Chessington General Discussion

[Matt 236]

 

Going? Going to reopen next year it seems.

 

I’m sure Chessington now what they are doing. Maybe the development plan or whatever is will drop more ‘possible’ hints at the future.
 

Nothing is set in stone, unless it was built by universal rocks.

[Theme Park Fanatic]

9 minutes ago, Mattgwise said:

@Theme Park Fanatic

 

Definitely going? 

 

 

 

@Mattgwise I think you should say definitely staying 

[Mattgwise]

7 minutes ago, Theme Park Fanatic said:

 

@Mattgwise I think you should say definitely staying 

😂 Question mark at end. I was asking you!

[Theme Park Fanatic]

I was looking on YouTube for videos of Chessington and Thorpe Park from the 90’s. I came across this video. Despite it’s title to any enthusiasts like ourselves it’s clearly Chessington. As soon as I saw the thumbnail I realised it was Chessington. The rocks of The Runaway Train are very rememberable. Naturally many elements of Chessington have been changed over time. A few things that remain are the shed on Old Crock’s Ralley. The shed is still the same structurally apart from cosmetic adjustments. Obviously The Runaway Train remains minus the rockwork.

 

 I believe the play park featured in the video was located on what is now The World Of Jumanji.  
 

On the subject of The Runaway Train aka Scorpion Express I’m overjoyed that Chessington has repaired the fire damage and reopening this beloved classic in April  

[Theme Park Fanatic]

Who else thinks the placement of actual rocks around Trawler Trouble was an obvious oversight? These rocks were installed last year prior to the boat sailing from Thorpe Park. Surly the dimensions would have informed Chessington that rocks weren’t practical. Currently the rocks are being removed. I hope a small pond replaced the rocks.

[Benin]

https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2023/march/chessington-world-of-adventure-facing-strike-threat-in-pay-dispute/

 

Awkward start to the season then.

 

Never knew the engineers were in an union though. Guess any union talk is often in public sector roles.

[Cornflakes]

10 hours ago, Benin said:

https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2023/march/chessington-world-of-adventure-facing-strike-threat-in-pay-dispute/

 

Awkward start to the season then.

 

Never knew the engineers were in a union though. Guess any union talk is often in public sector roles.

Good on them. The pay for engineers and almost any high level role outside of corporate at Merlin is shocking.

[Mark9]

16 hours ago, Benin said:

https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2023/march/chessington-world-of-adventure-facing-strike-threat-in-pay-dispute/

 

Awkward start to the season then.

 

Never knew the engineers were in an union though. Guess any union talk is often in public sector roles.

 

Not really sure how it's taken them two decades to realise they were under paid and undervalued. There was never enough of them even in our time when we worked there. 

[MattyMoo]

Exactly. An engineer at a rebar factory I used to work in sales for, said to me once he looked into working for Thorpe Park - but the salary wasn't anywhere near where it should be and was a mickey take!

[Mark9]

I visited yesterday and some thoughts and bear in mind Chessington is a rose tinted glasses park for me-

 

This park isn't really ready for Easter. It's going to struggle with one train on Vampire and what looks like to be only four functional cars on Rattlesnake. The second Vampire train is located just behind Scorpion Express at the moment. They also have 12pm opening for Wild Asia, Tiger Rock and Zufari. Which is fine, the park was pretty quiet. But three of the six weren't ready for 12. Scorpion Express's train has returned and was being put back together on the ride. So thats good.

 

It's wonderful that they've done big projects like repainting Fury or the ground work near the Main Entrance. They need to go focus on the small details now. Some of the theming across the park is really aging, worn away and looking pretty shabby. I know, I want the world.

 

The staff were absolutely miserable. The odd smile from a retail staff member was the best we really saw. But I can't help think this is from the top and some of the situations the staff seem to have to deal with. Like on Vampire they don't fill the station anymore. But they don't have someone batching people into rows, instead, the on load platformer has to do it. But on my ride, whilst she was checking bars, the people started batching themselves. Which meant she had to start shouting at all the guests (because the music is loud), the operator had to make an announcement. It was just very disorganised. When the park is this quiet, is it really necessary to stop us at the batching area or still continue to batch people into rows.

 

Breakdowns. Oh boy. Lots of them. We got caught in a Kobra, Rattlesnake and Fury shutdown and we saw many others including being evacuated from Tomb Blaster. To clarify Fury wasn't a breakdown. It was an alignment gate issue. But because of the stupid rules inflicted top down, the attendants can't solve it. An engineer and management has to. So you stand there and wait and three managers turn up. But they cant' do it without the engineer. So you wait for the engineer. But they are probably attending another breakdown. You just wait. It's infuriating that what is a ten second fix becomes a ten minute shutdown. I bet the staff on Spinball, Tarantula, Salama or Winjas don't have to put up with this nonsense. If the issue is mistakes in the past, then have a well experienced platformer there at all times who is trusted to fix the alignment gate. Don't bold up 100's of people. It's so silly.

 

Tomb Blaster evacuation Now, for a company that is obsessed with health and safety and the risk of death, this felt really haphazard and very perculiar. We got stuck in the first show scene and had to walk back to the station area. Yeah that fine. At the time I was slightly amused at the lack of communication from the ride hosts. They didn't tell us to hold onto the handrail or stay away from the big massive drop from the evac stairs to the track trough. This is a ride that 4 year old kids can go on after all, the one in front of us kept veering towards the drop. Towards the station you cross the transfer track and again, massive steps for young kids, no warning signs or communication from the staff. 

 

I had a good day and the work in improving the park has made the place look in parts, much better. But it's quite clear that the park is struggling on a lot of fronts. It was nice to see Mandrill but I'm worried that this shiny new ride will only highlight the sharp edges elsewhere.

[Mattgwise]

It is a real shame as following all the refresh work over closed season and seeing some of the park look the best it ever had last week was great, but totally agree about the running of things. 

 

One train vampire should never happen. It had three trains, yes they cannibalised the 3rd but hello Vekoma still exist so that makes no sense, just being cheap there. The station system has been poor for years, it makes no sense to not batch at least two or three trains worth of people yet they seem to faff batching people once the train is back. The RAP queue also holds things up, it's a shame they couldn't find a permanent solution to have everything merge the one side. 

 

Breakdowns and downtime seem huge as mentioned above and it really does cause frustration. 

 

Then to see effects broken still after a closed season such as in tomb blaster or zufaris waterfall (which apparently was working for a few rides then gave up again) is also poor. 

 

My biggest frustration is Tiger Rock. How is it acceptable to queue 25 mins from steps going down from the bridge (nearest station) on what should be a high throughput ride. It's running less and less boats each year. I was appalled last year at 12 boats. This year its running 9. Il add that it can run up to 25.

 

Hopefully things improve as the season moves towards Jumanji opening or its going to be some pretty poor reviews continuing.

 

 

 

[Matt 236]

Definitely echo much of the above. On my previous visit, Chessington very much looked the best it has in numerous years. Areas such as Mexicana, Wild Asia and both entrances looking much better.

 

However, what’s the point in having a nicely presented park if most of the rides are on reduced capacity and/or breakdown regularly. It’s shocking that to think 500 PPH is now likely a good throughput for Chessington’s standards, especially when Rock (formerly Falls), Tomb and Vampire were once more than capable of reaching around the 1000 mark. But with reduced/mothballed vehicles, they will never happen.

 

The fastrack and RAP distribution is unsurprisingly poor too.

[Cal]

Vampire, scorpion express, kobra and rattlesnake are closed all day today. 
 

Happy Easter kids.  

[MattyMoo]

Yikes. One would hope that Vampire is getting it's second train added and not a problem with it's current single train...

 

Have to say - really not the best of starts to the season for CWoA - and Towers - it seems.

 

Thorpe seems to be faring far better.

[JoshC.]

29 minutes ago, MattyMoo said:

Thorpe seems to be faring far better.

 

And that's with it missing a key coaster, their headline water ride still yet to open, no Banana Ride, and technically still being a ride down compared to last year since Ghost Train has yet to open. Eek.

[Benin]

The 3 Merlin parks seem grossly under prepared for the season.

 

Again.

[MattyMoo]

5 hours ago, Benin said:

The 3 Merlin parks seem grossly under prepared for the season.

 

Again.

It's all part of an evil masterplan to bring back the "TLC" campaigns I reckon so they can just rebrand winter maintenance as something special again.

 

Don't recall Paultons ever posting saying they've cut their hedges or painted something.

[Mark9]

9 hours ago, Cal said:

Vampire, scorpion express, kobra and rattlesnake are closed all day today. 
 

Happy Easter kids.  

 

Rattlesnake did open and it was displaying an 140 minute queue. Which is possible as when I went it was on a three car operation. 

 

It's unbelievable incompetence. Something is fundamentally wrong with the Merlin parks. 

[Inferno]

We really do need some proper competition in the UK don’t we.

 

I wonder if Merlin’s management actually know how dire it is at all the parks operationally? Or are they too busy backslapping and congratulating themselves about the new rides (most of which still aren’t open) and Aramark outsourcing?  Because it never seems to change does it.

 

There should be no excuses for not getting at least most rides open at capacity before the Easter holidays, surely?

 

Good luck to the engineers on their strike. I hope management sit up and listen.

[Benin]

If Paultons continues on their trajectory then could easily surpass Lego and Chessie.

 

Granted very difficult for them to tackle the 30 odd years both have been in the game. But they're certainly making a good effort so far. Few more decent expansions and infrastructure improvements and they'll get there. 

 

Unlikely we'll see good competition elsewhere though. The other parks don't seem to be much bothered. 

[MattyB]

Its odd isn't it?  Merlin have been running these parks for nearly 14 years now, and it feels like they are still learning how to run these parks.  Its a shame, as these parks were once great places to visit...

[Mark9]

Frankly they aren't interested in creating memorable experiences from a management level. There's no care for what the parks actually are, what they are supposed to be. It doesn't matter how fantastic Dragons Fury looks for example if you cannot get on the thing. 

 

They are heading for massive issues if Mandrill doesn't deliver the usual B&M efficiency and reliability. But even then, that one ride is not going to be enough when the rest of the park is like this. 

 

 

[MattyB]

Agreed. Hopefully they will get their act together with the new CEO coming on board, but you're right, if they don't care at a management level then they are heading for some rough times. 

[Benin]

1 hour ago, Mark9 said:

Frankly they aren't interested in creating memorable experiences from a management level. There's no care for what the parks actually are, what they are supposed to be. It doesn't matter how fantastic Dragons Fury looks for example if you cannot get on the thing. 

 

They are heading for massive issues if Mandrill doesn't deliver the usual B&M efficiency and reliability. But even then, that one ride is not going to be enough when the rest of the park is like this. 

 

 

 

Memorable experiences for all the wrong reasons.

 

Lot of it is shooting themselves in own foot. Over-selling Fastrack, allowing RAP to become a complete mess of a system that helps no one, adding low quality/throughput rides, allowing existing rides and infrastructure become almost unsafe, the list can go on.

[Matt 236]

When I went to Paultons the other month, basically none of the above happened. 
 

Almost every attraction open, short queues, nowhere near as much RAP, clean, next to no breakdowns and an enjoyable filled day. 
 

If an independent park can get themselves ready for an early/mid February opening, it baffles me how Chessington cannot. 
 

Ok, things happen but having your headline ride on reduced capacity and at least 2 more closed, whilst everything else is also reduced and breaking down constantly. Jumangi may help, but it won’t solve any major problems with anything.