[PRESS TRIP] As a family we have a huge love of festivals and a huge love of Chessington World Of Adventures, so can you imagine how excited we were to find out these two had been combined to come up with Wilderfest – a festival within Chessington World Of Adventures itself, and during the summer holidays we were lucky enough to go and check it out.
We arrived to singing and dancing whilst we queued, which was great for getting you into that festival vibe and a good distraction for the little ones. After a very short queue we made our way inside and it was that tough choice of what we were going to do first. As I only had the younger two we opted to take advantage of the smaller rides, check out the animals and soak up the atmosphere of Wilderfest.
A lot of people think that its all about thrill seeking rides at Chessington World Of Adventures, when in fact some of the days we have chosen to enjoy the smaller attractions and these have been the best ones.
We headed straight for Sealife which we haven’t done for a long time now and we absolutely loved spotting all the different fish and getting the opportunity to hold a huge African snail – well I did as the kids chickened out!
From here we passed by the penguins that were relaxing in the midday sun and made our way to the monkey enclosure where the boys absolutely love the play area. This gave the adults time to take five minutes whilst they played.
Staying on an animal theme we hopped onboard Zufari which is one of my favourite attractions. The big Jeep takes you past a whole host of animals such a Rhinos and Giraffes and then gives you a pretty big surprise at the end, but I won’t spoil that for you.
Feed and watered we hit the rides, which in hindsight probably wasn’t the best idea as sugar doughnuts and fast rides aren’t exactly the best combination! We flew down the log flume at Tiger Falls, got soaked again on the chair swings and plummeted into the ground on the all new Croc Drop which called for some time to chill out at Wilderfest.
Throughout the day we were treated to music that popped up all across the park and lots of characters milling about and introducing themselves to the children, but there was also a whole area dedicated to Wilderfest where you could join in with funfair sytle game, grab some steet style food or just chill out.
The higlight for Oscar though was definitely meeting the baby panda and hippo – even I had to do a double take as they were so life like.
All in all Chessington World Of Adventures didn’t disappoint again and for me the thing that pulls me back time and time again after being a visitor for over thirty years is the fact one trip is never the same. They are constantly evolving to create a different and magical experience each time you vist.
Now I need to wait and see what they have in store for Halloween!
