Zufari at Chessington World of Adventures - Review

Chessington Zoo was transformed by The Tussauds Group in the late 80’s from a failing wildlife park into the UK’s first true theme park. When Alton Towers was still little more than a collection of amusement rides plonked in a picturesque, yet unthemed, landscape, Chessington World of Adventures were building Disney-like dark rides and highly themed immersive worlds.

It’s thee park I get nostalgic about and the park I know best. I first visited in ‘94, and with a few exceptions in the early 2000s, I’ve visited every season since. Not a whole lot has changed from the Chessington of my childhood. Today the theming may be a little dirty, and the trees have grown… But the core elements are pretty much the same. And yet, it’s a very different place in terms of quality of experience from the 90’s park. The park went through years of stagnation with little to no investment.

True family coasters, trick track and Maurer Sohne

Anyone who lives in Europe will have likely ridden one of Maurer Sohne’s fantastic spinning coasters, but in the US you’re restricted to the off-the-shelf and not particularly exciting Xtended SC 2000 layout. I cannot stress enough how impressive these rides can be, and their skill in entertaining a broad audience is something that should be praised.

Dragon's Fury at Chessington World of Adventures, England

Photo © CoasterForce

Chessington World of Adventures and the desperate search for audience

Chessington is my home park. I’ve been visiting since 1994 yearly at the very least and I have a soft spot for the place. It’s one of the UK’s major parks, and yet around the world not a lot is known about it. For a quick overview, this park started as a zoo and was developed by the Tussauds Group and John Wardley in the late 80’s with nice theming, a suspended Arrow, mine train, dark ride and some other bits and bobs.  The Chessington I grew up with was the only proper theme park in the south east, Legoland never appealed to me as a kid because it’s almost entirely interactives as opposed to rides. Chessington had small rides, big rides, great theming, landscaping and animals.  In ways, a very small and distinctly British version of Busch Gardens.