John Wardley

Last updated

John Wardley
Born
John Richard Wardley

(1950-06-06) 6 June 1950 (age 74)
Eastcote, Middlesex, England
OccupationAttraction 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.

Contents

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 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.

Video games

Publishing history

Attraction projects

Attractions developed by John Wardley
YearRide nameRoleDescription
c.1975Uncle Frankenstein's Scream Machine (Barry Island)DesignDark ride
c.1976Wacky Gold Mine (Barry Island)DesignDark ride
1984 Royalty & Empire Animatronic consultantExhibition
1987 Dragon River DesignLog flume
1987 Runaway Train DesignRoller coaster
1987 The 5th Dimension LayoutDark Ride
1990 Prof. Burp's Bubble Works DeveloperWater dark ride
1990 Vampire DeveloperRoller coaster
1992 Runaway Mine Train DeveloperRoller coaster
1992 The Haunted House DeveloperDark ride
1993 The Spirit of London DeveloperDark ride
1994 Nemesis DeveloperRoller coaster
1995 Dragon Khan DeveloperRoller coaster
1996 Megafobia LayoutRoller coaster
1997 Stampida LayoutRoller coaster
1998 Oblivion DeveloperRoller coaster
2000 Hex – The Legend of the Towers DeveloperDark ride
2002 Air DeveloperRoller coaster [3]
2002 Colossus DeveloperRoller coaster
2003 Nemesis Inferno Layout draftRoller coaster
2009 Saw - The Ride ConsultantRoller coaster
2010 Th13teen ConsultantRoller coaster
2011 Raptor ConsultantRoller coaster
2012 The Swarm ConsultantRoller coaster
2013 The Smiler ConsultantRoller coaster
2014 Flug der Dämonen ConsultantRoller coaster
2018 Wicker Man ConsultantRoller coaster
2023 The Curse at Alton Manor ConsultantDark ride
2024 Nemesis Reborn ConsultantRoller Coaster

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References

  1. "Interview with John Wardley, published in Park World". john-wardley.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  2. Wollaston, Steve (5 May 2013). "Feature: Life has been a rollercoaster for white knuckle ride designer John Wardley". Birmingham Live.
  3. "The making of Air – An interview with John Wardley". 6 April 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2022 via YouTube.