March 13, 201312 yr comment_153009 Like corkscrews lifthill. Which I strangely miss. But vampires lift aint nothing special. Rather it be quieter to please neighbours (and make planning easier in future). It's only the anti-rollbacks anyway.
March 13, 201312 yr comment_153032 Love the sound of the Vampire lift hill but you can't beat the sound of the Big One lifthill at Pleasure Beach.
March 13, 201312 yr comment_153048 I miss the waft of McDonalds burgers as you fly over the second lift hill base (after the tunnel).
April 1, 201312 yr comment_155251 I see the area past the Vampire entrance is still closed off, anyone know what's happening there?
April 3, 201312 yr comment_155677 I see the area past the Vampire entrance is still closed off, anyone know what's happening there? Theming from Halloween has yet to be removed from the pathway.
April 4, 201312 yr comment_155721 It is worth mentioning that the piece of theming from Vampire (with the horse) has now been placed near to where the train stops to head up the second lift hill.
April 4, 201312 yr comment_155726 That's better, less intrusive and something to look at while the train is starting the second life. I wish Chessington could afford more than just recycled props, though. Speaking of which, is Abdab still in the queueline?
April 4, 201312 yr comment_155727 It is worth mentioning that the piece of theming from Vampire (with the horse) has now been placed near to where the train stops to head up the second lift hill. Yeah, it's been there a while now. Theming from Halloween has yet to be removed from the pathway. You - are - kidding. Honestly...
April 4, 201312 yr comment_155732 Yeah, it's been there a while now. Last season it was outside the toilets/Burger King and was much better there in my opinion.
April 4, 201312 yr comment_155743 Yeah, it's been there a while now. You - are - kidding. Honestly... It all stems from an issue with Merlin Studios, who this year refused to install any of Chessington's Halloween sets (The Trick or Treat set, the Black Forest Haunt Tower) because they were "too busy" with London Dungeon's move. So another company went and collected the sets and built them. Then when it came to taking them down Studios said they no longer had the room and therefore it has sat in the pathway.
April 4, 201312 yr comment_155745 The more I hear about Merlin Studios the more ridiculous it seems to get...
April 4, 201312 yr comment_155748 The more I hear about Merlin Studios the more ridiculous it seems to get... This... For what is the in-house design team, they are a ridiculous burden on the parks that should be using them straight off... Charging stupid amounts for signs and what-not...
April 4, 201312 yr comment_155751 This... For what is the in-house design team, they are a ridiculous burden on the parks that should be using them straight off... Charging stupid amounts for signs and what-not... That's why Chessington doesn't really use them for anything, and why it has employed it's own artist/designer for retheming things and new signs down Sealion bay pointing to the Trail of the Kings (Like the Creaky Cafe's new exterior)
April 4, 201312 yr comment_155824 Merlin Studios [correct me if I'm wrong...] is run as an entirely separate business and runs as if it were completely external. This, along with the extortionate prices that they charge Merlin's own parks somehow benefits Merlin's wider finances because effectively the money is going around in circles within the group, but can still be classified as 'profit' where it may benefit them. The only issue with this way of working is that routine maintenance along with simple design commissions are forgotten about due to the fact Merlin sets its' own attractions such tight budgets to work with. Essentially, what benefits Merlin's finances on paper happens at the cost of its' own attractions appearance
April 7, 201312 yr comment_156077 One step forwards with the batching, but two massive steps back... I think it's the staff you know, there is a lack of effort and bother... Although seeing empty back rows (and a busy disabled queue) makes EVEN LESS SENSE! Sigh, 4 rechecks before a dispatch when everyone was fine... So frustrating to watch... Batching is ok but not run great... I dunno, the staff just take FOREVER, and then sometimes go AWOL... Then you see a manager be thick regarding people unable to 'leave' cos of the chain still in place in front of him and you realise that these are the people DOING the training... Even KUMALI is run better...
April 7, 201312 yr comment_156079 I miss the days of 3 train operation before all of this over the top H&S with stuff like unnecessary re-checks... Where guests knew they had 25secs to be seated and ready to go. Staff would be efficient and run the ride like it was a constant challenge, and always seemed to love what they were doing. Ahh those were the days. It's a shame the park's going downhill in so many areas...
April 7, 201312 yr comment_156081 Vampires run badly these days and dispatches are more like 250 secs these days. It's disappointing we won't see it on three trains anymore.
April 8, 201312 yr comment_156094 Hence on Friday it had a queue of 120 mins and Dragons Fury 20 mins, so we got on Fury 3 times and Vampire once. Now which has the higher throughput.... The staff need a rocket up their backside.
April 8, 201312 yr comment_156134 Main Ride throughputs Dragons Fury 700 Falls throughput 800 Bubble works throughput 500 Zufari throughput 800 Vampire throughput 70
April 8, 201312 yr comment_156136 Hence on Friday it had a queue of 120 mins and Dragons Fury 20 mins, so we got on Fury 3 times and Vampire once. Now which has the higher throughput.... The staff need a rocket up their backside. Deary me... I don't think I've ever seen a queue that long for Vampire, and that includes one train operation during the summer holidays. I hope someone notices this and fixes it before the park actually gets busy...
April 8, 201312 yr comment_156139 Vampires run badly these days and dispatches are more like 250 secs these days. It's disappointing we won't see it on three trains anymore. At least it is not as bad as Kobra which is taking 15 mins to unload and load...
April 8, 201312 yr comment_156141 Main Ride throughputs Dragons Fury 700 Falls throughput 800 Bubble works throughput 500 Zufari throughput 800 Vampire throughput 70 Though if we make this more realistic: Fury - 400. Falls - 800. Bubble - 600. Zufari - ??. Vampire - Probably about 400 also. Either way, still utterly shocking.
April 8, 201312 yr comment_156147 All those throughputs are still damingly slow. In my first season at Fury, when throughputs was the thing and there was 8 cars going around, 700 was our target and during that summer we achieved it. It was incredibly hard work but it was rewarding keeping that queue as short as possible. It's a shambles that 400 is seen as a realistic target. I was reading up there by rygr that Skyway had five trains outside the station. Back when I operated it, the idea of two trains waiting outside the station was something we completely warned against as more then then that and the trains start waiting on the hill next to Seastorm. The chance of the trains crashing is more likely. They really need to get their acts together. Queues are what people hate the most and the idea of waiting 15 minutes just for Kobra to start sounds awful. To bring this back to Vampire, I really don't understand what they are doing to it with this batching business. Just get the damn train out and keep the queue low. It's useless saying it increases fastrack sales when the same fastrack people are being kept waiting for ages as well.
April 8, 201312 yr comment_156154 Simple solution to this - you re-apply for a job at Chessington. It's all your fault - you are to blame for the current state of things there!
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