Chessington World Of Adventures | Croc Drop | Zamperla Sky (Drop) Tower

[Chris Brown]

For some reason I had it in my head that this was going to be 2 towers for capacity purposes, no idea where I got that from.

The work Chessington have done with this is excellent, the marketing, themeing and story all look great but can't help but agree with concerns above about the capacity and the lackluster hardware. If this is the same as Magma at Paultons these rides just aren't very good.

 

[Will]

^
Indeed. I preferred Windmill Towers to Magma, though I'll admit I wouldn't go out of my way to ride either.

Some nice theming can go a long way to improve the experience though and it certainly works with Magma.

Still undecided over whether to bother with CWoA this year; it certainly won't be anytime soon.

 

[Ries]

I like it, they did a good job.
Someone talked about proportions look off. But I don't even mind that. If they put water or foliage on the roof, would be a little better.
It is not a people mover with only 8 riders per time. You almost always need two to keep wait times low.

 

[emoo]

How does cold weather relate to reduced capacity and no spin?

 

[Somebloke]

It’s was more to do with the snow earlier in the day, the spinning.

 

[Ethan]

I know it's for kids but it actually looks so so dull? Give me a double height Tikal and I'll be queueing hours for it. Also can't shake the view that it all looks a little plonked... It's just one structure with nothing else around it. Looks odd to me but perhaps that was the intention!

 

[Somebloke]

I know it's for kids but it actually looks so so dull? Give me a double height Tikal and I'll be queueing hours for it. Also can't shake the view that it all looks a little plonked... It's just one structure with nothing else around it. Looks odd to me but perhaps that was the intention!

As an adult... I still find this ride fun. Shame about the views of the service road though... but I think it looks great and it’s nice to see some real theming for a change, even if it does looked plonked.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

This. Looks. Awful...

They could have used that pit as a swamp area where the croc lives and utilised the original walkways that descends into it.

Crappy presentation. The rockwork looks lame as does the "details" as shown in Chessington Buzz's report. It's like minimal research has been done and is just a mishmash of B&Q pebbledash and aggregate pouring.

 

[Hixee]

Open = Unstickied.

I mean... I want to like it because it's better than the ****ing turd going on at Thorpe Park, but so... meh?

 

[Tonkso]

I actually think it looks half decent. It should have been in some sort of sunken swampy pit though, as someone else suggested.

 

[Nitefly]

Far too tame for its namesake and concept.

 

[Tonkso]

I think some may be losing sight of the fact that Chessington is the family counterpart to Thorpe Park, and a tame ride to us is perfectly suited to their target audience. Chessington is competing with the likes of Paulton's Park these days (can't imagine saying that back in the 90's!!).

 

[Will]

Chessington is competing with the likes of Paulton's Park these days (can't imagine saying that back in the 90's!!).

Fair, but in this respect they're losing and losing miserably...

 

[Tonkso]

I disagree, Paultons are definitely on the right trajectory and Tornado Springs looks exceptional, but they still lack a lot of things Chessington has, like a proper flume, dark rides (of which Chessington has two big ones) and more adult coaster (Vampire).

 

[Crazycoaster]

I think some may be losing sight of the fact that Chessington is the family counterpart to Thorpe Park, and a tame ride to us is perfectly suited to their target audience. Chessington is competing with the likes of Paulton's Park these days (can't imagine saying that back in the 90's!!).

I honestly think this is such a dumb excuse for parks to make. From what I remember from being a teenager, I was still a part of my family. So what is a family supposed to do, drop the teenagers at Thorpe on the way to Chessington with the younger kids?? Split the family up so everyone can have a fun time out??

I see the same thing said about Paultons park to say they can’t get a bigger ride. With this sort of attitude, these parks will never see a full potential as a park. Me and my brother both growing up wanted to go on the big rides as soon as we were tall enough. Kids enjoy thrilling rides!! You just have to look at the small kids going on Wildfire over and over to see that.

Not singling you out directly Tonkso, just at everyone who says this BS family park thing as an excuse for mediocrity.

 

[Nitefly]

I think some may be losing sight of the fact that Chessington is the family counterpart to Thorpe Park, and a tame ride to us is perfectly suited to their target audience. Chessington is competing with the likes of Paulton's Park these days (can't imagine saying that back in the 90's!!).

I think I would have thought Croc Drop looked unduly tame from about 10 years old and from that point upwards (and as an adult) it’s a little cringe.

There are some concepts you just can’t pull off with a watered-down ‘family friendly’ version. In Bristol (UK) we had a few years ago a ‘waterslide’ installed for one day only down a very well known city centre hill. The concept was amazing and the publicity was huge, crowds were big just to see it. In reality though, they installed it only about 1/4 the length of the hill and you basically had to push yourself along. Everyone was underwhelmed and all spectators were vocal in how underwhelming it was.

It’s not quite the same, but the same applies in relation to something like Croc Drop. It’s just too limp in execution for most people to enjoy.

I think I went on Tower of Terror at Disney World at 8 years old, so I can only assume very young children would be excited by the prospect of Croc Drop.

 

[Matt N]

The TV advert for Croc Drop has now been posted online:

 

[Rob Coasters]

Bump.

At around 4:00 of this video, a vlogger walks past a top spin sat in storage waiting to be set up. The colours match perfectly - has Rameses Revenge been bought?! I truly thought this ride was dead. I'm so surprised that this ride potentially lives on, and I'm glad to see it.

 

[owenstreet7]

Bump.

At around 4:00 of this video, a vlogger walks past a top spin sat in storage waiting to be set up. The colours match perfectly - has Rameses Revenge been bought?! I truly thought this ride was dead. I'm so surprised that this ride potentially lives on, and I'm glad to see it.

View attachment 34875

Whilst it would be nice if it was Rameses Revenge, I don't think it is. I believe this had been scrapped back in 2020 and left Chessington on the back of a van. It was in a state towards the end of it's operating life so I don't think it was economical to repair.

The ride model on this thread for Croc Drop is incorrect, it's a SBF Visa Drop N Twist tower rather than a Zamperla Sky (Drop) Tower.

 

[Rob Coasters]

Whilst it would be nice if it was Rameses Revenge, I don't think it is. I believe this had been scrapped back in 2020 and left Chessington on the back of a van. It was in a state towards the end of it's operating life so I don't think it was economical to repair.

Rameses Revenge was listed as for sale after it's closure despite the absolute state that it was in at the end of its life which surprised many including me. The fact that this is the same model of top spin as Rameses and has exactly the same matching colour scheme (including my knowledge of operational & defunct top spins) makes me think that there is simply no way this isn't Rameses.

How this thing is still alive is utterly beyond me, but I'm glad to see it live. Now let's just see how it operates.