Chessington World of Adventures is a British theme park owned by the Tussauds Group. It was formerly Chessington Zoo but was reopened in 1987 under the new name following a £18 million development investment. It is situated 12 miles South West of central London on the A243, 2 miles from the A3 and M25 (junction 9 or 10). In recent years, the Tussauds Group has been transforming the theme park into a more family-orientated attraction, with the more extreme rides being relocated to Thorpe Park.

Park Guide

The park is split into many areas...

Animal Land

Animal Land contains most of the animals which are kept in the park, a tradition which goes back to the days of Chessington being a zoo. The animals kept today include gorillas, two tigers (Ratna and Batu), meerkats, and monkeys. There is also a sealion enclosure, in which there are shows several times a day, and Creepy Caves, a reptiles house. Zookeepers onsite care for the animals, many of which are endangered, and there is an active breeding programme.

Beanoland

Themed around the Beano comic, rides in this area include Dennis's Madhouse (a foam-ball funhouse which used to be the timekeepers of the Millennium at theMillennium Dome), Roger the Dodger's Dodgems and Billy's Whizzer (a wave-swinger thrill ride).

Forbidden Kingdom

Themed loosely around Eygptian-style tombs, this area is home to two rides. Tomb Blaster (previously known as 'Fifth Dimension', 'The Terror Tomb' and 'The Forbidden Tomb'), is an interactive laser-shooting ride, where riders fire laser guns at targets and receive a score at the end. Rameses Revenge is a 'Top Spin' type ride, which now stands out as one of the most intense rides in the park.

Land of the Dragons

A new area opened in 2004, this dragon-themed zone contains mostly children's rides, which are contained within an area with only one entrance, so that parent can let their children run around without worrying about them getting lost. Also contained within the area however is a spinning wild-mouse style rollercoaster called Dragon's Fury. Designed as a family rollercoaster, the 4-man cars are allowed to spin freely as they complete the circuit, which features a near-vertically-banked corner at the start.

Market Square

A central area with lots of shops and video arcades, Market Square also contains the station entrance to the Monorail Safari Skyway, opened in 1987, which takes riders on a gentle ride around the park, allowing views of the animals within Animal Land. Also added in 2003 is Hocus Pocus Hall, an indoor walk-around experience where guests wear 3D Glasses whilst walking around.

Mexicana

Themed around a Mexican environment, Mexican is home to the Rattlesnake ride, a steel wild-mouse rollercoaster featuring sharp unbanked turns and sudden drops. Other rides include the Runaway Train (a powered mine-train ride aimed at younger visitors) and Rodeo, a suprisingly intense thrill ride.

Mystic East

An oriental-themed area, Mystic East is home to the expansive Dragon Falls log flume (renamed from Dragon River at the start of the 1999 season). Featuring two drops, including a longer one at the end, the log boats take riders float around themed scenery, including a dragon's mouth and a giant Buddha statue.

As of 2005, A observation wheel called Peeking Heights (Formally Eclipse at Thorpe Park) also resides in this area

Previously operating in this area was the Samurai, a top-scan thrill ride, which was moved to Thorpe Park.

Pirates Cove

A small area next to Transylvania, Pirates Cove is mostly home to The Black Buccaneer, a swinging pirate ship ride installed in 1988 (previously called Smugglers Galleon. This ride is larger than many pirate ship rides found in other theme parks, and offers a considerable amount of 'air-time' as the ship swings to almost horizontal. Added in 1995 was Seastorm, a more gentle roundabout style ride, where small boats bob up and down as they are rotated.

Toytown

Toytown contains a number of gentle rides aimed at younger visitors. These include a carousel, flying jumbos, and Toady's Crazy Cars, a car ride themed around The Wind in the Willows. Contains a small Cadbury's Castle shop.

Transylvania

Transylvania is a fairly old section of the park, dating back to 1990, which is home to the Vampire rollercoaster (see below) and Professor Burp's Bubbleworks. This latter attraction has riders sitting in tubs which float around a wide water flume, inside an environment themed as a fizzy-pop factory. The ride features lots of humour, with tons of puns based upon the fizzy-pop theme, and a water fountain finale. It is rated by theme park and dark ride enthusiasts as one of the UK's best. Due to teenagers being rowdy, in recent years the park has restricted this ride to family groups and couples only. The ride will be rethemed and sponsored by imperial leather in 2006.

Rollercoasters

The Vampire

The Vampire ride originally opened as a suspended rollercoaster, with riders sitting in bat-themed cars hanging from the track, which swing freely as the rollercoaster train complete the course. With two lift hills, the ride was quite long, and featured a sudden drop into a sharply banked curve within a cave towards the end of the ride.

However, as this ride started to age, it suffered from numerous breakdowns and maintenance problems requiring. Eventually, as the ride ended up closed for the remaining half of the 2000 season, the decision was taken to modify the ride so that it could take a new type of hanging rollercoaster trains. For this, the track was to remain in the same layout, as modifying this would require planning permission, which was unlikely to be granted. However, as the track layout was designed for suspended rollercoaster trains, with tight corners, the new suspended trains would also have to be able to swing around corners, in order to reduce lateral Gs. This led to the development of a swinging suspended rollercoaster trains.

The modified ride opened in 2001, under the same name as the previous ride. The new type of train makes the ride significantly less intense, suitable for familes and younger visitors.

Dragon's Fury

This spinning wild mouse ride opened in 2004.

Rattlesnake

This steel wild mouse ride opened in 1998.

External links

• Chessington World of Adventures homepage