The creators behind the first Minecraft theme park land reveal all

It's a relatively simple game on the surface, consisting of blocks and a never-ending world to explore, yet Minecraft has captivated fans across the globe for years.

Although it has remained mostly in its virtual form since it was released on consoles back in 2009, the popular video game is now set to be brought to life at a UK theme park.

Chessington World of Adventures has been working with Mojang Studios, the Swedish company behind the iconic survival game, to create Minecraft World. 

Set to open at the Surrey-based attraction in 2027, the £50million themed land will be home to the world's first Minecraft roller coaster, which will feature easter eggs from the game and other fan favourites. 

Torfi Frans Ólafsson, the senior creative director for entertainment at Minecraft, and Angela Jobson, SVP of Global Brand for Merlin, exclusively revealed to the Daily Mail this week what guests can expect from the exciting new addition to the park, and how they went about designing it.  

The process of designing the world began with 'a good old play of the game,' says Jobson, explaining how the team at Merlin spent time re-familiarising themselves with the beloved pixels and blocks to fully 'get under the skin' of it and remind themselves exactly what captivates its huge fanbase so much. 

A panel of Minecraft enthusiasts were recruited from across the globe and the team asked what they wanted to see from the project.

At first, fans didn't realise the Minecraft World would be a physical place to explore in real life, but once they grasped the impressive concept, 'Their minds were blown and they were very excited, which in some ways almost became a bit of a problem,' Jobson shares.

'They were so excited that some of them broke their Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and went out onto fan sites and started talking about it.'

The team behind Minecraft World decided this 'showed that there was this huge appetite and excitement'. 

Ólafsson adds: 'What was important to us was that the park did not just capture what Minecraft looks like or sounds like, but truly captured the feeling of adventure and possibility that you have while playing playing it.'

The talented producer worked on the blockbuster Minecraft Movie that released in 2025 and is currently adding his flare to the upcoming sequel. 

The brand new themed land is designed so it feels like 'you're truly enveloped inside a Minecraft world, every direction you look once you're inside it, everything is made out of blocks,' Ólafsson reveals. 

Fans will recognise familiar characters from the game too, with 'mobs' - creatures that roam around the land - including 'zombies and creepers and sheep and lots of other villagers'.

The creators wanted to make sure fans felt like they 'had been dropped right inside of a Minecraft valley, not fully pristine; some players had been there before,' says Ólafsson.

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To make sure the design was just right, it was loaded into the game itself on a server for key game designers and artists to play and edit where they felt was needed. 

Merlin then worked out whether the changes were possible and the teams collaborated together to finish the project. 

As to how exactly Minecraft will be brought to life, some details are still being 'ironed out', but Ólafsson stresses, 'Both Merlin and Mojang felt it was really important that the players have the sense of agency and empowerment that they have within the game, and they were not again on a set path'. 

He adds, 'So there's a lot of going around and discovering things. It will be helpful for those that know the game well, there are some easter eggs carefully laid.'

The world will be 'accessible and open' to those who may not be huge fans of the game, allowing parents to enjoy it with their children, for example. 

The land will immerse visitors into the world with in-depth details focused around select aspects of the game, rather than trying to recreate everything it offers. 

'We tried to make it layered in such a way that it both spoke to the novice and the advanced players,' Ólafsson explains. 

'There's little bit of thrill and a little bit of mystery and a lot of delight and a lot of ugly, cute creatures thrown in the mix - trying to find the right balance for the demographic and the audience.'

Fans can look forward to the world's first Minecraft roller coaster and the 'world's biggest retail store full of merch' from the iconic game plus themed dining venues.

The land will boast features never seen in a Merlin attraction before, Jobson explains, 'We've done some stuff in the land that we've never done anywhere else.'

By the time the theme park opens in 2027, Merlin and Mojang Studios will have been working on the impressive project for four years. 

After such a long wait to see the finished product, Ólafsson is most excited about the roller coaster which he says will be 'an incredibly thrilling ride' with 'state-of-the-art technology' but hints that the 'queue line' could be interesting too.

'It is a childhood fantasy to get the opportunity to work with somebody at Merlin to actually design a roller coaster, to design its narrative and decide when the guests see a certain thing and what to teach and delight them with,' he says. 

Ólafsson is looking forward to witnessing people enjoying Minecraft World with his own eyes, revealing he sat in the back of the cinema when the movie was released last year to watch 'what effect it had on people'.

'I think the most rewarding thing will be to go to the park on a busy day and just stand and watch the families, kids and adults and friends have fun,' he says, adding that he wants to take his own children to Chessington too. 

For Jobson, making the land 'feel like it's alive' and it being 'responsive' and 'interactive' was an important part.

She teases: 'There's going to be a lot of content that makes that land feel quite different to some of the other stuff that we've done before.'