John Wardley
| John Wardley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 June 1950 |
| Nationality | British citizen |
| Occupation | Attraction designer |
| Known for | The Haunted House, Nemesis, Oblivion, Air, Prof. Burp's Bubble Works, The Vampire |
John Wardley (born 6 June 1950) is a British award-winning concept designer and developer for theme parks; an innovator of special effects, dark rides and roller coasters in the UK attraction industry.
Wardley started his career as a stage manager at Windsor's Theatre Royal, then moved on to the film industry creating special effects. This included effect designs for five 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 was the creation of the animated show "60 Glorious Years" for Tussauds Royalty and Empire exhibition at Windsor. This led him to meet Elizabeth II.
After this he was asked by the Tussauds Group to transform the failing Chessington Zoo in London to become a theme park. Now called Chessington World of Adventures, Wardley's work included the Vampire Suspended coaster, constructed by Arrow Dynamics and The 5th Dimension dark ride. In 1990 he commissioned the world-renowned Prof. Burp's Bubble Works dark ride at Chessington World of Adventures, designing the concept and producing the ride with the Sparks Group. For Tussauds, John went on to produce famous attractions such as Nemesis, Oblivion and Air roller coasters and The Haunted House at Alton Towers. He also produced several of the developments at Thorpe Park from its acquisition by Tussauds in 1998.
...
Wikipedia