Chessington History 2014

2014 will see a few changes at the resort, some planned and some forced plans have in turn delayed others.

With that said the fire at the park a few days before Christmas (2013) destroyed the new Creaky Cafe, which was only at the park for the one season. This in turn has caused some other damage which needed to be repaired, this has had a knock on effect for the Dragon Falls re-theme which has been delayed. Transylvania however has had a good tidy up with Bubble Works being re-painted blue, with a tidy around the entrance with the “bat cave” area removed. The old Creaky Cafe site is now a picnic area with the tower entrance being completely overhauled and looks fantastic.

Dragons Falls whilst not getting the full refurbishment this year has received new water sprays after the main drop, with the Dragon re-painted a much brighter colour more inline with the original colour of 1988.

Rameses Revenge has also re-opened after the breakdown mid season 2013, the new Market Square looks fresh with a paved floor laid along with a new circle ground center piece with top areas from the park on (can be found in Market Square page)

New for 2014 is the Scorpion Express, or maybe this should be re-themed for 2014 as this will be the new name and look of the Runaway Train which finally re-open. Completely new in 2014 is the AMAZU Treetop Adventure, getting you closer to the parks Monkeys you follow the trail along AMAZU.

Chessington have now taken control of of there Safari Lodge Hotel and it has been renamed Chessington Safari Hotel, this was joined in August of 2014 by the new 69 room Azteca Hotel, which has been built on the area previously occupied by the Monkey and Bird Gardens (which has been seriously stripped back) But is a fantastic looking hotel!

A great new wooden carving is now located outside Toadies Crazy Cars with animals from the park carved around the trunk. With new signage to Creepy Caves and a new platform for the Sea Lions in Sea Lion Bay.

The Children’s Zoo has been sponsored by Yoohoo with a fresh look and signage, along with Zoo Shop also being re-branded the same. In addition to this the Donkeys from Alton Towers are also now at home in the Children’s Zoo. For the new season many will be able to see the new Lynx and the Ocelot which arrived late 2013 in the Trail of the Kings.

2014 also saw the sad death of the parks female Lioness, with a replacement brought into the park in June, first pictured here on UK Theme Parks. August saw the park receive new electronic queue boards around the park, with one at each entrance and a large one in Market Square.

There were also a couple of minor restriction changes for 2014, with Toadies Crazy Cars moving from 1.0 metre to 1.1 metre accompanied by an adult, along with Sea Dragons going from 0.9 metre to 1.1 metre accompanied by an adult. In addition it was specified on more ride the maximum chest restriction of 51 inches, this included Zufari and Tomb Blaster.

The pre show of ZUFARI was removed assumingly to help get people on to the ride faster, the benches inside the hut were also removed. Although it was “off road” the track leading to the Giraffe House was also smoothed for this season.