Unsafe overcrowding, hours of queuing, and no response from managementWe recently visited Thorpe Park (7–8 April 2026) and Chessington World of Adventures (4 April 2026), and the experience was extremely disappointing and, at times, genuinely unsafe.At Thorpe Park, we spent over an hour just trying to enter the park, followed by queue times of 100–180 minutes per ride. Despite spending most of the day in queues, we only managed two rides on the first day. Multiple rides broke down after long waits, with little to no clear communication from staff.The most concerning issue was the dangerous overcrowding at park entry on the second day. Crowds were pushing forward to the point where I had to physically shield my nine-year-old child, who was crying and frightened. At that moment, I was genuinely concerned about our safety. This level of crowd management is completely unacceptable.We also experienced issues with Fast Track being unusable despite prior contact, and even when it worked, it still involved significant waiting. Food service was slow and disorganised, and overall the day felt like poor value for money.Our earlier visit to Chessington showed similar problems—long queues, repeated ride breakdowns, and overcrowding to the point where even the zoo was difficult to navigate.What is most frustrating is that after raising these issues directly with Merlin Entertainments, we have received no response.This does not feel like a one-off bad day—it feels like a systemic issue with overcrowding and poor operations. Until this is addressed, I would strongly caution families, particularly those with young children, before visiting.
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