to be desired with 1 train and slow operations. Funnily enough Heidi was the worst operated when I went in 2023. Plopsa is this park that looks like it could easily be a top European park contender with it’s theming and some of its lineup, but feels short due to failing some key fundamental areas in the experience. Besides the hotel, the F&B is definitely worse than Merlin and even PA. I also second Josh’s thoughts on RTH, it was a good ride but it didn’t leave me thinking it was incredible after experiencing it.

Guess they are getting a new coaster after all in 26. Just not the one everyone was expecting. Location isn’t set in stone, but guess Postman Pat might’ve dispatched his last parcel.