Log Flume

The Zufari Adventure

itemprop="discussionURL"1

Changes in Chessington World of Adventures

After years of caring for its animals and expanding its zoo, Chessington World of Adventures has this year invested in a new ride and new enclosures for its African animals. In fact, Chessington is prettier than ever, with the Flying Dumbos, which moved last year, now sporting a new livery. A further £5 million is currently being invested in further improvements to the park’s appearance, which is why the Dragon Falls log flume, the Powered Coaster Runaway Train and some of the paths are currently closed to visitors. Kicking off this movement is Zufari.

Zufari

The big novelty this year is Zufari, an installation where you are taken in a spacious off-road vehicle with a capacity of 30 people + driver to an off-road track with some surprises, where you can observe some animals. In theory, the installation can be compared to the beginning of the Jungle Safari at the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, before you enter the jungle and the sarcasm takes over.

Zufari offers everything you would expect from a safari-based attraction. After taking the obligatory photo in the queue, or skipping it altogether, you wait to enter a pre-show room, which serves only to distract children from the wait, as the actual movie starts soon after. A monkey appears on the screen, which has already been featured beforehand. This monkey interacts with the audience in a similar way to Stitch live! from the Walt Disney Studios in Paris. Unfortunately, the commentary is rather juvenile and the animation is not very good, but the children liked it.

After boarding the truck, the very jerky and funny ride begins. Once the vegetation here is fully developed, this part of the ride will certainly give you a much greater sense of adventure than the current ride. Passing by an empty flamingo enclosure, we now come to the giraffe enclosure, where strange signs have been put up on the hall, all warning you not to go through a cave.

With a little wit and some back and forth driving, the real safari begins. There are giraffes, zebras and rhinos to be seen in the large enclosure next door, which also further enhances the hotel stay at the park.

As one of the paths is blocked, we decide to go into the cave. What awaits you in the cave is particularly pleasing for the left-hand side of the car. As is well known, Chessington adds a lot of water to some of its attractions. The fact that children are only allowed to sit in the middle seats has now been explained, as well as why the floor was so wet when we entered the ride. A waterfall at the end of the cave is the reason why the cars still drip as they enter the loading station – the only effect that was obvious from the start.

For the water-loving Brits, the finale will certainly round off the Ride into Africa, but even the Germans don’t have to worry about too much contact with water, as it’s only slightly higher than the grand finale of the dark ride Bubble Works and not as soaking wet as the wave swinger Monkey Swinger – where the drenching fountains were unfortunately not used on the day of our visit – or the Top Spin Rameses Revenge.

 

What is your opinion about Zufari?  Just write it in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels:

 

     

Click here for the overview page of Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington - World of Adventures

With Dragon’s Fury through Chessington South

itemprop="discussionURL"1

Preface

If you order a Merlin Annual Pass in the UK, you will need to collect it from any of the attractions in the group as well as from the attraction from which you have ordered it. However, the Merlin attractions in the UK are of a very high standard, which can make choosing an attraction quite difficult. If you restrict yourself to the London area, there are three theme parks belonging to the group and a large number of smaller tourist attractions. The best choice, in my opinion, is Chessington World of Adventures. Not only is it easily accessible, but it also has two very fun rides within the park, the Dragon’s Fury and Vampire roller coasters.

Chessington World of Adventures

Entering through the Lodge Gate near Chessington South railway station, you will immediately find yourself in the Zoo area of the park. Turn right to see otters in action and enter Wanyama Village and Reserve, which opened in 2011. This area consists mainly of a large prairie and some smaller enclosures such as the meerkat enclosure. Next year the area will be expanded to include the Zufari Safari Tour.

Next to Wanyama Village is the Monkey & Bird Garden where you can see some larger birds and smaller monkeys. The Monkey Walkthrough is an interesting feature where a staff member takes a smaller group around and explains the animals in the outdoor enclosure.

On the way to the rest of the zoo area at Chessington World of Adventures, we recommend a visit to the local Sea Life Centre, which has a number of interesting aquariums. This is one of the larger Sea Life Centres in the group – very similar to Sharkbait Reef at Alton Towers. Unlike the smaller Sea Life Centres in Germany, you can easily stay a little longer in this one. With children, the visit is a completely different experience anyway.

The Trail of the Kings, together with the penguin and sea lion enclosures, completes the zoo area of Chessington World of Adventures. Unfortunately, at the time of my visit, half of the enclosures were closed for refurbishment. However, the animals that were present were very active.

Sea Storm and Black Buccaneer

The Pirates Cove themed area features the Mack Rides Sea Storm ride and the very interesting HUSS Black Buccaneer boat swing. Like many other attractions in the park, the ship swing is located in a pit, which means it does not reach above the surrounding tree tops – a common height restriction in the UK. In addition to a tingly feeling in the tummy, you are guaranteed to get a bounce or two at the top.

The neighbouring area of Transylvania is home to a night creature of a very special kind. It is also home to a bubble factory and one of the most interesting fast-food restaurants. The Burger King here is themed.

BubbleWorks

BubbleWorks, the bubble factory, failed to impress on my last visit due to the lack of soundtrack, but it did so on this visit. The quirky design, which has been executed with a certain perfection, and the magnificent finale, which takes you through numerous fountain tunnels, make this dark ride something very special and something not to be missed.

Vampire

Equally special is the now grown-up Vampire coaster. At 21 years of age, it still swings its guests through the treetops, and it does so with aplomb. The main highlight is certainly the big drop into the tunnel, after which the gondolas swing out very strongly, but the first part of the ride is also a lot of fun and can already show some strong swings. As with Arrow’s other European coasters, this bloodsucker will tempt you to take a second or third ride.

Dragon’s Fury

The Dragon’s Fury roller coaster in the Land of the Dragons themed area, which also features a Zierer Kontiki, a large children’s playground and an interactive water fountain, is often regarded as Maurer Söhne’s best spinning coaster. On this visit, however, I found it difficult to decide whether Alton Towers’ Sonic Spinball was not a little better. The big advantage of the Alton Towers ride is certainly the much smoother ride compared to Dragon’s Fury, but it lacks the first drop with that crazy S-curve combination that leads straight into Immelmann. Both layouts have their charms and are well ahead of the other layouts, it is just hard to say which of the two Merlin Entertainments models is actually better or worse. However, Dragon’s Fury is a truly great coaster.

Madagascar Live!

With the removal of the Smarties Cottage in the former children’s area of Chessington World of Adventures, the last stigma of the park has disappeared. All the attractions remained the same, except that the Flying Jumbos were moved closer to the Powered Coaster Runaway Train to make room for a stage for the very popular Dreamwork figures from Madagascar. From a distance, the Madagascar Live! show looked quite child-friendly, but the show value was still much higher than the 4D Ice Age experience at Alton Towers, which currently occupies a theatre over there.

Monkey Swinger

In the Wild Asia section we immediately encounter the wave swinger Monkey Swinger, which drenches passengers with ice-cold water through its fountain play. Visitors get soaked by the fountains – not surprisingly there is a hairdryer at the exit for the passengers.

Lorikeet Lagoon

An attraction now found in many zoos around the world is the Lorikeet Lagoon free-flight aviary, where you can lure the colourful lorikeet with a bit of nectar. This made the birds look quite fat, probably due to their new plumage. As at Weltvogelpark Walsrode, the lorises were quite trusting, which led to some funny situations.

Dragon Falls and Peeking Heights

In the Mystic East themed area is the Dragon Falls log flume, which cleverly directed the water from the shots onto my shoes, resulting in wet socks. The Peeking Heights Ferris Wheel is supposed to offer views of Staines and nearby Thorpe Park, but the view was not that good on the day we visited.

Tomb Blaster

On my last visit my opinion of Tomb Blaster was a little clouded by the long breaks in the block sections. The ride is a real gem of an interactive dark ride, just like most of the other dark rides built by Sally. The story, however, is rather flat and doesn’t deserve any real attention, as you’ll mainly be shooting at ancient Egyptian enemies and bigger bosses. The length of the ride is also remarkable, partly due to the train system used.

Rameses Revenge

Next door is Rameses Revenge, one of the best top spins from HUSS. The ride not only manages to produce a good number of spins, but also provides a good shower for the passengers. On two occasions the water fountains were approached head on and luckily they caught you well so you left Chessington World of Adventures well drenched.

Runaway Train and Rattlesnake

In the Mexicana themed area, you can ride Mack Rides’ Runaway Train – which comes with a beautiful mountain range and a top themed queue – as well as another coaster highlight: the Rattlesnake. Due to the park’s height restrictions, this wild mouse was installed in a pit, giving it a very unique look. It also helps that the queue passes through the coaster’s inner courtyard.

Pictures Chessington World of Adventures

Conclusion Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington World of Adventures is the prettiest of Merlin Entertainments’ UK theme parks, although not the biggest. The park’s portfolio is well-balanced and boasts some real treasures, including some very special rollercoasters such as Vampire and Dragon’s Fury. The park, with its extraordinary ideas, has made the most of the constructive constraints. The integrated zoo, like Drayton Manor Theme Park or Tier- und Freizeitpark Thüle, provides an all-round successful package and a very good distribution of visitors within the park.

 

What is your opinion about the roller coaster Dragon’s Fury?  Just write it in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels:

 

     

Click here for the overview page of Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington - World of Adventures

Waiting for passengers on the Brighton Pier

itemprop="discussionURL"0

Brighton Palace Pier

The Brighton Palace Pier, whose official name is Brighton Marina Palace & Pier, is the only remaining pier in the English seaside resort of Brighton. Around its entrance there are other tourist attractions like the Sealife Center Brighton or the Vekoma Ferris wheel Brighton Wheel. As also the city itself, the Brighton Pier has a certain charm, but it really takes the money out of your wallet. Most of the pier’s turnover is not generated by the rides at the end of the pier, but by the generously designed gambling halls, as also by the nice restaurants and snack bars.

In the front area of the park at the end of the pier you can admire a beautiful horse carousel and a Helter Skelter slide in Roller Coaster Tycoon style. Right next door is the ghost train Horror Hotel, which looks very nice from the outside. Other attractions in this area are a Sartori Techno Jump and a bumper car.

Turbo Coaster

On the right side of the pier the Turbo Coaster stretches towards the sky. Like the Klondike Gold Mine from Funland Amusement Park, this coaster is a Pinfari ZL42, but the differences between the two rides are much bigger than their design. If you want to ride this ride you should be very lucky, because on the one hand the ride only starts when eight people are willing to ride, on the other hand you need people who don’t turn back after three minutes in the queue.  Thereby it can take more than one hour even with a reasonably well-visited pier until enough people have found each other and in addition an employee of the pier was found who finally starts the machine. But when the system is up and running, it gets noticed and the second train load is gathered at a comparatively fast pace.

Where the Turbo Coaster looks quite nice from the front, this changes suddenly when the train leaves the lift. Barely lifted out of the seat during the first drop, the shoulder restraint hooks itself in such a stupid position, so that from now on you can do the rest of the ride firmly clinging to it. The loop was a little more intensive and less smooth than the one at the Funland Amusement Park, the rest of the course is much rougher, so that you get wiped off your shoulder restraints every now and then. While the Klondike Gold Mine is quite rideable and actually a lot of fun, the ride on Brighton Pier lacks any joy of life that could persuade you to take a second ride. Strangely enough one or two of the riders enjoyed the ride and even treated themselves to a second round.

Crazy Mouse

Fortunately, the beautifully positioned Reverchon Crazy Mouse of the same name is right next door. The ride in this mouse featured a quite nice view and was rather tame in the upper part of the ride. After the big drop was done and the rotation was finally released, the mouse started to rotate in best waltz style. Reverchon mice are always worth a ride and in this respect there is a good representative of this kind in Brighton, even if with 4 tokens of 1 pound each one of the probably most expensive of its kind.

Other rides on the pier include a Reverchon log flume called Wild River, a Fabbri Booster and a typical English Waltzer ride. The ride on the Waltzer was very nice and due to a straight section at the back of the ride you were inevitably put into a spin at the next drop.

Pictures Brighton Palace Pier

Conclusion Brighton Palace Pier

In total, the Brighton Palace Pier is a really nice pier, even though the rides are all quite expensive. In fact, one can leave one’s money in the restaurants and snack bars of the pier that is open during the whole year. Those who like gambling and arcades will also be in good hands in this seaside resort.

 

What is your opinion the Brighton Palace Pier?  Just write it in the comment field below the report or visit our social media channels:

 

          

Brighton Palace Pier