Jump to content

Zufari


Recommended Posts

A row one would cause some issues with smaller children sitting next to their parents (or other large adults in the row), as you do get bashed about a fair bit...

Individual lapbars would be the only avenue to take, and that would be tricky to implement due to a lack of space...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went on Zufari last week, and after hearing some comments about it not being very good I didn't expect much. In the end I really enjoyed it and even had a Giraffe come right up to the truck and almost stick his head in! I will post pictures of that moment when I have the chance if anyone wants to see them?

The ending wasn't spectacular but was fun seeing everyone screaming and trying to get away from those mist jets!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After having my expectations suitably lowered by people here I actually quite enjoyed it.

-Quite why they've built all that MASSIVE and no doubt expensive fencing I do not know. Maybe to make it feel secluded? Puts it in an awful setting anyway.

-The photo op is harmless, don't want it, don't buy it.

-The photo, preshow and boarding area are stupidly cramped up and a mess. They could have put everything wherever they wanted, so why put it all on top of each other? Makes me think the pre show itself might have been an afterthought.

-The pre show is a bit confused, but the kids seemed to get the idea and really got into the roaring / monkeying. The animation of whatever that animal is is shocking though, looks really really amatuer and cheapens the whole thing.

-I know it is not the parks fault that people are morons, but they should be used to that being fact by now and plan for them. The gates you are batched to don't line up with the rows on the truck, not even close to doing so (why?! You've designed it from scratch for goodness sake) so as soon as you are let through everyone just walks to whatever is their nearest row and all the batching goes out the window. Needs lines on the floor or something.

-I don't get why people struggle with the seatbelts, they seemed simple enough to me.

-The safari itself is alright if a bit short, we got decent views of all the animals apart from the flamingos which seem really strangely placed set back away from the ride. Clearly needs time to grow in but some of the shed concealing is half arsed which breaks the illusion of being transported to Africa somewhat, don't think that will change much however much the plants grow.

-The danger cave is poorly executed. You just sort of trundle in with no fanfare or theatrical flare to build it up, the people on the left are blasted unpleasantly in the face with too close misters and a waterfall happens on a similar scale to the constantly flowing Vampire entrance one. The exit through the waterfall itself is the highlight of this part. Then the ride just ends with no attempt to account for whatever it was that just happened.

Sounds a bit negative, but I did enjoy it and everyone in our truck seemed happy enough. The problem isn't really that what they have done isn't OK, it is that with a bit of thought and a bit more money it could have been immeasurably better. It is stuffed full of missed opportunities throughout, you have to wonder whether the people who have produced this have even been to existing attractions of a similar type to see what works and what doesn't. I fear it is another case of 'good enough' syndrome which is the mindset of Merlin a lot of the time, it could be spectacular but what they've done is good enough to get people to turn up and not actually complain. From that point of view I guess it will be a success.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Current queue time? I'm assuming 0 minutes because the park is shut. :P

Damn you Ryan - I was just about to post that! :P

When I went on Monday (which was an Inset Day, so probably similar busy-ness to a Saturday), the queue peaked at around 45mins (well, what I saw at least). Over the Easter break, I heard it reached 1 hour plus. So, I'd expect about a 25-45 min wait, depending on what time of the day you go on it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went on it today and I had an open mind. Now it might be due to the fact the sun was out and I didn't have to queue, but I thought it was very good indeed. We got to see all of the animals and we left the ride laughing and saying how much we really enjoyed it.

I can fully understand if you have queued for 45 mins and it was a cold day and the animals were not out, then you would think it was a poor ride. But today we got to see it at its best, there are some improvements they need to make, for example the on board audio was too quiet, batching is a complete disaster, seatbelts are not that bad, but they should have the same release clips as a normal car belt to reduce confusion as my 11 year old niece who never has an issue on any other ride, didn't know how to release the belt.

Over all its a great addition, I will definitely re-ride, but 30 mins is the max I would queue for it. Its not up to US park standards and could be longer, but with what Chessington had available they have done a good job.

They also need signs directing guests to it as the entrance is hidden behind Tomb Blaster/Flying Jumbos.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only time when I think they really needed the ridiculously high fences was for the entrance and exit walkways to the area, as you have to cross the service road, and that would have been even less of a build up to the area. Even then, they could have done it better - only have high fences near the service road, and have the other fences gradually getting smaller as you get further away from the road.

Even if the thought process behind the high fences elsewhere was because of the Tomb Blaster fall, it's still pretty silly tbh and could have been better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Louder audio and more stuff inside the cave is a step in the right direction. Hopefully the park can continue to tweak it and see what works and what doesn't so it progresses further through the coming months and years..

The pre show isn't great, and is clearly aimed to please the young kids and nothing else, which is a shame for a family attraction. It's not even like there's much humour for the adults to enjoy, and if you're not with any young children, it is just a cringe through and through. I do fear that even for kids it could become stale if they go on it a couple of times (and no doubt this is something that many will want to reride due to the nature of the ride)..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to admit, the pre show is very interactive and quite entertaining as it can detact who is and isn't taking part in the audience as well as names of people. However the audio sync is rather shocking and the pre-show appears to be more aimed at kids.

Either way, it takes away the reridability of it which is never a good thing. There should at least be the option to skip it and go straight onto the ride, maybe give you something once you have been on it once that you can show so that you don't have to watch it again.

It's a pain to be honest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a distinct difference in the reactions to the pre-show from audiences you can observe.

In the morning - people (with children) laughing, kids having fun.

In the afternoon - dead silence. People have come for a re-ride and are pretty annoyed to have to sit through the same childish lemur act again...

The afternoon thing is so true, yesterday on our second ride everyone couldn't be arsed...

I have to admit, the pre show is very interactive and quite entertaining as it can detact who is and isn't taking part in the audience as well as names of people. However the audio sync is rather shocking and the pre-show appears to be more aimed at kids.

It can detect it because there's a person doing the speech (hence why most of the time the lemur, referred to a he by Chase, then sounds very SARF LANDAN female)... It's a very, VERY poor imitation of what Disney have been doing on Stitch Live and Turtle Talk... Whilst kids love it, I can't help but think it was a needless (and poorly thought out, just look at the loading procedure for it) addition to the ride (which to some degree, actually sums the ride itself up)...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sorry but the frigging pre-show is awful, I understand it's for kids and stuff but as a kid even I would have been like what the hell. When they pick out members of the audience they aren't clear enough with who it is. The lemurs just badly animated, Chase is just what the hell. I understand the point but at the same time, it could be so much better. As for the ride, it's good because now the animals are coming out and being trolls XD standing in the way of the truck. Good old Zebras. The ending could be better, again it's a good concept but it's better than I thought it was going to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Remove the preshow, have an indoor queueing space with an edited version of that video playing. Scrap the lemur, it is awful and just have "Chase" talking to you telling you what he tells you at the beginning of the preshow.

Yes - and actually have some videos educating us of the animals we're about to see. Or - if they're going to pay for an actor - they should have a male actor playing chase in there. How can the creature we are seeing actually see us? Is it a new kind of transparent TV Screen? Turtle Talk with Crush makes sense because he's in a fish tank...

However, at least Merlin have tried the technology - that was what I was impressed with and the kids in the room were genuinely quite excited, and the grown ups were impressed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...