First aid and entertainment - Chessington was really busy and a lot of rides where closed and had long ques but there was so much going on and the shows where amazing that didn’t effect the children they had a brilliant time. Even when the gruffalo broke down the staff managed it really well and had us back moving so quickly. As we were leaving my little boy had a fall and smashed him chin on the floor causing him to need first aid. The security guard Alice was amazing. She was so kind and patient with him. She reassured him and made sure that he was calm. She called for someone from first aid to come and see him. They advised we got medical treatment. Telling me exactly where to go. Which resulted in us being in and out of the urgent care centre in under 10 minutes with a glued chin and sterile strips. She was incredible and I believe she deserves the recognition for her amazing work x

Giraffe VIP Experience - Worst Animal Experience We Have Ever Done - Complaint submitted 29th June, Response time stated was 5 days... chased them after 12 days, was told another 5 days, chased 10 days later.... just keep fobbing me off! WORST ANIMAL EXPERIENCE WE HAVE EVER HAD.... AVOID AVOID AVOID I am writing to formally raise a complaint regarding the VIP Giraffe Feeding Experience at Chessington, which my family and I attended on Saturday 28th June. We purchased this experience for a family of four to celebrate our youngest son’s 9th birthday, and unfortunately, the event fell significantly short of expectations, leaving our son heartbroken and all of us frustrated and deeply disappointed. The structure of the experience was fundamentally flawed. The truck used for the safari had feeding trays filled with food only on one side, meaning the giraffes naturally gravitated toward that side for the majority of the session. Regrettably, our family was seated on the opposite side and spent most of the time staring at a tree, while those on the tray side enjoyed 90% of the experience. Despite mentioning our concerns to the guide, we were told, “they will come round this side soon” — but they did not. Additionally, the single, meagre bucket of food provided for all eight guests was totally insufficient. Given that the giraffes largely remained on the side with the feeding trays, most of the food went to the guests on that side. My wife and I gave our portion to our two children, meaning we didn’t have the opportunity to feed the animals ourselves (not that the giraffes came near us)— an incredibly frustrating reality for an experience we all anticipated and paid equally for. We attempted to raise our concerns with customer services at the park, only to be told that the VIP experiences are independently operated. We then called the number listed at the VIP tent, and the person we spoke to offered little help beyond stating the experiences are non-refundable and that “we can’t force the animals to eat.” This response not only missed the point entirely but showed no recognition of the poor setup and lack of equitable experience for all guests. There was a clear lack of accountability, care, and planning in how this experience was delivered, and no effort whatsoever was made to ensure all participants had an equal opportunity to enjoy it. For a premium “VIP” event, this is absolutely unacceptable. We expect you to completely reconsider your stance on refunds and look into offering a full reimbursement, or at the very least, offer another VIP experience as compensation. Equally importantly, we strongly urge you to review how these experiences are managed to ensure they are inclusive and fairly delivered for all guests in the future. We look forward to your prompt and thoughtful response.

Poor value, no customer care, and disappointing family day out - We had an awful trip here, incredible waste of money. We visited as a family of 3 (two adults and 4 year old) on a very hot July day. We spent almost £115 with parking. I raised our issues directly with the customer services team afterwards, but unfortunately, their response only added to the disappointment. 1. Room on the Broom ride was half-broken Several interactive sections weren’t working at all, and the attraction looked like it hadn’t been properly maintained in some time. When I raised this in my complaint, the response was essentially that guests should report broken elements to staff on the day. I found this quite astonishing...we were there as paying visitors, not quality control. The fact that a core attraction was left in that state with no acknowledgement is not acceptable. 2. Zoo area was underwhelming and inadequate spaces for their animals. We saw almost no animals. I completely understand animals seeking shelter in the heat and fully support their welfare. What I raised was that the park design makes it nearly impossible to see anything when animals are inside, making the "zoo" experience feel misleading, where other places such as Drusillas have designed their park much more thoughtfully. The response from Chessington didn’t engage with this point at all. Separately, I thought several of the enclosures were much too small for the animals in question and it all felt very run down. Zufari queue was a disaster We waited well over an hour in the heat with a small child, despite a posted queue time of 20 minutes. We later learned only one of four vehicles was running, yet no staff member came down the line to explain the delay or support families in the line. In my complaint, I highlighted the complete lack of communication and care from staff, but again, the response simply explained how ride times can vary. That completely missed the point: it wasn’t the delay, it was being left to stand with no explanation and poor customer service/lack of care. Gruffalo ride closed with no warning This was the ride our daughter had been most excited about and the main reason we chose Chessington over other parks. We arrived after our Zufari queue to find it closed but yet again there was no staff communication. We stood waiting for some time, until another guest told us it wouldn’t reopen that day. Customer service response made things worse I wrote to request a partial refund or at least a gesture of goodwill. The reply I received quoted terms and conditions, said tickets are non-refundable, and explained why they might offer fast track passes on the day (though they hadn’t offered anything to us, despite us being in the same situation as other families who were given them). No apology of substance, no ownership, and no effort to make it right. We’ve visited theme parks across the UK and abroad, and this was by far the worst managed. I rarely complain, but I’d strongly advise others to think twice before spending their money here. A bad day followed by 0 care from customer services, purely an effort to extract your cash.

Santa visit - avoid avoid avoid - Avoid avoid avoid! I bought winters tale tickets for me and my family. I arrived and despite having paid for parking spend 30mins trying to find a space We entered the winters tail experience at our allocated time and then queued for AN HOUR in 5 degrees. In a line with no food drink or toilets Multiple times my son asked to just go home. He said he didn’t mind if Santa didn’t bring him a present because he was so cold. Santa was unconvincing (a young man in late twenties/ early thirties) who gave no chat and we were in less than 5 minutes. I have had to tell my little boy that Santa has helpers when he is busy but we might see the real one next one. Photo packages started at £30 I have sent all of this to their guest relations team and received a reply to say that it was a busy time of year and I should have read the terms and conditions which stated ‘we have made great efforts to make these lines and extension of the Grotto magic and also include warning on booking that times given are for entry to the main line’ This isn’t rocket science. You know how many tickets you sold, you know how many santas you’ll have. Yes a short wait might happen if you have a couple of families that take more time, but not an hour. Corporate greed over Christmas cheer. Christmas memories ruined. I received no offer of recompense from chessington and can only hope by posting here another family are not subjected what we went through.

SCAMMY - Booked hotel to get access to rides early the next day. Unfortunately most of the rides are still being tested during this hour and what you can go on is limited. E.g. Mandrill Mayhem - the one thrill ride opened at 945 instead of 9. Treetops was tested until 935. Park rangers, operator until 940. And the list goes on.

Unhappy Experience for My Daughter's 11th Birthday at Chessington World of Adventures - I recently took my family to Chessington World of Adventures to celebrate my daughter’s 11th birthday, and what was meant to be a joyful day turned into an incredibly disappointing experience. Despite spending £150 on tickets, we were only able to go on three rides—an utter waste of money. The closure of the Gruffalo ride after a long wait was infuriating, and the inaccurately posted queue times for Tomb Blaster were unacceptable. We were forced to endure a two-hour wait in cramped conditions for a ride advertised as a 40-minute wait. This experience left us feeling frustrated and cheated as the ride was not worth the wait. To compound our disappointment, the prices at the food stands were nothing short of outrageous. We were charged £17.50 for a basic noodle box, resulting in a staggering total of £52.50 for a family of four! Adding insult to injury, the refusal to accept cash meant my daughters, who had brought their pocket money to spend, were left feeling deflated and unable to enjoy the day. It felt like we were being taken advantage of at every turn. While I understand that issues can arise, I am appalled by the lack of any offer for reimbursement or compensation for the value we did not receive. My attempts to voice our concerns felt dismissed, making it clear that there was no intention of resolving our grievances. It’s astonishing to see that complaints like mine are ignored on platforms like TripAdvisor, while positive reviews receive immediate attention. This blatant disregard for guest feedback—especially critical voices—reinforces the belief that customer satisfaction is not a priority. I sincerely hope Chessington begins to take its guests’ experiences seriously and implements meaningful changes. Until then, I am left questioning whether I would ever consider returning to a park that has failed to provide even a fraction of the enjoyment we expected on such a special day.

Poor value for money - Absolutely rubbish day, spent all day trudging from badly managed queue to badly managed queue. Staff took ages to load and unload. 2 rides broke down after we had queued for over and hour for 1 and for 50 minutes for the other. Got on 4 rides all day. only place that had staff was the concession stands you pay extra for. Place was run down and poorly managed from the car park on entrance all the way through the day to the exit. I would not waste your money. Complained to head office and they literally could not care less what kind of experience they are providing

Absolutely terrible - don’t bother - Terrible!! Almost £400 for 8 of us and we were able to go on a grand total of 4 rides over an 8 hour day. Staff were only available on concession stands and the few staff you could see REFUSED to assist. Photo pass purchased for £25 didn't work and on receiving our complaint Chessington “customer service” washed their hands saying they do not operate the photo pass. Two of the biggest rides broke down and we were refused any compensation despite having queued for over an hour at each of them prior to the breakdown. Will never visit there again and I would save yourself the trouble, disappointment and expense and plan your day out elsewhere.

Dreadful dreadful Santa event, Customer Services is a joke - We paid to visit Santa in December 2023 for a specific timeslot with our 1 year. So a 1 year and two adults we spent over £100. Our slot was canceled at late noticed and pushed from 10am to 3pm which isn't good if you have a 1 year on a sleep cycle and you want to see the animals. We battled through and went, once arriving there were around 250+ families in the queue and no queue control even though we had booked a slot. It was zero degrees and a sign saying no prams in the queue. This was unsafe and unhealthy for any baby to be exposed for a long period of time at that temperature. We ended up leaving straightaway, and raised this with Customer Service on our return home. They were less than useful and told us that they had an issue with their booking system. (So they have taken more bookings and revenue than expected) but still didn't offer a refund. They said they could only look at this towards the end of Jan, in the end it took until the end of July to get a voucher code. This was also a joke, we had paid over a £100 for the tickets and they only gave us a discounted entry into the park for £15. As August would have been very busy, we waited until last weekend to find out the voucher code was only for 1 person, so literally they were only given us a £20 discount on standard tickets when we had bought a premium trip. The customer service on the phone had to raise this to their 'Management' and have absolutely no ability to make a call. Finally this is local adventure park with an AMERICAN customer service. Just shocking from end to end. If they treat their customers like this, imagine how they treat the AMINALS, just shocking. Advice, DON'T GO!!

Terrible experience - We went during he summer holidays, staff were very unhelpful in all aspects, on arrival we were not shown the entertainment, where to go to, what was on and when i asked we were just given a piece of paper, nothing was explained. Breakfast was booked by a staff member but when we got there in the morning we were told we were not booked in, even though i watched him book us on. My sons pillow got taken out of its case and when i asked where it was, staff said they couldnt find it and replaced it woth one full of yellow stains. I had to pay £10 for parking when it was advertised as free with an overnight stay. When i complained formally, we were just given a free visit 'because of ride access' not because of any concerns i raised and this was after i said we would not return in the email. They dont care they just want your money.