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Chessington World of Adventure was the fifth and last destination owned by the Taussauds Group that we planned to visit this year, making use of our annual passes. My eldest who is 13 is really into thrill rides just like his Dad but my youngest who is 11 is not quite so confident and so Chessington was ideal for her as it is aimed more at the younger theme park visitor rather than the other ones like Alton Towers and Thorpe Park which are definitely aimed at the white knuckle enthusiast. Added to that is the fact that Chessington boasts a small zoo within the site which provides a welcome break from the queuing for rides and again fits in with the target audience of the 5-14 age group.
Getting There
The park is located about 12 miles outside of London. It can be accessed by leaving the M25 at either Junction 10 or 9 and is sign posted from both junctions. On the way there coming from the North we exited at J10 however be aware that when you leave the park the signs for the M25 will take you to J9, that or I missed a sign which is quite possible. The entrances to the park are well sign posted and parking is free with the car parks close to the entrances which mean you are not faced with a long hike if you have to retrieve a picnic lunch from the car.
There are regular trains that run from Waterloo, Clapham Junction and Wimbledon which stop at Chessington South and the park is a 10 minute walk from the station.
Admission Prices and Opening Hours
For 2006 the park opens from the 27th March and will close on the 31st October however be aware that there are blocks of time when it is not open during this period so do check the website before visiting. At present the park is open
from 10.00 to 18.00 however times do change outside of the holidays so again check before you visit.
Like most Taussauds locations it is not the cheapest day out but then it would be naive to expect any different. There are a number of payment options and it is worth checking out which one is best for you. Those over 12 are known as Adventurers and those under 12 are Young Adventurers. Over 12 pay £27 online and £29 on the day however for each Adventurer a YA gets in free. A YA not covered by an over 12 ticket pays £17.50 online or £19.50 on the day. Family tickets are £49 and only available online.
Currently there is a summer deal available online with one price of £14 for anyone over 1m high so for a family of three or larger groups than four this would be the best deal.
You can also buy an annual pass for the park which will set you back £85 of £255 for a family which unless you lived close to the park and went a lot does not seem great value as for the same price you can get a 5 visit pass to all the Taussauds locations.
The Park
The park itself is well set out, mostly flat, it is easy to walk around and visually there is a nice amount of trees and green areas. The trees are much appreciated as they provided some welcome shade while we were queuing or enjoying a five minute break.
Comparing it with Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, as a setting it is not as visually attractive as Alton Towers however you are not faced with the horrible uphill walks between areas that you find at Alton Towers while it is nicer than Thorpe Park visually it is not quite as compact and you do rely more on the maps to get around as you cannot always see the rides for the trees.
Like most parks it is divided up into distinctive areas with descriptive names such as Pirates Cove, Beanoland, Mexicana Forbidden Kingdom to name a few. Each area has a good range of rides for all ages however some are focused more on the younger crowd. There are height restrictions on some rides however few have a minimum limit of 1.4m however you will find a number of rides and in particular play areas that have a maximum height limit of 1.4m which is to stop the older kids spoiling it for the little ones.
Rather than trawl through each area I will just cover the main rides that we enjoyed and mention any others that looked good for the younger age range as both of my two ankle biters are above 1.4m so that makes them more chest biters.
In Transylvania there is one of the main white knuckle rides. This is an overhead rollercoaster where you feet dangle down free and easy, it is similar to Nemesis at Alton Towers however it has no inversions and is not very fast but it does appear to be a bit old and the ride is not as smooth as it could be and my ears felt like they had been a couple of rounds with Tyson as my head had been banged about in the seat.
Rattlesnake is another ride that left me a bit bruised, located in Mexicana it is another rollercoaster similar to the Mousetrap in Blackpool, each of the four seater cars go on a tight twisting track that has a large number of u-bends and a few steep drops, it was the urns that threw you about and left my right leg a bit bruised where I was pressed against the side of the car.
Dragons Fury in Land of Dragons was my personal favourite as you sat in a waltzer style car and this rollercoaster then took you on a quite fast spinning journey where one minute you were facing forwards and the next backwards, very similar to Spinball Wizard at Alton Towers this ride seemed both faster and higher and was great fun. Unfortunately it also attracted the longest queues of up to an hour at times.
The kids' favourite ride was located in Beanoland and had the rather unfortunate name of Billy's Whizzer. This was a swing ride like you used to see at the fun fair here everyone sits on conventional swings and the carousel ride goes around quite fast and quite high. The added little bit extra that the kids enjoyed was the fact that Billy took a wiz at you through some water jets that sent a plume of water into the air. You get very wet on this ride especially if you sit on the outside seats and even more so if you walk over one of the jest while getting off the ride and it suddenly squirt water as you get your own colonic irrigation session.
The log flume located in Mystic East was a fairly standard affair as was the blast the creepy crawly style ride called Tom Raider where you ride on a car aiming at small red lights with a light gun.
For the younger children there are loads of small rides aimed at them including the fun Bubble Works and I did stare enviously at the fun that was being had in Dennis Madhouse which was a soft play area and looked brilliant.
The Animals
There is a reasonable collection of animals on display however like most zoos I'm never entirely comfortable seeing them in relatively enclosed spaces no matter how well laid out they are. Certainly all of the big cat enclosures for the Lions, Tigers and Leopards were quite large making it difficult to spot them at times. The Gorillas and other primates had quite large enclosures with lots of ropes and play things but at the end of the day they are still restricted and it does not feel right.
You can walk around the animal enclosures in a comfortable hour however if you time your visit right you can see one of the shows which includes a sea lion show, a penguin presentation and various feeding times for the big cats. We were not organised enough to catch any of these however the kids were more concerned with going on the rides.
Catering
The park is ideal to take a picnic lunch as there are a few places ideal to stretch out and eat your picnic and the car parks are close to the park meaning you do not have to carry it around with you all day.
There is a wide variety of food places available however the emphases is mostly on the fried variety and expect to pay at least a fiver for most meals. There is a pub within the grounds called the Greedy Goblin Family Inn if you want a more sedate meal and the prices were in line with a standard Beefeater place.
KFC and Pizza Hut can be found in the park as well however I do not recommend a visit to the Casbah Café which was where we had the misfortune to dine as the sub sandwiches were small and very poor with a few strips of questionable meat on a couple of limp lettuce leaves and a dry bun, not very appetising or good value.
There are lots of places to buy drinks and ice creams and of course most of the big rides have a gift shop and photo booth located near by.
General Stuff
During the summer there are a number of shows running and these vary depending on the time of your visit.
The toilet facilities are pretty good and there are plenty of them dotted around the park all with disabled facilities. To reflect the fact that the park attracts a younger clientele every toilet had at least one low washbasin and urinals (obviously I only checked out the male toilets but Courtney had no complaints about the girls' loo)
This looked like a relatively good park to visit for those with any disabilities particularly with walking problems as it is pretty flat and like most parks the facility to avoid long queues for those who cannot stand for long periods.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our visit, there is a big enough range of rides to keep all kids happy however I would say that my two will have outgrown the park in another year or so and I would not take a group of 16 year olds there as there is not enough white knuckle stuff for that age group. If you have younger children though it is well worth a visit just remember to do the research beforehand as you can save some serious money by booking online.
My other bit of advice would be to consider taking a picnic lunch as it will be a better and healthier meal and will work out a lot cheaper.
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Aug 8th, 2006
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