John Richard Wardley (born 6 June 1950) is a British developer for

theme 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 ...

in the UK and Europe: an innovator of special effects,

dark ride A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music and special effects. Appearing as early as the 19th century, su ...

s 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 The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

movies. He was later hired by the

Tussauds Group The Tussauds Group was an entertainment company which is now a part of Merlin Entertainments. It was based in Poole, Dorset from where it managed a portfolio of brands and over 50 attractions that included the Madame Tussauds waxworks, Legoland ...

due to his experience in designing animated figures and rides for

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 ...

. His first project with Tussauds was the development of animatronics for the 'Royalty and Empire' exhibition at

Windsor, Berkshire Windsor is a historic market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated west ...

. After this he was employed by the Tussauds Group to transform the declining Chessington Zoo in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

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

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 ...

to produce the popular Prof. Burp's Bubble Works dark ride at Chessington World of Adventures, which ran for 15 years. Following this, he worked again with Sparks to produce a second large dark ride, The Haunted House (now Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back) at Alton Towers, in 1992. Continuing as a development director of the Tussauds Group, John produced roller coasters such as Nemesis, Oblivion and

Air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...

. He also produced several rides at

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 Entertai ...

after its acquisition by Tussauds in 1998. One of his other projects at this time was producing the '' Mystique'' 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 ...

, with leisure developer Geoffrey Thompson, which ran for nearly 20 years. Wardley also worked with Chris Sawyer and Frontier Developments for ''

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 ''RollerCoaster Tycoon 3'' is a 2004 construction and management simulation video game. It is the third installment in the '' RollerCoaster Tycoon'' series. ''RollerCoaster Tycoon 3'' places players in charge of managing amusement parks; rides ...

'', a game about amusement park management. His name is also a secret cheat code in the game - when visitor's title is named after him all height restrictions are removed, alluding to the severe height restrictions that his most well-known work at Alton Towers was required to comply with. Wardley went into semi-retirement after completing

(now Galactica) at Alton Towers in 2002 some years after the Tussauds Group had been acquired by Charterhouse. However,

Merlin Entertainments Merlin Entertainments Limited is a British entertainment company based at Poole in Dorset, England. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019, when it was acquired by a consortium that includes Kirkbi A/S (the investme ...

took over the company in May 2007 and invited Wardley back as a ride design consultant. He consulted for various rollercoaster projects, such as SAW - The Ride and The Swarm at

, TH13TEEN and

The Smiler The Smiler is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Manufactured by Gerstlauer, it opened in 2013 as the world's first Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster. It is located in the X-Sector area of the park. W ...

at Alton Towers, and

Raptor Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on ...

Gardaland Gardaland Resort is an amusement park located in northeastern Italy. Opened on 19 July 1975, the resort includes Gardaland Park, Gardaland Sea-Life, Legoland Waterpark, Gardaland Hotel, Adventure Hotel and Magic Hotel. It is adjacent to Lake Gar ...

. On 22 January 2013, Wardley announced his

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

.Interview with John Wardley ahead of his retirement
/ref> In April 2013, he published an autobiography entitled
Creating My Own Nemesis
' on Amazon, in print and as an audiobook. Despite retirement, he consulted on the design for

Flug Der Dämonen Flug der Dämonen (German for "Flight of the Demons") is a Bolliger & Mabillard Wing Coaster at the Heide Park Resort amusement park located in Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany. The attraction officially opened to the public on March 29, 2014. Histor ...

Heide Park Heide Park Resort, commonly known as Heide Park, is a theme park in Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany. With an overall area of over 850,000 m2 (210 acres), it is the largest amusement park in Northern Germany and among the largest in the country. ...

in 2014 and the

Wicker Man A wicker man was purportedly a large wicker statue in which the druids (priests of Celtic paganism) sacrificed humans and animals by burning. The main evidence for this practice is a sentence by Roman general Julius Caesar in his '' Commentary ...

at Alton Towers in 2017. As of 2022, he remains a part-time consultant purely for attractions at Alton Towers.

Video games

*''

'' - consultation *''NoLimits Coaster 2'' - technical adviser

Publishing history

*''Creating My Own Nemesis'' - print edition (April 2013) - author *''Creating My Own Nemesis'' - audiobook (December 2017) - author & narrator *''Creating My Own Nemesis'' - kindle edition (December 2017) - author & narrator

Attractions produced by John Wardley

References

External links