A great day out for most of the family (Chessington World of Adventures)

Member Name: chrisc92

Product:	Chessington World of Adventures
Date:	29/06/09 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Aimed more at younger children, but still something for everyone

Disadvantages: Shops are a little expensive and rides closed without any warning

Until about 3 years ago, I took my former family to Alton Towers and Thorpe Park, but never considered the 3rd of the Merlin groups 3 theme parks - Chessington World of Adventures in Chessington just a short distance off the M25 - sure I'd seen the signs for it when driving along the M25 near Thorp Park but being that much older I thought it would be too young for them - how wrong I was!

Well, as my daughter (now 3) was getting more mobile I thought I'd make an exception and visit and I was write to, despite having to push my former wife up and down the very steep slopes around the bubble works and zoo areas of the park, which iften needed 2/3 of us.

There are 2 entrances to the Park, the main one has the zoo on the left just as you walk in and a recently new sealife centre to the right which is small but interesting. The zoo has monkeys, a few big cats, a number of birds and a seal display that although only lasts a few minutes is great fun to watch. There is also a small monorail which goes around some of the zoo and to other areas in the park.

As you go up hill, there is a houselike building where you can see some odd cartoony things with your 3d glasses, but apart from the moving bridge, none of us really found it interesting.

A little further along is the Bubble Works, which on our last visit was out of action, but is like a gentle version of rapids, and accross the other side of the footpath is quite a large eating area and above the parks only roller coaster called vampire. Whichever way you walk this is a little on the steep side, but the easiest way is probably by the pirate ships - a ride my daughter hates as despite being similar to the rockey mountain express at Thorpe Park the boats spin round.

There's then a number of rides for young children, a carousel (that I get persuaded to go on), car ride around a set track, a berry drop, indoor play area and her favourite the flying elephants - which she always wants to sit in the pink one!

There's also a big wheel a play area where you can shoot balls at each other, trampolines, tomb blaster and afew thrill rides like Rameses Revenge where you're turned upside down and get a little wet, dragon falls (log flume) and dragons fury. There are a number of other rides for younger children. It's defintely worth visiting. At £33 per adult it's a long way to go (for us at least 3.5 hours and 200+ miles), but with our Annual passes it's certainly a great day out for everyone. The Merlin passes are certainly one of the best offers you can get from Tesco clubcard.

Summary: It's a fun place to visit, but possibly not if you live far away