January 22, 201411 yr comment_175387 I don't understand why everyone is so negative about everything that is going on at chessington this year. All the latest topics seem to just slag chessington and the way things are being done. Agreed that there are some strange methods of doing thing and they seem to waste a lot of money of pointless project. But until the park has re-opened and we can visit and decide for ourselves. give them a break. What can they do with Market Square though, for example? There's not exactly ample space to do anything special, is there? The most I expect them to be able to do is make the area look fresh. Change the look of things, make it feel different and new. But I genuinely cannot see a lot that they can do other than just make it a new version of what it was or making it more open. Would love to be pleasantly surprised though. As for other things - well, Scorpion Express (from what we've heard) isn't going to have the return of major rockwork, a major part of the Runaway Train. I don't blame anyone for being upset / annoyed at the park / Merlin for it. The blooming thing should have been looked after, then it wouldn't have needed this whole spruce up business. I don't care if Chessie didn't promise the return of the rocks or whatever; simply put, they shouldn't have needed to get rid of them. Unless they replaced the rockwork or pull something really special out the bag, I can guarantee the ride will be received with a disappointing reaction from many-a-enthusiast. Of course, we'll have to wait and see.
January 22, 201411 yr comment_175388 I've always thought the Carousel would be better suited to sitting in the middle of Market Square tbh, but I doubt that's what'll happen... And plus 1 for "Chessie's decisions recently and attempts to return to their former glory days are falling incredibly short"...
January 22, 201411 yr comment_175390 I think instead of slagging chessington off, before they have finished all the work they seem to be doing, let just wait. unfortunately there are a lot of people that want chessington to fail. this year maybe different. Know one knows exactly what is going on with scorpion express, market square and the rest of the park. The fire before Christmas hasn't helped but these things do happen, just like Thorpe and alton but good things came out of it. so give them a break and be patient before judging them
January 22, 201411 yr comment_175391 I think instead of slagging chessington off, before they have finished all the work they seem to be doing, let just wait. unfortunately there are a lot of people that want chessington to fail. this year maybe different. Know one knows exactly what is going on with scorpion express, market square and the rest of the park. The fire before Christmas hasn't helped but these things do happen, just like Thorpe and alton but good things came out of it. so give them a break and be patient before judging them I agree with waiting before passing off full judgement, but I think you're wrong there. I don't think anyone on here wants Chessie to fail; as pluk said, the reason people criticise the park is because they care and want what's best for it!
January 22, 201411 yr comment_175393 I think instead of slagging chessington off, before they have finished all the work they seem to be doing, let just wait. unfortunately there are a lot of people that want chessington to fail. Absolutely not. There are plenty of people fed up with Chessington failing, but I don't know anyone that wants it to. It is a shadow if its former self but all we have seen is destruction, maybe amazing things will happen come the start of the season but from what we have seen, heard and experienced in the past there is no reason to suspect they will. As for whatever is happening in market square it may well be good, but whatever it is it should wait until the properly knackered areas of the park (and there are plenty of them) are fixed. This makes no sense.
January 22, 201411 yr comment_175397 They are proberly re-paving the area. The ground wasn't the best
January 22, 201411 yr comment_175399 would they really feel the need to post it on facebook as if it's something exciting though... I'd certainly hope not
January 22, 201411 yr comment_175403 They better put the hook-a-duck back in, that's the only sense of victory I have when I leave the park.
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175404 I think instead of slagging chessington off, before they have finished all the work they seem to be doing, let just wait. unfortunately there are a lot of people that want chessington to fail. this year maybe different. Know one knows exactly what is going on with scorpion express, market square and the rest of the park. The fire before Christmas hasn't helped but these things do happen, just like Thorpe and alton but good things came out of it. so give them a break and be patient before judging them Thing is right, we've given Chessington over a decade to get its act together. I can give them the benefit of the doubt over the cafe, that was a freak occurrence. But from Vampires refurbishment in 2001 the park has dragged itself through disappointment to disappointment with only Dragons Fury and Wild Asia being any kind of accomplishment. That's two attractions in 14 years. So forgive us if we aren't so forthcoming with our praise. Besides, we want Chessington to be the success it deserves to be. It opened with very generic attractions but what made them excel was the effort and detail went into them. To see the laziness that has been spilled over Vampire, Bubbleworks, Falls and Runaway and the state of rides like Skyway & Bucaneer doesn't inspire confidence.
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175406 They are proberly re-paving the area. The ground wasn't the best Trail of the Kings is even worse... But they can't prevent the movement of the ground they're located on to be fair...
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175409 No one wants Chessie to fail in what they are doing - I think the main bugbear is, many of us have memories of how brilliant Chessington was in our younger years (the mid 90s were epic at Chessie for me), and it's slowly been ripped apart and is a shadow of it's former self.
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175410 I've only been since 2009... still love the place - but even in this short 5 years can see they're putting effort in some areas, but more of its just being left worse off :/ they're taking on new little projects which are nice to see... but there's other areas which they're working on which probably won't be done in time and need more work on!
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175414 Market Sq is a positive step, and could become a nice 'center of the worlds' if they don't stick down some crappy flooring and bland old signage. If it's themed well, it's a great step. They do seem to have a run of bad luck though, with the empty patch of Creaky Cafe, and a knocked down zoo building by the Chicken Shack, there's a lot of rough edges. I'm just more concerned that they rip down an enormous amount of theming, which should have been maintained LONG before that happened, and with Falls 'we know it looks bad, send us your ideas and it will be re-developed for next year!' signage that went up all over Mystic East.. What will people think if the rumours are true, that infact nothing has happened with Falls after all..? Thats's why people are negative. We've seen it before. If Falls remains a shell of it's former glory (which it WILL), then marketing need to consider removing the iconic stone faces OFF all the marketing shots and website images, as it's false advertising. If every theme park could photoshop awesome theming onto their rides, well Drayton Manor would look a whole lot more appealing!
January 23, 201411 yr Author comment_175415 That couldn't be more true. If Falls is to remain in it's stale state for 2014 (and probably beyond) they need to start reimaging falls in the map and marketing photos. With all the other things last year going on, plus a sudden competition which was heavily advertised and then postponed, I'm certain it's a matter of time before the park comes a feature on watchdog soon. In terms of what the final image of the refurbished market square looks like, it could go two ways. It will either be an impressive relaxing area with nicely blended surroundings or just shadow from its golden days.
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175423 plus a sudden competition which was heavily advertised and then postponed The competition wasn't postponed, I won it (yay) a month or so ago. But now that the project itself is cancelled, methinks they want to keep it quiet so that the public forget about the advertised "Dragon Falls retheme" until a later date. The wording in the email sent to me was "your concepts have been passed on to our creative team who will consider implementing elements into the final design [...] however currently there is no set date for the Dragon Falls retheme to take place". At least we know Chessington most certainly do not want to leave Dragon Falls in that state, and there were originally plans drawn up to redesign it. I really hope this indefinite delay doesn't go unresolved!
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175426 The competition wasn't postponed, I won it (yay) a month or so ago. Congratulations!! It was impressive work.
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175427 Forgot I didn't post them on here!Here's the ride script I wrote on TowersStreet with my storyboards. It was a fun project and I tried to keep the original character of Dragon River intact (it must be the first theme park ride I ever went on!), I only sent it to Chessington as an afterthought!
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175428 All what really needs to happen is they need to be given more money and to spend more money. I am not asking for a new coaster as I don't think Chessington really needs on (Yes it would be nice). They just need to do the place up and run the rides and attractions to their full potential. I also believe we need to focus more on the Zoo, they have a good Zoo, but they need to make it better, I did see improvements at Christmas as many of the glass windows were now see through and no scratched/dirty etc The Monkey Tree top thing loosk impressive. They could easily improve creepy caves, make it bigger, get some nice big spiders in there and even have a talk and a snake/spider holding session in there. The Sealife centre, really needs to be in a proper building and they could get some bigger tanks and make it a very impressive attraction. For me if they have a better Zoo offering, they could have this open all year round, rather then the off Zoo day weekends. Correct me if I am wrong, but the majority of guests go just for the rides and only get interested in the animals when the rides have mega long queues.
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175429 The wording in the email sent to me was "your concepts have been passed on to our creative team who will consider implementing elements into the final design [...] however currently there is no set date for the Dragon Falls retheme to take place". In other words, you ain't gonna get anything from that entry... #cynical
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175430 Correct me if I am wrong, but the majority of guests go just for the rides and only get interested in the animals when the rides have mega long queues. Which drives me crazy because on busy days so many people will moan that they didn't get their money's worth and yet they never had the good sense to enjoy the zoo admittance they'd paid for. But I've seen some pass holder who turn up at the park with preschoolers just to do the zoo. (One lady even arriving with her tot 30 mins before closing with picture cards.) The image of the zoo seriously needs to be turned around to more than something dull you do to kill time between fast-tracks.
January 23, 201411 yr comment_175434 I think they've done huge differences to the perception of the zoo, and infact is the only part of the park to progress properly in the past 5 yrs or so. It used to be a right run down ****hole at one point, now it's comfortable, colourful and informative. They seem to put care into majority of it (creepy caves still feels 00s era though) and it's featured heavily in adverts since 06 or so.
January 24, 201411 yr comment_175476 so wasn't mexicana going to get a retheme?.. not according to what appears to be an updated resort news page on chessingtons website: Scorpion Express is a brand new ride experience for 2014 set within Mexicana’s Scorpion Valley
January 24, 201411 yr comment_175477 so wasn't mexicana going to get a retheme?.. not according to what appears to be an updated resort news page on chessingtons website: Scorpion Express is a brand new ride experience for 2014 set within Mexicanas Scorpion Valley Oh for...Budget cuts, budget cuts, budget cuts! The end result is going to be completely unthemed with one "old" sign (similar to the danger ones on Zufari) saying Scorpion Express I reckon...
January 24, 201411 yr comment_175478 it's getting ridiculous now, every time they say something new is happening and then it get's cancelled or changed... I know it's unfortunate things can change and other things can take priority... but this happens year in, year out - so don't promise something you can't keep to!
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