Adam P Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 I hope they are, however lets also hope as its closed Bubble Works getting much needed attention, they can only delay these bigger projects for so long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Sounds like a lot of things still need sorting out at the park by the sounds. Tombs been a real mess at least the last few years and is in dire need of a refurb. Bubbles needs some love, however to say it looks better than the likes of tombs and falls, is concerning. Let's hope falls refurb hasn't been scrapped and that Fury's result will be worth the track replacement in many areas. I'm baffled why they've removed a large chunk of he South car park for hotel guests. Considering it was the larger car park it doesn't make sense to me as to why they would make parking even worse for non hotel guests to park. Lego and Thorpe's (dare I say it) are much better car parks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Let's hope falls refurb hasn't been scrapped ...because no one wants a water ride apparently themed around a stark naked dragon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Hearing that Tomb is still in a state is something that worries me, they have had months to sort out the interior, or, if it's still as bad as it was last year, even just give it a dust and clean! It seems like they've given up on it to be honest, as well as Falls, which they promised would be put right way back before last season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Tomb blaster and scorpion express have failed to open, with seastorm operating reduced capacity. I'll post a report later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Tomb blaster and scorpion express have failed to open, with seastorm operating reduced capacity. I'll post a report later. Classic Chessington! OldFarmerDean 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 What's worse is that the engineers clearly weren't bothering to even try and fix the rides from what I could see: Scorpion express had no staff members around the surrounding area to announce that it was closed, it was also clear that there were no engineers working on the ride from the three visits we made to check if the ride was open. Tomb Blaster had its ride team in the early morning telling people they were to get it up and running by the afternoon with engineers working on it. However, by the afternoon they had clearly given up and just chucked some barriers in front of the Forbidden Kingdom entrance to stop people trying and getting to the rides. I appreciate rides and attractions are subject to availability but there was no effort to notify people that there were technical faults and there appeared to be no one working on the two broken attractions either(although admittedly tomb blaster is harder to see inside when it's closed). Having two out of four rides closed was pretty awful considering the park was fairly busy around midday, with hocus pocus hall at 20-30mintues and seastorm around the same queue time. Unfortunately not the queue times a guest wants to be waiting for fairly small attractions on what was one of the emptiest African Adventures days this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 What's worse is that the engineers clearly weren't bothering to even try and fix the rides from what I could see: Scorpion express had no staff members around the surrounding area to announce that it was closed, it was also clear that there were no engineers working on the ride from the three visits we made to check if the ride was open. Tomb Blaster had its ride team in the early morning telling people they were to get it up and running by the afternoon with engineers working on it. However, by the afternoon they had clearly given up and just chucked some barriers in front of the Forbidden Kingdom entrance to stop people trying and getting to the rides. I appreciate rides and attractions are subject to availability but there was no effort to notify people that there were technical faults and there appeared to be no one working on the two broken attractions either(although admittedly tomb blaster is harder to see inside when it's closed). Having two out of four rides closed was pretty awful considering the park was fairly busy around midday, with hocus pocus hall at 20-30mintues and seastorm around the same queue time. Unfortunately not the queue times a guest wants to be waiting for fairly small attractions on what was one of the emptiest African Adventures days this week. Doesn't sound very good to me. Thorpe's event sounds like it was more successful (at least reliability wise) from the sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Normally if a broken down ride is having no visible work done to it, there's a reason for it (waiting for a part, behind the scenes work, etc etc). Presumably (read - hopefully) it was one of those legitimate reasons, as opposed to something else (laziness, lack of resources, etc). It's a shame that Chessington has been plagued with reliability issues over half term; certainly not the best advert for the park. Hopefully the issues are sorted out for the main season and the park can hit form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfernoMartin Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 What I find interesting, is someone who worked at Chessington today said that both Tomb Blaster and Scorpion Express opened for around an hour ish towards the end of the day. So the engineers were working on the rides! Edit: Scorpion was closed for the day but Tomb Blaster was open for at least an hour in the late morning. JoshC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Jason, neither opened. Whoever told you that is talking complete bollocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HermanTheGerman Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 I was there until the bitter end, and neither opened. TPJames 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan9 Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 If an engineer isn't smacking something with a spanner, it doesn't mean they aren't working on it. SteveJ and JoshC. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfernoMartin Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 The Chessington website also stated Tomb Blaster was open quite a lot of the morning. So to be honest I do believe them. Too state the engineers were doing nothing is a bit harsh. Behind the scenes they were probably working their arses off to get them rides open. They could have been in so many places that are not visible to the general public trying to get the rides reopen! lewumbrajumbos 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 I laugh how you believe the ride status. The ride status said tomb blaster was 5 minutes all morning(when reality it was closed) before they updated it to closed in the late afternoon.There was absolutely no access in the afternoon to tomb blaster and scorpion express as massive metal barriers were blocking the path. Both rides were clearly abandoned all day and neither opened, I'm pretty sure I would have seen if they had opened as I was constantly checking all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfernoMartin Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 How do you know they were abandoned though if you couldn't even get near them !?. You don't have a clue if they were trying to be fixed up or not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 During the morning, both rides were closed however accessible. However, after around 2pm, barriers were in place to clearly show the areas were not to be accessed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 They are not just going to leave a ride broken. You don't want it to be a problem where leaving it could make it worse. It's likely they were waiting on a part. Also just because staff are not there does not mean engineers are not trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HermanTheGerman Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 FYI, they were testing Tomb for 1/2 an hour half way through the day. Obviously it was unsuccessful, so I would assume its a bit of a bigger issue than anticipated. Scorpion however, they were advertising as shut at the entrance. SteveJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 I'm sure that it's out of their control to some extent but having the only two attractions worth making a visit for closed all day is a joke to be honest. I'm glad I didn't visit the event as I was considering it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Of course I know that if a ride is broken, the team will immediately work as hard as possible to try and get it up and running as soon as possible. However, it was just a shame there was no one to explain what was going on or anyone to prove that the ride was actually being worked on and trying to be fixed. Seastorm had a very small technical issue in the afternoon and emergency stopped while we were on it. The staff dealt with the situation very well, notify the surrounding area of what was going on and trying to get it up and running. Sure enough, after a couple of minutes and a test run it was back up and running. I'm sure there was a same attitude going on towards the other rides, however a bit of notice from the ride team of what was actually happening would have been very appreciated. Part of me thinks that if the rides had been fixed by around 2-2:30pm, they still wouldn't have opened them up due to lack of demand and risking them breaking down again. I know that seems like an extremely negative view, but in business sense it isn't logical to open a ride when there is no one left on park and risk of it suffering another technical fault. Maybe this is a completely wrong view, however I can't see them opening a ride up for the last half an hour when there is virtually no one left on park due to bad weather. Don't shoot me down for this, I'm just presuming something at this point and I admittedly have no supporting evidence. If chessington were actually trying their hardest to get Scorpion and Tomb running, hats off to them however a bit more notice from staff members would have been extremely valued. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 I'm surprised to hear this, we were given excellent communication by staff today, who were far more up front about how they were trying to get it open early in the day. Also some managers were even roaming the park and talking to guests, they were also well informed about ride status and kept everyone up to date. There was some confusion later on when Tomb's area was blocked off entirely without explanation but the staff were generally quite helpful. HermanTheGerman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Sometimes it truly feels like I've been experiencing a different park to others who have been there, on several occasions! Here is my report anyway: Sunday 22nd February 2015- Chessington, "African Adventures" event. Ride-Count: -Amazu Treetop Adventure x1 -Seastorm x9 -Hocus Pocus Hall x5 -Carousel x2 -Scorpion Express x0 (Unavailable all day) -Tomb Blaster x0 (Unavailable all day) I had a great day at the park today and experienced the zoo in the first time for over two years. It was a really enjoyable day and I enjoyed the park with a really calm and relaxed atmosphere, despite some heavy rain in the last hour or so! Instead of doing a full written report, I would like to pick upon some positive and negative aspects from the day! -Tomb Blaster and Scorpion Express failed to open all day. Shame really as these were the two main attractions we were looking forward to riding, however I do appreciate that rides and attractions are subject to availability. -Seastorm was operating reduced cars today so the throughput was reduced by a fair few people, however queues didn't reach over 15-20minutes and it was giving a fairly long cycle. Managed it an amazing 9 times though, although admittedly most of these were done in the last hour when the park was dead. -We managed Hocus Pocus Hall 5 times!? We must have been crazy, the staff member thought so too! We even waited 20minutes for it at one point, was I absolutely insane!? We tried to go through it as slowly as we could on one occasion and ended up having fun getting "lost" inside the mirror maze I'm pretty fond of the haunted house however I certainly wouldn't waste so much time going through it on a normal them park day. -The zoo as a whole was pretty average; I remember it feeling much larger a couple of years ago. I think one of the reasons for this is the addition of Amazu. Whilst it was good fun, I miss the monkey and bird garden which used to be there. A lot of the animals in the zoo were hiding or just weren't there either; none of the lions or tigers out on the trail of the kings etc. Was pretty quick to complete compared to previous visits unfortunately. -The sea life centre was magical! Highlight of the day, I love it in there! We spent so much time in there and also spent ages getting our finger nails cleaned by the Cleaning-Shrimp! Was really nice in there and all the fish could actually be seen versus the zoo. -The park as a whole looked reasonably tacky. I don't want to say this however there was scaffolding everywhere on all the rides having work. There were random metal barriers placed everywhere and the park's appearance looked no where near as nice as during the main season. -The park was also reasonably empty which was good, however rides did become crowded due to Scorpion and tomb being closed. At around 2pm, everyone seemed to have left as it started to rain and there was no more than 10 people in the market square. However, seastorm and the carousel battled on with around 2 people per cycle and stayed open right until 3pm! I can't imagine there would have been more than 100peple on park at around 2pm and no more than 50people at about 2:30pm. -The main point I picked up on was the lack of indoors spots! Thorpe Park are really lucky to have the dome, we ended up eating our lunch outside in the cold as there was no coffee shop open to go in or anything! The only places inside where you can sit down are paying resturants! I know the problem doesn't exist as much during main season, but there needs more indoor locations open during African Adventures. Also, an indoor picnic area needs to be built urgently!! Overall, a good day out! I look forward to returning in main season when hopefully the park will look better and will have a full ride line up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashleyrose-66 Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Regarding the car park, we went last Monday and arrived just before 10am. The main (south) car park was already busy, and the staff were directing us in to a "staff car park" (well that's what the signs said) near to the coach entrance. The spaces were small, and it was tricky to navigate in to the spaces. I wonder if they are going to use this to ease pressure on the main car park, now that the 2 hotels are taking up so much more of it's availability? I would rather park there than have to drive over the awful bumpy field at the other side of the park. Tomb Blaster was also closed when we visited, so it sounds like it is really unreliable at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Wait what? They have actually made a small attempt at improving the parking situation? How is this not bigger news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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