Matt 236

Banned for not eating the cornetto

Seeing that the Swarm came tops, I thought I'd do another poll similar but this time which coaster everyone likes the best in the dark/night time at Thorpe. Things to consider your choice/s are Coherence to the theme Lighting (as too much ruins the effect) Interaction to surroundings (at night)

I think there may be more this year other than the 5 mazes & rides in the dark, I'm certain.

Personally I don't want to see any mazes set on the beach this year, plus the Curse was considered the weakest maze since its introduction.

The little kids probably do, not that it's really any special tbh. I think the park with these dire operations need to get better trained staff and as much as it hurts, reduce guest interaction on the ride areas for the purpose of better throughputs on the ride. The amount of negative feedback on Chessie's Facebook just shows how bad operations currently are at the park with many getting on only 2/3 rides in an 8 hour day. Though its not going to work completely, I do think Chessie should increase park hours with 7pm closures during summer/bank holidays and 6pm most weekends as well as closing at 8pm again during Haloween. Whilst the other parks (debatably) move forward, Chessington is moving backwards.

Congrats James, you've done very well.

I'd like to see the CCR train or route involved in one of the mazes as it could make an interesting experience I.E the train stops due to some problem ad you have to walk the rest on foot to escape. Could work very well.

Well it's certain Chessie's ride teams have gone down in standards in the last few years. I remember the days of 2006 when the park though not perfect seemed a lot better then. The ride loading s were considerably faster and the park probably in slightly better state than it is now (bar Wild Asia and Zufari). Whilst this is perhaps my most enjoyed season at Thorpe since 2006, this is certainly my least enjoyed Chessington season. The park needs big changes in the next few years for the better.

Sounds an interesting coaster concept of having a forwards/backwards family coaster at the park, plus this isn't a thrill addition like the last two coasters, which certainly fills the gap for the non Thrillseeker market. Dolly wood is definitely progressing towards becoming another must visit park in the states.

Sounds like its a very enjoyable park there. Oakwood one of the many places I'm dying to go to and though I visited there 15 years ago, I was too small for Megaphobia. Hopefully my request will be answered in the near future.

2 rides in one day, that is absolutely shocking. Ok it's the summer holidays and the park will be busy but that can't be explained in how bad that is. Chessington's current rides can't hande big crowds anymore plus they're being managed badly and to make matters worse, at least 2 major rides are currently closed. Makes Legoland seem quiet during summer in all honesty which in fact Lego has better throughput rides now too. As far as I'm aware, Fury was down a few days ago and though I think it's running again now, it's certainly not good considering RMT & RR currently being closed. Dragons play house is also currently closed.

Had word from Themepark guide that the Smiler is closed meaning the ride still has problems ongoing with it. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=534561116599192&set=a.166428706745770.47984.163052343750073&type=1&theater Hopefully this will be corrected soon.

I'm very pleased to hear this. Slammer is unique ride and will surely be an impressive one ridden at night.

I do think the queue line worked better in its original form where it worked like the other coasters, dispatching was faster, queues were more organised and it was less confusing to guests. Now it's just a complete mess there.

This all sounds very exciting, four mazes themed around big horror films plus the return of Saw Alive. If this is done right, in theming, atmosphere and setting, then it could be one amazing event and maybe the best event yet. I hope they don't charge for all the mazes as the old ones used to free so hope it will all be included. The factor of maybe more to come is even more exciting. Can't wait for this years Fright Nights.

So we know then that there will be several new/replacement mazes then by the sounds.

Wow, Chessito. Really need to sort out their ride operations and throughputs out. 2 mins 30 secs dispatch time is shocking and I bet that 2nd train was waiting in the brakes for a while plus over two hours on furys queue is crazy and Kobras is just as bad (if worse). Sounds like Chessie is horrible during busy peak season with their dire throughputs. One hour for a little kids truck ride, seems a reasonable queue time to me .

These hints all sound very interesting. It seems we may be getting a whole lot of lions gate horror film packages for this year which is either a very good or very bad thing. A maze around the CCR route could prove very interesting and full of potential if this happens.

Thorpes current entrance is certainly in need of revamp. The front entrance is swarming with crowds and everything is congested around the booths and turnstiles as there seems to be battle these days at the turnstiles. Thought the entrance had a minor revamp a few years ago, I do think it is in need of a fairly major facelift. This may involve pushing he entrance out slightly further and slightly altering the car park layout with more booths, a new pass building and extended ticket collection too. The turnstile area along with the bridges could be widened too so it can take the crowds easier too. The dome can stay, for now any way and also because of its values to the park. In terms as an entrance, I did work quite well in the old days as a world to a magical island (in the pre-Tussaud days) but I don't think the entrance has justified the current Thorpe in its current shape for the last 4/5 years. Compared to the other parks, it is probably the most in need of a major entrance facelift as it can't handle the crowds it receives nowadays. Towers is perhaps the only park currently with an entrance that is fulfilling its requirement whilst Chessingtons & Legos do have their share of issues but are tolerable at the moment.

It's okay, can't say I've grown to it, tbh not as good as her Song Believe in the late 90's which was pretty good.

Watched Kick-Ass 2 today as I was invited to watch it with some old school mates. As I don't know much about it, I wasn't expecting it to be that great, but it was fairly good. There was loads of action and violence in the film as well as quite a lot of humour as well to the film. The film is mainly about a super hero who tries to achieve good things whilst staying behind the back of his dad as well as an array of other superheroes. The main antagonist seeks revenge for his father who presumably died in the first film being the main antagonist too which I haven't seen. He comes up with a plan to revenge Kick-ass and comes up with the rudest name. So rude I would probably get banned if I mentioned it so I suggest looking it up if you wish to know. The 2nd half of the film becomes slightly darker as the antagonist forms a gang of super villains who seek revenge and in the process kill several people including at least two secondary protagonists related to Kick-ass. I won't spoil the movie too much but will say its full of lots of fighting action, fighting violence and also the fair bit of humour. I like slightly different & humorous take to the superhero genre and the mixture of action and real life involved in the film. If you're in to action,fighting and super hero movies, this s one movie you will probably enjoy. 8/10 This is a movie I like.

The pros & cons if this system ever happened. Pros/ Better guarantee of going on the ride you want (e.g Swarm forwards) Less queuing for rides Plan your day out better Better than fastrack (Currently) free to guests Cons/ Could disrupt normal queue down even more if fastrack (and normal queue) still exist May congest further park areas Could be problematic when a ride breaks down Won't work on all rides (only primary (and maybe secondary) rides) May be useless on off peak days (and perhaps even salt the wound) Might make the ride less impressive to 1st timers (the build up)

I think if the planned theming hadn't been dropped from the ride (which was due to it reaching the budget early), then we may be seeing this ride to be slightly better than it currently is.

I like the board and advert thing here but I somewhat can't say I like the location there as it seems to obscure the view of the towers in the distance, a beautiful, exciting and also important feature on entering the park in my opinion.

This sounds very interesting in terms that it would work that you can book a time slot to ride. I do see this as kill or cure though. Kill, if the system is over booked or mutates in to a fastrack variation, Cure if this eliminates most queues. It has quite some potential this. I hope people without smart phones can do the same too.