Chessington - Tips please

[abiknox]

Hello,

We are at Chessington this weekend, staying at the Safari hotel Saturday evening and then visiting the park on Sunday.

We are a family of four, 2 adults, 1 four year old and 1 one year old. Has anyone got any tips as to what rides are must do for the kids, anything we should head to first to avoid queues?

We are booked in for dinner at thew Safari restaurant, is this any good or should we look to eat somewhere neareby instead? Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance, it's a completely new theme park for us.

[inky1]

We were there at the start of half term.
My son is 16 but picked to go there as a relaxing weekend away so I can’t help you with the rides more suitable for the little ones - though there are plenty.
The animals and the petting zoo will be nice as well as the sea life centre .
We ate ate the Safari restaurant - and we ate there years ago when DS was much younger.
We found the food to be good quality - much better than Alton Towers.
So as theme parks go and with little ones I wouldn’t stress about leaving the hotel to drive anywhere else.
We’d booked swimming but didn’t go as DS came down with what turned out to be tonsillitis,
All in all I think you will have a lovely time .
We went on the Gruffalo ride too for fun as we remember when it was the bubble works - it was lovely
If you haven’t been to Lego land I would recommend that too while they are little .
Enjoy .

[abiknox]

Originally Posted by inky1

We were there at the start of half term.
My son is 16 but picked to go there as a relaxing weekend away so I can’t help you with the rides more suitable for the little ones - though there are plenty.
The animals and the petting zoo will be nice as well as the sea life centre .
We ate ate the Safari restaurant - and we ate there years ago when DS was much younger.
We found the food to be good quality - much better than Alton Towers.
So as theme parks go and with little ones I wouldn’t stress about leaving the hotel to drive anywhere else.
We’d booked swimming but didn’t go as DS came down with what turned out to be tonsillitis,
All in all I think you will have a lovely time .
We went on the Gruffalo ride too for fun as we remember when it was the bubble works - it was lovely
If you haven’t been to Lego land I would recommend that too while they are little .
Enjoy .

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Thankyou, that's really helpful. Glad to hear the restaurant is good, ill keep our reservation.

[inky1]

Originally Posted by abiknox

Thankyou, that's really helpful. Glad to hear the restaurant is good, ill keep our reservation.

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Well when I say good - it’s better than I expected and I enjoyed the Salmon I had
If you run out of anything while you are there - go out of the hotel car park and turn left - there is aTesco express about a 10 minute drive away ( we went to get Strepsils lol )

[Laura_<3]

We went in the summer with our 4 year old for the first time. It may not be as busy as it was in the summer but I would recommend heading to The Gruffalo first as it gets awfully busy as the day goes on.

We really loved the park, there was loads for our daughter to go on.

We also stayed at the Safari hotel and really enjoyed our stay enjoy!

[Bondy007]

Must dos…. Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, all of the animal attractions, Flying Jumbos, Tiny Truckers, Jungle Bus.
Safari restaurant is very good, probably the best place to eat, however we didn’t mind the Pizza place in the park (all you can eat - basically Pizza Hut).
We haven’t been for 2 years but the few times we’ve been have had a great time.

[mrsmickey]

I’m not a big fan of the park but my 7yo son is. It’s not a good park for queueing! The gruffaalo is a good ride, def get on that early and late before queues build, your 4yo may want to do it several times. Room on the broom is a walk through, I would advise once you do the pre show just hold back and let everyone else go first, then do it at your own pace at the back. It avoids kids pushing and shoving around you and is a nicer experience. They have a stage with a few shows, and your 4yo may like the scorpion express

[macdonald]

I think a good tip would be to cancel and go to Paulton's park, sorry!..

[Gill H]

There is a walk through area with parakeets. You can usually pay for a little cup of food for them (maybe not now with covid). But it is still nice to see them flying around.

[Sew109]

The food in the hotel is fair I think we found it slightly below premier inn. The food in the park is abysmal. We went a month or so ago on free tickets (had melin passes when we lived nearer and used to go twice a month at least) we ate in the BBQ place my daughter had a hot dog with the bottom covered in mould. My wife addressed it the staff changed it and didn’t charge us and as all the queues for food was similar in length to the vampire ride we ate. The problem I think you have is that most of the staff are young and don’t have the experience needed for everything.

Rides are great for little ones and some rides you will experience long queues and some you won’t, tiny truckers and the gruffalow will get very long. I would do tinyntruckers first and then gruffalow most of the early people try to get the “thrill rides done” gruffalow queue moves quickly. I think the soft play is closed at the moment but the tree top walk thing is open and when my little one was four she loved that.

I am sure you will have a great day but I strongly advise to bring food with you for in the park there is a petrol station with and m and s half a mile up the road.