My family visited Chessington World of Adventures - these were the best rides

In my opinion, they’re one of the best options for family fun, and Chessington World of Adventures is up there as one of the best theme parks in the UK.

And what’s great for a lot of us living in Sussex, is that it’s only around an hour or less away by car.

My family was invited to spend the day at the Surrey attraction, trying out all the rides and experiences it has to offer.

I was a bit nervous about visiting during a school holiday, but I was relieved that while on the day we visited during half term the park was busy, it still felt manageable when walking around.

I was pleasantly surprised when we were let inside the park about 10 minutes before the advertised 10am opening time. We went straight onto The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure – and promptly got stuck for 10 minutes with the lights on when the ride had technical difficulties. Not the best start, but thankfully it was the only hitch in an otherwise brilliant day. And it’s definitely a nice gentle one, and great for Julia Donaldson fans.

Next, we found the newest part of the park (for now...) the World of Jumanji, where you can follow in the footsteps of the characters in the movie.

Nobody else was up for the main event at that point, so I headed straight for Mandrill Mayhem alone. This is Chessington’s first inversion, but it didn’t look too high or scary so I wasn’t worried. Somehow, I didn’t really look at the ride while I was queueing, so I got the shock of my life when we blasted out of the loading bay backwards. We were then suspended up in the air before blasting off forwards around the track, and then backwards again. It really is quite a ride, and I came off really laughing to myself. It has to be right up there as one of the best rides I’ve been on in this country.

My children also enjoyed Ostrich Stampede and Mamba Strike in this area.

Straight opposite World of Jumanji is Land of the Dragon, where my children’s favourite ride was to be found. While Dragon’s Fury looked a bit intense, with its steep climb and drop at the beginning, we all laughed our way round the track as our car span around and around. I rode twice, but they did it five times in total during the day, which made me feel dizzy just watching!

For family thrill seekers, we also loved Chessington classic Vampire, which is a little bumpy these days but still loads of fun.

My son was too short for the other rollercoaster on site, Rattlesnake, so my daughter and I rode it alone. It was a real laugh with lots of twists and turns.

As Chessington is more of a family park than its sister park Thorpe Park, there are lots of what I would call ‘medium’ rides.

My kids love these and will happily go on them all several times. They particularly loved Seastorm and Barrel Bail Out, and enjoy the freedom of riding without my husband and I.

We were also all really impressed with Tomb Blaster. It’s a dark laser shooting ride, but it lasts for a decent amount of time so you feel like you get a really good go. Sadly, my husband pipped me to the post to win, but I wasn’t far behind, I promise.

Zufari, a safari ride where you get to see some of the many animals kept at Chessington, is also great. It was so nice to see giraffes and a rhino up close.

As my children are 7 and 11, we didn’t ride any of the rides for tots, but there’s a good selection. We did, however, do the Room on the Broom walk-through attraction which brings another Julia Donaldson classic to life.

Also, there’s a huge range of animal attractions and shows to see, but we simply ran out of time to do any of it, as my children were enjoying the rides so much. There’s even a Sea Life Centre to explore. I guess that just means we’ll need to visit again soon…

For more information and to purchase tickets to Chessington, see the website: https://www.chessington.com/