Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a theme park, zoo and hotel in South West London, England. It lies 12 miles (19 km) south of Central London. Historically opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931, a theme park was developed alongside it, opening in 1987. In 2010, the park attracted 1.4 million people.
In 1984 Madame Tussauds Ltd., (later to become the Tussauds Group Ltd.) which owned Chessington Zoo decided the failing attraction, which was suffering declining visitor numbers, needed a radical make-over to restore popularity. The Director of Development, Ray Barratt, commissioned John Wardley to formulate a set of proposals to revitalize the asset. The Pearson Group (the parent company of Tussauds) backed the scheme, and a planning application was submitted to the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

This plan included a new monorail, powered coaster, log flume and a dark ride (all supplied by the German ride manufacturer Heinrich Mack GmbH & Co). The new rides were to operate on a pay-one-price admission basis, and replace the existing pay-as-you-go fairground rides. The monorail, named the Safari Skyway, opened early in 1986 to give the visitors a foretaste of the new attraction. "Chessington World of Adventures" opened as a theme park in 1987. The attractions were all heavily themed with emphasis on atmosphere and effects, meaning Chessington was one of the first true theme parks in Britain.

On 22 May 2007, The Tussauds Group was taken over by Merlin Entertainments Ltd which owns other brands such as the Sealife Centre, and The Dungeons. This meant that Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Madame Tussauds were also taken over as well. As a result of this purchase Merlin became the second largest entertainments operator in the world ahead of Parques Reunidos and second only to Disney.

The park has a large selection of attractions. It also has over 1,000 animals, many of which can be seen from the Safari Skyway, an elevated monorail around the Zoo. Since 1998 Chessington has been in the same ownership as nearby Thorpe Park, and since 2007, Legoland Windsor.
http://www.chessington.com/
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