Chessington Trip Reports

[Marc]

I visited CWOA on Open day also, I must say I had quite a good day..There are some parts of the park looking run down / tatty such as queue line fences, and small things like wires hanging out the backs of speakers in queue lines which is not somthing you would expect on first day of season I guess. Also disapointingly had my new annual pass capsule stolen from rattlesnake too, maybe I'm just lucky but I find it qutie intresting that after a year of having one at the "chavy" park for over a year with no problems, one visit to CWOA and its stolen, I guess it probably didnt help that the capsule was left on the floor (where ride staff told me to) instead of the boxes.. Went to AS and was told to fill in a lost property form, didnt bother as it was pretty obvious what happend, got it sorted at TP in the end.Stayed on park till around 2ish and headed to Thorpe to watch the footie.Whilst its no secret I'm not a huge CWOA fan, I must admit I personally did quite enjoy my day, other than bubbleworks I didnt notice any rides down.

[Mark9]

I'm sorry to hear you had a disappointing trip Benin. I have to say, the three ex-Tussauds parks have really drawn a short straw this season compared with other Merlin attractions across the board. All three have disappointed me in some respects. Particularly Alton and Chessington, as I have high expectations from them both.

Thing is, in Merlins eyes, they had their years last year. The problem beingn this year, that yet again, Thorpe comes across as the favourite and gets another ride (regardless of how cheap or bad Storm Surge is), whilst Cwoa has to make do with two rethemed restraunts and Alton gets a sealife downgrade.I'm just tired of Chessington being a park that is constantly overlooked. There is absoultely no reason why, with significant investment, Chessington couldn't get 2 million visitors. With the right attractions and the right emphasis placed, Chessington could be a high flyer like Legoland. But Tussauds and now Merlin don't seem interested.If Chessington had looked like they;d had something done this year like new toilets or maybe if Skyway and Runaway train had significant work done to them then it would make sense. But no, Runaway still looks a disgrace and Skyway has the same old 80's rejects wobbling back and forth.

[Sheepie]

I agree Mark, especially your point about the park at least looking like it's had things done to it. I feel as though the park have gone back a step this year. Of course, I say this without taking a trip there myself yet, but to me it seems the park have genuinely scraped the barrel in terms of where to spend the little money they had this year.There are parts that look good, such as signage and Buccaneer, as well as other very minor things. I know Bubbles had a fair sum of money spent on it this year, but sadly this didn't go too far as it seems to have been spent on fixing something that had been left for so long that it had become beyond repair. So instead of trying to improve the attraction, the money was spent trying to drag the attraction back from slipping further into the pit of despair. I really love it when theme parks concentrate on the little details. But when there are major flaws and issues with aspects of the park such as operations and the serious dilapidation of some of the attractions, these smaller things are just a drop in the ocean. Tussauds neglected the park so much, I feel as though it's going to take nothing less than a huge amount of money to put things right again.

[Kevin]

I'm genuinely interested - I've had a good read of this forum and I'm really sat here wanting to know what's actually wrong? The park has probably had the biggest investment I've personally ever seen if I'm quite honest - regardless of 'other things' that may affect my vision as others may think!The park really has had shedloads of non specific investment - the infrastructure of the park has been massively upgraded. I fully understand that wondering guest that goes by doesn't know that Buccaneer has new bearings to make sure the ride runs smoother than previously. Or the fact it's been painted majorly (not perfect though), or a new brand new electricity transformation upgrade to ensure that power cuts don't happen on a local stage and that the park runs efficiently power wise, or a proper heating system for Sea Life, or park signage taken out and new branded ones put in, or all park shutters now have paintings on them to advise guests where to go when shop is closed.It's not just physical - it's also things such as a brand new training scheme for all staff members on park, to ensure it is a much more rounded and appropriate approach to new and existing members of staff.All in all - I totally agree that yes it hasn't added to guest experience but such blinding amounts have been invested to make sure that the park does not fall on it's feet quite so easily.

[Sheepie]

I'm really pleased to hear that Chessington has received a lot of attention over the closed season. My main point was that these things should be happening along side things such as new attractions and re-themes. This is no criticism of the park, but rather Merlin/ Blackstone for not approving the funding for things to receive the green light.When I said it felt like the place had gone backwards this year, I was, of course, referring to the addition of Fastrack to some of the rides. I've gone on about it for a while, but I really cannot defend this operations facepalm.I think some of the management and TLs can be a bit naive and optimistic at times with their throughputs. I remember a couple of years ago, a TL telling me that you could easily get over 500 people an hour on Rameses. Yes, you can, if the ride only goes around once. But at times it could take 10 minutes for the ride to be loaded, ride cycle, letting people off, second ride cycle, unload and then reload. That a maximum of 240 people an hour, without considering any problems. You could get that to over 300 if you had a batcher and a wicked ride team. Basically, the team leaders are under pressure, who put extra pressure on the front line staff who work on the rides every single day and to an extent, know the rides better than anyone else.My long winded point is, do operations REALLY know what they're letting themselves in for with Fastrack on some of these rides that struggle to cope with their standby queue?

[Ricky]

I'm genuinely interested - I've had a good read of this forum and I'm really sat here wanting to know what's actually wrong? The park has probably had the biggest investment I've personally ever seen if I'm quite honest - regardless of 'other things' that may affect my vision as others may think!The park really has had shedloads of non specific investment - the infrastructure of the park has been massively upgraded. I fully understand that wondering guest that goes by doesn't know that Buccaneer has new bearings to make sure the ride runs smoother than previously. Or the fact it's been painted majorly (not perfect though), or a new brand new electricity transformation upgrade to ensure that power cuts don't happen on a local stage and that the park runs efficiently power wise, or a proper heating system for Sea Life, or park signage taken out and new branded ones put in, or all park shutters now have paintings on them to advise guests where to go when shop is closed.It's not just physical - it's also things such as a brand new training scheme for all staff members on park, to ensure it is a much more rounded and appropriate approach to new and existing members of staff.All in all - I totally agree that yes it hasn't added to guest experience but such blinding amounts have been invested to make sure that the park does not fall on it's feet quite so easily.

See the issue I find with this comment is, guests won't travel to ride on a new table in a restraunt or sit on a bog, they want a new thrills etc. So as much investment that has gone into the park, guests wouldn't know that so therefore they are continued to be undrawn to the park. I tottally agree, in the sence of all the investments but all in all the investments are.. well not investments that people nessessarily want. On the other hand, they may well find buccaneer smooth, but like you said they wont know its had a shed load of money spent on new bearings. I'm going Friday I believe so I ill give a trip report then

[Benin]

Infrastructure is all well and good, but the water pressure is still cack... (Something I forgot to mention)...Do like the new look loos though, but... They're still confined and crap...Chessie just needs some more visible investment to the general layman... Be it a new ride (the preferable option), or just repainting some decaying rides (Runaway/Skyway), or BOTH...

[Fred]

Chessie needs to do infrastructure improvements/maintenance to cope with increasing visitor numbers AND keeping the guests who actually do come.. happy.They do need new rides, and visable investment.. I'm sure they've painted places etc. Maintained other stuff. But not rush into it like lego did, and got it wrong (like the infamous poo day of 09).

[Benin]

This post is a continuation of my report in the Meet topic, so this goes from 11am!So having done Vampire and the meet it was time to meet up with John and the rest (after seeing them in the hotel briefly earlier), and this was done at Rattlesnack, where I waited for them to appear whilst taking some area photos, taking full advantage of the beautiful weather the park was being provided by...Once off, we headed to Runaway Train, and after a brief wait went straight onto our 3 lap goodness, usual fun and tree-grabbing did occur... Awesome sauce...It was next decided for Tomb Blaster times, which is where the day really began to take a turn for the awesome... As it was John's birthday, he had brought hats, blowers and a banner for various ORP times and general amusement... TOY STORY 3 <3After a long queue (how many trains on atm, it's definitely NOT 4...), we eventually got off and were informed of the arrival of the remaining people who had been stuck on the M25... As Fury was relatively busy at this point, we elected for Wild Asia, and Kobra, but were denied by a minor breakdown (10 minutes tops perhaps?), so went to enjoy the Tuk Tuks, our hats useful for easy targeting by us and the rest... The operator here was relatively entertaining, giving targets and the like, as well as singing Happy Birthday over the PA...Kobra had reopened, so we went on it... Short queue, no issues, Kobra is ok... Done...Lorikeets (and the rest of the zoo) were probably the least awesome parts of the day, as they had just come off lunch so weren't really up to much... It was a right struggle to get them to us and eventually bored us to go to Dragon Falls...Again, the 1.2m situation provided crying children, but undeterred we went on and high-fived the excitable batcher... With my broken blower I proceeded to make lots of noise on the ride, taking full advantage of one of Wardley's many tunnels to create a loud noise of death... Slightly damp and moist was a great thing to be today, and was glad of it...Lunch was called, and as we headed to Pizza Pasta we passed IanNem and Rich, who recieved much horn blowing from me (and looked extremely bemused by it), and we settled down for lunch... Where the girl at the front wanted a hat, so she got one... She loved it... And she wasn't the only one to join our lunchtime fun...Later on, as I returned from gaining pizza, my arrival was joined with a young disabled girl (the wristband guys) who stood silently as the awkward turtle raised his head up... Naturally I said hello to her, and the reponse was a noise that truly cannot be described on a forum... Her dad turned up to depart with her and we proceeded to giggle about the sheer randomness of it all, if you think it's bad... Go to hell... We were certainly not being nasty about it and it was just completely random and unexpected...THEN, and small boy and his dad arrived at our table, questioning the location of the Toy Story hats of JOY, so we answered, and gave him another spare hat... This caused great joy in the shy boy's face and he wore it with pride whilst his sister wore a look of rather displeasured anger at the lack of hat for her... Two really random moments that just provided the lunch with excessive lols... Absolutely amazing...We then proceeded to the zoo which wasn't THAT great to be fair... Oh wells, after some faff and Meerkat times we wandered back to Translyvania and the NEW Twilight Zone walkthrough, full details spoilered below...

Now, this is an interesting thing... After being batched in small groups (and having Mark9 text me from the Buccaneer queue), we eventually entered the shipping container into the dark corridors... And by dark, I mean DARK! Pitch black nothingness is literally all you see... At the first corner there is a random vampireress with a strobe light who attempts to scare you, however it wasn't really in direct view of me so didn't notice it THAT much... A shame... But then it's just blackness... We all held hands because there was no way we could safely proceed through without hurting ourselves...Then we hit a dead end where the male vampire (as there are two couples, red and purple), who made some speil and interaction before sending us on our way further into the dark... He was quite entertaining and I did like the way he 'smelt' us... Could be un-nerving to many guests... Some more dark exceptionally narrow corridors later, we escaped the container with a sense of... WHAT THE HELL?!Honestly I dunno what to say about this, it's hard to review because it is a temporary attraction (which shows) and is just... Weird in general... It's not for fans of 'proper' scare walkthroughs, and has no real identity of it's own... Having done it, I wouldn't do it again... Just cannot simply rate this numerically... Check it out though... It's a bit of a giggle with friends just for the corridors...

So after that experience, it was time for Vampire herself... Having done it already earlier in the day, I had already seen the two new tombstones, but I didn't realise the second one spoke to the queue... That's a bloody good addition and I just hope they can maybe add a few more to the queue in future...In the queue we bumped into the TPM group and some exchanges were made between myself and Mark9, Skunky, Sheepie and Holly9... All good fun really between us all and a bit of BANTA never hurt anyone However, breaking glass in the queueline to prevent us going through is NOT good sport chaps ¬¬Eventually let in, we pestered Keith and enjoyed a relatively rough experience on the ride... She's still a classic though, and certainly still one of the UK's most important and iconic rides... I'll miss it when it goes whenever that is, but hopefully Chessie will do as much as possible to delay that inevitably... 21 years is a fantastic age for any coaster, and I would love it to be going still in 9 more years...As we left the ride, we decided to buy MERCHANDISE! Including the brand new Vampire Bear <3, 21st Anniversary Bear <3, 21st Anniversary Pin <3, and a pen... :(We then did Bubbleworks, which is still crap... But we got another epic photo of joy <3After Bubbles, it was about 5:30, so a quick dash to Mexicana to pick up photos followed the run to Fury for one last ride... Top Trumps happened in the queue but I have no idea who won as the batcher decided to steal the show by singing Happy Birthday to John Christina Aguilara style... It was amazing, and Zoe my dear you are fab... Tom, tell her that :DFury then proceeded to top off our day but not only being awesome, but stealing John's hat on the Horseshoe Turn... It floated away so slowly and really finished the day off extremely well...After goodbyes were said, I met up with Holly and Ciaran once more, and as we couldn't (unfortunately ) faff and wait for the next train, we got the 6:40 train home very tired and achey... But BOY was it worth it...Today was such a stark difference between opening day, where there were a LOT more niggles in the park... BUT today was completely different, with Kobra being the only ride I saw break down, but the staff being generally fun and excitable all day with not as many "What's your favourite ride?" questions being plumped at me...Quite simply an awesome day with awesome people with an awesome park, maybe next time I'll stay with the TPM meet and think up something that can be yelled on Pirate Ships :DRide CountVampire - 2Bubbles - 1Fury - 1Tomb - 1Runaway Train - 1Kobra - 1Tuk Tuk - 1Twilight Zone - 1Lorikeet Lagoon - 1Falls - 1

[Deleted Users]

Seeing as it was my first ever visit to Chessington yesterday, I thought I had better write up a trip report.The day started by running to Vampire - me clueless in which direction, mind - with Dan, (who managed to running smack bang into an employee ) amongst a group of kids. They beat us. Sad times. It shows the dedication of kids to get on rides first when one of them faceplants in the queue but instantly gets up and continues running. In the end, we got the 3rd or 4th ride on the front row which really was amazing. The way the ride dives through trees and underground excellent, I just wish that I could have been around to see it in its opening day glory. The ride photos weren't working yet which annoyed me quite a bit and swayed me to not bother buying a photopass as I was intending.Next up was Bubbleworks which gave me flashbacks of It's A Small World. Then again, apparently some people actually enjoy It's A Small World.. All jokes aside, the queue was under 5 minutes, the staff were really amazing and the strobe/fountain room was pretty cool. The ORP was pretty hilarious as I blocked Dan so it looked like I was sobbing by myself. We then headed to Rattlesnake which was almost walk on. Dan warned me to brace myself on the brakes but they still got me. The theming adds so much to this ride. I wasn't expecting much from this ride but came off with a big grin on my face.It was about 10:45 at this point so we headed over to the Tomb Blaster courtyard to meet everyone else and do the usual group photos. The queue for Blaster moved pretty slowly so I guess it wasn't being run with all its trains. Comparing it to Duel, it does have some great setpieces but the stop-start nature of it annoyed me a bit. Moving targets > Stationary targets. Mark9 and Holly9's boyfriend's scores somehow combined and their scores tripled mine. Oh well, was still fun!Kobra times were next. The queuetime board said 45 minutes but it was 10. I thought the ride was pretty meh. Maybe be it's more fun for kids but even then, I can't imagine the restraints are any more comfortable. For lunch, we opted for Pizza Pasta. The food was great but having 2 people to sort out payment from a group of 18, all paying individually isn't a great move. That alone probably took about 15-20 minutes.Afterwards we went back to Wild Asia to go on Monkey Swinger and Tuk Tuk Turmoil, both of which are great group rides. I really was not expecting so much for what really are pretty standard rides. Dragon Falls was next. I really feel sorry for the team that has to run this ride. The employee at the entrance was getting so much abuse for something that most people didn't realise wasn't her or Chessington's fault. The little bits of theming like the oriental dragons on the station, the lanterns and the bridges in the queue are very nice indeed. The queue was just outside the station building. The amount of tunnels was a nice surprise and made it much harder to work out the layout. While the last drop may not be as good as the Logger's Leap one, the area looks a whole lot better.Rameses was next. Not much to talk about really. One cycle queue, standard Top Spin in a hole. I can see why most people didn't bother going on it. Afterwards, some of us went on Runaway Train (if you needed any more that proof themeing adds to ride, this one is proof) while others went a watched Mikey and Ellie in the petting zoo. Rich dared Holly to pet a goat I think; much swearing was involved. Once they had finished their petting, we moved onto Black Buccaneer. Some of the older TPM had to sit next to kids on the cycle before our go and Ian was looking pretty green after 2 goes round. It just seems like a nightmare to run with the 'kids must be on the inside' rule. The cycle seemed a bit too long as well.We then opted for Vampire. A second ride on this made me very happy. I really like how the only real noise in the outside queue is the roar of the coaster going round but once inside you have a booming soundtrack. Also, going from the sunny day outside to plunging into almost complete darkness inside at the end brake run was awesome. The jerks which weren't very noticeable at the front of the ride, were pretty large towards of the back. We joined the Fury queue at 5 and it was about 30 minutes long. The staff in the station were great; dancing, singing, high-fiving, etc. Although our car didn't spin very much, it was still an awesome ride, the first drop and 90 degree turn in particular were crazy. Our final ride was Rattlesnake where Dan and I played rag doll; always fun in a wild mouse and resulted in a pretty funny ORP as seen in the Member Appreciation topic. The meet came to a pretty quick close at 6 due to a massive, ominous cloud heading our way. It was a really great day and the park's relaxed atmosphere and very friendly staff made it much more enjoyable than most visits I had to Thorpe last season. Infact, the only ones which were on par with yesterday were the Fright Nights and End of Season meets. The people at the meet added massively to the day as well. I haven't included most of the random stuff that always ends up happening at meets otherwise this post would get to ridiculous lengths Ahh, I wish I lived closer!

[Tom]

Sounded like an amazing day! Really glad you enjoyed your first ever trip to Chessington, and hopefully it won't be the last!

[Sheepie]

I don't know what Chessington have put in the food/ drink this season; or perhaps they've put additives in the various smell pots in their rides, but I literally cannot get enough of the park this season.I've been three times and I want to go back there again. I've thoroughly enjoyed all of my visits this season; on my third visit, I really tried to analyse what it was that just draws me to the park and makes me leave on such a high every single time.The park has no new rides this year, much like Alton Towers, however, Chessington have made various improvements over the last season and during the closed season which really puts the magic back into a once neglected park.The most notable change this year for me lies in Forbidden Kingdom. The Rameses shop has returned, along with a new addition opposite where guests can sit and get involved in African (Egypt is in Africa, right?) drummers. Gone are those absolutely crap, tacky, unthemed arcades that honestly do not belong in a theme park. I was so excited when I properly looked and took note of it all and is such a huge leap into awesome sauce.Vampire has some pleasant additions to its queueline, including some talking gravestones which speak out riddles where guests have to guess the answer. They look good; you have to really look for the speaker to see where it is and is much better than just having nothing there. However, if I was nitpicking, I would say that the sound quality sounds rather amateur. Sadly, on all of my visits, I didn't get to experience the queueline rats, however, they may have been munching on the sweets in the shop just opposite? :angry2:I must say, as I did at the end of last season, Vampire is a fantastic attraction and is actually pleasant to queue for with lots of interaction between riders and queueline and awesome views of the coaster. I still adore the blue lighting motif in the station and I would argue that it's now my favourite out of all the colour schemes we've had in there. My only gripe about my experience with the ride during my three visits was the ride operator. All the ride attendants were great and working their backsides off on three train operation; however; there was one particular operator who was just too loud over the PA. When I mean loud, I mean, it was hurting my ears and making people cover their ears whilst at the gates. It's great that she's enthusiastic and the language she was using was excellent, just the volume needs to be toned down slightly. The actual music soundtrack still isn't loud enough though! :DMystic East- I don't think there have been any noticeable improvements this season, but it only fully struck me during my visits just how beautiful this area of the theme park truly is.If the merge into Wild Asia ever happens, then I would say this will be the best themed environment in England, forming the continent of Asia. As long as they sort out that back entrance into Wild Asia!Small features such as all the planters around the area containing area appropriate planting and stylised to fit in with the area, to the area in the photo above which speaks for itself. It's brilliant, it evokes mood and atmosphere and that's exactly what it's all about folks.Wild Asia, I thought looked even better this year; photos do not do the area justice. What's even better is that the whole area is bursting with a positive atmosphere and is designed to be fun for everyone, the area brings people together.There really are too many details to pick up on, so I'll summarize a few here quickly. Wanyama is still disappointing for me, the first half of it is brilliant but the second half leading up to the observation platform is too "metal fence-ish" and screams of a low budget affair which was rushed.The zoo is a major staple in the CWoA experience and deserves the investment it gets. I would love to see Giraffes or some new animals soon. The Chicken Shack looks Nando-tastic, I may have to venture in there for food next time I visit.Bubbleworks exterior has Vampire music blasting out, presumably for its birthday, it provides a buzzing atmosphere but just doesn't feel right with Bubbles being there. Although as I mentioned, this may just be for the Vampire 21st celebration. There was a bubble machine pumping out bubbles periodically from a window on the rides facade which was a neat feature.The new smells in Bubbleworks are great, along with the music returning. I do think it's improved, but only because it brings back memories of what the ride was and not because of what the ride is today. Still, I'm glad families love it and I hope it inspires Merlin to invest generously in dark rides in future developments, particularly with our British climate; it's always good to have indoor attractions.I do believe that it is no secret that the UK Merlin attractions are a lot quieter this year in terms of attendance figures. The longest queue at Chessington was 60 minutes for Vampire and the rest ranged from 15-25 minutes. Apart from Truckers of course. I hope this proves to Merlin that they need to keep investing in their UK parks to entice people to go. Especially as we head out of the economic recession and people begin to venture abroad rather than have domestic holidays. People need more reason to stay in the UK. I enjoyed my visits so much this season, I'm willing to pull a blind eye to the addition of Fastrack; the operational facepalm towards the Toytown rides. Some final thoughts; Chessington is amazing. The rides appeal to huge age-ranges, they're interactive and fun. It has fantastic themed areas that are constantly improving, the staff there are arguably the best theme park staff in the country and with the funding from Merlin along with the passionate management team at the park, that's a winning partnership and successful formula to success to what could be the UK's best theme park experience.I'll leave you with my Vampire on ride photo from Monday.

[Fred]

Wild asia music needs turning up... Bubbles is interesting.. they've removed some IL leathers in places, yet not everywhere. Some places are blatent where they tried to remove it and failed as well. It's interesting. Also, with the smells.. change the smell cannons.. but at least remove the signs - those smells are not what the signs say anymore. Come on .Have to say, chessie does look bloody fantastic this year. Shame some of the old branding still exists (REMOVE THE OLD TOILETS SIGNS, COME ON). But other than that, it looks brill. The staff all seemed motivated, and were interacting. It's vastly different to a few years ago, and is amazing for it.Keep up good work chessie

[Luke_A]

Right, Sheepie has set the standard and I will not be able to live up to that standard of TR. It's just too good!Anyway, I visited Chessington World of Adventure.s & Zoo today and had a really good day overall-we stayed in the Holiday inn Chessington last night after a day at Thorpe, This hotel is Amazing, everything about it was just 'right' for Chessie. And we had a room overlooking Wanyama which was even better!We first went into the park (Wild Asia) for what Chessie call 'Early Rider' (ERT) for hotel guests and got the first ride on Kobra, we then realised the amount of other guests waiting to get into Wild Asia, after being in the park for the last couple of hours the day before and most rides having big queues I decided I would get an Ultimate Fastrack which is £40 for an AP holder, which for someone like me who only visits 2/3 times a year is still quite good value compared to the prices of Thorpe or Alton even... Then followed a ride on Vampire before fastrack queues were open (I will post my GOOD thoughts on Vampire in it's topic). It was really nice weather today too, which called for a middle seat back row ride on Ramses After being cooled down nicely it was Tomb Blaster time, it wasn't on 5 utility vehicles today I think maybe 3 or 4... Was a fun ride as usual, but it did break down for a short time later in the day. Then followed Fury, got on Fury a total of 5 times today, with Fastrack, at some points the Fastrack queue was out of the entrance on Fury and almost to the top of the first stairs on Vampire. This was obviously because Fastrack tickets had been over-sold, not a surprise really... Many more rides followed and it was overall a great day at Britain's Wildest Adventure. Oh yes, and the staff were all Friendly, funny and nice too. Saw a few TPM members too. Ride Count (With ultimate fastrack )Vampire- 4Dragon's Fury- 5Rattlesnake- 4Runaway Train- 1Rameses Revenge- 2 (4 ride Cycles)Kobra- 1Monkey Swinger- 1Tomb Blaster-1Tuk Tuk Turmoil- 1Bubbleworks- 1Dragon Falls- 2Trail of the Kings, Sea Life and part of Wanyama. :DSo yep, overall the park was on top form, keep it all up CWoA!

[JoshC.]

Part I on my photo heavy Trip Report. More to come in the next couple of days... ^_^So, set out to the XXI event today. After a couple of troubles, got there at quarter past 10. Now, I'm kicking myself over this. Outside the entrance (by Wild Asia) there was a Vampire character there, speaking to guests as they were going in. He was incredible at keeping in his theme. He even had an umbrella to 'protect him from the sun'. He spoke to me quickly, saying "If you see an animals escape, run as fast as you can..." To which I replied "But what if they're bats?" "Ah, the bats are fine, they are friendly..." Epic. But why am I kicking myself? I didn't ask to get a photo with him!! I didn't even take a photo of him! It just slipped my mind. :doh1 Anyway, just before we got out APs scanned to go in, he comes back from nowhere "Do you mind if a jump ahead, the sun is bad for me..." Again, just epic. Really wished I got a photo.I hope peep doesn't mind me stealing this. It was the guy on the far left of the photo - he was incredible. Kudos to him! :clap Anyway, headed down to AS and got my nan's wristband.I love this pond. Greenery and sprinklers = nice photo.Whilst waiting for the wristband to be collected:I remember being mesmerised by that as a child...After all was said and done, went over to Rattlesnake. My nan hates the ride, so me and my mum queued up for 5 minutes. I love this; definitely one of my top 5 rides still. We headed off to do Kobra, but many photos were taken on the way...Whilst leaving, saw the poster about the Vampire XXI event. Thought a photo was necessary; that's why we're here after all.My obligatory 'this is how the weather was' photo...Designated smoking areas. They are working effectively might I add. I absolutely love this theming!We had a fun ride on Kobra. I must say, I have forgotten how enjoyable it was - but also how much I hate the announcements and how painful it can be. Rather than go on another ride to wait until the next major ride, we decided to go to Lorikeet Lagoon. However, the Lorikeets hadn't been eating well recently, so we warned before we bought the nectar (which has gone up to £1!). Photo times happened of course:A group of them.Eating an orange, but no nectar After a bit of convincing them and some patience, they did come for some nectar. All good.After a great deal of time spent in Lorikeet Lagoon, we wandered over to the other side of the park:Oh yes, Twilight Zone time!I'll give a review elsewhere in case people don't want it spoiled. My mum and nan weren't keen on it for different reasons, I enjoyed however. Went in it again straight after (by myself) and a little later. Afterwards, we headed over to Vampire:Meh, random theming, but I like the fact we were able to ignore it. Also, I like how the exit is now divded into two, so disabled guests can get past easier. Got straight on, and absolutely loved it. Long live Vampire. Bought an ORP of it too. *Okay, I'm going to leave this for now. I've got so much to say, but not enough time. But don't worry, it will be finished!*

[Lewis.]

Designated smoking areas? Ergh, I miss the old days that I was never part of where you could smoke wherever you wanted.

[Benin]

I don't...But since I don't smoke, my opinion obviously won't be valid...Not sure how the staff deal with them though... Not seen much at Chessie but hopefully it's not like Towers where it's not enforced...

[Mark9]

Designated smoking areas? Ergh, I miss the old days that I was never part of where you could smoke wherever you wanted.

I miss the days where women couldn't vote*.. times change.*Obviously a complete joke..

[themeparkmad]

Designated smoking areas? Ergh, I miss the old days that I was never part of where you could smoke wherever you wanted.

In my opinion - I agree.It isn't as if people are in a queue line. They are in the outside... I agree with the LoTD no smoking and think it should of been introduced into Transylvania too due to the amount of people that hang around there for Vampire and Bubbleworks. But that is it.Again - my own personal opinion...

[Jord]

Designated smoking areas? Ergh, I miss the old days that I was never part of where you could smoke wherever you wanted.

Tbh I'm a non-smoker and I generally despise going near people who smoke simply because of the smell and the damage it can do to my body, no matter if it's outside or anything. So I'm in full support of having designated smoking areas, heck I think they should follow the example of many places in New York, such as Times Square, Parks and Coastlines. And that is to ban smoking outright. It may be unfair to the people who smoke but in the long term we're actually doing those people a favour and not risking health effects on the people around them.

[Fred]

It makes sense at family area - who wants their kids experiences be ruined by loads of smokers. It's just a nicer atmosphere without the smoke, and the smell of it.Places like chessington and lego should be a definite, and should be strongly enforced like legos. Places like thorpe, just not in sodding queuelines, you arrogant PENISES.

[Pickles]

See I feel that so long as I'm in the open space I want to smoke when I want to. Anyone notice at the meet-up where me, Ciarran and Jadams decided to play ball and go to a smoking area. It involved waiting around for you lot didn't it? When we didn't play ball our day was not interrupted. If I paid a lot of money to get in I don't want to have to interrupt my day to smoke and I won't not smoke. I don't mind not doing it in queue-lines as you know its cattle pen most likely and it's all very closed. But just walking around? That takes the piss.

[Tom]

But then again Holly the target audience for Chessie obviously isn't a bunch of teenagers/young adults, so it doesn't pose a problem for families as they'll stick together all day.

[Pickles]

I still want to enjoy my day without having interruptions.

[Han30]

I am a smoker and try to be considerate to other people if I am out and about. Not been the Chessie this year yet so don't know how many of these smoking areas they have? I never have and never would smoke in a queueline - did this used to be allowed? I know smoking is a horrible habit and damaging (my mother has lung cancer so I really should quit) but it is so addictive and tough to give up. The problem these days is that you are made to feel like a social leper if you smoke. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but smoking is my choice, right or wrong and if I am out of the way of other people I don't see a problem. On the subject of smoking - I was once at a local garden centre in the cafe - smoking area when an old biddy had a go at me - I kept my mouth shut but this woman kept going on and on.....in the end I....asked her to be quite....but not so politely