John Wardley

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.

John Wardley
Born
John Richard Wardley

(1950-06-06) 6 June 1950
OccupationAttraction developer
Known forChessington World of Adventures, Prof. Burp's Bubble Works, The Vampire, The Haunted House, Nemesis, Oblivion, Air

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 animated figures 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. There, Wardley oversaw the production of attractions including The Vampire suspended coaster and the Dragon River 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 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.

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.

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.[1] 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

  • Creating My Own Nemesis – print edition (April 2013) – author
  • Creating My Own Nemesis – audiobook (December 2017) – author & narrator
  • Creating My Own Nemesis – kindle edition (December 2017) – author & narrator

Attraction projects

Attractions developed by John Wardley
Yr Ride name Role Description
c.1975Uncle Frankenstein's Scream Machine (Barry Island)DesignerDark ride
c.1976Wacky Gold Mine (Barry Island)DesignerDark ride
1984Royalty & EmpireConsultantExhibition
1987Dragon RiverDesignerLog flume
1987Runaway TrainDesignerRoller coaster
1987The 5th DimensionDesigner (layout)Dark Ride
1990Prof. Burp's Bubble WorksDeveloperWater dark ride
1990VampireDeveloper, designer (layout)Roller coaster
1992Runaway Mine TrainDeveloper, designer (layout)Roller coaster
1992The Haunted HouseDeveloperDark ride
1993The Spirit of LondonDeveloperDark ride
1994NemesisDeveloper, designer (layout)Roller coaster
1995Dragon KhanDeveloper, designer (layout)Roller coaster
1996MegafobiaDesigner (layout)Roller coaster
1998OblivionDeveloperRoller coaster
2000Hex – The Legend of the TowersDeveloperDark ride
2002AirDeveloper, designer (layout)Roller coaster[2]
2002ColossusDeveloperRoller coaster
2003Nemesis InfernoDeveloper, designer (layout)Roller coaster
2009Saw - The RideConsultantRoller coaster
2010Th13teenConsultantRoller coaster
2011RaptorConsultantRoller coaster
2012The SwarmConsultantRoller coaster
2013The SmilerConsultantRoller coaster
2014Flug der DämonenConsultantRoller coaster
2018Wicker ManConsultantRoller coaster
2023The Curse at Alton ManorConsultantDark ride
2025Project HorizonConsultantRoller coaster

Further reading

References

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