UK Coaster Collection have managed to get hold of the queueline video and some on-ride footage of Chessington’s old 5th Dimension dark ride. The videos are now available on their site.
It’s many years since I’ve seen the queueline video, but it brings back many memories of the very Eighties style queue - a considerable difference from the Egyptian tomb of today!
I wonder if the memories of Chessington’s other classic dark ride will be as strong 13 years from now.
Last night, Chessington put on a special event after the park closed for the season to allow Bubbleworks fans one last ride before the ducks invade next year. Photos from the evening are here.
It was supposed to encompass an hour and a half exclusive ride time but, since only 50 people turned up for the start, it lasted just less than an hour.
Chessington hadn’t put on much of a show - the only perk was a free ride photo mousemat - so we had to create the party atmosphere ourselves. Some of us went further than others: our boat ended up singing the theme tune whilst floating around waving goodbye to Professor Burp, the Hiccups, the Cream Soda cow and all the other characters (I think I may have been getting overly emotional when I tried to say goodbye to the red laser powering the sensor at the top of the drop though).
Chatting to a couple of the staff afterwards, it seems the Imperial Leather re-theme/sponsorship deal might not be too bad:
- The layout will be identical to now
- The Hiccups are being replaced by an egg, a half-egg-half-chicken and a chicken (??)
- Supposedly the only changes to the Fountain Finale will be to the drop, which will become a giant plug hole
- Minor changes to the fairground scene include ducks riding the cola coaster
- The station will be rethemed as an underwater submarine
- The boats will become red and white (similar to The Flume but without gold taps), with the possibility of a gold rail around the side. They’ve decided against having little model ducks sitting on the edge of the boats quacking throughout the ride.
Exactly how much changes, we’ll find out next year. It’s just a pity poor old Professor Burp has been thrown out, although I hear he may be in for a nice retirement package (might be an idea to keep an eye out on eBay).
Professor Burp’s Bubbleworks
1990 - 2005
A few weeks ago Thorpe generated huge speculation when they added an extra week of opening on the Opening Times page on their website, changing the end of the season from October 31st to November 6th.
A little while later the extra week disappeared, leaving the final Fright Nite as the last day of the season. Understandably, people thought the extra week had either been a mistake or something to do with the Alton court case (potentially Thorpe could have been an alternative fireworks venue).
Something very odd is going on, because now the extra week is back. No mention of anything special happening that week, and with Alton announcing their Fireworks event was going ahead yesterday, I’m baffled. According to their websites, Alton and Chessington are both closing on October 30th.
What’s going on? Somebody uploading the wrong web page, or something more interesting??
Just had a nice few hours down at Chessington, and spotted a slightly misleading sign on the barriers around the former Rodeo site:
Critical testing, eh? Considering Rodeo is now lying in pieces with the cars themselves nowhere to be seen, I wouldn’t exactly say it was in any state to be tested.Unless of course
Rodeo: The Revenge involves being told to sit on spikes and swivel.
Regular visitors to Chessington will know all about Boris the sealion, who seems to have fathered half the world’s sealion population.
Well, he’s done it again. Boris’ 38th pup has just been born at CWoA.
Congratulations Boris - proving there’s life in the old sea-dog yet!
Photos from the weekend are appearing around the Net - here are the ones I know about so far:
Anybody know of any more? Post the link in a comment below!