Stuntman707

It’s not great, but at least the rides will be still open during the weekend when it is usually the most popular time to visit.

It’s not great, but at least the rides will be still open during the weekend when it is usually the most popular time to visit.

Towers have updated their response and have offered an exchange at their discretion. The terms only say they are non transferable. Still it’s the correct response they should be giving and I’m glad they have backtracked and apologised for this.

They can, it’s just at their discretion.

The theming in and around the attraction looks very good though. For instance I like the ride height pipes, they could have just put a sign there but it’s cool, something different.

Unbelievable from whoever they’ve let loose on Twitter. Getting arsey with customers is not going to do them any good. Correct response should be with a solution as follows; “Our tickets are non transferable however we can offer you an exchange/refund.”

Off the top of my head, I think Gerstlauer refurbished the Jet Star II when Towers sold it. So it may be possible to still get a used Jet Star II or III. Though I think it’s highly unlikely we’d ever see one at Thorpe. I wish someone would take Knightmare though! It’s still rusting away at Camelot.

I can’t be arsed to do that event but good luck to those who go!

Great to see this at Towers. Any new / reused theming is great for the park! (As long as it’s good theming)

Disagree with it never had soul. It was a great example of a British dark ride at the peak of creativity, bold ideas, massive set pieces and it was something you can’t find anywhere else. You can find a generic laser ride at any major theme park in the world. You’re quite right there are probably no plans or budget other than just to keep it running for the sake of having an extra attraction. I guess this Alton Tower’s Twitter quote sums up the current situation: “It’s better than nothing”

To be fair, they had to stop using blood red water around Nemesis. It was built before water around rides had to be retained and treated separately, (Hence the pool filters around The Swarm) therefore the red water was seeping into the surrounding environment.

That's partly the problem of why we get left with mediocre attractions for years without any attention in the first place. Most people who don't know any better just think it's a random tomb based laser game. They don't know what the ride used to be. They just think we're moaning because it's not a thrill attraction at a park mainly aimed at younger kids, not because it used to be an elaborate and eccentric British dark ride with the soul ripped out of it and turned into a ****show.

Ok It's broken already?

The one ride that scared me more than anything when I was younger was Oblivion. I refused to go on it for ages. It didn't help that they designed the marketing at the time to make it sound intimidating. Bare in mind this is at a time when no other rollercoaster in the world had a huge vertical drop. I think it's just the strange sensation of freefall I don't like, never liked drop towers either. It feels more out of control than an inversion because at least you can feel the car following the track which you don't get during a drop. First time I went on it though, I remeber I was actually shaking with adrenaline on the brake run. Oblivion is a very psychological ride.

Tomb Blaster is really nothing like the original any more. It's actually quite upsetting riding it without using the guns knowing what it was once like. There's nothing to focus on, no story, awkward silent parts, blinding UV and the sqeeking of the ****ty guns on the ****ty targets dangling on wires like fairly lights. Actually made me say "this is complete ****" out loud several times. I'd rather they rip everything out bar the track and start again. It will never be as good as Terror Tomb even with the best restoration without the characters and story. Honestly I think the best attraction at Chessington now is the Gruffalo ride. A total overhaul rather than a cheap fix up, looks great and everything on it works as intended.

This was entirely inevitable. Call me pessimistic but we all saw it comming. Just quite amazing how quickly after opening they've turned off the fire on a mostly fire themed and marketed ride. I would have predicted at least half a season. If you want to be more optimistic, maybe the fuel tanks have just run out and they're waiting for a refill.

Oh great, I’m sure there will be endless teenagers chuckling at this. Nice to see some less well known brands bringing hopefully decent quality food to parks though. I like Nitrogenie too. Looks like Universal is doing well with Voodoo Donuts.

Couldn’t say for TWDTR but last time I checked, you can buy one shots for any ride at the park separately from the bundles. They’re not really advertised I guess to upsell the bundles.

Yeah, people are waiting for Icon. Thorpe was unusually quiet too until the new attraction opened. The GP don’t want to spend their money going to a park when they can see a big new ride that isn’t open yet.

Yeah, Saw looked very sinister in almost total darkness. The station lights were more atmospheric. The shadow of the turning blades was on the track too.

As for The Walking Dead, the triggered scenes on the ride are now linked to the rides safety system. Therefore any problems with these new scenes will now e-stop the ride. This is primarily to prevent people from trying to stand up / leave the ride when it stops in the mid-run sections if the scenes don't work. Secondarily, the ride would not be up to standard without the scenes anyway. They are fully focused on fixing this as soon as possible especially after DBGT's horrendous opening delays.

I’ve heard a lot of speculation that the new ride will be an Intamin, though they do have a similar track profile / supports to Mack. Judging by the size of the foundations, it’s definately not a junior model.

We just joined the Inferno queue for the second time when the train kinda jammed into the brakes again. Just looked up, turned around and walked away again!

Have to say, operations today were very poor. I’m pretty sure nearly every main attraction was down at some point during the day. The queue times were a complete mess, no accuracy. Waited 15 mins for an advertised 45 on Colossus. All of the photo scanners for the main rides were not working so couldn’t get any on-ride photos. Not sure what was going on with Inferno’s brakes, never seen a B&M so unreliable as this one today.

I don’t think it’s intended to be left like that. I guess the roof is being refurbished.