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John Wardley
John Richard Wardley (born 6 June 1950) is a British developer for theme parks in the UK and Europe: an innovator of special effects, dark rides and roller coasters in the themed attraction industry. Career Wardley started his career as a stage manager at Windsor's Theatre Royal, then moved on to the film industry creating special effects, including several of the James Bond movies. He was later hired by the Tussauds Group due to his experience in designing animated figures and rides for amusement parks. His first project with Tussauds was the development of animatronics for the 'Royalty and Empire' exhibition at Windsor, Berkshire. After this he was employed by the Tussauds Group to transform the declining Chessington Zoo in London to become the Chessington World of Adventures theme park. There, Wardley oversaw the production of attractions including The Vampire suspended coaster and the Dragon River log flume. In 1990, Wardley collaborated with attraction developer K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemesis (roller Coaster)
Nemesis is an inverted roller coaster located at the Alton Towers theme park in England. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride was designed by Werner Stengel in collaboration with attraction developer John Wardley. It opened in the Forbidden Valley area of the park on 19 March 1994. The ride stands tall and features a top speed of . The four-inversion roller coaster was one of the first Bolliger & Mabillard rides to be installed outside of the United States and the first in Europe as an independent company. Following the 2022 season, the ride is scheduled for a major refurbishment and will be closed until 2024. History Development history In 1990, Alton Towers added the Thunder Looper roller coaster; the addition was only temporary due to planning restrictions imposed on its installation. The park began planning for a new roller coaster on unused land adjacent to Thunder Looper. They desired a roller coaster that was big, different and exciting, but they were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemesis Roller Coaster
Nemesis is an inverted roller coaster located at the Alton Towers theme park in England. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride was designed by Werner Stengel in collaboration with attraction developer John Wardley. It opened in the Forbidden Valley area of the park on 19 March 1994. The ride stands tall and features a top speed of . The four-inversion roller coaster was one of the first Bolliger & Mabillard rides to be installed outside of the United States and the first in Europe as an independent company. Following the 2022 season, the ride is scheduled for a major refurbishment and will be closed until 2024. History Development history In 1990, Alton Towers added the Thunder Looper roller coaster; the addition was only temporary due to planning restrictions imposed on its installation. The park began planning for a new roller coaster on unused land adjacent to Thunder Looper. They desired a roller coaster that was big, different and exciting, but they were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galactica (roller Coaster)
Galactica (formerly known as Air) is a flying roller coaster located in the Forbidden Valley area of Alton Towers amusement park in Staffordshire, England and is the first flying coaster manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard. Guests ride in a prone position and experience the feeling of flight by "flying" close to the ground, under footpaths, and narrowly past trees and rocks. The roller coaster originally opened as ''Air'' on 16 March 2002. Following the close of the 2015 season, the ride underwent refurbishment and reopened as ''Galactica'' on 24 March 2016. It features an track, reaches a top speed of , and debuted a dedicated virtual reality experience, although this has since been removed. History Air (2002–2015) Alton Towers conceived the concept of a flying roller coaster in 1990, twelve years before Air eventually opened. Following the opening of Nemesis in 1994, a flying coaster was planned by the park to open in 1998, but was delayed due to technological li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastcote
Eastcote is a suburban area in the London Borough of Hillingdon, in northwest London. In the Middle Ages, Eastcote was one of the three areas that made up the parish of Ruislip, under the name of Ascot. The name came from its position to the east of the parish. While no historically significant events have taken place in Eastcote, there are links to past events in the history of Britain. One such example is of Lady Mary Bankes, who lived in Eastcote for a time, and led the defence of Corfe Castle in Dorset against the Roundheads during the English Civil War. Eastcote also housed an outstation of the Bletchley Park codebreaking activities during the Second World War, with several codebreaking computers in use. This operation became the precursor to GCHQ, which remained in Eastcote after the war until the department moved to purpose-built buildings in Cheltenham in 1952. By the turn of the 20th century, the recorded population was around 600; this had reached for the ward i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amusement Parks
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often featuring multiple areas with different themes. Unlike temporary and mobile Travelling funfair, funfairs and traveling carnival, carnivals, amusement parks are stationary and built for long-lasting operation. They are more elaborate than Urban park, city parks and playgrounds, usually providing attractions that cater to a variety of age groups. While amusement parks often contain themed areas, theme parks place a heavier focus with more intricately-designed themes that revolve around a particular subject or group of subjects. Amusement parks evolved from European fairs, pleasure gardens, and large Picnic, picnic areas, which were created for people's recreation. World's fairs and other types of international expositions also i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoffrey Thompson (businessman)
William Geoffrey Thompson OBE (16 November 1936 – 12 June 2004)Kenneth Shenton (19 June 2004The Independent: Geoffrey Thompson obituary The Independent was a British businessman who was the managing director and owner of Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Pleasureland Southport and Frontierland, Morecambe. He rose to his position in 1976 after the death of his father, Leonard Thompson. Career Geoffrey Thompson was appointed managing director of Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1976, following the death of his father. During his tenure, he bought two separate amusement parks, Pleasureland Southport and Frontierland, Morecambe. The latter of which he closed down in 2000. He invested heavily into the Pleasure Beach during his time, opening the Steeplechase, Avalanche, Revolution, Big One, Ice Blast: The Ride and Valhalla. Like his father, he had a good relationship with Arrow Dynamics with them building many of Pleasure Beach's rides until they went bankrupt in 2002. He sat on a number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Blackpool Pleasure Beach is an amusement park situated on Blackpool's South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England. It operates as a secure facility, and has introduced epayments via smartphones for admission charges, replacing wristbands and Pleasure Beach Passes, and removing the need to attend the Ticket Centre. The park was founded in 1896 by A. W. G. Bean and his partner John Outhwaite and has been family owned and operated since its inception. The current managing director is Bean's great-granddaughter Amanda Thompson. The park is host to many records, including the largest collection of wooden roller coasters of any park in the United Kingdom with four: the Big Dipper, Blue Flyer, Grand National and Nickelodeon Streak. Many of the roller coasters in the park are record-breaking attractions. When it opened in 1994, The Big One was the tallest roller coaster in the world. It was also the steepest, with an incline angle of 65° and the second fastest w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mystique (Blackpool Pleasure Beach)
Mystique was a long running illusion show at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Blackpool Pleasure Beach is an amusement park situated on Blackpool's South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England. It operates as a secure facility, and has introduced epayments via smartphones for admission charges, replac ... featuring many different types of illusions, comedy and dance. The show ran until 2006 and featured illusionist Richard De Vere and his canine companion Schnorbitz for many years. 2006 Cast 2005 Cast List 2004 Cast List 2003 Cast List 2002 Cast List 2001 Cast List 2000 Cast List 1999 Cast List 1997 Cast List 1996 Cast List 1995 Cast List {, class="wikitable" , - ! Name !! Character , - , Nikki Alexander , , , - , Hugh Black , , Pre-Show Artiste , - , Karen Black , , , - , Tom Bright , , Comedian/Compere , - , Guy Collins , , Pre-Show Artiste , - , Stillie Dee , , , - , Christian Griffin Romanov , , Illusionist , ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thorpe Park
Thorpe Park Resort, commonly known as Thorpe Park, is an amusement park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertainments and includes rides, themed cabins, live events and ''Stealth (roller coaster), Stealth'', the United Kingdom's fastest rollercoaster. In 2019 Thorpe park was the UK's third most visited theme park (1.9 million visitors), behind Alton Towers and Legoland Windsor Resort, Legoland Windsor. However, in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the park only had a 125-day operation season, along with limited capacity, leading to massively reduced visitor numbers. Despite this, Thorpe Park was the second most attended theme park in the UK in 2020, behind Alton Towers. After demolition of the Thorpe Park Estate in the 1930s, the site became a gravel pit managed by Ready Mix Concrete (RMC). When the pits were expended, RMC regenerated the site ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Haunted House Strikes Back
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keith Sparks
Keith Henley Sparks was a British attraction designer and developer for theme parks around Europe; an early innovator of theme park attractions and dark rides in the United Kingdom (UK). He was known for his characteristic production style and attractions for Alton Towers, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and the Tussauds Group. Notable attractions he produced include Prof. Burp's Bubble Works, The Haunted House, and Around The World In 80 Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe .... References Amusement ride manufacturers Animatronic engineers 1936 births 2011 deaths {{UK-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiger Rock
Tiger Rock (previously known as Dragon Falls and Dragon River) is a flume ride at the theme park Chessington World of Adventures in Chessington, southwest London, England. Primarily designed by John Wardley and opened in 1987, it is located in the Land of the Tiger (formerly Mystic East) area of the park. The ride was originally extensively themed, although the majority of its scenic design was later removed due to lack of maintenance and durability over time. A contest was held in 2014 that focused on possible new themes for the ride. In September 2017, the ride closed for refurbishment and reemerged on 5 May 2018 as Tiger Rock. History The ride was named Dragon River when it opened in 1987, but subsequently named Dragon Falls since the 1999 season. The ride was manufactured by Mack Rides and was produced by John Wardley with the Tussauds Group. In July 2017, Chessington filed for planning permission to undertake a large overhaul of the Mystic East area of the theme park. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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