At Chessington World of Adventures in the winter the rides are shut down and the park goes quiet. From November – March the park is closed. Apart from a few select weekends from January to March that open up as Zoo Days as part of their Chessington World of Adventures Zootastic Weekends.
Although the main park itself is closed during these first few months of the year, when we visited there was a selection of rides open. It was just the right amount for the little ones to experience and get a taste of what the park has to offer. The rides open were : Canopy Capers, Griffin’s Galleon, Dragon’s Playhouse, Sea Dragons, Tomb Blaster, Adventure Tree Carousel, Elmer’s Flying Jumbos, Room on the Broom – A Magical Journey, Tiny Truckers, Blue Barnacle and AMAZU: Treetop Adventure.
The YooHoo Children’s farm is a small walk through area with more common animals such as sheep, donkeys, pigs and rabbits. There are goats and sheep wandering freely among the guests so you can have a stroke. Noah loved trying to stroke the sheep but let’s just say that the sheep wasn’t that fond of him. This is a great little area as the children can get up close and personal with the animals.
We were very fortunate on our visit that it was a dry sunny day and we did manage to see quite alot of animals during our visit. We saw Giraffes which are one of our favourite animals, lions, tigers, sea lions, monkeys, penguins, gorillas, and many more other fascinating animals.
Aside from the Zoo and rides there are also a couple of opportunities for the little ones to play. Amazu Treetop Adventure is a fun climbing area where your little ones can run about up high near some of the monkeys that live at Chessington. Land of the Dragons also has a couple of areas which small children can explore themselves with parental supervision. The Dragon’s Playhouse next to Canopy Capers is a fun soft play area for children under 1.4m tall. There is a toddler area for little ones under 0.9m and a junior zone for those between 0.9m and 1.4m with a big slide, bouncy mat and high netted areas.
Eating at Chessington World of Adventures Zootastic Weekends. The main restaurants were open when we visited but many of the little snack and drinks huts around the park were closed. Or if the weather is a little warmer then why not take a picnic as there are numerous picnic benches and places to sit and eat.
There is a lot to do during your visit to Chessington and it really does have something for the whole family. Whether you prefer to just see the animals, enjoy the thrill of a ride or explore the play areas this is a day out which accommodates for everyone.
There are plenty of toilet and changing facilities for the little ones. My only disappointment in these facilities was that the door wasn’t wide enough to accommodate the double pushchair, meaning we had to leave it outside and juggle changing two little ones at the same time.
**If you’re looking for a quieter visit to Chessington than usual, the winter Zootastic weekends will be perfect for you. Just remember that the majority of the rides will also be closed.
**Zootastic Weekends run across all weekends in January, February and March until Sunday 12 March and throughout weekdays during February half term (Monday 13 to Friday 17 February 2023). Please note that Zootastic includes Chessington Zoo, animal encounters and activities ONLY. The Theme Park and SEA Life aquarium are both closed.
