Theme parks have been a staple family day out for us since the girls were just two. In those early years, most of our visits were split between Gulliver’s, Paultons Park and, of course, their firm favourite: LEGOLAND.
As much as we loved those parks, the girls eventually reached an age where they wanted bigger and more thrilling rides. We first visited Chessington World of Adventures in 2024, and it has since become a newfound favourite—particularly because of the Vampire ride and Mandrill Mayhem.
There was another ride they loved, but it has since been removed to make way for the new Minecraft-themed area, which is due to arrive in 2027.
I previously blogged about our autumn trip to Chessington, when we visited during the Halloween season. This time, we returned at the beginning of the week and chose to visit on a Monday.
We left home early so that we could arrive as close to opening time as possible. The weather forecast looked good for the entire day, without it being unbearably hot. I was relieved, as I’m not sure I could cope with walking around a theme park during a heatwave!
We made the most of Chessington’s Twice the Fun offer, although I’m not sure whether it will still be running by the time you read this. The offer means we can visit another Merlin attraction, as long as we book it before the end of September.
We chose Chessington because it feels like the right kind of theme park for the girls at their current age. Thorpe Park still seems more suited to older teenagers and adults, although I suspect it won’t be too long before we start visiting there instead.
Starting the day with a closed ride
We arrived in good time and headed straight towards Vampire. We were all extremely eager and excited because it is our favourite ride at Chessington.
Unfortunately, it was closed.
We were really disappointed, especially because it had also been closed for refurbishment during our previous visit over the October half-term and Halloween period.
We checked the Chessington app to see what the queues were like elsewhere and, luckily, Tiger Rock only had a ten-minute wait. We decided to head there instead.
I usually like to buy Fastrack tickets when I can, but with the cost of everything increasing, and now that the girls are older, we decided to brave the regular queues.
To be fair, the waiting times weren’t too bad. We kept a close eye on the app throughout the day and tried to plan our next ride based on the latest queue times.
Braving Mandrill Mayhem
After Tiger Rock, we headed over to Tomb Blaster before making our way to Mandrill Mayhem.
During our previous visit, I had refused to go on it. However, I promised the girls that I would ride it the next time we visited, which meant I couldn’t escape it this time!
I was definitely nervous, but a promise is a promise.
Although we had taken food with us, we decided to grab some chips after going on The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure. We then made our way back to Tiger Rock for another ride.
Unfortunately, we only managed around a minute of the ride before it completely broke down and we had to be evacuated.
Thankfully, we were still at the very beginning of the first climb when the ride stopped. It could have been much worse if we had been further along!
We waited for the staff to safely get everyone off the ride and were given a Fastrack pass to use on another attraction as compensation.
One final attempt
We decided to use our Fastrack pass on Mandrill Mayhem and joined the queue. However, after waiting for a little while, the ride was temporarily closed.
At that point, it felt as though the day was trying to tell us something.
With the Vampire ride closed, Tiger Rock out of action and now Mandrill Mayhem temporarily unavailable, we seriously considered heading home.
However, we decided to give it one last chance. Mandrill Mayhem eventually reopened, so we headed back and managed to enjoy one final thrilling ride before calling it a day.
The animals and shows
We never venture into the animal areas at Chessington because I personally don’t agree with theme parks keeping animals. I really wish this was something that would come to an end, as it is the one aspect of parks such as Chessington that I find difficult to support.
We also tend to skip the shows now, as the girls have grown out of that side of the theme-park experience. These days, they are far more interested in getting onto the next big ride!
Before leaving, we grabbed some sweets. I must say, it was good to see the vegan options clearly labelled. During our previous visit, I had to cross-check all of the ingredients myself, so this made things much easier.
Was Chessington worth it?
All in all, we had a lovely day out.
We probably didn’t need the additional expense of buying chips, sweets and drinks, especially as we had already brought food with us. However, getting two days out for the price of one through the Twice the Fun offer was brilliant value.
The parking, on the other hand, felt incredibly steep at £15 per car. Once you add parking, food, drinks, sweets and any optional Fastrack passes to the ticket price, the additional costs can begin to feel a little greedy.
Ride closures can’t always be helped, but it was frustrating to find Vampire closed yet again – especially as we had been looking forward to finally riding it after missing out during our last visit.
I think we will probably visit Chessington once more towards the end of the year before we start considering trips to Thorpe Park.
Alton Towers is simply too far away for us to visit as a day trip, but perhaps an overnight stay will be on the cards one day.
