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Chessington World of Adventures: YOUR VIEWS WANTED

marc

CF Legend
Not being funny though. The Vampire might be a family coaster but its not young kid friendly.

The 1st time people normally see it is a high up point swinging around the buildings with people screaming and shouting, well a 4 year old could get scared by that.

Its all about getting them on it the 1st time.
 

Nemesis Inferno

Strata Poster
4 year old scared by a coaster eh? I wouldn't be suprised, I was dragged on when 5, it does vary from child to child, but a large majority are fine (After 2 years of seeing numerous people get on and off whilst working on it I am reasonable to say this)...

It just really is annoying me that people suggest rides and then don't back them up properly in regards to the actual park, I've said before that Chessie has minimal money, and yet Mega-Lites are still being suggested... That's why Gerstlauer's are being mentioned, cheap and indeed very suited to Chessie's demographic and current atmosphere...

How do people expect a 100ft coaster to go in when Peeking is the only thing allowed atm as well? I still reckon the management look at this and laugh...
Chessington is a residential area with lots of stuff reasonably close to it, so height and what-not are very restricted, Fury is about as high as they can go coaster-wise, so Mega-Lites looks even more unlikely...

In summary... Chessie do not have the current resources for a Mega-Lite!!!
 

andrus

Giga Poster
How much does a mega lite cost? And how much does a gertslauer cost?

I believed that a mega lite were one of intamins cheaper models. And I didn't think that gertslauers were that cheap, for instans SAW did cost quite a bit of money (although that included thorpe filling up parts of the lake to build it).

If a small and limited park like Djurs Sommerland can afford a ride like Piraten, I'm sure Chessington can as well!
 

spicy

Giga Poster
Nemesis Inferno said:
I've said before that Chessie has minimal money, and yet Mega-Lites are still being suggested... That's why Gerstlauer's are being mentioned, cheap and indeed very suited to Chessie's demographic and current atmosphere...

In summary... Chessie do not have the current resources for a Mega-Lite!!!

How do you know what budget Chessington has? I know you work at the park but unless you work in management I doubt you actually have any idea about the budget for the park.

Obviously we can make educated guesses as the park hasn't seen any real investment since 2004, which would suggest limited funds although its still a Merlin funded park it seems pretty unfair that Thorpe and Alton have had around £25 Million each (probably alot more) since 2004 and Chessie's had no where near that amount.

Thorpe has just had £12 million invested into it, Alton £12 Million for SW6 so whens Chessies turn? :(

But yeah as awesome as a Mega-lite would be its as likely as me building one in my back garden.
 

Nemesis Inferno

Strata Poster
I know that the budget for the new area was £2-3 million as we were actually briefed on it before it was announced... Cannot remember if it was before or after the permission came through though...

If Chessie had money invested into next year then my statement is mute obviously, but currently Chessie have minimal funds, hence why Rodeo's spot is still not filled up, that's what they want to do next year...

According to this page - http://www.rcdb.com/3799.htm - a Mega-Lite costed approx $14.6 million, so around £9 million, not much you can argue, but looking at the actual ride there's not much theming is there? The theming and land-filling of Saw put that price up into the 10s of millions, and if these are so cheap why don't more parks have them?

As I say I think Merlin are sort of realising that Chessie has potential, this is only dipping into the water and hopefully the new area will provide more money in the future, but it's not just all about the money, PLANNING PERMISSION as well it's difficult at Chessie as it's in the suburbs, and a 100ft ride may not be allowed...
 

spicy

Giga Poster
I doubt Chessie will ever have anything 100ft unfortunately, but that doesn't mean it can't have any decent additions Alton get along just fine and they have tighter restrictions than Chessie. Chessie aren't strangers to burying rides either, they have done it with Rattlesnake and Rameses.

The thing is Chessie NEEDS a new coaster, I bet they market the Disk-O as a coaster but a 'proper' coaster is needed!

Nemesis Inferno said:
As I say I think Merlin are sort of realising that Chessie has potential

I hope so, it would be a great shame to see it just sit there with no new investment while Alton and Thorpe just get it all.

Nemesis Inferno said:
Rodeo's spot is still not filled up, that's what they want to do next year..

I take it they said this in one of your briefings? Did they give any hint as to what may replace it? As long as its something unique and relatively interesting like a Topple Tower (even though people have slated them) then I will be pleased. As long as its not bloody Tea Cups :lol:
 

Nemesis Inferno

Strata Poster
^Burying those two compact rides would be very different to burying a Mega-Lite or big coaster though...

In regards to the Rodeo spot it's more of the rides management wanting to do it but nothing solid being done about it yet...

Tea Cups are apparently on the list ;)
 

marc

CF Legend
If Thorpe and Alton can not get a Megalite then Chessington are 100% not able to get one.

I agree that people should drop this.
 

rollermonkey

Strata Poster
Nemesis Inferno said:
According to this page - http://www.rcdb.com/3799.htm - a Mega-Lite costed approx $14.6 million, so around £9 million, not much you can argue, but looking at the actual ride there's not much theming is there?

Apples and Oranges, there bud.

First, that figure is a conversion of Yen to Dollars over 2 years ago. Then you're converting it into Pounds today. That doesn't work.

Also, Kawasemi replaced a coaster.
A coaster that was sitting on piles driven into a lakebed.
That had to be removed before construction could even start.

Oh, and Kawasemi sits on that lake, too. (Cha-ching.)It's also in Japan, a country with rediculously high construction and steel costs.

So realistically, the cost to install a Mega-lite just about anywhere else would be far less.

But unless they've changed Chessie's target demographic significantly, they aren't getting a Mega-lite, so this conversation is moot.
 

tks

Strata Poster
That sounds like any Rapids ride in mainland Europe tbh. Chessington could do with another water ride. Dragon Falls is somewhat crap.
 

Gladiator

Mega Poster
Nemesis Inferno said:
River Quest clone would be amazing...

But I still would rather a new coaster...
This is starting to look promising and up for Chessington
They still need a new coaster and some of the rides need updating/re-paint/re-theming but a Rapids would certainly make things look better for Chessie.
If they can make it look like a river and not a big concrete block like Vikings River at Legoland then it will look impressive
 

silenthillXD

Hyper Poster
I would personaly like something like the new cedar point shoot the flume. It looks like it would fit in well seing as the logflume needs updating and they need a rapids.
 

jokerman

Giga Poster
As far as I'm concerend, every good park should have a rapids. They must, however be themed well, and I'm wondering which area they would go in, unless something interesting could be built up behind the hotel.
 

peep

CF Legend
^ Why should every park have a rapids ride? They can be an excellent addition for a park as they are suitable for the whole family but there are loads of parks without them and I have yet to find a half-decent one in the UK. The one at Legoland was better than I anticipated but, in my opinion, it's still not good enough. I also believe a decent rapids attraction would take up a huge amount of space which Chessington just can't provide (Benin and I have mentioned this factor way too many times).

It would be nice for a decent rapids to come to Chessington but I'd prefer something else that would be unique to a UK theme park.

Also the area behind the hotel is too high so it'd be hard to get planning permission to build something on that land (hope that makes sense). I also hope that the once planned safari is placed in that area.
 

jokerman

Giga Poster
^What I was hoping was that if they were to place a safari style area behind the hotel, then a new area would be created, and it would be suited to a rapids, much in the same way that the Animal Kingdom at Disney has a rapids ride. I'm not suggesting that it would be anything like Disney, but the idea sort of works, with a wildlife area of the park.
 

Nemesis Inferno

Strata Poster
I'd rather Chessie keep the rides and animal apart as they are now... The only form of attraction I would put into the zoo would be a Rhino Rally esque ride, not a Rapids...

Because of the way the park is layed out currently, expansion involves building past the service roads, which is annoying in general... They do own a lot of land, and maybe one year expansion may take place behind Falls and Runaway, but because of Green Belt land being nearby, this would be tricky...

That would be the only time I would like to see Rapids at the park, with a major land or two expansion behind Falls and Runaway... But there's a lot more that needs doing to the actual current park, so epic expansions like that should be last on any plans they may have...
 

jokerman

Giga Poster
I wasn't necessarily saying that the rapids would be in the exact same place as the animals. Just that the scenery required for rapids of that kind would look good near the zoo.
 
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