Chessington World of Adventures Resort レビュー 721

As the summer holidays have started, we made the most of the Chessington World of Adventures Resort hotel offering, so grabbed two days in the park, with hotel, and breakfast.

Yes, it rained. Like absolutely chucked it down. So the rides closed. But, we were able to check into the hotel, enjoy the entertainment, and eat a nice meal whilst watching the animals in the safari park.

The next day, you're allowed in an hour before external guests so we made the most of it and hit those rides hard! A lovely park, with great themeing and good for those with younger teenagers. Definitely worth a visit.

The theme park itself was good, however parking in Gorilla car park wasn't good. Muddy, slippery and dangerous as cars were sliding around after heavy rain. The bushes by the exit barriers are overgrown and brush against the paintwork. Need to resurface the dirt road after the barrier on the way out too as it's like off-road safari with holes everywhere.

£15 for a plastic refillable cup from all of the machines located around the park.... but NO ICE! So warm syrup drinks all day. We ended up buying chilled bottled drinks at a considerable cost. Fundamentally this offer is flawed and misleading.

We were gifted the giraffe 🦒 safari for our birthdays & it didn't disappoint. Our hosts Ian & Beth were brilliant. They have a vast knowledge & answwered all our questions.

The only negative was having to pay full price for entrance to Chessington world when it should be available at a discount.

What a waste of money and a so called family day out.
Your children will be disappointed…
Outdated for starters…
The kids couldn’t go on hardly any rides as were not tall enough even though they still had to pay.
The safari wasn’t a safari as you Queued for 45 mins to see a giraffe then after 4mins you were back to the exit.
Don’t waste your money or time.
Will never recommend or go back.

Son enjoyed most the the rides we could get on but use of the access pass should be made better, we had to pay extra for reserve and ride as we didn't have a QR code so really wasn't happy. As for a recent reviewer on here called bradders or something. People with extra needs are allowed to go to theme parks you know and I'll have you know they pay the the same as you if not more so clearly your perfect and don't need any help so well done you.

It wasn't the worst day but a few things just made it not worthwhile. We got there at 10am 16/06/2024. It was horrendously busy with long wait times on every ride. We managed 6 rides 10-5pm missing out most of the park. We did however enjoy the rides we went on, the queueing was a joke. To make matters worse it seems every person and there dog have some sort of invisible disability where they are just walking laughing and joking with friends and just walking onto rides through the disability card. Literally allowing large amounts of disabled people to get in the front, delaying everyone in the standard queue who have paid the same money for entrance perhaps even more!

Now the car parking had me riled up the most, nothing mentioned online about a £10 charge and its not until you are driving though to park does it mention it on signs. This is enforced on exit by 1990 style barriers x2 with 3000 people trying to use at 5pm leading to hour delay. I think paying £185 for tickets for the day why is there a car park charge? Was it to pay for thr road maintenance? Absolutely not! I am not kidding when I say I hit a pothole by the exit and the loudest bang from every fibre of my cars being and damaged my front bumper.

Remove the charge, remove the barriers, fix the roads and make disabled people wait the same as everyone else.

This one star is on the basis of going cashless. My kids were unable to spend any of their cash recently on a school trip. They were unable to buy any souvenirs from the Chessington gift shop! We will be boycotting Chessington from now on for the decision made, to no longer take cash. Should be able to pay with cash too!

Went there today with friends and kids. Got on 13 rides. Didn’t buy any food there as took out own as I knew the prices would be a rip off. Didn’t queue for longer than 35 minutes (Mandrill). The park was clean and staff were everywhere and really helpful. Only took us 20 minutes to get out of the gorilla car park, and we didn’t get in the car til gone 5.10. And the best bit… the right hand parking machine wasn’t working when we arrived so we were waved through by staff. All 11 of us had a great day out, would highly recommend. Looking forward to going back again! I am an eternal pessimist and was expecting it to be busy and loads of rides shut etc. We have been to Legoland on 3 occasions over the last 14 years or so and after the last time I refused to go back, that park was horrible; dirty and hardly any rides working, just gross. I never write reviews but honestly, we had such a great day today, I felt I needed to share. Well worth the £125 for my family of 5, especially with no extra costs! Only downside, the heater just outside of the Monkey Swing ride was not working. We all got soaked and could have done with that!

Go elsewhere

There are two good things to say:
1. There are some genuinely good rides (as a family we went on a total of 7 rides throughout the day, the best one ‘mandrill mayhem’ we did twice
2. Using the Cadbury days out offer, it was only £26 each.

However, there are many reasons why I’d say go elsewhere.

1. The rides broke MULTIPLE times. First, went to the Dragon Fury, queued for 30 mins, then it ‘malfunctioned’ and they couldn’t restart it, so they gave us all a fast pass to use elsewhere. Second, we went to rattlesnake queued for 30 mins, again it ‘malfunctioned’ but managed to restart it, waiting a total of 45 mins. Third, we decided to go back to dragon fury as it had reopened, it malfunctioned WHILE we were on the ride. We had managed to go around the ride, but when we got to the end the car didn’t come back into the station and they had to manually release our seatbelts and let us out.

These ride malfunctions seriously bring into question the safety of the rides. I spoke to the staff who said the dragon fury had already malfunctioned 3 times that day. And despite us literally being stuck on it waiting to get off for 15 mins, we didn’t get anything to make up for it.

2. The parking. My god the parking. Arriving to park, easy. Leaving, absolute hell. We had prepaid parking, of which despite us booking the admission for 09/06, the parking had the date we purchased the tickets 07/06. We spotted this, contacted live chat staff but they were utterly useless. So, we just prayed that it was an error and that the parking would work itself out. I’m anticipating a fine in the post though if I’m honest.

The more annoying part of the parking is trying to leave. They try to filter all the cars from every car park (thousands of cars) to two barriers with no staff to marshal. So it’s mayhem. Then, some smarty pants try to leave via the entrance, of which the staff then come to close the gates and tell everyone to turn around (as going out this way avoids paying), but people end up reopening it. It’s a battle.

We waited patiently in the queue to leave, this took 45 minutes at closing time on a Sunday.

To make matters worse, the road surface is awful with massive holes.

How could they improve?

1. Make rides reliable
2. Add ANPR parking system where you pay online / as you enter the park
3. Invest some money in filling holes in the car park

Seriously, go elsewhere like Thorpe park or Alton towers.

Visited today & was pretty disappointed. Had a good day thanks to sun suoersaver (free tickets) but wouldn't of paid full price for tickets. A lot of rides were closed & the animals seem to have emigrated! Food prices were disgusting, I know you pay extra at theme parks etc but nearly £3 for a small bottle of coke & only a couple of eateries were open but refuse to pay the money they were charging
Went to thorpe park last year & had a fantastic dsy

Beware the parking SCAM!

We visited yesterday and had a reasonably good day in the park - despite the long queues (which are to be expected), the rides were good and the kids had a good time. Until it was time to leave and we spent 60 MINUTES crawling out of the car park in the field... ONLY TO BE TOLD WE HAD TO PAY £10 for the priviledge! People do not expect to pay extra for parking when they are already paying £120 (or more) on tickets. If you are going to charge people for parking, then it needs to be a slick experience - out in 5minutes - to justify the price tag. All round scam - will never be returning to Chessington

Visited today! I rarely write negative reviews but have been left quite disappointed after what I promised the kids would be a fun, exciting day!

The main issue was the queue times. I felt like we were queuing for the majority of the day. We managed about 10 of the kids rides, none of the big ones. The fast track system is a joke. You either pay £6-12 per person extra for each ride or you have to wait in the normal queue and let all of those willing to pay jump in front. After paying for 4 tickets and the car park, we were reluctant to pay even more. It would have cost us £24 to queue jump on the Gruffalo but instead the queue took an hour (with 2 young kids) whilst all those willing to pay walked on. The fast passes are a luxury that not everyone can afford and it isn’t fair that those that have paid for entry have to wait endless hours just to get on a few rides. I understand the disability lines but the fast pass, not fair!

Secondly, the food costs were crazy! £20 for a burger in the vampire restaurant.

On the plus side, there are a good variety of rides throughout the park. Lots for little ones as well as the thrill seekers and some great shows as well.

We would have liked to have done the zoo and aquarium too but the queue times were horrendous! Even though it’s Monday! Not sure I’ll be rushing back any time soon.

Great rides but poorly managed. The wait times they list are not accurate, £22.50 for 2 childrens sausage and chips(which was inedible) and finding your way around the park without a readable map is ridiculous. Arrived at 10am and left at 5pm and only managed to do 4 rides and it's not even half term. The food and shop prices are extortionate(the ones that were open, many kiosks were closed.) and the toilet facilities are disgusting. Really disappointing. I have 8 year old twins and I felt gutted for them as I'd promised them an amazing day!

I booked online to take my family out. My daughter has a Ride Access Pass issued by Merlin due to her disability. Upon attempting to use the RAP, we were informed there were too many disabled users on the park that day so she could not use it. Chessington were in agreement that my daughter would be unable to access park facilities due to her disability but refused to make reasonable adjustments. Instead we were escorted off park with the promise of a full refund. Having been escorted off park, without accessing any facilities, the refund was then denied via email several days later. I have literally been robbed and all on the grounds of my disabled daughter being denied access, directly due to her disability.

We Did not get the stupid fast track sue them

Our little 2 night hoilday was amazing the staff were outstanding and made our stay

So let me make sure you all know who they are because honestly they will make your hoilday they go above and beyond to make sure you have the best stay and as 2 of my family are disabled it means so much.

Dan glamping manager Anna and jen and omg my favourite manager Kyle were amazing but Kyle was outstanding as always he helped me last year also so seeing his gorgeous face again was fabulous.

This is our last family visit to Chessington now as its so far traveling so the fact everyone named and others who I didn't get the name of made us so welcome as let's face it with our the amazing staff we wouldn't have a gorgeous experience

Now on to vikky front desk she is also my favourite and my kids even would look for her as her warm smile just made you feel so lovely so honestly if you go to the hotel look for her she's amazing.

Matthew hotel and josie glamping and kiria ( can't spell name ) glamping we're ace joisie lives to make kids happy u will honestly just love watching how lovely she makes your kids feel jen is also like that .

Ents now glamping is different so it amazing when u get two amazing humans trying to entertain your kids while u sit on a picnic table with a cheeky beer is ace and parachute games was ace me and my hubby joined in and my 16 year old .

Now we stayed two nights so one was raining so ents were inside one night and out the other and because there isn't much of an atmosphere for food just a food trunk and honestly I really do have to break my tone alittle for some honest reasons as we came last year and it had more food choices and u honestly felt like you were so lucky to be in the bit of theme park eating and having fun while glamping but it was poor and let it down as the staff were ace but I do feel have more food outlets and bar so you don't have to go to a supermarket because it doesn't even have a gin or carling and just lacks so much .

But back to ents you will honestly be so blessed if you get to meet Tamsin she is the sweetest most amazing human and has such a talent with children I adore her she will go far in entertainment for kids as she just has it . You won't be disappointed.

We had a tent issue and honestly I was blown away how lovely everyone was to sort it for me and my family and morgan the handy man was honestly lovely so even if u have an issue be ensure u will be in good hands .

So because you have a tent you have toilet blocks and showers you will be happy to know they are cleaned often and are far nicer then the other merlin site with camping. Sorry At.

Kerrie and her amazing team of cleaners make sure your tents are cleaned to the highest standards and wow are the beds comfortable it really is a high standard of glamping even the towels felt lovely .

And u will be happy to know there is somewhere you can get a hot chocolate tea and coffee in main tent it all adds to the glamping experience so if you are thinking of booking glamping get it booked honestly.

Can I please just say that I was so very disappointed and am only putting this because it needs improvement massively it doesn't fit the merlin brand and that is everything about the temple restaurant I'm sorry to end on a negative but I don't feel I can tell people to visit it as its got the rudest staff who just don't have that merlin sparkle of making a fuss and making sure you are welcome temple made me feel like I was imposing on people at breakfast on 30th we were rudely showed to our table around dirty tables food was dry yes we booked for 9 am but why should the food feel like its the left overs from the busy morning as someone who worked at alton towers hotels a few year back now I'm disgusted this standard was allowed in staff cleanliness and food now the food at night was lovely omg the pork and the chef who was slicing the meat was so lovely he clearly doesn't work at breakie tho I booked the temple as a treat from glamping but I really hope training will be given because of my review esp to the young staff you need to not make guests feel uncomfortable please can this be sorted for others as Chessington is amazing and worth the back breaking travel I undertake to give my family the break but as I said it was our last ever stay so shame we left on a sour note .

Now I have to say this once again for improvement as Chessington and merlin have a high standard and us guests get the very best and by heck do you all named above make sure that happens so I'm gutted to report a sercury guard at the gate by glamping was so vile to my children that the birthday boy was crying I mean who would continue to have a go at a family theme park to a teenager and her brother and friends and when I say continue while my daughter was sorting the issue on the phone and hugging her brother continued to speak in a awful upsetting manner even tho she was sorting it .
Thanks to everyone else tho you superstars

Enjoy your pens.

The new ride access system is a complete nightmare.

We have been platinum merlin pass holders for years, but will not be renewing.

This new system of prebooking (surely should have sent messages to ride access pass holders?) denied us the accessibility required for our son.

We drove 2 hrs to the park, and had to drive 2 hrs back within the hr, after quickly realising the day was going to be a nightmare without the required accessibility.

Would you deny wheelchair users the use of ramps if they had not pre booked?

What an absolute joke. Its 2024 chessington- apparently Merlin prides itself on being accessible to all?

Never to return- lost a family of pass holders for the last 10 years.

Guys, just don't bother and find some other theme park and which way better.

Although I am aware there is a new booking proccess for ride access. Having used it for the first time recently I believe there are unfortunately some issues. I can understand the need for this change but having booked an overnight package a month in advance and then being unable to book ride access as it was full, I find this very frustrating. It would perhaps make sense to incorporate the availability of the passes within the short stay booking system to avoid such issues and ensure when you have spent over £300 just for accommodation you are then able to have access to the help for disabled visitors on the day you have booked. Definitely needs improving as with so many things Chessington 😐. As I also believe you don't actually need to have purchased a ticket prior to booking ride access, it seems illogical 🙄.