''Tomb Blaster'' is a

dark ride A dark ride—or ghost train when horror themed—is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain Animatronics, animation, sound, music and Special effect#Live spe ...

that opened in 2002 at

Chessington World of Adventures Resort Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a Amusement park, theme park, zoo and hotel complex in Chessington, Greater London, England, around southwest of Central London. The complex originally opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931; the theme par ...

in London. Riders travel in trains through a series of crypts, shooting

laser guns A laser weapon is a type of directed-energy weapon that uses lasers to inflict damage. Whether they will be deployed as practical, high-performance military weapons remains to be seen. One of the major issues with laser weapons is atmospheric ...

at targets for high scores.

History

Chessington World of Adventures rideentry Egyptian

''Tomb Blaster'' is a

in the ''Forbidden Kingdom'' area of

. It originally opened as ''

The 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular music ...

'', a dark ride based on a story of a TV repair robot that operated from 1987 to 1993. The ride system was manufactured by

Mack Rides Mack Rides GmbH & Co KG, also known simply as Mack Rides, is a German company that designs and constructs amusement rides, based in Waldkirch, Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Ge ...

. The area was rethemed as the Forbidden Kingdom in 1994, and the ride became ''

Terror Tomb Terror Tomb (later renamed Forbidden Tomb) was a dark ride attraction at Chessington World of Adventures in southwest London, England, themed as an adventure inside a haunted tomb. The ride opened in March 25, 1994 along with the Forbidden K ...

'', a horror ride in the dark. In 2002 ''Tomb Blaster'' launched as a retheme of the old terror tomb ride utilising many of the sets but with some animatronics being replaced. In the

riders shoot

at targets. In August 2015, Tomb Blaster closed for undisclosed reasons. It then underwent a minor refurbishment during the closed season, with a new laser gun system, an ultraviolet scenic treatment and altered audio. The refurbished ride debuted during the annual pass preview weekend of 2016 to a negative response. General response from guests as well as fans of the ride criticised the "unprofessional" nature of the new lighting and audio alterations, citing missing sound effects, many animations still broken, missing pieces of the sets and excessive light spillage that revealed the areas intended to be covered by darkness. In 2020, the attraction was revamped again with a new story overlay, new soundtrack created by Nick Hutson and new lighting, with some of the targets removed. The new story for the attraction is that guests are being recruited to rid the tomb of the curse of the high priest.

Description

Anyone under 1.1 meters must be accompanied by an adult. Riders sit in "utility vehicles" and travel through a tomb, shooting mummies and monsters with laser guns, and competing for top scores. Among the scenes are a

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

, a revolving tunnel, and snake pits. Many of the original set pieces from ''Terror Tomb'' remain in the ''Tomb Blaster'' ride with the exclusion of the Abdab animatronics and the entirety of the final concert scene, located where a giant cobra is now.

Incident

On 7 June 2012, a four-year-old girl entered a near month-long coma after falling 14 ft from the ride's raised queue line. Severe injuries occurred, including broken ribs, a cracked skull, and bleeding on the brain. The queue line's protective wooden fence panelling was both untreated and positioned in an area which was subject to rainwater runoff from a nearby roof. It had over the years become rotten due to weathering. Palings had previously fallen from the fence and had been nailed back into place despite their rotten nature. No formal records of the repairs were kept. A paling from the fence had fallen out on the day of the incident, leaving a gap through which the girl fell. Chessington World of Adventures was fined £150,000 after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety Act (1974).

Gallery

References

External links