My wife and I assembled our pup squad and made our way to Chessington World of Adventures for a VIP first try of the new World of PAW Patrol.
Our oldest, 5, is a big fan of the cartoon show and was super excited to be going on our own adventure to the park.
World of PAW Patrol contains four rides as well as a playground area and gift shop.
Our son goes through the entrance to World of PAW Patrol (Image: Newsquest)
The £15m area is built on the site of the former Scorpion Express ride in the Mexicana section and opened to the general public today (May 3).
But we got to rub shoulders with the likes of Olympic legend Greg Rutherford and BBC presenter Alex Jones for a preview day.
On arrival, you are greeted with a huge World of PAW Patrol sign so it is difficult to miss.
Zuma’s Hovercraft Adventure (Image: Newsquest)
We couldn’t wait to try the rides – but there were some teething problems on the first day.
Our first attempts at both Zuma’s Hovercraft Adventure and Marshall’s Firetruck Rescue both ended with us being asked to leave the ride while some gremlins were fixed.
Spinning the hovercraft is a lot of fun (Image: Newsquest)
A frustrating start but as Ryder says: ‘No job is too big, no pup is too small’ and it was soon our turn to try out the new rides.
One important thing to note for parents thinking about going is that none of the four rides are available for children under 0.9m tall.
Our daughter, who is approaching two-and-a-half, just made it over that height bracket.
Model characters are dotted around (Image: Newsquest)
Zuma’s Hovercraft Adventure is the most fun in our opinion and gives you the chance to control the spin of your craft by pulling a lever as you go around.
Cue yelps as our son attempted to pull it as hard as possible!
This adds an extra element to the ride and put smiles on faces.
Guests enjoy a ride on Chase’s Mountain Mission at the VIP opening of World of PAW Patrol at Chessington World of Adventures (Image: Chessington World of Adventures Resort)
Chase’s Mountain Mission is a small coaster that is a little bit quicker than it seems.
Our children felt it was a bit too fast for them but regular theme park goers or slightly older children would absolutely love it.
The Lookout Tower with a slide to go down (right) (Image: Newsquest)
You also get a chance to ‘go up’ the show’s Lookout Tower and join a mission with the PAW Patrol squad.
Marshall’s Firetruck Rescue sees you sit on a replica of the firetruck and go around both clockwise and anti-clockwise into the air.
A ride on Marshall’s Firetruck Rescue (Image: Newsquest)
It’s a nice experience and the ride that seemed to have the least queues on the day we were there – obviously there were less people than when the park will fully open, but our son is very impatient and picking rides with the shortest queues is a major consideration.
Marshall’s Firetruck Rescue (Image: Newsquest)
Skye’s Helicopter Heroes allowed the four of us to ride together and go up into the sky.
The children can sit in the front and ‘steer’ while the adults go in the back and enjoy some great views over the new land.
It was a bit high for our daughter but our son seemed to enjoy it.
Greg Rutherford tries out Skye’s Helicopter Heroes (Image: Chessington World of Adventures Resort)
There are other things for the children to enjoy aside from the rides – both our kids loved a big slide that runs down from the side of the Lookout Tower.
Our son in particular went on it again and again.
The area includes a gift shop full of PAW Patrol merchandise (Image: Newsquest)
The playground area contains lots of things for the children to climb on which is good if you want a break from waiting in the queues.
There are also PAW Patrol characters to meet and our daughter loved high-fiving Chase and seeing Rubble on the DJ decks.
Chessington is a great family day out (Image: Newsquest)
We had a wonderful time and think it is a great addition to the park.
We feel like it is aimed more at younger primary school children and the rides are a little too much for pre-school children in our view – but ultimately it depends on your child and what they enjoy.
Having explored the rest of the park in the afternoon, we felt tired but very much with a feeling of ‘mission complete’!