Chessington World of Adventures Resort (often abbreviated to just "Chessington" or "CWoA") is a theme park, zoo and hotel complex that lies southwest of Central London, England in the Chessington area of the Kingston upon Thames borough. Historically opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931, a theme park was developed alongside the zoo, opening on June 7, 1987, making it the first themed amusement park in Britain. Owned and operated by Merlin Entertainments since 2007. Chessington has two on-site resort hotels, the Safari Hotel opened in 2007, and was followed by the opening of the Azteca Hotel in mid 2014.