Over the past few years Erin has really gotten into going to theme parks, especially after a couple of trips to Legoland. However, the rides aren’t quite exciting enough for her there now so we needed somewhere that was a bit of a step up. Chessington seemed like the sensible choice.
An overnight stay
As a non-driver, Chessington is quite a pain to get to and from if you’re only going for the day. This made the decision to go for a couple of days quite easy. Along with a mix of Premier Inn stays, we were able to book 1 night at the Safari Hotel.
Our stay included a night at the hotel, breakfast, park tickets for 2 days (we got 2nd day free) and early entry on both of the days. This was much better value than a normal night at the hotel and I’m not sure we’d have bothered if we’d only had entry to Chessington for 1 day.
Arrival and early entry
We’d stayed at a Premier Inn down the road the day before so headed to the Safari Hotel at 8am to drop our bag off, as check in wasn’t until 3pm. Arriving this early meant that we could make the most of our early entry. You have to queue up and get a wristband and then you’re let into the park at 9am.
As this was our first trip to Chessington, we had no idea where we were going or what we wanted to do first. Luckily, we got chatting to some people in the queue who helped us out a bit. During the early entry hour there are a handful of rides open to hotel guests. If you’re not sure what you can go on, there’s a sign at the hotel reception each day.
Our favourite rides
I always think the first ride you go on at a theme park is really memorable, so it’s important to choose wisely.
The Gruffalo
We decided that, during a heatwave, The Gruffalo was the ride for us and it was a great choice. This ride didn’t have a queue at 9am so we ended up being the 2nd group to go on the ride that day. The theming of this one is incredible and it really brought back memories of watching it with Erin when she was younger. What we didn’t realise though is that you actually do get rather wet on this ride… but it ended up being a good thing when it was so hot.
Vampire
Just around the corner is Vampire, a ride that gets extremely popular later in the day. Although this one isn’t open during early entry, if you join the queue at about 9:40, you’ll get on close to immediately at 10am. This is one of the bigger rollercoasters however, it doesn’t go upside down. Instead, you fly through the trees and it’s very quickly turned into one of our favourites.
Mandrill Mayhem
One of the things Erin really wanted to do at Chessington was to go upside down. Although we didn’t manage it on the first day, this was what we used our early entry for on the second day. It’s been a while since I did an upside down ride so we were both nervous but we absolutely loved it too. Again, this one has a longer queue later in the day so I’m glad we did this one first thing.
Mamba Strike
Just around the corner from Mandrill Mayhem and also in the Jumanji area, is Mamba Strike. This was one of Erin’s favourites but rides like this make my stomach go funny so I had a break for this one. Erin on the other hand, went on this 4 times she liked it so much and the queue was pretty short.
Tomb Blasters
A favourite of mine in any theme park is a shooty ride. Think Buzz Lightyear at Walt Disney World. Now, even though the queue said around 60 minutes on the app for Tomb Blasters, the wait was more like 35 minutes and it moved quickly.
I imagined this to be similar to the one at Legoland but I was so wrong. This ride is HUGE and 100 times better than Legoland. It’s got an ancient theme to it and lots of targets to shoot at. This one is really good fun for a bit of a competition.
Eating at Chessington
There is so much choice when it comes to food at Chessington. We had breakfast in the hotel one day, which was delicious. This was included with our break and is served buffet style. We were able to book a table online ahead of our stay so we could plan for early entry accordingly.
During the day we had no choice really but to eat in the park. As a non-driver, it wasn’t really possible for us to take things for packed lunches, especially during a heatwave.
We had one meal at the Pizza and Pasta buffet restaurant, which cost £23.25 for adults and and £13.25 for childrne. The cost included unlimited pizza, pasta, salad and soft drinks. Unfortunately, the drinks were disgusting and we had to order something else in the end. The pizza and pasta was fine though, and there was always lots available. Although we didn’t love this meal, it was nice to have a sit down lunch inside as it was so hot outside.
The next day we got hot dogs and fries from one of the stands. This also wasn’t cheap at around £14.50 for a meal which included a hot dog, fries and a drink each. However, this meal was great and we both really enjoyed this one. We managed to find a bench to sit on outside and eat our lunch while watching people walk about.
There are lots of options for other food like fish and chips or fried chicken and snacks like doughnuts and ice creams dotted around the park. You can’t walk too far without finding some kind of option for food, which was something I really liked about Chessington.
Other things to do
If you need a break from the rides, the good thing about Chessington is that there are quite a few other things to do. Head inside to SeaLife, see the animals in the ‘zoo’ area, or take a walk around the reserve.
Although SeaLife is quite small, this is a welcome break from being outdoors all day, especially if you visit during a heatwave. The air con isn’t amazing but you’re not in the blazing sun. Time a trip to this bit though, as it can be really at certain times of the day. We went in right at the end of the day, just as we were heading back to the hotel.
As we had early entry on both days, we looked around a bit of the zoo area at this time. As we had to queue anyway, it made sense to see some things as we moved along slowly. I would have liked to have had a proper walk around but we didn’t have enough time for everything.
Instead, we spent a bit of time walking around the reserve area. We managed to time this was a talk about some of the animals, and a cooler time of day. This isn’t a huge area though so it’s not somewhere to plan spending a lot of time.
Hints and tips
If you’re planning a trip for the first time, there are lots of things I would have liked to have known beforehand and they might help you out:
- Download the app beforehand – Chessington isn’t huge but it is set out into different areas. Get to know the layout ahead of time, especially if you want to maximise early entry.
- Choose rides carefully – Some of the queue times will be over 60 minutes especially during school holidays. Priortise any during early entry if you have it or keep an eye on the app for the times.
- There’s not a lot of shade – If you visit during a heatwave like we did, you’ll soon realise there isn’t much shade. The gift shop has air-con and the indoor restaurants are quite cool.
- The Paw Patrol area was very new when we went and it was SO busy all day. If something new has opened, be prepared for long wait times.
- Wait for deals for the hotel – there are often 2nd day free offers if you stay in the Chessington hotels, which makes it much better value for money.
Would we go again?
We really made the most of our two days at Chessington and we both agreed that we liked it more than Legoland. Two full days seemed just right for what we wanted to do and staying at the Safari Hotel was definitely the right choice. So would we go back? Absolutely. We loved Chessington and now that we’ve been once, it would be nice to go again and be a bit more relaxed about it all.
