Ian-S

"I think it makes perfect sense, apart from when people don't understand"?
 
ANYWAY, Wild Asia is crumbling, (literal fungi growing up theming), all the bunting removed, paintwork fading, one of Kobra's tails being chopped off, moss and mold growing everywhere, bamboo fences falling, the area looks appalling for something only six years old.
 
Everything about Dragon's Fury is diabolical for such a popular attraction. There is absolutely nothing to the experience but the actual roller coaster, which to be frank, is astronomically cheap, and not at all fit for a park like Chessington. No thought is given at all for the queuing experience (the rat infested drains by the in-queue shop smell lovely don't they), the track is fading beyond recognition, and goodness knows how much stress that relatively weak structure is under.
 
One thing missed out from that earlier post is Rattlesnake. The ride is in a god-awful condition. Five car operation? What on earth. Water effects not functional for so many years now that they've actually overgrown so much they're next to hidden, next to all the Mexicans gone, and the one by the station is so worn that not only is his fiberglass arm exposed, by also the metal rod in the middle. Remember when he used to climb the tower? Most the cartoony snakes and barrels are gone, and that Mexican has been remodeled and now looks as if he's an "excited" tramp under a bus shelter.
 
So yay- Chessington.

I think what he's saying is knowing Thorpe's target audience and the type of clientele that attracts, there's bound to be someone who has seen the many facebook posts about it and made the trip banking on free return tickets who'll now bitch about not getting them.
 
Funny story a friend went last week specifically to ride DBGT and Stealth (totally ignoring me when I told them both were closed), so around 6pm he puts up a post on Facebook of the letters they were giving out and proudly says what a stand up job they've done, so I jokingly replied 'hope you stopped off at advanced ticket collections to get them' to which I got replied to with 'of course I did, I'm not stupid'.
 
That was just after his phone had 'checked in' at Ripley Services.
 
30 minutes later his phone checks him in at 'Thorpe Park'....

It was 90 mins all night, I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be open at all so that we got a third night lol
 
There was a big queue at guest services when we left at just after 10.

It was 90 mins all night, I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be open at all so that we got a third night lol
 
There was a big queue at guest services when we left at just after 10.

They're taking over, kill them with fire, or perhaps not.
 
We do seem to have suffered a rather large increase in spiders this year, perhaps it was the mild winter followed by a reasonably good summer didn't kill as many off, I must have evicted at least 30 this week alone, and a friend posted a photo of one she found in her kitchen on FB that was a good 8 inches across.

The appauling send off for a once very cherished dark ride giving everyday children some fun, run into the ground by corporate suits and then reduced to a contrived obsession. I don't mean anything personal, but there it is. Chessington handled it embarassingly, but they've profited loads from the tours and saved thousands by not maintaining the scenes properly for years. The end of Imperial Leather BubbleWorks at last!

I'll take my good memories of the original and leave.

Heard some brilliant ones today.
 
 
*Points at Vampire (the brake run approach)* "Is that the swimming pool?" *It goes past* "Oh no it's a ride."
 
How could you even make that mistake at Chessington, where there is no, never has been, and has never advertised an outdoor swimming pool? Some people I really don't get.
 
In the Dragon's Fury SRQ
 
While going on about his visit(s) to AT.
"The longest queue I've ever seen at a theme park was 2hrs 5mins for The Smiler." "Where you there when it crashed?" "No but I was there the day after." Sure.
 
Same person
"I walked halfway across Alton Towers. It's really big. We went all the way from Stealth and Swarm to Air."
 
Must have been some walk.

Got 2 rides on Ghost Train yesterday, each time I'm going on it I'm enjoying it more, however that 2nd VR section is still bollocks.
 
Operations towards the end of the day were incredibly poor, our group was held up in the area between the pre show and the ride for about 10 minutes, and by the time we got in the train so many people were put in in one go that the operators struggled to find everyone a seat, it was a bit of a mess.
 
One old guy attempted to sit on the floor as a form of protest but the operators were having none of it as there was definitely a free seat somewhere.
 

They said it would be a worlds first.. You know what guys, I think it is. I mean what other ride would have its shop open over 10x more than the actual ride. 

I'll give you that, but BPB has more rides, they may break your back and leave you in traction for three months, but they've got a far better selection than Chessie.

I can completely understand not allowing people to queue for the front, it can be frustrating after a long queue but if the staff are trying to fill empty rows to speed up the queue then I respect that.
 
That said, with the way they run Vampire now they'd probably have time to call for another two people from the back of the queue and they would still make it to the front before the train is sent!

I know your sentiments are good but to be honest Merlin deserve the criticism they get, and they still won't have the ears to listen or see it necessary to change their deliberate dumbing down of UK theme park attractions and genericism. I know there are unfortunately many needlessly sarcastic and uninformed people who moan about Merlin over this that and the other, but there is a genuine unease with merlin in the industry as well. It raises a very interesting point.
 
When it comes to theme parks, Merlin has a very corporate restricted system for building new projects, they could choose to do something truly amazing and lasting if that was their priority, instead they systematically make contrived decisions based purely on how they think profit can be maximised. Budgets for actual design and concepts are hugely restrained deliberately. On a project, nothing is allowed to be spent until it is justified in terms of direct returns. No creative cultivation at all, despite the huge opportunities and resources in the rest of the theme park industry to do so. Attitudes & policies within the company towards design and entertainment are also very disagreeable, and there is a lot that could be said about this, but it's not appropriate here.
 
Merlin, as with most corporate giants, stifle the design & entertainments industry in the UK with their style of work, self-centred practices and their mistakes in project design. But they have the money and that's what they flaunt really, spending more to give the impression they are the best than to actually create the best. To be frank, as a theme park fan, visiting for nostalgia's sake is a mute point because any non-Merlin rides are quite deliberately left to die until they can be recycled into one of their own (see the entire last 15 years of the BubbleWorks); similarly visiting the old parks in the hope that one day a classic attraction will be made will waste years of time - when you could be enjoying genuinly brilliant European independent parks that do it yearly instead (for much less ticket price). On the other hand if those people who do genuinely enjoy Merlin's brand of stingy genericism then there is nothing wrong with enjoying it, and feel free to keep visiting, just I feel most people don't see what could really be achieved with theme parks outside of Merlin. Or even outside Disney and Universal, who do continue to produce high quality attractions out of but not nearly to the level of creative integrity they used to, and are even more corporatised internally.
 
Speaking generally, Chessington is run as "the African themed one" in merlin's resort theme parks box of chocolates, and its future development has already been planned for the next decade or so- its heritage and the good old days don't even come into it. If Merlin's current style is what you like then that's what you'll get, if not you'll be much happier with your memories of when it was a park with actual craft and character, and not visit anymore. Creative entertainment has long since vacated the park.

Haha yeah same....
 
"omg I travelled 5000 miles and spent £20,000 'pacifically' to ride THE Stelf and dArren Browns ghost train and they ain't open - I want compo for this!"

I don't disagree with you, there is a world of difference between this, and say what the McCanns got away with, but I can also see why some people may take the attitude of "should have been looking after your kids instead of your phone" if they don't know that area well, especially when it's very young children who really, should never be let 'out of sight' for even a second, let alone a moment.
 

To be fair (and I'll admit I don't know the full details), if the parents were off having a fag or coffee and were not supervising their kids properly (they were six year old girls right?) then they should shoulder a small part of the blame for what happened, it's this little thing called parental responsibility, you'll understand when you have kids.

Both an unfortunate yet humorous typo there.

A grand opening plaza with fountains as Benin suggested would be a terrific alternative to the beach. 
 
I think Thorpe need to remember one rule as they progress over time: put large rides on the perimeter of the park. Aesthetically, that would mean that upon entering the park and leaving the dome, your eyes would immediately be drawn to the horizon yet the centre of the park would look uncluttered and welcoming too.

I don't disagree with you, there is a world of difference between this, and say what the McCanns got away with, but I can also see why some people may take the attitude of "should have been looking after your kids instead of your phone" if they don't know that area well, especially when it's very young children who really, should never be let 'out of sight' for even a second, let alone a moment.
 

Funny, last time I was at Thorpe all I heard was angry parents yelling at their kids "I didn't pay a hundred quid so you could sit on the ****ing beach all day catching Pokemon"

But it's very obvious that it shouldn't be that way. £35 per person is an exploitative price for hot air. Of course people will pay for the nostalgia over a ride that was very famous for 15 years and then ruined for no reason

Had the park invested any upkeep in what guests see, had a team of people maintaining & restoring the animations, audio, scenery and lighting to at least attempt to address the daily complaints abou the ride's poor condition - then perhaps these tours wouldn't be such a blatant cash in.
 
Guests really deserve something faithful to the ride as a send off, not this. An actor in a cheap suit, that looks like the closest things the entertainment department could afford on a tiny budget.
 
Perhaps they should apologise for very poor retheme in 2006 that ruined a cherished attraction. The current attraction is still a favourite of children who obviously never rode the original, as it recycles so many props and sets just painted over  - so can you imagine how much more inspirational it would be to them if it was still all untouched.. That's the real loss.

Given how unreliable it is, they'll probably never mention how much it cost ever.

Given how unreliable it is, they'll probably never mention how much it cost ever.

Given how unreliable it is, they'll probably never mention how much it cost ever.

Can't disagree, my son said today he'd rather suffer the four hour trip and sleeping in a tent than half hour up the road to Thorpe if there was a 'choice' (we were discussing which park to goto Saturday with some friends).

If you went at the end of August could I borrow your time machine to go back and buy some apple shares?