John Wardley

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John Wardley is a British award-winning concept designer and developer for theme parks, mainly for rides such as roller coasters.

Mr. Wardley started off in the theatre, then later moving on to the film industry (including creating the special effects for five of the James Bond movies). These careers showed him what entertained the British public. The Tussauds Group hired him, mainly because of his experiences in constructing and performing stage illusions. His first accomplishment was that he (along with the late Geoffrey Thompson), created a magic spectacular called Mystique at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The show was a big hit, and was long-running. After this he further entered the theme park industry. His further accomplishments included making the Chessington World of Adventures park a success, and designed famous rides such as the Nemesis, Oblivion and Air roller coasters at Alton Towers, and the Dragon Khan roller coaster at Port Aventura in Spain, and the Colossus and Nemesis Inferno roller coasters at Thorpe Park.

He is most celebrated for the dark ride he created at Chessington World of Adventures "Professor Burp's Bubbleworks" which was closed in 2005 to re-open with a new theme designed by Tussauds Studios and sponsored by Cussons Imperial Leather.

Mr. Wardley has also recently worked with Chris Sawyer and Frontier Developments on RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, a game about amusement park management.