Working with total funners is always a massive bonus, so it obviously goes without saying that sometimes we take our fun-ness outside of the office. This Saturday we decided to take ourselves to Chessington, with two mini funners Hope and Grace in tow so we didn’t look stupid when we all piled on the Bubbleworks.

We were at it well early, and I was actually up at 5.30am with excitement (I LOVE rides), but for future reference for anyone that wants to book me early, just bribe me with a McDonalds breakfast and I’ll be up at the crack of dawn with a smile and my eyebrows painted on.

Chessington is a lot bigger than I remember, and there are a few new rides since I last went at 16, which despite how much I hate to admit it was actually 10 years ago.

Dragons Fury

We went on Dragon’s Fury first, along with the rest of the parks customers because it’s by the door. Dragon’s Fury is a steel spinning roller coaster designed by Maurer Söhne, who also designed the Sonic Spin ball at Alton Towers just to give you an idea.

After an emotional queue experience in which my colleague (I wont say friend) Ami decided to get her Dragon’s Treats out, and us telling the younger party members they were definitely going to fall out (who left us two with the kids again?), the ride breaking, and a little queue selfie, we finally got on, and just to let anyone thinking about it know, it’s faster than you think.

I also wouldn’t eat beforehand, because we went on it after some very questionable fried chicken a bit later and I deffo nearly lost the whole meal.

Tomb Blaster

If there’s one thing I love about theme parks it’s the little efforts they make with all the different ‘lands’ (although it was hard to get overly bothered by the giant Buddha when I’m going to Thailand in 5 weeks), and Tomb Blaster is in the Forbidden Kingdom which is made to look like ancient Egypt (although I’m not sure about the dodgy hieroglyphics).

These shooting games are always a great teambuilding exercise and way to tell who will be the most useful if your place of employment gets attacked by Zombies or Mummies.

Let’s just say. the first person you see who walks in is our admin lady Maxine, and lovely as she is if we ever come under attacked from mummies, the Zombies from Thriller or giant Ants we are all done for. I’ve started writing my will now and if any of you are wondering I’m leaving it all to my cat.

The Vampire Ride 

Sat next to my main funner Hope on the Vampire ride, and I’ve never met someone who talks as much as me! The Vampire Ride, in Transylvania was actually the first ever ‘big’ ride I ever when on and that’s where I got my love for rollercoasters.

Vampire is an Arrow Dynamics suspended swinging steel coaster, and if you are old like me and remember when it had foot wells put in then taken out again, it’s because the company that originally designed Vampire went bust, leaving a new company having to come in and do the essential maintenance.

Fearful that I’d lose my shoes the second time we went on, I took them off, and I can tell you now there is nothing more freeing than having your trotters swinging freely round Surrey.

Bubbleworks

When I was about 5, my Mum & Dad took me to Chessington as a nice treat. As soon as we got halfway through the queue, I started screaming, and promptly had to be removed from the vicinity. When I went back when I was 16, it still scared the stuffing out of me and even now I don’t like it. Safe to say, EVERYONE I worked with was on a massive wind up, telling me our boat was sinking and rocking it.

Cheers guys.

Rattlesnake

The Rattlesnake, in Mexicana, is also designed by Maurer Söhne and even the queue area is so cool and Mexican I couldn’t help wanting a burrito (best get myself down to Lakeside and use those Tortilla vouchers soon then!). I have been on the Rattlesnake loads of times, but I didn’t realise how much it jerks you around until I went on it directly after lunch. If you are thinking of chucking on your cowboy hat for this one I wouldn’t.

Cobra

If you have eaten, drunk, or looked at food in the previous 4 hours, don’t go on this one.

Zufari

Zufari is a relatively new addition where you go round in a jeep and look at animals. If you think these unlucky people are being attacked by hungry Giraffe’s, you can actually pay extra to feed them, so it’s all harmless fun.

Other bits of the day I enjoyed…

The man in the fried chicken shop defying physics and filling up my refillable drinks cup with more liquid than actually fits in the volume of the container, my colleague Tom leaving our colleague Casey alone in the shop because he was eating a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and paying little attention to much else, rocking the boat on the log flume and getting some obscene language from ‘someone’, having a wet patch I got on my trousers on the Bubbleworks posted all over Facebook saying I’d had an accident, and the picture of me on the Bubbleworks looking like I was going to cry.

Tickets to Chessington World of Adventures vary in price throughout the season, but you can book online and save:

http://www.chessington.com/plan/chessington-ticket-prices.aspx