Chessington World of Adventures Resort

[dave___]

My kids are both under 10 and have had an absolute hoot today, they don't notice the tiredness and cut corners like we grown ups do and the park is heavily geared towards young kids. Not saying it's right but children aren't as inclined to notice things like a full bin.

Unfortunately however my car that used to be blue is now entirely brown down one side thanks to the car parking..

 

[mo237]

I reckon they're missing a trick, they could have a drive through car wash at the exit. Couple quid (let's face it, more) for a clean car as you leave.

 

[venny]

Throughputs would be a nightmare with the standard, Fastpass and RAP queues though.

 

[dave___]

Throughputs would be a nightmare with the standard, Fastpass and RAP queues though.

Speaking of queues I saw today there was a single rider queue on Ostrich Stampede. I can't for the life of me fathom out why that ride has one, of all things.

 

[Reb]

I’m going to politely disagree with this.

My son loves The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom rides. Would he have enjoyed them as Bubbleworks and another original IP? Perhaps, but that initial coming to life of the things he recognised was priceless and takes them to the next level.

There are clearly people that love what the park is now, but I just think it's not very interesting to use IP's.

It's the same way I don't really like that Lego has become a mostly IP product. It doesn't mean that Lego is bad now, just that they're different. It's like when you see that a food you like has a NEW AND IMPROVED RECIPE! I'm sure there are many reasons for it, but I'm always left wondering why.

 

[jon81uk]

Speaking of queues I saw today there was a single rider queue on Ostrich Stampede. I can't for the life of me fathom out why that ride has one, of all things.

Its three seats wide, so singles will be seated with parties of two. Makes a lot of sense why it has it.

 

[jom222]

Its an awful lot of days to have 3 major rides closed in my opinion.

I'm all for the closing a selection of rides for a few hours on days its very quiet (queues 10 mins of less) but to have rides all day is unacceptable in my opinion.

Another poor decision from Chessington ...

I’m at Chessington on one of these days so just went on the site to double check as I couldn’t’ remember what rides were on the list and it seems they have removed this now so hopefully gone back on the decision?!

Ride Availability | Chessington World of Adventure Resorts

At Chessington World of Adventures Resort we want you to have a grrreat visit. To help you plan your day, this page lists our current ride closures.

www.chessington.com

 

[AT86]

Last year those rides were on staggered openings on off peak days, closing at 3.30pm.

Perhaps that is the plan agin this year, but for some reason it was badly worded on the website before being removed?

 

[Call_um]

Hopefully they've reverted the decision then!

The staggered openings aren't as bad, especially on the really quiet days when everythings walk on. But to have them completely unavailable all day is very poor in my opinion.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Staggered openings are never excusable. People pay for the whole package, especially at Merlin prices.

 

[dave___]

On the plus side they opened up for all of us just after after 9.45 yesterday so for about half an hour everything had hardly any queues.

We managed to get parked in the "paved" Zebra car park as my children don't know the meaning of sleep so only had a little bit of mud to deal with but by the time we left just after lunch they were directing all traffic to the hotel car parks. Field parking earlier in the week was an absolute horror show and I have a car with 4WD too.

I must say that the Sausage Man hot dog stand although still expensive is leagues ahead of the Rollover efforts at Alton Towers. Other than Vampire kitchen which is terrible as ever it feels like Chessington has a much higher quality food offering. They had the "branded" Project D doughnuts from the Gruffalo snack shack too but I am from Yorkshire so my wallet wouldn't let me spend £7.50 on a single doughnut

 

[AT86]

it feels like Chessington has a much higher quality food offering. They had the "branded" Project D doughnuts from the Gruffalo snack shack too but I am from Yorkshire so my wallet wouldn't let me spend £7.50 on a single doughnut

They have project D donuts in FV this year now too:


From: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4nb5RfNvoG/?igsh=MWVyNTY5eXN2ZzB5eg==

 

[dave___]

They have project D donuts in FV this year now too:


From: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4nb5RfNvoG/?igsh=MWVyNTY5eXN2ZzB5eg==

I saw the nemesis ones but didn't see any smiler ones when I last went. Must say that the smiler one above looks like the sort of present my children used to give me as a newborn baby ..

The Gruffalo ones are comparatively dull, basic brown with a leaf sticker. Didn't see any vampire ones unless they were sold out..

 

[Bowser]

Are Vampire and Mandrill fairly impervious to winds? Can see on the app that Tiger and Croc are closed…

 

[Reb]

Are Vampire and Mandrill fairly impervious to winds? Can see on the app that Tiger and Croc are closed…

Vampire windspeed limit is 39, I don't know for sure but I think mandrill is the same.

 

[Reb]

In an odd twist, perhaps Chessington castle's new colour scheme is actually more nostalgic than we thought?

 

[Poisson]

It needs a dark wash or something though. It is a bit much as is.

 

[DiogoJ42]

It needs a dark wash or something though. It is a bit much as is.

That's what I thought as well. A dark wash, followed by a light grey drybrush. Have they never built a model‽

 

[AT86]

I mean, it’s Chessington. It’ll be neglected for the next 10 years so it’ll fade nicely.

 

[Bowser]

First CWOA trip of the season:

- They've removed the scanners at the entry (hotel side) so everyone has to be manually scanned in now.
- The repainted castle looks much less garish in real life.
- Mandrill air-gates are great (and front row is amazing).
- Croc Drop was still rotating.
- Vampire was on at least 2 trains, possibly 3. Was watching from the exit balcony and one was going up the lift hill as another was coming into the brakes, plus each time (of 3 rides) we were held in the maintenance area for a minute or so. Ride was on 20-30 minutes all day till the afternoon when it went down for about 20 minutes then shot up to 90 minutes for the rest of the day so might have lost a train then.