Chessington World of Adventures Resort

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Dara
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Jared wrote: Umm. No. You're wrong. Did you even see it?! It's because no one used it!
Jared, I know you like to stick up for Chessington at every possible opportunity (no idea why), but I don't think it's fair of you to tell somebody they are wrong.

From my experience, SRQs from exits in general don't work. Thorpe Park used to have them on Colossus and Nemesis Inferno exits and they were removed, not due to lack of use but due to it being unsafe to clog up the exit.

From what I witnessed of Dragon's Fury SRQ it was well used, which is precisely why it was removed, large numbers of people were using it it thus clogging up the exit. You could say that this was because staff weren't managing it correctly, or simply because the exit wasn't geared up to act as an exit, a priority pass entrance and a single rider exit. Whatever the answer is, it certainly wasn't because it was under used in the case of Fury. In the case of Tomb Blaster, yes nobody used that one. But Fury's definitely was used.

Chessington also used to run a SRQ on Samurai and I've heard that one was trialled on Dragon Falls for a very short period, which looking back seems crazy now.
Last edited by Dara on Tue Dec 03, 2013 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Burniel
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To have a proper single rider option you need another queueline.

Chessington used exits, it didn't work
Thorpe Park used exits, only Flying Fish and Stealth (which had designated lines) are left
Alton Towers use separate queues, and they are successful.

I like to stick up for Chessington, it's my local, I literally went 15-20 times this season, but this is a big flaw.
Last edited by Burniel on Fri Dec 06, 2013 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Dara
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The annoying thing about Thorpe Park is that Rush, Vortex and Samurai all, at one time, had dedicated Single rider entrances but these got replaced when Fastrack became the big thing  ](*,)
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NickiFan
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It annoyed me when I went Thorpe Park, I wanted to go on Saw but no one else with me wanted to. The only way I could do it was either wait 70 minutes on my own or buy ANOTHER fast track. I can't imagine it at CWOA, surely there must be families going with older kids who want to go on the ride but no one else does, it's a shame to miss it out like I had to with Saw.
Last edited by NickiFan on Fri Dec 06, 2013 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Burniel
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Location: Dragon's Fury's SRQ

But who on here can honestly put their hand up and say that they would queue 1 hour plus or pay for a fastrack at Chessington?
Last edited by Burniel on Fri Dec 06, 2013 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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NickiFan
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Ilovecoasters wrote: But who on here can honestly put their hand up and say that they would queue 1 hour plus or pay for a fastrack at Chessington?
I wouldn't.
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PhoenixStudios
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The fact remains that Chessington's target audience is completely different to Thorpe's & Alton's.

It is mainly families, who aren't going to cry and make a fuss if it hasn't had a new ride for 5 years. Alton & Thorpe get the investments because us enthusiasts are always looking for the next big thing.

I do think a new ride may be due at Chessington, but nothing astounding: just something that will please families and kids. We can't have every park in the UK tailored for extreme adrenaline seekers, so I don't necessarily think a SRQ would be a worthwhile investment.

I'm open to different views of course  ;)
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Dara
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Of course you could argue that SRQs (in many cases) don't require any investment. You could easily add one back to the Tomb Blaster exit and the fact that is was never used isn't justification for removing it. Fury I can totally understand, it wasn't practical or safe having it from the exit and this is why it was removed not because, as someone said, because it wasn't used. Anyone who worked there in the 2004/early 05 seasons will tell you that it was well used and was a victim of its own success if anything.

Realistically I could see SRQs on Vampire (only at times when there is a batcher in the station otherwise it'd be chaos trying to use the exit) and Tomb Blaster brought back in its old location.

Whether or not Chessington actually "need" them or not, is a different matter entirely.
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Burniel
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Location: Dragon's Fury's SRQ

It kind of depends on the ride. Fury would need a separate queue (as we have discussed the failures of the exits), but others like tomb blaster wouldn't (if they used the exit SRQ properly)
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newrider
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Given that I was given my own car on several rides (including Tomb Blaster/Bubbleworks), it does make me question what purpose SRQs would serve there. SRQ's are about saving everyone time, not saving the Singles time!

Dragon's Fury was routinely sent off with 3 riders making it a great SR ride. Plus I witnessed quite a few families in indecision over whether to all go on. So I'm surprised they removed that.

Vampire, on the other hand, desperately needs an SR queue. People shouldn't mind sitting next to a stranger on "train" style coasters, no other park sends these sorts of trains out with incomplete rows. Walt Disney World is the epitome of family parks and yet they see fit to have SRQs. Obviously I can see it's not fantastic to have strangers sitting next to kids, but  I don't see why that would come up anyway, since a family of 3 would logically have the adult in the empty row. Given it has the longest queue of any Chessington attraction...
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Burniel
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newrider wrote: Given that I was given my own car on several rides (including Tomb Blaster/Bubbleworks), it does make me question what purpose SRQs would serve there. SRQ's are about saving everyone time, not saving the Singles time!
What have they got to lose?
Dragon's Fury was routinely sent off with 3 riders making it a great SR ride. Plus I witnessed quite a few families in indecision over whether to all go on. So I'm surprised they removed that.
Fury's SRQ was moved for safety reasons, though a designated line would work great
Vampire, on the other hand, desperately needs an SR queue. People shouldn't mind sitting next to a stranger on "train" style coasters, no other park sends these sorts of trains out with incomplete rows. Walt Disney World is the epitome of family parks and yet they see fit to have SRQs. Obviously I can see it's not fantastic to have strangers sitting next to kids, but  I don't see why that would come up anyway, since a family of 3 would logically have the adult in the empty row. Given it has the longest queue of any Chessington attraction...
It does need one, but how will Chessington organise it?
Last edited by Burniel on Sun Dec 08, 2013 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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BenBowser
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Chessington have posted on their website a small page about their resort accommodation expansion in the form of the AZTECA hotel! This new hotel will include 69 new rooms, a stage, new restaurant and other smaller additions. I am assuming that the hotel will have an Aztec theme like the Azteca section in the Sea Life Centre. Post your thoughts below.

http://www.chessington.com/our-hotel/az ... nfirm.aspx
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BenBowser
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Chessington have just released on their website a TON of news!!!!! To start with, the £5 million upgrade program has now received an extra £9 million pounds and become the £14 million investment program!!!!! Secondly, Runaway Train's re theme has been announced as Scorpion Express through an abandoned mining town and desert, much more Mexican!! More news on the Azteca Hotel, there will be piranhas in the restaurants as well as stating that the hotel will over look the re themed monkey and bird garden!! And lastly the monkey and bird garden re themed will be called the AMAZU Treetop Adventure, with a playarea, sounds like this could be quite Aztec.
Here is the page that they released the information on http://www.chessington.com/updates/

I'm sooooo exited!!!
Last edited by BenBowser on Tue Jan 07, 2014 4:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Lottie.
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Can't wait to see what this will all look like when the park opens next year. Especially this refurb of Mexicana. :)
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Rob
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Brilliant news and just what Chessington needs. Let's hope that extra £9 million includes a couple of new rides. Will be interesting to see the new Dragon Falls.

Think this will put the rumours to bed that Chessington will be sold off.
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Burniel
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Well I would rather the £9million spend on a coaster, but I'm excited for the upgrades!
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Jared
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Ilovecoasters wrote: Well I would rather the £9million spend on a coaster, but I'm excited for the upgrades!
Not gonna happen for quite some time yet!
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Lottie.
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I guess I'm the only one who wants this money to be put towards refurbing the park. As much as I would love a new ride at the park, and yes Chessington does need another coaster, I'd like the park to get some TLC. Hopefully this is what they will be doing. :)
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jon18uk
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Ilovecoasters wrote: Well I would rather the £9million spend on a coaster, but I'm excited for the upgrades!
The "extra" £9million is almost certainly the hotel and associated Monkey area re-building costs. I would expect they are still only spending £5million on Scorpion Express & Dragon Falls refurbs.
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Burniel
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Jared wrote:
Ilovecoasters wrote: Well I would rather the £9million spend on a coaster, but I'm excited for the upgrades!
Not gonna happen for quite some time yet!
Yes, unfortunately. I predict sometime in the 2020s. We've had our big investment for this decade.

I look forward to a park refurb. Hotel isn't a priority for me, but the Mexicana re-theme is right up my street. It looks like it was a great success in the 90s, but is beginning to look deserted.

Just a question ... Is the scorpion express opening at the start of the season?
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