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Your thoughts on Zufari

nealbie

nealbie

CF Legend
Riding Zufari at Chessington yesterday got me thinking: what other completely pointless rides have there been over the years? I mean completely pointless rides that have served absolutely no purpose at all (at least in a positive manner).

Seriously, why is it so turd? No amount of polishing is ever going to make it presentable as a product, let alone shine. Sure, it looks good enough. In fact, I'd say, visually (cave aside) it's quite impressive; but that doesn't really give it purpose (unless of course it was always intended to be a very expensive decoration for the hotel guests to look at).

In all honesty, despite having read bad reviews of the area, I thought everyone was talking absolute rubbish when I walked down the footpath come bridge into the ride area. It's not Zufari's surroundings that are the problem, or even the queueline or backstory that gets forced upon you; it's the non-event that is the ride itself. Yes, the Stitch impersonating lemur is graphically inferior to Crash Bandicoot, but if I wanted to look at giraffes, rhinos and oryx then only to be sprayed with water, I'd rather be wandering around the enclosures and then stumble into a CoasterForce water-fight!

Having been on it once, I cannot see myself ever making the effort to ride again (and at 45 minutes of my time with no queue at all it is an effort). I'd apologise for "spoiling" what occurs in the magical cave, but I don't see the need to when all I've ruined for Zufari virgins is that they now know you get a garden hose or two pointed in your direction, the wall leaks a little bit and then a small waterfall lands on the roof. Total waste of money.
 
It's awful! It is way too short, it looks budget and the magical cave which is the least worst bit of the ride is just poor. I doubt I go on it again.
 
I haven't been on it, clearly, but I'm secretly loving how crap it is.

It was always going to be crap. Always. But people somehow seemed to think it was going to be akin to Busch Gardens' Rhino Rally, or perhaps a Magma 2.

It was NEVER going to be anywhere near as good/immersive as either of those. Never.
 
Storm Surge at Thorpe Park.

In my opinion it offers nothing at a park that already has 4 decent water rides. Plus it looks totally out of place in its position and the queues are ridiculous!

As for Zufari I had pretty low expectations anyway so i'm not surprised people aren't impressed.
 
Storm surge was just a hand me down, though.

Theres really no excuse IF ice age and Zufari are bad...

I've ridden neither.

I've heard ice age is actually good. But I cannot fathom how some clips of the film whilst you sit on a bench could ever be anything but dull and dreadful? But I don't even like exceptionally good examples of these attractions.

Zufari... Well, I honestly believe its going to take time for this ride to find its audience AND that foliage will play a huge part in transforming the experience AND that as the weather warms and the animals are out more it will be much better.

Public opinion on Zufari seems pretty devided. Enthusiasts seem unanimously conclusive that its poor?

I want to experience it.

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Can I just say a few things.

Rhino rally was rubbish, really poor.

The 1st year of the Disney safari there were hardly any animals the attraction was slated, now people love it as there are more animals and they cut out the story.

This looked average from the start and they should have just made it a safari and cut the story out, like Disney now have. The problem with safari stories are people are not interested they just want to see animals. Rather than take up space with this rock thing they should have used it for more animals.

When I saw the pov I was shocked at the lack of animals.

The problem is they probably won't add to it for years and by then people will not bother.

I've not been on it, chessington is not worth going out the way for :(
 
Can you define pointless? Surely either a ride is enjoyed or it isn't? They have no other purpose.
 
For a tried and tested ride concept, Zufari is very disappointing; simply because all they needed to do was copy the safari rides from Animal Kingdom or Busch Gardens Tampa and it would have been fine. But instead they have made a shortened and cheapened version, with significantly less animals and space. But to compensate, they have also added a poorly animated video, a non-eventful cave, and an unnecessary story line. These additions aren't things that people want from a safari ride, it's so obvious - they just want to see lots of animals! Why make a safari ride with so few animals?!

I think they should have just expanded the zoo with all the new animals. But if they really felt they had to add some sort of ride experience, something like Lost River Ride at Flamingo Land would've been good, seen as Dragon Falls is now just a moldy tunnel.

As for other pointless rides, that new pirate log flume being built at Oakwood. Why build another water ride when your park is home to Waterfall?!
 
marc said:
This looked average from the start and they should have just made it a safari and cut the story out, like Disney now have. The problem with safari stories are people are not interested they just want to see animals. Rather than take up space with this rock thing they should have used it for more animals.
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This. This is my biggest concern. If DISNEY took the story element out of an attraction, you have to stop and wonder why.

For a tried and tested ride concept,
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Is it, though? And Chessington is certainly the smallest park to try it... Or have I missed a memo?

When I do finally get on Zufari, It'll be hard not to compare it to Kilimanjaro, but that's kind of unfair. Animal Kingdom is home to some of the highest quality scenery I have ever seen at a theme park, or even in the real **** world, and said scenery is what truly makes that safari ride so amazing. I feel Zufari should be given the chance to be judged against it's backdrop, the rest of Chessington. Needs some perspective.
 
I agree that it might be unfair to judge Zufari against the big versions over in Florida. However if you're designing an attraction similar to something that already exsists then surely you see what works and what doesn't? If they did a small bit of research and realised that even DISNEY removed all story elements of the attraction then you know you shouldn't try and design your own version with a story. If Disney can't make it work then I don't think anyone can. It's a safari ride, it should be purely for riding around and looking at exciting animals. Actually, does Animal Kingdom's have a height restriction?

I think Zufari has even more issues than has already been mentioned though. Yes the poorly animated Lemur of annoyance is poor and annoying and the cave of disappointment is depressing and rather uneventful and the storyline is barely noticeable and 'stuck-on' and there are already too many seatbelts not working but I think the biggest problem is this...

It's a family attraction which due to the nature of the ride can't allow the little ones to ride, disappointing many kids who were really looking forward to going on the ride, you know, part of their KEY target market. Sad kids = annoyed parents, annoyed parents = RAGE, rage = poor word of mouth etc. This is clearly not what the park needs and you know how they could have fixed this if they had paid any attention during the design stages? Let all the animals be viewable OFF-RIDE. "I want to go see the tall things" turns into sad and bitter disappointment when the only way to view them properly is on a ride which they can't ride.

It's what really annoys me too because every time I want to see the Giraffe or Rhino I have to endure a poor story, a rubbish pre-show and a sad cave. What's that, I'll only get a brief glimpse of the animals too because the trucks just roll on by really quickly? What a waste of friggin' time.

I shouldn't be so bitter and disappointed because I knew it'd be dreadful and nothing like the Florida counterparts. I knew it'd be too small etc when I first saw the plans but they somehow managed to mess it up even more than I could ever imagine. I mean, what is the point of a green-screen photo op half way through the queueline which causes a longer queue than the actual ride itself? I really hope no one buys these photos to justify the stupidity of this. The fencing around the walkways in the area is just obscene too, the pathway to Zufari from Wanyama Village is possibly the worst pathway in the history of theme parks. Think I'm exagerrating, I dare you to find something worse. Gah, I haven't even mentioned the poorly designed station area too. It's just a MESS.
 
To put it into perspective size wise, Killamanjaro safaris cover an area larger than the ENTIRE magic kingdom park. Zufari was built in a field.
 
I never looked at the plans properly, but I assumed there would be a tall walkway to a viewing area for those who don't ride... Because, that's what Merlin are good at doing?

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It's true it is in a small area, but it's about using the space you have and they have not.

Look at Smiler who would have though that it could have that layout in that space etc.

This is a safari ride at the end of the day with hardly any animals.
 
But the animals are the best part of the ride. If they had just stuck to the animals, it would have been much more enjoyable.
Basically they didn't need to bother with the stupid story that goes nowhere and instead extend the ride to go out around the lion rock outside the hotel so that you can do more animal spotting. If anything, the animals are too close - you don't often see them as it's all over so quickly.
 
In a nut shell, it's too short, with not much to see.

Also, they need to ditch the crappy story and get the driver to do the commentary. Also (again), get rid of the pointless preshow thing AND the **** photo hut - it screams desperation to me.

I purposely didn't watch and videos of it before riding, as I really like these safari style attractions. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed. wtf is that stupid cave about too? Random....
 
Not done Zufari, but have long though Chessington could learn a thing or two from South Lakes Wild Animal Park. They let you get up-close and personal with most of the animals so you can feed giraffes, have lemurs all over you and stand within a few feet of rhinos, tigers and lions. They've clearly not spent much money on it, so a walkthrough attraction with Merlin's theming resources could be amazing.
 
Robbie said:
Not done Zufari, but have long though Chessington could learn a thing or two from South Lakes Wild Animal Park. They let you get up-close and personal with most of the animals so you can feed giraffes, have lemurs all over you and stand within a few feet of rhinos, tigers and lions. They've clearly not spent much money on it, so a walkthrough attraction with Merlin's theming resources could be amazing.
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H&S. There's a reason this is rare.
 
Joey said:
Robbie said:
Not done Zufari, but have long though Chessington could learn a thing or two from South Lakes Wild Animal Park. They let you get up-close and personal with most of the animals so you can feed giraffes, have lemurs all over you and stand within a few feet of rhinos, tigers and lions. They've clearly not spent much money on it, so a walkthrough attraction with Merlin's theming resources could be amazing.
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H&S. There's a reason this is rare.
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Aye, but if a farty little farm can do it in Cumbria I'm sure Chessington could manage something like it.
 
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