While Chessington is not abandoned, it was closed for the season, many of the rides being removed for relocation to Thorpe Park. We were bored, so decided why not, we had nothing else to do.

Now I have to say we were very lucky on our visit, the theme park was covered in a layer of fog which rendered the parks 100′s of cameras pretty much useless, thus making moving about a little bit easier, although frequent patrols meant we still had to be careful.

I used to frequent Chessington as a kid, most people living in the south did. I was surprised at how parts hadn’t changed, while others looked completely different. First stop was the Vampire ride. This was the main event for most people legally attending, at the time it was Chessington’s only major roller-coaster.

We took photos of the misty ride and tried to work our way higher, sadly the higher we got the more cameras could see us. As a result we bailed, heading over to the swinging ship. This is to be another of the big rides currently being removed, currently covered in scaffolding, much of the ride already dismantled.

We had to avoid the center of the park, its where security were based and as such was the easiest place to be caught, our route giving it a wide berth. Next stop, Beanoland, passing a few rides which had been added after my last visit as a child. If I had to describe it, it would be something like “tree-land”, a medium height roller-coaster, almost like a fast monorail weaving its way around the park and through fake plastic trees.

We also came across Mr Toads ride, lots of fun as a kid on that one. By this point we were a little lost. Thankfully a map happened to blow past so we managed to work our way over to Beanoland, however a security van parked within stopped us in our tracks. Oh well. Next stop China Town.

This was always my favourite area of Chessington, themed like ancient china with dragons, Buddhas and temples, the log flume now drained giving access into the channels and up to the dragons mouth. My reunion was unfortunately cut short by sweeping torches and yelling, a 50mph sprint through the woods bidding a hasty farewell.