Theme Park Discussion / Ride designer John Wardley to retire

such sad news coming today that Ride designer John Wardley to retire!

Sad news in the Enthusiast Community today coming from Season Pass Podcast as John Wardley the Veteran Ride designer behind such attractions as Nemesis, Bubbleworks and most recently The Smiler, has confirmed his retirement;

Wardley previously took the role of Ride Consultant but continued to work on Track Layout and various levels of theming elements, He’s often noted for his quiet nature and peaceful attitude towards Theme Parks.

John has appeared on various children’s television programs such as Blue Peter as well as documentaries on theme parks commenting on his brilliant creations, most notable of these is The Creation of Nemesis, a fascinating story of his own love for thrill rides and his personal opinion on what is arguably one the best thrill rides in the world, he is quoted as saying

“I was the first person round Nemesis. It was pretty scary, but it’s a privilege to know that, since its opening in 1994, 50 million people have ridden it”.

Wardley began his career as a stage manager at Windsor's Theatre Royal designing props and special effects for James Bond movies, though he soon started his work on thrill rides when he was hired by Tussauds Entertainment to “sort out the funfair and circus” at Chessington, he told them that Chessingtons future relied on a far more radical approach, and so due to John Wardley, we have the World of Adventures that exists now. Recently Wardley has been a consultant and designer on Alton Towers new ride The Smiler

As well as theme parks, John Wardley has been a consultant on the hit Video Game Roller Coaster Tycoon and its sequels, He himself has noted saying

“When this software is run on commercial computers, boy, is it amazing! Combine this with ride technology as used in Universal’s Spiderman ride, and the result is an interactive dark ride the like of which has never been seen before. And that is what I’m working on now, not for any particular park operator, just Frontier and myself experimenting with ideas and playing around.”

So, John wardley will never really retire, Because as he says, “When you’re a Coaster Enthusiast, You’re always a Coaster Enthusiast, and there’s no retiring from that”

John will also be appearing on the Season Pass Podcast later this year to talk about his past, present and future.

So good luck to you John, We wish you all the best.

a sad day !

I don't really give a shit to be honest. He gets given so much credit for so little.

well i suppose every one has there own opinion about everything i think he has done alot of good work on rides.. specially nemesis ! and aswell he had something to do with RCT.

anyway thanks for your reply anyway

I think he's designed three or four of my top five roller coasters, so while he may not be the single greatest human being in the history of humanity, he's damn good at what he does.

But everyone credits him for the 'design' of these roller coasters. He doesn't design them. The manufacturers design them. He doesn't have any degree/knowledge remotely sufficient to be able to design a roller coaster. It was him who designed the layout of Nemesis, it was B&M. He just designed the concept and told B&M what they were after.

And in actual fact, had there not been any height restrictions, forcing creativity, and ultimately forcingn the idea of the ravine, Alton would have gotten a Batman clone.

B&M does their best work with tough restrictions.

And we're all very happy that Nemesis is NOT a batman clone.

Its actually very similar to how Louis gets designs... He tells me what he wants, I build it all for him and then he gets the credit.

Isn't that right Louis?

^^

Its actually very similar to how Louis gets designs... He tells me what he wants, I build it all for him and then he gets the credit.

Isn't that right Louis?

Shhh...you weren't meant to say anything!

Bullshit Roomie... We already know your really Chris Sawyer