Bubbleworks

[BlackFlames]

Normally when there's a ride that doesn't have loops and drops, I'm all for it's demolition.However, this ride has a special place in my heart. I've always enjoyed the smells and special effects.I'd love to take my nephews on this ride as they would love it.My favourite ride at Chessington. I wish TP would get something like this.It may not be no ultimate thrill ride, but it's charming and fun.

[Stokesyboy]

Loved this ride the other day! Specially the last bit with all the water going over the top of you! It's Awesome!!

[Stealthowl]

Feel the odd one out here but I actually really like the ride..Love the atmosphere,station and general theming... I never went on the ride pre bubbleworks so couldn't comment on the old version of the ride.

[Mark9]

Feel the odd one out here but I actually really like the ride..Love the atmosphere,station and general theming... I never went on the ride pre bubbleworks so couldn't comment on the old version of the ride.

Thats probably it then. What theming there is in the Bubbleworks these days is mostly bastardized versions from the original ride.One of my favourite reviews of the Bubbleworks is http://www.s10463835...works_plain.htm on here. Particularly favourite line is"EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION IS NOW COMPLETELY IDIOTIC. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.Whoever authorised the revamp – they’re an idiot. Whoever came up with the new theming – an idiot. The whole ride is now designed with the idiot in mind. Chessington – you are idiots."

[Merry-go-girl]

I always swore I'd never go back on the BubbleWorks after I saw what they'd done in the re-vamp. But last year it occurred to me that although the magic had been gutted at least the location and some of the ride was still there and that I should be grateful I can still go to the place of so many happy memories. And the way I felt about the old ride is the way my nieces feel about the current one, and that makes me really happy that they have that too.

And then when they're bigger I can explain to them how their version is crap in comparison.

[Kerfuffle]

It's been open for 23 years, but nowadays, people are coming off it with the usual faces of sheer boredom and disappointment. Why? Because of the one moron who came up with the idea of the retheme of a stupidly popular dark ride to an even stupider soap factory theme! Honestly, what does that have to do with Transylvania at all?

Professor Burp's Bubbleworks was, without a doubt, the best out of the two. John Wardley had even said that the ride is there to make you feel you're in a comic book, hence the animatronics, cartoons and, of course, huge amount of puns and humour on the ride!(Remember "Hic-Cups" and the "Orange Squash Courts"?) Are there any puns in the Imperial Leather Bubbleworks today? The answer is very, VERY simple...NO! NO! NO and NO! The music for Prof Burp! I just can't describe it's awesomeness! The office music is literally in my head 24 HOURS A DAY!!! All I can say is, THANK GOD it's still in the ride today!

However, the ONLY negative for Professor Burp was that the first Burp animatronic TOTALLY creeped me out! I mean, I only experienced Burp when I was 5 and when we floated past the office scene, suddenly, Burp's head just FREEFALLS to the side! (I could've sworn his eyes were revolving as well!) You can also imagine what it would be like if Burp's HEAD revolved!

Moving onto Imperial Leather, all I can say is, this is gonna be one HELL of an argument! First of all, Tussauds were responsible for the retheme and you proably want to know the reason: MONEY! They transformed a popular and amusing dark ride into a boring and POINTLESS dark ride...FOR MONEY! They got money from the popularity of Professor Burp anyway! Also, as I said somewhere above, Professor Burp had a TON of puns, jokes and laughs. Imperial Leather? NONE! This is the ONE reason people are coming off the ride slightly...NO...VERY BORED INDEED!

And what about the theming? The station for Professor Burp had TONS: Crates of fruit, posters advertising his drinks ("Luminous Pop: The Bedtime Drink you can Read By", "Hip-Hop Pop: A New Record by those Rascals of Pop" ect.), what about that GLORIOUS background? The sunset, the mountains, the houses, was it how they looked, THAT CAUSED IT TO BE TORN DOWN??? Now it's been replaced with an extremely poorly detailed background!

Looking on the bright side though, at least the lovable BubbleHeads were kept!

But what happened in 2005 must have been Chessington's WORST moment in HISTORY. John Wardley's retiring soon, but if anyone from Chessington WoA is reading this, not only me, but others are screaming this:

BRING BACK PROFESSOR BURP, GOD DAMMIT!!!

Professor Burp- Gone with the Wind R.I.P: 1990-2005...But he'll return...someday...somehow...he will...

[Coaster]

I never got to experience the original Bubbleworks, which is probably why I quite enjoy the new one. After watching a POV of the old on on youtube though I can see that it used to be much better - such a shame they decided to ruin it with a sponsorship.

Also, the fountain final should be restored to it's original glory, we should have the strobe lights and mirrors back!

[Benin]

Bringing it back will never convey the same emotions or design that the original had...

Need to change things, but into something new, not go back to the past...

[RideAddict]

Bubbleworks was changed just over 6 years ago, since then there have been many debates about it, so why start a new one now? We all miss Professor Burp.

It's been open for 23 years, but nowadays, people are coming off it with the usual faces of sheer boredom and disappointment. Why? Because of the one moron who came up with the idea of the retheme of a stupidly popular dark ride to an even stupider soap factory theme! Honestly, what does that have to do with Transylvania at all?

So John Wardley is a moron? Before you actually criticise him, read this extract from Wikipedia, then you may actually understand why Bubbleworks was put in Transylvania.

The original ride was installed as part of John Wardley's plan to regenerate the struggling leisure attraction, Chessington Zoo, into a popular theme park.The idea of a new Transylvania-themed area to open for the 1990 season was planned, including the installation of a major rollercoaster (which became Vampire) and a dark ride. The concept for the dark ride was to be based around a Transylvanian brewery, but it became obvious that the depiction of alcohol would not be appropriate for the family audience. This led to the idea of a fizzy pop factory, and from there the concept of Professor Burp's Bubbleworks was designed. Keith Sparks, head of Sparks Creative Services, worked with John Wardley to provide the theming and animatronics for each scene. A gag writer was also hired to create many of the ride's visual puns. John Wardley stated that the whole ride was treated as if you were in a comic book.

John is a credit to some of the UK's most fantastic rides. He's worked hard all his life to make his ideas a reality - and they've worked and thrilled millions. He is respected throughout by many rollercoaster and ride companies, engineers, park staff, ride fans and possibly zoo animals! If it wasn't for him, Nemesis would still be sleeping happily in its pit, nobody would be experiencing flying like Air delivers, and we certainly wouldn't be dropped into the darkness that is Oblivion.

And then you come along and criticise his greatest dark ride built back at the time. It's a complete insult to a guy who has devoted his life to something he loves. If you like what he does, don't criticise, and be grateful for the rides he's given us. If not, why do you bother visiting the parks?

You write about how good the Professor Burp theme is, then criticise why it's in Transylvania and insult its creator! Hypocritical.

[SteveJ]

So John Wardley is a moron? Before you actually criticise him, read this extract from Wikipedia, then you may actually understand why Bubbleworks was put in Transylvania.

You write about how good the Professor Burp theme is, then criticise why it's in Transylvania and insult its creator! Hypocritical.

You are really bad at interpreting words. Re-read his post and you will find at no point does he criticise John Wardley, quite the opposite. And by the way, I think I wrote that on Wikipedia years ago and it's not really that accurate...

However, the ONLY negative for Professor Burp was that the first Burp animatronic TOTALLY creeped me out! I mean, I only experienced Burp when I was 5 and when we floated past the office scene, suddenly, Burp's head just FREEFALLS to the side! (I could've sworn his eyes were revolving as well!) You can also imagine what it would be like if Burp's HEAD revolved!

This was because of the rubbish maintenance. He originally turned his head gently, spoke to you as you floated past (with a lifelike mouth), blinked, moved his eyes. I always remember this scene being particularly weird as you say and Professor Burp was hardly a comforting figure at the time! I also remember the audio being really weird, like unnaturally high-pitched and you couldn't make any words out - it took me ages to realise it was supposed to be his voice. The ride had become so unkept.

It was obvious by 2005 BubbleWorks needed a refurbishment to return it to perfection, but instead Chessington decided to remove every animatronic to save money and pay for a few repaints with the sponsorship money. It was the worst scenario ever.

[RideAddict]

You are really bad at interpreting words. Re-read his post and you will find at no point does he criticise John Wardley, quite the opposite. And by the way, I think I wrote that on Wikipedia years ago and it's not really that accurate...

He is criticising the original and retheme. And if you re-read his post, he is criticise John, labelling him a moron.

So you wrote that on Wikipedia and it's not really accurate?!

That extract is on many websites, Wikipedia copied it from them.

[SteveJ]

No he wasn't.

And yes I did write it, using information from an in-depth interview with John Wardley that was recorded in 2010. In fact I created the BubbleWorks page just because there wasn't one. But don't trust Wikipedia anyway, it's useless and nerdy. Once you write something in Wikipedia, it gets taken as the word of God and the same information gets posted everywhere.

The original ride was stylised in a specific way to fit with Transylvania, and Professor Burp had a funny European accent I think. The station gave the impression of a lively market square in the evening, with the brass band playing and the sun setting over the town - that's just my interpretation. The factory exterior was clearly a lavish European building with its fleur-de-lys and bold architectural details, but it's got vey diluted over the years. But after years of odd repaints, printed bubble windows and pieces being removed, the building looks incredibly incongruous and odd.

[RideAddict]

Wikipedia is rather accurate, easy for anyone to claim they wrote stuff.

Proof?

[Fred]

My god you love arguing for the sake of arguing.

Go on that page, and click edit on the top right hand corner of any section you want. Then change it to "Bubbleworks was a piece of poo". It'll save.

[RideAddict]

Anyway, let's get back on topic. If anyone wants to continue this, PM me.

[pluk]

Couple of insults etc removed from the above posts.

I understand the frustrations and a couple of PMs sent, but lets keep it friendly and report if you have a problem with a post to try and stop it escalating.

Thanks. Do continue...

[SteveJ]

You have managed to turn a conversation about BubbleWorks into an argument about Wikipedia. If you must have "proof", click the history tab on the Bubbleworks Wikipedia page and you will see the same user that created the page has now changed it to say "RideAddict is a bit of a troll, never mind, from Archive".

______________

Anyway, in light of recent surveys about BubbleWorks and even demands from the public to bring "back Professor Burp" on their Facebook page, it can be assumed that Chessington are very aware that BubbleWorks needs changing. It is unlikely for anything to happen for a while, however, at least not until they have opened their next major roller coaster - probably within the next 5 years. You cannot recreate the old BubbleWorks and it would be a nightmare to market to today's market, so they need a whole new idea. But it should retain that flare of creativity, spontaneity and wide appeal of the original ride.

In the meantime they should restore as much as they can on a low budget. They have done well with this so far, like restoring some of the original music, new lighting (a good lighting design can make a huge difference if they tried hard) and fixed effects. But there's more that could be done to recover a bit of the old character, before they gut the whole thing out. Get back the fruity scent in the aroma machines rather than soap smells, the strobe sequence in the finale, remove a few ducks (even if they are replaced with nothing it would be an improvement).

[Mark9]

Looks like John Wardley (according to CoasterDude) ain't the only moron here. If you're so bothered, you edit it!

Coaster Dude's original post was pointing out that the morons ruined the ride in 2005, not that John Wardley was a moron for designing Bubbleworks in 1989.

Anyway, I really think it's time for Bubbleworks life to come to an end. The new one may be popular but it is the most unsatisfying rides on park and a dark shed would provide more entertainment. When replacing it however, I would not want to see a scary dark ride. They already have one of those with Tomb Blaster. The genius of Bubbleworks was how every member of the family can get something out of it, the idea of fun being the key objective.

[RideAddict]

Coaster Dude's original post was pointing out that the morons ruined the ride in 2005, not that John Wardley was a moron for designing Bubbleworks in 1989.

So Imperial Leather, Tussauds and Chessington are all morons. At least that's what CoasterDude is saying. If he wants the ride put back to how it was in the Burp days, he's out of luck. The retheme made so many modifications it would be near-impossible to revert them back to how they were.

[SteveJ]

When replacing it however, I would not want to see a scary dark ride. They already have one of those with Tomb Blaster. The genius of Bubbleworks was how every member of the family can get something out of it, the idea of fun being the key objective.

I completely agree. And something that really makes a ride special is when the designers themselves also have fun. The magic and happiness of Prof Burp's BubbleWorks shone through to the rider, you could tell it was created by genuinely amazing, funny people who were creating this ride for you, the rider. John Wardley has said on several occasions that it was "one of the happiest" project he ever worked on. And it showed.

These days rides are inevitably conceived and executed like products being sold for profit; financers are too worried about market research and profit to be spontaneous. That doesn't mean the new rides are bad necessarily, but they lack that innocent sense of fun that Chessington once possessed. You would never be able to make a ride like BubbleWorks in the same way again, so replacing it will be a challenge.

It's also interesting you bring up Tomb Blaster as being the "scary" dark ride. That was certainly the point of Terror Tomb, but since 2002 the ride has been noticeably tamer with the "adventure" persona it has been dressed in - the Indian Jones-style music, for example. I think, in the future, if they gave the tomb back its frightening edge (and its humour), it would feel more satisfying as an experience.

[Fred]

So Imperial Leather, Tussauds and Chessington are all morons.

Think that's what everyone was getting at. It wasn't done for the satisfaction for the guests, none of it was. It was done to provide a sponsor to a park to get money for DIC to be happy with.

Literally it.

Thank god those times are seemingly behind us now.

[Benin]

I would refer people to my old Bubbleworks retheme idea that was posted on here AGES ago for some form of competition as an idea for a retheme...

Although with the more 'realistic' nature Chessie are taking, I'm not sure what route they could take with a new theme... But the easiest method would be a complete gutting of the building and start afresh...

[Kerfuffle]

First of all, I'm NOT calling John a moron, as he was in semi retirement at the time of the retheme so he didnt have a chance to have his say about the retheme. Secondly, why WOULD I call John a moron? He's freakin amazing! I'm pretty sure it was someone else who was responsible for the retheme from what ive heard of...

However, when I said "Bring back Professor Burp", it could've meant two things; one is to just bring back the original fizzy drinks themeing, but as RideAddict said, they may not retheme it EXACTLY to Prof Burp, so secondly they could just retheme it to something similar to Professor Burp that will actually blend in with Transylvania

[RideAddict]

We are way beyond a return to Professor Burp - the brick arches throughout the ride would have to be removed to revert it back. A hell of a lot was changed in the original 2006 retheme; smells, lighting, audio editing and re-organising, and obviously painting. The good old days are behind us.

[Pickles]

Professor Burps Bubbleworks: Vampire edition.