Vampire

[Benin]

You mean the shipping container full of black curtains scare maze?

 

Top tier quality stuff.

[SteveJ]

5 hours ago, Glitch said:

People are forgetting they had a whole event including a scare maze for its 21st a few years ago.

I forgot it too, and I was there. It was rubbish.

[Imagineer]

That shipping container is now buried underneath Zufari as they couldn't afford to move it. Haha.

[Matt A]

Looks better! (LED lights in the ceiling have gone too)

 

 

[yeah]

He looks phenomenal!

[SteveJ]

He's back to looking his usual self, excellent. The rest the station, well I suppose youd have to see for yourself if it works, they've gone down an interesting route!!

[Nosferatu]

The organist and the lighting looks fantastic,, really nice job.

 

However, that music sounds horrendous. It's incredibly generic and bland organ music, and completely lacks any of the impact the original score had.

 

I don't want to be negative, but hearing these replacement tracks makes you realise just how phenomenal Graham Smart's music was. The guy was a genius 

[Glitch]

24 minutes ago, Nosferatu said:

The organist and the lighting looks fantastic,, really nice job.

 

However, that music sounds horrendous. It's incredibly generic and bland organ music, and completely lacks any of the impact the original score.

 

I don't want to be negative, but hearing these replacement tracks makes you realise just how phenomenal Graham Smart's music was. The guy was a genius 

Ah, stop being moody and go ride it for yourself, the change is good. Went on it twice today, the vampire looks cool and with the new lighting gets rid of the scary /tense atmosphere from riding many years ago as a child Although the ride felt a lot slower today. 

[SteveJ]

24 minutes ago, Glitch said:

Ah, stop being moody and go ride it for yourself, the change is good. Went on it twice today, the vampire looks cool and with the new lighting gets rid of the scary /tense atmosphere from riding many years ago as a child Although the ride felt a lot slower today. 

The change is tacky and deliberately so. It's not supposed to be an "improvement" on some sort of mistake on the old theme, it was BRILLIANT in the past, the scary atmosphere was fun and brilliant. Great.

It's just that the old theme had all but vanished in recent years and needed something new. Either restore it (which would cost more money) or go all out disco, including the music.

The original music was much better but wouldnt have worked with this new style. I think overall the revamped Vampire comes together... ok?  It's more entertaining than it was these last few years and not nearly as bad as Tomb Blaster's revamp few years ago!

[Glitch]

2 minutes ago, SteveJ said:

The change is tacky and deliberately so. It's not supposed to be an "improvement" on some sort of mistake on the old theme, it was BRILLIANT in the past, the scary atmosphere was fun and brilliant. Great.

It's just that the old theme had all but vanished in recent years and needed something new. Either restore it (which would cost more money) or go all out disco, including the music.

The original music was much better but wouldnt have worked with this new style. I think overall the revamped Vampire comes together... ok?  It's more entertaining than it was these last few years and not nearly as bad as Tomb Blaster's revamp few years ago!

Go experience it first before calling it tacky. LoL

Or why not get a job at Merlin seeing as you seemed qualified to make these changes.

[SteveJ]

36 minutes ago, Glitch said:

Go experience it first before calling it tacky. LoL

Or why not get a job at Merlin seeing as you seemed qualified to make these changes.

What's that great line, "If only you knew how ridiculous that statement was, you wouldnt have said it"

Anyway, I'm not saying I dislike the new theme, I am glad they have gone for a transformation than a bits N bobs DIY approach. It's fun. It's meant to be gawdy, very obviously. This new style is just a disco version of the original (which probably people on here are too young to remember before it turned rubbish), with the animation and lighting timed to the music, the spotlighting on the organist and lightning bla bla. But not as nearly good as the original was when it was new.

[yeah]

I've heard there's also a new version of the original soundtrack playing - as well as an organ rendition of happy birthday every so often which is adorable if true, nice touch. Agree that what I've heard so far doesn't sound as impactful.

[Marc]

The thing with music is it’s literally down to opinion - the old track was very good, a lot of people will feel some nostalgia towards it too.

The new track is also very good, suits the ride just as much IMO. Other than the music the stations looking nice - glad to see the colourful LED lights gone it was pretty atmospheric in there today.

[SteveJ]

1 minute ago, Marc said:

The thing with music is it’s literally down to opinion - the old track was very good

Yeah, if they were changing it for change's sake then it would be pointless, but I think they were right to change it if they're going down this disco route. The original theme suited the original style best. It was a better piece of music for sure, but the new one is still good

The best it looked in recent years was definitely around 2012/2013. It looked fabulous then! Although it was static.

[HermanTheGerman]

Looks cute compared to how it was the past couple years.

 

But lets not pretend this isnt tacky and in a different vein to the original

 

[Glitch]

17 minutes ago, HermanTheGerman said:

Looks cute compared to how it was the past couple years.

 

But lets not pretend this isnt tacky and in a different vein to the original

 

The original team are probably well gone, why can't the new guys have there own go at something thats been sitting collecting dust for  years.

[HermanTheGerman]

4 hours ago, Glitch said:

The original team are probably well gone, why can't the new guys have there own go at something thats been sitting collecting dust for  years.

I didn't say they couldn't?

 

I just said people need to stop treating this like its amazing or a great restoration. It needed work and I'm pleased it happened (which I said in my post originally). I was simply pointing out how this definitely isn't anything "phenomenal" as a previous post had said, or that this wasn't a tackier version of Vampire as you were arguing.

 

I'm pleased the animatronic is fixed. It looks better than last year. It's different to the original look.

[yeah]

1 minute ago, HermanTheGerman said:

I was simply pointing out how this definitely isn't anything "phenomenal" as a previous post had said, or that this wasn't a tackier version of Vampire as you were arguing.

Hi, person who posted the "previous post" here. I was strictly talking about the Organist who, in my opinion, looks amazing at the moment. I haven't even seen the rest of the station. Never said anything was phenomenal other than the job they've done on the animatronic.

[Glitch]

I don't think I've seen anyone saying its amazing, its just nice to see the animatronic working again with a fresh lighting package. The tunnel has a few extra bits of cloth too oh and the full queue line has been re-tarmaced which is a nice refresher!

[HermanTheGerman]

1 hour ago, ChessingtonSam said:

Hi, person who posted the "previous post" here. I was strictly talking about the Organist who, in my opinion, looks amazing at the moment. I haven't even seen the rest of the station. Never said anything was phenomenal other than the job they've done on the animatronic.

I mean, they fixed something that was broken. I wouldn't have said that was "phenomenal" but whatever. Definitely nice to see him moving again that's for sure. 

 

Good on the team that got him fixed, but let's be honest, the money to get that done should've been given long ago.

[SteveJ]

59 minutes ago, Glitch said:

The original team are probably well gone, why can't the new guys have there own go at something thats been sitting collecting dust for  years.

You know that nobody is suggesting only the original team from 1990 are allowed to do it, the original station we mean.

But putting that aside, the revamp is good, if not as nearly good as it's been originally. It's very DJ, but if youre gonna do that you may as well go all the way with the music as well. The improvements are limited to just the organ area, well that's as much as we're gonna get I guess. The fixed animatronic is the best part, good on them.

Remember stuff like this is normal in most theme parks, where it would have never gotten into the state it was in these last few years anyway. But enthusiasts are always hungry for some "changes" to get excited about after closed season!

[Ringo]

Just from watching the clip I’m not a fan of the new music, it actually makes me think of Tomb Blaster. 

 

Will give it benefit of doubt until hearing in person though. 

 

Is the new audio professional or a random enthusiast?

[Glitch]

4 minutes ago, Ringo said:

Just from watching the clip I’m not a fan of the new music, it actually makes me think of Tomb Blaster. 

 

Will give it benefit of doubt until hearing in person though. 

 

Is the new audio professional or a random enthusiast?

Oh Tomb Blaster has got something else coming this year allegedly from your favourite theme park composer...... Spoiler alert it's not Imascore.....

 

I believe the in house sound and lighting technicians did the updates to vampire.

[Ringo]

5 minutes ago, Glitch said:

Oh Tomb Blaster has got something else coming this year allegedly from your favourite theme park composer...... Spoiler alert it's not Imascore.....

 

I believe the in house sound and lighting technicians did the updates to vampire.

Well that’s good news, in house tech are more likely to respond to feedback and make changes if possible. 

 

As for Tomb Blaster....well tbh it can’t get any worse (can’t believe I just said that, it can) but the problem last year was the speakers and system itself.

 

It’s terrible when you hear it loop, cut out and restart just as if someone quickly presses play again. And then you’ve got the almost silent scenes where you hear other riders talking. 

 

In my opinion it’s a great shame they haven’t done a re-theme on it, there has to a be Donaldson book suitable for it. 

[SteveJ]

15 minutes ago, Ringo said:

Well that’s good news, in house tech are more likely to respond to feedback and make changes if possible.

Not in my experience (though I'm not speaking specifcally about Chessington).  You'll usually always get better results from external designers— that's not because in house teams are necessarily bad or anything like that. But in-house teams usually have less resources, are pushed for time looking after the rest the park, and their perspective always skewed by working at the park day in day out (and influenced by wanting to impress their work mates rather than delivering to a client!). Anway, that's another discussion.

But, if you are listening to feedback Chessington, and I do appreciate the effort, Id love for the lighting to be less totally randomised, because the effect just gets numbed under the "hey look at me!" DJ mash. I get you're going for a more colourful style, but if it built up more with the music and didnt try to use every colour under the sun at once, it could be much better.