March 21, 20178 yr comment_248357 They kind of did restore/change Vampire, back when the trains got changed... ...Though it certainly wasn't a refurbishment that benefited the rest of the ride.
March 21, 20178 yr comment_248358 Just now, OlivusPrime said: They kind of did restore/change Vampire, back when the trains got changed... ...Though it certainly wasn't a refurbishment that benefited the rest of the ride. I'd personally class that more as updating and altering the ride as opposed to a restoration. A restoration is when a ride or attraction is refurbished and brought back into a similar state or functionality to what the attraction may have once been, as a result of change or neglect. Hex, the 2011 refurbishment of Python and the Enchanted Tiki Room at Magic Kingdom are potential examples of restored rides. When Vampire was refurbished and reopened in 2002, the main major alteration was the trains, which were converted from Arrow suspended trains to Vekoma floorless ones. As a result of the different proportions, some alterations had to be implemented, including the station and areas around the ride, which included lowering the ground slightly.
March 21, 20178 yr comment_248360 I understand that, but my point was that Vampire's change could be classed as a restoration insomuch as the existing trains/tech were wrecked and needed an update in order to reopen. For 99% of us, it's by no stretch of the imagination a restoration on the whole, but for marketing execs I'm sure they class it as a mid-lifespan refresh.
March 22, 20178 yr comment_248387 On 3/20/2017 at 11:12 AM, Matt Creek said: What I would love to see is a major complete refurbishment of Vampire to bring the ride upto date and make it more exciting. If I owned and managed Chessington tommorow I would: Restore the chandeliers in the station Bring back the Graham Smart Score (along with the announcements) Put red lighting in the crypt and green inside the station Rebuild the organist animatronic and add window projections on some of the walls Add a new ambient soundtrack in the queue Add more theming for the queue, sculptured tomb stones and old pieces of furniture maybe Vampire may be 27 years old, but it still has a place in the Chessington today and I would love for it receive a 'Towers Loving Care style' refurbishment. I hope you don't mind but your post was so clear and concise that I forwarded it along to Chessington's twitter, they were cool about it.
March 22, 20178 yr comment_248388 Maybe if Chessie did some more restoration work they'd find some new attractions...
March 29, 20178 yr comment_248634 Rode Vampire the other day- They've done a bit of retheming, and they've added the main theme into the queue. What was annoying was that an announcement would come and interrupt the theme about every two seconds. Also, another thing I've noticed is that the station is brighter as well, sort of taking the dark red, slightly more gothic theming down a little. Plus, they have a new announcement, who is nowhere near as sinister sounding as the old one. On the positive, it was working well, and Marcel's moving again!
March 29, 20178 yr comment_248637 He moves quite badly to how he was designed and sticking the station theme outside on cheap speakers, with a tinny downloaded transfer of the music, sounds so tack and un-atmospheric, robbing it of any interest. You get far better sound design / setup at your average temporary scare maze, let alone a permanent queue at a high-priced theme park. The music doesn't even loop anymore, it has a gap every minute like 2006 Bubbleworks all over again (which would be so easy to fix). By the time you reach the station, you've heard it over and over. Remove the theme music from the queueline speakers Chessington. If you understand anything about themed audio, why was it not instinctive to create a basic ambient track for use outside? A quality ambient track could be knocked up using a professional royalty free sound library in 15 minutes, if you have some understanding, ability and imagination. Terrible standards at this park.
March 29, 20178 yr comment_248646 The new announcements sound like someone a little older than me reading out a script while incredibly bored. Why did they get rid of the old ones?
April 4, 20178 yr comment_248854 On 29/03/2017 at 9:48 PM, Wumbamillio said: He moves quite badly to how he was designed and sticking the station theme outside on cheap speakers, with a tinny downloaded transfer of the music, sounds so tack and un-atmospheric, robbing it of any interest. You get far better sound design / setup at your average temporary scare maze, let alone a permanent queue at a high-priced theme park. The music doesn't even loop anymore, it has a gap every minute like 2006 Bubbleworks all over again (which would be so easy to fix). By the time you reach the station, you've heard it over and over. Remove the theme music from the queueline speakers Chessington. If you understand anything about themed audio, why was it not instinctive to create a basic ambient track for use outside? A quality ambient track could be knocked up using a professional royalty free sound library in 15 minutes, if you have some understanding, ability and imagination. Terrible standards at this park. I seem to remember the audio around the queue line/entrance area was originally a selections of screams, grunting, sinister laughing, chains and various flogging noises?
April 5, 20178 yr comment_248872 You forgot wolf howls... The music also played in the background with all the sfx playing over it... Kinda weird in hindsight...
April 5, 20178 yr comment_248875 That exterior track was also added by the park's entertainments department I think . Originally the only audio queue-wise was in the crypt (now demolished) it had fluttering bat sounds and in the dark corridor it was a choral ambiance with creepy bells and laughter. The main outdoor queue we know today was not part of the ride when it opened.
April 22, 20178 yr comment_249428 https://soundcloud.com/themeparkarchive/the-vampire-1990-audio-mix Have any of you guys seen this yet? I apologize if this has been posted before.
May 12, 20178 yr comment_249807 RETHEME IDEA: - 'THE RAVEN' however much I love the old vampire - it is a shadow of its former glorious self and in desperate need of a revamp..... it's still such a fun coaster though and just needs love! Anyway - I was thinking a good (and CHEAP) retheme - that would fit well with the forest/Gruffalo theme is to theme it to crows/ravens Paint the whole track black to give it a fresh new look The outside queue area would be filled with creepy scarecrows - a couple of which are animatronic - with fake birds EVERYWHERE! inspired by Alfred Hitchcocks birds with a bit of jeepers creepers 2/any scarecrow horror film thrown in for good measure! As the carriages are no longer bat shaped - there's no need to change them! The station would be themed to a Abbey/castle ruins - with a mix of crumbling architecture with trees growing through it in that whole inside/outside 'nature taking over' feel to it! - with L:E:D blinking eyes from the dark/up in the branches. And at the end of the ride before entering the station Id install a giant curved screen to cover up the corrigated warehouse wall - and have a projection of fluttering birds flying out at you! so an ending SIMILAR to the ending of mystic timbers ('whats in the shed'?) BUT it wouldn't have a weird marketing campaign about a 'mysterious element' and would just be part of the experience! I think something like this would be simple and cheap for Merlin to achieve - to 'freshen' it up! Thoughts?
May 12, 20178 yr comment_249810 Yeah there could be loads of fantastic ideas done with Vampire, in fact what you describe isn't far off the original style of the ride, but sadly Merlin will only do anything if it has an IP or world's first slogan. So it will rot until further notice, such a shame. An idea like that could be done very well without an enormous cost, and be a great success.
May 12, 20178 yr comment_249822 Wouldn't mind it having a very slight theme on Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven' tbh. If it lets the ride tell a story then I'm buying it.
May 13, 20178 yr comment_249827 I still think the likeliest change for Vampire is a retheme to another Julia Donaldson book. 'Room on the Broom' would be the most probable due to its darker theme (for a children's book).This way it would require less of a retheme. That IP would also lead to some good possibilities. E.G: Vekoma dragonfly trains that make it seem like you are on a broomstick...please(?).
May 13, 20178 yr comment_249830 I think I would stop going to Chessington if they rethemed Vampire to Room on the Broom. I dont think it will be rethemed, at Vampires age I think the only major change will be a removal.
May 13, 20178 yr comment_249832 Speaking of track repaints, what colour was Vampire's track originally? From what I remember of photos online, it was red with black supports? If so, it's aged horribly. In fact, I don't remember a time when the track wasn't a weather-beaten pale pink colour with dark brown supports.
May 13, 20178 yr comment_249834 Track repainting I would imagine is quite costly and, as its Chessington and the age of the ride I can't see it happening - or a retheme
May 13, 20178 yr comment_249837 Repainting vampire wouldn't cost as much as some other coasters due to its close proximity to the ground. They repainted nemesis so Merlin are perfectly capable of doing it. But there is no return in that sort of investment so I doubt it will get done anytime soon.
May 13, 20178 yr comment_249839 41 minutes ago, OlivusPrime said: Speaking of track repaints, what colour was Vampire's track originally? From what I remember of photos online, it was red with black supports? If so, it's aged horribly. In fact, I don't remember a time when the track wasn't a weather-beaten pale pink colour with dark brown supports. For some bizarre reason I thought the track was black but I've just found a pic of the original - so yeah it just looks rusty red now
May 13, 20178 yr comment_249841 47 minutes ago, OlivusPrime said: Speaking of track repaints, what colour was Vampire's track originally? From what I remember of photos online, it was red with black supports? If so, it's aged horribly. In fact, I don't remember a time when the track wasn't a weather-beaten pale pink colour with dark brown supports. You might be thinking of a promo image of the Big Bad Wolf they used before the ride was finished . The track was pale peach colour (oddly) and dark brown supports. It's never been repainted apart from ugly brown patches on some supports and looks pretty worn out in general. It was being considered to be painted purple at one point I think, which would have been pretty horrible. I don't know why purple and yellow was ever made Vampire's colours, it happened in around 1999 when the park was being made more goofy. It just didn't work with the original gothic look of the ride, which had less of a brand and more of a big scenic theme
May 13, 20178 yr comment_249849 Wasn't their a rumour a few years ago that the park looked into repainting Vampire but were quoted something around the £1 million mark to do a basic repaint? Especially at that time when money was seemingly being cut left, right and centre, it's not hard to see why they didn't repaint it at the time. I'm a bit surprised they didn't do what Towers have done in the past and repaint it to coincide with a big development (Smiler and Oblivion's repaint, and arguably Galactica and Nemesis' repaint)...
May 13, 20178 yr comment_249851 I didn't mean to imply that I thought it would ever get a repaint, but thanks for the clarification on the colours. I've always felt that the peach colour looks horribly aged, as if it had faded from a much more vibrant colour (makes me think of the fading on Parque Warner's rides). I'm assuming they wanted it to fit with the Bavarian village area, with the supports blending with the trees.
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