LET’S TWIST AGAIN!
Theme parks have reopened at last — and not even a face mask can disguise the thrill,
NOrMAlly it would be worrying to have a gun pointed in the direction of your forehead — but not right now. Half an hour later, though, my nerves are thoroughly minced — for I’ve just spent four minutes being flung around like a bat out of hell on the menacing-looking Vampire ride.
Not a soul can sense that I’m jelly on the inside because the mandatory face mask I’m wearing has rendered me, and everyone else, entirely expressionless.
‘How was it, Mum?’ my two girls, ecstatic to be back on their favourite ride, inquire.
‘Breezy. Bit tame, if anything,’ I say. After almost four months, the nation’s theme parks have fired up their high-octane rides once more for those who crave the kind of adrenaline hit only a 45mph loop-the-loop can bring.
Just after 10am, our family of four, including big- ride aficionados Belle, eight, and Cleo, six, join the queue, which is more of a trickle than a flood, at the gates of Chessington World of Adventures, 150 acres of orchestrated fun a few miles north of the M25 in Surrey.
A temperature gun is the first indicator that things in themepark land are a little different now. It’s painless, though; a reassuring blue light tells the attendant in hi-viz that none of us is harbouring a fever. The children are both back at school and already well versed in such measures.
Their endgame is to stuff as many rides into our day as we can — and if that means obediently following rules, which are laid out on new signs all over the park, then they happily will. One quick bag check from a security guard shielded behind a plastic screen and a dollop of hand sanitiser each, we’re in. Some 10,000 guests would arrive here on a peak season Saturday pre- pandemic, but around a quarter of that figure is expected to pitch up today.
Covid-proofing an attraction that plies its trade in mass human interaction, via 40 smile-inducing rides, a 1,000-animal zoo, countless live shows, two hotels and an indoor aquarium, is no mean feat.
Bar soft-play areas and the West End- style shows, Chessington’s rides are all open and, despite the fewer numbers, it feels pretty busy. As we get our bearings, friendly announcements interrupt the piped music to remind visitors to social distance. Masks aren’t compulsory when wandering between ‘zones’, but certain rides do require anyone aged six or over to wear one. The Vampire, the hugely popular 2,200ft-long leg-dangling coaster, is one of them.
KOBRA, a sort of giant dinner plate that swings up and down a steel arch while riders are perched on its edges, is another. Wearing a face covering makes not a jot of difference to the experience for me, and any worries about it falling off are quickly displaced by the usual anxiety, nausea and, finally, relief when the thing stops.
The girls, utterly exhilarated, are more conscious of the shorter opening hours (10am until 4pm) and pinball between rides.
Queue-times feel ordinary. There may be a quarter of the people, but there’s heaps more cleaning, which means if you normally wait an hour, you’ll probably still wait an hour.
Attendants direct visitors into alternate cars to respect the onemetre-plus social distancing rules, and rides pause every half an hour for ‘a deep clean’, which seems to take up to about ten minutes.
On new ride Elmer’s Flying Jumbos, we watch as all 12 elephant cars are wiped down. It’s just shy of midday and the attendant already looks broken by the routine. Still, the view from the queue is generally supportive; we all want this to work.
As for lunch, we eat our own sandwiches but the aroma of chips floats through the park as it always has. For now, food is takeaway only.
After months of lockdown, daytripping at a theme park could prove a real tonic this summer.
TRAVEL FACTS TICKETS to Chessington start from £29.50. Visit chessington.com