This closed season, at Chessington World of Adventures, the park seems to be working on the appearance of older areas. With only weeks until the park opens for the 2022 theme park season in March, there's not long left to complete maintenance and train up staff.
Outside the hotels, work seems to have begun on the new lodges which will be being installed on the grass bank overlooking Zufari. It appears a new driveway is being built with drainage trenches dug and construction materials seen in the hotel car park.
Inside the park, Sea Storm is still being worked. The big cog on the Vampire's second lift hill has been removed and the chain has a metal rod in it to stop it from slipping down to the bottom. Looking down the pathway past The Blue Barnacle, it looks like the Vile Villagers walkthrough has been deconstructed with some of the tent poles seen removed.
With The Vampire and The Gruffalo no longer open, Wild Woods and other areas of the park have been blocked off with some new fences. In Adventure Point it appears that a new sound booth or office is being installed in the old Safari Skysky station. The Chessington Armada has been drained, possibly ready to be jet washed and painted?
Although Mexicana received lots of work during the last closed season with new theming installed, the new Tortilla restaurant building is being recladded to make it fresh again. There's mail for Rattlesnake, it appears the ride might need some new parts which have been recently delivered.
Croc Drop is still undergoing lots of work, all of the old plexiglass dividers can be seen at the exit along with some hydraulic hoses. Inside the ride, scaffolding can still be seen up one side of the crocodile's mouth fixing theming that has become damaged. On the other side, it appears that some of the cracks and joints have been resealed. To the left of Croc Drop, the Zufari entrance has had more repainting done to it since our last visit.
In The Rainforest, Jungle Bouncers has been removed with the seats stapped up to a nearby tree in the "Buggy Park" and the towers enclosed in scaffolding to make hard to reach areas accessible. All of the cars for Jungle Rangers have had plastic sheets fitted to the front of them, presumably the motors are in the front of the car and have been removed. The small boating pond outside the entrance for River Rafts has been emptied and repainted in the last few weeks. Tiny Truckers is also undergoing a few wheel changes it seems.
Dragons Fury is still missing its cars, however Land of The Dragon is receiving some major work this closed season. The whole of the area appears to be getting a facelift with some new paint. The building that contains the Dragons Playhouse appears to be being fully repainted. All of the drawings/paintings at the top of the building have been redone. It's great to see the area looking so fresh again.
Wild Asia is also receiving a major paint job this closed season by the looks of things. Temple of Mayhem has had scaffolding put up all around the building and since our last visit to the park, a new facade colour scheme has been applied. Over the past few years, Temple of Mayhem has been looking a little old but with this new paint job, it looks brand new again!
Inside the shop, we also managed to spot the cool new theme park branded socks. With designs matched to the branding of the park with the words "Wild" written on them, Croc Drop and The Vampire also have their own socks. Available in two sizes, Adult and Children's.
