The 5th Dimension was a dark ride at the

Chessington World of Adventures Resort Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a theme park, zoo and hotel complex in Chessington, Greater London, England, around southwest of Central London. The complex opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931, with the theme park being developed along ...

in southwest London, England, when the theme park opened and was the first major special effects attraction of its kind in the UK. The ride closed at the end of the 1993 season and was replaced by Terror Tomb, which in turn has been replaced by Tomb Blaster. The ride was designed with cars that could stop and rotate to face what was happening in the scene; the same transit system is in use today.

History

The ride opened in the summer of 1987, designed and produced by

Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in 1835 by French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in London, spawning similar museums in major cities around the world. While it used to be spelled as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer us ...

Studios and originally sponsored by

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

. The ride followed the character of "computer trouble shooter" robot Zappomatic, through a series of eclectic scenes set inside a malfunctioning computer generated reality, with large scale animations and special effects. The layout and format of transit system was designed by

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 st ...

and manufactured by Mack Rides. Upon its initial opening, ''The 5th Dimension'' was considered a disappointment by the park management because it did not attract enough attendance. Once in the ride, guest reception was largely positive but with confusion about its narrative thread. The ride was extensively redesigned for its second season to make it more appealing to younger visitors, including rewriting Zappomatic as a TV repair robot on a mission to defeat a virus named "The Gorg". This allowed the ride to operate for another six seasons, until being replaced by Terror Tomb in 1994.

References

External links

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Restored on-ride recording from 1988The 5th Dimension documentary with the ride's 1987 designers
{{DEFAULTSORT:5th Dimension Ride Dark rides 1987 establishments in England 1993 disestablishments in England Chessington World of Adventures past rides

History

See also

References

External links