Chessington World of Adventures is always one of our favourite places to visit, thanks to their incredible entertainment team, awesome rides and stunning zoo, so we could not have been more excited to check out their Mardi Grrra event.

We loved to so much that we went back again on the final day, and still couldn’t get enough of it. Here’s why!
What is Mardi Grrra at Chessington?
Mardi Grrra was the event hosted at Chessington World of Adventures through spring 2022. Several other Merlin theme parks held similar themed events, but we visited the one at CWOA twice.

Complete with carnival themed entertainment, decorations and more, the Mardi Grrra celebrations truly kicked off the Merlin “Year of Epic Adventures” in awesome style.

The entertainment
We’ve always enjoyed the events and shows hosted by the entertainment team at Chessington World of Adventures, but the Mardi Grrra entertainment just blew our minds.

In fact, we watched the Mane Stage show four times and still could have easily watched it again – it was just fantastic.
Alongside the main show, the entertainment team hosted smaller shows throughout the park, so there was always something going on.

There was so much energy and passion shown by every member of the entertainment team throughout the day, from taking part in the main shows, to greeting the visitors around the park.

The team had fantastic costumes and every one of them went above and beyond throughout the entertainment, making you feel like you’d been transformed to a West End theatre production – it really was that good.

Kids and adults alike clearly enjoyed the entertainment – from the Elmer Colour Krew dancing (Lily’s absolute favourite), through to the zebras, tigers and colourful combination of everyone on the Mane Stage show too, not to mention the crowd interaction, ticker tape and pyrotechnics to top it all off!

Lily especially loved dancing with Elmer and his Colour Krew – it was clearly a space she felt she could just be colourful little self and dance the day away, surrounded by people who just felt the same.

The decorations
To go with the colourful and exciting atmosphere across the park, there were themed decorations throughout the theme park, including bright flags, decorated animals and photo opportunities too. Even the hotel and glamping were all in the Mardi Grrra theme!

The team had clearly put so much effort into the whole experience, making it fantastic from the moment you walked in.

The food
As if that wasn’t enough, there was carnival themed food throughout the event too – and it totally isn’t a celebration without fantastic food, right?!

From rainbow cupcakes through to world food in the Mardi Grub area, you really were spoiled for choice throughout the event.

Conclusion
A huge thank you to Chessington World of Adventures for hosting an incredible event that totally blew us away.

We may be huge Chessington fans anyway, but this event was one of the best we have ever experienced, packed with a buzzing atmosphere, all the festival vibes, colourful decorations and immense entertainment, not to mention all the usual fantastic rides and zoo fun that make CWOA so special.

On our first visit this spring, we even combined it with Explorer Glamping and a VIP Skunk Experience, but the bonus of having our Merlin Annual Pass meant we could easily head back again for another dose of Mardi Grrra on the final day of the event and I’m so glad we had that opportunity to do so as it was just as awesome as the first.

Lily could not stop dancing and we both had the biggest grins across our faces the whole time. We are so excited to head back next month to celebrate Lily’s birthday and cannot wait to experience all the fun of Wilderfest when it returns for the summer.

Fingers crossed Mardi Grrra will make a comeback in 2023, but if you ever have a chance to experience it, we really do recommend checking it out.
For more events from Chessington World of Adventures, click here

Related articles
Click here to check out our Giraffe Feeding Experience at Chessington World of Adventures.
Click here to check out our review of Explorer Glamping at Chessington World of Adventures
Click here for our review of Go Ape at Chessington
Click here for our review of the Chessington hotel and Christmas experience
Click here to check out our review of the Skunk Experience
