Chessington General Discussion

[Benin]

Chessie can barely afford to lose any attractions for capacity sake.

 

None of their new additions have exactly helped that either.

 

If they bin Truckers I volunteer to take a sledgehammer to it.

[Theme Park Fanatic]

3 hours ago, Benin said:

Chessie can barely afford to lose any attractions for capacity sake.

 

None of their new additions have exactly helped that either.

 

If they bin Truckers I volunteer to take a sledgehammer to it.

@Benin I presume you don’t like Tiny Truckers then.

 

Your profile picture of a dismembered Frazzle is both fascinating and disturbing. When I went to Chessington in June 2022 Frazzle wasn’t working,he was stuck in his cave and static. Is Frazzle working again now? I love Frazzle the Dragon he’s one of the best aspects of Chessington. Frazzle’s been at Chessington since the Theme Park opened. I bet if Frazzle could talk he would have many stories to tell,furthermore I bet he’s seen an array of things from people puking to the construction of some of the rides at Chessington. I really appreciate that upon the creation of Land Of The Dragons Frazzle was relocated to the area. It would have been a tragedy if he was binned following his removal from Mystic East.

Is it true that back in the day the building that houses Dragons Playhouse was the Elephant House. I read that the Elephants used to live there hence the hight of the building.

 

 

[Benin]

Looking at old maps and whilst the elephants seemingly used to be on that site, pre-LotD maps seem to match up with my vague memory that the Playhouse building wasn't there but the Nero/Puppet Show building was.

 

Childhood Benin does miss the old Action Man assault course thing that used to be there. 

[Theme Park Fanatic]

@Benin Your profile picture of a dismembered Frazzle is both fascinating and disturbing. When I went to Chessington in June 2022 Frazzle wasn’t working,he was stuck in his cave and static. Is Frazzle working again now? I love Frazzle the Dragon he’s one of the best aspects of Chessington. Frazzle’s been at Chessington since the Theme Park opened. I bet if Frazzle could talk he would have many stories to tell,furthermore I bet he’s seen an array of things from people puking to the construction of some of the rides at Chessington. I really appreciate that upon the creation of Land Of The Dragons Frazzle was relocated to the area. It would have been a tragedy if he was binned following his removal from Mystic East.

 

@Benin myself and Frazzle go back a long way. I saw and activated him on my first visit to Chessington in October 2007. I was saddened to see Frazzle broken on my last visit to Chessington in June 2022. 

[Matt 236]

Given half the park is seemingly on its last legs, that’s a substantial amount of attractions that could be on the chopping block. However as others have mentioned the park urgently need as much capacity as possible because the throughput of most of their new rides is embarrassing TBH. 
 

hard to know what’s next for the park, but can see Mexicana being a potential redevelopment area. Just made to think more than a decade ago, they had three attractions that could manage around 1000 PPH. Nowadays 500 PPH seems high for them which is embarrassing.

[Theme Park Fanatic]

On 10/13/2023 at 9:40 AM, Theme Park Fanatic said:

Scorpion Express- I wouldn’t be surprised if Scorpion Express left Chessington. The Rollercoaster is Chessington’s oldest and also holds the title of the most unreliable ride at the Theme Park. In addition Scorpion Express had a fairly major fire in July 2022. The fire obviously caused significant damage as the rides been closed for over 18 months

Now Europa Park have said all of Alpenexpress' track is being replaced and it will have a new modern train,could Scorpion Express be revived.

 

Personally I think Europa Park should sell/give  Alpeneexpress’s original train to Chessington. Scorpion Express and Alpenexpress are identical models and around the same age. Due to these factors the Alpenexpress Train would be able to operate on Scorpion’s track. As we know the Scorpion Express was destroyed beyond repair by last years fire. If I was in charge of Chessington I’d liaise with the Mack Family about buying their now surplus Alepinexpress locomotive. I’d even enquire about buying the track to store for spare parts,should any of Scorpion Express’s track need replacing. Finally the model of train that Scorpion Express has been discontinued. This means sourcing a new train would be impossible. I suppose Chessington could pay to have a custom made train but why would they waste their money when there’s a perfectly working train at Europa Park. I mean this in the nicest possible way but Europa Parks fire could be good news for Chessington.

I  have an inkling that Chessington have bought parts of Alpenexpress to extend the life of Scorpion Express. My reason for thinking this is Scorpion Express hasn’t been tested or had work done for many months. It seems strange that within weeks of the Europa Park fire that repair work and testing on Scorpion Express has resumed. If I’m wrong the biggest coincidence has occurred. It seems very much like Scorpion Express is receiving the train from Alpeneexpress. Should this be the case Europa Park’s pain has resulted in Chessington’s gain. 
 

I am not a pyromaniac but if my theory is correct I’m elated that Europa Park had the fire. I genuine l like Scorpion Express and the thought of the ride literally going up in smoke sadddened me. Should Scorpion Express be reopening I wonder if Chessington will use this as an opportunity to refurbish or even retheme Mexicana. It’s highly likely that Mexicana was going to be rethemed within the next decade anyway. I think the while Scorpion Express is SBNO Chessington might as well remodel the surrounding area. I would say with certainty there’s a high probability that Alpenexpress’s fire has saved Scorpion Express from being removed.
 

My reason for thinking a retheme Mexicana was in the pipeline is that Mexicana and The Land Of The Dragons are the sole lands the only within Chessington that haven’t been rethemed or seriously upgraded. Except for cosmetic changes,the removal of Rodeo and the area being renamed from Calamity Canyon Mexicana has been untouched since its opening in 1987. Furthermore there were rumours floating around that Mexicana was on the chopping block.

 

Am I the only member of Thorpe Park Mania who suspects Alpenexpress could be recycled to replace the fire damaged elements of Scorpion Express?

[JoshC.]

2 hours ago, Theme Park Fanatic said:

As we know the Scorpion Express was destroyed beyond repair by last years fire.

The ride has been seen to move, so not completely destroyed.

 

2 hours ago, Theme Park Fanatic said:

Am I the only member of Thorpe Park Mania who suspects Alpenexpress could be recycled to replace the fire damaged elements of Scorpion Express?

It would make zero sense to buy parts from an equally old to try and keep Scorpion Express alive. I'm afraid you're the only one who thinks this.

 

Whilst Scorpion Express could well return, I do think the writing is on the wall, as it were.

[Glitch]

Remove truckers and bring back the action man adventure course. Perhaps also a barbie collab ?!?

[Matt 236]

Whatever happens to Scorpion, there is no way they would source parts from Europa’s Alpen Express. Because that ride is even older than Scorpion and we don’t even know what Europa are doing with it yet. No to mention different companies. 
 

The park could benefit from another major coaster and some supporting attractions in-between. In a few years, some rides including Scorpion will be 40 years old.

[Benin]

Imagine being a massive company like Merlin and being so desperate for parts you'd rather take burnt ones than fork out for new stuff.

 

Europa have probably already binned all their old bits. Especially if they're putting new train and track type (a la Max & Moritz) on AlpenExpress. 

 

Either bin it or fork out on spending actual money on things. Sticking plasters do nothing but delay the inevitable. 

[Matt 236]

It might aesthetically look the best it has in over a decade, but Chessington is fundamentally broken.

 

Most of the new rides built and supplied by cheap manufacturers, with low throughputs and regular break downs. Mandrill might be the best investment in years, but it’s still a weird choice given other options. Not helped either by Merlin’s extreme & unnecessary safety reactions, making what’s already a questionable throughput dire.

 

The rest of the park is still the same story. Old/ageing rides struggling to operate on lower throughputs and increasing breakdowns. Tiger Rock & Dragons Fury were down frequently during the day. Tomb is an absolute mess. 
 

Howl’oween was generally fun (albeit no Creepy Caves) with some excellent shows and entertainment, but seriously needs to go back to 8pm as you basically get half an hour of atmospheric park lighting and everything. 
 

Management, car parks, queue distribution, infastructure, F&B and so much more is keeping this park from being something great. Like I’m sure it was a long long time ago. However most of the above is unlikely to be improved soon, if ever.

[Cal]

Completely agree. 

 

Last time I was there Fury was running 4 cars, which later went down to 3. Most of the time all 4 were in the station/break run. Painful to watch how they were operating it. Tiger Rock, Tomb blaster, Vampire + many more as we know are getting nowhere near what they're capable of an hour.

 

Chessington is a pleasant day out on an off peak weekday, but as soon as they get any sort of crowd its really depressing how they run that place.

[Mattgwise]

I think what was shocking for me this Howloween is that Barrel Bail Out had 11 seats/guns taped off and Ostrich Stampede two broken sets of arms (6 seats), both of which have only been open less than two years. Croc drop also a seat down to give a further kick in the teeth to capacity. 

 

RAP and Fastrack seriously hinder operations (which we have known for years. Example being vampire taking an hour from the tunnel, but as soon as close hits less than 30 mins to the station from that same point once Fastrack and RAP have vanished! 

 

Agree the park needs to revert back to 8pm! It was still quite busy at 7pm too! 

[Benin]

Tomb Blaster needs binning. What a horrible version it's been turned into. Shows how crap things are when certain sections were waxing lyrical about it.

 

I heard from a good source that they might be looking at car park stuff next year. Not that I used that one because Blue badge spaces but it's needed doing for decades.

[Cal]

So today Chessington has the following closed all day; 

 

- Mandrill Mayhem

- Rattlesnake

- Tiger Rock

- Zufari

- Tomb Blaster

- Tiny Truckers

- Seastorm

- Monkey Swinger

- Scorpion Express

 

Dragons Fury has operated for 1 hour so far today and is currently closed. 

 

What an absolute shambles. I swear this is getting worse every year. I feel like Thorpe and Towers have both turned a corner and are making the right decisions and investments. The same can't be said for Chessington unfortunately...

 

The park also re validated tickets yesterday due to ride availability.

[Matt 236]

Very embarrassing and poor for the park to deliver this level of service for the opening of the park. It seems to get worse every year, with last few leaving lots to be desired also. 
 

Chessington’s reliability issues are certainly even worse than Thorpes and Towers. 

[JoshC.]

4 hours ago, Cal said:

Scorpion Express

 

Not that it makes a difference to your point, but Scorpion hasn't run since mid-2022, and is completely absent from the park's map now.

 

Whether it's died a slow and painful death or just taking a hibernation, who knows...

[Cal]

50 minutes ago, JoshC. said:

 

Not that it makes a difference to your point, but Scorpion hasn't run since mid-2022, and is completely absent from the park's map now.

 

Whether it's died a slow and painful death or just taking a hibernation, who knows...

 

Yeah I must admit I didn't know whether or not to add it to the list, but the park are still yet to announce a permanent closure.

 

Its also still listed as closed on the ride availability page (https://www.chessington.com/plan-your-visit/resort-information/ride-availability/) but looks like this page hasn't been updated for a good while! 

 

Its a strange one as I thought they would be desperate to get this back open, and it was seen testing last season. But maybe they have bigger plans for this area now! 

[Matt 236]

Although different circumstances, it is crazy how in half the time Scorpion has been closed, Towers have rebuilt/plushed Nemesis and Europa have replaced their largely fire damaged version of the same ride. As part of a whole area rebuild. 
 

Meanwhile at Chessington, we still know nothing more about the fate of the ageing Scorpion Express. Which has been SBNO for almost 2 years now, but looking increasingly likely to be permanently closed. I guess this isn’t the first time this has happened at a notable park. When we see what with the Hollywood ride at Phantasialand and various closures over the years at Blackpool.

[Mark9]

15 hours ago, Exodus Matt said:

Very embarrassing and poor for the park to deliver this level of service for the opening of the park. It seems to get worse every year, with last few leaving lots to be desired also. 
 

Chessington’s reliability issues are certainly even worse than Thorpes and Towers. 

 

The park need to decide whether they prioritise the main season or the winter season. If they want to do both, the engineering team need to be expanded. 

 

They also said a week or so ago that some rides like Rattlesnake and Griffons Galleon will not be open on off-peak days. Poor decision as Rattlesnake seemed to be one of the few  rides that was running well over the weekend. 

 

Merlin theme parks really test my patience at times. The general expectation at a theme park is to go and rides will be running. At Merlin it's currently a gamble if anything is open on time or for at least half the day. 

[Inferno]

It does feel a bit like Chessington is a bit behind compared to the other Merlin parks.

 

They still seem to be stuck in the money-grabbing Varney era, when Thorpe and Towers have had a big leadership change and a new way of thinking.

 

Keeping Rattlesnake closed on peak days is dreadful and feels a lot like what Merlin were doing across the board when they were scrounging for savings for the shareholders. Embarrassing and unprofessional.

 

At least Mandril has had its air gates changed to allow the station to actually be used now.

 

Does Chessington struggle to retain engineers or something? They seem to have constant problems with availability and reliability, more so than anywhere else.

[Cal]

Its a bit unclear from the wording on their website but it looks like Tiger Rock, Rattlesnake and Zufari will now be closed on off peak dates.

 

That's an awful lot of days to have 3 major rides closed in my opinion. 

 

I'm all for the closing a selection of rides for a few hours on days its very quiet (queues 10 mins of less) but to have rides all day is unacceptable in my opinion.

 

 

 

https://www.chessington.com/plan-your-visit/resort-information/ride-availability/

 

Please see below for Super Off-Peak/ Super Low Off-Peak dates for;

• Zufari: Ride into Africa 
• Tiger Rock
• Rattlesnake

Month	Off-Peak
March 2024	22, 25, 28
April 2024	15 - 19, 22, 24 - 26, 29
May 2024	1 - 3, 8 - 10, 13, 15 - 17, 20 - 23
June 2024	4 - 6, 10 - 14, 17 - 21
September 2024	3 - 6, 9,10 - 13, 18 - 20, 25 - 27, 30
October 2024	3, 4, 7, 10, 11, 14, 17, 18

[JohnnyRocket]

Wow, that’s very poor. That means zero rides operating in Mexicana or Land of the Tiger on off peak days. Tiger Rock looks grim when it’s closed.

[Mark9]

With ride reliability being as bad as it is at the moment, it means every day at Chessington is kinda gonna suck this year. I personally think it's unacceptable for any major ride to be closed if it's actually mechanically fit to open. It tells of a failing theme park. 

[Matt 236]

It’s a honestly a park where you think their operations couldn’t get any worse. Yet somehow it does. 
 

At this rate, they might as well close for park for a year and carry out a massive maintenance upgrade, especially with half the park’s rides on life support.