Thursday 29th October 2020
Theming continues to rise for the new ride at Chessington World of Adventures. Opening 2021, the ride still has a long way to go before being finished and being ready for its first guests!
Tonight we take a look at the construction site at night. Not much can be seen due to the darkness, however, everything is lit up with work lights. We won't go into a lot of detail for this update as our main Croc Drop update will be online in the next few days.
Seeing this in the dark makes us excited to see what it's going to look like during Halloween next year!
Jaw Dropping Progress Made To Croc Drop
Sunday 25th October 2020
In just under a month since we last visited the park to see Croc Drop, so much has changed around the construction site! The outside of the station building looks to be complete, with Egyptian hieroglyphs added along with work on the huge theming element. Metal framework continued to be installed through the day and its fair to say this drop tower is going to be huge!
On posters shrouding the worksite, the eye of a crocodile is visible above the possible entrance or exit to the ride. Also seen next to this eye element is two crocodiles in the form of Egyptian gods.
There's no sign of any ride hardware yet, however with this large framework installed, we can now see where the crocodile's mouth will be, splitting halfway to allow guests to see out. We expect there will be some smoke or water effects at the jaw. As the clocks change and it now gets darker earlier, lights have been added around the scaffolding on the site, meaning work can continue later.
A large temporary metal pumpkin has been added to the side of the metal structure, those viewing the site from the Tomb Blaster queue line can get a great view of the work going on.
Monday 28th September 2020
Work on Chessingtons newest investment rumoured to be called Croc Drop has slowly progressed since our last visit to the theme park.
Huge metal pipes have been installed around the hole in the centre of the structure, we can't work out if this is for ventilation or if this will become a huge smoke machine system, once completed. Work on transforming the old shop and exit for flying jumbos ride looks to be getting on well with new walls installed, dividing up the previous large open space into a themed queue line experience.
The biggest change around the building site is that the rides building is now being themed! Rather than using fake bricks like Thirteen at Alton Towers, the ride building is being plastered in concrete and some sections of the building have already had some fake Egyptian symbols inscribed into it. The corners on the building look to also be being rounded off like a pilar. Over the next few weeks, we should start to see some of the rides theming being installed and carved into the building.
Still no ride hardware inside the building however we expect this will be installed around November / December time.
Croc Drop Building Watertight
Saturday 5th September 2020
Construction at Crock Drop has slowed down a little, with the building now watertight it won't be long until we start to see metalwork for the rides theming installed and the ride craned into place in the next few months.
Construction Work For Croc Drop Ride Station Begins
Saturday 22nd August 2020
Work is continuing quickly on Croc Drop. The main building structure is now complete, allowing work to start on building the station, queue line and plant room for the ride. Since our last visit to Chessington, the ride roof has started to be installed and measures to get the building watertight have been put in place.
It would appear that the building and themeing are going to be completed first and then the ride will be craned in through the hole in the middle of the structure.
With the Croc Drop racing ahead, it looks like the whole thing will be complete before a pirate ship appears on the Blue Barnicle site!
Croc Drop Construction Goes Vertical
Tuesday 11th August 2020
Croc Drop at Chessington has rapidly progressed since our last visit to the park. The structure for the building and theming around the drop tower has surprisingly been erected in the space of a week. Our last visit to the theme park saw the foundations completed ready for the structure to be installed. It would appear that all of the building is now installed, ready to be cladded and themed.
The building is quite large compared to what used to be located in this bit of space. While there's no sign of the drop tower ride yet, the building has a large hole in the middle of it ready for the ride to be installed into. When operational, we expect the ride will blast in and out of the building, similar to Magma at Paultons Park.
In the old pharaoh bazaar shop, everything has been ripped out and removed ready to be rethemed into a themed queue line area.
Foundations Complete For Croc Drop
Tuesday 4th August 2020
Foundations for the Chessington next big investment called Crock Drop at appearing to be completed and the surrounding area around the ride has been filled in with dirt to level out the ground. Anchor points can also be seen in the foundations ready for the ride to be craned in and installed, once this is done, work on theming the ride and the surrounding area can begin.
With the recent update on social media, banners have been added around the construction site about the ride. The posters don’t give us much more information than we already know, a crocodiles eye and an Edgytion Phenix can be seen around the site.
Interestingly, since our last visit to Chessington a time-lapse camera has been installed towards the back of the site.
Construction For Croc Drop Ramps Up
Wednesday 15th July 2020
In a recent trademark made by Chessington, the name for the new drop tower ride might have been leaked.
Croc Drop has been trademarked by Merlin and with the theming for the ride, we have already seen in plans we think this name will be the attractions final name. A promo image was also posted by the past yesterday which saw the words "Do not enter! Archaeological Dig Site" posted over some Egyptian Hieroglyphics.
Work on installing metal rebar for the main base of the ride has continued over the past few weeks. More of the rides main base has been built up, ready for concrete to be poured over the next few weeks. Water drainage poles can be seen in the middle of the base, where power and other cables will be run into the rides drop tower.
A footer and possibly a jump for a water feature already appears to have been installed in some close up shots shown below. Again, ride signage is still yet to be removed and we guess this is going to stay behind closed doors until building the queue line and entrance for the ride is started.
Construction Work In Pit Of Rameses Continues
Sunday 5th July 2020
Metal rebar has started to be added into the bottom of the pit of the old Rameses Revenge site. Although still in the early stages, the site has progressed greatly since we last saw the park.
Construction Work At Rameses Revenge Restarts
Thursday 18th June 2020
Work on removing Rameses Revenege and preparing the site for the new kid's drop tower ride has progressed and the site is almost unrecognisable. The old Rameses Revenege rockwork behind the ride has now been removed and preparation for the new ride has begun. Due to construction workers only being back to work recently, not much has happened, apart from the site office for the works installed and the pit starting to be dugout. Interestingly, all of the signage for the ride remains sat behind construction fences.
