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John Wardley | |
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| Born | John Richard Wardley 6 June 1950 |
| Occupation | Attraction developer |
| Known for | Chessington World of Adventures, Prof. Burp's Bubble Works, The Vampire, The Haunted House, Nemesis, Oblivion, Air |
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.
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 animatronics 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. [1] There, Wardley oversaw the production of attractions including The Vampire suspended coaster and the Tiger Rock log flume. Wardley collaborated with attraction developer Keith Sparks to produce the popular Prof. Burp's Bubble Works dark ride at Chessington World of Adventures in 1990 and The Haunted House at Alton Towers in 1992.
Continuing as a development director of the Tussauds Group, John produced roller coasters such as Nemesis, Oblivion and Air (now Galactica) at Alton Towers. He also produced several rides at Thorpe Park after its acquisition by Tussauds in 1998.
One of his other projects at this time was producing the Mystique show at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, with leisure developer Geoffrey Thompson, which ran for nearly 20 years.[ citation needed ]
Wardley also worked with Chris Sawyer and Frontier Developments for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 , 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.[ citation needed ]
Having completed Air in 2002, Wardley left Tussauds due to its acquisition by Charterhouse. However, Merlin Entertainments took over the company in May 2007 and invited Wardley back as a ride design consultant. He has consulted on various rollercoaster projects, such as SAW - The Ride and The Swarm at Thorpe Park, TH13TEEN and The Smiler at Alton Towers, and Raptor at Gardaland.
On 22 January 2013, Wardley announced his retirement. [2] In April 2013, he published an autobiography entitled Creating My Own Nemesis.
Despite retirement, he consulted on the design for Flug Der Dämonen at Heide Park in 2014 and the Wicker Man at Alton Towers in 2017, among others. As of 2023, he remains a consultant exclusively for Alton Towers Resort.
| Year | Ride name | Role | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| c.1975 | Uncle Frankenstein's Scream Machine (Barry Island) | Design | Dark ride |
| c.1976 | Wacky Gold Mine (Barry Island) | Design | Dark ride |
| 1984 | Royalty & Empire | Animatronic consultant | Exhibition |
| 1987 | Dragon River | Design | Log flume |
| 1987 | Runaway Train | Design | Roller coaster |
| 1987 | The 5th Dimension | Layout | Dark Ride |
| 1990 | Prof. Burp's Bubble Works | Developer | Water dark ride |
| 1990 | Vampire | Developer | Roller coaster |
| 1992 | Runaway Mine Train | Developer | Roller coaster |
| 1992 | The Haunted House | Developer | Dark ride |
| 1993 | The Spirit of London | Developer | Dark ride |
| 1994 | Nemesis | Developer | Roller coaster |
| 1995 | Dragon Khan | Developer | Roller coaster |
| 1996 | Megafobia | Layout | Roller coaster |
| 1997 | Stampida | Layout | Roller coaster |
| 1998 | Oblivion | Developer | Roller coaster |
| 2000 | Hex – The Legend of the Towers | Developer | Dark ride |
| 2002 | Air | Developer | Roller coaster [3] |
| 2002 | Colossus | Developer | Roller coaster |
| 2003 | Nemesis Inferno | Layout draft | Roller coaster |
| 2009 | Saw - The Ride | Consultant | Roller coaster |
| 2010 | Th13teen | Consultant | Roller coaster |
| 2011 | Raptor | Consultant | Roller coaster |
| 2012 | The Swarm | Consultant | Roller coaster |
| 2013 | The Smiler | Consultant | Roller coaster |
| 2014 | Flug der Dämonen | Consultant | Roller coaster |
| 2018 | Wicker Man | Consultant | Roller coaster |
| 2023 | The Curse at Alton Manor | Consultant | Dark ride |
| 2024 | Nemesis Reborn | Consultant | Roller Coaster |
Alton Towers Resort is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments Group and incorporates a theme park, water park, mini golf and hotel complex.
Thorpe Park, formerly also known as Thorpe Park Resort, is a theme park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertainments and includes rides, themed cabins, live events and Hyperia, the United Kingdom's tallest and fastest rollercoaster. In 2019, Thorpe Park was the UK's third most visited theme park, behind Alton Towers and 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.
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, it is the largest amusement park in Northern Germany and among the largest in the country. It is part of the British-based Merlin Entertainments, which operates 123 attractions in 24 countries.
Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a 128 acres theme park, zoo and hotel complex in Chessington, Greater London, England, around 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Central London. The complex originally opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931; the theme park aspect was developed by The Tussauds Group, debuting on 7 July 1987 as one of the first combined animal-amusement parks in the UK. The theme park, which features over 40 rides, is now owned by Merlin Entertainments, following its merger with The Tussauds Group in 2007. Under Merlin, Chessington has been increasingly developed into a resort and tourist destination, including two on-site hotels, swimming pools, a campground, spa and fitness facilities.
RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 is a 2002 construction and management simulation game developed by Chris Sawyer and published by Infogrames Interactive. Released for Windows as the sequel to RollerCoaster Tycoon, the game simulates the management of amusement parks.
Rita, formerly known as Rita: Queen of Speed, is a launched roller coaster located in the Dark Forest section of Alton Towers amusement park in Staffordshire Moorlands, England. Designed by Intamin, the Accelerator Coaster model opened to the public on 1 April 2005. It features an acceleration from 0 to 98.3 km/h (61.1 mph) in 2.5 seconds. The ride is loosely-themed to a drag racing concept, which partly changed when the section of the park transformed from "Ug Land" into the "Dark Forest" in 2010, when the ride TH13TEEN was added into that section. It is now themed as an abandoned drag racer that is used as the escape cart to escape the Dark Forest.
Nemesis Reborn, previously Nemesis, is an inverted roller coaster located at the Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, England. It was manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) and designed by Werner Stengel, from a concept by park developer John Wardley. It opened in the Forbidden Valley area of the park on 19 March 1994.
The Pipeline Coaster is a roller coaster model where the trains ride between the tracks as opposed to a traditional roller coaster where they ride above them. The concept was first developed by Japanese ride company TOGO, and was known as the Ultra Twister. They built six installations of the design, and four are still in operation. Arrow Dynamics created an alternate version of the concept, but it never made it past the prototype stage in development. Intamin also experimented with the pipeline concept and built and relocated one model, known as the Spiral Coaster, but it is no longer operating. Some of the drawbacks of the design include the need for large, uncomfortable over-the-shoulder restraints as well as the obstruction of the riders' view by the enclosed pipe structure.
Oblivion is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. The prototype Dive Coaster model from Bolliger & Mabillard opened to the public on 14 March 1998 and was marketed as the "world's first vertical drop roller coaster". With a maximum speed of 68 mph (109.4 km/h), it is the fourth fastest roller coaster in the UK, behind The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and Stealth and Hyperia at Thorpe Park.
Galactica is a flying roller coaster located in the Forbidden Valley area of Alton Towers amusement park in Staffordshire, England. It originally opened as Air on 16 March 2002 and is the first flying coaster manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard. Guests ride in a prone position, meant to produce the feeling of flight, as the train passes close to the ground, under footpaths, and narrowly past trees and rocks. The ride was refurbished for the 2016 season and reopened as Galactica. It features an 840-metre-long (920 yd) track and reaches a maximum speed of 75 km/h.
Nemesis Inferno is a steel inverted roller coaster at the Thorpe Park theme park in Surrey, England, UK. The ride was manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the same Swiss firm that built the Nemesis inverted roller coaster at Alton Towers.
Dragon's Fury is a steel spinning roller coaster located at Chessington World of Adventures Resort in southwest London, England. Manufactured by Maurer AG, the ride opened on 27 March 2004 and features individual four-person cars that spin independently on a horizontal axis.
This is a summary of notable incidents that have taken place at various European amusement parks, water parks, or theme parks. This list is not intended to be a comprehensive list of every such event, but only those that have a significant impact on the parks or park owners, or are otherwise significantly newsworthy.
Black Hole, briefly known as Black Hole II (1988) and New Black Hole (1989), was an enclosed steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers theme park near Alton in the English shire county of Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf and designed by Werner Stengel, the Jet Star 2 model opened to public in 1983 and operated until 2005. The track layout was enclosed within a large tent to provide a dark ride experience.
Saw – The Ride is a steel roller coaster located at Thorpe Park in Surrey, England. Manufactured by Gerstlauer, the Euro-Fighter model opened to the public on 14 March 2009 as the steepest freefall roller coaster in the world, with a drop angle of 100 degrees. It is themed to the Saw franchise, featuring an enclosed dark section and queue theming which makes numerous references to the film series and props used in the films and other Saw media.
Thirteen is a steel roller coaster/haunted attraction/drop tower at Alton Towers in England. The ride was constructed by Intamin and opened on 20 March 2010. It is the world's first vertical freefall drop roller coaster, on which the track and train freefall approximately five metres in darkness. The ride replaced and is built on the former site of the Corkscrew, which resided at Alton Towers for 28 years between 1980 and 2008.
Bubbleworks was a dark water ride opened in 1990 at Chessington World of Adventures Resort in Greater London, England. It took riders through animated scenes of a comical factory producing fizzy pop. The original ride closed, to be redesigned in 2006 with a sponsorship by Imperial Leather toiletries, with the majority of the animations removed. The new Bubbleworks then closed in September 2016 to be replaced by The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure.
The Smiler is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. The Infinity Coaster model from Gerstlauer set a world record for most inversions on a roller coaster when it opened in 2013, featuring 14 inversions that include dive loops, sidewinders, corkscrews, and other inverting elements. The ride was constructed in the X-Sector area of the park and underwent an extensive advertising campaign, during which it was codenamed Secret Weapon 7 (SW7).
Alton Towers is located near the village of Alton in Staffordshire, England. The former country estate was a former seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury. It is now a major theme park in the United Kingdom. In 2012, it attracted 2.4 million visitors, making it the most visited theme park in the United Kingdom and 9th most visited theme park in Europe. It employs in excess of 2,000 staff members during the summer months.
Wicker Man is a wooden roller coaster at Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Manufactured by Great Coasters International, the £16-million ride opened to the public on 20 March 2018 following a three-day weather delay. It set several milestones among wooden coasters including the first to be built in the UK in 22 years and the first to incorporate fire. Initially codenamed "Secret Weapon 8", a traditional naming scheme for major upcoming projects at Alton Towers, its official name was revealed in January 2018.
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| Roller Coasters |
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