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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

AstroDan said:
There is a "MAP Banter" Facebook page which is full of people sucking up (particularly focussed around Chessington & Thorpe, where experiences recently seem to have been poorest). It's quite disturbing actually - in all my 15 years on websites/forums, I have never known anything like that.

They screenshot people "moaning" about 2-hour queues to get in etc. and then take the mickey.
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The group seems more focused when people are making silly demands like refunds because say saw got a bit busy.
It's going to be busy now regardless of if it's operated well.
 
@Prof Burp
Thanks, but yes, I know all of that. I was answering the post before which asked if this years offering is worse/less than last year’s, which it is, unfortunately, for the reasons you state.
 
So this weekend I stopped over at Chessington overnight for the first time in a few years and I have to say how disappointed I was with the park.

Nearly everywhere you looked it was rundown, other than The Scorpion Express every rollercoaster desperately needs re painting, 95% of the rides are rough and uncomfortable to ride, most of the time due to their age, Corona issues aside the loading of rides was painfully slow with Tiger Rock having a 80 minute queue yet half of the boats going empty because they weren't letting anyone in the station and trying to find somewhere open to eat was a mission in itself. I definitely won't be visiting again for quite some time, it wasn't enjoyable at all.

As for the Hotels I've always been fond of Chessington's and although our stay wasn't too bad standing back and watching other people's was eventful to say the least.

To start with reception weren't telling anyone that they needed to book breakfast / dinner / pool as you checked in which ended up with guests turning up for breakfast in the morning only to be told they have no space so they'll have to find something in the park.

I knew the pool had to be pre-booked in advance so attempted to do so a week before our stay. After sending the Leisure Club an email I received an automated one back saying I had to ring up to book as they couldn't do it via email, after calling the hotel for a week I couldn't get through to either number and when I arrived the pool was full. Luckily as I was the only one who wanted to swim they squeezed me in but I can imagine a lot of families being disappointed.

Lastly on the subject of Reception not telling anyone anything, no one was told about the hotel entrance to the park being closed which lead to a lot of people wandering around like lost sheep and no one told us about needing a hotel ticket to exit the car park, which lead to a queue of cars at the barrier running into reception to get a ticket! Why not just hand them out when you check in?!

Rant over.
 
siralgenon said:
So this weekend I stopped over at Chessington overnight for the first time in a few years and I have to say how disappointed I was with the park.

Nearly everywhere you looked it was rundown, other than The Scorpion Express every rollercoaster desperately needs re painting, 95% of the rides are rough and uncomfortable to ride, most of the time due to their age, Corona issues aside the loading of rides was painfully slow with Tiger Rock having a 80 minute queue yet half of the boats going empty because they weren't letting anyone in the station and trying to find somewhere open to eat was a mission in itself. I definitely won't be visiting again for quite some time, it wasn't enjoyable at all.

As for the Hotels I've always been fond of Chessington's and although our stay wasn't too bad standing back and watching other people's was eventful to say the least.

To start with reception weren't telling anyone that they needed to book breakfast / dinner / pool as you checked in which ended up with guests turning up for breakfast in the morning only to be told they have no space so they'll have to find something in the park.

I knew the pool had to be pre-booked in advance so attempted to do so a week before our stay. After sending the Leisure Club an email I received an automated one back saying I had to ring up to book as they couldn't do it via email, after calling the hotel for a week I couldn't get through to either number and when I arrived the pool was full. Luckily as I was the only one who wanted to swim they squeezed me in but I can imagine a lot of families being disappointed.

Lastly on the subject of Reception not telling anyone anything, no one was told about the hotel entrance to the park being closed which lead to a lot of people wandering around like lost sheep and no one told us about needing a hotel ticket to exit the car park, which lead to a queue of cars at the barrier running into reception to get a ticket! Why not just hand them out when you check in?!

Rant over.
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When I last stayed at Alton with the monorail shut they instructed hotel guests to simply present the little card with the room number on it at the express barrier, absolutely no reason Chessington couldn't have stuck a barrier pass on that.
 
siralgenon said:
Lastly on the subject of Reception not telling anyone anything, ... no one told us about needing a hotel ticket to exit the car park, which lead to a queue of cars at the barrier running into reception to get a ticket! Why not just hand them out when you check in?!
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When I stayed last year they supplied a car park ticket in the check-in pack (alongside maps and wristbands etc). I'm surprised they didn't give one to everybody on this occasion as it's such an obvious thing to do.
 
siralgenon said:
So this weekend I stopped over at Chessington overnight for the first time in a few years and I have to say how disappointed I was with the park.

Nearly everywhere you looked it was rundown, other than The Scorpion Express every rollercoaster desperately needs re painting, 95% of the rides are rough and uncomfortable to ride, most of the time due to their age, Corona issues aside the loading of rides was painfully slow with Tiger Rock having a 80 minute queue yet half of the boats going empty because they weren't letting anyone in the station and trying to find somewhere open to eat was a mission in itself. I definitely won't be visiting again for quite some time, it wasn't enjoyable at all.

As for the Hotels I've always been fond of Chessington's and although our stay wasn't too bad standing back and watching other people's was eventful to say the least.

To start with reception weren't telling anyone that they needed to book breakfast / dinner / pool as you checked in which ended up with guests turning up for breakfast in the morning only to be told they have no space so they'll have to find something in the park.

I knew the pool had to be pre-booked in advance so attempted to do so a week before our stay. After sending the Leisure Club an email I received an automated one back saying I had to ring up to book as they couldn't do it via email, after calling the hotel for a week I couldn't get through to either number and when I arrived the pool was full. Luckily as I was the only one who wanted to swim they squeezed me in but I can imagine a lot of families being disappointed.

Lastly on the subject of Reception not telling anyone anything, no one was told about the hotel entrance to the park being closed which lead to a lot of people wandering around like lost sheep and no one told us about needing a hotel ticket to exit the car park, which lead to a queue of cars at the barrier running into reception to get a ticket! Why not just hand them out when you check in?!

Rant over.
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Although still a way from perfect, Alton Towers Hotel feels like they have reasonable operations and we are always reminded about keeping the card in case they check for parking and they have normally reminded us about booking breakfast at check-in. Sounds like Chessington hotel really isn't run as well in comparison.
 
siralgenon said:
To start with reception weren't telling anyone that they needed to book breakfast / dinner / pool as you checked in which ended up with guests turning up for breakfast in the morning only to be told they have no space so they'll have to find something in the park.
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And remember, they call themselves a "Resort".

Hotel Bed and Breakfast, without the breakfast, I believe Merlin might need to start paying royalties to John Cleese and Connie Booth.
 
I remember the good old days when you didn't have to book breakfast... you'd just turn up like you do at any other hotel.
 
Alsty said:
I remember the good old days when you didn't have to book breakfast... you'd just turn up like you do at any other hotel.
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I've never stayed over at Chessington, but Alton Towers Hotel has always had issues during the main season with breakfast. Most people want to get into the park for ERT, but they also don't want to eat too early and there is only a finite number of people you can feed between 8am and 9am. Even back in the 90s I can recall complaints about not being able to book the preferred breakfast time.

But not being reminded to book and then being unable to eat on the day is not acceptable. Do Chessington even serve breakfast foods on-park? I don't think Alton Towers do much at the moment now Towers St Grill is sort of closed, but I assume Corner Coffee offer something?
 
jon81uk said:
I've never stayed over at Chessington, but Alton Towers Hotel has always had issues during the main season with breakfast. Most people want to get into the park for ERT, but they also don't want to eat too early and there is only a finite number of people you can feed between 8am and 9am. Even back in the 90s I can recall complaints about not being able to book the preferred breakfast time.

But not being reminded to book and then being unable to eat on the day is not acceptable. Do Chessington even serve breakfast foods on-park? I don't think Alton Towers do much at the moment now Towers St Grill is sort of closed, but I assume Corner Coffee offer something?
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They have a small selection of wraps which are nice for starting the day.
 
However finding a open food outlet at any merlin Park first thing is pretty much impossible. I do miss the days of towers family restaurant when you could get a super cheap breakfast first thing.
 
djtruefitt said:
However finding a open food outlet at any merlin Park first thing is pretty much impossible. I do miss the days of towers family restaurant when you could get a super cheap breakfast first thing.
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and it would be a good way to give extra capacity if the hotel restaurant can't cope, they can just give a voucher to use in-park. Or in the case of Alton, it would be an upsell to those staying in the sheds.
Of course at Chessington you need to get into the park within two hours first to be able to have breakfast not lunch.
 
I remember many years ago when the Greedy Goblin did breakfast. I had a full English which was pretty good value and set me up for the day. However I don't think it even lasted one season so I guess it wasn't popular, which was a shame.
 
This sort of a cluster is an inevitable product of merging the facilities for two hotels into one, combined with chronic underfunding and poor training of staff. You cannot properly run a hotel when it is overcrowded, under resourced and underfunded.

That hotel was far more pleasant prior to Merlin starting to run it.
 
venny said:
That hotel was far more pleasant prior to Merlin starting to run it.
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But this is also the thing as Alton Towers are not bad at running the hotel, there certainly could be improvements, but the basics are all fine. So its more that "Chessington" is bad not "Merlin".
 
jon81uk said:
But this is also the thing as Alton Towers are not bad at running the hotel, there certainly could be improvements, but the basics are all fine. So its more that "Chessington" is bad not "Merlin".
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Im not sure I’d go as far to say that AT’s hotel operations are good. They are better than Chessington, but that’s not a high bar.

ATH has been in managed decline for quite some time - poor cleanliness, reduced F&B offerings, declining entertainment etc.
 
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