Chessington World of Adventures Resort

[Jollylee11]

I personal think its brilliant! If the plans go through, this could be the best themed attraction in the Uk IMO
It brings the zoo and theme park together, so both are benefiting from this attraction and big thumbs up for the rhinos
2013 looks like another amazing year before 2012 has even kicked off  :P
On the station, it doesn't need to be big? its chessington, its hardly going to carry the put through of disney, so the size is good, plus 2 pre show and loading bays, pretty good IMO

Also

Join us at one of the 2012 Passholder Preview Days

More to come?

[John]

Don't think so, sounds like it's just a 2-day event at Chessington.

[Pennywise]

Just spotted this elsewhere, thought it might be of interest to you all.

Closed Season Update & 2013 Work Begins

Bubbleworks Changes
Bubbleworks is receiving a repaint to the externals of the ride queue line, the new paint (currently only a primer) could possibly be the park finally getting around to removing the rides imperial leather sponsorship, but it is yet unknown whether the ride will be undergoing more transformations.

The ride, which opened in 1990 was re-themed from Professor Burps Bubblworks in 2006, much to the dis-like of most and it is believed that a second re-theme is due to take place soon.

Could this be the sign of more to come? Chessington Buzz will be sure to keep you updated on any changes to the ride as soon as we know more.


Toy Town Re-theme
Following on from plans submitted in late 2011, the park has made major changes to Mexicana, re-locating the Flying Jumbo’s ride from its previous home in Toy Town, to the site of former ride, Rodeo in Mexicana. This comes about as Chessington construct a stage and re-theme part of Toy Town for the new hit stage show, Madagascar Live! For more information about the show, read our past news article by clicking here.

As well as that, the parks Windy Castle, a set piece that has a lot of history at the park, has been re-located from Toy Town, and will be placed elsewhere in the park, where, is currently unknown.


Safari Trail 2013
After news broke on Thursday of the new plans submitted for a Safari Trail attraction, due to open in 2013, Chessington Buzz can exclusively show you what appears to be land clearing ready for the construction of the new attraction. Large equipment has been seen clearing away shrubbery and trees in the area where the attraction will be constructed and we believe this is the beginning of construction work for the addition.

The new addition, which planning permission has been sought for, has been earmarked for a twenty-two acre piece of land behind the Forbidden Kingdom. The attraction, due to open in 2013 allows guests to board Safari Jeeps and traverse through the plains of Africa, coming up close with Rhino’s Giraffes and Flamingo’s. Due to open in 2013, this attraction looks set to be one of the parks biggest investments to date.

As ever, keep your eyes on Chessington Buzz for all the latest news, updates and information on the Safari Trail, the Bubbleworks changes and Madagascar Live!

Source - Chessington Buzz - There are some images of the goings on uploaded there, too, if you want to take a look.

[[Archive]]

Ahh, Bubbleworks. Each year you receive improvements that only 10% of riders notice! :P Sounds good, though, I hate yellow and red. I would also love it if they reinstall the lighting in all the facade windows (that means removing those offensively fake bubble printouts).

Also, I think the effort to bring back old effects is worth it, after seeing how much attention the severed hand and book effects got in Duel last year (more people were watching the effects than the queueline videos, that's a good sign!). I know there were several mechanisms removed in 2005/6 that could quite easily be fixed/reinstalled; the Bubbleheads hanging in the Gas room used to swing, the machinery in the Juicing room used to have moving dials, etc... It was good to see lots of fixed animatronics last year, but they have not got them all working yet.

As for a Bubbleworks retheme replacement, I can't see Chessington doing that until after their 2013 investment. They need a real budget, real ideas and real artists this time, otherwise it will not stand up in today's world of dark rides. I would be happy to wait rather than have another naff "retheme"; Chessington has had way more than enough of those! I am glad they can recognise how technically bad the ride currently is.

[thefatone]

Bubbleworks exterior fencing gets painted every year, two years at most.

It's called maintaining the place - I know, it's rare. But every park paints their queues every year.

[Jared]

Bubbleworks exterior fencing gets painted every year, two years at most.

It's called maintaining the place - I know, it's rare. But every park paints their queues every year.

I'm actually going to call you on that. When was the last time you saw the rails in the Vampire guideline or those for Hocus Pocus Hall painted? Its not every year.

[Islander]

I swear Vampire's queue was reprinted within the last two years, though I couldn't pin-down the exact time.

[Joe Koopa]

I swear Vampire's queue was reprinted within the last two years, though I couldn't pin-down the exact time.

Were the wooden fences in the Vampire queue not replaced with the dark lilac ones we see now around the 2008/2009 seasons?

I believe...

[Magrathea]

Regardless, the purple fencing now is vivid enough that it MUST have been painted in the last few seasons, which is, you know...standard practice

[[Archive]]

Bubbleworks exterior fencing gets painted every year, two years at most.

It's called maintaining the place - I know, it's rare. But every park paints their queues every year.

This is more significant than just maintenance. I hope. They seem to be fixing the colour clash.


On its last year, dressed for Hocus Pocus. Notice its nice pale Transylvanian colours and deceiving formal appearance?


Thanks to ThemeUK for the image!
The rethemed version, with bright new primary colours on top of worn old pink (later just red and yellow on the fences). Yuck. Also above the main archway was the decorated crest, which was removed a few years ago.


Thanks ChessingtonBuzz for the image!
I hope the white is not a just for priming and that they are actually making the entrance look smarter. Please touch up the facade too, Chessington!

[Nightfall]

On the subject of the Bubbleworks there are two directions I think the park could successfully take it in:

1. Returning the old story. I personally think the original concept behind the Bubbleworks was fantastic and perfectly summed up Chessington as a park. Take a very stereotypical middle European tradition (a brewery) then give it a children friendly twist and humour (Brewery > fizzy pop). I would very much like to see this old theme return. But I’m not saying they should take the ride back to how it was. Just that they should aim for the same light hearted feel.

2. A brand new concept which also has an interesting twist. If they feel the rides original concept has outlived its life I’d like to see a complete over hall rather than the Imperial Leather “let’s just turn it into a soap factory”. Transylvania has quite a rich history and mythology. I’m sure something interesting can be done to completely change the ride.


As for the new Safari ride I think it’ll be a good addition. It sounds like they are limited to what that land could be used for anyway. But soon they are going to need new rides. If they can’t build roller coasters because of the restrictions my suggestion would be lots of partially submerged dark rides. I think Chessington could very easily become the dark ride capital of the UK.

[Benzin]

Best thing for Bubbles is too literally clear out EVERYTHING bar the ride system and start again from the beginning with something new and fresh...

Going back to the old one will never be the same...

[AstroDan]

Bubbleworks suffers much in the same way that Duel and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory too.

The fact is, Tussauds wanted a cheap, quick fix for the rides - even though they weren't broken. Although they can use the new "refresh" in marketing, the new "versions" just don't hold up.

The Haunted House for example, was developed carefully for that ride system. Everything was tailored to it and even to this day, I am not aware of another Mack ride that uses what Duel does. However, adding strobe lights everywhere, and lighting the building up makes everything look cheap and ineffective.

Similar can be said of Charlie - where once there was light and fun around every corner, now there is a lack of anything to look at. It's diabolical.

Bubbleworks too, became nothing more than a cheap advert - and neutralised the entire original ride.

It's a pity that Tussauds went through the stage of damaging some of the UK's most original and best dark rides. I will never forgive them!

[thefatone]

It's a shame that merlin don't seem to think that dark rides have a great ROI to resolve these issues either.

Though, hopefully, sub terra will win them round.

[monsterdan5]

There's a fair amount of maintenance work taking place around the park, although Bubbleworks is appalling at the moment.

A trip by the team to Chessington World Of Adventures today reveals some more of the work going on around the park. Click any of the images to view the full size versions.

This former piece of Toy Town theming is in the process of being relocated:


There's a lot of work going on in Mexicana, notice the current state of the Rattlesnake entrance and Sheriff's Office.

The Flying Jumbos are still yet to be fully relocated, but what's all of that wood?

Its old wood from the Runaway Train, which appears to be undergoing a partial renovation. The ride op's cabin has had all of its wood replaced:

We noticed several of these new signs popping up in Wanyama Village & Reserve - perhaps just for the 'African Adventures' event.

Construction has not started on the 2013 attraction yet, this tractor has been around since the Wanyama Village & Reserve was constructed. Construction will not begin until the plan's have been officially approved - this will probably be towards the end of March.

http://go-merlin.co.uk/news/5088

[[Archive]]

It is possible that they are removing what is left of "Howler's Hank", which was a themed picnic site in Calamity Canyon before Rodeo moved in.

So why was Bubbleworks appalling? They ought to close it at some point before next season...

[monsterdan5]

It is possible that they are removing what is left of "Howler's Hank", which was a themed picnic site in Calamity Canyon before Rodeo moved in.

So why was Bubbleworks appalling? They ought to close it at some point before next season...

Only around 10% of the effects working, it was worse than normal. The tennis players have lost their rackets, the hippo has an air leak and has a towel placed in its mouth because it is closing so fast, to stop it from damaging itself. The elephant has wires hanging out from it and a lot of the music was not playing. The duck coaster was missing several ducks etc.

Its just falling apart now, it really just needs to be ripped out and started fresh. The boats were also having some problems, they were coming in about a minute apart at some points - the lights kept fading in the station as well which was strange. 

[[Archive]]

Oh, sounds fun!

Really, why don't people here realise that dark rides are living entities that need long term care for them to work properly. They are only art projects, which naturally do not last forever, but at least make some visible effort to keep them alive; especially one that is so sentimental for a lot of visitors.

All they ever do is change the lights periodically and keep the pumps working. Although I do feel sympathy when the effects are so old and primitive in their technical designs. Well at least the pumps are still working...

[Sam]

Really, why don't people here realise that dark rides are living entities that need long term care for them to work properly. They are only art projects, which naturally do not last forever, but at least make some visible effort to keep them alive; especially one that is so sentimental for a lot of visitors.

They can last forever, if properly maintained. In fact, nearly all Disneyland's dark rides are much stronger, healthier (ride-system wise) and better than when they opened decades ago, due to constant maintenance and improvement.

[[Archive]]

Exactly! They need dedication. But that is Disney, who constantly reinvest in their old attractions.

Over here the attitude is so different. I remember I saw a promo from 1994 with Nick Varney talking about how they had spent loads of money on Toyland Tours so that their family market would not be put off by Nemesis; he was talking about them equally. It soon became clear in the years that followed which of the two rides had more impact, and Alton Towers never built another full scale dark ride again.

UK parks don't care for dark rides as much because they have less demand. They seem to be built just for medium term benefits, hence the lack of significant maintenance and comparatively short lifespan (in the UK at least). Although the actual transit systems seem to last a lot longer.