Matt 236

Europa is a lush park. Very much everything the place does, delivers and provides is purely for dedication to the resort. The likes of Wodan and Blue Fire may be amazing, but it's a park you can happily enjoy regardless of doing any riding and just walking around and appreciating the place with its many hidden gems around. The pictures alone just show how amazing the place is and make me want to return in the near future.

TBH there's been a rumour before of a flyer being located in/around Berlin Street, so if everything can be added together I would say one being built is highly likely. Slightly surprised we may be seeing a Vekoma flyer (as opposed to B&M), but given how much they appear to have improved in recent years (even those new restraint styles) this should hopefully be an exciting one. Will be interesting to see what further attractions develop in/around the area and if/where Fantassima will relocate given Nighthhawk & Hollywood are probably on borrowed time.

Me and Tomb for the meal please.

Hopefully they will just tweak and update the ride. Over The Hill is in no way the best Ghost Train out there but it's certainly a rather fun, quirky and original one in many ways, especially the ending.

I love that launch noise, the ride colour and the style of restraints on this ride. The rest of the coaster just looks very average height aside. This ride could've been special.

Loopings drizzled in French mustard.

According to Loopings over 20 billion euros over the next decade which will be invested in renovations and new attractions including some new Marvel attractions in the Studios park including Marvel rethemes of Rock N Rollercoaster and Armageddon. Phantom Manor is also due for a major refurbishment where scenes are expected to be updated with new effects. Also in other sad news, Cinemagique closed for good recently and isn't expected to be replaced until 2018.

From what I saw a couple weeks back, the Carousel is certainly decently themed and fits into Chessington's image very well. Hopefully the water feature will be working soon as it looks a great little feature for the ride. It is a shame though that it's smaller than the old one (even if better themed) and the surrounding area like the castle could do with some enhancements. I'm assuming the old Carousel when removed was scrapped?

According to Southparks Legoland Windsor Resort have unveiled a 10 year master plan for the resort, in response to feedback from a consultation in 2015. The main points to note are: Ghost is still going ahead, but won't open until 2019 or 2021 (maybe based around investment cycles) Further accommodation will be built in the form of a holiday village on land purchased at the back of the park 450 lodges will be built in two phases The car park will undergo improvements due to issues with flooding A total investment cost of 95 million is expected Hopefully we will see further park investment too and I would also like to see some secondary attractions too, such as high ropes and crazy golf maybe, but I suppose planning could be the problem.

This sounds at exciting. A Steam Punk theme would work very nicely at the park, especially between Fantasy and Berlin. Will be interesting to see what this attraction/area actually houses, a dark ride, another Coaster and/or even a theatre as Fantasmica will need a new home eventually when Nighthawk and Hollywood are torn down.

I'd honestly like Ramesis to stay as long as possible. I know it probably doesn't have long left but it's one of the few thrilling rides left at Chessington and we're it to go, it would make Thorpe the only one of three with sufficient flats to a large extent.

Because nothing better can improve the immersion than replacing a 1930's themed ride on a themed facade than something modern and futuristic.

I would strongly recommend going around July/August time as the park tends to host an after dark event on Saturdays, which has comprised late night riding and fireworks. Apart from that, it may not be worth visiting if you are travelling from a long distance unless you are going on holiday in the local area. It's fairly nearby to places such as Carmarthen, Tenby and Fishguard and just under 2 hours drive from Cardiff. The place boasts a decent Wooden Coaster and Euro Coaster amongst a major water attraction. The rest of the park is nothing to write about, but the Neverland area is reasonably themed and the Treetops Coaster is an amusing family attraction. Shame the place seems seems to be slipping lately though, as a result of poor reliability, operations and general lack of investment.

It's great to see how much theming they've added to all their rides this off season, especially River Quest which has needed more theming too. Apparently they're also concealing the former RFA site is getting a new fence constructed to block the view from the monorail attraction.

Very happy and relieved they have made the rest of the building now match the original. Hopefully the ride ride will have a better season than last year when it reopens.

In all fairness, they've had noticeably more time to finalise Gruffalo compared to the Adventure Tree, especially given the fact one of them utilised a pre-existing ride system and the other was built from the ground up. Chessington as a whole needs a major renovation. Gruffalo & Tree are adequate investments, given the park's Wild Adventure image they are trying to go for, but the rest of the park needs lots more work. Vampire, Tomb, Ramesis and even Falls & Rattlesnake (to a lesser extent), could greatly see some much needed TLC and updates, as all these attractions currently feel tired and overlooked, which is a shame. The new master development plan should hopefully help the park out alongside minor developments, but what the place needs is a consistent balance of new attractions and restored ones.

I'd personally class that more as updating and altering the ride as opposed to a restoration. A restoration is when a ride or attraction is refurbished and brought back into a similar state or functionality to what the attraction may have once been, as a result of change or neglect. Hex, the 2011 refurbishment of Python and the Enchanted Tiki Room at Magic Kingdom are potential examples of restored rides. When Vampire was refurbished and reopened in 2002, the main major alteration was the trains, which were converted from Arrow suspended trains to Vekoma floorless ones. As a result of the different proportions, some alterations had to be implemented, including the station and areas around the ride, which included lowering the ground slightly.

Looks a decent enough woodie and addition to the park. That's assuming and hoping it doesn't age like Gwazi though.

I've had a good think and anylsis of that image the park have posted, and have come to the conclusion something is coming to Alton Towers this year. Could be anything for all we know.

'This thread'

For reasons that will become remarkably clear, unfortunately I will only be attending for the meal now.

What I would love to see is a major complete refurbishment of Vampire to bring the ride upto date and make it more exciting. If I owned and managed Chessington tommorow I would: Restore the chandeliers in the station Bring back the Graham Smart Score (along with the announcements) Put red lighting in the crypt and green inside the station Rebuild the organist animatronic and add window projections on some of the walls Add a new ambient soundtrack in the queue Add more theming for the queue, sculptured tomb stones and old pieces of furniture maybe Vampire may be 27 years old, but it still has a place in the Chessington today and I would love for it receive a 'Towers Loving Care style' refurbishment.

Managed a couple of goes on the New Gruffalo attraction today and here's the main things I took note of: Entrance and queue lines seem better organised and aligned than Imperial Leather Bubbleworks Exterior Music is minimalistic and makes for a calm relaxing wait Station boarding area looks fantastic (maybe one of the best things here), from it's appropriate lights and styling Ride mostly features variety of screens, light elements and selection of animatronics The ride features lots of interesting and loverly smells around the attraction Decent additions to the finale, from a mist screen to projected screens Fountain Finale room feels more full and different from ILB, yet pays homage with the survival of the smaller fountains Overall I'd say the attraction was better than expected and will likely be a hit with Chessington and it's younger families. I loved the station and smells around the ride and the station, amongst the second and final two scenes. I can't really compare to the Bubbleworks, given they are different rides and (regrettably) did not ride the original but it's better than Charlie at Towers ever was.

Episode Four of the Making Of Symbolica is now up, which gives the details into how the cars and ride system will operate amongst the finer details. Loopings have also released further pictures and details of attraction's vehicles too, which you can see below. Some of the details on this attraction look amazing and amongst being what is 'arguably' the most exciting 2017 attraction in Europe could well be one of the best non-Disney dark rides too. We shall see.

Legoland' music is actually pretty good if you listen closely enough. Andrew McKenna has done some great music for the park from the Dragon to Atlantis. Even the new Fairy Tale Brook Music is of decent quality too. Compared to a number of years ago, the audio at Legoland is noticeably better in most areas. As for the Gruffalo soundtrack, I'll hear it when I listen to it.