Chessington Halloween - anyone going?

[Burniel]

Anyone off to chessington during their Halloween spooktacular, discuss here! You never know we could be going on the same day!

I'm probably going twice - once on 25th October and probably one day in half term, poss. Wednesday 30th (complete suicide, but hey)

[Jamie]

I would, but a 7pm close (with some attractions closing before this) puts me off greatly.

[Burniel]

^ I know it's a bit frustrating. With the long queues, 7 just isn't late enough!

I will probably go twice with my MAP - should get it all done

[Jamie]

^ I know it's a bit frustrating. With the long queues, 7 just isn't late enough!

I will probably go twice with my MAP - should get it all done

Yes very - I also have a MAP yet still feel a bit ripped off after visiting Chessie this year.
Certain aspects have declined rapidly.

[Burniel]

So, back from round 1, thought it time to write a review! [CONTAINS SPOILERS!]

Entrance
Fantastically themed, excellent music, and not too busy! Costumed staff members did the countdown and let us in at 10.

General theming
Pumpkins everywhere, the smaller ones real, the larger ones fake. Dressed up characters could be seen roaming the par before noon (when the Halloween attractions open). Even the Bubbleworks music seemed spookier!

Vampire
Did this as the first ride, and not again. ride experience was great, not much done for spooktacular but later we saw they had directed their efforts elsewhere (read below!) only queued 10mins so pretty happy.

Dragon's Fury
Was really surprised at how quiet this was! Did it 4 times and queued no longer than half an hour each time. Was just cold enough to get good air in your face, but not that it froze you

Tuk Tuk Turmoil
Wouldn't normally bring this up in a Halloween review, but there's is SERIOUSLY something wrong with it! Queued a mere 5mins. During the ride before, a woman signalled for the ride to stop. When it's stopped the woman said her car wasn't working. She was taken off and they set the ride off again. Our turn. Cars so slow it was AWFUL could have been queueing for a decent ride! Check before entering the queue!

The mystery of Hocus Pocus Hall
Went in at 12, in hope that we'd get a short queue. It only takes 8 people at a time, so as a two, myself and my mother were called forward immediately.
You enter see an over enthusiastic historian who talks about a mystery emerald. During this, he finds the emerald, and a door opens. You go through with him. You follow in the dark until you reach a vault door (*gasp* this is Stubb's vault!) he directs you through, but he backs out. You follow it down and get stopped by cleopatra. She is angry you're there, but says if you survive the horrors to follow, you can leave unharmed. She allows you to go by. You enter the dark jungle. Yo see a man. He tells you you're in great danger and tells you to take the shortcut. On you go, into an ocean world, stopped by a pirate. He tells you that he can be trusted, and you follow him. He takes you to a room where he announces he will kill you  when he pulls one of you forward, a man thrusts back a curtain, and says "quick in here!" You follow him, and he turns out to be Arthur Stubbs ( :O ) he shows you the way out (mirror maze), and done.

Haunting in the hollows
THEY TOUCH YOU! I was outraged, they allowed a 5 year old in, and assured his parent that the actors wouldn't touch us. IT'S A LIE. Do NOT take under 10s/11s in here!

Despite problems, overall a great day!

RIDE COUNT: 16
See you all after part two (Wed 30th)

[obliviongirl]

Thanks Dan! I'm visiting Thorpe tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to post up about that if someone hasn't already(?).

[Burniel]

Hi guys! Going again today, going to be much busier, but will hopefully still get a good ride count. On my return, I may write another review (after all, it's completely different during school holidays), commenting on business, and whether tuk tuk turmoil is fixed!

Let round 2 commence!

[Burniel]

So, I'm back

Firstly, I would thoroughly discourage what I did today. Chessington in October half term is ridiculously busy. The only reason I went was because I have a MAP. I didn't pay a thing (except for lunch), and was disappointed.

We parked at 9:35, walked over to the gate, to find they were just opening up. Me, my sister and her friends had all made an agreement to go straight to the vampire ride. Which would have been a nice plan had it been open. The ride eventually opened at about 10, and after walking round the queue, we were 10 minutes from the front. Came off, sister and co all really pumped up and wanted to go again. So I queued an hour to do it again.

Next we headed to dragon's fury, but by this time it was 75 minutes, and we weren't up to another long queue straight away. We went off in search of a quieter ride. The first ride we came to was the tuks, which appeared to be fixed, but they were queueing app the way around. Similar problem with the KOBRA, expected at 90 minutes.

We were really stuck, and did dragons falls, big mistake, it was October and far too early to get wet! But it was another ride done. After a bit more wandering, we noticed that rattlesnake was stated as only a 5 minute queue. So we did that a couple of times.

By this time, it was nearly 12, and my sister and her friends wanted to go in Stubbs Mansion (HPH), so I highly recommended heading there next so we wouldn't queueing too long. The queue was about half an hour (but reached an hour and a half later on), and really enjoyed it.

We decided to pop to the fried chicken co. for some lunch, an excellent choice, their unique recipe never disappoints. I hate to say this but I think this was the highlight of the day!

Sister and co did haunting in the hollows (I passed :P ), whilst I did rattlesnake by myself. A rattlesnake SRQ would be lovely for rattlesnake, as I waited 30-40 minutes in the main queue and the number of cars that went by with 3 in!

We met back up at about 10 past 2. One of my sister's friends had to go at 3 to get ready for a Halloween party she was attending tonight. So, we went in search of a ride we could be on by 3 o'clock. I'm not kidding when I say we did a whole lap of the park, and found nothing. We hung about a bit and waited for 3 when this girl would go and we could get in a queue. She left, but we had so little enthusiasm from then on. We'd spent most of the day walking, and total ride time had to be about 5 minutes. So (about 3:30) we left.

Good points

• Stubb's mansion
• Fried chicken co
• The first go on vampire

Bad points

• Didn't manage to go on dragon's fury
• Vampire remained a solid 2 hours after our goes
• Queues in general were a lot longer than stated
• Queueing 20 minutes for fried chicken

Chessington Halloween is great, but I would seriously suggest going in term time

RIDE COUNT: 7

I have created a little poll for everyone who went, to choose one of the two Halloween attractions.

[Jamie]

I didn't visit this year, as I don't feel that a 7pm close is acceptable for a Halloween event.
Plus Vampire's operations have been poor all year.
Let's hope they improve in 2014!

[lf2001]

I went this year. What I can remember is that the queues were huge, waited ages for Vampire and Dragon's Fury. I think they should've kept the park open longer especially with the big queues...

[Burniel]

Anyone remember that time, that wonderful time (2 years ago) when chessington opened until 8 on Halloween?

[Lottie.]

^ Yep. Wish they would bring the 8pm closes back.

I still remember the good old days when the park shut at 9pm during the summer. Gosh those days are long gone.

[Burniel]

I remember the old days where it was actually a "world of adventures"

Oh no wait ... I'm too young!

On a different note we may as well keep this topic open for next year