Changes in Chessington World of Adventures
After Chessington World of Adventures had increasingly cared for its animals in recent years and expanded the zoo area, they invested this year, in addition to the constant improvements to the amusement park, in a ride and immediately in new enclosures for African animals. In fact Chessington is more beautiful than ever before, because the Flying Dumbos, which moved last year, is now in a matching paintwork. A further five million pounds is currently being invested in further improvements to the park’s appearance, which is why the Dragon Falls log flume, the Powered Coaster Runaway Train and some of the paths are currently closed to visitors. The start of this movement is Zufari.
Zufari
The big novelty this year is Zufari, an installation where you are guided in a spacious off-road vehicle, with a capacity of 30 people + driver, to an off-road track with some surprises, where you can observe some animals. Theoretically you can compare the installation with the beginning of the Jungle Safari from the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, before you go into the jungle and sarcasm takes over.
Zufari offers everything you would expect from a safari based attraction. After you have completed or skipped the obligatory photo shoot in the queue, you wait for the entrance to a preshow room, which actually only serves to distract the children a little from the waiting time, because the actual film is soon played. Afterwards a monkey appears on the screen, which was already visible in the movie. This monkey interacts with the audience, like for example in Stitch live! from the Walt Disney Studios in Paris. Unfortunately, the comments here are all harmless and the animation is not that good, but the children liked it.
After boarding the truck, the very jerky and funny ride starts. As soon as the vegetation here is fully developed, this part will surely give you a much greater sense of adventure than the ride has been so far. Along a non-equipped flamingo enclosure we now pass the giraffe enclosure, where strange signs have been put up on the hall, all of which warn against passing through a cave.
With a little wit and some forward and backward driving the actual safari starts now. You can see giraffes, zebras and rhinos, which will surely be seen in the big enclosure next door, which will further enhance the hotel stay at the park.
Since a path is blocked, we’re going into the cave after all. What you can expect in the cave itself is especially pleasing for the left side of the car. As known, Chessington enhances some attractions by a huge amount of water. The fact that children are only allowed to occupy the middle seats has now been cleared up, as well as why the floor was so wet when entering the car. A waterfall at the end of the cave is the reason why the cars still drip when entering the loading station is the only effect that was self-evident from the beginning.
For the water-loving English, the finale certainly rounds off the Ride into Africa, but even the German doesn’t have to worry about too much contact with water, as it is only slightly higher than the grand finale of the dark ride Bubble Works and by no means as soaking wet as the wave swinger Monkey Swinger – where the drenching fountains were unfortunately not used on the day of the visit – or the Top Spin Rameses Revenge.
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Bellewaerde in Ypern nearby the French Border by Kortrijk is one of the biggest theme- and animal parks in Belgium. The park was founded in 1954 and is currently being operated by the French group Compagnie des Alpes. The park offers a wide range of family rides, among them you can take a ride on the only HUSS Topple Tower left in operation.
