Last Friday we were invited to Chessington World Of Adventures Resort for a taste of Pandamonium, no, the park wasn’t over-run with children – Pandamonium is the name of the resort’s new show for 2016!
The show is located in a new area next to the revamped ‘Trail of the Kings’, and has a slightly more ‘understated’ feel compared to the Penguins of Madagascar stage which is further in the resort. It’s perfectly matched for the show – there’s no loud, sudden noises or throbbing music here – the aim of the show is to educate and entertain the audience with the stars of the show – Four Pandas.
These clever Pandas are a mixture of puppetry, animatronics and well – magic, if you remove your cynical grown up mind, you could just about believe these are REAL Pandas, Chessington have clearly spent a fair amount of money getting the Pandas as realistic as possible. Even down to the way they move and their quiet and shy temperaments, it’s fascinating to watch.
The cast of ‘Explorers’ encourage some audience participation during the show, mostly with a gentle ‘Panda Bow’ to show the Pandas ‘respect’, and we were also given the opportunity at the end to have a photo with the Pandas – which was nice (although J wasn’t convinced!)
Despite the name, Pandamonium is anything but – I think would be a lovely show for children with Autism or any other special needs where a traditional show filled with loud music and sounds would just cause distress. Pandamonium is very calm and quiet and isn’t full of special effects and stunts, it’s fantastic for audiences of all ages.
Elsewhere in the Resort, 2016 has seen the addition of a new restaurant to the park – The Smokehouse serves a range of American style ‘smoked’ meats (along with some amazing Mac and Cheese for Veggies).
Tomb Blaster has had a bit of a refresh too, with a new laser system installed and some refurbishment of the inside (although in my opinion it needs more work as some areas are a bit ‘dead’).
Later in year the ‘Explorer Glamping’ opens to give an alternative accommodation to the Resort’s Hotels with souped up ‘Camping’ within the park. I’m very intrigued to give this a go, although I’m not sold on communal toilets and showers just yet!
Also ‘Go Ape’ are launching a ‘High Ropes’ course at the Resort too – hopefully it’ll be as good as the one found at Alton Towers – that was AWESOME!
