So in march I will be setting off to visit the UAE with the ecc and on my return journey I will have a whole day to kill in london. So I thinking of paying a visit to chessington or thorpe but the problem is I will be stuck with my luggage. My question is is there anywhere I can store this on site?

How much luggage? 1 bag or several suitcases? There are lockers available but these are quiet small so unlikely to fit a suit case in.

One of these these so not the smallest but if need be its something that wouldn't be such a huge pain to move around.

the only suggestion i could offer is contact the park via email/social media explain your situation, when youll be visting... as they may be able to help you out. better to ask in advance than put them on the spot.

Anyone know where they take the reindeers and donkeys when they go for their stroll through the park? Twice I've seen them being led through Pirate Cove from the zoo area towards Wild Asia.

TPC wrote:

Anyone know where they take the reindeers and donkeys when they go for their stroll through the park? Twice I've seen them being led through Pirate Cove from the zoo area towards Wild Asia.

I'm not too sure to be honest, but I've seen them go past the new-ish entrance to Land of the Dragons and through Market Square - so I can assume they go through Pirate's Cove, up that pathway near Fury, through Market Square and back round maybe?

ChessingtonSam wrote:

TPC wrote:

Anyone know where they take the reindeers and donkeys when they go for their stroll through the park? Twice I've seen them being led through Pirate Cove from the zoo area towards Wild Asia.

I'm not too sure to be honest, but I've seen them go past the new-ish entrance to Land of the Dragons and through Market Square - so I can assume they go through Pirate's Cove, up that pathway near Fury, through Market Square and back round maybe?

Seems a reasonable route. Very unlikely to take them much further up towards Wild Asia, otherwise the new residents there might think they're getting a takeaway delivery service.

Hopefully next time I see them I won't be eating lunch and can follow on.

I am trying to find the music from the Safari/Azteca Hotel lobby, Zafari Bar & Grill and conference areas. It is a compilation of various different tracks of African music. I am presuming that as they have been playing even when it was a Holiday Inn they are most likely trans available to download from Apple Music/Spotify etc, but was hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction, either already having a list of them etc. Your help would be most appreciated as always brings back memories of many visits. Thanks in advance

Anyone know what the state of the Explorer Car Park is? It was still under construction a couple of weeks ago and it's currently not listed on the Chessington website, bar a brief mention in a bit about motorhomes.

Would be nice to know if there's going to be parking issues this weekend beforehand. I sent a message to Chessington direct, but no response.

Swarm Chris wrote:

Anyone know what the state of the Explorer Car Park is? It was still under construction a couple of weeks ago and it's currently not listed on the Chessington website, bar a brief mention in a bit about motorhomes.

Would be nice to know if there's going to be parking issues this weekend beforehand. I sent a message to Chessington direct, but no response.

To answer my own question: Chessington have just confirmed to me that Explorer Car Park will be open from tomorrow.

Hi all,

I have been trying to book tickets with my Merlin pass for Chessington World of Adventures today but when I enter my pass details it says there is no space till next month but when I try and book tickets without passes paying full price it shows there is space.

I have a premium pass so it’s not down to that. I know that the total park numbers are restricted but does anyone know if they are restricting pass holder numbers as well?

Hope this makes sense and thanks for any help.

Chickendipper wrote:

Hi all,

I have been trying to book tickets with my Merlin pass for Chessington World of Adventures today but when I enter my pass details it says there is no space till next month but when I try and book tickets without passes paying full price it shows there is space.

I have a premium pass so it’s not down to that. I know that the total park numbers are restricted but does anyone know if they are restricting pass holder numbers as well?

Hope this makes sense and thanks for any help.

Hi, welcome to the forum

The parks have different allocations for passholder pre-books and standard day tickets, so what you’re seeing are days where there are day tickets available but the passholder pre-books have sold out.

There have been occasions where extra pre-book tickets have been made available if day ticket sales are low but this doesn’t tend to get done until close to the day in question.

Just wondered if anyone has done this or knows if you can do this.... We brought our merlin passes recently but haven't been able to book up a slot for a day trip as its always booked up BUT you can still go if you're paying for a standard day ticket! I didn't pay all that money to not be able to go when we could've just stuck to paying when we turn up.

My question is does anyone know if I buy standard day tickets can I then get a refund on the day if we arrive with our passes? I know you can upgrade a day ticket to a pass and refund you so why couldn't they refund us for already having one?

It says on site it's to stop people not turning up, we want to turn up but can't!! It's so frustrating!!

Any help on this would be great!

Hanwev wrote:

Just wondered if anyone has done this or knows if you can do this.... We brought our merlin passes recently but haven't been able to book up a slot for a day trip as its always booked up BUT you can still go if you're paying for a standard day ticket! I didn't pay all that money to not be able to go when we could've just stuck to paying when we turn up.

My question is does anyone know if I buy standard day tickets can I then get a refund on the day if we arrive with our passes? I know you can upgrade a day ticket to a pass and refund you so why couldn't they refund us for already having one?

It says on site it's to stop people not turning up, we want to turn up but can't!! It's so frustrating!!

Any help on this would be great!

Day tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable, so it’s highly unlikely you’d be able to do what you’re suggesting successfully.

It may be worth getting in contact with Chessington directly and seeing what they say.

Chickendipper wrote:

Hi all,

I have been trying to book tickets with my Merlin pass for Chessington World of Adventures today but when I enter my pass details it says there is no space till next month but when I try and book tickets without passes paying full price it shows there is space.

I have a premium pass so it’s not down to that. I know that the total park numbers are restricted but does anyone know if they are restricting pass holder numbers as well?

Hope this makes sense and thanks for any help.

I'm having the same problem, it's so frustrating!

I get they're trying to keep numbers down but surely it doesn't matter if you have a pass or paid entry. We're trying to find out if we buy a day ticket can we then get a refund if we bring our passes. They probably won't but otherwise it seems you can never get a bloody slot!

I hope you managed to figure yours out

As has already been mentioned, the parks have different allocations for day tickets and passholder pre-books.

More MAP tickets have been known to be released at the last minute if there are a decent number of day tickets left for a specific day, but there’s no way of guaranteeing when/if it’ll happen and the only way to know is to keep checking the website.

It’s far from an ideal situation, hopefully now we’re moving into off-peak season the parks will look at shuffling the allocations round to make more available for MAP holders.

What date does the Theme Park rides shut this year? Or do they operate until the close for Christmas?

Mattovey1984 wrote:

What date does the Theme Park rides shut this year? Or do they operate until the close for Christmas?

Chessington have extended their theme park season until Saturday 28th November this year (although closed on Tuesday - Thursday in November), with Sunday 29th now a passholder exclusive day.

lewis97 wrote:

Mattovey1984 wrote:

What date does the Theme Park rides shut this year? Or do they operate until the close for Christmas?

Chessington have extended their theme park season until Saturday 28th November this year (although closed on Tuesday - Thursday in November), with Sunday 29th now a passholder exclusive day.

Brilliant. There is still hope for another day out this year then :-)