John Wardley
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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, and his most popular work, Nemesis: Tin Of Beans |
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. He is known for Nemesis at Alton Towers[1] and other major roller coasters in the UK and Europe.
Career
[edit]Wardley started his career as an assistant 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.[2] 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.[3] 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
[edit]- RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 – consultation
- NoLimits Coaster 2 – technical adviser
Publishing history
[edit]- Creating My Own Nemesis – print edition (April 2013) – author
- Creating My Own Nemesis – audiobook (December 2017) – author & narrator
- Life After Nemesis – print edition (April 2024) – author
Attraction projects
[edit]| 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[4] |
| 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 |
References
[edit]- ^ Abbott, Kate; Abbott, Interview by Kate (12 March 2012). "How we made: John Wardley and Candy Holland on the Nemesis rollercoaster". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
- ^ "Interview with John Wardley, published in Park World". john-wardley.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
- ^ Wollaston, Steve (5 May 2013). "Feature: Life has been a rollercoaster for white knuckle ride designer John Wardley". Birmingham Live.
- ^ "The making of Air – An interview with John Wardley". 6 April 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2022 – via YouTube.
External links
[edit]| Developed rides |
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| Related | |
| Roller Coasters |
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| Other rides |
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| Past rides |
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| See Also | ||
