John Wardley

John Wardley
John Wardley
Born	John Richard Wardley; 6 June 1950 (age 74); Eastcote, Middlesex, England
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

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

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

Attraction projects

Attractions developed by John Wardley
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