Chessington Trip Reports

[JoshC.]

A new year, but my same old PTRs! :PNow, this was my first Zoo Day at Chessington ever, as far as I remember at least. The whole reason for it was to take advantage of the half price MAP deal, and it was felt it would turn out as a better family day out than a trip to London. It also made for a better chance to take videos with my new pocket camcorder, which hopefully will lead to some videos in the next week or so (when I have more time to sort them out; as mentioned later on, there's one currently on Facebook..)After arriving just before 10, all three of us were sorted out be about 10 past which, considering there was a bit of a queue, isn't bad at all. One thing I noted was how one group tried to get half price MAPs, but didn't know that it had ended early, and they weren't impressed as you can imagine.. For the most part, however, anyone who tried to purchase a MAP either had an email to warrant it or were prepared to pay full price, perhaps oblivious to the fact they could've got it half price with a bit of pro-activity!My new AP! I'm not blue, unlike last season, but I have a nice white line through my head...The weather for the day. It was a bit chilly, but there was no rain at least!Our day started off by trying to watch the otters being feed, as the show was just starting. However, with a crowd of people round, we opted against it and made our way to the Trail of the Kings instead...With the gorillas seemingly asleep, we moved straight to the lion and tiger enclosures. They weren't too active either, really, but were in plain sight, which was nice!Lion.Sleepy tiger.The lioness was quite active.I can't remember the last time I saw the leopard at Chessington, but today I saw it! It was quite active, perhaps waiting for a feed or something, but I genuinely was glad to have finally seen it. XD I took a video, but no photos. So, like with many things throughout this PTR, it will be a case of 'watch this space' I'm afraid!We made our way to Sealion Bay, and a show was due in 10ish minutes, so we decided to wait around. I got some epic video footage, but for now you'll have to deal with a few poor-ish photos...Swimming..More swimming.*More photos of sealions coming soon*After a quick hot chocolate break, we decided to go to Bubbleworks, see how opening it over Zoo Days was doing. I must confess myself impressed at the fact that most of the scenes were actually working well, but not perfectly, and that it felt just like it was the middle of open season when it should be at it's best.Whilst we're in Transylvania, may as well chuck in a couple of Vampire-related pictures...Never noticed this fake tree thing, so decided to take a photo of it all special like...A quick stop in the Chessington Shop, and...Chessington will have more than 1 new thing in 2012 - they've got new TOYS!!!!Seagull Skyway anyone?So, after a bit more wandering round, we decided on lunch. The Chicken Shack was open, despite it not being advertised to on the website / map, which I guess is a good thing, and that is where we decided on. After just sneaking in a table, it was obvious that it was a busy; every table was full. The staff were, however, working fast, which I guess is a good thing. However, I feel that the speed of service compromised the quality. The food we ordered was not good; the beef burger was greasy to death, and the chicken was very dry. The chips much to rave about either. We complained, about were given one of the meals refunded. As glad as we were that we were given some compensation, service should never come to this point, and this was certainly the sour note of the day.After an uneventful walk through the Monkey Bird and Garden for the first time in a good couple of years (probably since 2008), we made our way to Wanyama Village and Reserve, for my second visit since it had opened. I liked the place when I first visited, shortly after it had opened, but it was always something which was put lower down on the list of 'things to do', when taking into consideration the theme park as well. This is indeed a shame, as my visit today realised just how much I like the atmosphere and the general area. Will definitely try to fit it in on future visits!The central water piece.Ostriches. I took a photo of one of these shy little things, but the picture didn't come out well. Ah well, here's the factfile..Meerkat adoptions! My name is here! (Also, you can play spot the other TPM member..)I love the meerkat enclosure at Chessington; so many photo opportunities.From the tunnel.All standing up straight.The king of the mountain?This is where Wanyama stuff ends. As a side note, anyone who has me on Facebook, there is a short video at the 'peak' of Wanyama uploaded if you want to have a look. I hope to upload to Youtube or something too.I don't care how old I am, I have always wanted to have an arm-span as long as a vulture's Condor's wingspan.. ;)There was also a visit to the good ol' Sealife centre, but unfortunately most pictures didn't turn out alright. There will most definitely be more pictures and videos to come from my trip, but there'll be uploaded later during the week (I still have one more exam, you see...), so as said, it's a case of watch this space!I'll leave you with some photos of the AP / ticket queue as we left at about half 2 (with a 3pm close..) :oFor now, that's all..

[Benin]

That wingspan thing is for a Condor [/pedant] ;)Nice to know nothing's changed so I don't have to bother... Monkey Kingdom would have made a WORLD of difference to the zoo side...Oh and my name's still there... Win... Moved about much though...

[JoshC.]

That wingspan thing is for a Condor [/pedant] ;)Nice to know nothing's changed so I don't have to bother... Monkey Kingdom would have made a WORLD of difference to the zoo side...

D'oh; edited to please the pendants.. ;)I must admit, going through the monkey and bird bit made me realise why I hadn't been through it in so long...

[JoshC.]

Double post - OMG ANARCHY!!!As promised in the PTR, my first video!

It's not the greatest, I know, but hey, it's a start. As said, there will be more to come at some point or another.

[Sidders]

Is it bad that in the first ten seconds I'm sat here expecting to hear "FENTON!"?

[Sheepie]

"Mummy!" "Mummy!?" "MUMMY!?!""Go to your room"Doctor Who references anyone? In all seriousness, looks like you enjoyed yourself Josh. I still can't help but feel Wanyama is just so barren. I don't particularly enjoy seeing animals behind fences.

[pluk]

That zebra needs a fluffer.

[Smidget]

THE ZEBRAS Didn't see anything like that when I went, must have been a special treat for you Josh :PNone of the animals really did anything amazing when I went, but it was still a nice day out. Bubbleworks was a huge disappointment, but we only went on it as it was something else to do. Granted it's operating when the rest of Chessie is closed, but I personally find the ride a total bore anyway, and it's not something I would willingly ride when the whole park is open. Overall though it was a nice day out, and watching Ian stuff his face with doughnuts was a laugh

[Mattgwise]

Good day today, park opened at 9:30 (on Vampire at 9:45) and was very quiet until 11:30-12 when it suddenly got fairly busy and Vampire, Rattlesnake, Tomb Blaster, Dragon Falls, Dragon's Fury, Kobra all had queues of at least 45 mins. Jumbos, TTT (Dodgem's), Bubbleworks, Buccannear and Rameses had 25 - 30 minute queues most of the afternoon.

Dragon's Fury went down at about 1:30/2pm.

Black Buccannear has the most ridiculous batching system ever.does it have balance issues as they kept faffing about asking people to swap seats and he was counting people quite often before giving thumbs up to the operator?

Rameses Revenge seemed to invert 6 times in a row on the second of its two cycles it gives. I have never seen it do more than 4 and it seemed to soak people for longer than usual too.

[Han30]

First visit to CWOA today since May 2009 (not counting a zoo day visit in 2010). Was told that it could be quite busy but didnt realise how much - perhaps in other peoples terms it wasnt too busy but I am not a huge fan of queuing ages for rides and assumed that as Easter hols were over, it wouldnt be so bad - guess a LOT of schools had inset days.

I love Chessington and always have, since my first visit in 1990. Despite the queuing I had a great day - I love the atmosphere of the place and the staff members were all very friendly.

Unfortunately, due to my sister taking a wrong turn on the way, we were a little late getting there and then had to queue to get in. I also wasnt able to get on many of the rides as I was with my niece and she was too short for Ramesis and Rattlesnake and didnt want to go on Fury. I was freezing cold the whole day so we didnt do Dragon Falls either which was a shame. No time to visit the zoo or sealife but we did sit and watch the sealions for a while which was lovely - they are amazing funny animals and entertained us while we sat for a rest.

My ride count was:

Peeking Heights x 1

Tomb Blaster x 1

Vampire x 2

Griffins Galleon x 1

Bubbleworks x 1

Jungle Bouncers x 1

Sea Storm x 1

I am not a huge fan of Peeking Heights as, well I hate heights but went on it (have been on before) - the ride op was very friendly and chatted with us while we were waiting - once we reached the top and the thing started swinging I can extremely close to vomiting - yeah I am a lightweight! Only had to wait about 10 mins for this ride which wasn't too bad

Havent been on Tomb Blaster for a good few years - am I right in thinking they have changed the snake thing (I'm sure it used to pop up out of nowhere?) - my score on Blaster was terrible but I blame it on my gun and I am pretty sure I have given myself RSI (if that is possible). We queued for about 20mins for this which wasn't too bad.

Sea Storm - 10 min queue - love the ride but dont particularly enjoy going backwards - but the contents of my stomach stayed intact

Griffins Galleon was a walk on - I really like this ride and think it is underrated - I wouldnt go on my own but having an 8 year old with me is good as it may look a bit odd for a 31 year old to ride it alone?!

Onto Vampire (my favourite ride) - first ride the queue was about 25mins - got quite bored in the queue line with no-one to talk to but the queue did seem to move quite quick which was good. Got on near the back and a lady came and sat next to me - had an interesting convo on the lift hill which was nice - she is a rollercoaster enthusiast so we were chatting about all sorts of things - she said she wanted to go to TP but her kids wouldnt go on the coasters there!

Second Vampire ride and I managed to persuade my niece to come on with me - last time she rode she was 5 and ended up in tears but 3 years on, she has grown a lot so I figured that she would tolerate it better. Longer queue line then we reached the gate where you walk through to enter the station and were stopped - technical prob with the ride but it gave us a chance to chat with a lovely ride assistant which passed the time. Waited about 10 mins and was hoping we would get on as we had already queued for about 40mins - ride prob was sorted so in we went. We joined a queue behind a group of people who, well I am not sure what planet they were on but they just didnt move for ages. Eventually they realised that you actually have to get ON the ride duh. Eventually we got on - my niece was panicking slightly so I held her hand and she was fine and loved it - afterwards I parted with £7 - £7!!!! for a ride photo, I must be mad!

Having not been to the park for 3 years there have obviously been some changes - this might sound a bit sad but I kinda miss Beanoland (I think maninly the music for the dodgems!) - Wild asia seems to be very gray but I guess that is the colour scheme they have gone for which is fair enough (not that I am picky ) Kobra looked fun but we didnt ride owing to the fact that after trying out "The Edge" at Paultons it was a miracle I wasnt sick and my sister was taking wagers with her partner if I would up chuck or not - nice. I think Kobra is a good addition to the park - and fits in well with the area.

Rameses looked like it was on a pretty intense setting at one point - I wanted to ride especially as there was no queue (I remember the days when the queues were backed right up over the bridge and beyond) - didnt ride this as my niece was too short.

Flying Jumbos.....ummmm......we went to queue for it but the queue was quite hefty so we gave it a miss - I know they had to move it to make way for the Madagascar Live show but it is so hidden away I'm surprised there was a queue at all because you can barely see the ride, I'm surprised anyone knew it was there!

Bubbleworks was ok - my niece enjoyed it but I still prefered it with good ol' Professor Burp - bring him back is what I say!

Am gutted that I didnt get to explore areas of the park such as the zoo, sealife, a ride on safari skyway and other rides - if I had an annual pass I guess it wouldnt matter so much but we used BOGOFs so paid £20 each - despite the low ride count, I do enjoy just being at a theme park and not necessarily constantly going on rides - there were SO many children there - not that I hate children, I just couldnt eat a whole one. The kids behind us in the queue for the Vampire were highly irritating, not only because they sounded like a bunch of teenagers but because they were shouting at the ride assistant and constantly asking questions as to when the ride would reopen - if my niece has spoken like that I would not have been too pleased - I always make sure that she says thank you to the ride assistants when we exit rides we have been on.

What really stood out for me was the staff - extremely friendly and I didnt come across a single staff member who looked bored, cheesed off or tired - I have always wanted to work at a theme park (mainly chessington) but since I got application forms back in 2000 I developed bad anxiety and was unable to complete the forms. I have a lot of respect for people working in the theme park industry - visiting a theme park is obviously hugely different to working at one, and dealing with the public I guess at times is probably quite challenging. I am usually extremely shy and hate talking to people that I dont know but actually chatted to lots of different people today - staff and visitors - not sure why, I kinda feel more confidant in that environment.

Am a bit gutted about the smoking areas but totally understand why these have been implemented - despite being a smoker I can see how smoking is not pleasant for people around you and lets face it, its a nasty habit! - it meant that my smoking intake for the day was a lot less than usual which can only be a good thing. The plus side of the smoking areas is that you get the chance to talk to other social lepers(!), sorry I meant to say fellow smokers - was talking to a lady who told me it was her first visit and she was asking me about the log flume - we chatted for a while and then she left and I said "enjoy the rest of your day" - I do genuinely love watching people having fun and enjoying themselves, part of the reason why I would love to work in the theme park industry.

So yes I am waffling - I am hopefully going to go back to CWOA again this year but also really want to visit TP as I havent been in 10 years. Am on a mission to persuade a friend to come with me - said friend has never been to a theme park or ridden a rollercoaster and she is almost 33

All in all a good day out, tiring after walking for what seemed like ages and not eating anything for the whole day but still enjoyable and I like the fact that they have staff at the gates when you leave asking if you have had a good day and saying goodbye.

[HAJiME]

Black Buccannear has the most ridiculous batching system ever.does it have balance issues as they kept faffing about asking people to swap seats and he was counting people quite often before giving thumbs up to the operator. second of its two cycles it gives.

Adults need to sit on the outside seats. Disabled guests must sit facing the op. Not sure if there's other peculiarities? It's still early in the season so maybe staff are still getting the hang of it, or maybe it was a particually awkward group of people.

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[Fred]

It's an awkward rule.

Don't know why they don't just add magnetic gates on one or either side of the boat similar to heave ho/longboat, enabling children to sit on the end.

Chessington and lego seemingly take the rule that little bit extra anyway - the Huss recommendation is that people of height to have feet firmly on the ground sit on the outside.

[HAJiME]

I would guess, since its hard to judge height and would need another height stick, its easier to just go with adults. Not only that, but it being adults instead of height implies its a maturity thing instead of h&s, which is easier for guests to comprehend. People often wonder why rattlesnake is 1.4 when fury is more intense.

Its like the weight rules, I've been asked my age before and, because me and my mates are adults, split up and paired with under 18s who definitely weighed more than us.

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[Fred]

Nah all you'd need is to see feet on the ground, then swap people around. Not that difficult. Know of a certain park up north which does this.

[Coaster]

Went to Chessington today.

Very quiet, a great ride count for the day

RIDECOUNT:

Dragon's Fury x5

Vampire x2

Bubbleworks x2

Rattlesnake x7

Monkey swinger x1

Black Buccaneer x1

Tomb blaster x3

Seastorm x1

Dragon Falls x1

Ramesis Revenge x1

Hocus Pocus hall X1

HIGHLIGHTS:

- Spotting some new changes around the park, nothing major but change is welcome.

- A very good ridecount

- Beating my friend at Tomb Blaster!!! (18,000 to 29,000 approx.)

LOWLIGHTS:

- Pizza at market square was not up to usual standard

- Leaving

- Queue times sign still saying "Berry bouncers"

- Vampire not running paticuarly well today, usually my favourite ride there but today was beaten by Fury and Rattlesnake (imo).

Overall a great day

[Fred]

Mmmm Chessington.

Right, I'm awful at Trip Reports. Like, seriously awful. However, I wanted to write about chessie as its close to my heart and its been ages since I've visited, so I'm going to niavely presume none of you lot have visited in a while either.

Positives:

-Madagascar has vastly improved Toytown area

-Toadies has had a repaint, with additional things, ride is far better than a couple of years ago

-Staffwise, apart from one on vampire, were nothing short of brilliant - perfect for offpeak days at least.

-Entertainments on site are brilliant. There's far better lighting, sound systems on all the zoo products since I last visited.

-Toilets are sexy

-Majority of the park looks fresh and pleasant

-Hotel is sexy, as ever.

-Finally sealife has been rebranded into its new one. Looking sexy with the thorpe park font.

Negatives:

-Entire of transylvania is shocking.

-Although staff are brilliant, they've very robotic (No, it's not my first ride at midday thanks).

-Jumbos is a bit of a state

-No water on rameses?!

-3 pods only on peeking, errr?

Right, let's get down to this. I stayed in the hotel which was full of people not visiting the park, and I got a Wanyama upgrade for free. Something which I'm sure is very underestimated, is seeing animals (including a fake hippo and crocodile) out your bedroom window. It's nothing short of fantastic, must be similar to what the parks in florida try and achieve.

Seeing as I visited West Midlands Safari Park recently, I've realised how ace these things are - so that investment in chessington will only add to the USP of the park, it'll be a brilliant experience (there's signs of construction as well, so I imagine its actually going ahead - wow!).

So, leaving the hotel we trecked on park, and instantly went to Transylvania, as always. And what. They've changed the track. It sounds like something suited to mexicana, plays throughout the area including vampire entrance. Awful, absolutely awful. Followed by dilapitated queueline, vampire station falling to bits and a staff member reminding me of the old days (shouty, loud, and chavvy). Not impressed. Followed by bubbleworks, which is.. well.. someone needs to do a duel and actually put some care and attention into it, or make it look a bit better. Why is there STILL imperial leather stickers everywhere in there? Bloody hell.

Luckily, the trip didn't continue like this. Buccaneer had a lovely person working on it, buccaneer being usual. Cheered me up. Went around rest of park, including 20mins of tomb blaster (due to 3 trains). Now, tomb looks terrible in the queue with only one tv working, and the announcement which doesn't fit the rest.. but the ride itself looked great for once.

Toadies looks good, wild asia naturally looks good, just got into it after it opened. Y'know what, it didn't affect our day, there's plenty of other things to do until that point, unlike lego really.

Watched the animal shows and they're ace Overall, everything looks good bar tranny really, oh and jumbos. But yeah I'm bored now, told you I'm useless at writing trip reports. Soz.

[Han30]

I wouldn't say that you are awful at trip reports. Can pretty much agree with almost everything you pointed out (apart from the sexiness of the toilets/hotel etc!)

I absolutely detest the queue line for Vampire - that horrible purple gating with bits flaking off just isnt a great look, however I still think the station has fantastic theming - overall I preferred the good old days with the bat cars but the new cars add a different dimension I guess.

Completely agree about the Bubbleworks - it is a shadow of its former self and I was a tad bored when I went on it last month - I don't know what it needs other than some serious work/retheming. Maybe it is my age but I remember when it was Proff Burps bubbleworks and I just found it amazing. Oh, and is it just me or do they not do the strobe lighning thing near the end of the ride? That became the best part of later years - which is saying something.

Tomb blaster I hadnt been on for about 4 years and I found the queue to be a bit irritating - I dont know if it is the smell in there (anyone else noticed this?), the fact that there was tonnes of kids queuing aswell or having to constantly watch where I was walking due to uneven flooring - I wonder how many times people trip up in there!

Did you get many rides in? And was the park busy or fairly quiet. The hotel sounds great but I cant see that I would ever stay as I only live 25 miles from Chessie. I didnt get to visit sealife last month so will have to check it out on next visit.

[Fred]

We got in plenty of rides - pretty much all of them. I did realise that the park really is a two day job if you actually want to do everything, we were trying to do every ride once and watch the shows, and we ran out of time without watching half of the shows we wanted to. Park was rather quiet, though probably far busier than it has been recently.. a fair few school groups.

Vampire - I heard on the grapevine yesterday that they should be redoing the queue completely soon (winter?), and that maybe the original entrance gates will be used again. If so, then that is amazing. The park really has been putting attention into some detail and particularly into the experience guests receive, and I think its working wonders.

However, I mentioned vampire station - it's just showing everywhere that paint is coming off wherever the height sticks are kept. Same with Tomb Blaster, looks horrible. Oh, and they need to change their operations rules, it felt so weird that the hosts HAD to pick up a height stick whenever I went on a ride, even though we're way over the minimum, and we're the only two in sight!

[Joegibbon]

I am at Cheesington all day today. Check here for regular live updates all day www.coasterupdates.com

[Han30]

Fred - I agree that the park really is a 2 day thing - even though it is far from massive, aside from the rides, there is sealife, zoo, shows plus you have to squeeze in lunch - this is a reason why I love the park so much - because the variety of things to do. I missed a lot on my last visit - due to the park being quite busy. Maybe I might do a 2 day-er and try out the hotel - sounds like a good reason to do so.

That would be amazing if they did something with the Vampire queue line - and even better if the original entrance is back in use. To be honest, I didnt really notice the flakey paint in the station - but I am not massively observant to be honest. I still love the station and the atmosphere of it, although I did prefer those coffin things they used to have to space out the queue for the trains. Vamps is my favourite coaster (probably only because I have ridden just 14 coasters, most of which were very tame) followed closely by space mountain at DLP. I think they should look after Vamps a bit better because it is still so popular even after 22 years - and would definitely provide improve guest experience. But I sometimes wonder if the general public notice things that you and I have noticed? For me, personally I never paid much attention to "theming", just rides. However, when I went to another "theme park" 2 years ago (mentioning no names) it really hit me how much theming improves ride experience and general atmosphere.

As regards Tomb Blaster - I like to spend as little time in there (queueing) as possible - as I mentioned before that damn smell (or maybe it is me?!) - as for the height sticks - weird why they would get them out if you are blatantly well over the height limit - maybe some ride ops/attendants just enjoy playing with their sticks?!

Joe - how was your trip to Chessington?

[Mer]

Wait the Vampire music has gone?! Did I read Fred's post correctly? Wtf?!

[pluk]

Wait the Vampire music has gone?! Did I read Fred's post correctly? Wtf?!

Where's it say that? That better not be true. IT CAN'T BE!!!

[Mattgwise]

Fred said the Transylvania music had changed, as in the area around bubbleworks and down to entrance of Vampire. Vampire music remains, although is very annoying that they use the microphone/PA over it so much.

[Mer]

But didn't Vampire's theme play in that whole area? Either way glad it's still used on the ride

[Mattgwise]

No, this is the music that played in Transylvania