We were recently invited to preview some of the spooky attractions at Chessington World of Adventures for “Howl’o’ween” 2017. This year Chessington has a variety of different Halloween attractions on offer including Creepy Caves Unearthed, billed as their scariest attraction yet. Creepy Caves Unearthed is recommended for adventurers aged 10 and over so my girls were too young to try it out. However, we did manage to enjoy a few spooky attractions aimed at younger children.
The girls dressed in their Halloween costumes for our spooky evening. Jessica was a colourful witch and Sophie was Batgirl. We started off our evening in the Temple Bar where we enjoyed some non-alcoholic cocktails and canapés while waiting for go into the theme park. The girls also got to meet a skunk and a couple of the owls from the zoo while they were waiting. Sophie especially loved the owls and asked me if we could get a pet owl. Something to consider if her letter from Hogwarts comes through in a few years’ time, perhaps?
The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure is the girls’ favourite ride at Chessington. They were very happy that it was open for the evening and we headed there first. We might have been on the ride a few times now, but the girls are always just as fascinated by seeing the story unfold in front of them each time. Best of all, we were able to stay on the boat and go around again!
It was dark by the time we finished on the Gruffalo Ride. We ventured over to the Trick or Treat Wood to see what, or who, we would encounter along the way. A mysterious character met us at the entrance to the wood. He reminded me of the Child Catcher in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and was guarding the entrance to the two paths through the woods. Would we take the Trick path or the Treat one?
The Treat one was chosen and we made our way through the woods, encountering fairies and pixies along the way. Sophie loved it and wanted to go back in. Jessica had found it a little scary though and didn’t want to return. It was probably a good job that we’d gone for the Treat path rather than the Trick one.
Our next stop was Hocus Pocus Hall. We hadn’t tried this attraction on our previous visits to Chessington. We entered the hall and made our way through the rooms, encountering goblins along the way. I loved the bridge which felt as though it was turning and twisting as we crossed it. I also liked the enchanted garden mirror maze. The girls weren’t quite so keen though!
Jessica and Sophie were a little spooked out at this point. We headed to the SEA LIFE centre to look at the fish for a while. They loved spotting jellyfish and rays, and finding Dory. The highlight of the visit for them though was the rockpool. They loved being able to put their hands in the water and have the cleaner shrimp come and clean their fingers.
We finished off our evening of Howl’o’ween fun with the fancy dress competition followed by some spooky storytelling. Jessica and Sophie loved seeing the Room on the Broom story being acted out on the stage and posing for a photo afterwards with the witch.
We had a fun evening and enjoyed getting to try out some of the Howl’o’ween attractions. Sophie loved it so much she was quite upset when it was time to go home. We have annual passes though so can always go back again during half-term.
Howl’o’ween 2017 is open at Chessington World of Adventures from 20th – 31st October, 10am – 8pm. There is an additional charge for tickets for the Creepy Caves Unearthed attraction.
I was invited to the Howl’o’ween preview event through being a Chessington Blogger Ambassador. I was given a Chessington Annual Pass to do this review with my family and I was not paid to do this post. If anyone would like to confirm any details in the post, please email press.office@chessington.co.uk
We love it when big theme parks out on special events over Halloween. Love the spooky woods and the Room on the Broom storytime looks amazing! #countrykids
Thank you – the themed events are fun aren’t they? 🙂
What a great way to celebrate Halloween, I love all the new fab activities that are coming up now. Jessica and Sophie both look like they had a fantastic time exploring the spooky attractions at Chessington. It’s wonderful that they had enough going on for the littler trick or treaters too so that they didn’t get too scared, I’m sure in a couple of years time you’ll be able to go back and explore from the older kids perspective.
Thanks for linking up your Howl’o’ween fun with me on #CountryKids.
Thanks Fiona. It was lovely that there was still plenty to do for little ones 🙂
This looks just the right level of scary for little ones! Love Room on The Broom and your little witches are adorable! #CountryKids
Thank you Zoe. The Room on the Broom storytime was great, the girls loved it 🙂
I loved Halloween and Hocus Pocus Hall at Chessington when I was growing up! It looks like it’s still just as good, if not better. I’m looking forward to taking my LO there when she’s bigger. (Great outfits too, by the way!) #CountryKids
It was our first time with both but lots of fun 🙂
Looks like they had lots of fun and that there are some fun activities for half term Halloween fun to be had #CountryKids
We did have fun and it was good that there was plenty aimed at little ones too.
I’m totally surprised that they weren’t more scared!! Made of brave stuff your girls! Love the batman outfit. What a great experience to visit after hours in the dark, I must admit I’d like the sea life centre bit the most!! #countrykids
They were quite brave – especially Sophie! It was fun to visit after hours 🙂
Oh my goodness I was there too! I have only just realised it was you from seeing picutres of your lovely girls!
I looks like you all had a fantastic time #countrykids
Oh I wish I’d realised, I would have made sure I said hello! Hope you enjoyed it too 🙂
Their faces in the gruffalo boat are so sweet. I’m not sure N would go to one of these. I think he’d be too scared! #countrykids
I wasn’t sure how the girls would react – thankfully the stuff aimed at younger children wasn’t too scary for them.
This looks like great fund – the outfits are fab too! #countrykids
Thank you Sarah, we had a lot of fun 🙂
Looks like a lot of fun. If I lived closer I would bring my 10 year old.
It was fun, we had a great time 🙂
This looks like a fun experience with just enough but not too much scary mixed in. So fun! I love Halloween.
It was fun – and just the right mix of scary and fun 🙂
Oh, this looks amazing! We might well go to Chessington next year, my girls would love the Gruffalo ride. It looks like Halloween is an incredible time to visit. Glad you had a fab evening.
Nat.x
Thank you Nat, we really enjoyed it 🙂
This looks brilliant, lots of activities to keep the kids entertained! Sounds like there is a good mix, for the more timid and more adventurous 🙂 #countrykids
It was a fun evening and yes there was a good mix of activities 🙂
This looks like lots of fun. We love room on the broom and the gruffalo. #countrykids
We do too – it was lovely to see the story being brought to life 🙂
We have never tried Chessington for Halloween. I always thought the kids were a bit young but perhaps Im wrong. It looks like great fun. The Gruffalo ride is also one of Monkey’s favourites. Love the addition of the Room on the Broom another one of our favourites.
I was quite surprised when we started going at how much there was for little ones – I always thought that it would be better for older children too.
sorry should have said #countrykids
Oh my goodness I love this – I haven’t been to Chessington in so many years – in fact I think the last time I went was when I left school which was a few (*cough* *16* *cough*) years ago now. Looks like a great event #CountryKids
Thank you Sherry. I hadn’t been for years until we started going this year 🙂