Chessington Trip Reports

[Merry-go-girl]

I'm surprised by that also, on my list of attractions needing a facelift Market Square didn't even make the cut.

[BigBobJones]

I am sure we will get a much better picture during the Feb half term event. If anything it does look like they are doing the place up rather than let it continue to rot.

Let's wait to see their "New for 2014" attraction, the Flying Fish, I mean mine train with no theming.

[Imagineer]

The Santa looks quite young, and the beard is quite unconvincing.

[JoshC.]

Santa does seem to have gone on an extreme diet this year!

[Imagineer]

http://www.chessington.com/press/image-bank/images/christmas/fullsize/chessington-father-christmas.jpg

For comparison...this is the Santa used for the previous 2/3 years.

[Matt 236]

Here's part one of a movie made from my trip to the park back in April.

Edit- part two is live now too.

[rygr]

Interesting day at Chessington today. Having bought a premium pass, we thought we'd visit Chessington first. We didn't arrive until about 12:30pm and the queues were already rather long. Started by going on the Bubbleworks. Queued for around 45 mins, I'm liking the new colours and they have got rid of the large ride logo just before you enter the ride. Inside, the station music was nice and loud, however THIS (below) is the absolute height of laziness to cover up the old sponsorship. You can already see the tipex/paint has begun to be chipped off, so it won't be long before IL returns!:

The ride itself was good and most effects working, apart from no music where the floating cow is and the fountain finale was minus the fountains (again). Apparently they were working yesterday, yet last week they weren't. They seem rather temperamental at the moment. Nethertheless, the music was nice and loud and the room looked nice, bright and colourful.

Went on to Dragon Falls next (30min queue), the boat had a nice hole in the front of it, so water came gushing in after each drop. I'm a fan of the colourful painting at the top of the 2nd hill. It's also the first ever time in 16 years that I've seen the elephant's trunk at the end of the ride move around properly (not just up and down) like a real elephants trunk. Nice to see!

Skyway was still closed, although checks were being done. However, at closer inspection many of the trains still have their seats up so I'm guessing it may still be a while. We headed for Zufari next which was a 70min queue. Was glad we didn't HAVE to have our picture taken and I'm glad the pre-show has changed since my last visit, so you literally walk straight through that room.

After Zufari we headed for another ride on the Bubbleworks, followed by a 120 minute (more or less) wait for 'The Vampire'. The trains were being dispatched so slowly, I actually thought there was only one train being used. Once inside the station (haven't visited for almost a year) they are doing a new batch system. So instead of deciding where to sit, you are told where to sit. This meant there was hardly anybody in the station at any one time. Was rather annoyed as we had queued for 2 hours, especially to sit at the front but because it wasn't clearly labelled and the batcher seemed in such a rush to get people through, we didn't ask if we could go to the front. I think maybe an extra queue (similar to Nemesis Inferno) would be good (in my opinion), at least it would be clearer for people like me who have witnessed the new system for the first time, wasn't sure if we could ask etc. So we ended up sitting right in the middle after queueing for so long. The lighting inside looks great and the organist is lit in a nice way, however, it doesn't look as if much has been done to the upkeep of the organist as you could clearly see the metal that he was made of as his clothes weren't fixed properly! (ruins the effect slightly I guess). Don't even get me started on the model from Terror Tomb thats in the queue, or the gravestones which have just been tossed aside, upside down, leaning on fences, not much effort. About 2/8 of the queue have been painted black and the rest is purple, which was another observation. The actual music playing in the station has changed too, it's not the 'internet' version without the laughs and that. Not sure why it was changed, maybe it's to do with the pre-recorded announcements, which again I loved, but you couldn't really hear them properly as the music was so loud and they were quieter than the music. I would have hoped the music would have lowered while the announcement played or something along those lines.

The park was open until 7pm as it was such lovely weather. The staff overall were really lovely, positive and interacted well with guests, only did 5 rides but this was expected because of the Easter holiday. All in all a good day, looking forward to visit number 2.

[Kerfuffle]

Quite busy today...but believe it or not:

 

Vampire: x3

Dragon's Fury: x2

Dragon Falls: x1

Tomb Blaster: x1 (sorry Paige )

Hocus Pocus Hall: x1

Scorpion Express: x2 (BOTH times in the front row! )

Seastorm ( ): x1

Rattlesnake: x1

 

...Not to mention the infamous walk-around the hotel and Amazu!

 

Great day! Howl 'o' Ween's just around the corner!

[Coaster]

Having not visited Chessington since last year (which was a very poor visit), I wasn't sure what to expect but the park surprised me in almost every way!

 

Appearance wise, the entire park looks fantastic.  Loads of things have been painted, Vampire's track has been jet washed, buildings look really nice, Market Square is fab and the park audio is amazing!  In this respect, I cannot praise Chessington enough.

 

CLOSED: Rameses Revenge, Safari Skyway.

BREAKDOWNS: Tomb Blaster, Dragon Falls.

 

RIDECOUNT:

Dragon's Fury x2

Zufari x2

Rattlesnake x2

Kobra x2 (Got to stay on as it was the last ride of the day and there were only two people in the queue!)

Tomb Blaster x2

Vampire x1

Bubbleworks x1

Scorpion Express x1

Dragon Falls x1
Monkey Swinger x1

 

TOTAL: 15

 

 

Highlights:

• Appearance of the park is fantasic, they really have given it a facelift since last year!  Top marks from me on this!
• Queues seemed to be moving faster than previous years.  Fastrack queues weren't big though so I imagine this had some impact towards it (if only it could be like that all the time!)
• Bubbleworks is absoloutely fantastic now!  I know it's nothing huge but it has had a lot of lighting changes, touch ups and is now a really great dark ride!  It's not perfect by any means, and the fountain final needs mirrors back but it is a LOT better than it's been for years!
• Zufari is a brilliant attraction, now that the issues have been ironed out (I.e. no animals) and all the effects were working, it really is great fun!  Also very bumpy - I actually got airtime!    Also, it's great that you don't have to watch the preshow anymore, as it is now part of the queue.
• Vampire's operations weren't perfect, but they were a lot better than last year, and as a result the queue actually moved! 
• Scorpion Express exceeded my expectations.
• Overall atmosphere on park was the best it has been in a long time!
• Got a ride on Tomb Blaster with no targets as they were broken, then due to this we were all told to stay on and had another go round!  It's so much better without the targets.
• Pizza Buffet was much higher quality than the one at Towers, despite it being cheaper.

 

Lowlights:

• 5pm close.  The park was busy enough to warrant at least 5:30pm so this was just poor.
• Rameses Revenge closed all day.  It had enough downtime last year, and it is so frustrating to see the best ride in the park (imo) closed yet again!  It's just a simple fair ride, sort it out! 
• Safari Skyway also closed all day.  This is just poor.
• Breakdown on Dragon Falls, which then reopened with barely any boats on.
• Breakdown on Tomb Blaster, which then reopened with barely any trains on.

 

Despite a few frustrations, overall I really enjoyed Chessington today and the whole park feels as if it has been given a breath of fresh air.  It's a shame that it still has some reliability issues, but then again I can't think of any UK park that doesn't.  Top marks from me.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Mark9]

Chessington has certainly turned up the juice this year, when I went in April it was by far the more enjoyable Merlin visit of the three and all the little repaints and refurbishments have definitely given it the lease of life it deserves.

[Fred]

Visited Chessie twice this year, really enjoyed both times. Vampire operations were good (in terms of.. they were working to the pretty much to the speed they used to back in 08). The Park just has some nice vibe to it, and everyones friendly to chat to. Bubbles is better as the result of lighting changes which means it's not lit up like a christmas tree.

 

Chessies becoming a firm favourite of mine. Still dislike Zufari, still has so much work to make it better (bye lemur, hello stuff that actually happens), but its getting there.

 

No safari on both of my trips though, lols. 

 

Would adore to see operations on Vampire which leads to a train being dispatched as the other is on lift2 though.. or close to that. On my last occasion it was on the lifthill as the other hit the brakes - still a VAST improvement over the past few years, but could be better!!!

[SteveJ]

Skyway has been closed for a few weeks. This ride is currently not in possession of Chessington's in-house engineers anymore, so you can't really blame the park for being responsible for its downtime.

[JoshC.]

My visit back in April was rather poor (can't remember if I ended up doing any for of TR about it in the end).  At the end of the day, it felt like 2013 with a polish up of a couple of areas and an old ride with a couple of snazzy effects just chucked at it.  

 

Haven't visited again this season, and given how my 2015 is possibly shaping up to be, I dunno how likely it is that I'll go next season.  At least other's are enjoying themselves and giving the place positive reviews; so that's a start I guess!

[Fred]

Skyway has been closed for a few weeks. This ride is currently not in possession of Chessington's in-house engineers anymore, so you can't really blame the park for being responsible for its downtime.

.....yes you can. There'll be a reason why it's not even in the hands of the in-house engineers at the moment. And that'll ENTIRELY bubble down to Chessington itself.

[SteveJ]

Well I suppose you could suggest it's Chessington's fault for not removing the ride a million years ago, but it's very popular and stuff happens. The right procedures are being taken.

[MattyMoo]

Just got back from Chessington after visiting with my girlfriend today... I've been before in September and thought it was dead - but it seemed even more dead today! The most people I saw congregated together was for the Madagascar LIVE! show at 4pm!

 

All in all a very good day indeed - didn't exactly hammer the ride counts (too old for all that) but it's so nice to be able to walk round and go on anything without queuing AT ALL. Everything was walk on all day from what I saw.

 

Staff were good to very good - very friendly though some evidently a little bored (but I don't blame them on day's like today!) We had lunch at the Chicken Shack which wasn't too shabby at all to be honest - plus they had Stowford Press on draught so that scores major brownie points - was impressed with how well stocked the bar was actually!

 

Rides we went on:

 

Zufari

Ramases Revenge x3

Scorpion Express x2

Bubbleworks

Vampire x2

Tuk Tuk Turmoil x2

Kobra
Toadie's Crazy Cars x½

Lorikeet Lagoon

Hocus Pocus Hall

Shrimps at the Sea Life Centre

Dragon's Fury

Dragon Falls

Tomb Blaster x2

Flying Jumbos

Eclip... I mean Peeking Heights

Rattlesnake x2

 

I think that was everything! The park certainly looks in better shape than previous years. Shame Skyway is down but that looks permanent until next year it would seem. First time on Zufari and was quite impressed - Rhinos were very close indeed, and the driver was particularly good as he decided to "accidentally" reverse back into the cave to get us wet. The ride looks far more established now plant wise than when it first opened and was really rather good all in all! The Hotel looks pretty awesome I have to say, and the Wanyama Reserve around it is well presented still with plenty of animals.

 

As anyone on my Facebook will know - first time we went on Tomb Blaster, my gun wouldn't work at all - so 0 scored. We go again later on, and my gun works - but the laser doesn't, which makes it far more difficult! Still, just a grumble really - not fussed when there was no queue whatsoever.

 

Scorpion Express - first time on it. It's OK but I don't like the "openness" of it now. Feels less thrilling/scary. Good effort to rejuvenate an old ride but could've been better. Got a little wet from the scorpion.

 

Vampire and Fury seemed more fierce than I remember

 

We had a really long go on Tuk Tuk Turmoil in the afternoon due to no queue - and due to the fact, one of the bumper cars managed to get wedged/mounted on top of another so they had to push it off - sounds worse than it is, but I'm surprised there's the force in them to do that! That said - they do seem more powerful than Dodgems I've been at at funfairs etc. Lorikeet Lagoon was great as ever, the birds were obviously hungry - one of the birds feeding from our pots was the one with only one eye, as it had been attacked by another bird! Went on Kobra for the first time (I know right? So out of the game...) and I tolerated it...!

 

My girlfriend wanted to go on Toadie's but the op said it was closed as a car had left the track - not sure that's possible but that's what he said - we went on later, and on our go round, it stopped as the power tripped on one of the cars - so we had to walkthrough the circuit - can't say I've done that before!

 

Have to say that Falls really looks poor with no rocks, at least they've tried to jazz it up a bit with the banner at the top before the drop but I can't wait until the ride finally gets the refurb it deserves...

 

Now - my big bug bear for the day - was Ramases Revenge. That said - I was so pleased it was open after recent down time, but it took me 4 or 5 attempts to ride the thing. Why? The 15 guest rule. Apparently it can only operate now when at least 15 people are riding due to weighting issues. I asked a ride op late in the day, when I finally got on if this was a new thing (because I know it is, as I've ridden RR before by myself and no-one else on the entire ride!) and he said it's always been like that. Maybe since he's been there perhaps My first ride on Ramases, there were around 15 people, and after 1 cycle, ride op asked if we wanted to go round again... most people did, but a handful got off. So we then couldn't go round again, which I find crazy. We waited for a good 5/10 minutes but no passing guests wanted to ride, and by that time, the instant re-ride buzz sort of goes! Managed to get on later in the day, and had 2 rides. 2nd ride certainly seemed more spinny/forceful but I may have imagined it... anyone know the true story behind this 15 rider rule? My view is it's probably because Ramases is nearing 20 years old, so they want to make sure it's only operated as and when is worthwhile, but I may be wrong. Anyway - I managed to ride and rekindle my youth again so I was pleased!

 

All in all - thoroughly enjoyable day and I do honestly feel the CWoA "magic" is back to an extent... it's certainly getting there. Also, kudos to the Madagascar penguins for walking over to us to make us take a photo with them Just little things like that that make all the difference. Ride op on Toadie's was a particularly friendly chap, as was the lady operating the chocolate treats stand near Ramases, and we often got asked how our day was going by staff which is nice!

[OldFarmerDean]

I thought the 15 people rule has been put in to place to allow enough weight to bring it back down if the sensor on the restraints sensor trips and the automatic safety brings it back down, maybe if it's too light it won't happen?

[Cal]

I thought the 15 people rule has been put in to place to allow enough weight to bring it back down if the sensor on the restraints sensor trips and the automatic safety brings it back down, maybe if it's too light it won't happen?

Most likely, the same reason for samurai. So annoying on quiet days or in the morning when there's no one there.

Sent from my iPhone 5S using Tapatalk

[MattyMoo]

Ah - that would make sense actually. Shame but needed to avoid a repeat incident.

[Fred]

I thought the 15 people rule has been put in to place to allow enough weight to bring it back down if the sensor on the restraints sensor trips and the automatic safety brings it back down, maybe if it's too light it won't happen?

It's a load of bollocks though. 15 people would make naff all difference to Rameses, whereas 15 people would make a difference to lightweight samurai.

 

If Rameses sensors trips the first (and only thing) it does is to lock the gondola into position. Then you're stuck anyway. You need power to the ride to bring it down, be it under manual or battery powered. A miniscule amount of people on the ride (or even a full batch) would make no difference if there's no power. If there is power the only thing it'd do is make the battery lowering *slightly* faster.

 

Chessington bringing in ridiculous rules for no reason.

[MattyMoo]

Cheers Fred - I was a little miffed that one of the ride ops insisted it had always been the case with a minimum of 15 riders when I 100% knew that was a lie

[Fred]

I imagine it'll be people who dont have a clue how the ride functions that have brought in the rule. Probably saw Samurai having that rule and thought it'd be sensible.

 

Hey ho. Lazier times for the ops there.

[Kerfuffle]

Trip report from yesterday/last night

 

RIDE COUNT:

• Vampire: x2 (1x front row)
• Dragon's Fury: x1
• Scorpion Express: x1 (front row)
• Rattlesnake: x1
• Bubbleworks: x1 (no music in fountain finale )
• Black Buccaneer: x2
• Tomb Blaster: x1 (with a broken gun )
• Rameses Revenge: x2
• Carousel: x1 (NEVER AGAIN! *glares at teacup* )
• Monkey Swinger: x1 (Somehow coming away from the outside seats without freezing my balls off  )
• Dragon Falls: x1

 

MAZE COUNT:

• The Mystery of Hocus Pocus Hall: x1
• Vampire: The Haunting in the Hollows: x2 (1x front - although in the second run, I somehow snuck into the front in the last section! )

 

Pros:

• Mazes were great as always
• Vampire in the dark was fantastic
• Got a decent spin on Dragon's Fury (two were sat on one side and one on the other)

 

Cons:

• Vampire's operations in the night were DREADFUL
• Gun on Tomb Blaster wasn't working properly (if not at all)
• No music in Fountain Finale on Bubbleworks
• The Mystery of Hocus Pocus Hall soundtrack playing CONSTANTLY around the park!
• ...and I also went a little insane on the Carousel in that teacup - took forever to get my head stable!

[CWOAfanMalcolm]

Just returned from two consecutive  days at chessington and I am exhausted worth it though  Let's start with the Friday

 

Arrived at 12.00

Vampire -2

Rattlesnake-3

Dragon's Fury-2

Scorpion express-2 (on the second go got 4 laps)

Dragon Falls-2 

Peeking heights-2

Monkey swinger-2

Kobra-1

Carousel-1

Toadie's crazy cars-1

Tomb blaster-1

Rameses Revenge-2 

Seastorm-1

Black buccaneer-1

the mystery of hocus hall-1

bubbleworks-1

Also watched Pumpkin high school of rock 

 

Pros

scorpion express Fire was back and working well and was extremely effective at night.

Vampire in the dark was fantastic as always.

Q's were fairly fast moving in particular vampire was being faster then normal.

The MOHPH Q moved much faster then last year we were on in 10 mins despite the ride host telling us it would be a 40 minute wait from that point.

RAMESES REVENGE AT NIGHT was beautiful with the lasers audio and smoke    

8pm closure meant much more time to fit in night rides got on 10 as apposed to 5 last year.

TMOHPH had a new scene which added so much to it. 

Vampire didn't feel nearly as rough as it has done all year

Negatives 

The mystery of hocus pocus hall felt a little tamer then last year and slightly rushed and increased size of our group meant that we couldn't see the jungle scene too well.

Pumpkin high school of rock is not good.

 

This was such a good day and one of the best I have had at Chessington for a while. 

 

Saturday

Met up with some people form Thorpe park mania and can I say thank you to all of you who went to Chessington yesterday for making me feel so included during the day. I had a wonderful day 

 

Ride count

Vampire-2

Dragons fury-2

Rattlesnake-1

Scorpion express-1

The mystery of hocus hall-1 the scariest run through I have had through it ever which included me screaming like a girl in the ending scene due to an unexpected surprise appearance 

tomb blaster-1

rameses revenge-4

Carousel-1 (the most intense ride of the day due to me and coasterdude spinning the teacup for almost the entire duration of the ride)

Griffins galleon-1 

black buccanner-2

Bubbleworks

Monkey swinger-2

Dragon falls-1

 

What a great Two days A big well done to chessignton this year Howl-o-ween is fantastic well done chessington you have proved to me once more why your my favorite theme park  

[InfernoMartin]

I'll also post my trip report from yesterday

 

Ride Count - In Daylight

 

Vampire x1

Dragons Fury x1

Monkey Swinger x2

​Carousel x1 ( One of if not the most intense rides of the day- That Teacup

The Mystery of Hocus Pocus Hall x1

The Haunting in the Hollows x1

Rattlesnake x1

Dragon Falls x1

Bubbleworks x1

Rameses Revenge x3

Black Buccaneer x1

Griffin's Galleon x1

Scorpion Express x1 (Front Row)

Tomb Blaster x1

 

Ride Count- In the Dark

 

Vampire x1

Rameses Revenge x2

Dragons Fury x1

 

Pros

 

No breakdowns (except Falls which was only around 10 mins) all day!

First time ever in a scare maze and they were both very good!

Rameses looked spectacular in the dark with all the lasers and smoke.

As a whole the queue times were not to bad

Riding Vampire in the dark was very good

8pm Closure

 

Cons

 

Although riding vampire in the dark was good, the operations in the evening were dreadful compared to earlier in the day. Most of us in the queue were trying to work out if it was running 1 or 2 trains. It appears it was running 2 but it was very slow. When we were in the station Malcolm set a stopwatch to see how long it took. it took 2 mins 6 seconds to send 1 train out. Considering when it ran 3 trains it took around 40 seconds, it was stupid!

 

Anyways that was the only con of the day, the rest of the day was amazing and exceeded my expectations!