Chessington changes for 2012
- Thread starter peep
- Start date
2012 map has been released:
http://rideguidegroup.com/chessington2012map.pdf
Toytown has been renamed 'Africa', and Berry Bouncers has been rethemed and renamed as 'Jungle Bouncers'.
Flying Jumbos has been moved to Forbidden Kingdom but has NOT been rethemed.
Other changes for 2012 include:
Reindeer near the Lodge Gate
Three new food outlets
Designated smoking areas
http://rideguidegroup.com/chessington2012map.pdf
Toytown has been renamed 'Africa', and Berry Bouncers has been rethemed and renamed as 'Jungle Bouncers'.
Flying Jumbos has been moved to Forbidden Kingdom but has NOT been rethemed.
Other changes for 2012 include:
Reindeer near the Lodge Gate
Three new food outlets
Designated smoking areas
Nemesis Inferno
Strata Poster
Chessie had designated smoking areas before.
Reindeer were brought in for Christmas last year.
Yeah, not much else to write home about is it?
Reindeer were brought in for Christmas last year.
Yeah, not much else to write home about is it?
http://go-merlin.co.uk/news/4830
Pics of Flying Jumbos being rebuilt in Forbidden Kingdom. Well, it's actually Mexicana, but according to the park, the old Rodeo site is now a part of Forbidden Kingdom. So, now you have to walk through Mexicana to get to the part of Forbidden Kingdom where the pink flying elephants are. This is going to look so ****.
Pics of Flying Jumbos being rebuilt in Forbidden Kingdom. Well, it's actually Mexicana, but according to the park, the old Rodeo site is now a part of Forbidden Kingdom. So, now you have to walk through Mexicana to get to the part of Forbidden Kingdom where the pink flying elephants are. This is going to look so ****.
The shady side with a Medical Centre and some rocks that I've been to probably about twice in my decade+ of visiting Chessington regularly? Hmm... and it wouldn't look too good if they were advertising their pink elephant ride next to well-themed Tomb Blaster. I think the only way they could make it properly work would be to retheme the ride. The area is themed around Egypt and they're moving a ride there from Toytown without even renaming the thing. And even if they do make it accessible from Forbidden Kingdom, it will be visible from Runaway Train, which is supposed to have an adventurous Mexican theme. Really, it was bad enough when Toytown was there and every time you turned around on Rattlesnake you were facing the cartoon-style chimneys and bouncing Ribena berries. At least now, even if it is an over-commercialised Madagascar-themed attraction, the buildings in the area will be a lot more subtle without the garish pink. But some of this garish pink is moving to an area where it will look ten times as garish. I think them not even bothering to at least recolour it is a mistake.
Mark
Strata Poster
The map posted above makes it look as though it certainly will be accesible from the medical centre side.
I agree it really needs a recolour to fit in though, although this could be a temporary move before it is removed ready for the big safari jeep thingy??? Surely, being that close to where the Safari ride is planned to go it would have shown on the diagrams? If it isn't on those plans then I imagine that this move is purely temporary and the ride may be leaving the park at the end of 2012 perhaps.
I agree it really needs a recolour to fit in though, although this could be a temporary move before it is removed ready for the big safari jeep thingy??? Surely, being that close to where the Safari ride is planned to go it would have shown on the diagrams? If it isn't on those plans then I imagine that this move is purely temporary and the ride may be leaving the park at the end of 2012 perhaps.
The show didn't really appeal to me - but the area looks quite nice. Except 'Jungle Bouncers' - why the hell does it still have Ribena berries all over it?
Also, for those of you who fancy saving a little bit of dosh:
1. If you fancy a hot chocolate (£1.60), go to Donut Shack and ask for a tea (£1.20).
2. When you are given your cup, walk to the machine and press the hot chocolate button.
3. Profit.
Also, for those of you who fancy saving a little bit of dosh:
1. If you fancy a hot chocolate (£1.60), go to Donut Shack and ask for a tea (£1.20).
2. When you are given your cup, walk to the machine and press the hot chocolate button.
3. Profit.
Nic and I saw the show today, weren't impressed. It's great for kids that love the films but as Disney learnt the hard way the other year, Europeans hate audience participation during shows. This new show heavily relies on the audience and on days like today (where the weather is rather miserable) it really fails and most of the audience want to find somewhere warm, not jump up and down and whatnot.
We actually bumped into Rob Bishop and he was saying how well received it is with guests and how it's easier on the operations of the other rides in the park. Apparently each show draws huge crowds and queues around the park just empty during the shows. I found that quite interesting. So it's great for the park but yeah, still not a fan of it, not even because of the IP, purely because the show isn't good.
There's actually quite a lot of little changes around the park this year, but as I didn't take pics today I won't bore you all with the little things today. Most important thing is new merchandise which is actually good
We actually bumped into Rob Bishop and he was saying how well received it is with guests and how it's easier on the operations of the other rides in the park. Apparently each show draws huge crowds and queues around the park just empty during the shows. I found that quite interesting. So it's great for the park but yeah, still not a fan of it, not even because of the IP, purely because the show isn't good.
There's actually quite a lot of little changes around the park this year, but as I didn't take pics today I won't bore you all with the little things today. Most important thing is new merchandise which is actually good
Will
Strata Poster
My immediate thought there though is: how long's that going to last for? Obviously nearly any new attraction's going to be popular, especially one that hits the park's target dynamic as squarely as the Madagascar show does, but as a permanent attraction, I'm staying unconvinced.peep said:
Which isn't to take anything a way from it - it's a bit of fun and as you say, puts smiles on guests faces even when the weather's the way it was this weekend, but... I'm not much for audience participation either!!
kimahri said:
Theft/Fraud, not savings OR profit.
peep said:
I do wonder if this is Merlin led though? Alton have two "story telling" character shows on this year as well as the other entertainment. Seems coincidental that they're pushing "live". Maybe they've hired Amanda Thompson?
Sheesh, it's people like you who are stopping Merlin from investing money in Chessington because they're loosing out on 38p profit from ever hot chocolate consumed.TP Rich said:
Mixed reports re: Madagascarse and as peep is our Chessington expert, I was waiting for his opinion the most. (Not saying that anybody's else is invalid, but y'know, it's peep, Mr Chessington himself.)
If the show can happily swallow up a few hundred people twice a day and reduce my queue time for other rides, then it's a good investment. [/selfselfselfselfself] I'm not at all interested in the Madagascarse show but I'll probably watch it at least once during the season so I can form my own opinion. (Which will probably be it's a sound attraction for their target audience. [/ianfromcoasterforcegenericreviewquote#34])
