page_title: Chessington World of Adventures
section_title: Theme park
hierarchical_section_title: Chessington World of Adventures / Theme park
caption_attribution_description: English: Central compass in Market Square, Chessington World of Adventures.
context_page_description: Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a theme park, zoo and hotel complex in Chessington, Greater London, England, around 12 miles southwest of Central London. The complex opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931, with the theme park being developed alongside the zoo by The Tussauds Group and opening on 7 July 1987, as one of the first themed amusement parks in Britain. The theme park, which features over 40 rides, is now owned by Merlin Entertainments, following its merger with The Tussauds Group in 2007. Under Merlin, Chessington has been increasingly developed into a resort tourist destination, including two on-site hotels, a high ropes course and camp site.
  Chessington Zoo has over 1,000 animals, including western lowland gorillas, sea lions, and Sumatran tigers. It is split up into several areas: Trail of the Kings, Sealion Bay, Children's Zoo, Amazu, Penguin Bay and the Wanyama Village and Reserve as well as a Sea Life Centre.
  Chessington World of Adventures theme park consists of themed areas loosely styled on a range of world cultures.
context_section_description: Chessington World of Adventures opened on 6 July 1987. Its main ethos centers around the idea of bringing together a collection of the different cultures and experiences from around the world; a considerable amount of the park is built on the stereotypical setting of each area it is focused on. Major attractions include: Vampire, Dragon's Fury, KOBRA, Zufari: Ride into Africa and Scorpion Express. Shows include Wild Factor and Pandamonium, which is seasonal only showing in the summer from 2017 onwards.
  The theme park comprises ten themed lands, each with a cultural setting. The central area of the park, Adventure Point, resembles an old English market town, whereas Mystic East is themed around the orient, with the water ride Dragon Falls opening there in 1987. Mexicana is inspired by a small town in America's old far-west. Pirates' Cove is a mock up of a Cornish cove. Wild Woods is modeled on a central European high street with Bavaria in Germany and the Transylvania region of Romania as its key influences. Forbidden Kingdom is based on Ancient Egypt with hieroglyphics carved onto its surroundings. Land of the Dragons is the only "fantasy" themed area of the theme park and is a self-contained dragon-themed land with rides mostly for young children.
  Among the newer lands is Wild Asia which opened in 2010 as a replacement for Beanoland with an Indian jungle theme. In 2017, the existing Transylvania area was renamed "Wild Woods" in conjunction with the opening of The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure. In 2018, Mystic East was renamed "Land of the Tiger", with the addition of new tiger enclosures and the partial refurbishment of Dragon Falls as Tiger Rock.
  Timeline of Park Areas
  Gallery
caption: Compass in the centre of Adventure Point, with each area in the resort labelled.
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