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Chessington General Discussion


Ash

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No we don't need to give them a break, they need to pull their finger out and fix these issues as they are mostly caused by their own doing.

  • Ride unavailability ie RMT
  • Letting too many people in the park
  • The price to get in
  • Fast track sales

These are all things they can control.

I didn't include the RR incident as that can happen to any park.

But when I went in the summer, Lorakeet Lagoon was closed, water effects not working on Monkey Swinger and over the last 12 months, I only ever got into the Monkey walk through once as it was closed every other time. Now this weekend I visit and they close a section of the Zoo off, RMT has been closed all season with very little work happening. Plus ride operations are not brilliant either (see other threads)

Yes they are making improvements, but they really are shutting the gate after the horse has bolted with their maintenance.

Merlin know exactly how popular the park is, look at the February half term where they were turning people away every day.

The power of the MAP draws a lot of people into going to these parks, but Merlin are really short sighted as many people will not renew after multiple bad experiences at other parks. When I walk around Legoland there are many areas which are so well themed and it is cleaner and better presented than Chessington (Excluding faded bricks everywhere)

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I'm still certain that they are going about the runaway train refurb in te right way. They could have opened the ride in its current state with no theming and just a concrete base (basically flying fish) and people would kick off and moan that the park have no standards or care about the experience aspects to their rides. This season and the next couple will see Merlin investing a lot in the attraction. Things that won't necessarily bring direct revenue to the park and unfortunately they are playing catch up from a period of neglect.

To the above- a section of the zoo is closed off for hotel extension work.

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Bet Lorikeet Lagoon/Monkey Walkthrough were both closed for lunch as well as they are every day... The Zoo portion is actually more for renovating two enclosures which isn't exactly something to ruin the day...

Dunno what they're doing to RMT though, it's hard to judge since they've hidden it from view, but they've certainly repainted the track at some point... I get the feeling they're waiting till end of season for the real work to begin to be able to access the site with large vehicles more readily... Same no doubt for Falls...

Clearly it's not all bad, when I went into the Lorikeets I was about to purchase some nectar and told by the staff member it was pointless to do so and save my money... Surely the sign of a person who is focused on not short-changing the guests...

Difference to Legoland is that it didn't have years of Tussauds neglect to contend with, although they could do with renewing the entirity of Miniland to make it all work and look decent again...

All the other complaints are across the board with Merlin really... All the parks have mention of letting too many people in and being too expensive and over-selling Fastrack, but in order to actually provide the parks a reason to reduce it, people need to stop the spending on these things to do so... As any business would do, find that max limit people will spend and then stay there... Though of course, only Chessie sell Fastrack for things like Seastorm and Tiny Truckers, so they need a slap around the face for that...

I still think the hotel extension is pointless though when they could just return to that refurb plan from 2011 for that area... I want the giant aviary dammit!

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chessington is getting so much bad press atm. First with the bad summer qeues and planning , then guests not being able to get into the park , due to numbers and no warning for guests and now with watchdog and there theme park prices online and genral admition.

I feel really sorry for them , People just need to give them a break and look at the positives ! , think how many people, families and children that park makes happy on a daily basis ! I just hope halloween is a real boost for the park ! :) , I believe in you chessington !! after all you did give me my first ever ride on a rollercoaster , as I am sure you have to many kids and adults , so for that I am truly Gratefull ! :)

Don't make me laugh. Chessington gave me my first rollercoaster, my first upside down experience, my first taste of what a proper theme park is. Does that mean that an achievement 15 years ago, gives them the right to be operationally poor now, conning their customers with poor admission price bands, rides closed because of their own poor refurbishment records. No it doesn't. Why should the visitors of this season be hurt and its all fine because the park did something well two decades ago. It's not on.

I'm still certain that they are going about the runaway train refurb in te right way. They could have opened the ride in its current state with no theming and just a concrete base (basically flying fish) and people would kick off and moan that the park have no standards or care about the experience aspects to their rides. This season and the next couple will see Merlin investing a lot in the attraction. Things that won't necessarily bring direct revenue to the park and unfortunately they are playing catch up from a period of neglect.

To the above- a section of the zoo is closed off for hotel extension work.

The thing is though, and I'm not saying Chessington are lazy here but we have seen parks all over the world complete ride layouts and theming efforts and in that time Chessington have managed to pull down the theming and paint the track. What if there is a poor winter and the Runaway Train ends up getting more and more delayed because they haven't started the theming early enough. What if the ride opens again in March and because it hasn't been running for over a year and half, is operationally poor and refuses to work. We've seen what poor planing has done to the Smiler and other delayed ride projects (like Chiappa at Phantasialand).

Why have they done barely anything when they've had six months so far to start it.

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Don't make me laugh. Chessington gave me my first rollercoaster, my first upside down experience, my first taste of what a proper theme park is. Does that mean that an achievement 15 years ago, gives them the right to be operationally poor now, conning their customers with poor admission price bands, rides closed because of their own poor refurbishment records. No it doesn't. Why should the visitors of this season be hurt and its all fine because the park did something well two decades ago. It's not on.

The thing is though, and I'm not saying Chessington are lazy here but we have seen parks all over the world complete ride layouts and theming efforts and in that time Chessington have managed to pull down the theming and paint the track. What if there is a poor winter and the Runaway Train ends up getting more and more delayed because they haven't started the theming early enough. What if the ride opens again in March and because it hasn't been running for over a year and half, is operationally poor and refuses to work. We've seen what poor planing has done to the Smiler and other delayed ride projects (like Chiappa at Phantasialand).

Why have they done barely anything when they've had six months so far to start it.

Yer I know , true, your right , I'm just sick of hearing negitive things about chessington, I know its there own fault and hopefully with the investment Merlin give them and with there big halloween event coming up in october , It should help them get back on track :)

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This is the thing though, I can't see the halloween event leading up to anything but negative feedback. They already have rubbish opening hours until 7pm and they shortened to first week until 5!!! I can only feel that the event will be unorganised, there will be massive queues and there will be no time for night rides with such poor operations and hours. I'm just hoping that chessie can get it sorted for 2014 as I can only see it going down hill from here, unfortunately...

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This is the thing though, I can't see the halloween event leading up to anything but negative feedback. They already have rubbish opening hours until 7pm and they shortened to first week until 5!!! I can only feel that the event will be unorganised, there will be massive queues and there will be no time for night rides with such poor operations and hours. I'm just hoping that chessie can get it sorted for 2014 as I can only see it going down hill from here, unfortunately...

I agree that the opening hours on the first week are a bit on the short side , I think they should just stick to one time throughout the event. But I think 7pm is a ok closing time for familys. Plus you've got to remember that the closing time of the park is not actually the closing time , as many guests will still be queueing for a last final ride , they can only close the park once every guest is out of the rides and attractions, so altho the queue lines shut at 5 or 7 , if the queue is 1 or 2 hours long then the park won't acually phyisically close untill about 9 maybe even 10pm. so with every close time , they have to allow an extra 2 hours at least before they can physically close the park for the night.

If you want to ride the rides in the dark join the vampire ( or whatever ride you want) queue at five to 7 and you will get a ride in the darkest time possible :)

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Unfortuately runaway is taking longer because access to the site is limited and would affect the daily operations too much to be able to complete in the open season.

As for the hotel extension. Merlin hotels are awesome and some of the best themed accommodation I've seen. Just from looking at past projects, it's going to be amazing.

Bottom line- people want the resort to improve and to e able to do that they need to expect construction work and ad-hoc closures. Keep ya faith.

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What would actually have to be closed to access RMT?

The Children's Zoo? Rattlesnake? Jumbos? Considering it's right on the access road you'd think it wouldn't be too difficult to access...

Merlin hotels have some of the best themed accommodation? Not really, they're really kind of plain, especially the Holiday Inn, unless they're aiming to build a mass of themed rooms akin to Towers' Space Voyage stuff...

Even so, I would personally prefer them focus on building up the park itself and give it an appropriate infrastructure worthy of an extended hotel... The Zoo is the main reason the park exists after alll...

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Unfortuately runaway is taking longer because access to the site is limited and would affect the daily operations too much to be able to complete in the open season.

As for the hotel extension. Merlin hotels are awesome and some of the best themed accommodation I've seen. Just from looking at past projects, it's going to be amazing.

Bottom line- people want the resort to improve and to e able to do that they need to expect construction work and ad-hoc closures. Keep ya faith.

agreed

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I assume they would need to use the access road in their daily operation which would be difficult with construction work happening around it.

Like I said. Merlin hotels. Holiday inn was not a Merlin hotel when it was built. Legoland hotel and towers' refurb are both awesome. I assume we can expect similar.

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You raise good points. Truth is I have no idea. I'm just grateful it's being rethemed at all!

Yes I truly believe the Merlin hotels are well themed. We aren't all lucky enough to take a trip over to Europa Park or Orlando every couple of years to experience their hotels. Legoland, ATH and Splash are some of my fave hotels. Chessington holiday inn has great potential under Merlin.

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The holiday Inn at chessington is not a bad hotel , Iv been there several times . The themeing is good , with the girraph centre piece in the main lobby and the african style feel to it , the best part about it however is by far watching the animals either from the bar terrice , or going right up to the fence , with great african music and on a hot day it is so immersive !. However I feel they could do more with the hotel , If its gunna be a theme park hotel it needs somthing other then a good resturant and beds , its needs a wow factor that makes people want to stay in the resort. for example a african themed waterpark, or exclusive emmersive mini golf or maybe a small theatre with a show exclusive to park guests , or the option for night time ridding ( same as early riders , but at night).

Somthing along the lines of that , because from this video , which explores all the hotel has to offer in depth , it does not seem that worth paying the extra 200 or so pounds to stay there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-w4jTMmTWs

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  • Mattgwise changed the title to Chessington General Discussion

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