The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure

[Benin]

Anyone else see the irony of Vig moaning about people moaning/being cynical?

[StevenVig]

6 minutes ago, Benin said:

Anyone else see the irony of Vig moaning about people moaning/being cynical?

 

I'll call out people that nit pick unnecessarily. 

[SteveJ]

35 minutes ago, StevenVig said:

I'll call out people that disagree with my opinion

 
Fixed for you.
This happens with every redesigned ride ever, fully expected it with this one.

Just like Charlie And the Chocolate Factory in 2006, the new ride hides a lack of substance behind good lighting and use of newish effects. Not that I think lighting is a method of disguise something, not at all, lighting makes all the difference and is a good thing. The new station looks fine as I keep saying, but its just the difference good lighting makes. I work with lighting and FX design by the way so not exactly talking out my bum I hope.

 

Why was the BubbleWorks so brightly/badly lit in its final year then? Why was it changed to such a bland looking box in 2006? It could have (and did) look just as cozy and fun as this new one if it wasn't ruined. Ridiculous really. And so an arbitrary comparison.

Trying making a comparison of your face lit by a camera flash close up to one lit properly.

A decent family attraction, I'd like it if I were 5 - shame it's got no energy and no new ideas to the table, as you'd expect from a corporate deal like this. And so isn't as much a crazy all-round family ride as Prof Burp's BubbleWorks. But it's a good kids ride, thank god Imperial Leather BubbleWorks has bit the dust at last.

Now where did I "nit pick" again?

[Marhelorpe]

Having only managed to try it just once today thanks to some monstrous queues in the whole park, I have some mixed opinions on the whole attraction, but overall really enjoyed it. There are some parts which I really enjoyed and liked which worked very effectively, but at the same time, it felt like parts of the attraction were left unfinished and empty.

 

First impressions of the outdoor queue were average with a new coloured buildings and new music (which did turn out to be the music posted the other day from the 2009 animated film) and thankfully no more of that ghastly exterior music used before. Whilst there were no issues with this or with the moved entrance, once again like every single new attractions that is built now, there MUST be a green screen photo opportunity to upsell you on which has now been placed just before you go inside. Hardly surprised, but didn't appreciate this after waiting in line for 70 minutes and with Fastrack in full operation congesting the main queue.

 

Ignoring that, the station area was quite nice and simple with what looks to be 2D drawings of the characters against the walls. Now I understand some have criticised this and have said it's cheaply done, to which I wholeheartedly agree with. But I got the impression that the build-up to the ride was supposed to be referring to the book instead of the animated film and once inside, it all comes to life with 3D characters. So I'm not that fussed about the station - It's simple, has better roofing and feels fresh again, plus it is a lot darker than when it was Bubbleworks which is a big noticeable difference for the whole attraction.

 

Now onto the ride, this is where things begin to get mixed. Unlike Bubbleworks where everything was on a loop with no synchronised scenes to reflect the positioning of your boat, almost the entire ride up until the drop was timed so that when you enter each room, a voice read out passages from the book where some of them were shined onto the wall such as "A little brown mouse walked through the woods" as soon as you enter the first darkened room. This helped make the experience feel more complete and enjoyable and the mix of storytelling with the scenes was very well done.

 

One of the biggest and most noticeable differences with it is how much darker and dimly lit all of the scenes are this time. Bubbleworks during its final years was almost entirely lit up which made everything easily visible. But this time, only the scenery and characters are lit with filtered lighting which draws your attention to them and not the surrounding enclosed walls. The lighting was very effective and is far better than what we had before.

 

However, there were some scenes where there were blank walls with absolutely no theming or details whatsoever and this really aggravated me. At least with Bubbleworks you got a printed pattern or painting to look at, but this time, they are plain, white and ordinary. For instance when leaving the station down the ramp, that small room where the professor previously sat at his desk is now completely blank with white walls everywhere and no theming was added to the flooring either. All that happened was a projector shined on the wall with an animation of the mouse walking, with the words from the author read out. Not the best first impression of the ride, but after that, it gets a lot better.

 

One thing that did surprise me greatly was the sheer size of the characters through various scenes. The 2nd room where Mouse encounters Fox for instance was simply enormous and was very close to you when you passed by! Same for Owl and definitely the Gruffalo.

 

There were some thematic elements which involved the use of projectors and TV screens of the characters through these small windows, primarily from the animated film. Whilst I didn't necessarily have an issue with this, my worry is will they be maintained on a frequent basis to stop them from breaking or going wrong? If the park can do this then that's great, but if it ends up like Smiler's queue line where the projectors over time became dimmer, unaligned and frankly broken, the effect will become useless. The fact some scenes are almost entirely dependant on this has me concerned slightly.

 

Something else that I couldn't help but notice is with the entire attraction being much darker inside than previously, it became quite hard to distinguish the walls and the whole thing felt smaller inside. So much so that I'd go as far to say slightly claustrophobic due to the close proximity of the characters with the boats. It didn't bother me at all, but thought it's something interesting to note.

 

As for the drop and finale, this is now where your on-ride photo is now taken. Just before you reach the bottom, the Gruffalo appears above you with moving orange eyes and a flash, blinding you, takes your photo.

 

Inside the finale, there are still SOME of the overhead fountains present, but only the ones where you are either entering or leaving the room, not in the centre where there is now a massive tree overshadowing you as you pass under with Owl looking down at you. The centre piece where the bathtub used to be confused me. From what I gathered, it looked like Fox's tail trying to run scared because of the Gruffalo, but maybe I'm wrong. In full, the finale still has plenty of lighting effects used in different colours with some of the fountains working and it is a much better room than what was there before. The best way I can explain is try not to think of this room as a finale anymore; just as the penultimate scene to the ride instead following what the book says.

 

Lastly, the corner where after you just leave the fountain room is where the story finishes and Mouse is sitting on a log with his acorn, and you pass through a mist of air with a projection on it of what I believe is an animation of 'Gruffalo Crumble', as well as a vertical screen of the Gruffalo running away from the mouse, just like in the book and film before coming back into the station again. Nothing too dramatic, but a nice way to end the ride.

 

So whilst there were some really good elements such as the lighting, atmosphere, story telling and effects, the big issue I have is with the longevity and lack of substance in some areas I've seen. The fact they have ripped out some areas and simply replaced it with white walls which are used only to project sentences from the book, along with some drawings really annoys me greatly because they could have used a lot of that space to add theming elements such as trees and bushes to fit in with the theme a bit better. You know, like the promo art suggests? That coupled with characters that hardly move at all in this attraction and are static, non-animatronics irritated me slightly too.

 

But besides from that, this overall I would say is a far needed and I believe welcomed addition to the park. It's not perfect in anyway and there are some potential flaws with the design I can see with broken effects and lacklustre scenes, but all in all, I enjoyed this far more than what Bubbleworks was in it's final last years from 2010 onwards and I conclude this is a worthwhile investment made. Despite it appealing to the younger audience, it clearly still has a place for families and older members.

 

All I can advise is get on it as soon as you can whilst everything is currently working to experience it properly!

 

Bubbleworks (1990-2005): 8/10

Imperial Leather Bubbleworks (2006-2016): 4/10

Gruffalo River Ride Adventure : 7/10

 

(On-ride photo for those interested. I apologise. I can never seem to get a normal on-ride photo with my family for some reason... )

[SteveJ]

Excellent insightful review, thank you

[HermanTheGerman]

6 hours ago, StevenVig said:

I'm comparing the two because that is what Gruffalo replaced.

 

It's not just lit properly, everything here is new, with more added, did you notice the new lights on the ramp?

 

You're just being cynical, like a typical fanboy/girl

 

The irony here is that by blindly supporting an attraction because "everything in it is new", you end up the more typical fanboy...

 

There's difference between cynicism and balanced analysis you know...

[yeah]

7 hours ago, StevenVig said:

I'm comparing the two because that is what Gruffalo replaced.

 

It's not just lit properly, everything here is new, with more added, did you notice the new lights on the ramp?

 

You're just being cynical, like a typical fanboy/girl

 

He means youre comparing a broken ride that Merlin couldn't care less about to a brand new IP themed ride. Of course the latter is going to be better. 

 

7 hours ago, Wumbamillio said:

 

 

Flat white walls where used to be 5 big, different animations.

Or the whole ride plastered with vinyl prints


Even better, a room of nothing but a white projection screen.
 

My point is, the comparison photo game is arbitrary and meaningless. Judge by how much it entertains you in person, not by comparison or by photos

That's ridiculous, how can they get away with some white walls with trees on and call it theming ffs. Hate the argument "What can you expect, it's a little kids ride" that I've seen alot, just because it's aimed at young children doesn't mean it can't be bad.

[JoshuaA]

I think the ride looks decent.

Yes this is nothing special or anything innovative, but its probably a step up from the state that Bubbleworks was in..

Maybe the theming in places are a little sparse, but its opening day, things can still change..

Anyway this is probably way better than some of the flops we've seen recently.. Not naming any names

IAC, DBGT, Sub Terrible..

[SteveJ]

Well in response to the "its for children" idea... I think this is exactly the ride Chessington needed. This isn't the eccentric, left-of-field Chessington full of ideas and silliness we knew from years ago, and hasn't been for 20 years, unfortunately. The 2006 BubbleWorks needed to close to stop people conflating the original ride that the park made its name with (along with Vampire), with an awful primary coloured one that was different.

Merlin run the park as your middle of the road, pricey, middle class -aimed kiddie resort now. And so Gruffalo suits it to a tee. Not my cup of tea, and definitely wouldnt have liked it when I was a youngster into more energetic things either, but the very young children will love it I'm sure. So there you go. I'm just hoping to see a more creative and exciting family dark ride return to the UK soon, and I dont believe it will be from Merlin.

[Matt 236]

Managed a couple of goes on the New Gruffalo attraction today and here's the main things I took note of:

• Entrance and queue lines seem better organised and aligned than Imperial Leather  Bubbleworks 
• Exterior Music is minimalistic and makes for a calm relaxing wait
• Station boarding area looks fantastic (maybe one of the best things here), from it's appropriate lights and styling 
• Ride mostly features variety of screens, light elements and selection of animatronics 
• The ride features lots of interesting and loverly smells around the attraction
• Decent additions to the finale, from a mist screen to projected screens
• Fountain Finale room feels more full and different from ILB, yet pays homage with the survival of the smaller fountains

  Overall I'd say the attraction was better than expected and will likely be a hit with Chessington and it's younger families. I loved the station and smells around the ride and the station, amongst the second and final two scenes. I can't really compare to the Bubbleworks, given they are different rides and (regrettably) did not ride the original but it's better than Charlie at Towers ever was.

[MattyMoo]

20 hours ago, StevenVig said:

I do agree on the spacing between Ride & Adventure, wonder what happened there.

 

I barely slept last night regarding this, hence why I mentioned it, so trust we will have answers soon before I go straight to The Mirror.

[ThemeParkCrafter]

It as a 2 hour queue...

[Josh3103]

11 minutes ago, ThemeParkCrafter said:

It as a 2 hour queue...

Its gone down to 70 mins now 

[Merry-go-girl]

I don't hate it. I think the positives definitely outweigh the negatives here. The biggest positive for me is that 27 years later I can still ride a dark-ride at Chessington and relive my BubbleWorks memories. From what I could see in the POV I watched the lighting is so much better, it's actually a dark ride. The use of music is a bit lackluster and there was definitely a bland section around the midway point but compared to the DuckyWorks (or full closure and demolishing) this is an improvement. Also important to me is that Transylvania as a land still seems to be left largely intact. I'm ok with this, I would take the nieces back on it and I reckon they'd love it even more then the DuckyWorks.

[Coaster]

Despite having doubts about The Gruffalo, I decided to give it a go in the hope that it would surprise me.

 

The ride has a very calm and serene feel, a stark contrast to its predecessor.  This is present in the station, which is wonderfully decorated with low level lighting, and some nice changes in moods as you queue; a theme continued in the rest of the ride.  The mood lighting is extremely well done throughout, with a nice amount of darkness and scenes unfolding in front of you.

 

The projected waterfall was my favourite scene; it's very effective and a new idea.  I also liked the mist screen at the end - a nice touch!

I found the ride doesn't quite feel "complete" - whilst some of the scenes are well finished, others feature whitewash walls and are devoid of anything of note; for example the very first scene and the one replacing the jacuzzi scene.  I didn't like the use of TV screens at various points throughout the ride, nor the circular 'light-up pictures', IMO they become repetitive and cheapen the overall feel of the attraction.

There is little in the way of animation, though some of the props do move slightly.

The final has kept some of the fountains but also introduced some theming, the lighting is much darker in here as well.  Where the fountains were the focal point of the room in IL Bubbleworks, they're simply additions to the rest of the room here and don't play a key part.  It doesn't really feel like a "finale" now, more just "another scene."

 

Audio is unremarkable, the voice overs work well at points but I think it was always going to be difficult to follow the iconic soundtrack of Bubbleworks!

 

Overall, I'd say it's "good" - nothing more, nothing less.  It doesn't really have a sense of "fun," but is very different and surpassed my expectations by a long way.  I hope it'll be a success, but is it as good as Bubbleworks?  Not for me.

 

 

The exterior doesn't blend in well at all;

 

 

Fortunately, the station looks fantastic!

 

 

 

[MachoMachine]

Went on it today (walk-on!) and it was fab! I loved the use of the smell pots and how things were timed. Really cute attraction for what it is and I was pleasantly surprised!

[Owen]

On 18/03/2017 at 3:05 PM, Wumbamillio said:

My point is, the comparison photo game is arbitrary and meaningless. Judge by how much it entertains you in person, not by comparison or by photos.

 

Just wondering, have you been on the ride yourself? Bit confused to if you have or not.

 

If so great, as I'm trying to get a general idea of what people who have been on it think of it to decide if I make the trip to Chessington or not. Thanks to others for their reviews so far as well!

 

Based on the current "good" feedback I may just wait a couple weeks for Ghost Train 2, provided it actually works for once...

[yeah]

Does anyone know what the bubbleworks Easter eggs mentioned in the live updates a few pages up were? Unless they're obvious on the ride, I haven't noticed them on videos.

 

 

[SteveJ]

2 hours ago, Owen said:

 

Just wondering, have you been on the ride yourself? Bit confused to if you have or not.

Have yes  And it's still a decent grotto-type attraction, you can never feel the scale or sense from a video, but in my opinion not something to get so excited about just simply it's much better than the corpse of BubbleWorks that it replaced.  If anything I felt the much-praised station was cheaper feeling than it looks in photos, much flatter and featureless than BubbleWorks had been (apart from the nice ceiling). The rest of the ride is a cozy, relaxed sensory experience -  even though it runs out of ideas in the middle.

 

It's middle of the road and kiddie orientated so not my cup of tea, whether its new or not. But thank goodness it's much better than the 2006 BubbleWorks which I hope is quickly forgotten as the corporate trash it was. Young kids will like it also, but sad to see the whole of Chessington homogenised under the thumb of Merlin. Not a trace of the gutsy fun and imagination that the park used to be.

 

But I wont keep going on about it, its not going to stop. This  is all part of their plan for the park's commercialised, mainstream image now. Vampire & Tomb likely to keep being run down until they're the next to change, and more Resortiness and cardboard theming dotted around in the meantime. And so I've not paid for a visit for years, and long since lost interest in being a guest at my formerly favourite park.

[Owen]

So long as it's better than 2006 Bubbleworks I'm happy!

[Benin]

And we wonder why Merlin can get away with half-arsed attractions if that's the base expectation...

[Owen]

I'm a bit confused to if this was directed at me being happy that it's an improvement?

 

If so I don't think anyone expects it, but I think people wanted an improvement at minimum. I personally have never enjoyed bubbleworks and so I'm happy as long as it's an improvement - yes it could be far superior but so can everything. Just because people may be impressed with something does not mean it's their base expectation. It makes me laugh how people can't even say they're content with something without being told that's the wrong opinion anymore, it puts people off saying they like an attraction simply based on the fact it's "Merlin". 

 

I think Wumbamillio has hit the nail on the head with this attraction (based on what I've seen) and so I think we should all take a page of of their book when looking at Merlin's investments. Nothing is all bad but nothing is perfect either.

[SteveJ]

 - I think people here have expressed themselves a lot more as to why they do or don't enjoy the attraction than just "it's Merlin"! Thats rather flippant to just say that.

 

Merlin dominate the UK attraction industry and their product is deliberate. Are you surprised people are so disillusioned? You might not be and absolutely that's fine. But sometime people seem to have such low standard that they're surprised when Merlin create something average at best, or it "has theming" and they praise it, just because its a step up from the broken down rest of the parks, or is fresh feeling. But is it actually entertaining?

If you find Gruffalo entertaining, fair enough! That's fine. Personally I don't because I feel opportunities continue to be missed, though I found the 2006 BubbleWorks much worse, and it's not because  "its Merlin". I don't have some kind of agenda to hate everything they do. But it's just that same Merlin product in a different form.

 

I could sit there and say "well it's better than before at least so I'm happy", or I could try and push for more creativeness & quality than  your average kids river caves with whatever IP they can get. Which isn't a big ask really. I believe would be a lot more fun for every family and guest to come up with a great, off the wall, original dark ride full of surprises. 

 

But the benchmark for new dark rides in the UK is pretty low, after many years of neglect. Out in Europe for example you get such a better day out with fun ideas and surprises. Whereas here, Merlin own everything, and are the Radio 1 of theme parks playing the same generic tracks every day

[Owen]

Apologies, in terms of the Merlin thing I mean that as a general thing I've noticed across the entire forum.

 

In regards to the Gruffalo, as said I think you hit the nail on the head - this attraction is by no means terrible but it can be improved. That being said you can still appreciate it for being an improvement over it's predecessor. My main issue was that I have recently noticed there seems to be an issue with people enjoying Merlin attractions, and even more of an issue when others say "no that isn't fair, we all have different opinions to one another". However that's another issue more wide spread than just the Gruffalo!  

 

As a whole I don't think it's a Merlin issue as such, their foreign instalments are quite nicely themed. I believe  the complacency of the UK market as a whole is the issue. However, you cannot deny that Derren Brown's Ghost Train, The Gruffalo and The Swarm (quite possibly the best themed wing coaster) aren't completely terrible, in fact they're pretty darn good. They aren't to the standard of say Efteling, Universal or Disney - but it's certainly not the worst standard that some seem to see it as.  

[Vince800]

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.