JoshC. Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Worth pointing out again that Rattlesnake is still down because of the Smiler incident. So at least that has a decent reason for its closure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyMoo Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 True but doubt that will appease the guests on park. Bad times at Chessie. I saw Vampire peak at 2 hours yesterday - anyone know what's the longest queue that can be accommodated? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dk3 Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Worth pointing out again that Rattlesnake is still down because of the Smiler incident. So at least that has a decent reason for its closure. Yes, but why the delay? The Smiler incident was on 2nd June. Are they reprograming the software that controls the ride's op or just retraining staff? Either way it's been quite a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dk3 Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 True but doubt that will appease the guests on park. Bad times at Chessie. I saw Vampire peak at 2 hours yesterday - anyone know what's the longest queue that can be accommodated? I remember on Wiki it mentioned about the Vamp's poor operations and that the queue had once reached 3 hours but I've just checked and that paragraph has been removed. So who knows? All I know is I certainly wouldn't queue for two hours! F*** that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyMoo Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I won't queue for more than 30 minutes for anything, I just CBA... although that said the girlfriend and I did queue for nearly an hour to meet Baymax at Hollywood Studios Orlando but that is entirely different He had a problem and kept deflating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian-S Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 On present operations (where it seems to take 3-5 minutes to load and unload), and judging by where we joined the end of the queue and how long we queued for the other week, I'd say if the queue line snaked back anywhere near the entrance, it'd easily be a 3-4 hours wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Yes, but why the delay? The Smiler incident was on 2nd June. Are they reprograming the software that controls the ride's op or just retraining staff? Either way it's been quite a while. I've got a feeling that it's operations. It, as a ride is far more primitive a ride system then Fury and Spinball and it's very very easy to make the cars bump into each other. It can also easily be toggled from manual to automatic, part of its close down procedures for example is to have five cars in the station. HermanTheGerman and MattyMoo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattgwise Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Arrived at the park entrance at 945 and was handed a letter apologising that 4 rides would be down offering a free return visit. At 955 the queue to vampire stretching all the way to pirates games was let in and instantly a 35 mins wait. Poor operations as usual. Why do they start letting people into the bays after it starts unloading then only open the air gates once the station fully cleared? Such unnecessary time wasting. I know it's been like this regularly for several years now but really is annoying. Bubbleworks was then closed till about 1115 and reopened on reduced capacity and waited 40 minutes. After every loaded boat one had to remain empty. Bizarre. Walked round the park once and rides closed included the 4 advertised and monkey swinger. We left and went to Thorpe Park which was better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover2012 Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I love Chessington but it really saddens me what is happening at the moment. Clearly it is still a popular park but they have had so many operation & reliability issues that the negativity (esp. on facebook) is increasing. I really hope they sort it out but I can't see their new for 2016 ride being anything spectacular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Chessington really has had a bad season so far this year. I think that these issues are a bit concerning for Merlin at the moment, they need to be providing the best day out possible for guests to regain their respect (and more importantly, custom!) after the reduced gate figures due to the Smiler incident, but when people spend so much money to get in, having so many rides down/operated poorly is just not good enough. Return tickets are better than nothing and it's good that the park realise they need to compensate guests, but it does not make up for the effort guests make when they choose to visit, and the fact remains that no park should be having to give out free return tickets due to poor operations during peak season (or anytime at all for that matter). The problem I have with Chessington is that their issues seem to have been around for years, and nothing has been done about it. They need to sort out their rides so that they can cope with busy days, or more importantly, so they can cope with actually operating! As for Rattlesnake still being closed, enough is enough now, it has been running for years without issues and there are plenty more clones of the ride still open (See Marble Madness at PWH), so IMO it should not still be closed. From my point of view (not an experienced one I know), Chessington need to spend a lot of money on their existing rides to get them in a state where they can operate reliably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Yes, but why the delay? The Smiler incident was on 2nd June. Are they reprograming the software that controls the ride's op or just retraining staff? Either way it's been quite a while. As for Rattlesnake still being closed, enough is enough now, it has been running for years without issues and there are plenty more clones of the ride still open (See Marble Madness at PWH), so IMO it should not still be closed. I agree that Rattlesnake's prolonged downtime after the Smiler incident is a bit odd considering everything else that was closed following the incident has now reopened. However, I feel like it's very difficult to criticise the closure when Merlin have handled the situation perfectly in my opinion, and they're not going to be keeping a ride closed longer than necessary. I also think it's difficult to have an opinion of when the closed rides should reopen, since this is an incident that we've never seen Merlin handle before, and have no clue how something like this is dealt with behind the scenes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Chessington being Chessington have decided to cut weekday openings during September & October from 5pm to 4pm. Source Southparks If they're trying to impress me, they've failed, we really are living in the epitome of park progression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Well falling stock prices, low visitor numbers and presumably falling profits they must be trying to keep onto some of that money. I understand why they are doing this but I feel they could have gone about it a different way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 As if there weren't enough reason not to go to Chessington already. Cal, OldFarmerDean, Kerfuffle and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 I don't even see why Chessington has to open weekdays through September and October. It's guest numbers barely reach 500 at that point. pognoi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattgwise Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Well they will lose out to an extent. Especially Fridays as for example my cousin and several parents from a nearby school visit every week after school for a couple of hours and always purchase food and drinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 I don't even see why Chessington has to open weekdays through September and October. It's guest numbers barely reach 500 at that point. Because that's when I go, and have a lovely time to boot. Adam P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Dear dear dear... If they wanted to cut hours, 11am - 5pm would be so much better. Merry-go-girl and Project LC 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pognoi Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 ^ or like said above, not open at all. Something that american theme parks do alot. On the subject of vampire queue, the end of the tunnel represents approximately 90 minutes when the queue is fully extended. I wouldn't expect the first couple S bends to make the queue more then 2 hours or so if the queue was coming out of the entrance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 Because that's when I go, and have a lovely time to boot. Go and spend a lot more money I suggest, might encourage them to open longer hours. Five years ago we didn't even have Tues/Weds/Thurs opening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 ^ And lego aren't even open some weekdays in september (Or at least not last year) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian-S Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 11-5 would be better as by closing at 4 they're missing out on the after school visits. Sometimes I wonder if the people running the parks actually realise the demographics of their visitors. Merry-go-girl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldFarmerDean Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 They're only going to get after school visits from some annual pass holders... And well, they've already taken your money for the pass, they're happy enough to f*** you over, as you've already paid. But guess, at least they're staying open rather than not at all.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 Late openings for our parks never seem to work out. There's a reason why our parks are always open by 10. I bet it's down to a (for lack of a better word) cultural thing; when it comes to days out, people like to arrive early so they can leave early and gave the evening to do other things / get the kids off to bed / whatever. From that perspective, 10-4 is better than 11-5. Of course, 10-5 is better still, but this must surely be a knock on effect from Smiler's incident in order to minimise loss. HermanTheGerman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 ^ And lego aren't even open some weekdays in september (Or at least not last year) The hotel is though... Tom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.