Vince800
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Posts posted by Vince800
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On 9/5/2019 at 4:45 PM, Mattgwise said:
It's still running, on peak days only as it has for the last two/three seasons or so!
Makes sense, at least it's not SBNO (some of the time) like a few rides at Thorpe are now.
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I understand you're enthusiastic but this will be a waste of time. Especially considering the ride is pretty bog standard all things considered. It's a significant part of Chessington's history but those days are long gone and the park is a completely different place now as @Mark9 said above.
Someone else has probably mentioned it already (not read the whole thread) but if anything had even the slightest potential of being listed, it surely would have been the Bubbleworks and only if it had not been interfered with in 2006. I guess Vampire has the slightest slither of potential but again, very unlikely especially as long as others exist around the world.
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Wasn't expecting that at Chessington. Is Rameses still running in the meantime? I have admit I've not really looked into anything theme park wise in a long while.
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Thing is, any water ride placed where Loggers Leap currently is would require a closed, filtered water system. I'm not sure how feasible that would be in the location that loggers is in.
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How about all the other Mack log flumes around the world that don't have these modifications? They're still able to keep operating fine.
Yes, I did notice on Youtube how other Mack log flumes from the same time period still have the original set up. I always assumed it was just a Merlin wide thing these modifications though as well as the new evac steps\platforms there was some structural work done around the trough in various places too.
QuoteThe evac steps on Falls were mostly done because evacuations became so frequent on that ride (because it was knackared, through years of dodgy maintenance all adding up) that it gave a terrible impression to guests and were not suited to regular evac use. The original steps were clearly designed more for general access. That's also why the gantry was added to where boats stack coming back to the station, because so many guests were needing to 'boat hop'.
I never realised that Dragon Falls was in such a bad way. Admittedly I don't go to the parks much but the times I do, any evacs or estops were usually caused by people fooling around standing up etc.
It's ridiculous really, the other Mack log Flumes around the world seem to go on without issue. As for lack of attention to detail with Merlin, a really obvious comparison is to look at the cosmetic state of Vampire compared with the other Arrows suspended coasters still running around the world too.
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Interesting video. Superficially it isn't looking too bad and if the leaves were cleared out, it wouldn't look much different to how it did when it was running in recent years.
We don't know however what it is like structurally and it doesn't have any of the mods which were made to Dragon Falls some years back. It still has for example the crude (for the present day) evacuation steps on the lift hill (which he partially walks down in the video). On Dragon Falls, these were replaced with the much more sturdy and safe metal steps as well as evacuation platforms throughout the ride. I think it's no coincidence that Loggers & the Flume closed around the same time that Dragon Falls had these mods done to it being as they are the same type of flume. In the case of the flume they were going to be removing it anyway and with Loggers, I guess they're just not sure what the plans are at the moment.
In my opinion, if Dragon Falls was not so central to the park and such a substantial ride for Chessington (not to mention planning issues), this probably would have closed around the same time too.
As for the lights being left on and the cameras, it's likely that this is part of a central system and not specific to the ride it's self. The camera DVRs may have other cameras from the old town area going back to those boxes as it's as good a place as any to store this equipment, I'm very surprised that it's all left unlocked though and seemingly easily accessible as the video shows.
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Either way, Chessington and by extension Merlin's budget strategy don't care for quality or for entertaining the many thousands of paying guests who go through these attractions every day.
It's such a shame because these parks could be really good, they were in the past and that was with budgets a fraction of what Merlin could offer. The whole of Chessington's initial theme park idea (Dragon Falls, Runaway Train, 5th Dimenstion etc.) probably cost lest to build initially than what Merlin could supply the park with now. It wouldn't be too hard to bring it up to standard but it would take pride and investment.
I'm not so much a theme park enthusiastic, I'm generally interested in engineering and theme park rides are absolutely fascinating in their workings. That being said I do like a good show with top notch sound & slighting and dark rides offer just that experience and when done well (Original Bubbleworks, Forbidden Tomb, 5th Dimension) they can be something absolutely spectacular. To me it seems that Tomb Blaster would be acceptable to run if the ride went round the track with none of the animations working, just the ride is running so "that'll do". There doesn't seem to be anyone there anymore who care about the show & if there are they're being ignored.
By looking at the Youtube videos it seems to me that Tomb Blaster is getting lighter year by year and if they continue they may as well buy some LED light panels, put up a ceiling and call it "Office Block - The ride".
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Wow, what a joke! I can't believe that things like this are still continuing, do Merlin have no pride?
It's reasons like that why I didn't bother going to any of their attractions last year. There is absolutely no defence for this behaviour, they really do not care about their customers, it's just fortunate for them that most people don't seem to notice or care about the state of their attractions. Some serious investment needs to be made in all of their parks. I do find it very amusing how they're publicising a little bit of painting here and there as if it's some big thing - no, it's day to day maintenance!
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On 24/06/2017 at 1:41 PM, Mattgwise said:
Got talking to an engineer on park just now who was on his way down the path of the old CCR And he let me have a brief look just past the gates as far as the tunnel and the condition and he told me that Dom (director) really wants the ride back and they haven't given up still and are in talks.
He said that the fibreglass needs replacing throughout most of the ride and the bridges and evacuation platforms are past their operating life and again need replacing.
He then said they are working out whether it is cost effective to carry out the replacement of the fibreglass and other things or whether to replace completely.
The condition of the ride didn't look as bad as though but he said it's worse round the back with plants even growing through parts of the track.
This confirms what I was saying before. It needs the same work as Dragon Falls did. I'm presuming The Flume would have needed these works doing too if it wasn't chosen as the site for the new ride.
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The thought of going on a water ride and getting wet... why do people bother if they're going to stand up to avoid getting wet. As draconian as it sounds, perhaps the park need to just make examples of people who do decide to foolishly stand up and just issue bans, the same way that there are consequences for doing stupid things on other rides, eventually people might get the message.
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Yes, Dragon Falls is a good example. They've done various H&S upgrades as required but as they've removed theming elements for this, they've not replaced them. So although there is a what I am trusting Merlin is now a completely within spec log flume, it's all at the expense of any real guest experience & as a result, Dragon Falls is now just a generic Log Flume with the only real theming being remnants of what was set up in 1987.
I've always assumed that both Loggers & The Flume require the same work as Dragon Falls (Corroded Metal Replaced, Evac Platforms throughout) and it's just that they're not budgeting for it (though it makes sense with the Flume as it was removed). They could just be deciding & budgeting for the future of the Loggers Leap site at the moment which is why they have put it to one side rather than carrying out whatever it requires to continue to run.
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It looks like fairly usual stuff for Rameses to me & RobF makes a good point. They'll probably keep it going as long as they possibly can, imagine the expense of getting it out of that pit. Didn't it have some extensive work done to it in recent years anyway? I'm sure I read that it had new restraints & a new PLC amongst other stuff. Of course this could be incorrect
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You know, I really don't like making posts with the boring "Merlin do *INSERT HERE* wrong" but really it's a complete joke. The bottom line is though, as long as people pay for it, they will continue to do it despite the fact they would probably attract a great deal more custom than they already do if they were to do things properly. They remind me of the Theme park version of Global Radio which again are all about watered down brands.
They might have to pull their finger out when Paramount opens up though.
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Merlin probably make more in a day than it cost to build Loggers Leap in the first place. I can't believe that they have a ride SBNO which isn't exactly completely hidden, it's a rather poor show. But as I've said before, it probably requires similar work to Dragon Falls which was quite significant, I suppose they had no choice to sort out Dragon Falls as soon as possible due to it's prominent position in the park and that's a core ride, not so much with Loggers Leap. I guess they're weighing up options and deciding which years budget it's going to come out of.
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They should do a Dragon Falls themed room in there. Completely bare exposed walls with trailing cables etc.
Those vinyls are going to get really grubby rather quickly.
- Zappomatic and Dean_W
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Thanks, that's really interesting information. Flooding everything with LED lights seems to be a thing these days. I wonder if the sound system was changed at some point in the past year or so because I noticed that the sound effects didn't seem to be present or at least not in the correct places. Perhaps it's just music downloaded from Youtube again which is another thing they like doing.
Not anywhere near as funny as in the 2006 Bubbleworks where random sounds cut in & out and Professor Burps still shouted "It's hard work" after the fairground scene as if he was haunting the place. Right up to closure the Bubbleworks had some really funky stuff going on with sound, very amusing.
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It is without a doubt a huge improvement from the Imperial Leather Bubbleworks which had been messed around and hacked around with since 2006. I'll post my thoughts when I have been on the actual ride, I've only watched POV's at the moment so it wouldn't be a fair reflection for now.
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Commenting on an old thread here but it seems pointless starting a new one when this is relevant to the original discussion. After watching the 5th Dimension Documentary on Vimeo, it has really rekindled my interest with the ride.
This might be one for you @Wumbamillio, are there anything in the way of remnants of the Fifth Dimension (Other than the actual Mack transit system) in Chessington at all? I have for years been looking around in the Tomb but Farmer Studios did such a good job that it really is unrecognisable from the original ride. It has been much easier to find back of house things in the building since 2016 due to the way that the sets are absolutely flooded with light but it still doesn't leave any real clues.
What ever happened to the large open plan queue line with the TVs? I've been wondering if this is still behind the façades or if I am mapping the building out incorrectly.
Do we know if the stops are in the original places still? Because the first stop in the Tomb seems to be a lot later on than when you'd originally meet with Zapomatic. I think I've read somewhere (might have even been here) that the turning is built into the transit system so this is still all in the original places.
Are any of the Zapomatic's stored around Chessington still or have they just been thrown out like the destructive Imperial Leather Bubbleworks replacement?
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9 hours ago, Wumbamillio said:
A Merlin version of Professor Burp's would be the biggest tragedy known to man, they would go to town with brandifying it and sucking out its soul, we already had the 2p budget Prof Burp 'tribute' and that was quite enough!
(not the actor's effort, he was great, didn't really have a clue about the ride but did so well with what he'd been given! the park's attitude I'm on about)
Merlin wouldn't (and don't) understand the ride's appeal, because it was about colour and energy rather than IPs or abandoned warehouse "serious and edgy" themes.
If I could like this post 1,000 times I would.
They'd probably do it Dragon Falls style. Perhaps just the ride in the empty warehouse, with the music cutting in & out, with the fountains just about spraying water.
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Part 3:
Part 4:
Certainly coming together.
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They are very close to looking like the Professor Burps style yes.
Now if only this Grufflo thing was just a big joke & that actually, Professor Burps Bubbelworks was coming back in it's full glory... That would be too much fun though & we certainly can't have that!
- Trooper Looper and Josh3103
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I'm not surprised really.
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22 hours ago, HermanTheGerman said:
They were actually going to close Dragon Falls at the end of 2014. Its only due to this work that it was able to carry on. Its certainly very likely that its the same issues had on Loggers (rotting ride structure, mould and decay).
I wasn't aware of that. I guess they realised that they couldn't have one of the main rides at Chessington SBNO in such an obvious place. Also a good part of the ride goes through the Tomb Blaster building. At least they revamped it :).
Tomb Blaster
in Chessington World of Adventures
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I must try to get over to Chessington at some point to ride this if improvements have been made. I haven't visited the park since 2016 but from what I've seen on YouTube it has been getting worse every year so it'll be good if they've at least made some improvements.
It was becoming very "Office - The ride" for me though with the over bright, over the top LED lighting. Get a false ceiling up and LED Panels and it'll finish the job.