Chessington World of Adventures
Chessington World of Adventures Resort (often abbreviated to just "Chessington" or "CWoA") is a theme park, zoo and hotel complex that lies 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Central London, England in the Chessington area of the Kingston upon Thames borough. Historically opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931, a theme park was developed alongside the zoo, opening on June 7, 1987, making it the first themed amusement park in Britain. Owned and operated by Merlin Entertainments since 2007. Chessington has two on-site resort hotels, the Safari Hotel opened in 2007, and was followed by the opening of the Azteca Hotel in mid 2014.
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, Creepy Caves, Sealion Bay, Children's Zoo, Amazu, Penguin Bay and the Wanyama Village & Reserve as well as a Sea Life Centre.
Chessington World of Adventures theme park centres around immersive areas and high quality themes from around the world. It currently has ten areas including the Market Square, Mystic East, Mexicana, Pirates Cove, Transylvania, and Forbidden Kingdom. Land of the Dragons opened in 2004 for children although it includes the intense spinning coaster Dragon's Fury, and in 2010 Wild Asia replaced the area known as Beanoland. In 2012 Africa replaced ToyTown, and following this Chessington introduced the new area ZUFARI in 2013. Major attractions include: Vampire, Bubbleworks, KOBRA, Zufari: Ride into Africa and Scorpion Express.