Merry-go-girl

In my experience hot weather draws a crowd, and Thorpe has a good selection of water rides.

In theory it should be quieter in the week as typically only kids/teens get the whole summer off. I'd look at the weather, go on the day with the worst outlook.

lol, see now that's just the sort of eloquent obnoxious humour I like.

This is definitely one of the most amicable forums I've ever been signed up to. There are no corrupt mods or evil cliques. It really isn't common in my experience to be signed up to a forum for a year and to have not had a single cussing match. And unlike other fan sites the theme park community doesn't seem to have that grey area that divides people into huge wars.

Any better reviews of Vampire Burger Kitchen yet?

You forget, this is the theme park industry that put a vampire's lair across the street from a zany fizzy pop factory...and made it work.

I think mascots are always a good idea, not just with kids though. I think a charterer with a happy face is always a great tool to put between the customer and the corporation. Great for branding and merchandising too.

The advert is hysterical. And I'm not talking about the rather cheap looking production values. The stars are a family; mum, dad and a boy and a girl who both look under 13. It's all smiles and splashing, no hint of foul-mouthed teens and queue jumping pikies. I don't recall the exact wording of the tagline but it was something about summer fun. You'd literally think this advert jumped straight out of 1995.

I'm fairly certain it's not the whole park, I'm assuming it'll be the same operations as a Zoo Day. Zoo, Sea Life, 3/4 rides, a restaurant or two. But to hire the Sea Life for 2 hours it's £500 plus £35 per head. And that's only catered with champaign...so I can only imagine what the park hire is.

To be honest I'd rather they were just going to do their own thing because in theory they'd already have started work behind the scenes.

Damn you Coke, Pepsi and all the other fizzy drink companies for not being the ones to sponsor the ride back in 2005. At least the theme would have stayed generally the same.

Make sure you pay for the car park at the front gate when you get your tickets and whatnot. Not on the way out.

I want them! But probably not enough to waste money on a kids meal. But I like that you can trade for the one you really want.

If I were taking kids around the age of 6 and 7 I'd probably head straight for the BubbleWorks, try to get a few goes on it before a queue appears. Do some of the other small children rides around the middle of the park and then hit to zoo during the busy mid-day hours. And bring food. I'm no authority though, I only go when it's dead.

What I find most fascinating is that Professor Burp had a stereotypical Transylvania accent, I never pictured that.

I'll be a gent and share the link to the image in it's full gloriousness. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3007/2994758807_afe2940efe.jpg'>http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3007/2994758807_afe2940efe.jpg

Actually of all the things gutted and re-done I think the fountains are one of the few things unchanged in the refurb?

It's the Blue Peter scandal all over again!

Hah! Good one.

Hopefully there'll be Zoo Days after the Christmas period but, I won't hold my breath. Edit: If I had a FB account I'd give that Sam Gregory chap a million and one thumbs up.

So a couple of people seem to be getting awfully testy that a Muslim group have hired Chessington out exclusively for November 9th. Never mind the fact that this is listed as a closed day anyway, but won't it only be a Zoo Day with only 3 or 4 rides actually running?

I think the best thing about Beano land is that it allowed for the very quick construction of Wild Asia.

It's how they plugged it on their Twitter, the wording made it seem like they were selling it as a hotel guest only feature. Probably part of why they got such negative feedback.

And if it all goes to hell, Extreme Tea-cups.

Still, if you've already paid to stay in the hotel for them to advertise feeding the Giraffe as a perk of sorts the additional £10 sounds like a complete sting in the tail.