Cal

The operator would switch the lights off (switch in the console) and I believe to not play the launch audio they'd use the mic to override it. They've stopped doing these now thankfully. They were good fun a good few years ago, but when the word got spread and people were asking for them every other launch they got very boring.

I know its not always possible for everyone but couldn't recommend visiting on off peak weekdays enough if you want to get on a lot of rides. You can visit on certain days and get on rides quicker than if you were to have fast track on a peak day, and save yourself 200 quid whilst doing so!

Agreed seems very brave of them to announce an opening date when they haven't sent a train round the track yet! Interesting what they've done with RAP for this - its essentially just working as a 1 shot fast track. Can only go on it once per visit and but won't be timed out for it. Sounds like this could potentially be open to abuse? Hopefully not. Have pre booked for the 24th but may change that closer to the time. Not sure I can be bothered with a 4 hour queue and vloggers but would be nice to see it on opening day too. Currently advertised as a 5 close for the Friday and 6 for the Saturday - hopefully these get extended to 7 or later. 7 on the Friday would tempt me!

Samurai is looking fresh!

Yeah I must admit I didn't know whether or not to add it to the list, but the park are still yet to announce a permanent closure. Its also still listed as closed on the ride availability page (https://www.chessington.com/plan-your-visit/resort-information/ride-availability/) but looks like this page hasn't been updated for a good while! Its a strange one as I thought they would be desperate to get this back open, and it was seen testing last season. But maybe they have bigger plans for this area now!

Thanks for this @Matt N always find these interesting! Its so satisfying being in the Nemesis queue, always seem to have a good team running it and the queue constantly moves. Nice to see Oblivion is being ran slightly better this year hopefully that continues. Only timing I got last week was in the Wickerman queue as I was bored and was interested how it does on 2 trains. Were dispatching trains roughly every 2 mins so 720.

So today Chessington has the following closed all day; - Mandrill Mayhem - Rattlesnake - Tiger Rock - Zufari - Tomb Blaster - Tiny Truckers - Seastorm - Monkey Swinger - Scorpion Express Dragons Fury has operated for 1 hour so far today and is currently closed. What an absolute shambles. I swear this is getting worse every year. I feel like Thorpe and Towers have both turned a corner and are making the right decisions and investments. The same can't be said for Chessington unfortunately... The park also re validated tickets yesterday due to ride availability.

Thanks Parm this is a brilliant update! I don’t think anyone on here expected the trains to arrive soon

That is great to hear! The Swarm isn't normally a ride I re-ride a lot due to this reason, so I'm looking forward to getting back on that! The Swarms vest restraints have locked into place when the ride dispatches, and throughout the ride gets tighter and tighter. By the time I'm on the breakrun, its so tight on the chest its incredibly uncomfortable and I can't wait to get off. Have found this got worse in recent years too. Now, only the restraint will lock into place and the vests will allow you to move more, a bit like a car seat-belt.

A staff member told me Oblivion was meant to have a huge station overhaul for this year, including 5 lines into the station (not sure what the 5th would be for?) which would include the return of the SRQ, but was pushed back to next closed season. Hopefully that still happens for next year! And agreed was nice to see them smashing throughputs on it for once. On Tues they were using 2/4 trains (every other train) as it had no queue, first time in years I've not had to wait on the break run!

I was in the area due to work so I thought it would be rude not to pop in Tuesday and Wednesday, so thought I'd share some thoughts from this season below. I didn't bother visiting with no Nemesis last year so was my first time in a couple years, meaning it was also my first time on the Curse. Was really impressed with this, couldn't comment on what effects were working/broken as I'd never been on before. Easily my favorite dark ride in the UK. Main reason for visiting was to get as many rides as possible on Nemmy. Got 5 on Tuesday, but was only open half a day so was expecting a better day on Wednesday, but with it only operating with half a train I only went on it twice. One of them I got in the queue just before 4pm, and it still took 85 mins with no fastrack/rap. Got back on Sub Terra for the first time in yearssss, same as I remember nothing special but nice to have a filler attraction back, something towers really lack. The park in general looks really fresh. Oblivion in particular looking really good. Could tell the Smiler has had some touch ups but still looking pretty poor in some places. Towers always seem pretty consistent on the effects and audio front. Audio everywhere was sounding great, didn't notice any broken/distorted speakers. A lot of their speakers are still bose too which I prefer. Operationally wise, pretty poor. The staff were all doing a great job with what they had, but every major coaster bar Nemesis has started the season on reduced capacity. This isn't just due to it being a weekday as well, as I've heard it was the same on the weekend. Rita - 1 train Thirteen - 2 trains (3rd train currently in pieces under the lift hill) Oblivion - 4 trains 1 station. No complaints here, team were smashing it and it didn't have a queue. Smiler - 3 trains Wickerman - 2 trains Galactica - 2 trains 1 station Nemmy - 2 trains Tuesday, till around 20 mins before closing 1 train. Opened on Weds on half a train and remained like that all day. Few other points; - Never been the biggest fan of Wickerman but I was really enjoying it this trip. It was absolutely flying round in the rain on Wednesday, the back row and front row rides I had are the best I've ever had on it. 6 years on its still looking like a brand new ride, solid edition to their lineup and nice they're looking after it. - Same goes for Smiler, never been the biggest fan but no matter where I was sat was riding really smooth and really enjoyed it. Single rider queue on it is lovely too. - Pleasantly surprised to see roaming actors at Nemesis, Curse and Wickerman on an offpeak weekday. They do add to the areas, and I wish Thorpe had this approach rather than the cringe we get there. Would prefer a few actors at Swarm and Saw than the 'thrill makers' - Love the fact the park opens early, believe the entrance opens at 9. On Wednesday I got in just after 9:30, went straight to dark forest. By just after 10, I had done 2 rides on Rita and and Thirteen thanks to them both opening early. - Galactica really doesn't fit in with Forbidden Valley anymore and is looking in a state. The track looks pretty terrible, half the TVs off, projector off in the station. Just looks like they've given up with it, so hopefully a re-theme coming with the new flat next year. - 4pm close. In my opinion if queues are anything more than 10 minutes, especially a park the size of Towers, it should never close at 4. 5pm minimum. - As someone who really likes flats, there really isn't a lot to do apart from going coaster to coaster. It seems they're going to address this though, I do hope there is more coming than the 1 they've already put plans in for.

I noticed Russ mentioned this too, but unless I'm imagining things they were definitely spinning all of last season 😄

Have also heard it was due to the rattling, and would make sense if it was worse further back. I personally didn't notice a rattle on any of my rides, but I didn't get further back than row 5 unfortunately. Apparently it was running 2 today, still only front 4 rows though. Not as painful as 1 train though at least. Hopefully they can get this sorted before the Easter holidays!

Well this aged well, been on 1 train all day today and only loading the front 4 rows. With RAP at the exit, only the front 3 rows being loaded from the main queue.

Agreed. If it was H&S I'd rather they just made the queue slightly taller. I know its a different park but it amazes me the Nemesis airgates were aloud to stay but this isn't aloud. I was thinking that re the floor. Hope that does get sorted as they've put a lot of work in to make the area look great, but that looks terrible...

Got back on Nemesis today. Overall, they've done a great job with the area and I do like the new colour scheme. I do prefer the original music, and the original queue line too. Yes the new queue offers new views of the ride I hadn't seen before, but I quite liked queuing down in the pit and getting close to the ride. It didn't open till around 1ish today so was a bit busier than I expected. They also decided to take a train off 20 mins before park close, causing a queue. Weird decision unless there was an issue with the train. Apart from that though, they were running it flawlessly as usual with little to no stacking. Strange decision to remove the front row queue. Was also annoying having a batcher in the station so you can no longer choose a row. Hoping this doesn't last long, they never bothered with that before and it never seemed to be an issue. Hoping for a better day tomorrow and to get on the back row.

The queue for Detonator has changed so you no longer queue on the platform, which is a shame. Was always good watching peoples reactions while queuing, it was also a good way of seeing it had a short queue when walking past. I imagine this could've been a H&S decision though maybe? Do like the sound of the new audio though, although do think the voiceover will get annoying quickly

Looks stunning. Actually quite like the changes they've made, the new soundtrack sounds nice Didn't bother with Towers all of last season but I'll be there asap for this alone

Oblivions first drop is my favorite in the UK, and Kondaa outside of UK Definitely think Hyperias has the potential to clinch the title for me 😃

I've always loved the Colossus entrance, but really hate what they've done with that. At least they recognize that and are going to make improvements though. Apart from that, I love what they've done. For the first time in a long time, I like the direction the park is going in and feel the current management know what they're doing and are making the right decisions. Hoping with the removal of Slammer at the end of the year we get a new flat in its place, that'll finish that area off nicely. No black mirror means we get a nice maze space back hopefully. They haven't given up on the Stealth SRQ queue by the sounds of it so hopefully we'll get that this season too!

Makes sense re the viewing area, I was initially a bit gutted about this, but it wouldn't have looked like the concept art with all the additional fencing required. SRQ and front row queue in the station (as expected) is great news. If Stealth also gets a SRQ this year can see myself being at the park a lot...

Nice to finally have some transparency from Alton Towers Thought this was a good watch. Bianca clearly has a lot of passion and does seem to making the right decisions for Towers. The future is looking bright (finally) I hope these 8pm closes at the start of the season are successful too would love to see more of them throughout the season

Agreed, the best I’ve ever seen it look. I didn’t actually realise how bad Stealth looked until they started to do this. You can also see on the stairs the new TV which will show pre loading information to try and speed up dispatches. All stealth is missing now is a single rider queue

Can we add a dislike reaction so I can dislike every post from Parm Pap?

Still roaring away too 🥰 Really noticeable how slow it goes over the loop, but not really concerning I imagine this is due to the cold and new wheels etc...