Cal

Sounds like another fun day at Chessington today. 2 rides closed, rameses on half capacity, vampire's had a lot of downtime and they are removing a car on dragons fury on a 2 hour queue.

And that 60 minute queue is likely to be because they are only using the front row. (Photo from themeparkguide) Pretty poor for a busy day but there must be a good reason for it.

Last year Slammer closed everyday around 2 for checks, so it's likely that the second shutdown was just because they were doing checks.

Was it testing today as well?

Are you really complaining because Bubbleworks was down for 5 minutes? Every ride has short shutdowns which can't be helped.

Yes staff will have to be trained on it, as like you say it hasn't yet operated this season. It's also not in the same team as last year, it's now in area 1 instead of area 2 so there will be no staff trained on it. It has been passed over to the ride team though, as this video shows it being tested with ride audio (engineers wouldn't do that when they are testing it) and you can see a member of the ride team standing by the batching area. RobF said it takes 18hours to train someone on Slammer, so if it's been tested the last 2 days as well (that's 12 hours) it should be very soon that it opens!

If it's still been testing the last 2 days then theres a good chance it'll open, but I don't know what it's been doing the last 2 days?

I doubt there will be rides open after park closing then as like Zach said it's not during the holidays. They only seem to do it on school holiday days. You get in the park between 9:15-9:30, it depends how many rides are ready. When the main gates open for normal quests at 10 you will get an hour of unlimited fast track, between 10-11. I'm unsure how you claim this, but I'm sure you will be told if you ask about it when you're there.

I've heard things like the black Buccaneer and monkey swinger being single staffed, which is absolutely ridiculous with queues like that. The last time I went to Chessington, black Buccaneer had 2 staff, 1 to load/unload and 1 opp, and monkey swinger had at least 2.

If you don't go often, a photopass seems the best option which is £25 for 4 photos (I think?) Which works out to £6.25 per photo.

Video of it testing today! - By the looks of it, it should be open very soon! Last year it started doing tests on AP day and opened late in the season, so it's looking a lot better this season! Looks like it should be ready for Thursday now, let's hope!

Looks soo good It did really need this. Would be surprised if they only did parts of the track though, would look a bit odd. Surprised me they're doing it mid season though.

According to Theme Park Xtreme it was testing all day, which sounds good! Does anyone know it's been handed over to the ride team yet, or if it's just being tested by engineers?

I very much doubt it'll be open by Thursday. Like Josh said, it has a lot of testing to go through before it can be signed off.

And last year it was moving/testing on AP day. God knows when it's going to open this year.

Last year I thought they were pretty good with one train op compared to previous years. Most mornings when I got there at 9:30 it was ready on 2 trains. I believe if it is back on 2 now, may not be in the week due to it being off peak, but it's not just Colossus one 1 train. Speaking of trains, is X back on 3?

I'm not saying you're wrong, as it did sound awful when you went in at the end of the day but please remember that was just your experience. It's not going to be the same every time and every day. When I went in on the last run through of the day, it was the best run through I had all day. It lasted a lot longer than the others, and the actors were on top form.

There wasn't when I went, no. We got in the park at 9:15, did a few rides and then got to the queue at around 9:50 and we were in the first run through of the day. We also got in the queue at 6 even though it said 100 minutes, and only waited just over 30 minutes. It seemed a lot better at the end of the day as well, actors were a lot better.

Yeah it opened at exactly 10 when I went there, it didn't open with other rides for ERT.

There was and still is no plans, just rumours. Note that it confirms under the fright nights section on the website that BWP is returning.

Diggers are at work! (Photos from TPWW) Also, the pathway near bush BBQ has been closed off now, for access to the site I'm guessing.

Not sure about anyone else, but I haven't seen any work being done to Slammer recently but seems like they're working on it today! Hopefully they will get it open soon. Also noticed the last time I was there they had the Slammer sign ready to be put up, don't think they bothered to put that up last year when it was open. (Photo from Themeparkworldwides facebook page) I really don't want Slammer go, but I can see it going as soon as possible and I do understand why. It must cost them a ridiculous amount of money for maintenance, has to close midday for checks and even when it is open it never seems to be popular. Not sure if that's due to it being out of the way, and people not knowing it exists? I don't see why the park don't advertise it as the 'worlds only' or whatever, never even see pictures on facebook when it is open.

If I could vote, it would have to be UKIP.

Did you seriously just suggest that, after everything you said about reserve and ride!?