Chessington Plans to Build an Indoor Water Park

(eap) Southwest London-based theme park resort Chessington World of Adventures (part of the Merlin Entertainments Group) recently submitted plans to build a themed indoor water park. With this development, the leisure destination, which already consists of a theme park, a zoo, a SEA Life aquarium, two themed hotels and a glamping facility, hopes to further diversify and expand its offerings to prepare for the future. Initial design sketches, by the architectural firm FaulknerBrowns, show expansion plans for the existing “Safari Hotel”, the northern wing of which will be extended by the adjacent new water park building. The waterpark will extend over several floors and include numerous attractions such as a wave pool, water slides, a water playground, an adventure river, several pools and much more. In addition, there will be an entrance area, a café, a relaxation room, changing rooms and sanitary facilities, as well as terraces, a snack bar and cabanas, amongst other things.

The creation of the water park is intended to increase the resort’s attractiveness during the cold season and to optimize the hotel’s occupancy rate outside the peak season. Of course, the expansion should also extend the length of stay of overnight guests. The project is estimated to cost around 38 million British pounds (approx. 44.5 million euros). If everything goes according to plan, the water park could open as early as 2025.

Only in May of this year, a completely new themed area was opened in the park with the “World of Jumanji” including the Bolliger & Mabillard roller coaster “Mandrill Mayhem”. ■