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John Wardley
Born
John Richard Wardley

(1950-06-06) 6 June 1950 (age 74)
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.

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. 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

  • RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 – consultation
  • NoLimits Coaster 2 – technical adviser

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
  • Life After Nemesis – print edition (April 2024) – author

Attraction projects

Attractions developed by John Wardley
Yr Ride name Role Description
c.1975 Uncle Frankenstein's Scream Machine (Barry Island) Concept design Dark ride
c.1976 Wacky Gold Mine (Barry Island) Concept design Dark ride
1984 Royalty & Empire Consultant Exhibition
1987 Dragon River Concept design Log flume
1987 Runaway Train Concept design Roller coaster
1987 The 5th Dimension Concept design Dark Ride
1990 Prof. Burp's Bubble Works Developer Water dark ride
1990 Vampire Developer, Concept design Roller coaster
1992 Runaway Mine Train Developer, Concept design Roller coaster
1992 The Haunted House Developer Dark ride
1993 The Spirit of London Developer Dark ride
1994 Nemesis Developer, Concept design Roller coaster
1995 Dragon Khan Developer, Concept design Roller coaster
1996 Megafobia Concept design Roller coaster
1998 Oblivion Developer Roller coaster
2000 Hex – The Legend of the Towers Developer Dark ride
2002 Air Developer, Concept design Roller coaster
2002 Colossus Developer Roller coaster
2003 Nemesis Inferno Developer, Concept design 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
2026 Project Horizon Consultant Roller coaster
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