MattyMoo Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Not if they are filling every other boat I guess! Kobra now has a 2 hour 20 minute queue. #winning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 It's the week before Schools go back, AKA Hell Week. On account of the queues literally descending into hell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeah Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 I guess I'm really lucky my school goes back one week later than everyone else then! I'll probably end up going to Chessie once, Thorpe for the first time ever (as my sister will be at school and she's the one who didn't want to go), and maybe even Alton! I'm also hoping I can take two of my mates to LEGOLAND (As there's a £5 offer there) but we might not have time. I'll let you know how everything goes in my blog, however last time I went to Chessie (the day my passes ran out ) it was so bad I didn't even blog about I. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 You're not planning to go next week are you? It'll still be pretty busy that week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Han30 Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 What the heck is going on with Chessie?! 2 hour queue for Bubbleworks jeez! Just had a gander on their FB page where there are some seriously unhappy people - someone claiming they spent almost 4 hours queuing for Vampire(?!!!) then went to guest services which had an hour queue! I do have a soft spot for CWOA but they really need to up their game - of course a decent amount of investment would help that - I think going by complaints I have read, they have potentially lost a lot of loyal and regular visitors - such a shame for a park that really shone in the 90's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nosferatu Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 People are always complaining about Chessington, yet the same people end up going back the following month. Merlin isn't going to improve things unless the attendance starts dropping. [insert obligatory Chessington hate comment here] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian-S Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 That was probably my neighbour She took her two sprog today, had we been on speaking terms I'd have offered up some friendly advise about waiting, but we're not so I didn't and they had a **** day aparantly, won't be going back so I heard. My eyes did roll earlier, Bubbleworks 2 hours, Colossus at Thorpe was 2 hours 20 minutes, yet elsewhere Nemesis, Rita and Oblivion were all on 0 minutes, if only I lived closer to Alton... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nosferatu Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 I know, right? Anyone who waits that long just to see some static props and ducks quacking at you must be insane. There are very few rides in this country that are worth a 2 hour queue and the Bubbleworks definitely isn't one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huzzellio Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 I miss Professor Burp Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 Just scrolling through the visitor posts on the Facebook page and I'm seeing things like "queue advertised as 120 minutes, still in it three hours later." Three hours?! Also interesting to note that people have had damage done to their cars in the grass car park, yet they have the nerve to stop customers parking in the concrete car park without paying £10? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 Uh-oh, what sort of damage did people have done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 Fury has not had a three hour queue any time the last week, or probably ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HermanTheGerman Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 ^ No, but Vampire has. dk3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 Ahaha. That's the vicious cycle of Fastrack inflating the queue times for you. Abolishing Fastrack and an expansion is so desperately needed, but it will never happen sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 I don't think park expansion is possible with land situations (even if they could buy more). Something needs to be done done though the excessive ride closures & both main coasters earning three hour queues, but I'm not sure what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 The main coasters do not earn three hour queues, that's the highest I've ever seen Vampire in recent years and that's likely because of excessive Fastrack selling and slower operations for whatever reason. I know park expansion isn't possible but that's the only true solution to 90% of Chessington's problems with guest experience. It's the reason there was never another major rollercoaster after Vampire 25 years ago (Dragon's Fury is still something of a filler coaster masquerading as a headline ride), the reason for a high charge for the only tarmac car park and why queues are excessively long for everything, not just rides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 Uh-oh, what sort of damage did people have done? Damage caused by the road rather than people, I've read numerous complaints about ripped tyres etc. The main coasters do not earn three hour queues, that's the highest I've ever seen Vampire in recent years and that's likely because of excessive Fastrack selling and slower operations for whatever reason. Reading one review, they said that they counted 10 Fastrack, 6 disabled queue and 8 from the main queue on each train. Ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HermanTheGerman Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 The only real solution is to plough money into the place. Replacing all the old, outdated, and low capacity rides with newer, more efficient and also safer rides that can actually cope with demand. Then also toilets, restaurants (which to be fair, they have started), and car parks need to be sorted. Capacity of everything is a massive problem, which hopefully they solve. They talk about it, and they have been for a few years, hopefully this time around they actually act on those words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 The only real solution is to do what Europa park does and have high capacity rides, no fasttrack, great operations etc etc. I believe that will happen one day, sadly that day is not soon.This isn't Europa though this is Merlin. The day we see the revoke of fastrack is the day Chessington becomes the Uk's no.1 again (it just don't happen I'm afraid). Chessington could have new/replaced rides by doing the following 1/ new large coaster on Toadies/Peeking site 2/ new dark ride on Tomb's site (watered rumours have appeared pending how wellWC16 goes) 3/ new coaster/dark ride on Temple/Lorikeets area 4/ Chiapas style flume to replace falls 5/ Sky ways to be rebuilt (would be worth it) Then re-enhance Bubbles, give sea storm the Columbus dinghy treatment and another stage for more entertainment. Vampire is the concerning one as though it's (technically) the park's most popular ride, at 25 years it's now coming towards the end of its life (25 being the general expectancy of these suspended rides) and even though trains snd hardware was replaced 13/14 years ago, it cant have a long left and when it does fail beyond repair, there's the sticky issue with planning as something similar to the ride could not be built there. It's a shame Chessington cant invest the level of dedication they in to hotels in to the main park as then we wouldn't have a lot to complain about. The food outlets are slowly improving, fish & chips was a start and chicken shack should help too (no doubt Pizza Pasta & Chicken Co. Will be next). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry-go-girl Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 ^ No, but Vampire has. Glad this guy was able to see the funny side of it all. ^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 I've just noticed... 60 minutes for the tiny frog hopper ride!! And who in their right mind would queue 45 minutes for Dodgems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted August 30, 2015 Report Share Posted August 30, 2015 I've just noticed... 60 minutes for the tiny frog hopper ride!! And who in their right mind would queue 45 minutes for Dodgems? With so many rides closed and the big players on 90 mins/2hour queues what else can you do? You either do nothing or queue longer for a Dodgems. How busy actually is Chessington really, what gate figures is it currently getting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HermanTheGerman Posted August 30, 2015 Report Share Posted August 30, 2015 1/ new large coaster on Toadies/Peeking site 2/ new dark ride on Tomb's site (watered rumours have appeared pending how wellWC16 goes) 3/ new coaster/dark ride on Temple/Lorikeets area 4/ Chiapas style flume to replace falls 5/ Sky ways to be rebuilt (would be worth it) Besides perhaps point #3, this is exactly what needs to happen. But sadly, it wont, so long as the idiots running Merlin continue to plough £30 million into Thorpe Park. Adam P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted August 30, 2015 Report Share Posted August 30, 2015 They could look at how ride operations are conducted on The Vampire. Last time I was there, it was on 2 trains but would often stack. There was a member of staff each side of the platform checking the whole train. Simple things like 2 more members of staff and splitting the train in half would be a quick win for Chessington. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing trains taking ages to load. Tomb Blaster also takes forever for a train to be dispatched, what's that all about? Rides like Fury, toadies, Kobra etc are stuck on throughput because they are just naturally low throughput rides. In the long term, they need to invest in rides that have a decent throughput, nothing less than 1200pph is what I believe they should be aiming for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattgwise Posted August 30, 2015 Report Share Posted August 30, 2015 But its not even that the park hasn't got high capacity attractions. Both Tomb and Vampire should get through a much higher throughput like they did in the past. Its the way things are run and excessive health and safety protocols that lead to the long waits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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