Chessington World of Adventures
Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a theme park, zoo and hotel complex in Chessington, Greater London, England, around southwest of Central London. The complex originally opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931; the theme park aspect was developed by The Tussauds Group, debuting on 7 July 1987 as one of the first combined animal-amusement parks in the UK. The theme park, which features over 40 rides, is owned by Merlin Entertainments, following its merger with The Tussauds Group in 2007. Under Merlin, Chessington has been increasingly developed into a resort and tourist destination, including two on-site hotels, swimming pools, a spa, and fitness facilities.
The Chessington Zoo has over 1,000 animals, including western lowland gorillas and sea lions. It is split up into several areas; Trail of the Kings, Sea Lion Bay, Children's Zoo, Amazu, Penguin Bay, a Sea Life Centre and Wanyama Village and Reserve.
Chessington World of Adventures was ranked in 2022 as the twentieth most-visited park in the UK, with an attendance of roughly 1.5 million guests, behind Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Legoland Windsor. In 2020, due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the park experienced an unexpectedly short operating season and temporarily closed its gates. Despite a significant drop in attendance during the pandemic, Chessington actually ranked as the third most-visited park in the UK for 2020 with.51 million visitors, behind Alton Towers and Thorpe Park.
Chessington World of Adventures features different themed areas, loosely inspired by a range of world cultures, with 'Adventure Point' at its centre. 'Shipwreck Coast' is a nautical harbour town, 'Wild Woods' is a Central European-styled area, 'Forbidden Kingdom' mirrors the ancient Middle East, and 'Land of the Tiger' reflects the Far East. Major attractions include: Vampire, Dragon's Fury, KOBRA, Tiger Rock, The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure and Mandrill Mayhem.
History
The mansion at Chessington World of Adventures Resort known today as the Burnt Stub was originally built in 1348, in Chessington, Surrey. In the English Civil War it became a royalist stronghold, and Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentary forces razed it to the ground. The Burnt Stub site was rebuilt as an inn, until the 18th century, when the Vere Barker family rebuilt it in neo-gothic Victorian style.Chessington Zoo
Chessington Zoo opened in 1931 and was founded by Reginald Stuart Goddard, who had bought the estate to showcase his private collection of animals. It was once the largest private zoo in England. After Goddard died in 1946, the Pearson Publishing Company took over the zoo and managed it until 1978, when The Tussauds Group, a new subsidiary of the Pearson Group, took over its management.Founding of the theme park
In 1984, due to the zoo's declining attendance, Tussauds commissioned a team including John Wardley to redevelop the park as a theme park. On 7 July 1987 Chessington World of Adventures opened to the public in a ceremony including Prince Edward.In its first year, the park opened with the roller coaster Runaway Mine Train, the log flume Dragon River, the monorail Safari Skyway, the dark ride The 5th Dimension, and the Chessington Railroad as the main attractions. Smuggler's Galleon reached heights of 20 meters; it was later renamed Black Buccaneer.
The new park development adopted a pay-once price structure as opposed to the fairground's former pay-per-ride format. Other support rides were also opened and the park opened five themed areas: Calamity Canyon, Mystic East, Market Square, Toy Town and Circus World. The park was built on a relatively small budget of around £12 million.
Development history
In 1988, Smugglers' Galleon was opened in a small new area named Smugglers' Cove.The 1990 season saw the park expand with the new Transylvania area, featuring The Vampire and Prof. Burp's Bubble Works.
In 1994, the Forbidden Kingdom area was opened, including the new Terror Tomb dark ride replacing The 5th Dimension. The area was expanded the following season with Rameses Revenge, the park's first inverting ride. Also new for 1995 was an expansion of the Toy Town area, Seastorm in Pirates' Cove and the Carousel. By 1997, the park had a maximum capacity of 15,000 guests.
In 1998, the Rattlesnake wild mouse coaster opened in Calamity Canyon. In 1999, Chessington opened the thrill ride Samurai in the Mystic East.
In 2000, Beanoland opened on the former site of Circus World, with the new rides Billy's Whizzer and Rodger the Dodger's Dodgems.
From this point, Chessington's development changed direction to focus exclusively on younger families, following nearby Thorpe Park being acquired by the Tussauds Group in 1998 and its future development planned as a park for older families and teenagers. Both parks are located 20 miles from each other.
In 2004, the Land of the Dragons area opened, with the new family coaster Dragon's Fury. Also that year, Samurai was relocated to Thorpe Park and swapped for the Eclipse Ferris wheel, renamed Peeking Heights.
In 2007, The Tussauds Group was merged with Merlin Entertainments Ltd, which owned other brands such as Sea Life Centres. 2008 saw the opening of the Chessington Sea Life Centre.
The Wild Asia area was opened in 2010, featuring the new Kobra ride, as a revamp to the Beanoland area. Also in 2010, the Wanyama reserve was opened, giving the Safari hotel guests a view of animals. In 2011 the Ocean Tunnel and surrounding rooms in the Sea Life Centre were re-themed to Azteca. In 2012 a small new land named Africa replaced the ToyTown area.
In 2013, Chessington introduced Zufari: Ride Into Africa, with visitors touring a new zoo area in a safari truck.
Park developments for 2014 included the revamp of the Runaway Train as Scorpion Express and Amazu Treetop Adventure, a children's raised play area within the zoo. The park's annual Halloween event was rebranded Howl'O'Ween. Over the festive period Chessington launched the new Winter's Tail event, featuring a new seasonal show A Christmas Gift, as well as market stalls and a 60 ft Christmas tree. Attendance rose to 2.05 million guests in 2014, the second highest figure in the park's history, which previously peaked in 1995.
2015 introduced an updated Penguins of Madagascar Live: Operation Cheezy Dibbles show on the Madagascar stage, a rethemed "Jungle Bouncers" as "Penguins of Madagascar Mission: Treetop Hoppers" and "Penguin Bay", and a refurbished enclosure for the Zoo's Humboldt penguins, together advertised as "Year of the Penguins". Chessington's attendance fell in 2015 to 1.65 million. The long-running Safari Skyway monorail closed midway through the year, after 29 years of service.
Little was changed during the 2016 season, a small live show named Pandamonium opened near the zoo, a Go Ape high ropes course opened, and Trail of the Kings received some new decoration. Tomb Blaster was refurbished with all LED UV lighting and new laser gun system.
In 2017, The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure opened, replacing Bubbleworks, as well as the original Carousel being replaced with a newer, themed carousel named "The Chessington Adventure Tree". In 2018, the Mystic East area was rethemed as Land of the Tiger, with three new tiger enclosures, four tigers from Kolmården Wildlife Park, Dragon Falls rethemed as Tiger Rock and Peeking Heights removed.
In 2019, the 3D walkthrough attraction, Hocus Pocus Hall, was replaced by Room on the Broom – A Magical Journey. During the year, Chessington announced that Black Buccaneer would not open for 2019, and later that Rameses Revenge would close at the end of the season.
2020 saw the opening of a small new area named The Rainforest, with three attractions: a kids track ride, Jungle Rangers, a relocated mini log flume from Weymouth Sealife named River Rafts, and the rethemed Treetop Hoppers ride. The Flying Jumbos Ride was also relocated and rethemed into Elmers Flying Jumbos based on the children's book. 2021 saw a new family drop tower 'Croc Drop' open, replacing Rameses Revenge. Blue Barnacle also opened to replace Black Buccaneer.
2022 saw a retheme and refresh of the Pirates' Cove themed area as Shipwreck Coast, with the addition of two new rides. These are 'Barrel Bail Out', a Watermania ride, and 'Trawler Trouble', a Rockin' Tug relocated from Thorpe Park. Jungle Bus in Wild Asia was removed during this season and reopened in 2023. 2022 saw a new carnival event 'Mardi Grrra!' running from 27 May to 26 June.
2023 saw the opening of a new land on 15 May, 'World of Jumanji'. The new area features a B&M Shuttle Launched Wing coaster, and two SBF Visa Group attractions.
The Scorpion Express section of Mexicana and the adjacent Children's Zoo were closed for redevelopment during the 2024 season to make way for a new Paw Patrol-themed area. The revamped section is scheduled to open in the spring of 2026, and will feature a new Zierer Force roller coaster designed specifically for younger riders. This new attraction will replace the now-defunct Scorpion Express, which was removed as part of the ongoing redevelopment project.
The Wild Asia-themed area was closed during the 2025 season in preparation for its transformation into a Minecraft-themed area, slated to open in the 2027 season. As part of this redevelopment, the KOBRA attraction will be relocated and rethemed, while a new indoor roller coaster by Intamin will be introduced.
Resort development
In June 2007, the park opened the Safari Hotel, initially operated by Holiday Inn.In 2014, "nearly £15 million" was invested in the resort as the whole, with an extension built to the existing hotel, advertised as the "Azteca Hotel". The Safari Hotel also received a second pool.
Explorer Glamping was launched in May 2016, on the field behind Wild Asia. In 2025, the area was closed as part of the future redevelopment of Wild Asia.