It’s been a long while since we last visited for the CWOA Halloween event, and what a lovely day it was. It’s really worlds apart from how we remembered it, and we didn’t grab loads of photos because it was a family-focused adventure. However, let’s have a chat about what we got to experience and the offering overall.
Enchanted Hollow: Trick or Treat
This was a lovely little upcharge attraction in the location where Creepy Caves once was. We paid £6.30 each because we paid for the group of 3 offer as we had the two babies, my mum and us both. Under 90cm are free. All who have paid are given a bag to collect sweets as you go around. You have a little stop as you enter to watch a video before entering another room to meet a character again; he sums up what the experience is about essentially. As you head into the next area it’s full of doors to be knocked and some are tricks; others are just treats either way whatever one you get you do also get some sweets. The characters were brilliant in here and Liara is SEN but absolutely adored this experience. The interactions wasn’t too lengthy nor was it too brief. The quantity of sweets at the end perhaps wasn’t the best given the price of the tickets; however, the experience alone is worth the cost.
We were very impressed and appreciative that some of the actors knew Makaton; it really did engage Liara even further. Her face lit up when she had those interactions using Makaton. As parents that alone is a highlight and something we deeply appreciate as it just facilitates Liara being more included in these experiences. The whole experience is so beautifully photogenic. Honestly, if you have little ones you really need to take them through this. After all, this was Arlo & Liara’s first trick-or-treating, and it was done in style.
Spooktacular Scare Zone:
This is a free scare zone walkthrough with two different age ratings depending on the time of day. Before 3pm it’s 7+ age rated and after it’s 10+. We only got to experience the 10+ version. This is beneath Vampire and is also themed to vampires, which makes sense. Heading through, there are lots of hidden spaces for actors to use and a lot of clothes to get through making it easier for subtle scares. This is by no means a terrifying experience for adults but for those little ones, I’d personally judge your child yourself to know how they’ll react to jump scares and quite daunting-looking characters particularly the questionable gargoyle, whether it’s real or not. There’s a lot of pretty theming in here lovely and spooky. The location is brilliant for this as you had the already existing headstones from past rides on this pathway. The actors and characters were great; they weren’t extremely scary but they did give a couple of alright jumps too. Their costumes looked fantastic and how this is free and so well presented. We thoroughly enjoyed this and it did exceed our expectations in all honesty.
Rising Flame: Shadows of the Tomb:
This is a little show within the centre bit of Chessington, near the Carousel. It’s all mummy-themed, and I presume that’s to connect it to Tomb Blaster; if not then it’s close enough to put the two together. There are fires and pyrotechnics throughout this, a dance routine and VERY creepy-looking mummies. We caught this a bit later than the beginning and it still lasted a decent duration. The interaction with these spooky mummies is tremendous; they use their stage space then enter the crowd. It really is a lovely little Halloween show nothing too out of the ordinary or too extraordinary but it was enjoyable.
Decor & Rides:
Of course, Chessington looks stunning during the seasonal events. There’s spooky decor everywhere. The rides were all somewhere between busy and quiet on the first Monday of Howl’o’Ween. The rides we did weren’t necessarily in their best form. The Gruffalo had no fountains at the end, the giant Gruffalos eyes weren’t working and the mist screen on the exit of the ride wasn’t working neither. Tomb Blaster was in okay condition but still not 100%. It’s sad really and we appreciate it’s coming to the end of the season but the finale of The Gruffalo without fountains just falls flat. There were errors across all the ride boards that said they were “closed” but they weren’t.
Overall:
We love Chessington but it doesn’t necessarily feel the same as it once did in all honesty. There’s next to no zoo left to explore there’s such limit number of animals remaining. All the shows had only two times to catch them making it nearly impossible to watch. We really struggled to find places to sit to feed the kids as the top seating of Burger Kitchen has now gone and there are hardly any places around to sit. We thoroughly enjoyed our day but that’s what we made of it in all honesty. There were a lot of moments where things happened that just made me eye-roll, like when we tried to use our Platinum Fast Track on Mandrill Mayhem; the staff member scanned the passes twice (the first time worked for both) then told us it didn’t work and to go to guest services. However, aside from those moments, it was still a lovely family day out, and the event, despite the cutbacks, was still fun. We’d love to see the event almost go back to its former glory in the offerings and even see them reintroduce a proper scare maze as they really can create gold when you reflect on Creepy Caves that proves that.
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Thank you for reading!
