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19 minutes ago, Archive said:

The organist's old wig had disintegrated to a few thin whisps of hair that had slipped off his head and didn't look remotely good anymore on him poor chap 

While that is very understandable as to why his hair's been replaced, the least they can do is dye it grey and scruff it up a little. Job done.

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Ah why would Marcel be grey and scruffy? He's a gentleman after all and he now has his elegant sense of fashion back with a Georgian period wig. You can't dye the wig as it needs to be fire proof, although the old one was actually brown and went grey from all the dust. The new wig is wilder than the old one so not sure there's really a problem as such...

 

(his new wig matches the original one in Black Forest Chateau, yes I replaced it so I'm biased so there)

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  • 1 month later...
1 hour ago, EpicSmatty said:

Visited Chessington yesterday, was surprised how quiet the music is on Vampire now, you can hardly hear it in the station! Much prefered it when it was really loud. Does anyone know if it being quiet was just a one-off or it's a permanent change?

Seems to be pretty normal whenever I go. Not loud, but far from quiet.

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34 minutes ago, EpicSmatty said:

 

Maybe there was just a problem when I went, only seemed to be coming out the speakers by the animatronic, and not the rest of the speakers.

It may even have been louder when I went. There aren't many speakers by the RAP entrance and the ones that are only play the announcements.

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Never knew why anyone called my Vampy rough... until they let on a whole train of RAP riders and I rode in the fourth row. More thrilling, but hit my head so many times going into the tunnel. They need padding on the seats!!!! For now I'll stick to my back row Vampy thanks.

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Where you sit does make a huge difference, it seems to have been getting more noticeable for a few years. 

It's like the train is coupled loosely so the seats shuffle back and forth between themselves rather than moving round as one unit. Odd sensation and not very comfortable. 

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  • 1 month later...

Went on Vampire for the first time in a few years today. Operations weren't *too* bad and it seemed relatively quick inside the station - still a lot of staff standing around

chatting as opposed to being ready to help people who have trouble releasing their bars. Pre recorded announcements remain but are far louder than the music which is hardly audible. I know it's been referenced above but whilst standing in the station it really sank in on how much it has changed over the years. Thankfully, the dark dimly-lit corridors remain (but I wonder how long it will be before those LED lights are installed due to somebody tripping or H&S reasons. Not only have the chandeliers been taken out of the ceiling, but a few had been taken off the walls too. The organist has definitely seen better days. I realise it's a 26 year old animatronic but it looks much older than that. It wasn't moving at all today and his clothes were falling off in addition to his wig actually scraped back into a ponytail which makes him (as somebody said a few pages back) far, far less scary. Oh how times have changed...

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13 minutes ago, rygr said:

Went on Vampire for the first time in a few years today. Operations weren't *too* bad and it seemed relatively quick inside the station - still a lot of staff standing around

chatting as opposed to being ready to help people who have trouble releasing their bars. Pre recorded announcements remain but are far louder than the music which is hardly audible. I know it's been referenced above but whilst standing in the station it really sank in on how much it has changed over the years. Thankfully, the dark dimly-lit corridors remain (but I wonder how long it will be before those LED lights are installed due to somebody tripping or H&S reasons. Not only have the chandeliers been taken out of the ceiling, but a few had been taken off the walls too. The organist has definitely seen better days. I realise it's a 26 year old animatronic but it looks much older than that. It wasn't moving at all today and his clothes were falling off in addition to his wig actually scraped back into a ponytail which makes him (as somebody said a few pages back) far, far less scary. Oh how times have changed...

Ugh the music was terrible all over today with the exception of Land of the Dragons and Wild Asia. The entrance music at lodge gate was inaudible standing right next to the BOSE speakers. The chandeliers where taken down for maintenance correct? They just didnt put them back.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/11/2016 at 7:16 PM, rygr said:

It wasn't moving at all today and his clothes were falling off in addition to his wig actually scraped back into a ponytail which makes him (as somebody said a few pages back) far, far less scary. 

The station is in a terrible awful condition and will probably never be fixed properly or faithfully while the park is run the way it is, although the wig replacement is worth giving a little credit as it is more similar to how it looked originally. The recent one was almost completely torn. Here's a rubbish picture c1990

 

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If only we could get that lighting properly restored with red back lighting behind the organ and the Phantom of Opera style spotlighting. And music-timed lightning strobe.

 

Also in the organist's appearance in the Black Forest Chatea he had a pony tail wig. :o The character wasn't intended to be horrorfying and scary, just gothic and morose looking. But this is lost compeltely after his main appearance was removed from the restaurant and the station animatronic barely moves as intended, has broken costume and isn't looked after professionally.

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It's official ! - the organist is moving again! He jolts up and down (almost like he's going to fall off his seat) for about 30 seconds, then stops for two minutes then does it again.

 

To put the music volume into perspective... The sound of air being compressed (or however it moves) from the animatronic was actually louder than the music itself. 

 

Batching is awful in there still. We had queued for over 90mins, finally got into the station and I asked the batcher if we could queue for the front, to which she turned round and said "no, I have to fill these rows". That's fair enough I guess but I again said I'd happily queue longer to which she responded "somebody else has already asked to queue for the front". Eventually she asked for another 2, hastily letting us go to the front. This annoyed me (and I may totally be in the wrong) but having queued for so long and paid £££ to get into the park, should I not be able to queue for the front if I wish? There were no signs saying I couldn't? I know the batchers job is to fill rows ASAP and I could fully understand if it were a 3 train operation and there was seconds between each train to sort people out. However, trains continued to stack for up to one minute and most of the staff in the station were standing around chatting and generally being very slow. Again, maybe I'm in the wrong for wanting to go to the front but unless it's specified before going into the station that you are 'put where you are put' I don't think it's an unreasonable request!

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I just don't understand why there is this need to batch guests, ometimes the batcher is still sorting out some of the rows as the train is emptied from the previous ride. Just reduce the amount of wasted space in the center of the room and allow people to go into whichever row they like. This system works fine in Thorpe Park and Alton Towers and causes far less problems and faster loading. I just don't understand why it is done so differently at Chessington. Tomb Blaster I can just about understand due to no air gates.

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2 hours ago, rygr said:

It's official ! - the organist is moving again! He jolts up and down (almost like he's going to fall off his seat) for about 30 seconds, then stops for two minutes then does it again.

 

To put the music volume into perspective... The sound of air being compressed (or however it moves) from the animatronic was actually louder than the music itself. 

 

Batching is awful in there still. We had queued for over 90mins, finally got into the station and I asked the batcher if we could queue for the front, to which she turned round and said "no, I have to fill these rows". That's fair enough I guess but I again said I'd happily queue longer to which she responded "somebody else has already asked to queue for the front". Eventually she asked for another 2, hastily letting us go to the front. This annoyed me (and I may totally be in the wrong) but having queued for so long and paid £££ to get into the park, should I not be able to queue for the front if I wish? There were no signs saying I couldn't? I know the batchers job is to fill rows ASAP and I could fully understand if it were a 3 train operation and there was seconds between each train to sort people out. However, trains continued to stack for up to one minute and most of the staff in the station were standing around chatting and generally being very slow. Again, maybe I'm in the wrong for wanting to go to the front but unless it's specified before going into the station that you are 'put where you are put' I don't think it's an unreasonable request!

 

Earlier in the year we asked the same and got the same reply, but then the place was empty, aparantly they can only run the ride if the first six rows are filled, if there's less the train stalls on the approach to the second lift hill, evident by the fact this did indeed happen to us twice the next week within the space of an hour (well common sense would tell you if you send the exact same train around again as a bonus to the occupants to make up for being trapped on the ride for half an hour, chances are it's going to stall again, which it did).

 

But that wouldn't be the reason today, some staff are either incapable of thinking for themselves or love the false sense of power being a ride host gives them, I never ask for permission to queue for a particular seat, it's easier to just say sorry and move if they ask.

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As far as I have experienced there has never been a problem with me queuing for the front row so long as I'm in a group of 2. If there's more then 2 of us the system can get understandably confusing for both guests and staff, especially if there are groups infront. 

Let me see if I can do a quick diagram here..

o|o

o|o

 |o

 |o

o|o

o|o

Say they have a long queue for the front, I.e., as shown above. When more then 2 in a group come down the rides batching system becomes confusing simply due to the gaps made which throws guests into a panic and leaves the batcher frantically searching for another 2, trying to fill the space. It's as simple as this. If your group is unwilling to split up it leaves awkward holes all over the shop, and you'll see some batchers running about the platform trying to sort everyone out if they're particularly lenient about it. I can understand if guests get annoyed that they are asked not to queue for the front, and I can also understand that the batcher gets frustrated when groups of more then 2 kick up a fuss about not being allowed to go there. I've never come across a host down here who's been power hungry (or at least seems it) but more they're done with crap for the day and just want to do their job as quickly and easily as they can.

 

I don't think batch is a compulsory position because I've visited weekdays and no one has been there and the operator just makes a PA asking guests to fill all available rows, but I think in the summer more then anything it's there to allow bigger groups in the station by multi batching and also it allows the priority staff member more control over the seats they're designated. 

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On Monday, August 22, 2016 at 11:37 PM, Ian-S said:

 

Earlier in the year we asked the same and got the same reply, but then the place was empty, aparantly they can only run the ride if the first six rows are filled, if there's less the train stalls on the approach to the second lift hill, evident by the fact this did indeed happen to us twice the next week within the space of an hour (well common sense would tell you if you send the exact same train around again as a bonus to the occupants to make up for being trapped on the ride for half an hour, chances are it's going to stall again, which it did).

 

But that wouldn't be the reason today, some staff are either incapable of thinking for themselves or love the false sense of power being a ride host gives them, I never ask for permission to queue for a particular seat, it's easier to just say sorry and move if they ask.

What? Your train stalled? How did you get going again?

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I can completely understand not allowing people to queue for the front, it can be frustrating after a long queue but if the staff are trying to fill empty rows to speed up the queue then I respect that.

 

That said, with the way they run Vampire now they'd probably have time to call for another two people from the back of the queue and they would still make it to the front before the train is sent!

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