To complete our summer news round-up of the southern parks, we took a trip to Chessington to see what’s new this year.
The park has received some nice improvements including Market Square Pizza & Pasta, an all you can eat restaurant that has replaced KFC and Pizza Hut. You’ll never find it without a queue, but is well worth the price.
The park is looking clean and tidy, and for the first time in many years all of the effects are working on the attractions which is nice to see – just a shame Thorpe cannot follow suit. Mystic East has benefited from some improvements over winter, and the queue line canopies have been replaced on Rameses Revenge for the first time since the ride opened in 1995. Also new in the Forbidden Kingdom is Fried Chicken Co. – which again, is proving popular.
An Ice Age attraction has opened up at the back of Beanoland to promote the new film. It’s a walk through around some of the scenes in the movie.
The Holiday Inn Chessington is now sporting the new company logo, with exterior signage updated.
There have been rumours floating around about Beanoland’s demise for a few months now, but they can finally be put to rest as Chessington have recently submitted a detailed planning application to re-theme the dated area, relocate a couple of rides and install a new one.
The below images are from the Kingston Borough Council Website and show what looks like an Asian themed area. Observations include the relocation of the Dodgems and Bus, retheme of the existing buildings and attractions, a new bird enclosure, reptile house and Disko Coaster ride – which is similar to the one installed at Paultons Park this year.
We are delighted that the park seems to be following the original concept of themed countries, and it’s nice to see a new animal attraction in the area which will spread the wildlife attractions around the park more evenly.
