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Chessington 2013


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Do you pay attention to any updates recently Will? :(.

No chance. The park needs a big restuarant area. Plus it's just become a Burger Kitchen.

Yes I did. I HOPED they would close it and build a ride in there because the space is massive, Obviously, it's not happening.

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The Cartoony Cracked Concrete Count's Cauldron is no more! Sorry, it was actually quite well themed, but - with its grinning gargoyles and oversized bats - it put a 'wacky' spin on Transylvania that didn't work.

IMAG0144.jpg

It has now become Black Forest Chateau mk3, in its appearance at least. It looks like they have uncovered the original facade from 1990 that seemed to disappear within a year. If you compare the above image with this photo from 1990, you can see the crossed beam pattern is very similar. The second image is a still from Themes Dreams and Scream Machines (which I deduct was filmed in 1991/2) showing a modified facade.

1990

20001.jpg

1991-1997

BlackForestChateauExterior_zpsedca77c0.p

1998-2012

4632716911_018e01f203_z.jpg

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It's amazing like with Tomb Blaster and the Forbidden Tomb sign just how much of the old facial is behind the new, The Creaky Cafe opened today, it's a lot more modern and warmer inside (for those that used the Refresh it was freezing!) and somewhere nice to get a Jacket Potato. Strangely there is a play area inside apparently suitable for up to 12 years old, I have no idea how though.

The Vampire/Bubbleworks shop has now been refitted and importantly the track around Zufari, including the entrance from the village is now very clear. Update for those who'd like to see http://themeuk.net/blog/?p=3194

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Just to say guys, if you wanna be one of the first to experience ZUFARI the sun are going to give you two free tickets! Just collect 9 out of the 16 tokens(starting today and ending on 18th) to get two free tickets! Terms and conditions apply though.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fun/competitions/promotions/article4763171.ece?gutters

It's rather strange though, you must choose out of 10 date bands, you must choose 5 and you will hopefully get your prefered date- howeve, you get given a SET date which means that you might get a date which you cannot attend, however you are only paying about 50p per newspaper so you are paying £5 for £63 worth of tickets, great deal!

This is a must do offer, so if you want to experience chessington for FREE this year, get collecting!

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>Offer to go to park for 'free'...

>Involves purchasing numerous papers to get the desired amount of tokens...

Creeky Cafe looks nice, shame it's just the same crappy benches the park is full of though...

Facade of Burger Kitchen could be interesting too... An interesting year ahead for Chessie...

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It also involves buying the Sun </3

Though it's not really a thing needed on an enthuisiast forum, as most of us here have an AP so get in for free anyways...

Yea but my friends don't so I am getting them so I can have someone to go with ;)

I need it.

Makes me feel dirty, buying The Sun. But it really is a good offer, I've used the Thorpe and Alton ones many times, and a couple of times I've even got off peak scarefest tickets. Not sure I've ever seen it run for Chessington before?

I didn't know there was ever alton towers ones but I heard about the thorpe ones last year after it had ended :( but I will definately take advantage of all these offers in the future!

I'm also worried that I will get a school day and will not be able to attend but in that case I may end up selling the tickets on ebay or something :P

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Now I have a excuse to come home with the sun :D It's a good offer for couples however, due to the fact that chessington is a family theme park, you would really want 4 tickets so, chessington shall still be getting money unlike when Thorpe Park done the offer as more pairs of two go to thorpe park than chessington!

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Selling them on is against the rules, they have no cash value. I think they trawl ebay and remove sales/invalidate tickets. They are much less likely to notice you selling them in the local press, but it is still against the rules so a risk!!

With the offers before I have collected the tokens at the same time as a couple of family members at different addresses and synchronised the sending off of the envelopes to exactly the same time and place with the same date band selections. Nearly always I have received 4 or 6 tickets for the same date, so that is defiantly worth a try if you want to go in a bigger group.

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It is indeed all the old signage that disappeared c1991. The scaffolding is in the way, but I assume the banner also reads "Black Forest Chateau". Here's a closer photo from Theme UK:

DSC00344.jpg

Quite lucky these photos were taken before it was all removed, it's intriguing the way the just covered up the old with the new. That technique seems quite common at Chessington: old Bubbleworks posters still intact under the new ones, Forbidden Tomb sign covered by Tomb Blaster logo... There must have been two extra layers of facade behind the Count's Cauldron and nobody ever knew it was still there!

I'm looking forward to the new look, whatever it may be. The Creaky Café looks good, so I have faith they will make a good job of the Burger Kitchen as well. It would be great if they incorporate some old with the new.

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Covering up old signs and putting a new sign up over it is not found just at Chessington. If you were to take a handful of high street shops that have been converted over the years, you would most likely find the exact same thing. For example, an old Shoe Zone that closed down may now be a Specsavers, there's a chance the old Shoe Zone sign will be there. Think of the cost - if they can cover up the old without it costing too much, then it makes sense to stick the new one over the old and let it be!

As for the Creaky Cafe... :)

As for the Burger King exterior...crap. It's ruined Transylvania. But I'm sure the food will be good.

As for the Fangtasia Gift Shop refurb...well it's not much of a shop now but it has been needed for some time, so this could turn out good.

it put a 'wacky' spin on Transylvania that didn't work.

You must be kidding. It did work! It was the best piece of theming in Transylvania. I mean, it fitted in better than the original Bubbleworks exterior!

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As for the Burger King exterior...crap. It's ruined Transylvania.

Considering it looked like that when Transylvania opened, I don't see how it ruins the area. That is the original facade from 1990, as conceived by John Wardley and co. - not exactly "crap" since that was what the restaurant was intended to look like. They have uncovered it during the current refurbishment and intend to remove it, what you see in those photos is far from the finished thing.

It was never intended to look like a vampire's castle, which they turned it into later. Personally I think the Count's Cauldron exterior was very badly planned - you had windows of different sizes next to each other and huge plastic bats hanging off. It was unrealistic and weird, compared to the rest of Transylvania which has a realistic European town style.

And covering up a sign is very different to building a whole facade on top of another one, while leaving all the old signage and theming intact underneath, I find that a very strange practice. It's like a cake of different themes had built up over the years...

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