May 31, 201312 yr comment_159844 If there's any park that's absolutely ruining they're rides right now it's definately Chessington. It's amazing how two of their best themed rides have been transformed in to their worst for 2013. Seriously the ride now looks like it belongs somewhere like Fantasy Island or Pleasure Land now.
June 1, 201312 yr comment_159861 So they are also dismantling the bridge? And I assume the cave and boiler shack have gone as well? Why? In fact, they should remove the entire ride while they're at it and replace it with a modern family coaster. I can't really see the ride ever getting its old character back after this.
June 1, 201312 yr comment_159863 From what I saw the other day, the bridge and the boiler shack staircase were still all in place. Whether it will stay this way or not we'll see! Will certainly be interesting to see what we end up with - and I have my fingers crossed it's ok...
June 3, 201312 yr comment_159951 aren't they completely refurbishing the ride though, keeping the same theme? it was left to get in a such a bad state, same with dragon falls, if I'm correct in saying that the themeing was affecting the H&S of the ride as well... and since merlin have took over, they have waited too long to do anything about it until it's had to be completely removed, but on the other hand nice to see the whole park getting some attention with the £5million refurb, and hope to see the runaway train back better than before (although I won't keep my hopes up on that one too much), as well as dragon falls getting a retheme for next year!
June 3, 201312 yr comment_159972 And build a rock structure around it like when it was at the park before Camelot.
June 13, 201312 yr comment_160778 Err, what am I seeing? They have built a 2D brickwork surround to replace the old cave, or am I looking at Flying Jumbos in that second picture? Help, I'm worried.
June 13, 201312 yr comment_160779 Err, what am I seeing? They have built a 2D brickwork surround to replace the old cave, or am I seeing things? Help, I'm worried. I believe the brickwork pictures is actually additional theming for the (now rethemed) Flying Jumbos and has been there since the start of the season.
June 13, 201312 yr comment_160780 Was thinking the same, I'm really hoping that is part of Jumbos. Maybe they are developing their oh so successful Dragon River rooftop technique of painting a scene on a cloth. Draw the rocks on, they'll never rot!
June 14, 201312 yr comment_160788 It's part of Jumbos and has been there all season as mentioned... Doesn't look bad in real life... Nothing to worry about yet...
June 14, 201312 yr comment_160792 Yes I know Flying Jumbos has that same pattern, but I was trying to work out what the second photo was trying to show because there's no Runaway Train in sight. I can now see the scaffold canvas in the background... Fun times.
June 15, 201312 yr comment_160857 They don't seem to have built anything behind the canvas in my eyes... Yet...
June 17, 201312 yr comment_161071 The rep who posts on behalf of Chessington on their Facebook page says he'll have a date for completion within the week. At this stage that counts as a small degree of progress.
June 19, 201312 yr comment_161383 Here's the current state of Mine Train reported from Themepark guide. http://www.themeparkguide.biz/news-page/19th-june-2013-runaway-minetrain-upgrade Appears the walkways are being redone but seems the rock work won't be returning for a while (sad times). I wonder when/if the ride will reopen this year?
June 20, 201312 yr comment_161411 It does look horrific but at least they've repainted the supports ey.
June 20, 201312 yr comment_161413 Repainting them red... Methinks the rumours of Mexicana becoming generic Wild West land might be a little bit true...
June 28, 201312 yr comment_162075 It's okay, Merlin does plain wild west theming really well... Heide Park Indian Rollercoaster
July 5, 201312 yr comment_162580 Well here's a surprise (not really to be honest) but Chessington are now asking people to not just sketch ideas for Falls but Mine Train as well. http://www.chessington.com/updates/#help-us Despite first expectations, it sounds like Mine Train could well be SBNO for the whole of 2013 seeing as it states the ride will reopen with new theming in 2014 whilst it says Falls will be rethemed in 2014 but is currently open. Looks like that's 2 rides down for the rest of the season.
July 5, 201312 yr comment_162581 I don't like the sound of having to make the theme fit in with a Mexican street as to me that sounds like no more mountains Unless Mexican streets do have a small mountain range at the end of them.
July 5, 201312 yr comment_162584 Chessie still want to use the Maurer Sohne approach to design by getting children to draw random non-sensical lines then?
July 5, 201312 yr comment_162586 With Dragon Falls I can see scope for building replacement theming that is not the same as the old but can still be good, maybe better even. I can't see the same thing being possible with RMT. It is essentially a small and pretty crappy ride made great by being partially enclosed by the rockwork, anything they do which does not enclose it in the same way can not be as good and rockwork is the natural choice for that effect. Just put it the hell back to how it was.
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