February 20, 201510 yr comment_203211 Don't know what it is about it, but I've always found Chessington a loverly park to walk around and enjoy, more so than Legoland and in some ways Thorpe (shoot me!). In case anyone wonders, Merlin do invest in the park, as there's been lots of noticeable changes, although perhaps not qoute on the scale of Thorpe.
February 20, 201510 yr comment_203234 So apparently the free pre book tickets for premium passholders for tomorrow have sold out... Hoping it's not too busy, as half hour for the swarm, 20 minutes for flying fish and depth chargw was bad enough on Wednesday!!
February 20, 201510 yr comment_203235 Half an hour from the control booth?! That's ridiculous, why on earth did it take that long?
February 20, 201510 yr comment_203239 Well 1 train op, if there are 3 trains worth in the bays alone, followed by another 3-5 trains on the stairs to the control booth. If they were running at full capacity with 1 train then there should have been about 10 dispatches in the space of half an hour. Now they are not running at full capacity so it can easily be 30 minutes from there.
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203241 Yeah the bays were completely filled, no stopping at the bottom of the stairs. So yeah half an hour.. It did happen
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203243 I'm really struggling to see how people didn't realise it's only selected rides open. It's advertised all over the website and social media, and being on park now there are at least 4 notices saying that only selected rides open. Baffles me really.
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203244 It's a bit poor to only have one train on when there's a half an hour queue, and only two main rides open.
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203249 Especially on Flying Fish. Very poor work Thorpe. The sad thing is that they did actually still manage to mess that up by having rows blocked off!
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203250 Especially on Flying Fish. Very poor work Thorpe. No word of a lie- on Tuesday we genuinely waited longest for the fish :') like 4 rows were blocked off haha
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203252 ^you went on a bad day. I went yesterday and the park was dead. Storm Surge's trough was getting filled up with water yesterday so it was signed off yesterday. Inferno could of still opened I got told its checks were done in December along with X and they were signed off. As well The Swarm broke down for 5 minutes yesterday whilst we were in the queue
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203253 Had a really good day at the park today, I was shocked with happy staff, rides working, very little queues (perhaps the only time ever I'd justify 1 train op!) and Brainiac was excellent. Staff were good towards what seemed like more families in the park, fingers crossed it carries on into the actual season though.
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203255 It's a bit poor to only have one train on when there's a half an hour queue, and only two main rides open. Like how Pepsi Max was on one train today? Swarm and Stealth have had next-to-no queues for 90% of the week. There haven't been any complains regarding people not being able to do as much as they wanted because of queues. ^you went on a bad day. I went yesterday and the park was dead. Storm Surge's trough was getting filled up with water yesterday so it was signed off yesterday. Inferno could of still opened I got told its checks were done in December along with X and they were signed off. As well The Swarm broke down for 5 minutes yesterday whilst we were in the queueStorm Surge has not been signed off. Inferno has not been signed off. X has not been signed off.
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203259 Like how Pepsi Max was on one train today? Swarm and Stealth have had next-to-no queues for 90% of the week. There haven't been any complains regarding people not being able to do as much as they wanted because of queues. Yeah, because of high winds, 25 MPH + compared with 8 in Chertsey (plus Thorpe's rides are barely effected by wind). Anyways, not sure why you are using that as a counter argument for Thorpe as I'd still be moaning if I had to wait in a queue for PMBO on a one train service!
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203264 The Combat Control in the Dome was the strangest thing I have ever seen!
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203265 Went down to the Brainiac Live "Event" today and actually had a really enjoyable and fun day out! Paying a five pound fee for a reduced line up, as an annual pass holder is beyond ridiculous, no matter if it's stated in the terms or conditions or not. However, once on park, I put this aside and really had a really exciting and fairly relaxed day. Ridecount: Swarm Forwards x7 Swarm Backwards x1 Stealth x13 Angry Birds 4D x1 Dodgems x1 Flying fish x1 Depth charge x1 Brainiac Live x1 Total: 26. Overall notes: -Swarm and stealth were on one train operation, with flying fish operating reduced rows. However, this didn't matter as queues didn't top 5-10minutes all day, with the exception of depth charge which I believe reached 15-25minutes. -King Pig's Wild Hog Dodgems had all of the cars operating which was great; first time I have seen all of the cars running! However, the smell is still absolutely disgusting and the ride time seemed considerably shorter than it was last year. -Storm in a teacup had all of the turntables fixed which was great, however like the Dodgems, the ride time seemed shorter than usual! -Inferno's Pizza Pasta turned out to be open, which was a big surprise. However, no one seemed to know this and there ended up being plenty of food for a little amount of people. The staff were also really friendly inside and it looks much better overall and feels more spacious. Only downside is that the tables at the moment look really tacky. -All the staff today were really jolly, however most were quite slow at operations. This didn't matter though as there were virtually no queues and staff interactions were absolutely brilliant! The stealth ride team was amazing and on the last train of the day a ride host told us we had to hold our hands up the whole way round otherwise we owed her five pounds. The operator was also absolutely hilarious and was making jokes down the mic all day! #Onedirection5ever #IloveLiamPain #NyalisOk -Brainiac Live was also great fun and I really enjoyed it. The lighting and atmosphere was amazing and the actual show was really hilarious, audience engaging and really fun to watch. The science experiments were also pretty cool! It would have been nice to have a couple of more rides and attractions open, however what was open was running well and the day was relaxed and great fun overall. The sun was shining and the day was brilliant and I look forward to returning in the main season
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203272 Was slightly quieter today than my visit on Wednesday... Watched braniac live again and I absolutely love the lighting setup Depth charge somehow broke down... Went there first thing to get a few goes before it got busy, one go, went back up and got told it has broken down, the water looked like it was going so must have been the conveyor belt. Was back open a bit later - angry birds 4d was also closed for like the first hour, apart from that everything seemed to be running well. Was just about enough to do again for the day, although even just 1 more ride like X would have added the variety and would have been perfect rather than rerides which after 2 can become a bit annoying for me let alone non enthusiast family and friends aha! Swarm x3 (front and back) Stealth x4 (front and back) Flying Fish x2 Dodgems x2 Depth Charge x1 Storm in a Teacup x1 Angry Birds 4D x1 Braniac Live x1 Total: 14/15
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203274 I keep thinking about Brainiac and how good it was, not to mention the preshow soundtrack! Good amount of audience participation and they were so organised. Even when some things went wrong they improvised well and knew how to handle it.
February 21, 201510 yr comment_203278 I keep thinking about Brainiac and how good it was, not to mention the preshow soundtrack! Good amount of audience participation and they were so organised. Even when some things went wrong they improvised well and knew how to handle it. How I remember the faulty microphones! ("Turn these on! We're going to have to project this in DANCE! *does a small dance*") I'm so glad I got video footage of it...
February 22, 201510 yr comment_203286 ^you went on a bad day. I went yesterday and the park was dead. Haha thanks for continuously reminding me of this fact :')
February 22, 201510 yr comment_203288 I would like to share my disappointment at depth charge yesterday, who's staff closed the gate at 3.57 (and that was the time on all of our phones), we had rushed to get there last thing and was told can't go on, ride op up top says queue is closed now - hardly fair when it's not supposed to shut til 4!!
February 22, 201510 yr comment_203292 Went to Thorpe yesterday with my son who has just hit 1.4m, so it was his first Swarm and Stealth experience. He loved them! Overall we had a really nice day with the staff all happy and friendly. Brainiac Live was also really entertaining! I'm interested to know, during the electric fence part of the show one of the Brainiacs bent over to pick something up and 'accidentally' gave himself an electric shock through his backside. It actually seemed quite genuine though, was this all part of the show?
February 22, 201510 yr comment_203293 I'm interested to know, during the electric fence part of the show one of the Brainiacs bent over to pick something up and 'accidentally' gave himself an electric shock through his backside. It actually seemed quite genuine though, was this all part of the show? That happened when I went last weekend, so I'm guessing it is part of the show!
February 22, 201510 yr comment_203294 The faulty microphones were a huge laugh as well when I went last week (although I can't tell if it was part of the act)
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