NOW CLOSED Chessington World of Adventures VIP event day reviewer thread. Non testers: if you've ever been to Chessington tell us what you think to win a Chessington Annual family pass worth £240

[KatieBMumsnet]

This is a thread for the 10 Mumsnetters who attended the VIP family event day at Chessington. Thanks for going and we hope that you and your DCs had great day!

For those of you who didn't attend the VIP event day, if you/your family have been to Chessington World of Adventures please let us know your thoughts on the resort. What are your memories of days out at Chessington?
If you haven't been to Chessington before, what are your fave family days out? Everyone who adds a comment will be entered into a prize draw where one mner will win Chessington Annual family pass for a family of four worth £240.

VIP attendees:
Below are some questions for you to answer but do feel free to add any other comments you or your family may have.

Please remember to also write a review of your day on the MN review area here

• What was your, and your family's, overall experience of your day at Chessington?

• What did your children think about the Octonauts activities and exclusive meet and greet?

• Did you or your family go on the new ride ZUFARI: Ride into Africa? If so what did you/your DCs think about the ride?

• What were your/your DCs highlights of the day?

• Which, if any, attractions/ shows/ rides would you most recommend to parents with young children?

• Overall, would you recommend Chessington World of Adventures to your friends and family if it came up in conversation? If so, why? If not, why not?

• Do you think you'd be likely to revisit Chessington World of Adventures Resort again in the future? If so, why? If not why not?

Please also upload any photos of your family enjoying their day out at Chessington World of Adventures to this thread. Please note photos may be used by Chessington World of Adventures Resort on Facebook, their website and possibly on other marketing material.

Everyone who shares their thoughts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a Chessington Annual family pass for a family of four worth £240!

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

PS. Chessington are in the process of creating a map especially for families with young children and they'd love to hear your thoughts on what you'd like to see included. If you want to get involved please PM me and we'll put you in touch.

Non tester. We used to go as a family fairly regularly but haven't been since youngest DD (6) was born, so my comments may well be out of date.

Last time we went it was horrible. People pushing in to every queue and the staff doing FA to stop it (memorably people blatantly climbing over the barriers to the front of the dodgems queue. Not just one person but 4 or 5 at a time) People smoking in queue lines. Graffiti all over the landscaping of the rides. Rubbish everywhere.

I hope it has changed because our last visit was so awful we've never been back

I'm one of the lucky people going on Sunday. I think I'm more excited than the kids. Both have been going to bed without playing up all week because they don't want me to phone Captain Barnicles and tell him incase he cancels the invite. I last went a couple of years ago and had a great time. We didn't go near the big rides, the animals were fab.

I am one of the lucky ones! I usually take my 3DS's to the zoo days in the winter as they are too small for the big rides. So it will be interesting to see what its like in full flow!

Love love love chessington! Best memories are of chessington at halloween, pumpkins everywhere and vampire ride in the dark.

We rode zufari this year and that was brilliant. I love that chessington has really nutured the zoo. super place to see lions and tigers.

Would absolutely recommend chessington for young families (dd was 3 for first visit ds 2) bubblework, safari sky way, flying elephants and toady cars were favs, we loved to spend some quiet downtime in the zoo on the afternoon. Loads and loads of attractions for youngsters, I think getting the message out about just how much there is is the main thing (or not because it will become as crowded as legoland)

Ds has SN and have found it a very welcoming place. Staff are lovely and helpful and other guests seem more tolerant (we regularly have vile comments at legoland.). The mix of rides is perfect for ds and daughter. I also help run a special needs group that do coach trips. In the past we've gone to legoland, but there disabled policy is getting so difficult we're looking at maybe chessington instead next year.

Not so good, bubbleworks and toady cars whilst much much loved have seen better days and really needs a revamp. Any chance of the return of mr burp of my childhood?!?

Chessington ha just the right mix of

We are off to chessington to tomorrow!
Kids are very excited and so is mum
Ds2 is octonauts mad so can't wait to see his little face when they turn up :)
My kids love animals so the zoo and sea life centre will be a must see.

We've got Merlin Annual Passes for this year, so have been to Chessington twice and are planning on going more times.

DCs both adore the tigers and feeding the lorikeets. The nicest thing about Chessington is that if the queues get too long then there's always animals to look at - DS has ASD and I just hate queues so I'm never up for a day of 1-hour-queue-5-minute-ride-1-hour-queue-5-minute-ride, repeat until hometime.

We went at Easter, queued for Zufari at the beginning of the day then did animals and smaller rides for the rest of the day - very successful trip. Went again a couple of weekends ago on a drizzly Sunday, DH and I took it in turns to do thrill rides with DD and baby rides with DS. Apart from one long queue for Vampire, we didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes for anything, even Cobra, Dragon Falls and Tomb Blaster we pretty much walked onto, but that's partly because we watched the queues as we walked round and pounced when they seemed reasonable.

Good: Vampire, animals, especially tigers, lorikeets and sealions, the fact that you can go by public transport from Central London without the traffic nightmare that Legoland involves, the thing on the website where you can check queue times live from within the park (but I'm not sure it was completely reliable), wide range of rides for all ages and cowardliness, relatively decent food (especially with Merlin 20% discount)

Less good: Bubbleworks smells ever so slightly of mould, which was a real disappointment. It also broke down while we were on it- fortunately we were close enough to the end that we could clamber off. Tombblaster not as interactive as the Legoland version. One super grumpy attendant who wouldn't let us on a nearly empty ride for no readily apparent reason and neither explained nor expressed regret.

We went on an INSET day recently and, because it was relatively quiet, had a great day. I would avoid like the plague on a weekend or holidays though. It's perfect for a mixed age range of DC, as there's plenty for little ones and they are less stringent about kids riding with an adult, compared to Legoland. For example, I could sit with one DC with the other two in the next car, whereas at Legoland I would have to do parent-swap all day long.

AintNobody - interesting about Tomblaster - had a similar experience, attendant half-loading the ride and waiting ages before sending it off. Odd.

Zufari was fun, and will be better once the landscaping matures.

My DC love all the rides and come over all nostalgic (they are aged 9-11!) at going on Mr Toad and the flying elephants .

I was disappointed that the food outlets have been re-branded to replace the big names, as I liked knowing what I was getting, even if prices were higher.

One thing people might not be aware of is the facility for organised groups to camp on site. DD went with the Brownies last year and was thrilled to be in the park early and after it had closed, to meet the animals and have dinner.

We go often as have annual pass. The toilets have improved over the last few years but the ones by the monorail are a bad layout and in my view should be demolished and rebuilt perhaps as a shop. Then use one of the nearby shops as a toilets, similar to then great family and disabled friendly toilet block at Legoland Harbour.

Many rides are suitable for younger children but RR still exists. Given it now needs all the harnesses replaced, maybe it is time to relocate it to another park and replace with something more family friendly. We got a lot, do go on rattlesnake but never go on RR. Are we unusual or is RR not used by many visitors?

Legoland I see as being for young children, Chessington for slightly older children, Thorpe for teens and above. Whilst there is some overlap, especially between Legoland and Chessington, thorpe should be more the teen market - it certainly has dropped a lot of toddler things over the years, anyone remember the farm.
Chessington works well being Zoo plus rides suitable for young children, I do not feel it needs to aim itself to include the teen market. Teens accompanying younger children will still enjoy the rollercoasters, DragonFalls and can do so with those family members not leave them watching because they are not 1.4m or too scared to go on a ride.

So keep the closed for the foreseeable notice up on RR and ditch it at the end of the season. Is the hole big enough for a pandoras box? (Is that what Hex is called?)

We live (quite) near to Chessington and have two small children. I love the fact that they offer a mother/toddler ticket that we can use on weekdays in term time! Perfect while I'm on maternity leave!

Positives

• lots for small children
• the zoo is fab and viewing platforms/access to see animals is child friendly and we always see lots
• good picnic spaces
• good rides for small ones. Like bubble works (though its starting to look a little tired)

Negatives

• could be better signposted around the park
• queues for food/drink outlets often very long
• car park fee annoys me! I think tickets are expensive as it is without charging for parking

The map idea sounds fab! Include changing stations/toilets clearly!

Hex is a Madhouse www.vekoma.com/index.php/specialities-and-attractions/madhouse though there is another ride called a pandoras box, though not sure that is as family friendly. Wonder what theme could be used for a madhouse? Monkey swingers?

paperlantern - is Ramases Revenge really part of the right mix, do you go on it?

I agree that the mix of zoo, rides is good but I also agree that rides with 1.4 min height are too big and should be phased out, replaced with 1m or 0.9m min height rides which are more family friendly but still offer excitement and/or surprises.

Bringing food inhouse is fine in my view though service could be improved. Went to coffee place next to softplay last Sat and queue was long, two servers only one seemed to be making drinks. Discount scheme for muffins seemed to delay order process - more signs, less asking perhaps. I know its upselling but parents often want a quick coffee break not having to contend with staff trying to upsell whilst delaying making drink.

Griffins Galleon is in a strange place, no walkthrough route. Could a route be made, perhaps to join near the carrosel?

Nice to see the viewing platform was kept when Zuffari was created, means some animals can be seen without going on the trucks.

Non-tester: We have been to Chessington on many occasions and loved it each time. The children particularly enjoyed the vampire ride and zufari. The staff on the bubbleworks were brilliant fun and made it really enjoyable for us all. It does look a little tired now and could do with a lick of paint.
Tomblaster was also a hit! we enjoyed it a lot.
The cobra was also very enjoyable. Our last visit was in April and it snowed! We got a letter offering us another day at chessington for free which was great.
We love it here and will certainly be back.

Non tester .. Bubble works needs re vamp, but sad and boring and old now

We went in April and whilst we had a great time, we were REALLY pee'd off that there was no mention on their website that when its cold, and it was bloody cold, the rides don't open until 11/12 as they can't run on icy rails.
Fair enough, BUT TELL PEOPLE ON YOUR PIGGING WEBSITE COS IT'S VERY BORING SITTING DOING NUFFIN FOR TWO HRS. .... yes I did mean to shout, it was vvvvvvv boring and cold.

It was, apparently, mentioned on their Facebook page, but not a peep on their own site.

Saying that, we do love it, we did have a great time, even though Dragons Fury broke down twice that day, once with us on it ...

We didn't attend the VIP day but we did recently visit and had a great day out!

What really surprised me was that there was so much to do for children in my kids age group (aged 7 and 8) whereas I was under the illusion that it was for teens before that.

We loved the quieter parts like the zoo and the aquarium as most people seemed to go for the rides.

The hotel looked amazing and we loved the Africa theme throughout.

We were a little disappointed with Zufari after all the hype we had heard about it, on the day we visited there were only 2 zebras out that day and NO other animals at all in that section.

Overall we had a brilliant day and the kids are already nagging to go back there. I have been telling our friends that it really is a good day out with plenty to do!

Always remember going around age 13 myself and 5 school friends we had one of the best days ever.

Still laugh our heads off at my friend who cried and wailed for her daddy on remeses revenge.

We spent half the day hanging around one of the stools to swoon over a young chap named paul who worked there.

So after a very hot and busy day at Chessington I have 3 very tired boys! First I would like to thank MN and Chessington to treating us to such a fab day, the lady from the resort was lovely and very helpful.

Points that need improving - I would say that although I understand that you are going to have queue's for rides I do think Chessington could do more to entertain people whilst they queue - 45 minutes with 3 kids under 10 is no fun! Secondly i found that there was no way my older son could go on any of the bigger rides because I was not allowed to queue with him due to the fact that I couldn't go on the rides because to smaller kids.

With regards to the map I found it easy to follow although did manage to take a wrong turn (but more my fault than the maps) Interactive maps around the park stating show times would be a nice idea.

We're just home. Dc already snoring in bed, am going to do likewise very soon! Awesome day out, thank you so much. Will be back with a proper review tomorrow (or later if I wake up a bit!) but for now - highly recommended, great fun day out.

Thanks again

Photo is my DDs face when she saw the Octonauts! Priceless. We had a lovely day today, big thanks to MNTowers and Chessington

- What was your, and your family's, overall experience of your day at Chessington?
We had a lovely day. There was more than enough for DD(5) and DS (2.10) to do. We may go back later in the year, we didn't spend much time in the zoo (and that's my favourite bit)

- What did your children think about the Octonauts activities and exclusive meet and greet? See picture, definitely the highlight for both children was the meet and greet. The activity trail at Sealife Centre kinda went over DDs head and DS is much too young. I felt there was already so much going on at the Sealife Centre it got lost.

- Did you or your family go on the new ride ZUFARI: Ride into Africa? If so what did you/your DCs think about the ride? Yes, I went with DD, I think she was a bit young, she got very scared in the cave, but enjoyed it up to then, We got very close to the giraffes and caught a glimpse of the rhinos. It was a beautiful warm day today as well which helped. I liked the way the queuing was broken up by the video and the staff were great.

- What were your/your DCs highlights of the day? DD loved bubble works, although DS got scared, he's a bit of a wimp sensitive. DS loved the Tiny Trucks and wanted to go back. The Flying Dumbo ride was a big hit with both of them. We all went on the dodgems, and everyone had fun on that, I think that was mine and DH highlight.

- Which, if any, attractions/ shows/ rides would you most recommend to parents with young children? The zoo and aquarium are great. We didn't go today but last year we went to the sealion show which was good. I love the monkey walkway thing. All the rides for little ones are nice, although the Toadie ride is looking tired. I would also recommend fast track passes if you have very little ones on a weekend.

- Overall, would you recommend Chessington World of Adventures to your friends and family if it came up in conversation? If so, why? If not, why not?
I think that the walk-up price is very expensive and I personally would not go that price. In the past we have used Tesco Clubcard points or got a BOGOF voucher and I think if you are doing that its a great day out, I love that there is space to have a picnic, even today, a very warm Sunday, it wasn't too busy, especially around the zoo. The hotel looked fantastic.

- Do you think you'd be likely to revisit Chessington World of Adventures Resort again in the future? If so, why? If not why not? Yes we will, it caters well for younger children

I would like to add a few things that would improve it.

Signs from the M25 southbound, they send you to Oxshott then there is a roundabout with no sign, were we go lost today and last year, stressful. Bubble works, as someone said up thread it does smell a little odd, and there are no actual bubbles, would be lovely to have some bubble machines running and pump in some subtle soapy smell.
Finally toilets in the park, they just weren't terribly clean, also when DH went to change DS, the changing table went across toilet cubicles, so one bloke had to wait for DH to finish to get out of the cubicle!

I will upload some photos later as the laptop is playing up but for now....

• What was your, and your family's, overall experience of your day at Chessington?

Very positive. The staff were, without exception, friendly and helpful. Becky was great and did a sterling job at the event. Also the young man on the toad cars and the zufari staff. The hotel looks amazing and my dc are already planning their next visit (gulp) my dc are (just) 10 and (nearly) 5 and they were both very happy and excited and enjoyed the rides and activities. I only have 2 small irritations...the cash machines charge for withdrawals and most of the refreshment stalls don't have fridges so you queue up for 5 mins to be told that water is room temp (it was 28 degrees yesterday!)

• What did your children think about the Octonauts activities and exclusive meet and greet?

They loved it! I got a hug from capt barnacles too :) again, the staff member was very friendly.

• Did you or your family go on the new ride ZUFARI: Ride into Africa? If so what did you/your DCs think about the ride?

Yes. It was amazing. However....we had fast track passes so only waited 10 mins. If I had been waiting 45-50 mins like some people were I think I would have been disappointed as the ride was only 3-4 mins long! The staff were excellent, really enthusiastic which can be hard in 28 degree heat!

• What were your/your DCs highlights of the day?

I asked them last night...."all of it mummy" :)

• Which, if any, attractions/ shows/ rides would you most recommend to parents with young children?

The Madagascar live show was great. Also the sea life centre. It's not too large for little ones. The bubble works was fun and we left it till the end so it didn't matter that we got wet :) I don't know how much the fast track tickets cost, but if we were to go again we would get them....some of the queue were very long and that's not much fun with little ones.

• Overall, would you recommend Chessington World of Adventures to your friends and family if it came up in conversation? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes I would. We had a great time and its nice to find a venue that suits disparate age ranges.

• Do you think you'd be likely to revisit Chessington World of Adventures Resort again in the future? If so, why? If not why not?

Yes I do. But we would stay at resort this time. We live a 2 hour drive away and due to accidents/bad traffic it took us 4.5 hours to get home! :(

Thank MN and chessington for a lovely day out. Will post pics later....

I went to Chessington last October - was really excited to go for the first time, with a friend and our children. We were disappointed, found the whole place quite tired and drab-looking. There were plenty of rides for our pre-schoolers and they had a great time.
But, this thread has confused me.... I don't remember half the things people have mentioned above - Bubble Works, feeding lorikeets, sealions.. didn't see any of these!
We did find the maps and the signposting around the park quite confusing though so maybe that's how we managed to miss it all!!
I think I just found that I was, maybe unfairly, comparing it unfavourably to Legoland and Thomasland which we also visited last year, and which were both clean, bright, cheerful and much, much easier to navigate!

• What was your, and your family's, overall experience of your day at Chessington?

Overall we all had a great day - thanks to everyone at Chessington! It was odd that the bit where CWOA almost shot themselves in the foot was the organised promotional part of the day. Becky was lovely and it was nice to have refreshments and a base at the hotel but the various delays around start time and when lunch was served meant that by 14.00 I had hot grumpy children who felt that they hadn't actually got to do very much yet. But then the park seriously redeemed itself in the remaining three hours; the DCs had a blast and left tired and happy. The FastTrack tickets definitely helped there; I'd certainly plan to buy one of the smaller FastTrack packages if visiting again at the weekend because queueing for ages with a toddler is no fun. We even got to try out the Lost Child ride when DD1 vanished completely (it later turned out that she'd tucked herself away into a secluded corner and fallen asleep) and that was handled very well by the staff.

• What did your children think about the Octonauts activities and exclusive meet and greet?

My 8yo was a bit jaded about the whole thing (as I'd expected), 5yo was happy enough but not blown away and 2yo (who I'd expected to be really excited) was instead terrified of the giant Octonauts! So it wasn't as big a hit with them as I'd thought it would be.

• Did you or your family go on the new ride ZUFARI: Ride into Africa? If so what did you/your DCs think about the ride?

No; my 2yo wasn't tall enough. It looked fun, though...

• What were your/your DCs highlights of the day?

My toddler would just like to live in the Bubbleworks! She was awestruck the whole way round. And actually her second favourite thing was probably the fountain tucked around a corner in the Land of Dragons; we spent ages there.

• Which, if any, attractions/ shows/ rides would you most recommend to parents with young children?

The Bubbleworks definitely, although the queue can be long (and it doesn't look from the website as though the Bubbleworks FastTrack tickets we got are generally available at the moment)

• Overall, would you recommend Chessington World of Adventures to your friends and family if it came up in conversation? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes, I think I would -- there was a lot more available for all ages than I'd expected so where I'd previously have only suggested it to people with older children I'd be more likely to recommend it to a wider range of people now.

• Do you think you'd be likely to revisit Chessington World of Adventures Resort again in the future? If so, why? If not why not?

I think I may well get a Pushchair Pass to let me go back on schooldays; they seem very good value (so much so that I've read the T&Cs through twice to check that there isn't a hidden catch). And we will probably do a whole-family trip at some point, or encourage DH to take the older two (it's still a bit tricky to juggle several children who fit into different height bands). We'd preferably try to do it on an INSET day or earlier in the season, though, to keep the queueing down.

I'm afraid most of my pictures were rubbish, and this isn't exactly a marketing shot...

Non-tester here....

We love Chessington and it's way easier for us to get to than Legoland which is a real 'schelp'....

I was a bit disappointed that we were not able to participate in this day out because aside from being fun for the little ones, it is one of the few activities that appeals to families with diversely aged children. We have a tween and a seven year old and it is getting increasingly difficult to find activities that appeal to both. Chessington fulfills the brief very nicely!

We have never had anything but a good time at Chessington although one Summer holiday we did queue for two hours in the baking sunshine for the Tomb Raider experience. We have now learned our lesson to do the most popular rides first...

I think at some point we may consider doing a package, staying at the hotel on site so that we can do everything. With travel considerations we never manage to do everything - I think about seven or eight activities/rides is probably the maximum we've ever managed in a not overly long daytrip.

I think we've been three times and are planning another trip this Summer. DW and I didn't really do theme parks as children so I can confess that we enjoy it as much as the children !

Non-tester here. My family really enjoyed Chessington. However my four year old daughter was really disappointed that she was not allowed on Zufari because of her height. It just did not seem logical as there were far more scary rides like Tomb Blaster where she was allowed on. What upset her most was that a child who was clearly younger than her (and being pushed about in a pushchair) was allowed on Zufari. I feel it would be fairer and safer if Zufari had an age restriction rather than a height resistriction. There are some extremely tall two year olds and some very short four year olds.

dd loved bubble works and the sealion show. My son enjoyed Chessington as well.

Tester here.

Thank you so much for choosing us.

Overall experience: we had a very enjoyable day. The VIP package was fantastic. I had no idea that there would be a goody bag, and that was very kind and so unexpected. As there were so many lovely things in it, DS didn't once ask for anything from a shop, and that was much appreciated. The drinks and food were fantastic quality and there was lots of variety. We were really impressed by the efforts and thought that had gone into everything. All staff members were very professional and welcoming. We didn't really feel that we had enough time in the park though. If the welcome and breakfast hd been at 9 or 9:30, we would have had loads of time to try more things at the park. By not getting in until after the sea life had finished, when it was already 11:40, we felt that we had missed a lot of it, and the queues were already incredibly long.

Octonauts: the highlight for my DC. They thought it was very special indeed to meet them, as they are huge fans of the book and programme. The octonauts activity in the sea life centre was less of a hit. It was just so crowded and noisy with adults, children of all ages, and pushchairs. DS didn't get to any of the portholes as there were so many other children around them; the portholes are very small, tucked into an already small and crowded space, and were not well highlighted or lit. I feel that a lot more could be done to make them more obvious, interactive and interesting. Especially as the octonauts stories and programmes have an educational element to them, this could have been made more of.

Zufari: we didn't go on it. The queue was huge, and I don't know how we could have fitted it in. We didn't get a fast pass for this, or we would definitely have gone on. If we were to go back, I would make sure we went on this as the gates opened.

Highlights: we went on everything we had a fast pass for, which were bubbleworks, toadies trucks, the cars thing, jumbos and also the monorail. We saw lots of animals in the zoo too. And the seal life and octonauts meet and greet that were part of the day. We stopped or a drink and ice lolly mid afternoon, and did the lunch, and all that took us to nearly 5pm. The DC loved the monorail and got an amazing view of the animals, and also the meet and greet octonauts, and they were both highlights for them. Apart from the monorail, every ride we did, we used your fast pass for. DS1 absolutely loved all of the refreshments you provided and the carrot cake, and the meet the animals at the hotel.

Recommendations: I only feel that I could recommend the zoo and the meet the octonauts. I felt that the rides we went on were dated, very basic and tired, and had we all queued for them, I would have been really disappointed. we would have loved to have gone on other rides but the queues were too long or small children. The bubbleworks was a bit smelly, but also quite dull. There are no bubbles! I think the park is hugely geared towards older children, who are more willing to queue in anticipation of a big thrill. I think we would have really liked zufari though, and that will be a big draw.

Recommend: I would not recommend to anyone with children of under 7 or so. The rides we went on are not worth queuing for in my opinion. And I do not think the additional cost of a fast track pass for the rides for younger children (even if you have a 2 for 1 voucher) would make this a value for money day out compared to other theme parks. But I would definitely recommend it to parents of older children.

Revisit: no, for the reasons above. But we were made to feel very special and welcome, and we enjoyed our day. Had we paid for it, I would not have been happy with our experience of the park's amenities, but really, the VIP treatment was very special.

I'm a non tester, my older two ds's love CWOA and we are frequent visitors (although we haven't been this year yet). I think CWOA Is great because there are rides to suit all ages and although I think teens would prefer the big rides at somewhere like Thorpe Park, CWOA is great for Tweens and younger children.