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Do Chessington Need To Add A Rollercoaster?


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Do Chessie need to add another roller coaster? Of course they do. The centre focus of a theme park, arguably, is its coasters - they are pretty much the highlight of your average person's day, and the more they have, the better. With Vampire and Dragon's Fury as the two major family coasters, there's not that much throughput with them, which makes long queues even worse. What sort of coaster Chessie needs is a different matter - though I really don't care as long as it's for all the family, has a decent throughput and is worthwhile.

Zufari is most definitely a major investment - I've heard costs of between £8-10 million for the entire project. Zufari is a perfect addition for a park like Chessie, as it combines the ride and zoo aspect into one; I also believe they're classing it as a 'ride', so I guess in a way that's a good thing. But yes, there needs to be another coaster at Chessington added, and sooner rather than later.

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I would say they do. Whilst Zafari is a major attraction, I would classify it as a tour / animal attraction. The park hasn't added a major ride to the park since 2004 and it would help the park out a lot.

I would like a new roller coaster, but for the target market it is bang on! Never said it was a thrill attraction. A huge Safari tour sounds like a big deal - Think Kilimanjaro Safari's in Disney's Animal Kingdom. Popular ride and even has a fastpass

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I generally don't like being pessimistic and would rather wait until it is complete before writing it off, but I'm not so excited for Zufari.

I think it is exactly the sort of thing the park needs but unless I'm missing something on the plans they are not doing it big enough. DWAK Kilimanjaro is a truly superb experience with its 36 (according to wikipedia) animals. Listed on the plans of Chessington are 3. I appreciate they Disney parks are always going to be on a different scale to what we get, and there may be some things like birds within the 3 main areas to boost the numbers, but it looks to me like a missed opportunity to do something a bit special.

Coaster wise, Chessington is lacking. Something like Cheetah Hunt without the areal flying fish element would be ideal. I fear though that nothing on the scale I think the park deserves and needs will ever happen.

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Short Answer - Yes

Long Answer - Of course it does, as mentioned, the last major ride investment was 8 years ago, it's pathetic for such a big park but then considering 4 of those years it was spent in such a bad state it's unsurprising it's never seen decent investment, let alone now when it gets barely any money at all given to the park...

Zufari is good, but will it draw in the punters? That is yet to be determined... But Chessie desperately needs another top tier (for them) coaster to help Fury and Vampire (both unreliable rides) and ease pressure when one inevitably breaks down...

So what could the park get? I'm triumphed a Gerstlauer Launched for years, and after finally riding one this year, I am certain one would be an excellent addition to the park, as it could provide the next step up from Fury, whilst producing an easy to manipulate layout and the potential for an indoor section (which would also be great)... Elsewhere, perhaps even a Maurer Launch could produce the goods? Although both of these would be limited by throughputs similar to Fury, so perhaps these are not the best option considering as well Vampire's lack of 3 trains now...

Then what? Perhaps a Zierer drop ride? Both Polar X-Plorer and Verbolten have been well received, and produce high throughputs... But with Thirteen, will Merlin want another (potentially better overall ride) in the same country?

Perhaps a Mack Launched then? (A recurring theme with my ideas, for SOME reason, honestly, I can't think of much else) Sea World San Diego's Manta has proven a low height version is doable, which is ESSENTIAL for any new coaster at Chessie, and can involve some good theming and what not, again with decent throughput... It could even be with or without inversions (which is a different arguement all together), depending on how Chessie would want to market it...

A new coaster is a must for the future, but the park also needs other rides and redevelopments as well... Not quite California Adventure level, but it gets closer to that every year nothing else gets added or repaired (I half expect Runaway Train to fall down before long)...

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The belief that coasters save theme parks is ludicrous. Zufari is a really good call from Chessington.

Whilst I don't think a rollercoaster will save the park, I do indeed think it will inject some attention, publicity and say to everyone (GP) "hey everybody, we are Chessington and here is an amazing new rollercoaster, so please don't forget about us".

That will maybe people think that maybe this park is worth visiting at least once and when they see the good ride line-up (future), then it will hopefully bring back a different audience as well as the current.

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I was at Gardaland for the first time last week, and had the chance to ride the Vekoma MK900-M (mine train) coaster, Mammut, which was installed when Merlin were operating the park.

It was a cracking coaster, only beaten in terms of Mine Trains by Colorado Adventure, and was themed from top to tail.

It would work brilliantly at Chessington!

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From my opinion, I want a ride like th13teen to be placed at chessington. Though I doubt merlin might get one from Intamin, but rather from Zierer instead. I'm hoping that if they do decide to make a freefall coaster at chessington, I hope it's made by Intamin. Also, while looking through the MACK rides booklet I have, a bobsled coaster would be good at chessington as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The belief that coasters save theme parks is ludicrous. Zufari is a really good call from Chessington.

Why is it ludicrous?

If a theme park was struggling or had competitors that were risking it's success and future as a theme park, then a well-placed and well-thought out and exciting rollercoaster would surely bring in the much-needed crowds. Word of mouth would spread and eventually the park's popularity would increase.

The problem with Chessie is that they have loads of new ideas but I think Merlin doesn't believe in them or they think that investment wouldn't pay off but if they want new customers and success, then they will have to invest and take that risk.

If Chessington built a new family-thrilling rollercoaster (I.e. family-thrilling launched coaster like BGTB's Cheetah Hunt) that could really bring in loads of new customers and maybe more teenagers and adults would come back.

I'm happy with Zufari because at least it's something rather than nothing. I'm still annoyed that it will be 10 years in 2014 since a rollercoaster would have last been installed.

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I think the problem with Merlin owned parks such as alton towers, thorpe park and chessington, is the price. If they changed the price to a lower one, I feel that a lot more people will attend the parks.

But surely the money issues they already have would just grow? I think Chessie need to invest in some sound attractions to get people visiting. People probably wonder why they would want to go to Chessie this year considering it is pretty much the same attraction wise as 2011 etc etc.

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But surely the money issues they already have would just grow? I think Chessie need to invest in some sound attractions to get people visiting. People probably wonder why they would want to go to Chessie this year considering it is pretty much the same attraction wise as 2004 etc etc.

Edited for accuracy

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