StealthFan

Awww so no more explosions? Thats a shame. It is impressive to see just how much land they have carved out for the ride. Im sure they will add a lot to the over all theme and experience of the ride though.

Given that its Merlin I don't see why they didnt just resurrect Zapomatiic from Chessington's classic Fith Dimension ride and re theme Air to that. Hell id find that a lot more entertaining and clever than essentially jumping on the Star Wars band wagon. Who doesn't love a bit of 80s cheesiness?

Thats a lot more compact than I was expecting. It reminds me a bit of Rage at Adventure Island in how its is laid out and how compact it is.

Maybe they will change the name to "Elissa Park" next. I really hope I win the lottery tonight so I can get back to Europa as soon as possible once Ireland opens and compare it to the real Ireland.

Yeah but those things are the least of the issues that ride has!

I still don't understand the popularity of that ride however you are correct it is definitely going to do wonders for capacity. If I go back after the ride re opens I may re ride it as I would like to see what a difference the new projectors make.

Im pretty sure its going to be an immersive tunnel ride like King Kong. To be honest I would have no issue with a Vekoma Madhouse with insane theming even though 13 minutes would be serious excessive for it.

Well that sounds like a sex act that I want no part of. I would almost be disappointed in them if they didn't over market things now, its basically a company trademark.

Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure? If you saw the disgraceful state of the station by the end of the year it looked like something had died there so still met that quota.

Well that is obviously hands down the greatest name for a ride ever. Merlins creative have once again set the bar at an all time high for naming their attractions.......... Consider any interest in this ride now gone. Have no interest in immersive tunnels what so ever and if the name is anything to go by I can't imagine it will be that good of a ghost train.

One or 2 4D rides I can deal with at Disney but Universal had way to many for my liking.

Yes we do! We want Toy Story Land first not Star Wars Land! To me the stunt show is always something as well as ToT that I have related to the studios so in that sense its a shame its going, however in the name of progress and Slinky Dog I am glad its going.

Europa Mouse riding in the train chimney is awesome! I imagine this is going to be an Elissa approved train just due to that alone.

I really enjoyed both Dragons during my first visit to the park last year. I did get the impression that they felt overshadowed/ignored more than they deserved to be due to Potter though. On a random note about the Hulk refurb project I wonder how nice it was for B&M to revisit one of their classic iconic attraction and give it a serious modern day upgrade/overhaul.

I love the last picture. There is something quite nice about that path under the Immelmann.

There are many factors that need to be taken into account when it comes to how long a ride takes to construct such as access to the ride area, parts arrival, construction team, soil conditions and thats not even covering the surface. As far as we know the ride is still on schedule and no major delays have been announced so I wouldn't worry to much. I would much rather they take their time and get the ride finished to a high standard than they rush it and it looks like a giant B&M turd!

I love Pegasus and I'm really surprised more park haven't purchased Mack YoungStar's. Im personally not sold on any of this VR stuff, it doesn't appeal to me one bit. That being said the more rides Mack install this on the more they can refine their system and develop it which is never a bad thing.

I think this all falls back to the fact that when The Tussauds Group owned the park they had no real direction in mind for the park either. If you look that the last major investment they did was Dragon's Fury/Land of the Dragons in 2002. Nothing even close to major was done until 2010 (Wild Asia) which was 3 years after Merlin took control. The zoo is in a very slow progression of regeneration and some parts do look nice but it will take time. I do agree they seem to have forgotten about the theme park side of it and it was only once the Tomb Blaster queue line incident Merlin took note and started investing money into the park. Of course its not like you can just suddenly regenerate everything over night and they have a lot of work to do getting the rest of the park up to scratch after the HSE gave them a serious spanking! I think if they got one major addition that could hold them over for a few years while all the regeneration takes place it would do wonders. But hey I'm no expert and its not my place to tell them what to do, we will just have to see what Merlin "creative" come up with.

Wow by the looks of this it should make this the tallest Junior Boomerang ever! #RecordBreaker!

River Quest looks so much better already I can't wait to see the finished product.

This weekend just past I visited Chessington for one of their annual winter Zoo Days to check out some awesome animals and see some winter maintenance progress. As I mentioned earlier Safari Skyway has now officially been retired from active service. The ride still sits in place but the queue line has been removed and some of the trains have had their roofs removed but thats it. I still imagine the ride will stay there for the season and the trains will get removed as and when is convenient for the park. SeaStorm is also having a lot of work done in the queue line including new gates and facade around the ride. Transylvania is also having work done to the facades of building with Vampires old entrance being re painted and it seems they are slowly working their way round to Bubbleworks. If they can make all the facades look like Burger Kitchen does that whole area could have a whole new lease of life. Dragons Fury once again has scaffold around the lifts but this is pretty common for the ride. I couldn't say whats going on around the rest of the park as the main park is closed off during Zoo Days. Work is also being done to replace the Chicken Shack with a new Smokehouse BBQ restaurant which looks like its going to be huge! One point I do want to make before I get on to the photos though is how dirty the park was. I appreciate that it is winter and the zoo is only open during weekends and half term but I don't think thats a valid excuse. It wasn't even the park was construction work dirty it was actually the amount of litter around the park that annoyed me most. It wouldn't have taken long to just walk round the zoo and give it a quick going over in the morning which would have made the park look so much better. Anyway on to photos. Normally you can have your photos taken with the Octonauts here but now you can pose with the Chessington logo! With Safari Skyways retirement from the park the queue line has been removed and it looks like it will be the new location for the Market Square lockers. As mentioned earlier some of the trains have had their roofs removed but thats all that has been done as of my visit. This once was a maintenance shed and now it is the "Crypt of the retried safari!" Think of the millions of people who have ridden in these trains over the years! The track now makes for a great seagull home. Have these guys come to visit from Finding Nemo? Oh the irony! The Black Buccaneer is having its annual strip down finished up as the season approaches. On a personal note I HATE this ride! It was a terrible ride to work on and id much rather this got retied that Skyway. Since my last visit one of my favourite park restaurants had an expansion with indoor seating. This means much more Sausage and Chips for me. Even when I visited Epcot I still had to visit the Fish & Chip shop. Ben & Jerry's/Sweet Shop look like they have seen their last customers as they become part of the Smokehouse BBQ expansion. Construction walls have been put up around the building and the front wall removed. Plus the inside of the store has been gutted. Another new restaurant and another total win for Merlin's name creation department! A beautiful Oak extension is being constructed as park of the restaurant which I'm sure didnt come cheap. I am a sucked for beautiful crafted wooden building I have to say. Apparently this one will also be able to play chess! A mini concrete pad has been poured outside which I can only think may be for some outside smoke pit. Tiny Truckers have decided they no longer want to be "King of the Road" and are going on a tour of the park. While I would love that scaffold to be for a Fury repaint I'm pretty sure its just to allow work to be completed on the lift hill. SeaStorms rocks have been removed and placed next to the Carousel to allow the ride to be stripped down. I dont think the sea will be very rough at the moment. How many of you just nerdgasmed? Much like the Titanic Merlin's stock prices sunk last year. As is a common trend around the park SeaStorm's gates have been replaced with new sturdier ones. The Transylvania shop now has scaffold around it for what I hope is a repaint of the facade. Anyone know what is missing from here? Around the Gorilla enclosure are these strange spray paint marks. I have no idea what they are for. Those poor pink monkeys are getting tortured! While these monkeys are living the dream! This little guy is just one of the cutest things ever. The poor Meerkats are pacing up and down waiting for the park to re open. While this Otter doesn't give a damn cause he's an Otter. New for next year is yet more accommodation. Basically its a glorified tent. If your into that thing great. Me personally I think its dumb. Now I will end this update with the best thing in the entire park. GIANT GUINEA PIGS! Otherwise known as Capybaras

Given the fact the park haven't announced anything yet you honestly think Mack would just spill the beans on it happening? Even in the modern age of internet rumours and terrible know it all enthusiasts there can still be a few secrets kept here and there.

^No this is not the case with Chessington as per usual. They did have something on the map that said "New ride for 2016". It was only due to be a small kiddie ride but has since been cancelled. They are opening a "Glamping Village" behind Temple of Mayhen this year and a new restaurant but thats it. With regards to a replacement for Skyway I get the impression that this was a decision made very late in the day so expect to see the ride sit around for a year before removal. The parks original medium and long term development plans went out the window a long time ago so no body really knows what is coming over the next few years.

After a few years of ongoing issues with the parks monorail "Safari Skyway" the park have taken the difficult decision to remove the ride from the parks line up. During a tough time for Merlin right now I am not surprised by this decision one bit. The ride has been a pain for the parks engineers for many years now and had very high maintenance costs so I believe this is a wise decision. Do you think the ride should be saved with investment into it or do you think its time for this Chessington original to be laid to rest? If you haven't been on the ride or miss it already check out this POV I shot last year. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

Odyssey already got brand new custom SLC trains a couple of years ago. With the repaint the trains will now match the track!