Merry-go-girl Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 You mean one of us could trademark Burp and BubbleWorks this very day if we wanted to? Doc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flipper Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 You mean one of us could trademark Burp and BubbleWorks this very day if we wanted to? If what I've been told is correct, then yes. You could draw identical plans to Prof Burps Bubbleworks; have them trademarked for say ten years, and build it using everything the same, even the music I believe; and Chessington can't do anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Copyright lasts for 100yrs. Bubbleworks isn't that old. Trademarks and stuff, presumably so! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flipper Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 I'm not sure myself the difference between copyright and trademarks, I know that sounds really thick but it's never been something thats affected me. All I know is I was under influence that theres nothing restricting the use of Prof. Burp anymore; and that the music can now be used royalty free. *shrugs* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imagineer Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 I think they sold/chucked a lot if not all the original bubbleworks theming. I know the Terror Tomb organ pipes sat in the ride office for a while but the rest of the original theming is gone. I know the pipes got moved to the Ents tech store and were still there when I left. It's a shame it all got lost and yet I emptied a shipping container that had the staging for Trick or Treat door in the early 00's and another container that had lights from the Circus in them! SteveJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon2000 Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 Fountains were off again on Wednesday. Not very reliable this year. Gave me a chance to notice the nice moving head lights they have installed near the roof - they were pointing up at the ceiling which is 2ft away, when really they need to be pointed down at the ride! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 So be the year late 2014 when Bubbleworks topples and crashes to the ground and vanishes in a cloud of dust! c1hrisin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 The fountains were off today as well....poor show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 Someone call a bloody plumber already. Kerfuffle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 Sums chessington up really. Kerfuffle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 Amazing. Many people on the internet have no idea what the reality is at Chessington at the moment and are clinging on to dated generalisations that they don't care about anything, even when the entire park is significantly improving right in front of us and the enjoyment of guests has shot up since the mistakes of last year. If you aren't visiting Chessington anytime soon then what's the point in complaining about operations on Vampire, fountains broken on BubbleWorks, Scorpion Express's queue, etc... It has no impact on you if you aren't even there. Although such problems are frustrating, it's not the easiest park to operate you know! Spreading ignorance just disregards all the real efforts made by the management teams on a daily basis. Did you know that Frazzle's neck fell apart last week, he spent a few days switch off and then was fixed in time for the bank holiday? No. Problems occur constantly at theme parks and always have done, it's only with the rise of social media do we hear about them more often. Chessington is on the right track. They have a good plan to restore the park and have received huge amounts from Merlin to finally overcome the problems inherited from the shockingly abysmal DIC Tussauds years. Not everybody will like the direction the park is heading in (sadly there will never be another creative golden age), but at least they have a good objective at last and are receiving the money to achieve this. Kerfuffle and HermanTheGerman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 I may eventually get up to writing a trip report from my trip a couple of weeks ago, but just want to say it wasn't great... Operations were poor, staff for the most part were meh (or TOO friendly, which was just annoying), there was little atmosphere about the place. It just didn't feel right. Yeah, there's been improvements around the place, and it looks nice, but it didn't compensate for the fact the place feels very 'meh' to me. Plus the fact that Scorpion Express was poorly executed, Tomb Blaster feels like it's going down the drain, etc. Chessington may be 'improving right in front us' and they may be trying to improve problems they've been left with, but my visit in 2013 and visit a couple of weeks ago haven't left me wanting to go back, and there's just a lot less enjoyment I get out of the place. Even 2 years ago, I loved the place and, whilst areas needed attention, it felt like it was going in a good direction. Now, I'm struggling to actually care about the place... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 At least you have actually visited and explained why you were unimpressed, but personally I think there is a much nicer atmosphere about the park now. Areas that were left tacky and drab for a decade are now looking a lot more alive and closer to their original design intentions. Mystic East is fresh even after last year's disaster, and there is simply no comparison between Transylvania now and 5 years ago. Not to mention that most areas now have their own audio thanks to new music being commissioned. Chessington is not perfect, but these genuine efforts to make the park better are a relief from when it was going rapidly downhill not long ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 I can tell you now that Chessington is on the right track. They have a good plan to restore the park and are well into putting it into action, receiving huge amounts from Merlin to finally overcome the problems inherited from the shockingly abysmal DIC Tussauds years. Not everybody will like the direction the park is heading in (sadly there will never be another creative golden age), but at least they have a good objective at last and are receiving the money to achieve this. GO LIKE A PRO, CHESSIE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HermanTheGerman Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 Not everybody will like the direction the park is heading in (sadly there will never be another creative golden age), but at least they have a good objective at last and are receiving the money to achieve this. Now that scares me! What sort of thing d'you mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 All I mean is that some people (including me probably) will never be truly satisfied with the park even if their future plans do turn out well, whatever they are, simply because it's not the old Chessington that they used to know. However that doesn't mean Chessington don't care anymore. The creative enterprise of the early 90s will not come back, since the UK theme park industry doesn't work like that anymore. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, since it is now more popular and profitable than it has ever been, but it does mean future projects will lack the charm and originality of those old rides. I spoke to John Wardley about this and he said that simpler time ended long ago, yet we still got Oblivion, Hex and other very impressive rides after it ended. It could have continued like that had Tussaudes not been sold to an investment company and fired everyone; it's only now under Merlin that there is a chance to build entertaining rides again (they just need to take more risks). See the very mixed reactions to Scorpion Express to see how reinventing old rides always causes a stir, even though the refurbishment was necessary to overcome the shocking neglect under DIC Tussaudes and the ride is now very popular. As for BubbleWorks, I'm pretty sure it's obvious how embarrassed Chessington are by what happened to it in 2005. It will undoubtedly see redevelopment sooner or later. HermanTheGerman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insider9150 Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 I totally agree, loads of you just moan for the sake of moaning. If you don't like what chessington is doing now, don't go, plain and simple, and start moaning about other parks, I think over the next few years there is going to be some amazing changes. There is a completely new management team that wants to see chessington succeed. There has been a lot of great improvement this year so far. and if you don't like them tough. SteveJ and tomglazed 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 Hopefully this new Chessington that's appearing (post 2010) will add some new life to the park. I guess the following rides will likely be in line for major refurbishment/retheming or even replacement in the next 5 years. Dragon Falls Bubbleworks Skyway TombBlaster Toadies Pirates Cove Truckers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insider9150 Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 I know that Dragon Falls, Bubbleworks & Tombblaster are on the list for a reburb, + something brand new in a couple of years that I cant talk about at the moment, but it will be pretty amazing hopefully!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 Um, I get that it can be frustrating to read negative comments when it's not the sentiment you yourself currently have, but it is an open forum and the terms of posting (to my knowledge) never specified that we all be positive. I'm a polite person but I honestly don't think the sentiment, 'if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all', is applicable to a discussion forum. dk3, Cal, Whiteknuckle and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 I totally agree, loads of you just moan for the sake of moaning. If you don't like what chessington is doing now, don't go, plain and simple, and start moaning about other parks, I think over the next few years there is going to be some amazing changes. There is a completely new management team that wants to see chessington succeed. There has been a lot of great improvement this year so far. and if you don't like them tough. I know that Dragon Falls, Bubbleworks & Tombblaster are on the list for a reburb, + something brand new in a couple of years that I cant talk about at the moment, but it will be pretty amazing hopefully!!! The trouble I'm having at the moment is that I do actually like Chessington (well, maybe I should say 'liked Chessington' now, I don't know...). But last year's visit and this year's visits haven't left me think 'I want to come back here'. I hoped that last year was a blip, but it seemed not. At least the people I went with came away with more positive views than me, but for me personally, I just feel so apathetic about the place at the moment. You can tell they are trying, and things like the Market Square revamp are good and nice to see. But then Scorpion Express just screams out missed potential and shows that sometimes trying isn't enough. Zufari had the opportunity to be incredible and, seeinghow Chessington is a theme park and zoo, should be the icon attraction. But again, there's missed opportunity and it doesn't reach the potential it should make. Then there's little things that have just made the visits that little less good. Tomb Blaster for example. Last year, my gun didn't work. This year, again my gun didn't work, and the spare one next to me also didn't work (of course, I did mention it to staff after coming off). From this perspective, you can see why I'm coming away disappointed. The operational procedures on Black Buccaneer are just horrid too.. Little things like that are, for me at least, just taking away from my enjoyment of the day... Due to the missed opportunities with Zufari and Scorpion Express, I do find it hard to get excited about hearing of new projects. After all, my fears are that it will wind up having the chance to be incredible, and then fail to deliver and be an okay experience missing that extra something... Anyways, this is going wildly off the Bubbleworks topic, so... I didn't ride Bubbleworks on my most recent visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 I honestly don't think the sentiment, 'if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all', is applicable to a discussion forum.I didn't say that. I'm saying the persistent notion that Chessington don't care and don't know how to operate a theme park is outdated and ignores the big positive changes coming now and in the near future. It's not great discussion when it's just flippant remarks. I have been visiting the park for well over a decade and have never known such a genuine will to make the park a better place. It is also now more successful in terms of guest popularity and profits than it has been for ages, meaning Merlin will continually reinvest rather than ignore it like before. HermanTheGerman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 Well that's good then, but it's an "I'll believe it when I see it" kind of a statement.Running Vampire on one train/two trains with four minute dispatch times is really trying to make the day better for guests! I do intend to visit the park soon (as I have a MAP) and I hope to see the improvement that the park so badly needed last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 I'll believe it when I see it"Alright, but you'll still slag it off before you see it? (I don't mean to target just you) I rode Vampire the other day during one of the park's busiest weeks so far, and the queue was a comfortable 30 minutes with quick dispatches. It's not always terrible, just because that's what you hear on the internet. Of course operations can be improved, which is exactly what rides management are trying hard to do (although the seasonal nature of staff means this isn't always consistent, especially towards the start of the year). Even then, staff at Chessington are generally some of the best regarded out of all Merlin parks in terms of friendliness and helpfulness. Still, there's a big difference between the park's daily operations and their medium-term plans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 Well good then, I look forward to being impressed when I visit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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