Theme Park Fanatic Posted July 10, 2020 Report Share Posted July 10, 2020 As we our over halfway though the 2020 Theme park season. I thought I would make a thread for anything related to the 2021 season at Chessington. Please share any closed season updates, news,Chessington trip reports and any pictures you may take here. As most of are probably awere yesterday Chessington applied for the Croc Drop trademark to be given to be given to the Sobek themed drop which is replacing the now closed Ramasis Ravenge. This has made me to create a thread on all of the changes I think we will see at Chessington next year.The chances I expect to see at Chessington for next season are as follows.1. The Wild Asia sign reinstated to the entrance portal to the area of the same name.2. The repaint of the giant Buddha in Land Of The Tigers to its original green colour3. The construction and opening of new swinging pirate ship The Blue Barnacle in Pirates cove4. The building and grand opening of Croc Drop in Forbidden Kingdom5 An minor refurbishment and rename of Forbidden Kingdom,like Transylvania received for the 2017 season6. New holiday lodges built in a similar design to the Enchanted Village at Alton Towers7. The relocation of the Gruffalo stage show to the former Pandamonium stage8. The relocation of the animal presentation to the former Gruffalo sage area9 The addition of Animatronics,Smell Pods and animatronics to the Rainforest10. The landscaping and turfing of the former Rodeo/Flying Jumbos site to become an Egyiption themed picnic and children’s playground area11. The arrival of Brazilian Tapirs to the enclosure the Capybaras vacated in order to move to the Rainforest12. The adaptation of the current Glamping restaurant in Wild Asia to become an Asian restaurant open to all visitors in which Bollywood music will play as you eat13. The return of the chandeliers to the Vampires station14. The retheme and return of the Peeking Hights ferris,which that has been in storage for the past three years. I think Peeking Hights will be relocated to Pirates Cove to replace SeaStorm,that will be removed over the closed season. I think that the Gondelas on Peeking Hights will be rethemed to Beer Barlles and the ride renamed.Can you please share your thoughts on my predictions for the 2021 season at Chessington World Of Adventures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hethetheth Posted July 10, 2020 Report Share Posted July 10, 2020 On what basis do you think some of these things will be happening? Unfounded speculation or sources? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theme Park Fanatic Posted July 10, 2020 Report Share Posted July 10, 2020 @Hethetheth I must admit that all of my predictions are purely based on speculation. However I would not be at all surprised if at least some of my predictions come true. Please don’t hold me to any of my predictions @Hethetheth as I am certainly not a fortune teller/clairvoyant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted July 11, 2020 Report Share Posted July 11, 2020 I didn't even realise that Peeking Heights had closed. Shows how much I care about the park these days. Which is a complete shame given the buzz around it a decade ago. A lot of these really are just a wishlist. Likelihood is you'll get the new drop tower and little else because that's how Merlin roll. Do they even have animatronics in any new ride these days (that work)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted July 11, 2020 Report Share Posted July 11, 2020 The last thing they would want is Peeking Heights back, it was by a long shot, one of the more complicated rides at Chessington and could be incredibly dangerous if it started to spin out of control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted July 11, 2020 Report Share Posted July 11, 2020 They'll get Croc Drop (dreadful name) and seemingly Blue Barnacle (I can't see that opening this year like planned now). Doubt we'll see a retheme or rename of Forbidden Kingdom as the drop tower seems designed to fit in with that area. Might get a little spruce up around the tower but that's about it there. You'll get your standard little bits and pieces of new stuff here and there probably, but the investment of two family thrill rides is a pretty huge deal for Chessington to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshuaA Posted July 11, 2020 Report Share Posted July 11, 2020 Yeah Chessington getting the drop tower as well as the pirate ship honestly is a fair deal for a Merlin Park tbh. If this was Alton/Thorpe, Rameses and Black Buccaneer would of been left SBNO with no future plans, so in a way, I think them receiving replacements for both fairly soon after removal is pretty good. I think anything else they do next year is a bonus, for a smaller park like Chessington, they have been getting pretty decent additions recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theme Park Fanatic Posted July 11, 2020 Report Share Posted July 11, 2020 @JoshC. I hope that as Forbidden Kingdom is having the most investment it has had for what will be exactly 20 years when Croc Drop opens next season.Chessington revert back to calling Tomb Blaster Forbidden Tomb. I say this as earlier this year Chessington gave Tomb Blaster a darker more terrifying retheme.This retheme gives the ride a Terror Tomb like atmosphere. Also the Forbidden Tomb sign is still on the facade of the rides building. However this lovely themed sign is covered up by a s****y canvas that is draped over it. In my opinion since Tomb Blaster’s dark retheme the name Forbidden Tomb is far more appropriate. Not only does the Forbidden Tomb look more immersive but it tells riders that the ride could possibly scare young children. Chessington can’t even use the excuse that it would be to costly to change the name of the ride back to Forbidden Tomb. The reason for this being is that the sign is technically still there and is in pristine condition. The only money involved will be that used to rebrand the rides branding to that of Forbidden Tomb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted July 11, 2020 Report Share Posted July 11, 2020 I wish shared some of the above optimism. Next year Chessington will be getting a drop tower along with the new Blue Barnacle (assuming it’s delayed), which already for the park is already quite an investment. Aside from the odd thing here and there such as signage and a minor refresh around Forbidden Kingdom, I can’t see most of the above ever happen let alone next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
professorb Posted July 12, 2020 Report Share Posted July 12, 2020 This is absolute rubbish. You also have awfully specific predictions. 7/8. The Gruffalo arena wouldn’t fit where The Panda show used to be, it hasn’t got enough space to fit 500ish people. The animal show on the otherhand would have too much space where the arena is. I don’t why you think they would move. It would be a pointless and expensive exercise. 9. If these were going into Rainforest, they most likely would be there already, not randomly added the next year. Also smell pots wouldn’t really work seeing as it’s all outside. 10. It was also specified in the planning permission that the Jumbos area is to be the queue-line for Croc Drop, why would you predict otherwise? There is literal evidence to show its future use. 13. Definitely not happening. The chandeliers were not removed for the fun of it or lack of care, they were removed due to structural concerns with the ceiling. It is an old building after all with Vampire inside it and Gruffalo River Ride above it. This doesn’t excuse the lazy flood light replacement of course. 14. Peeking Heights may be in storage but not anywhere to do with Merlin, it was sold off years ago. Plus there clearly isn’t enough space where seastorm is to fit these. Most of your predictions are way off and not at all logical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted August 4, 2020 Report Share Posted August 4, 2020 Chessington was reasonably well run today in honesty. -Getting into the park is smooth. -They've added some high barriers in some of their queue lines (though not others, like Dragon's Fury). -One way systems around the zoo areas weren't followed; hard to say if they are just leftover from zoo days or should still be followed as no one was enforcing them -Rainforest area looks okay for what it is. My biggest bug bear with the park is how much they're overestimating their queue times. My 75 minute queue for Tomb Blaster was 25 minutes. My 45 minute Gruffalo queue was 15 minutes with a cleaning break. 80 minutes for Vampire was closer to 40, again with a cleaning break. I could go on. I get these things are hard to judge under the best of circumstance, and social distancing measures make it even harder, and they want to account for cleaning time too. But when queue times are 2-3 times over their advertised estimates, I think they need to look at themselves a bit. Also wasn't a fan of the operator of Adventure Tree refusing to dispatch the ride until everyone was stood on a social distancing marker (which are twice the distance they should be because they accounted for the middle row of the cattlepen, but don't use the middle row), but not caring about there being a crowd of people outside the queue not distancing. Could have been handled better. In my opinion, parks should have these social distancing markers and recommend people use them, but enforce masks in queue lines. It's harder to do, but if they commit to it, it's achievable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshuaA Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 So apparently fastrack made a return at the park.. Ew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 18 minutes ago, JoshuaA said: So apparently fastrack made a return at the park.. Ew. What a way to p*** off your guests even more, when they are already giving you 1 star reviews on TripAdvisor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringo Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 2 hours ago, JoshuaA said: So apparently fastrack made a return at the park.. Ew. Just Towers left now who don’t offer it. JoshuaA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshuaA Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 Trust the best run park to be the only park left in the chain to not offer it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 Thorpe aren't offering Fastrack currently. Was unaware that Legoland were too tbh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattgwise Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 The irony is they reintroduced them on a troubled day of many ride closures, excessive queues and a now 60% capacity which is higher than it was before. If that was their way of 'reducing queue times' then they haven't got a clue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringo Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 15 minutes ago, JoshC. said: Thorpe aren't offering Fastrack currently. Was unaware that Legoland were too tbh? Thorpe are doing Fastrack for those who are entitled to it, passholders, Hotel & appears those who pre-purchased before. Legoland have had Qbot on sale along with passholders who are entitled to it. JoshC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 3 minutes ago, Ringo said: Thorpe are doing Fastrack for those who are entitled to it, passholders, Hotel & appears those who pre-purchased before. I think it's only Hotel guests who booked pre-Covid who (should) get Fastrack, and that's usually just unlimited for the first hour. It's certainly not listed as a park for staying there currently. That and those who pre-booked will make up a tiny percentage of people going. There's no Passholders who are entitled to Fastrack either (unless people bought the season Fastrack pass if they offered it during off-season, which again will be a tiny tiny proportion of people). Thorpe haven't been offering Fastrack in a normal sense though; just to a very small proportion who booked it 5+ months ago. Ringo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringo Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 14 minutes ago, JoshC. said: I think it's only Hotel guests who booked pre-Covid who (should) get Fastrack, and that's usually just unlimited for the first hour. It's certainly not listed as a park for staying there currently. That and those who pre-booked will make up a tiny percentage of people going. There's no Passholders who are entitled to Fastrack either (unless people bought the season Fastrack pass if they offered it during off-season, which again will be a tiny tiny proportion of people). Thorpe haven't been offering Fastrack in a normal sense though; just to a very small proportion who booked it 5+ months ago. There’s still some Vip passes out there as well as seen them in the queue (was posted on TowersStreet that Towers are giving Vip passes a £20 voucher per visit as compensation for no Fastrack) Hotel guests, someone asked on Twitter at reopening and the park said hotel guests would still get it and the few people you see queue supports that. Also noticed some who have a printed ticket. As you say it’s a small amount but Fastrack is in operation just not available to buy online or on the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted August 21, 2020 Report Share Posted August 21, 2020 Visited the park yesterday and despite Covid was perhaps the busiest I’ve ever seen the place! Although distancing and regular break downs didn’t help. Managed just six rides in eight hours so not the best. However they did extend close upto 7pm which rarely happens at the park. Covid measures were hit and miss. Some worked well, others didn’t as some people weren’t following this. Some pathways and areas were impossible to do so due to the giant queues. Managed to try Tomb Blaster 3.0 and it’s quite a mixed bag. The lighting in some places seems better but is largely ruined in places due to fan systems exposing natural light. The audio isn’t easy to hear in places and makes capturing the story trickier than it should be. The park clearly tried to make an ailing dark ride a shoe-string budget blockbuster but didn’t quite work out that way. Still a better ride than DBGT. Didn’t try the new/updated Rainforest attractions but they looked ok for what they are aiming for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Posted August 21, 2020 Report Share Posted August 21, 2020 Chessington have extended there main season until 29th November this year, believe they're open every Friday - Monday 10 - 4. Wonder if other merlin parks are going to follow? Han30 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyLovesVortex Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 what's going on with monkey swinger not sure I've seen it closed for so many consecutive days JoelAllen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted August 31, 2020 Report Share Posted August 31, 2020 On 8/28/2020 at 10:05 PM, EmilyLovesVortex said: what's going on with monkey swinger not sure I've seen it closed for so many consecutive days I believe the technical term is that it is buggered... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Han30 Posted September 1, 2020 Report Share Posted September 1, 2020 Wow - that doesn’t look v healthy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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