Chessington General Discussion

[Cal]

It’s great to see the parks finally spend some money on appearance and new rides, but that’s no good if they’re not getting the basics right. It’s clear the maintenance teams are seriously stretched, especially Chessington. 
 

A family spending a decent amount of money in the Easter holidays stuck in long queues with rides on reduced capacity and 4 major rides closed aren’t exactly going to rush back are they? They won’t care about the new rides opening later this year. They’re killing their reputation.

 

Why are rides like tiger rock running at nearly a third of their theoretical capacity? There’s no excuse. 

[Han30]

I remember pre covid going on tiger rock with a friend who had to leave the station to go to the loo - it was a busy day with a queue of well over an hour - I assumed and had no issue sharing a boat with others but they just stuck me in one by myself which is ridiculous.

 

I love Paultons Park and I hope it continues to excel as it has been doing in recent years but this country needs more competition when it comes down to theme parks.  Merlin I feel are far too complacent because they have the monopoly and in turn it feels like they really don’t care if guests have an enjoyable day or not.  It’s seems to be all about £££

 

It does seem at the moment that Chessington doesn’t have the best reputation in terms of ride availability and ride reliability - Jumanji area looks decent enough.  The fact they have a soon to be opening B&M coaster (something I never thought I’d see) is brilliant but it’s not great if majority of the other big rides aren’t available.

 

I only visited Chessington twice last year and the last visit was unbearable - one of the worst days I’ve had at a theme park (thankfully I was with a friend, her little boy and her partner so the company was fab).  

 

Hopefully things will improve but only time will tell 
 

 

[Glitch]

Industrial action is occurring see more information here: https://www.chessington.com/industrial-action/

·       Friday April 28 to Monday May 1

·       Friday May 5 to Monday May 8

·       Friday May 12 to Monday May 15*

·       Friday May 26 to Monday May 29*

 

Remember to support the engineers, perhaps even join the picket line,  and visit guest services for some free fasttrack after you have talked politely to an underpaid member of staff who has been shouted at all day by RAP holders.....

[Cal]

Chessington are going to remain open during the 4 weekends of strikes planned but they’re aiming for a 40% ride offering and opening times will be reduced to a 4pm close.

 

They’re also no longer selling tickets for these dates - got to be a big hit for the park.
 

https://www.chessington.com/industrial-action

[Benin]

Not a good show for Merlin at all.

 

Shame the rest of the staff can't join in. Considering the state of the park so far this year there's definite underlying issues.

[Inferno]

It's good to see them offering options to anyone who's already booked, but I'm surprised they're even going to open at all.

 

It's a shame Merlin couldn't have come to an agreement and that it's had to come down to this.

Hopefully they'll get this all sorted sooner rather than later, as Summer is rapidly approaching.

 

Surely before too long Merlin will be losing more money through these low attendance weekends than they'd lose by paying a team more appropriately over the course of a year?

[Mark9]

I'm sure Sony are impressed that Merlin are completely incapable of negotiating with the engineering team and stopping these strikes. 

[Cal]

Good news that the planned strikes have now been cancelled, and an agreement has been reached to resolve the matter. 
 

What a mess though. I’m surprised Merlin were even going to let it happen.

[Benin]

Well at least ONE multi-million pound company can afford to offer fair wages to some of their staff.

 

They might be able to afford lunch at Burger Kitchen now.

[Mark9]

I'm finding Chessington really frustrating at the moment. According to the park app the queues for things like Kobra, Tiger Rock and Dragon's Fury have been around two hours, Vampire, Rattlesnake and Tomb Blaster hover at 90 minutes and everything else is between 30-50 minutes.

 

I believe none of this is related to Land of Jumanji as the park was just as busy well before the new land opened. Yesterday may have been the perfect storm of good weather, new land and last day of half term but I think the problems are far deeper then this. The park is operationally damaged. Fury, Rattlesnake, Monkey Swinger, Tomb, Zufari,  Rock and Vampire do not run the capacities that they should be or can do. The downtime across the park is worse than it's ever been. Scorpion will be reopening this month but that cannot do enough to spread people. The sheer amount of Annual Pass holders with RAP passes is having an enormous effect on just shifting numbers through stand by.

 

And there is no magic answer here. The way the park is run, the staff just do not care. The only exception being the Jumanji staff who to there credit, are playing the characters and trying their best with compromised rides. Everywhere else though, you can tell the staff just aren't trained to the standard required. They do not give good service, they do not do good operations. There's no passion, there's no drive, there's no energy. And this comes from the top. The managers do not care.  Not to the level that a family theme park requires. 

 

I think sadly, a lot of the efforts to make the park look better over the last two years has been wasted as the sheer basics of running a theme park have completely collapsed. If Merlin are to make Chessington a destination (which seems to be the intention) then some radical thinking needs to take place. Rattlesnake and Fury need to go and be replaced with rides that have capacity. Rattlesnake does not fit in this park anymore. 1.4 metres with a 1.2 metre B&M wing rider a few metres away, no sorry.

 

Let's be real, Tiger Rock and Tomb Blaster are dead in the water. It's time for them to be replaced with modern tech, something like Chiapas and a newer slow moving dark ride, natural successors to what is there now. 

 

I love Chessington and I want people to have the same level of enjoyment and love that I had when I first visited in 1992. It's horrendous to hear the horrible days out people are having and I want this park to turn it around as it's the closest we have to a Toverland or a Nigloland in the UK. 

[JoshC.]

Chessington are now selling ERT slots, for £20pp: https://www.chessington.com/explore/extras/#selected-rides-and-attractions-included

 

It's the same ERT that hotel guests get (which is still included for free):

- Mandrill Mayhem
- Ostrich Stampede
- Mamba Strike
- The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure
- Elmer’s Flying Jumbos
- Room on the Broom – A Magical Journey
- Treetop Hoppers
- Jungle Rangers
- River Rafts
- Tiny Truckers.

 

You still need a standard day entrance ticket / Annual Pass on top of this.

[Benin]

Pathetic.

 

Honestly puts me off bothering with a trip.

[Inferno]

It gets worse and worse doesn’t it.

[Glitch]

So this is what happens when you get product teams who are pressured to increase revenue every year through the online booking engine. Adding fast track packages and food upsells was standard. An e-commerce shop to get through covid well that was great for the enthusiast who perhaps can’t visit weekly. But now they are trying to ring the last bit of moisture out of the mop back into the bucket. There’s only so many things you can do operationally and this and vip tours of rides would seem to be the last at Chessie.

[Mark9]

Is there a particular reason people are angry about a non compulsory add on? It's not even fastrack which actively impacts everybody's visit.

 

It's literally a 'you have too much money' tax. So why is this angering so many?

[Inferno]

5 hours ago, Mark9 said:

Is there a particular reason people are angry about a non compulsory add on? It's not even fastrack which actively impacts everybody's visit.

 

It's literally a 'you have too much money' tax. So why is this angering so many?

3 reasons for me.

 

Firstly, although yes it isn’t as bad as Fastrack, it still takes away from others experience.

in this case it takes away from the ERT experience for those who were entitled to it already.

 

Secondly it’s yet another thing that aims to solely improve things for those who can splash the most cash. On a busy day, some customers will be able to buy as much fastrack and ERT as they like, where the majority will have to suffer because of that, having already actually spent a lot of money on admission - more than ever in fact.

 

Thirdly it’s just the fact that theme parks aren’t like they used to be in this respect. I know this is just the way of the world now, and it certainly isn’t just Merlin (Disney are even worse now adays), but you used to be able to get in to a park for £20 and ride basically everything with no need for fastrack. You could buy things like that, but you certainly didn’t have to, and if you did you could get them for much less than they’re sold for now. Now it’s become so expensive to visit, and if you go on a busy day it can often be very unpleasant because of all these poorly implemented money-grabs.

 

I just don’t like it.
Perks, mazes, fastrack, parking, you name it…. Over the years, more things are being put behind paywalls all the time, and they get more and more expensive, but is the product getting better, or are they just pointing at things around the park and saying “actually we’ll get em to pay extra for that too”?

[coasterverse]

I really don't see it as an issue - this is definitely a good thing.

It's outside of regular park hours, therefore won't be creating a negative experience for regular paying guests, and is also limited each day as to not majorly impact those staying in the hotel.

 

If you don't like it, don't use it.

 

This doesn't hurt regular paying guests like buying a fast track would do - and is extremely cost efficient considering the fairly extensive rides and attractions that are included in the ERT pass. But, in the same vein, does not need to be purchased if you don't want to.

 

Whether this succeeds or fails, at the end of the day it makes absolutely zero difference to your average paying guests - and even hotel guests will likely not see a dramatic increase in their ERT queuing times, as I have heard from many people who have stayed overnight at Chessington and experienced them - most, if not all, rides during this time have always essentially been a walkon anyway.

 

When you compare it to the stampeed of guests during standard park hours, queuing for (probably) a maximum of 5-10 minutes for a ride on Mandrill Mayhem doesn't even come close to the time you'll be queuing after 10am.

 

Bravo to the park for introducing something new, and especially bravo for them introducing it at such an affordable price.

[Benin]

Offering it at an "affordable" price is problematic, as what will happen if they get loads doing it?

 

Also lessens the benefits of staying in the hotel. Why stay there when you can in theory save money, stay offsite then buy this?

 

Maybe if the park had built a sensible new area and operated the park sensibly wouldn't need to even offer this to allow a number of guests to actually ride the first new coaster in nearly 20 years.

 

Adds to the general class divide. Can rest assured a number of MAP holders who wear them proudly on lanyards will lap this up.

[coasterverse]

1 hour ago, Benin said:

Offering it at an "affordable" price is problematic, as what will happen if they get loads doing it?

 

They won't. I'm almost certain that tickets are limited to 100-200 per day (don't quote me on the exact amount), so will never be not worth the money when you consider that would be spread out across 10 different attractions.

 

1 hour ago, Benin said:

Also lessens the benefits of staying in the hotel. Why stay there when you can in theory save money, stay offsite then buy this?

 

Very few people are staying in the hotel for the pure benefit of the ERT alone - I for one certainly wouldn't. It's mostly there for people who are travelling down and want the themed experience and the ERT came as an additional benefit. Now guests don't have to pay fortunes for a one-night stay, when they can just stay off site (if they don't care about the themed experience), and pay the £20 extra. It's a win-win - the park are still getting (some) money, the guests get away with paying considerably less for a night's stay.

 

For people like myself who don't exactly live miles and miles away from the park and can easily do a roundtrip in a day, this is perfect because I no longer need to stay on the resort to get this benefit - and is certainly not something I would pay the price of an overnight stay to experience... however I would pay the £20. There'll be lots of folk out there in a similar situation, and I can see the park selling out of these ERT tickets on a regular basis as a result - therefore I guarantee the park will be making more money on these alone than the number of people staying at the resort hotel... especially off peak.

[Benin]

That's if they offer it during off peak. No idea if they do that currently for hotel guests but could potentially be something that gets cut when things are quieter and budgets don't stretch as far.

 

People aren't staying at the hotel for ERT, but it was a nice benefit for doing so. Now anyone can come in for it so it's diluted that benefit. Plus if they stay off site the park lose out on additional costs of food and drink.

 

End of the day it also furthers the depth in terms of how guests seem to be honestly treated as wallets for the park. Given the issues they've been having with many struggling to get reservations for Mandrill Mayhem, the park seem to be focused on the wrong issues and bringing in this scheme will likely add to it. 

[coasterverse]

But I think the money that the park will lose not being able to offer food and drink to guests and even the money they will lose on not having as many hotel guests will easily be made up on ticket sales. At £20 a piece and if they're capping the tickets at 100-200 per day, that's £2,000-£4,000 they'll be making every day alone if these tickets sell out consistently (which considering it is a pretty good value I wouldn't be surprised if they did).

 

You're absolutely right about guests being treated as wallets, but at the end of the day the park are a business and are purely in this game for making money. As gross is that is to hear, that is just the way the cookie crumbles.

 

But this isn't going to affect your regular paying day guest in any way whatsoever - this is offered outside of standard park hours and was a luxury only offered to hotel guests previously, but I would imagine that there was significant wiggle room here for the park to feel like offering this as a standalone addon was feasable. The park wouldn't offer it if they felt the benefit wasn't there or would hurt paying hotel guests - because as much as the park don't really need the hotel guests if the ERT tickets sell out consistently, they're not going to want to actively do things that will turn away repeat visitors either.

[Theme Park Fanatic]

What does everyone think next season holds for The Flying Jumbo’s? When the Elmer Sponsorship began in 2019 it was on a 4 year contract. The Flying Jumbos have been a Family favourite at Chessington in one form or another since the beginning. As such the ride is old. Despite this the ride is in immaculate condition. 
 

I truly hope the end of the Elmer sponsorship doesn’t mean the end of The Flying Jumbos. The ride is on the outskirts of The Rainforest. As such the ride could be rethemed into generic Elephants as it was on the former Rodeo plot.

[coasterverse]

21 minutes ago, Theme Park Fanatic said:

What does everyone think next season holds for The Flying Jumbo’s? When the Elmer Sponsorship began in 2019 it was on a 4 year contract. The Flying Jumbos have been a Family favourite at Chessington in one form or another since the beginning. As such the ride is old. Despite this the ride is in immaculate condition. 
 

I truly hope the end of the Elmer sponsorship doesn’t mean the end of The Flying Jumbos. The ride is on the outskirts of The Rainforest. As such the ride could be rethemed into generic Elephants as it was on the former Rodeo plot.

 

Yeah don't worry, I reckon it'll just receive either a generic overlay or another IP will be found once the sponsorship ends. I don't think Flying Jumbos is particularly temperamental - as long as this remains the case and parts are easily sourced as and when they're required, I can't see it going anywhere.

[Theme Park Fanatic]

Chessington Buzz have inferred some of Chessington’s rides will permanently close at the end of the,current,season. Personally I think the rides that will close will be the following 

1. Elmer’s Flying Jumbos- I think this ride will close as the Elmer sponsorship expires at the end of this season. Furthermore the ride is over 3 decades old and was part of the original lineup when Chessington Zoo became Chessington.

2. Tiny Truckers- I think this ride will be removed as it was due to close at the end of the 2019 season. For some reason Chessington changed their mind and Tiny Truckers remained open. Personally I would have removed Tiny Truckers in 2020. Toadies’s Crazy Cars was rethemed to Jungle Rangers in 2020. Jungle Rangers is just a stone’s throw away from Tiny Truckers. Jungle Rangers is basically the same ride and is far superior to Tiny Truckers. If Elmer’s Flying Jumbos and Tiny Truckers were removed it would leave a sizeable plot for a new ride. Finally the the throughput of Tiny Truckers is appalling.

3. Scorpion Express- I wouldn’t be surprised if Scorpion Express left Chessington. The Rollercoaster is Chessington’s oldest and also holds the title of the most unreliable ride at the Theme Park. In addition Scorpion Express had a fairly major fire in July 2022. The fire obviously caused significant damage as the rides been closed for over 18 months. In my opinion Scorpion Express isn’t financially worth keeping. The ride is ancient and the area could be cleared for a new and better ride.

4. Tomb Blaster- I don’t think Tomb Blaster will close however I foresee an extensive renovation or retheme. Tomb Blasters sister ride Duel at Alton Towers has been transformed into Alton Manor to mainly positive feedback. Moreover the guns on Tomb Blaster are hit and miss with reliability. The guns on Tomb Blaster are the Theme Park equivalent to the Lottery. You never know if your designated Gun will function properly. Moreover Tomb Blaster had a subtle refurbishment for the 2020 season. This refurbishment saw the removal of the targets from the first scene(s) of the ride. Realistically out of the 3 rides I’ve mentioned I think Tomb Blaster is the most likely candidate for a retheme or removal. As Chessington opened The World Of Jumanji this year next year will be a low budget year. The retheme of Tomb Blaster would be a cheaper means of opening a new ride.

I would be interested to hear if anyone else thinks the rides I’ve listed could depart Chessington this year. Please can my fellow forum members share which rides Chessington Buzz could be teasing the closure of?

[Cal]

I personally can't see Scorpion going, its much needed throughput for the park. It's been testing within the last week and is a popular attraction

 

I don't think Rattlesnake has much long left. It takes up a decent amount of space and is the last 1.4m left now

 

I can't see them removing anything without a replacement. They've made an effort to add attractions the last few years to increase capacity so I can't see them removing any without plans for a replacement