StealthFan

Considering I used to work in that area I still have yet to come up with any reason for it. I never saw kids climb it or people try to vandalise it. If anything they used too love interacting with it. The ride breaking down at the start of the season is a pretty common thing especially when you consider the age of a lot of the parks attraction. I have a huge amount of respect for the engineers at Chessington because they do some fantastic work to keep the ageing rides running. Safari Skyway would have been removed a long time ago if it wasn't for their dedication. I can't agree with you about the Tomb Blaster stuff. It looked a hell of a lot better than it used to. Yes it is brighter but I think that actually works well, any brighter than it is now would be an issue though. The Vampire issue you brought up about the interior queue does have a valid reason. Due to the fact that they now batch into rows for each cycle this only allows people inside to queue up the ramp inside. At the top of that ramp is a fire exit that leads into the ride area. If the queue is allowed up past that people have a tendency to open that door which would require the ride to be e-stopped immediately as it could mean someone was in the ride area. Also with the reduced amount of people no inside the station it does mean that if the station ever has to be evacuated it will be a lot easier and safer with a significantly reduced risk of people crushing each other.

So the 2016 season is now in full swing at Chessington and I finally found some time around my new job to head down to the park and renew my annual pass, plus to see what "improvements" have been made at the park. Im gonna cut straight to the point and say it. I really was not even close to being impressed by most of the things I saw. In my PERSONAL opinion a lot of the work done was rushed or just poor quality workmanship. Certain areas of the park just looked half done and the staff had about as much enthusiasm and work ethic in them as a mouldy turnip. Not to say it was all bad, for example the work done to Tomb Blaster was very good and much needed but the staff let it down big time. I personally am a firm believer that it doesn't matter how good your ride is if you run it like crap it will take away from the experience and tarnish the experience. I really really want to be more positive but I'm struggling, the reality is after 3 hours (including a 45 min queue to renew my annual pass!) seeing the way things were being run me and my friend ended up leaving to go to Thorpe Park! Now lets be honest for those people who know me a few years ago thats not really an option I would have willing made. Anyway before I go on too much here is a POV of the new and improved Tomb Blaster that I shot and of course some pictures of a few things that have gone on around the park. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] First stop was the newly refurbished Tomb Blaster. What do you all think of the new sign? The first thing you will notice is how much brighter the whole ride is, especially the station. With an all new shooting system, targets and UV paint the ride really does look a hell of a lot better than it used to. While no new effects have been added they do all now work. I personally think this is the scene that looks the best since the refurbishment. But of course everyone love the snake pit. I love this scoreboard at the end of the ride. It makes it a lot easier to see if you have crushed your opponents or not. This is a prime example of the sort of half arsed attempts at things I was talking about above. While to some people it may just be a ride sign and not matter to much to me it just lacks consistency. Its not like its hard too replace or takes very long yet they just left the old one up in the disabled queue. Another new retheme for this year is Trail of the Kings Which now features a hunt for lost treasure. Which by this map looks amazing. But in reality its just some coins stuck in concrete randomly on the floor............... Some statues of the animals have been placed through out the area which make for great photo opportunities. This is a feature I did like. As you walk around there are tiny holes you can look through that have video screens on them looping a video of certain animals. While this is an idea I love it just needs to be made so that the video doesn't freeze before it plays again. Its great to see Chessington remembering some of their best known animals. I hope we see a statue of Boris the Sea Lion soon! We didn't get chance to see Pandamonium during this trip but the area look okay. It wasn't anything fancy but it suits is purpose. As everyone knows the biggest news from Chessington was the closure of the much loved Safari Skyway. The old queue line how now become the "New for 2016: Tarmac Land!" That being said Skyway isnt dead yet! While some track has been removed certain parts of it over the zoo have yet to be removed. I am assuming due to the close proximity to the animals and the procedures that will have to be put in place to keep them safe during removal. I would think this will be completed next closed season. Incase you forget the correct way to take a poop there is this helpful sign at Zufari! The buddha is no longer feeling green and has been given the Midas touch turning him to gold! When your too lazy to build a new retaining wall! Am I the only one who thinks this is just nasty and pointless? This was the queue for Guest Services which must have taken forever. And this was the queue for Annual Passes. The queue took 45 mins from this point and you can see how close I am to the desk. Of course though Chessington does always have one always positive thing about it. This is of course GIANT GUINEA PIGS! They never let me down with their awesomeness! Plus I saw one of them take a poop in the pool! Im sorry to sound like I'm ranting but over all the park really did a good job of pissing me off. I do hope it improves as the season progresses and work (hopefully) continues but we shall see. As it stands right now though I have no plans to go back and visit the park again this year. Keep an eye out tomorrow in the Thorpe Park thread where I will post an update from the park which was surprisingly positive for Thorpe! -Craig

I think the real reason they reused the old wood was to ensure that even if the ride vanishes from existence you can still remember the trauma that the ride caused you as you walk around the park.

I personally didn't think RRR was that bad of a ride. Any ride that you can play the Muppets on during your ride can't be bad right?

Im pretty sure that Mack will never build another E-Motion coaster! I think that has to be regarded as one of their biggest failures.

Even though it looks slow I still think at that speed it will be a pretty damn good ride. As far as I'm aware there has been no confirmation that they have tested at full speed launch yet so if they are still slowly turning the launch up to get to full speed we may see the ride get faster.

Those aren't boats they are some form of water tanks! I imagine them fighting in a war zone and just flattening everything in their path!

Does anyone know if the giant wheels on top of the lift will spin as the ride goes up the lift? Even if they dont they still look pretty cool.

Hopefully I will get to try this out next week. Im not going to lie I am so sceptical on this who VR fad thats going about but I could be proved wrong.

Its the size of the attraction that matters its about the quality of it On a random note what is the reliability of the Flying Dutchman like these days? I haven't been on it since 2008 and am interested to hear how its held up over time.

Why has no one yet drawn a face on the water dummies? I thought that sort of thing was compulsory by parks.

In my own personal opinion I feel this had a significant impact on some of the ride closures that has effected the park this year. When you think about it from a staffing cost point of view they won't have had to hire extra staff to run the ride they have just relocated them from other attractions.

I really like how on each side of the tank they have different generations of shuttle coasters. I think it looks really good. I dont think I've missed them arriving so do we have any idea when the monster boats will be arriving at the park?

See now I totally love this sort of thing. Just casually placing something like this in a ride queue too hint at a future project.

There is still going to be fire at the end of the spikes right? Fire makes everything better!

Also don't forget the fact that the old track would have been bleached by the sun over time where as the new track is all fresh and shiny.

I think we need to get some woodpeckers, beavers and crazy axe wielding maniacs to destroy the rides in a violent wood chopping fury! Then replace it with something good like new toilets. Also how did I miss this new ride? It looks pretty awesome to me. Mack have been producing some really solid rides recently so I'm sure this will be exactly the same.

What remains of El Paso actually looks pretty cool if I'm honest. Im sure they will re use the area in good time for something new but for now at least it looks like a nice bit of theming.

A bit rude... but OK... I just see a lot of people ask whether it's exactly the same or not, so I thought I'd compile the differences between the old and new version into one post. Will make a mental note not to do this again, just thought some people would find it interesting/useful. I will go back to observing boat jokes in the Cedar Point thread. Don't stop on my account I was just saying thats my opinion on it. If thats what floats your boat feel free I'm in no position to stop people being that into stuff. Just my personal perspective is when you get that intense into something it can detract from the main purpose of the ride which is to be awesome.

I think you will find that many people who went on the Smiler since it re opened went on it to say "Oh I went on that ride that crashed and didn't get hurt". Thats just how people are these days. I can tell you the same thing happened after the Tomb Blaster incident at Chessington. Guests came into the park and rode it making claims like that even though the ride itself had nothing to do with the incident in the first place. Its great the ride has re opened and proves Merlin do have a bit of a backbone and dont bow down to press *cough*SeaWorld*cough*. I personally am not really fussed about it as I don't think its a particularly good ride anyway but it is good for the park.

So yesterday I took a quick trip down to Fantasy Island to see how things are going now the park is back open and they have been purchased. Plenty of work has taken place and changes are definitely afoot. Beast has been relocated to the old Mouse location and Twist has been place in Beasts old home. This has freed up a big area where Twist used to be that looks like it will be used for a new wristband/ticket counter to start with. Odyssey is testing but hasn't opened yet. The new paint job looks fantastic and the station is now fully enclosed with heaters to keep the wheels nice and warm. I personally think this could be a great year for the ride with all the money they have spent on it.

Okay I have to say being how intensely people have been comparing the old ride structure to the new one actually disturbs me......... I see this rebuild going one of three ways. 1) Wow they have ruined the Hulk now all the fanboys will bitch about it for the next 20 billion years 2) Meh its no different than it was before so I will bitch about it anyway 3) HOLY SH!T this is so freaking awesome im going to buy a special pack of Hulk underpants so when I soil them I can replace them easily. Regardless of which one of those outcomes it is I can say one thing with absolute certainty. This is way better than all that Potter stuff.

My understanding of Loggers Leap being closed is that its getting a refurbishment/retheme not being removed like Altons. As for it being a bad year to be a flume, I think its more of a case its a bad year to be a ride owned by Merlin.

I really love that coaster train! If your in the front seat and the on ride photo camera is positioned correctly you could have an amazing photo with Europa Mouse!

^^You have to give the park serious credit for just continually going for big projects. That says to me they must be in a fantastic financial position to keep being able to bank roll such impressive rides.