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Scorpion Express


Dan9

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Slap my wrist for double posting, but here's a couple pictures of Scorpion Express, courtesy of Chessington Buzz (who, naturally, are making a big thing out of being THE FIRST PUBLIC RIDERS OMG)...

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And this one comes from Theme Park Guide...

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Looks good to be fair, but the main centrepiece of the attraction (ie - the scorpion) looks very meh. Shame.

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This is the view from the inside of the queue, now I have to say I was very impressed by the outcome of this. Shoot me but...!

The backdrops look very good (there are a couple missing)

Fire effects really bring area to life

Scorpion moves (it's not quite finished)

Trains look excellent

Smoke effects from the boiler and pulling away from the station

Much much more than I expected. Even little touches like Scorpions imprinted into the concrete are in place. They were surveying people who left the ride and directly comparing it to the Runaway Train, positive feedback from most people we heard. Biggest issue was staff training meant train unloading and loading was 5 minutes, resulting in an hour queue.

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Huh? I think it looks funky!

They have done an excellent job at dressing the ride and have surprisingly managed to capture the character of Calamity Canyon completely! I'm so glad they covered the metal railings with wooden character panelling and have been more liberal with their ideas. It's certainly come along a lot since I last saw it!

The original ride was still better (mostly because it disguised the now-obvious simplicity of the layout and had an adventurous queueline) but...

FINALLY A RIDE THAT CAN ENTERTAIN PEOPLE

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are expectations that low these days?

Yep.

Without seeing it in person, it does look like what they have done has been done quite well. But, and it is a huge but, there looks like a hell of a lot of space where there is nothing at all so it's a bit bare and more importantly is separate from the ride itself. Surely it can not ride as well than it did through the closely placed caves.

It now looks to me like Flying Fish with brown underneath instead of green and fake buildings behind instead of The Swarm. As a ride experience surely it can only be worse?

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Was really impressed with what has been achieved in such a short space of time. Love the new music. The Flame Effect is far better than Thorpes, and at least its running. Effects are great. lot of smoke, and the little messages that sound like a radio announcement sound ed really good. Overall 8/10

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I'll be writing a full review of Scorpion Express on my blog later in the week, but until then, here's the album containing photos that I took of Scorpion Express today;

http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/Max_Joseph_Wellington/library/Scorpion%20Express%2016-3-14?sort=3&page=1

Keep in mind theres a lot about Scorpion Express that cant be encapsulated in a few photos, I definitely recommend trying the attraction for yourself. I think you may be pleasantly surprised :)

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Here's the video footage I did of Scorpion Express yesterday. It's currently unlisted, but I'll make it public later on. Apologies for the not-so-steady hand at times, some lack of footage and the over-enthusiastic (but cute) kids in the background! ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=00fY0kGAYTE

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Right then...

Mediocre...

This whole thing is very, VERY Merlin in the design, ideas and final production of their new attractions...

A bland cattlepen queueline, the indoor section whilst nice is devoid of anything (no live scorpions and some 'interactive' holes in walls...

Outside, it lacks a lot of things... It looks bland (as wild west themes are usually), empty and pretty lacking in soul... But it looks ok...

Just ok mind, the scorpion is poorly executed and looks tiny, whilst the backdrop is too small and lacking depth to feel like an abandoned town...

The fire is good, but the amount the use it'll be gone by the first gas bill...

It feels like there were lots of ideas, and once again these were all poorly executed... They had a chance to cement the Mexicana (loose as it is) to something interesting, instead we have a paint by numbers wild west theme which is bland as hell and lacks much in the way of well, anything...

Maybe it's that I have high standards, but I wasn't particularly impressed by the final product...

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