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Blue Light Card Member Day: Worth the effort?

After years of being a Blue Light Card member, I thought it was about time that I tried one of their Member Day (previously known as Services Day) events. So, off I trundled with my family to the Chessington World of Adventures event on the 14th of March. Take a look to see how much we saved, how busy the park was and whether I would go again.

Blue Light Card Member Days


I have a whole post dedicated to the Blue Light Card and think it’s a must-have for anybody who qualifies. For the tiny amount that it costs, there are a lot of benefits that come with it.

But one of the benefits I have never taken advantage of is Member Day. Probably because I can think of better things to do than walking around a wet and windy theme park with my three kids in tow. However, for the benefit of my blog (and a cheap day out), I thought I would give it a go this year. Oh, and because I love my family dearly…

What is the Blue Light Card Member Day?

Member Day is a way to say thank you for the hard work (most) public servants put in. For one (or sometimes two) days per year, a theme park only opens its doors to Blue Light Card holders. So far, I have seen days available for Chessington World of Adventures, Legoland, and Alton Towers – usually in either March or November. Theoretically, it should be much quieter because the park is only open to a select few.

I haven’t been to Chessington for over ten years, so comparing the Member Day to a usual park day is a little difficult. However, I will try my best.


Also worth reading

See how you can get half price tickets at Legoland and other theme parks.


What are the costs?

All tickets cost the same, whether you’re an adult or a child. For Chessington this year, they were £18 each. To put that in perspective, tickets for the following weekend were £29.50. So, for the six of us (my niece wanted to come too), that saved £69.

But the ticket price isn’t the only way you save money. Parking was free, compared to the standard cost of £4.

Plus, all food and drink was 20% off. This is quite significant when you consider how much theme parks charge for their food. We managed to eat and drink for £39, which is actually quite reasonable. I wouldn’t go so far as to say a bargain, but it didn’t feel as painful when I paid. A picnic would have been cheaper, but it wasn’t really the weather for it.

You also get 20% off at the gift shops, if an oversized teddy bear is your thing.

*Please note – I have since been back to Chessington since writing this post and they still give me 20% off when showing my Blue Light Card.

Services day chessington


A good deal then?

But there’s something you must consider when considering ticket price costs. Yes, £11.50 saved per ticket is good, but you can find theme park discounts all over the place.

Cereal packets often have 2-for-1 offers, which would work out cheaper than the Blue Light Card. Kids Pass offers a discount on theme park tickets too (usually around £5-6 off). Although the membership costs, there are a lot of other discounts available too. Or, you can swap Tesco Clubcard vouchers for twice their value, saving you even more.

Are Member Days busy?

In all honesty, it was much busier than I thought. You would think it would be fairly quiet considering a couple of factors. First of all, you have no idea what the weather will be when you book, so holding the day in March should put people off.

Secondly, there was the minor issue of the Coronavirus. A couple of days before we were due to travel, sporting events had been cancelled and plenty of European countries had gone into lockdown. But none, of the above seemed to put people off. I suppose, if you buy the tickets, you’re going. That means it can be a horrible day, yet there will be lots of people there. Normally, a rainy day would mean the park would be empty.

Most of the smaller rides had queues of between 5-15 minutes. Zufari had a 30-minute wait and the Gruffalo River was 35 minutes. Rattlesnake and Vampire had a 60-minute queue time, with the Dragon’s Fury a 90-minute wait. That was until it closed. At one point, six rides weren’t running!

services day queue times


But, after talking to a colleague, he told me that his son had visited the previous summer and the queues were much longer. So perhaps, I’m being a little unfair to Chessington.

Ordering lunch was a bit of a nightmare. Some machines weren’t printing receipts, so you needed to queue up at the counter to find your order number. Food took over 15 minutes to come and it was wrong. Fortunately, I saw most other people return after finding missing items, so I checked before sitting down.

However, I can forgive this as it’s the start of a new year for the park and I guess many of the staff are new. I suppose we’re the guinea pigs before the full-paying customers arrive.


Also worth reading

If you’re a fan of theme parks…

Is a Merlin Annual Pass worth the money?


Was Member Day worth it?

I’m not convinced I would do it again. The weather wasn’t great and was much busier than expected. Plus, I can get a better deal on entry prices by taking advantage of 2-for-1 offers. Yes, free parking is nice, but at £4 it’s hardly a deal-breaker.

I will be heading back to Chessington but will do it on my own time.

If you’ve been to a Member Day before, please let me know what you made of it in the comments below.

Oh, and I didn’t pick up the Coronavirus. At least I don’t think I did. And all credit to Chessington, they did offer the opportunity for guests to swap their tickets to use later on in the year. Although I wouldn’t have saved £4 on parking…

Joanna Lambert

Sunday 13th of March 2022

Currently at a blue light day in Chessington, we have been to Alton Towers and Thorpe Park services days, and I have to say I am bitterly disappointed. The park is chocca, the queue times up to 150 mins for cobra, vampire and 30-45 mins for the smaller rides. Hardly any food outlets open, currently in a long queue for lunch. In previous times we have literally gone round and round on rides, the only time between rides was the time it took to snake round the path to the beginning again. I won’t be booking another day as I see no benefit! Very disappointed.

Money Saver Pete

Sunday 13th of March 2022

Hi Joanna. That's a shame and sounds very disappointing. A discount is always great, but I would be willing to pay full price if it means that I can actually go on the rides. Let's hope they open up more days if it's going to continue like this. I did try to book tickets for this event but they had sold out. Sounds like I was lucky!