Merlin Entertainments and Mojang Studios have expanded plans for Minecraft World at Chessington World of Adventures Resort, confirming a themed hotel alongside the new theme park land planned for 2027.
Minecraft World Hotel will become the first hotel based on the Minecraft franchise, adding an accommodation layer to the £50m project in Greater London. The hotel will feature almost 70 themed rooms across four floors, with 20 premium rooms and 49 standard rooms drawing on the game’s biomes, characters, mobs, colours and textures.
For theme park operators, developers and IP owners, the announcement is significant because it extends Minecraft World beyond a day-visit attraction. By adding hotel rooms, themed dining and bar concepts, Merlin is developing a resort-led model that can support longer stays, stronger yield and deeper brand engagement.
Hotel Design Extends The Game World
The hotel has been designed to bring Minecraft’s visual language into physical space. Check-in areas will reference the Overworld with block-style trees and animals, while Nether Portal-inspired lifts and mine tunnel corridors will carry the theme through guest circulation areas.
Bedrooms will use Minecraft’s blocks, items, mobs, textures and colours to create themed accommodation for both dedicated fans and broader family audiences. The offer will also include an underwater-themed restaurant inspired by the game’s ocean biomes and a potions bar themed around the Woodland Mansion.
For visitor experience designers, the hotel highlights the importance of continuity across an IP-based resort. The guest journey does not stop at the park gate. Arrival, corridors, rooms, food and beverage, and evening use all become part of the same story world.
This approach also creates new operational and commercial opportunities. Themed accommodation can support premium pricing, while restaurants, bars and retail touchpoints provide further ways to extend spend beyond the core attraction.
Escape The Nether Anchors The Ride Offer
Merlin and Mojang have also named the first Minecraft rollercoaster as Escape the Nether. The attraction is described as the world’s first Minecraft rollercoaster and will include both indoor and outdoor elements.
The ride will take guests through dark mines before moving through a Nether Portal and emerging into the Overworld area of the land. Timelapse footage has shown construction progress, with track now in place as the land takes shape.
For the attractions sector, the ride is notable because it translates Minecraft’s digital environments into a physical thrill format. The indoor-outdoor structure gives designers scope to combine controlled media, scenic work and story sequencing with visible ride kinetics in the land.
Gaming IP Moves Further Into Themed Entertainment
Minecraft World represents a major step in the use of gaming IP within European theme parks. The franchise has strong global recognition, an established creative language and a large intergenerational audience, making it well suited to location-based entertainment.
Mojang’s creative team has noted the challenge of adapting Minecraft into a new physical medium, particularly around scale, biomes, blocks and mobs. Merlin’s production approach appears focused on keeping the world recognisable while making it practical for rides, hotel operations and guest movement.
For IP holders, the project underlines the value of close creative collaboration with operators. Translating a game into an attraction requires more than placing familiar visuals into a venue. It requires decisions about behaviour, interaction, environment, scale and narrative flow.
Relevance For The Visitor Experience Sector
The Chessington development will be closely watched by theme park operators, suppliers, designers, hotel groups and licensing teams. It combines several key industry trends: gaming IP, resort expansion, immersive accommodation, themed dining and family-friendly coaster development.
For Experience UK’s audience, the project may create future opportunities across scenic fabrication, AV, lighting, show control, themed interiors, operational planning, retail and hospitality design.
By pairing Minecraft World with a themed hotel, Merlin and Mojang are positioning the project as a multi-day branded experience rather than a single attraction. As work continues ahead of the 2027 opening, Chessington is set to become an important case study in how major gaming franchises can be developed into resort-scale visitor destinations.
