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37 minutes ago, Sarger said:

Had 39 rides on Vampire today! Old music's been restored inside the station though I'm not an audio expert and don't really know more in depth (it sounds good) The lighting in the station doesn't look like a school disco any more either! Looking great and vampire is running absolutely beautifully. 

 

Good to hear they did go ahead with the various changes they said earlier! Looks like they've finally replaced all the light bulbs on the organ (even if it's not as good as it used to be it's still nicer to have it properly lit). Are the floods in the ceiling just a static colour now?

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2 minutes ago, EpicSmatty said:

 

Good to hear they did go ahead with the various changes they said earlier! Looks like they've finally replaced all the light bulbs on the organ (even if it's not as good as it used to be it's still nicer to have it properly lit). Are the floods in the ceiling just a static colour now?

 

As far as I can remember, yes. Lights on offload side are now purple, too.

 

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Thank goodness the original music is back in the station. It was so embarrassing it was ever replaced with that YouTube download that didn't even loop properly. 

 

Now all they need to do* is produce a proper ambient track for the queue line, playing the station music out there ruins the effect so badly. 

 

 

*Besides bringing back the chandeliers, coffin bays, cloth dressing, lightning crashes, crypt queue area, and relighting the station.

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  • 2 weeks later...

its a cool video, so funny to see staff larking about on the ride's supposed closing down day. A couple pretty strange things in there if you watch the whole thing, haha!

Shame it doesnt show the station under the show lighting but even in work lights, shows how fallen the brilliant station is now. People said Wicker Man set an amazing standard for a themed coaster in Britain  (which it did) – but truly Chessington had it even better years ago with this incredible Vampire queue and preshow!

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On 12/10/2018 at 5:40 PM, Wumbamillio said:

its a cool video, so funny to see staff larking about on the ride's supposed closing down day. A couple pretty strange things in there if you watch the whole thing, haha!

Shame it doesnt show the station under the show lighting but even in work lights, shows how fallen the brilliant station is now. People said Wicker Man set an amazing standard for a themed coaster in Britain  (which it did) – but truly Chessington had it even better years ago with this incredible Vampire queue and preshow!

This ride used to be such a spectacle. It's sad that the kids of today can't experience its greatness.

 

Can you imagine a beloved disneyland ride ending up in this state? No you can't, because disney would never let that happen.

 

Is it wrong to want a disney-style guest experience from UK theme parks?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Vampire really is in a mess isn't it, the station looks and sounds awful, none of the animations or lighting effects working and the state of the ride itself... wow.

 

Also Aldi adverts playing in the queueline... REALLY?

 

This video isn't even when it was at its best, but the difference in how the soundtrack sounds there and now is massive.

 

 

 

:(

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15 hours ago, Coaster said:

Vampire really is in a mess isn't it, the station looks and sounds awful, none of the animations or lighting effects working and the state of the ride itself... wow.

 

Also Aldi adverts playing in the queueline... REALLY?

 

This video isn't even when it was at its best, but the difference in how the soundtrack sounds there and now is massive.

 

 

 

:(

Nothing new about the Aldi ads in the queue, I recall over a decade ago when every queue with a telly had that bloody muller yogurt  advert constantly.

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The external ads have been around for a long time. It's a decision that comes when the parks / Merlin higher-ups have partnership/sponsorship/advertising deals with these brands. Usually, they say "we have X number of screens, guests will see them Y number of times a day, and will see them for Z number of minutes", and the brands will pay a nice lump of money to have their names plastered on there. Little to no consideration comes goes into where those screens are and the surrounding area.

 

This is one of the benefits, from a thematic storytelling perspective, of having attractions themed to IPs, since it means no other brands can advertise in that space.

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17 hours ago, Coaster said:

This video isn't even when it was at its best, but the difference in how the soundtrack sounds there and now is massive.

A genuine question, have you visited this winter? The original soundtrack has been restored and the bad cassette recording is finally gone.

Not to its orginal 1990 state with the corridor audio and zoned organ, but definitely to how it was at the time that video clip was recorded, the way it was in the 2000s.
If you have visited this month and think it still sounds bad, it may be more to do with the aging state of the sound system, or that it needs tweaking now that the original audio is back.

 

Although I still think having the same music outdoors on those PA speakers numbs the impact of hearing it the first time in the station, hopefully they will change this to an ambient track outdoors.

 

1 hour ago, JoshC. said:

This is one of the benefits, from a thematic storytelling perspective, of having attractions themed to IPs, since it means no other brands can advertise in that space.

IPs are purely for business purposes and really nothing to do with thematic storytelling. The motorway service station type ads in Chessington's queue are super tacky, gives a really commercial impression about the park. Yuck!

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11 minutes ago, Wumbamillio said:

IPs are purely for business purposes and really nothing to do with thematic storytelling. The motorway service station type ads in Chessington's queue are super tacky, gives a really commercial impression about the park. Yuck!

I've worded that poorly. My point was more that contracts with IPs almost always mean that another brand can't use that space - you wouldn't (or, at the very least, shouldn't) see any adverts for Aldi, Pepperami and whatever else in the queue for Gruffalo, Saw, CBeebies, etc.

 

Since a big complaint in the past was that external adverts take away from the story / theme of the ride, I was saying a bonus of IPs is that you won't see them there.

 

Agree that, generally speaking, the adverts they do have are generally a bit naff, though.

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2 hours ago, Wumbamillio said:

A genuine question, have you visited this winter? The original soundtrack has been restored and the bad cassette recording is finally gone.

Not to its orginal 1990 state with the corridor audio and zoned organ, but definitely to how it was at the time that video clip was recorded, the way it was in the 2000s.
If you have visited this month and think it still sounds bad, it may be more to do with the aging state of the sound system, or that it needs tweaking now that the original audio is back.

 

Although I still think having the same music outdoors on those PA speakers numbs the impact of hearing it the first time in the station, hopefully they will change this to an ambient track outdoors.

Yes, I visited yesterday.  I'd noticed the track sounded slightly better, but the sound system/volume of the audio still sounded quite muffled, and nowhere near to the same effect as in the video link I posted.

 

It is also still doing that weird thing where it sort-of cuts out as the loudest part comes on.

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Can't say how great it felt to hear the original soundtrack again when I went the other day. It may not quite have its former glory but hopefully it means Chessington are onto something.

 

Only critique I have though is the new PA. Sure it briefly tricked me into thinking the operators were doing it themselves like they used to, but regardless, I think the guy who recorded it maybe needs to go back to acting school...

3 hours ago, Wumbamillio said:

Although I still think having the same music outdoors on those PA speakers numbs the impact of hearing it the first time in the station, hopefully they will change this to an ambient track outdoors.

I would physically pay Chessington to bring back the original queue ambience! :ninja:

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Ive not heard it in there myself but remember well the effect the audio used to have, hopefully is just yet to be tweaked (the ride had almost no winter period) than left in a half-done state.

Great that it's now looping properly, has the SFX back and no longer sounds like an awful warbled recording. But why did it ever get in such a bad state in the first place? Complete carelessness.

Although I'm not sure that rubbish phone recording really gives any accurate impression of how it sounded, other than showing the original mix and sound effects. But it definitely used to sound suitably loud and really fun, which it needs back.

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The atmosphere was really good in the station the other day. I don't know how it was in the past but the soundtrack was a massive improvement, and the lighting was much better too. I just hope they get better announcements because as Kerfuffle said, he sounds bored during them, and the music cuts out during them which is annoying.

 

What wasn't so good, was operations. It was on one train, with the other one seemingly in parts bagged up next to the brake run which is worrying. I understand it's just a Christmas event, but it was causing much longer queues than it should have had. I really, really hope that second train is back by March.

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It'll be winter maintenance. One train will have been serviced now / in the weekdays during the event, and the train that's been running for the event will be serviced over the next couple of months. 

 

It will be running two trains come the main season, although only time will tell if the extra pressure of having it open over Christmas causes a delay to the operating of it. If it's been planned and thought through properly, though, it'll be fine.

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  • 3 months later...

I visited recently.. Well what did I expect. The original audio track in there is great, but of course the sound system is so busted (probably speakers that are a million years old and parts blown) that it makes no real difference anyway. It used to be really good in there!

The old queueline 'scenes' through the windows have also been boarded up. The station is as bare and sterile as ever, no real lighting or detail anymore. Thank god the rubbish ceiling LEDs have stopped changing colour.

I don't go in looking for problems like some inspector, I just go in and can't help remember how fun it used to be. What's entertaining about it now? It's just 'there'.
It's gone from a -3 to a -1 . Will Merlin spend proper money to restore The Vampire for the thousands who ride it every day? Probably not.

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The organ track is being played on its own without the backing track, so you;re only getting half of the sound.

 

Plus the backing track is the one that has all the bass, so the music sounds tinny.

 

It also sounds like the speakers on the organ stage are only ones working.

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4 hours ago, Nosferatu said:

The organ track is being played on its own without the backing track, so you;re only getting half of the sound.

 

Plus the backing track is the one that has all the bass, so the music sounds tinny.

No the whole track is playing and has all the parts, as far as I know it's literally the original track but without the zoning yet?

The sound in there has sounded thin for years. We can't know for sure why, it could be a number of reasons, the park just need to sort it. Sad how it got this poorly maintained and opens year on year in such a state.

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No one's mentioned yet, but it also seems the queue has received some new spooky ambient music and while it may not be the original (boo!), it still sounds pretty good (despite the fact it's a little too on the quiet side), especially with parts of the station soundtrack distantly fading in and out occasionally. Safety announcements fade into it nicely as well, instead of cutting the music right out with the annoying bat/wolf howling sound effects. Not to mention the voice itself now actually sounds menacing and fitting, instead of tired and unmotivated like the old ones*. Even the PA announcements don't interfere with the audio whatsoever! :)

 

* Saying that, we now only wait for the terrible station announcements to be re-recorded by the same person as in the new queue music. Those incredibly tired "Mwa-ha-ha-ha"s never fail to be irritating...

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6 hours ago, Kerfuffle said:

it may not be the original (boo!)

Here's a fun fact, that 'queue ambiant track' that YouTube peoplez often say is the original actually was added in about 1999 ish I remember. It was fun but really horrible, I remember the screaming women, whip cracking and heavy breathing, don't think that would sit well with families today, haha!

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53 minutes ago, Wumbamillio said:

Here's a fun fact, that 'queue ambiant track' that YouTube peoplez often say is the original actually was added in about 1999 ish I remember. It was fun but really horrible, I remember the screaming women, whip cracking and heavy breathing, don't think that would sit well with families today, haha!

Yeah true, I personally remember it very well from the early 2000s, just before its removal. And if '99 was it's first appearance, it wouldn't surprise me, given Chessington were going all out towards the thrillseekers that year (hence Samurai).

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