Images: Safari Trail ride to open at Chessington World of Adventures in 2013

Chessington's new ride for 2013 will be an ambitious safari experience. Image © Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington World of Adventures' new ride for 2013 will be a vehicle-based experience dubbed Safari Trail, with full plans having now been made public.

The plans, submitted to Kingston Council, confirm that the ride will be located in the Wanyama Vilalge & Reserve area of the park, close to the Holiday Inn Chessington hotel. It will see guests boarding "safari truck" vehicles, before travelling around a circuit that takes in rhinos, giraffes and flamingos.

New enclosures will be constructed to house the animals, with water being used in favour of fences wherever possible to separate the species. In addition to viewing the animals, guests will pass through a number of "splash zones" before encountering a "water experience" in the cave-based finale.

Chessington World of Adventure's planned addition is similar in design to the Rhino Rally attraction at Busch Gardens Tampa, as well as Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney's Animal Kingdom. While it will be on a smaller scale, it is more ambitious than initial descriptions had suggested, involving significant construction work that is expected to begin this year.

Safari Trail will feature an African theme, with guests queuing inside a "Circle Hut". A 3-minute animated pre-show will precede the ride itself, helping to tell the backstory and provide health and safety information.

A number of images were included with the planning application for Safari Trail, giving an impression of the ride experience that will be on offer:

For the 2012 season, Chessington World of Adventures will open a new live show based on the Madagascar animated movies. It will be the only show based on the Dreamworks films in Europe.

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