Chessington Madagascar Stage Show Review
Chessington Madagascar Stage Show
Reviewed by Sara Binstead
We were recently invited to the new Madagascar Stage Show at Chessington and delighted to go.
When we arrived we were greeted by some lovely ladies, who were incredibly helpful and explained what was going to happen. They gave the kids a superb gift bag, which had so many excellent things in it. They had some baby animals come out and meet the children, my children loved meeting the baby skunk and giant snail.
The welcoming party was very well organised, they had a choice of an alcoholic or non-alcoholic cocktails, (both were delicious!) The canapés were plentiful and varied and also very yummy!
We were then guided round to another room where we met by Sir Arthur Percival Stubbs, an explorer. He interacted with the children really well and made them all laugh. David Smith, the divisional director, then spoke and gave us some background information and showed us their latest television advert.
Sir Arthur then led us out of the hotel, through the zoo to the Madagascar party stage. The whole Madagascar party was really well done and was very interactive. It was also the right length, as the kids didn't have chance to start fidgeting and get bored. After drum jam came on and got the whole audience involved, playing boomwackers and then singing an African song.
The kids then had their picture taken with the cast, which we were then given free, which I thought was a really nice touch, as we had already received such a generous gift bag.
We then went back to the hotel for the buffet dinner, this was also well organised as there was a separate buffet for the adults and children.
After dinner the children had a choice of three rooms to go into. One room had face painting, my daughter had a lion done and it was the best face painting I've ever seen. In the second room they had the Madagascar film playing and were giving out popcorn. Then in the third room they had chocolate modelling, which we had to drag my son out of!
They had put so much thought into making this an experience that a child wouldn't forget, they went above and beyond what they needed to do. The room we were put into was a large and spacious and the bed was comfortable, the bathroom was a good size as was the shower. The best bit in the room was the view, waking up and seeing zebras and ostriches out of the window was something I don't think any of us will ever forget.
I cannot praise the staff highly enough, nothing was too much trouble for them, this wasn't just in the hotel this was in the park as well, every member of staff we spoke to was happy and polite. On the Saturday it was magnificent walking into the park through the zoo, and straight onto a ride before anyone else was let in. I am always so impressed the way they look after their disabled guests. It normally puts me off going to theme parks because of all the walking and queuing, but with the wristband it makes life much easier.
In summary it would be a perfect weekend away and I would highly recommend going. Both my children are catered for as my 6 year old is a daredevil and wants to go on everything and my 9 year old likes all the slower rides. The hotel is worth staying in, the staff are lovely, the food is good and it was incredibly clean.
We enjoyed it so much that we bought annual passes before we left!
Amelia (age 6)
I think it’s so cool, I liked it. Because I liked the dinner, because it was so special.
I'm so excited to go on the Kobra ride because I've never been on it before and it’s so cool and I'm tall enough now. I like the vampire ride because it’s so fast and I love it and I wanna go on it 10 times.
(When I asked what she thought of the Madagascar show)
I think it was so cool because, erm, cos, erm, my favourite characters was there, I loved it. When I had the pictures taken I loved them and I gave them all a big hug cos they are my special characters.
Morgan (age 9)
I thought it was a fun time to be there and I never thought I would stay at Chessington overnight. The Madagascar live show was brilliant. I never thought magic chocolate was real, it was brilliant.
For more information and to book tickets visit:
www.chessington.com/plan-your-trip/madagascar-live.aspx