Chessington World of Adventure Discussion Thread

Sorry for the super bump, but positive things are happening at Chessington since August so here is the news!

The name for the new safari attraction is confirmed. The name of the ride will be called, ahem... Zufari.

You may be thinking right now that it's a very cheesy name, there is now a meaning of the name down here taken from the promotional page.

Join us on a great new adventure in 2013...

 

Hello Adventurer, we are the African Conservation, Research & Exploration team (ACRE) and we are going to need your help.

 

2013 will be an exciting time to join our expedition. Initial investigations have already unearthed a previously undiscovered land which we have named “Zufari”. The only signs of civilization are some mysterious African carvings that we believe are warnings.

 

So come and jump aboard our ultimate off-road truck, splash and career through the extreme terrain, encounter towering giraffes, powerful white rhino and many more impressive species. Help us get to the bottom of the mysterious goings on.

The link to that is here: http://www.chessington.com/Zufari

Where you can also sign up for updates based on the attraction.

There where rumours of this while I worked at chessington over the summer. I am very glad that they have decided to go ahead with it!

Nice to see some progress on this. It was announced almost a year ago. Has this project been on hold or it has taken this long to get the plans in place?

^Honestly this project has been going full speed all year long. The reason its been so quiet is the project is like 90% ground work so its just seemed like lots of dirt getting moved about and heavy stones being put on the ground. Not many people find that interesting. The bonus of working there this year was watching it go up day by day. Guests do seem very excited about it once it was explained to them what it was. I think advertised well this will be a huge hit for the park. The project itself it pretty much on time, animals will turn up soon enough and training for drivers will start early next year.

Also on a side note, my favorite thing about telling guests about this was the fact that I got to shout Zufari very loudly over the Runaway Train PA system, which was a lot of fun!

-Craig

There's been a bit of grief on Chessington's Facebook in the last couple of days, because they refused to take in some bunny rabbits that got dumped outside the park, and there's a load of people giving them grief for supposedly lacking any sort of animal welfare. All the usual bollocks, saying that they're horrible people and that they're never taking their kids there again.

https://en-gb.facebook.com/Chessington?rf=264180333676928&filter=2

First and foremost Chessington has a duty of care to look after the animals in its enclosures, which includes making sure they are kept healthy and disease-free. These bunnies could have been carrying anything that may have endangered their animals, which would be a breach of so many animal welfare requirements that the park would have it's animal licensing revoked. They contacted an animal shelter who took the bunnies in to care, which is the right thing to do. Which is what whoever has dumped these rabbits should have done in the first place.

And as a friend of mine who's doing a PR degree pointed out if they took these animals in, it would encourage other people to think that Chessington is an animal shelter. They're a zoo, not a charity.

^People annoy me. Reading some of the comments just make me laugh, id like to see if any of those people would take the rabbits in if I went and left them on their front door.

On a much happier animal note Chessington released videos of the White Rhinos and Giraffes turning up and settling in for Zufari.

White Rhinos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxUJuMzFdc0

Giraffes

Also they have parked a Zufari truck outside the main gate for Zoo Day guests to look at. Here are some pictures I took when I made a quick visit to the park just before Christmas.

-Craig

Looking forward to this ride, and also what will be my first ever visit to Chessington this year.

Can I assume that this is a new ride properly not an upcharge attraction like some of the other zoo tours are?

^Correct this ride is not an upcharge. It is included with your admission.

Very much looking forward to getting to Chessington near the end of the upcoming season to give this a try!

Okay so I think its time for a bit of a Zufari update!

The park have released the TV ad that they will be using for Zufari this year and I have added it below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4K3jApZmns

Also lots of work has been going on around the park.

-Burger King has been removed and is being replaced by an in house Merlin brand called The Burger Kitchen (pictures below)

-The Bubbleworks/Vampire shop has been re worked to place the checkout in the middle of the shop and to ease flow of guests exiting both attractions.

-Selected rides have begun to be signed back over and are open for Zoo Days. This includes Bubbleworks, Hocus Pocus Hall, Safari Skyway, Black Buccaneer and Chessington Carousel.

-The Re-Fresh food outlet has been rethemed to the Creaky Café but will still serve the same menu

My friend Will kindly took some photos when he was on park for one of the Zoo Days which are below.

The facade of what was Burger King has been removed

Its removal has revealed the facade from Black Forest Chateau.

Black Forest Chateau was the resturant that was in this location before McDonalds arrived at the park in 1998.

Its always nice when you uncover some history. I had no idea this was hidden under the facade.

All the vines etc have been removed from the back of Fish and Chips which has opened up the area around Vampires 2nd lift very nicley.

SeaStorm has been taken apart to allow for its annual maintenance to be performed.

Finally I will leave you with everyone's favourite type of picture, MUD!

Bring back McDonalds!!!

^But don't you want to experience a McMerlin Burger

I'm gonna try and check out the Annual Passholder Preview day in a few weeks, looking foward to it!

Oh dear... Bad news for Rameses Revenge (Huss Topspin) today...

BBC NEWS ARTICLE

Chessington World of Adventures theme park riders left stranded

 

A rescue operation is under way after about 40 people became stranded on a theme park ride.

 

London Fire Brigade was called to Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey shortly after 17:00 BST.

 

Those on the Rameses Revenge ride are stranded 20ft (6m) in the air, a fire brigade spokesman said.

 

Station manager Justin Coo said: "Firefighters are doing very well to get people down as quickly and safely as possible."

 

He added: "We're cutting people out of their restraints, walking them down the ride and helping them down a ladder to ground level.

 

"No injuries have been reported though a few people are understandably a bit uncomfortable as they've been stuck for some time."

 

'Personal discomfort'

 

One mother whose 13-year-old daughter is on board said the ride stopped at around 16:00 BST when the electrics failed.

 

"They have been sending up water and sun cream to them because it was rather hot initially," she told Sky News.

 

"It is very concerning because they were stuck and all the electrics failed.

 

"They were on the ride for 90 minutes before the fire and rescue service came out to them.

 

"I think they are all in a little personal discomfort. I hear some people are in a bit of distress now.

When they said cutting people of rides i thought maybe they were cutting the mechanism at the back or seat belts but It looks like in that video that they actually sawed through the main restraints to cut them out, How difficult is it to have brand new restraints made for a ride? I mean if the fire-brigade cut through every restraint that's over 40 seats.

Can someone explain what was gained and lost by switching the Arrow trains off Vampire to Vekoma trains.

Generic Merlin PR Stunt 101 - No animal print clothing at Chessington allowed!

Too confusing for animals: Leopard print clothing banned at Chessington World of Adventures

 

Leopard print clothing has been banned at Chessington World of Adventures amid concerns it is confusing the theme park’s animals.

 

Animal print may be one of the hottest trends in the UK at the moment, but it has left rhinos and giraffes at the park’s new ZUFARI attraction in a muddle.

 

Bouncers have been employed to enforce the zero-tolerance ban at the park after staff noticed a number of the animals trying to communicate with visitors or running away scared.

 

Zebra, giraffe, leopard and African wild dog prints are among a number now banned at the zoo.

 

Chessington officials have put the confusion down to the new 22-acre ZUFARI trail being a near exact replica of the Serengeti plains, meaning print-wearing guests puzzle the animals.

 

‘Since the launch of ZUFARI, guests have interacted with the animals more closely than ever before and we have noticed a lot of animals becoming baffled by animal-print-wearing guests,’ explained ZUFARI spokeswoman Natalie Dilloway.

 

‘It’s no wonder the animals are getting confused when they see what they perceive to be zebras and giraffes driving across the terrain in a 7.5 tonne truck.’

 

Guests who wear animal print will be supplied with Chessington clothing when going on ZUFARI, which sees guests journey off-road to with animals including white rhinos, giraffes and flamingos.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/24/chessington-world-of-adventures-bans-leopard-print-clothing-on-zufari-4100645/

Can someone explain what was gained and lost by switching the Arrow trains off Vampire to Vekoma trains.

Simple, we get to keep the ride longer and we don't need to worrying about running out of parts soon (like with the Arrow trains).

Also, the Vekoma trains are Floorless, whereas Arrow trains are much more big and bulky.

I wonder if the trains are lighter, putting less stress on the track structure.

Apparently a fire has just broken out in one of the parks cafe's:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25476397#TWEET991400

Fire breaks out at Chessington World of Adventures

Police and fire teams are at the scene with drivers advised to avoid the area

Eight fire engines have been tackling a blaze at a cafe at a Surrey theme park.

London Fire Brigade said the alert was raised at Chessington World of Adventures just after 08:30 GMT.

The Metropolitan Police said officers were at the scene along with fire crews from London and Surrey.

Drivers have been advised to avoid Leatherhead Road.

It's somewhere near the zoo area: http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/LatestIncidentsContainer_21121310.asp#.UrV1JbRbxht

Its in creaky cafe which is the one adjoined to bubbleworks they were using it as Santa's grotto.

The park have now announced they will not re open until boxing day (26th December) to allow themselves time to asses the situation.

The press release from the fire brigades website here said:

Fire crews tackled a fire at a restaurant within a theme park in Chessington this morning. A large part of the restaurant was damaged. The park was not open to the public when the fire broke out and no injuries were reported.

 

The restaurant is close to the zoo part of the park but all animals were taken care of and none are believed to be injured. Two reindeer were evacuated as a precaution.

 

Station Manager Craig Carter, who was at the scene, said:

 

"The fire damaged a large part of a restaurant within the park, and crews worked very hard to bring it under control. There were a lot of flames and the area was quite smoky when we arrived, but thankfully no one was hurt. Two reindeer were evacuated and moved to a safe area, but park officials tell me they will still be ready for Christmas Eve next week.

 

"We're worked closely with our partners at Surrey Fire and Rescue Service along with the police and ambulance services to ensure the incident was brought safely under control."

 

Eight fire engines - four from LFB and four from Surrey FRS - went to the scene. LFB crews came from Surbiton, New Malden, and Kingston fire stations and Surrey FRS' crews came from Epsom, Esher, and Leatherhead fire stations. The LFB was called at 0841 and the fire was declared under control at 1102.

 

The cause of the fire is under investigation by LFB's fire investigation unit.

Also according to their Twitter two reindeer were evacuated safely.

This is a huge shame for the park as Creaky Cafe only last year had an all new facade added for this season.

Thankfully all staff and animals are safe and accounted for and its just structural damage to the building. This could have been a lot worse but seems to have been handled very well by the park.

Edit: More information from the park website

Resort Information

 

Q: Will I be able to come to Chessington tomorrow for a Festive Zoo Day – I’ve pre-booked my tickets?

A: Sadly, as a result of a fire on the park on 21st December and the immediate effect this has had on our Festive Zoo Days offering, our capacity for Festive Zoo days has been severely reduced. Therefore the Chessington World of Adventures Resort will be closed up to and including 24th December for guests visiting the park for the day. We would like to sincerely apologise for the disappointment this has caused. We will re-open to park guests on 26th December.

 

Q: I’ve booked a Father Christmas Sleepover at the Hotel – can we still come and stay?

A: Yes absolutely. All entertainment in the Hotel will be taking place as planned. To ensure our guests can still visit Father Christmas, arrangements have been made with the Chessington Garden Centre so all Hotel guests can enjoy meeting Father Christmas during their stay up to and including 24th December 2013. Due to reduced capacity on park, the Zoo will be open only to Hotel guests during their stay.

 

Q: Which areas of the park have been affected? When did this happen?

A: On Saturday 21st December 2013 at approximately 8.30am, before the park opened, a fire broke out in the Creaky Café restaurant at Chessington World of Adventures Resort. The Theme Park and Zoo were closed at the time of the incident and no guests were involved. The area surrounding Creaky Café will remain closed until the investigation into the cause of the fire is complete, but the rest of the Zoo will be open for Hotel guests with pre-booked packages.

 

Q: So is the park only open for Hotel guests then?

A: Yes, that will be the case up until 26th December. As a result of the incident, our capacity on park for Festive Zoo days has been severely reduced. Unfortunately this means that the Chessington World of Adventures Resort will be closed up to and including 24th December for guests visiting the park for the day. This includes those with pre-booked tickets, walk up guests and Merlin Annual Pass Holders not staying at the Hotel. We would like to sincerely apologise for the disappointment this has caused.

 

Q: So what do I do if I have pre-booked my tickets and am not staying at the Hotel?

A: If you have pre booked your tickets for a visit between 21st-24th December 2013 we would like to offer you a full refund and the chance to return to the Resort for another of our Zoo days or Resort Theme Park days in 2014. Please contact us in the first instance via email at adventurers.services@chessington.co.uk forwarding your original booking confirmation, to claim your full refund. To claim your free tickets for a visit anytime during the 2014 season, please bring a copy of this email along with your original tickets to our Welcome team on a day of your choice up until the 3rd November 2014 and the team will revalidate your tickets for admission on the day. We strongly recommend checking our website at www.chessington.com for further information regarding our attraction and a full operational calendar.

 

Q: Are all the animals ok?

A: Yes we can confirm that all animals on site are fine and well. The health and safety of our guests, staff and animals are our primary objectives and well-practised emergency procedures were immediately put into operation ensuring all staff areas were immediately evacuated and all staff and animals were safe and well.

Its fantastic to see that not only are all the animals okay but the park has done a deal with the Chessington Garden Center located right by the park to allow all the children to still be able to meet Father Christmas!

-Craig

What remains of Creaky Cafe. The wall at the back is the exterior wall of Bubbleworks finale. (Take from London Fire Brigades Facebook)