Chessington World of Adventures planning indoor waterpark - public consultation on Wednesday 16th November

[Matt N]

Hi guys. I have very exciting news for you all this afternoon! According to Attraction Source, Chessington is holding a public exhibition showing off a “new attraction” on Wednesday 16th November:

Attraction Source

Chessington World of Adventures have issued flyers to local residents to inform them about an exhibition on Wednesday 16th November where details of a proposed new attraction will be shared. Who is...

www.facebook.com

Little else is known other than that, but details will apparently be revealed on the 16th, and there will be a public consultation period running until the 30th.

Isn’t this exciting? I wonder what it could be; I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting another major investment at Chessington so soon after Jumanji, but I guess it would make sense seeing as I’ve heard reports of Chessington receiving £60m of CAPEX between 2022 and 2026…

 

[JMW]

Chessington Buzz have tweeted;

Our friends at @AttractionSc have discovered another Consultation is on the way! We believe this will really make a splash!

They did a 'speculation' article on their website a few months back about the possibility of a waterpark coming to the resort so I'm inclined to believe this is what this'll be... Here's the article for anyone interested Link

 

[Swat]

Starting to feel for Thorpe for only having one major coaster in the works when you look at Alton and Chessington. Merlin are going on a massive spree

 

[Matt N]

Starting to feel for Thorpe for only having one major coaster in the works when you look at Alton and Chessington. Merlin are going on a massive spree

For all we know, there might be more in the works for Thorpe… it’s not impossible that Thorpe might have more announcements in the pipeline!

I think Merlin’s spending spree likely correlates with them having gone private a little before COVID… we’re now getting into the period where the company’s investments are likely to have been green-lighted post-delisting, and Merlin did recently say that they were increasing investment into the Resort Theme Parks following the company going private.

 

[Matt N]

Sorry to double post, but I have an update; a now deleted comment from an Attraction Source administrator on Facebook says that "those familiar with the situation say that this is replacing an existing attraction", for what it's worth.

Take that comment with a pinch of salt, of course, but I'd consider any team member at Attraction Source a reliable source of information (they are connected with a number of parks in a semi-official capacity), and I'd say that the fact the comment was later deleted suggests that this person may have accidentally leaked a little too much...

 

[toofpikk]

There's been whsipers for years of a gutting of Tomb Blaster, some lodge cabins similar to those of the enchanted village at AT on the far side of zufari, or also possibly the addition of a small safari themed water park. All of these rumours have some meat to them, but which one is the parks priority is anyones guess outside of the team giving each one a green light. My money would be on the water park idea first, closely followed by a gutting of tomb blaster. I think the cabins are kind of redundant considering how much other accommodation the park already has available considering it's size. The parks pool is constantly booked up so extending this offering is a good idea. To what extent? I have no idea. As I say these are all just whispers, but I suppose all will be revealed in a couple of weeks.

Tomb Blaster is in a state parallel to watching a crippled 80 year old with dementia taking part in a primary school 50 metre sprint. It really seriously needs to go at this point - but then again with the dramas of scorpion express this year I wouldn't be surprised if all the priorities are shuffled and that thing is the first to get a makeover.

 

[Joelpagett]

Potentially could we be looking at a re-build of Vampire similar to Nemesis?

It's surely got to be nearing the end of its operating life - even if it did have a refurb in 2002 - that was 20 years ago!

 

[spicy]

It’s great to see Chessington getting some much needed investment and attention, it has so much potential.

They could literally just cut and paste a Splash landings style water park into chessington and they would be onto a winner.

Would love to see them go further with it though and put in something like Rulantica at Europa.

 

[Joelpagett]

They would potentially have a huge captive audience year-round being so easily accessible to London. As far as I am aware there isn't anything similar in the area.

If they were to create a well-themed Waterpark it could really help bolster the hotels during the off-peak periods too.

 

[Coastiesaurus]

Would there be any concerns over the traffic situation though if a major new attraction like a water park was added? Chessington is a small site and parking is sometimes an issue - it took us close to an hour just to leave the car park when we visited earlier this year and that was in term time. I'd love to see a big new addition just thinking of potential planning/local community issues.

 

[Jared]

^ Things like parking are being considered and are likely a part of this consultation. From what I’m hearing this exhibition is likely to feature multiple projects which link in to the bigger scheme project.

 

[T0M]

Does it include a Madame Tussauds?

 

[Niles]

Looks like it will be a Waterpark.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1587022703227437056

 

[Matt N]

Wow, that’s exciting! Waterparks are always fun, and I think Chessington has an awful lot of potential as an Alton Towers-style fully-fledged resort that this will help to utilise!

I wonder whether this will be paired with a hotel Splash Landings-style or whether it will be a stand-alone entity?

On a side note; kudos to Chessington Buzz! That’s a good few times now that they’ve written a speculative article discussing the future of Chessington and been bang on the money; as much as some people are sceptical of fan sites as a rumour source, I think CB must surely have some inside sources at this point, because their track record for accurate rumours has been excellent as of late!
P.S. Mods, I’ve updated the topic title to reflect this new development. Feel free to change it if it’s wrong.

 

[Tonkso]

They need to extend the line beyond Chessington South to serve the park directly

 

[Matt N]

They need to extend the line beyond Chessington South to serve the park directly

Chessington South isn’t that far at all from Chessington, is it? Maps suggests that it’s a 2 minute drive and an 18 minute walk.

Therefore, I’m not sure it would be overly feasible to extend the line just to eliminate that short walk and very short drive.

 

[CineramaMax]

They need to extend the line beyond Chessington South to serve the park directly

They can't really do that without destroying properties. Besides there's a bus stop right outside the station that takes people to the Lodge Gate entrance.

 

[roomraider]

They can't really do that without destroying properties. Besides there's a bus stop right outside the station that takes people to the Lodge Gate entrance.

While I don't think they need to extend because the train station is close enough as it is and it's really not a long walk to the park.

Theoretically they could extend the line without too much of an issue.

The line was originally meant to be extended south of Chessington South to Leatherhead anyway. It's why the tracks appear to extend past the station quite some way and why there's a pretty much unused platform at the station.

They even built the embankment for the line quite a way past the station. The question would be whether the railways still own the trackbed down to Chessington WOA itself.


You can see the old already built track bed quite clearly surrounded by trees heading south from the station here and there is space to chuck a station in nearer the park.

However why would they? It would cost millions for the chance to move the station a tiny bit closer when a bus does the same job much cheaper. (Not to mention just walking)

 

[Jared]

On a side note; kudos to Chessington Buzz! That’s a good few times now that they’ve written a speculative article discussing the future of Chessington and been bang on the money; as much as some people are sceptical of fan sites as a rumour source, I think CB must surely have some inside sources at this point, because their track record for accurate rumours has been excellent as of late!

I just want to jump in and address this. As the Admin behind Chessington Buzz, I must stress that our Speculation articles are just that. Speculation. Yes - they are based on a little inside information, but we don't outright get told "We're planning a waterpark". "We're planning a Giga coaster" etc.

During the Amazon consultation in 2021, we were told that this was "just the tip of the iceberg" and that "the next project is huge". We had a discussion as a team and following some hints worked out and put together the speculation piece on the waterpark. At no point until around July did we have confirmation it was happening.

Regarding location, there are/were three planned/proposed locations. Each with its own pro's/con. Not sure which site they've chosen, or if they're consulting and narrowing down the locations as part of this. Like I said before, chances are this is more than just one project. It's likely this will be formed of multiple smaller-level projects, so it's going to be interesting to see. I'll be there for the consultation, so more news will be out on Chessington Buzz on the day.

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

You’re all probably aware of this rumor by now but Scorpion Express is potentially on the chopping block for this one;

https://twitter.com/x/status/1589313316564140032

Sorry to double post, but I have an update; a now deleted comment from an Attraction Source administrator on Facebook says that "those familiar with the situation say that this is replacing an existing attraction", for what it's worth.