SteveJ Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 A simple fountain arch should not be rocket science to keep running, especially when it's probably the only effect Bubbleworks has. Knowing how they work they are not "simple" and not comparable to a bathroom plumbing job, but probably still very managable for Chessington's tech services. The required engineering to have that huge volume of water sent over guest's heads for days on end is significant so there's no point being flippant about it. We don't know what the problem is. If there's an engineering problem behind them or the pumps they can't just send a bloke to flick a switch and they start again. (it's not RCT3) The fountains are typically quite reliable and have been working well for decades, but a couple of times recently not so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 A simple fountain arch should not be rocket science to keep running, especially when it's probably the only effect Bubbleworks has. Dammit, I can throw my degree out the window, Jamie is the Master Engineer... Mysterio Ka and SteveJ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 If I ran the place I'd at least run out and buy some garden variety oscillating sprinklers and put them in place till the ride ones are fixed. At least then people can still have their fun splashy time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 I never claimed to be an engineer, but it's just the latest in a long line of effects to be broken. Chessington have had this effect for years, and I recall hearing somewhere that they have it serviced every closed season to keep it in working order. If it was a one-off then that would be different, but let's face it, effect maintenance isn't exactly Chessington's (or actually Merlin parks in general) strong point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 Basically Bubbleworks just needs an extensive overhaul. It's a great ride, but needs some 21st century treatment as the bulk of the ride is 25 years old now [could be said for the majority of the park to an extent]. updated water effects, refreshed/rebuilt scenes, new visual effects such as wall projections and even a reorchestrated version of the soundtrack [iMA anyone]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattgwise Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 I had never personally known The water fountains to ever break or go wrong until last season and ever since it has broken several times. How is it they can keep them working for 20 odd years and suddenly they can't on a regular basis? Crazy! Coaster 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 I had never personally known The water fountains to ever break or go wrong until last season and ever since it has broken several times. How is it they can keep them working for 20 odd years and suddenly they can't on a regular basis? Crazy!No not crazy at all, I'm sure all well-designed custom machinery will be alright for a long time and then encounter problems. Parts become obsolete, and as far as I know the fountains are awaiting a new part that needs to be custom built. Trying to keep the same machines going for a number of decades is not possible unless you start replacing parts with newer available technology (which has already happened with the control systems for the BubbleWorks, and remember the Vampire was totally rebuilt on an operational level only 10 years after it opened). updated water effects, refreshed/rebuilt scenes, new visual effects such as wall projections and even a reorchestrated version of the soundtrack [iMA anyone]. No! That's like what George Lucas did to Star Wars in an attempt to 'bring it into the 21st century'. Original BubbleWorks is pretty timeless, they could easily get away with reopening the ride exactly as it was in 1990 and it would be hugely popular again. It doesn't need "high tech" effects shoe horned in for the sake of it. By all means reinvent the ride into a new Bubbleworks incarnation, but do it in the spirit of the 1990 ride and it will be loved. There are plenty of creative ways of reinventing the ride without losing its original charm. Why on earth would you replace the music, apart from the currently poor quality playback missing SFX that's the only bit of the ride that's still great. Graham Smart >>>>> IMA score Merry-go-girl, dk3, HermanTheGerman and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian-S Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 I had never personally known The water fountains to ever break or go wrong until last season and ever since it has broken several times. How is it they can keep them working for 20 odd years and suddenly they can't on a regular basis? Crazy! Modern thinking is never make parts that last too long past their warranty window, otherwise you won't make any money from replacement parts... The original bits were probably made to last, the replacement made to a budget.... Could someone pass me my coat please, it's the one with 'cynical old fart' on the nametag... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dk3 Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 Visited again yesterday - fountains still not working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 Maybe I should just order those sprinklers on Chessington's behalf. No, no that would never work because you'd still need someone with someone initiative to plug them in. Coaster 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 Oh Chessington! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobF Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 The fountains were on last wednesday so they have been on at some point recently Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian-S Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 They were off Saturday (or when my friend went through they were anyway). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 Whoever man's Chessington's twitter is quite cool; jjh123horry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 They probably saw it and thought 'Wow, this person has nothing better to do than complain about a few fountains' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 They probably saw it and thought 'Wow, this person has nothing better to do than complain about a few fountains' It's not just a few fountains though, it's the most important part of the ride and in my opinion one of the only good parts. OldFarmerDean, Merry-go-girl and dk3 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 They probably saw it and thought 'Wow, this person has nothing better to do than complain about a few fountains' Huh, interpretation came out wrong there because I intended to be playful with my tweet. I'm pretty sure the other guy got it though. Adam P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HermanTheGerman Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 So I was at the village fair the other day with my family, and as I was riding The Twister with my aunty, some scented smoke was released which smell of strawberries and oranges. Anyway, after a few seconds, she said "ooh, that smells of the Bubbleworks", which I thought was quite cool, especially seeing as she hasn't been to Chessington since 1995. dk3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfernoMartin Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Went on Bubbleworks today and noticed a few things! Pros: Fountains were working again The missing duster by the foot has finally been replaced with a lovely multicoloured duster Cons: 2 out of the 3 parts of the Duck Coaster were broken. Audio issues at a few points across the ride So although things have been fixed, other things seem to have broke in the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 The audio problem is quite irksome, considering you can download the full tracks pretty easily. I wonder if they're still using the same sound system since the 90's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 The full music tracks have never been available online, what is usually online is a cassette mix that was probably released commercially in the old shop.It misses out some of the music and isn't full quality. They currently use shorter edits of this downloadable cassette mix on the ride because the old tracks were lostI think the 1990 digital sound system is still in use but probably with multiple post hoc alterations. The old system was designed to seemlessly loop and sync each track - as you'll know it doesn't do that anymore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 I thought the tracks Neilfever had were complete? What a shame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Where, on YouTube? That's the cassette mix there, the most it misses is of the fairground music. On the ride now it just plays a loop of about 10 seconds (each track should be 1 minute). The master audio tapes are still around so the full thing isn't lost It was the same with he Vampire music, for years what was posted online was actually a completely different cassette mix until composer Graham Smart posted the ride version himself. Ironically it is now the cassette mix, downloaded off YouTube, that is used in Vampire now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Chessington really don't subscribe to the practice of treating things with care so that they last longer huh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nosferatu Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 The Vampire theme that Graham Smart posted still isn't the ride version, but a mishmash of the two. Only about a third of that track is actually right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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