Chessington World of Adventures for Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers

Bridget and Beatrice at Chessington World of Adventures

For Bridget's fourth birthday in September the four of us enjoyed one of Chessington World of Adventure's short breaks with two days in the park and an overnight stay in the Safari Hotel.

It was the girls' first time and a trip down memory lane back to our respective teenage years for Glen and I; and despite the first day coinciding with the wettest day of the year so far, we had a great time in both the park and the hotel. 

Chessington Safari Hotel 

We stayed in one of Wayanama Rooms and I urge you to take the many negative reviews of these rooms with a pinch of salt; ours was fab. It was spacious, comfortable, immaculately clean and the reason we particularly chose this room, for the views over the Wayanama Nature Reserve was absolutely wonderful. We were delighted to spot the zebras and ostrich roaming around from the comfort of our rooms, especially first thing in the morning. There were also other unidentified animals, which we later found out were ankole and sitatungas, during our night-time wander around the edge of the reserve, something exclusive to hotel guests.

The Safari Hotel for me was an absolute triumph, I was charmed on arrival by the animal print decor, but the little touches for children throughout were what really won us over. 
They had a children's film area complete with chairs and bean bags, an armadillo enclosure, an in-hotel swimming pool and a range of payable amusements too; plenty to keep the children entertained, as well as a lovely zebra themed bar area for the grown ups.

Bridget & Beatrice at the Wayanama seating area overlooking the nature reserve

Impressive welcoming giraffe at the Safari Hotel, Chessington World of Adventures

Wayanama Room at the Safari Hotel, Chessington World of Adventures

Bridget and Beatrice loving their animal themed bunk beds at Safari Hotel, Chessington World of Adventures

The hotel restaurant offers a variety of food; it didn't really appeal to us, so we took a short drive down the road and enjoyed a low key Sunday dinner at The Star; but if you didn't want to venture out once checked in, I'm sure you could find something on the menu.

The only downside for me with the hotel was the breakfast, which was included with the deal. On this particular morning, for some reason they combined the two hotels, and bunged us all into the same restaurant in the Azteca Hotel, which would be find except it was unorganised chaos. You have to book a time slot in advance for breakfast, but we still queued for quite some time, and once in it was a bit of a free for all. Dirty plates were left laying around and packed high on neighbouring tables and it was just a bit shambolic to be honest. The selection of breakfast, particularly the continental was good, branded cereals, pastries, muffins, yoghurts, granola as well as hams, cheeses and bread with preserves. Again for the cooked breakfast option, the variety was huge, but it was not laid out appealingly, the scrambled egg literally looked like a mountain of rubber and it was just a bit poor in terms of presentation. That being said, there was a huge variety, including a vegetarian station, and we all managed to eat something. A shame really as it was the only negative to our stay.

Chessington World of Adventures - Rides

We arrived on the Sunday which was Bridget's actual birthday, and as I mentioned it was the first day for months of real heavy rain; we were prepared though and had waterproofs at the ready, and didn't let it dampen (see what I did there) our visit at all. It stopped around 2pm too and the Monday was dry and warm.

I was nineteen the last time I visited Chessington, back in 2003 and I have to say it hasn’t changed as much as you might think. The park is still split out into 'lands' such as 'Wild Woods' and 'The Pirates Cove' and some of the old favourites are still around; such as The Vampire Ride. 

Bridget enjoying one of the rides at Chessington with Glen

Tiny Truckers ride at Chessington

One of my old childhood favourites, the Bubbleworks has been re-dressed as The Gruffalo River Ride and is just as magical now as when I was a child, especially as we love the Gruffalo. There are plenty of more tame rides for children and toddlers which was perfect for Beatrice who was only 19 months at the time. The Adventure Tree, a merry-go-round with animal theme, Tiny Truckers,Flying Jumbo's and Toddler's Crazy Cars plus several more that we could all go on as a family; great fun. 

Bridget enjoyed some of the bigger rides such as the Treetop Hoppers, Jungle Bus and Sea Dragons and was eyeing some of the rides aimed at taller, and older children, and angling for us to come back soon.

Chessington World of Adventures - The Zoo 

Combining the fairground rides with the fantasically varied zoo makes Chessington such a winner for families as there is something for everyone, regardless of age.

Bridget really loved coming on the Zufari off-road bus ride through the nature reserve seeing some of the bigger animals, such as the giraffes, elephants, rhinos, and zebras up close. 

Everything you would expect in a zoo such as lions, tigers, monkeys and gorillas are there as well a plenty of more unusual wildlife. Binturong, otters and meerkats as well as a penguin and sea lion area made the zoo a never-ending joy for the children. As with many zoos, there was invites for guests to come along at designated times to watch feeding times and see shows with various animals which was fun too. 

Bridget at the penguin enclosure at Chessington World of Adventures

Whilst watching the lions pacing, we saw one jump up and roar at a shocked guest gawping at one of the viewing points who promptly jumped out of his skin - it may be my sense of humour but it tickled me and I bet that man won't forget it in a hurry.

Chessington World of Adventures - Children's Petting Zoo

In addition to the bigger zoo animals, the park has the children;s zoo and a chance for the kids to go into a petting zoo, and walk around with the likes of sheep and goats as well as stroking them etc. Bridget and Beatrice were elated and it was actually a struggle to entice them away. There were also rabbits, pigs and guinea pigs in this area.

In the children's petting zoo at Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington World of Adventures - Sealife Centre

There is also a fairly large Sealife Centre inside of Chessington, which was a great place for us to start during the heavier rain on the Sunday. They had a little treasure hunt for children, an excellent way of engaging the children, Bridget certainly enjoyed it.

Fun in the Sealife Centre at Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington World of Adventures - Shows

The other must-do activity at Chessington if you're there with under 10's, is a visit to The Gruffalo Arena for the show; it's fun, cheesy, interactive with the chance for the children to clap and dance along and shout out etc. I have to say my girls absolutely loved it and Bridget was even more thrilled to do the meet and greet with the Gruffalo. There are other shows on throughout the day which we sadly missed, but these are a real draw, especially with toddlers and pre-schoolers.

At the Gruffalo Arena, Chessington World of Adventures

Bridget delighted to meet the Gruffalo at Chessington World of Adventures

Food wise there are a few options dotted around such as a pizza/pasta buffet restaurant, fried chicken and a burger joint with various food carts throughout and Costa outlets (but only the ones with a machines, no barrstas sadly) with pre-made sandwiches. We took our own picnic for the Sunday and headed off at lunchtime on the Monday so avoided the food outlets; I did venture into one to grab some drinks, and as always with these types of places, they are quite over-priced for what they are, so I'd consider a picnic, especially if you have a few children in tow as it can become expensive.

We paid just under £200 for the four of us for this break at Chessington, which included x2 days in the park for the four of us, including early access on the second day and an overnight's stay at the Safari Hotel with breakfast. 

The website is packed with various themed events and stays so I will be keeping my eye out for any great offers.

We had an utterly brilliant family adventure at Chessington, and will be sure to return again once Beatrice is old enough to enjoy a few more rides.