Chessington World of Adventures Resort Reviews 

The staff on the day were friendly and helpful. They tried to compensate for the failure of Customer services to help with the pass necessary to avoid queueing for a child with special needs. I left multiple messages and was promised several times someone would phone back but no call back. Emails I sent were just responded to with a message referring me to T&Cs. Easy to get the impression that once you've paid for tickets, they're not interested in providing a service for a child with autism, this made the day difficult for us all.
Very poor responses from Customer services.

It's generally a 30 minute wait for a 2 minute ride. They don't clean the place, it's the same old rides with seemingly no updates/upgrades for the last 10 years. Barely any animals at the zoo, all we could see was one fox and two small gorillas who appeared for 30 seconds. Won't be going again.

This is about an incredibly disappointing experience my family and I had at the Aztec Temple Restaurant at Chessington Aztec Hotel on the evening of 11th April.
When we arrived, there was no staff at the check-in kiosk. After several minutes of waiting and searching, we finally found someone to check us in. Despite the chaos, we were asked to pay approx. £100 UPFRONT, even before being seated. Just minutes later after being seated, we were told by a staff member that the restaurant was closing - despite having just been seated and having paid full price. There had been no prior warning at the time of payment that the buffet would close imminently.

The food options were limited and poor. The starters included just two options: a Thai-style poppadum and a bland savory pastry. The salad bar featured limp vegetables and stale beans - certainly not worthy of the price that seemed extortionate. It was clear the buffet had already begun winding down before we even arrived, yet we were still charged full price.

When we raised the issue, the manager assured us we could take our time and that the restaurant would stay open for us to finish. However, just minutes later, another staff member contradicted this, reminding us again the restaurant was closing. This back-and-forth left us feeling rushed, nagged, and incredibly uncomfortable. To make matters worse, both I and my child experienced digestive discomfort and acidity later that evening - undoubtedly caused by being rushed into eating substandard food under pressure.

What should have been a relaxed family meal turned into a stressful, overpriced, and physically uncomfortable experience. I formally escalated the complaint the next morning (12th April), while still at the resort, but no one from the team contacted us during the remainder of our stay.

The response we later received was dismissive - suggesting the matter could only be handled at the time, despite us raising it in real time. We have been offered a 20% discount for a future visit which is both inadequate and impractical, as we clearly mentioned that we have no intention of returning.

We feel misled, let down, and ignored. Guests deserve better communication, respect, and value for their money.

Awful time at the park. Security management didn't know how to do their job. Awful customer service. Oh how Merlin have gone down hill

Absolutely appalling customer service, stayed in the on site resort hotel, made a genuine complaint and just got robbed off with a cut and paste reply

Merlin should not be allowed that monopoly on all these theme parks, as consumers we need a choice

Downloaded the menu for the Zafari restaurant, as we were staying st the hotel, but it's not up to date. Prices are completely different to those advertised. Duty restaurant manager Sarah, was rude and unhelpful, and even when shown the on line menu refused to acknowledge it and said she need to download herself as it must be something we were doing wrong. Its Very very expensive,. Tv in room didn't work properly and had to call reception for someone to come and fix it. A lot of money for this stay and absolutely not worth it. Don't believe the current prices on website. What was a lovely day in the park became a real disappointment in the hotel. Won't be recommending.

I’ve been reading reviews and can only agree with comments. We have been to Chessington short breaks several times and have never experienced such shambles. Breakfast at the hotel was awful with dirty tables unswept floors and no cereal bowls plates or forks. The parks are overcrowded and not a good experience. The theme park is soulless no atmosphere. We sat down for a show in the main arena only to be told there was none as it was Easter and there were things going on. I beg to differ there was one bunny in the park no music or characters. The food and drink was very expensive. I would never go back. It’s just pure greed!!!!

Blimey where to start. I hadn’t been to this place since I was a child, but I do remember what a great place it was. I returned yesterday and man, what a disappointment!! Criminally overcharged bland food served by rude, bored looking teenagers who clearly detest every second of their job. In fact the majority of the staff we encountered yesterday looked thoroughly miserable and fed up and had zero customer service skills. And this was picked up by a ten year old who asked me at one point “is it sad working here because nobody looks happy” Some of the rides looked tatty and old, and one odd thing I did notice was that they didn’t last long at all. Clearly a ploy to get people through as quickly as possible. No staff interactions for the kids, no magic, just an expensive money pit. Will happily never be returning.

Our child requires the ride access pass due to a disability, however after being guided via chat that this will be provided on the day, this was not the case! They were quite happy to take our money for tickets & parking! When we confronted one of the parks staff we was informed of the procedures (bit late now!), also the staff member was more interested in her walkie talkie than assisting us which I found quite rude! Then told us we would have to email and escalate, much more detail I could go into, my family will not be returning here after this awful experience

We were treated appallingly by staff who do not know their own policies. It was overall a disgusting experience. We'd pay not to have to go ever again!
Not worth the time and effort to get there, almost dissuaded us from going to Legoland simply because it's run by the same company. How can parks in mainland Europe do it so much better?

What an awful place it is now far too expensive,to crowded, to long to get on the rides ,no animals when we went,mo feeding of animals no music,no characters walking around nowhere to sit I could go on never again 6 of us went @£34 each 4 years old to 68 so not a lot of rides to go on for the 4 year old but too long to wait vampire ride broke down. Then to top it all £12 to park in a field . This company is greedy also dies not care about its customers

My daughter requires a ride access pass because she has type 1 diabetes and wears an insulin pump.
This means she has to take the pump off to go on a ride, and this is not allowed to be disconnected for more than one hour over a 24 hour period.
We were told through live chat that we would be able to get the pass on the day, so we went ahead and booked our park tickets online.
When we got there, we were told that they could not offer us the pass as they had reached their maximum capacity for ride access passes for that day.
So my daughter was unable to go on any of the rides.
Absolutely shocking customer service, no empathy or understanding for my daughter's condition.
It cost us £180 plus £12 for car parking, complete rip off!!!
They offered us to come back another day for £15pp but there is no way we will be visiting this awful theme park ever again!!

We had an enjoyable experience at chessingron. The toilets are ok. However the food is extremely expensive and the prices are not displayed on the dashboard. The lines are super long and the rides are very short. the rides are super fun and there is something for all ages. Lines are short for young children's ride. The zoo is pretty good and so is the aquarium.

Do not waste your time and money on this place. Spent over 2 hours queuing for one ride which lasted less than 2 mins. Everything is about getting you to spend more and more money. Managed to get on 6 rides. The rest of the day was spent standing queuing. Was there 10am and left at 17.30. Will never go again

Terrible experience. Attended on the last weekend of March, 2 adults and 3 7 year olds. Most of the rides were broken, on two occasions we boarded rides - after queuing for over an hour - only to be told they had broken and we couldn’t ride.
All of the ride queues were well over an hour, we paid for fast track for three rides for 5 of us as we were not able to go on any rides otherwise.
We were there for 8 hours, spent a small fortune on the tickets then had to pay on top for the fast track and in 8 hours only were able to go on five rides - 3 of them which we had to pay to skip queue.
Absolutely shocking, will never go again.

Hotel facilities overbooked, no access to pool or the restaurant within our hotel. Tried several times. Nothing available.
Rooms very tired and require updating. I took pictures of a leaky shower, torn mirror upholstery, cracked sink, sealant off sink etc - certainly not fair value for the extortionate prices. The hotel hasn't been maintained or updated whatsoever since it opened initially. The park itself- I am sure staff are trained to ignore and not make any contact at all with customers. They don't add to the experience other than looking utterly miserable- it feels like a standard and one that isn't being addressed

Horrendous treatment to customers who are neurodivergent. They used to receive support in getting access without long queues due to their individual needs. Now the service is online, extremely lengthy process to access, creating barriers to receive a ride access pass or running out of wrist bands, forcing the most vulnerable to rely on others for support or give up going there. Shambolic and demoralising. We used to love that place.

The rides are staffed by young clueless kids. Rides go out half empty because the staff don’t fill the cars. This makes the queues really slow. The Vampire ride broke down twice.On the second occasion the engineers eventually strolled in and made a small adjustment, but we’d all waited 10-15 minutes for them to arrive. The Rattlesnake ride had empty cars rolling round or with two people instead of four. Very disappointing as it’s not a cheap day. Please train your staff they are hopeless.

What has happened to Chessington Zoo?? First visit in 15 years what a complete let down. It’s half the place it used to be and the worn out rubbish rides it has left rarely operate. The poor animals are living in terrible conditions and it gives the name ‘zoo’ a really bad name. Who on Earth pays £15 for a hot dog? Just feel so disappointed with the whole thing there. Don’t waste your time or money and is there really the need for a huge hotel with so little to see or do ? It’s just not worth going there!

Awful day out every single ride we queued for broke down no information given from staff just left wondering what was happening the water chute had people trapped on the ride. Lots of the food places closed but funnily enought all the shops attached to ride open and the side stalls price was ridiculous chessington world of disappointment the only adventure I got was walking from the car crap crap crap will never return or recommend but other park users told us this is nothing new for the park to have lots of things shut down