Taking Elijah to his first theme park was something I thought would be hard to do because I was worried how I would entertain him in ques and on the long car journey to get to one of them. But I couldn’t of been more wrong (bar the sick explosion in the car on the way causing a quick run to lakeside for spare clothes and travel sickness tablets). We planned to go term time and last minute so the prices where cheeper the room for three of us (my mum, me and Elijah), breakfast and two days entry to the park was less then two hundred pounds. Which for a hotel on a resort is cheep enough.
We went for chessington because Elijah is obsessed with Julia Donaldson and the gruffalo. The park advertised a gruffalo ride and room and the broom experience too. When we arrived at around 1pm there was no ques. We went straight to the park first as our hotel room wasn’t ready, we got to park in the parks hotel car parking which was a minutes walk to the park. When I’m we went straight to the sealife centre perfect for kids interested in fishes it wasn’t overly big so it isn’t a sealife centre like the others but it’s big enough for five minutes inside! As we came out there was a meet and greet section where we later got to meet the witch from room on the broom. The costumes where fantastic quality and Elijah was thrilled to meet her! The staff where lovely too!
We then walked to have some food as we where hungry, there was a lot of choice but we went for hotdogs and nachos. The food was actiralky really cheep at about 7 pounds for a hotdog with topping and nachos and a drink which is even cheeper then I’d pay at a cinemas so I was impressed. We then went on the elephants which Elijah loved driving up and down and around with my mum. We then went on a few more of the kids rides such as the carousel of animals.
The park also has sea lion shows so we watched one of these then went on to play some shooting games on the temple shooting ride! There is a main stage to watch shows here also! we went on water rides and so many little things for kids. We drove cars and enjoyed our time together playing and doing lots of things.
The park also has a zoo and we went on a safari ride in a car train and went around seeing animals. Elijah loved spotting animals and then seeing them after the safari too. There where lots of play areas for children too stretch and get rid of some of that sugar energy.
We absolutely loved the gruffalo ride the decor throughout the wait was brilliant and got Elijah so excited. The ride is a raft ride where you look around and see bits of the film and book shown by models and more. It was really fun and we all loved it down to the music and getting soaked at the end. The Julia Donaldson shop was fantastic and had lots of bits you can’t buy anywhere else. However some bits where expensive. We did get quite a few bits from a medal and fridge magnet to toys and a teddy of the gruffalo! After the gruffalo we went in the room and the broom experience where it was basically a fun house telling the story again Elijah loved this! I won’t post too many photos of the ride as I don’t want to ruin it for those who go!
I was impressed with the cleanliness and all the food and drink outlets with different things to try we especially loved our gruffalo cakes and doughnuts.on the second day we caught a show and it was fantastic just like being at a theatre and the gruffalo even turned up! Elijah and lots of other kids smiled their heads of and danced along with the entertainers. As we went in term time we didn’t really wait for anything to go on or to get in anywhere. We had a absolute blast and will defo come again to the park!
One day is easily enough to do everything if you arrive early but if there’s a long drive I certainly recommend staying overnight! I’ll review the hotel next!
Next we have the hotel and when I say I wasn’t expecting much I expected a premier inn style room and a cheep looking hotel but for the price we paid my mind was blown. The hotel looked like something from abroad it was huge and stylish. I felt like I was on holiday in a safari park when I walked through the decor was tasteful and planted on the safari park so you can see the animals from the windows.
The room it’s self was huge and had two separate bedrooms joined by a bathroom which had a bath and shower it was clean and well decorated with two TVs and all the amenities you could need. Elijah was very excited by the bunk bed and tv. The bed pulled out into a three bunk bed! The beds where comfy and their was AIRCON although ours was broken and I was quite warm!
The hotel allows you to use the pool and splash park which Elijah loved he had a smile on his face the whole time and even I enjoyed the splash pool. We then went for dinner after having a shower the food was fantastic I had pizza, my mum a steak and Elijah had fishmongers. We had dinner watching the animals on safari and then went back and watched tv before an early start. We felt like we’d left the Uk the whole time and even the breakfast restaurant had us feeling like we where having breakfast on holiday!
We will definitely come back again! It was the perfect place to take a three year old and is family friendly however the rides are quite short so I would come if not too busy again as I wouldn’t want to que up long for short rides!
Life with the Hazelwoods 