August 5, 201213 yr comment_139718 Seriously can't believe that they have done that because of one accident in the rides very long history. H&S has seriously gone OTT! Just looks awful in the picture.
August 5, 201213 yr comment_139719 Quite surprised some people are more worried about how a fence looks than the safety of children. In my opinion it doesn't even look that bad, at the end of the day, it's just a fence and it will prevent any accidents like this happening again.
August 5, 201213 yr comment_139720 Quite surprised some people are more worried about how a fence looks than the safety of children. In my opinion it doesn't even look that bad, at the end of the day, it's just a fence and it will prevent any accidents like this happening again. But if that was how all design was thought of everything would be on ground level and not move. The theme park would then not exist. We've not seen the full investigation reports but one or more thing (in terms of design, build, maintenance and use) must have failed for the accident to have happened in the first place, and could have been changed to avoid repeat. I would also strongly query whether this is safer, it looks like a great big climbing frame now, how long till one goes over the top? Other less intrusive, probably cheaper and probably safer options could have and should have happened. Safety does not has to be at the expense of aesthetics. They are not mutually exclusive, both can happen in harmony. Who wants to queue in a prison? The people that allow things like this to happen are clearly not 'show' men in any way and should not be in a position to ruin things like this.
August 6, 201213 yr comment_139725 The bars have only been added to tombblasters queue, don't panic as they will be themed during the closed season, the first priority was to reopen the ride. The ride itself has completely new lighting and all the old effect work! It was a great job from the chessington maintenance team.
August 6, 201213 yr comment_139726 The bars have only been added to tombblasters queue, don't panic as they will be themed during the closed season, the first priority was to reopen the ride. The bolded section is the main reason here... What makes more sense to the park? Fulfilling the basic H&S requirements that are a result of the investigations from both the park and the executive is of course the first priority, but do they desperately need to theme it right now, or reopen the ride considering the 'summer' period has turned up... Whilst I don't hold my breath that it will later be rethemed, at least it looks better than Saw's god-awful random chainlink prison queueline... More Punjabi prison than Guantanamo Bay... The park priorities change these days... Aesthetics cost a lot and would take longer to install... Is that worth keeping a popular ride shut for even longer over summer? Safety SHOULD be the priority over everything else, otherwise who would want to go to an unsafe park? Especially a family based park... It doesn't look great, but it's a necessary evil for the park to operate the ride... And knowing enthusiasts if they were spending longer to sort this out we'd be complaining that the ride isn't open...
August 6, 201213 yr comment_139728 It doesn't look great, but it's a necessary evil for the park to operate the ride... I disagree, that fence is not necessary. It is a sledgehammer to a nut. There are many more aesthetically pleasing solutions that I'm sure would cost less, I can't imagine would have taken more time and I'd say would be safer than such a climbing frame like structure, the obvious one being cross bracing on the outside of the queue line. It has been done without any thought or consideration for what the experience of being there will be like, the whole point of a theme park is to be somewhere it is nice to be.
August 6, 201213 yr comment_139737 Or cover the whole side with net. it would look nice be able to see through clearly and probably fulfills the H&S
August 7, 201213 yr comment_139754 Or cover the whole side with net. it would look nice be able to see through clearly and probably fulfills the H&S And kids can then climb all over the netting instead...
August 7, 201213 yr comment_139757 Give a kid anything and they will try and find some way of climbing it! Like people have said there is only so much can be done before you just have to rely on adults supervising their children.
August 7, 201213 yr comment_139762 And kids can then climb all over the netting instead... I mean like the normal fences (unless those have been working as climbing frames too ~_~) that were originally on there and nets around the outside completing teh safety aspect.
August 9, 201213 yr comment_139778 I went on Tomb blaster on Tuesday and I have to say that the ride experience is much better now - more effects, better lighting and some new scenery. I still think that the fences are a bit over the top though.
August 9, 201213 yr comment_139780 I love how Chessington used this time to improve Tomb blaster, I mean they didn't have too or need too but they did!
August 9, 201213 yr comment_139785 I thought the fences looked horrendous in the pictures, but just got back from Chessington, and they actually don't look as bad in person. Again as mentioned most if not all effects seem to work now. I can't remember the last time I saw the boulder move on one of my visits.
August 9, 201213 yr comment_139788 The engineering and features team have worked non-stop to get all the effects and lighting running inside, from what I have heard from one of the engineers, money has been no object. On another note has anyone see Frazzle the Dragon near Dragon Furys, it looks amazing.
August 10, 201213 yr comment_139793 Money has been no object? Someone needs to mention this to Towers so those ingenious people who have improved it so much this year can do whatever the hell they want to the finale... Although the cynic in me sees 'improvement' as 'refurb the broken effects'...
August 10, 201213 yr comment_139794 I also cant see that they've made any improvements, probably just literally fixed and maybe returned previous lighting from Terror Tomb etc.
August 10, 201213 yr Author comment_139796 This is something that has been blown out of proportion I feel. I believe the engineers have used this time to get ahead of winter maintainence. The "themeing and effects" team (one dedicated woman with help from the onsite engineers) have continued their ongoing refresh of the park's scenic elements with Tomb Blaster. However, rumours that they've had a large sum of money is purely untrue. What I love about Chessington is the genuine passion that the staff members have about their theme park. A lot of time has been dedicated to improving what they can with the limited funds that they have. This is more akin to the way Duel's refresh came about- just pure passion from a team of people who love what they do.
August 10, 201213 yr comment_139797 I also don't want to be a downer but indeed Frazzle the dragon is looking great but he too often is mechanically broken recently. Great to see Tomb Blaster spruced up again on the inside - good job to all involved!
August 11, 201213 yr comment_139829 You can definitely tell Chessington has a real passionate team behind the scenes; harking back to the days when Vampire got a low budget spruce up, wasn't that purely down to some employees who wanted to atleast have an attempt at reviving it to how it used to/ should be? Whether they had a budget or no budget at all, the fact that they took the time to look at the thematic aspect of the ride is admirable. If every ride that was in a Merlin park was given that same treatment during downtime, we would see some much less sour enthusiasts.
August 11, 201213 yr comment_139855 I was speaking to one one the engineers involved with Frazzle the Dragon today. He said that the Dragon was completely removed for 6 weeks, completely rebuilt. Repainted and additional parts remade in-house. Brand new control system and air system, with additional audio coming shortly. Speaking to the engineer, he and his team are pasionate about getting all the effetcs working around the park. And if Merlin are willing to send the money as they have with Frazzle, the park is going to look fantastic. Well Done!! to the small team that can make all this possible. they are a credit to Chessington and to Merlin. Other Merlin parks should learn from them.
August 12, 201213 yr comment_139868 Very good point. Chessington do seem to be very on the effects at the moment. Tomb is one example, but I can think of many like Dragon Falls, Rattlesnake, Runaway Train and even Vampire where effects are working when for a long time they were broken or off. Runaway Trains boiler for example was off for years and now is back and working. It's impressive for a park that gets little to no investment, that the park does try where it can.
May 1, 201312 yr comment_158031 my hands get well tired by the end of this atraction!. hahaha!. I always wonder.. how can anyone hold a gun for all that time?. I like it though despite my constant low scores.. best part is the snakes
June 15, 201312 yr comment_160897 my hands get well tired by the end of this atraction!. hahaha!. I always wonder.. how can anyone hold a gun for all that time?. I like it though despite my constant low scores.. best part is the snakes Better get used to it if you're someone like me: Always sits in the middle seat brandishing two blasters like a lone badass for the whole ride!
August 5, 201312 yr comment_164860 I love this ride its my fave one in the whole park, special effects that are mostly working make the rides for me. The queue was moving very fast today, we arrived at the 60 minute mark and the queue turned out to be only 15 minutes long! I must say I try hard on this ride XD I'm proud of my score. What's your best scores?
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