March 10, 201411 yr comment_177909 Ahhh, but don't forget this is the park that told people off for taking pictures of a dead Rameses... Hopefully they can have the path open between Vampire and Buccaneer if need be...
March 10, 201411 yr comment_177929 Could you please take one of the new paintwork on the archway to Transylvania, I'm worried it's gone all purple like the restaurant did. The new archway is not purple the new paint work does look good though, IMO.
March 11, 201411 yr comment_178015 Is the coat of arms plaque still up there? For the life of me I cant really remember, I want to say yes it is, but I'm not 100%
March 14, 201411 yr comment_178236 In other news today, Chessington have now released their 2014 map, which can be seen below. http://www.chessington.com/explore/park-map.aspx The map design looks very much the same as previous years with a few changes including the new hotel, redesigned Scorpion Express (unsurprisingly without rocks) and the empty spot for Creaky Cafe. The site has had a redesign too, which looks ok, but I certainly prefer the old one.
March 14, 201411 yr comment_178240 I found the Vampire, the frogman and the Mexican bloke already! Love this fun element to the map, almost worth a trip to the park to pick one up alone.
March 14, 201411 yr comment_178273 Is it Doctor Chessington or Professor Burp? He looks too tall and slim to be Burp but the clothes colour is correct. It'd make more sense if it were Doctor Chessinton though, as Burp's is supposedly in the cemetery.
March 14, 201411 yr comment_178276 Notice how the guy is holding a bottle. The top of his head it bald, Dr. Chessie's isn't, his jacket is also red.
March 15, 201411 yr comment_178327 I have If you look at it and squint it does look like someone drinking from a bottle...
March 15, 201411 yr comment_178333 I don't think that image is big enough. You need to make it larger again.
March 15, 201411 yr comment_178336 He's clearly at the top of the map, just download da whole thing! Still it doesn't mean Chessington have invented a time machine to bring back Prof Burp's BubbleWorks, in case you were wondering.
March 15, 201411 yr comment_178340 He's clearly at the top of the map, just download da whole thing! You're so boring, I was clearly really enjoying the ever more pixelated enlarged photos we were getting. Was hoping for more
March 15, 201411 yr comment_178341 You're so boring, I was clearly really enjoying the ever more pixelated enlarged photos we were getting. Was hoping for more To satisfy your fetish... He looks chubbier now, so he reminds me off Prof. Burp a bit more now. He's also on the witness protection scheme after being the sole witness to the destruction of Chessington and, specifically, his Bubbleworks factory.
March 15, 201411 yr comment_178368 So is he lugging around a backpack or is that a child behind him? Someone get back to the photoshop!
March 16, 201411 yr comment_178439 I adore the Market Square compass. Thanks Theme UK. Thats the kind of thing I adore, that seperates Chessington from the rest. I also like the tree sculptures near Toadies, great work by the park. It's that kind of thoughtful, beautiful work that really shows up the half arsed attempts on Scorpion and lack of work at Falls.
March 16, 201411 yr comment_178473 The most extravagant drain hole cover theming in the world? At other parks, it would have been left as a drainage hole cover. Chessington still make an effort to hide things in theming.
March 17, 201411 yr comment_178558 Have to say, Market Square and some other improvements actually look incredibly bloody good. Want to see these in person, I bet there's a great atmosphere there now particularly on a good summers day!
March 17, 201411 yr comment_178580 My observations from my visit on Saturday: The Market Square looks great! They still don't have enough picnic benches though so the area looks very spacious. I guess they don't want too many picnic benches to encourage people to eat at the restaurants, but a few more in what is a really nice area of the park wouldn't go a miss. They have moved the electric ride information board next to Sea Storm and it wasn't working on Saturday! The Creaky Café is a distant memory and it looks like they won't be re-building it any time soon. The floor has been finished with the same brickwork as Market Square so I doubt they would have gone to that effort if they had plans to open another café there. Again, there were just 5 picnic benches (I am not obsessed with picnic benches, honestly!!) so that needs to be addressed. Bubbleworks was open, there seemed to be little Imperial Leather branding. The boats didn't have the logo on them, and the bottles on the conveyor (just before the ascent) were plain and the logos had clearly been removed. The logo as you enter the ride from the station was still visible though! The ride itself was largely the same, apart from the mirrored wall in the fountain area (the wall backing on to the former Creaky Café!!) Scorpion Express was a bit of a let down! The pyro was quite good as the train pulled out of the station, but the Scorpion didn't seem to work properly. I think it is supposed to spray water, but there was almost nothing, just a trickle of water which was largely underwhelming. The ride is very open and it really does suffer for the loss of the tunnel the RMT used to have. Chessington are promoting it heavily - "New for 2014" - sort of stuff, when it is a basically a refurbed old ride. They have done away with the benches (crates) inside the Zufari shack, and replaced them with ugly railings! The pre-ride film with "Chase Van Driver" wasn't shown at all, and we were "treated" to Gotzee for about 30 seconds. I guess they have an issue with people entering the shack after others and exiting towards the trucks before them, but surely they could have worked it out a bit better than shoving in a cattlepen? Rameses Revenge was open! Finally, the Madagascar show is exactly the same as last year, and the year before..!! Surely they should have changed it by now? Keep the Madagascar characters, but think of a new show!! Overall, it seems that Chessington is much the same as it was. I do think the Market Square looks nice but the other "improvements" are a bit meh!
March 17, 201411 yr comment_178585 My observations from my visit on Saturday: Bubbleworks was open, there seemed to be little Imperial Leather branding. The boats didn't have the logo on them, and the bottles on the conveyor (just before the ascent) were plain and the logos had clearly been removed. The logo as you enter the ride from the station was still visible though! The ride itself was largely the same, apart from the mirrored wall in the fountain area (the wall backing on to the former Creaky Café!!) They have done away with the benches (crates) inside the Zufari shack, and replaced them with ugly railings! The pre-ride film with "Chase Van Driver" wasn't shown at all, and we were "treated" to Gotzee for about 30 seconds. I guess they have an issue with people entering the shack after others and exiting towards the trucks before them, but surely they could have worked it out a bit better than shoving in a cattlepen? The Imperial Leather Sponsorship ended several years ago, but they seemed to just peel off the Imperial Leather logos and leave the rest of the ride alone! I quite liked the Zufari pre-show, it was a nice attempt at a Disney-style show, they just didn't try hard enough with the audience interaction to make it an interesting show. Gozi felt a little half-heated. Also the bit with Chase is needed for the set-up of the mystery cave. They needed better staff to voice Gozi and some staff maybe to ask people to leave the rows more orderly. I don't understand the complaints that people were cutting in front of you in the queue if one row of seating got up first, does it really matter if you are 10 people further forward or back in a queue whe you are then that close to the front!
March 17, 201411 yr comment_178626 The Imperial Leather Sponsorship ended several years ago, but they seemed to just peel off the Imperial Leather logos and leave the rest of the ride alone! I think he was pointing out that more Imperial Leather branding has gone. The ride was still literally littered with it last year (no matter how much fanboys somehow claim it wasn't - it was.)
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