Chessington Zoo/WOA

roddydogs

£2 to park as from Sunday, BH aint it dear enough already?:mad:

eezer

Nothing short of disgraceful. Another attempt by Merlin to fleece every last penny out of the customer. I suspect they're working on the principal that if you're paying say £100 for a family day out there then you won't notice another £2.

They've been charging to park at Alton Towers for years, but this year that also applies to standard pass holders. Every year the restriction on the pass get more and more.

I know it's "only" £2, but I'll be looking to park free in the locality.

vikingaero

I'd pay £2 if they actually put the money towards their shoddy potholed car park.

roddydogs

eezer wrote: »

Nothing short of disgraceful. Another attempt by Merlin to fleece every last penny out of the customer. I suspect they're working on the principal that if you're paying say £100 for a family day out there then you won't notice another £2.

They've been charging to park at Alton Towers for years, but this year that also applies to standard pass holders. Every year the restriction on the pass get more and more.

I know it's "only" £2, but I'll be looking to park free in the locality.

Not much parking locally, you could park at the garden centre or the Monkey Puzzle till they wise up, but you still got a bit of a walk.

vikingaero

Here's the response I received from Chessington:

Dear Viking,
Thank you for your email.

We can confirm that, this year, Chessington World of Adventures Resort is coming into line with all other Merlin resort attractions in the UK with the introduction of a daily charge for the use of its car parks. This will allow a number of substantial improvements to take place this year and beyond in terms of the presentation, maintenance, safety and security of the car parks for the benefit of all guests. The cost for parking will be £2 per day, a percentage of which will be donated to the Chessington Conservation Fund.

Free car parking privileges will remain a benefit of the Premium Merlin Annual Pass, hotel guests, as well as for existing Standard Merlin Annual Pass-holders until the current pass expires.

Chessington is dedicated to constantly looking to improve facilities across the park and all feedback will of course be considered when planning new projects.


We have a number of incredibly exciting, new, wild adventures waiting to be discovered here at Chessington this year and beyond, and we look forward to welcoming you to enjoy the vast array of fantastic, unique experiences we have on offer.

See you soon at “Britain’s Wildest Adventure!”

Tamster150

grrr - I was shocked at having to pay this at Legoland! There were even people there prepared to pay £6 to park on the doorstep!

I live near CWA - I imagine parking is going to become a pain as well as the trafic on the A243

starjob

I don't think there is many theme parks that don't charge now, like previously said its expensive enough as it is for a day out to any of them

property.advert

I'm looking to go and car parking charges does really annoy me but the argument is that if it is free, then those who use public transport effectively subsidise those who come in their cars. That is not fair either is it ?

mew

I used to be of the opinion that the Theme Park car parking charges were a rip off, until I learnt that ZSL London Zoo want £13! for parking and ZSL Whipsnade want £4 to park (or £17 if you want to take your car in). Fair enough they are charities and £13 is probably cheap to park in London but Whipsnade is in the middle of the countryside!

The worst Merlin Group offender has to be Alton Towers. £5 to park (£15 if you are lazy) and then they refused to fund a new road which would improve access and safety for visitors and cause less disturbance for locals.

The only way Merlin will stop charging for parking is if enough people stop visiting (that however is very unlikely to happen).For anybody wanting a change tjhough from the Merlin cartel, Flamingo Land in North Yorkshire and Drayton Manor in Tamworth are both great alternatives to Alton Towers and Chessington and both have FREE Parking.

mew

property.advert wrote: »

I'm looking to go and car parking charges does really annoy me but the argument is that if it is free, then those who use public transport effectively subsidise those who come in their cars. That is not fair either is it ?

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property.advert

mew wrote: »

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Meaning that nothing is ever "free" and if no charge is made for a car park, then that charge is absorbed somewhere else. In this case, it would have been previously included in the entrance price, which everyone pays, irrespective of whether they use the car park.