May 23, 201114 yr comment_116411 Visited today and saw the rodeo ghost cowboy thing. I think it's nicely done and looks great where it is, or would do if they didn't have the caricature man with his big brollys, posters and himself sat smack infront of it. Why bother with so much effort and then hide it behind crap, there are a tonne of out of the way but high throughput places that guy could set up camp. (I know the 'statue' is not an actual atraction or important or anything, but that caricature guy real ruins the feel of the place and spoils the clasic view of vampires second drop too).As I hadn't been for a number of years so it was also the first time I had seen the ex ride character tomb stones tucked away round the back and the old terror tomb guy in the queue line, both of which I thought were rather nice touches.
May 24, 201114 yr comment_116506 Stolen off TTF...What weird placement in the end... It's underneath the infamous drop and turn over Translyvania, and why did that section need another visual point?
June 4, 201114 yr comment_117152 We rode it today and I must say I think IMO it is the smoothest the ride has felt for a few years.I was just reading about the Abdab figures in the queue line. Somehow I didn't notice these today, which is a shame as I used to love that ride. Does anybody know if these are in place and I just didn't see them or if they have been removed already? Edited June 4, 201114 yr by Phill Pritchard
June 30, 201114 yr comment_118868 Woop woop. Glad the platformers were dispatching so quickly! Was only stuck on lift 2 for a few seconds.I'm old enough to remember the days when you wouldn't stop on either lift *at all* with 3-train operation. From memory (bear in mind we're talking 13+ years ago here...) the trick was for the lead ride op to hustle the platformers/riders as much as possible and get the train out quickly onto lift 1 so that the incoming train didn't have to stop and wait before coming back into the station. Once the train had cleared the station it would frequently slow to a crawl on lift 1 to allow the one in front to clear lift 2. I suspect, though, that this would be difficult to achieve with the way the train is brought to a complete halt 2-3 times before it "parks" in the station these days as this wastes a massive amount of time and hence gives the platformers a good 10 seconds less to do their job.
July 1, 201114 yr comment_118874 The new trains made this impossible though.Though it's down to a lot of things - the way it comes into the station, the lapbars getting stuck, the airgates being completely out of line, the seatbelts on the restraints themselves..Tis quite an achievement to hit the dispatch interval (or whatever its called) on there.. though there are simple things (such as batching into the station, so you only have 2 in each lane or so) which'd improve it incredibly.
July 10, 201114 yr comment_119350 The music has FINALLY been turned up! Still could be louder and the front speaker is still slightly quieter...Also - the organist has had some touching up (get in there!) and looks really good. :)Negatives - Speed on dispatches. Length of queue. New batching system. Can't really elaborate on them for obvious reasons...Other than that - Great to be back down there!
July 10, 201114 yr comment_119374 The music has FINALLY been turned up! Still could be louder and the front speaker is still slightly quieter...More importantly, has the ride op been turned down?!
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119381 Was also there yesterday. Nope, PA announcements have still not been turned and are still earsplitting/painful if boarding near the front.Music was sounding good - as much as I could hear it after being deafened by the female operator at the start of the day who felt the need to shout down the mic and explain every miniscule part of the operation to guests...Organist was indeed looking excellent. Trying to keep track of all the variations of lighting we've had on him and work out which was the best!For some reason it was on 2 trains and so the queue was being advertised as 80 minutes for quite a bit of the day. Moving *sooo* slow due to dispatches and lack of trains. Please someone reassure me that the 3rd train is broken and not just the staff still can't cope with all 3 train operation.This now makes it only 1 out of my 5 (busy weekend!) visits that Vampire has been on 3 trains. Quite ridiculous when you see all rides at Thorpe, Alton running at full capacity all the time. What's up with Vampire?Batching system seems ok - as long as there is some leeway for guests (e.g. if they specifically would like a front/back ride). If it means that all trains are filled completely then I'm all for it.This might have been my first visit out of 5 this year that Vampire opened on time too...On a separate note the operations on Tomb Blaster yesterday were terrible. Still has a nice day out in the park in the sun, lovely atmosphere compared to Thorpe!
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119382 Vampire rarely uses three trains until the true busy season... Basically any day that shuts at 6pm, is usually a 3 train day... Hell in Halloween it struggles with 3 trains unless they've changed something...What's the point in turning up the music if they're not going to turn down the PA though? RAWR, wonder how the platformers must feel (or indeed hear)...And Tomb is ALWAYS slow... Least they don't have the stupid rules of earlier in the year anymore...I need to go again soon... Hmmmm...
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119399 Three trains on Vamp is only necessary if it's for a prolonged period I.e more than a week.Train daily, weekly and monthly checks are increased by half as compared to two - when the queue isn't probably even 80 minutes.A good rides team can run better on two trains than a mediocre one (which has been employed this year) of three trains.
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119401 ^To be fair, there hasn't been a good rides team on Vampire for nearly 3 years now...
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119403 ^To be fair, there hasn't been a good rides team on Vampire for nearly 3 years now...Last years were good, years before was too.Just because you were not invited back to be part of the team Benin, does not mean it was a crap team.
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119404 Last years were good, years before was too.Just because you were not invited back to be part of the team Benin, does not mean it was a crap team.Oh darling, you think I wanted to go back to Chessie...If you want to think that you can, but university > working there...
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119405 A good rides team can run better on two trains than a mediocre one (which has been employed this year) of three trains.Hmmm. Do the team know of their mediocreness?
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119408 Wonder how they do the batching system.. hopefully it works well. It's not difficult to batch properly.. but this is chessington.As for vamps station, I do wonder if they comply with noise at work legislation there. I work in a quieter environment, yet earplugs are compulsary. Interesting..
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119411 That is an interesting point Peter. Especially after seeing both the entire team on Oblivion and some of the Nemesis staff at Alton with earplugs in.Batching was via means of a staff member stopping guests next to the organist and basically ensuring 2 people were behind each gate. Should also mean that it's easier to communicate/organise when exit riders are coming onto the ride, rather than permanently roping off the back four seats - often leading to empty seats going round.
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119414 Good, it's something I've been moaning about for years.It also stops groups all queueing up in two lanes then realising, or groups who have spread themselves out trying to get on same train. Finally. Well done Chessington (if they keep it up.. it needs to always happen - should speed up boarding as well)
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119421 I thought it was tried in your year though, Peter?Could swear we spoke about batching that way and apparently it didn't work back then, didn't work very well this time as it means people are backing onto the fire escape, which is of course quite illegal.
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119422 This is where Chessington is stupid. It's not hard to make sure that fire escape isn't accidently opened. They have cable tie things which break when forced properly open.. you could just highlight that its a fire exit properly.It's not illegal anyway. Nothing there (apart from lack of earplugs) is illegal.Batching works, batching works on every coaster. It just needs people who aren't dumb to be able to batch properly, and to be told how to do it exactly. I honestly don't have a clue how chessington can't grasp this basic concept on here. Then again, they don't give a fig about throughputs
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119427 I thought it was tried in your year though, Peter?Could swear we spoke about batching that way and apparently it didn't work back then, didn't work very well this time as it means people are backing onto the fire escape, which is of course quite illegal.So they can't have people blocking a fire escape at Vampire but it's fine at Fury's exit and Runaway Trains batch gate which are also fire escapes..
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119428 So they can't have people blocking a fire escape at Vampire but it's fine at Fury's exit and Runaway Trains batch gate which are also fire escapes..Well if there is a fire on the train, where else can people go?Crush much.
July 11, 201114 yr comment_119430 Well if there is a fire on the train, where else can people go?Crush much.Oh, so an ordinary queue of people down a ramp is better than up to 200 people squished into a huge area with no logical loading?Sense much.
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