Thursday, 21 September 2023 13:00

Winners of the UK Theme Park Awards 2023

The winners of the UK Theme Park Awards 2023 have been announced, with Chessington World of Adventures crowned Theme Park of the Year and World of Jumanji voted Best New Attraction.

For the fourth year, the British public were able to vote for their favourite theme parks in these prestigious national awards.

The awards are organised by ThemeParks-UK.com, an independent consumer guide to UK theme parks. This year, the awards are presented in association with AttractionTickets.com.

There are 22 categories in total, including Best New Attraction, Best Theme Park for Families, for Toddlers and for Thrills, Best Seaside Park and Theme Park of the Year. New categories include Best Reimagined Attraction, Best Theme Park with Animals and Best Themed Coaster.

229,427 public votes were combined with the scores from the judging panel to determine the winners in each category. Of the 35 theme parks that received nominations, 22 won awards.

The awards ceremony was held at Chessington World of Adventures on 21 September and was attended by more than 100 representatives from the UK theme park industry. A recording of the awards ceremony is available to watch here and see photos from the event here.

The biggest winners in the awards include Alton Towers and Drayton Manor in Staffordshire (with 11 and 8 awards respectively), Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Lancashire (8), LEGOLAND Windsor in Berkshire (6), Paultons Park in Hampshire (6), Chessington World of Adventures and Thorpe Park in Surrey (with 11 and 6 awards respectively), and the other UK theme parks with multiple awards include Crealy in Devon (3), Adventure Island in Essex (4) and Fantasy Island in Lincolnshire (2).

Also winning awards this year: Blackgang Chine and Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight, Dreamland Margate in Kent, Flamingo Land in Yorkshire, Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and ROARR! in Norfolk, Pleasurewood Hills in Suffolk, Sundown Adventureland in Nottinghamshire, and the various Gulliver's Theme Parks..

There was also an award for Content Creator of the Year, in recognition of the high quality user-generated content via blogs and platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

Meet the Judges

The winners of the UK Theme Park Awards were determined by combining public votes with the scores from our judging panel - find out more about them.

Sponsors in 2023


We would like to thank our sponsors for making the UK Theme Park Awards 2023 possible - find out more about them.

Winners

Theme Park of the Year presented by ADIPS

  • GOLD: Chessington World of Adventures
  • SILVER: Alton Towers
  • BRONZE: Paultons Park

Best New Attraction presented by LEAPS

  • GOLD: World of Jumanji (Chessington World of Adventures)
  • SILVER: Thomas & Percy’s Submarine Splash (Drayton Manor)
  • BRONZE: LEGO Ferrari Build & Race (LEGOLAND Windsor)

Best Reimagined Attraction presented by Katapult

  • GOLD: The Curse at Alton Manor (Alton Towers)
  • SILVER: Valhalla (Blackpool Pleasure Beach)
  • BRONZE: Nemesis Sub-Terra (Alton Towers)

Best Theme Park for Families presented by Vennersys

Large:

  • GOLD: Alton Towers
  • SILVER: Paultons Park
  • BRONZE: Chessington World of Adventures

Small:

  • GOLD: Gulliver’s Theme Parks
  • SILVER: Adventure Island
  • BRONZE: ROARR! Dinosaur Adventure

Best Theme Park for Toddlers presented by BALPPA

Large:

  • GOLD: Paultons Park
  • SILVER: Drayton Manor
  • BRONZE: LEGOLAND Windsor

Small:

  • GOLD: Sundown Adventureland
  • SILVER: Blackgang Chine
  • BRONZE: Crealy

Best Theme Park for Thrills presented by Planet Attractions

  • GOLD: Thorpe Park
  • SILVER: Alton Towers
  • BRONZE: Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Best Theme Park with Animals presented by Attractions.io

  • GOLD: Chessington World of Adventures
  • SILVER: Flamingo Land
  • BRONZE: West Midland Safari Park

Best Seaside Park presented by Ride and Park Media

North:

  • GOLD: Blackpool Pleasure Beach
  • SILVER: Fantasy Island
  • BRONZE: Ocean Beach Pleasure Park

South:

  • GOLD: Adventure Island
  • SILVER: Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach
  • BRONZE: Dreamland Margate

Best Themed Coaster presented by the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain

  • GOLD: Wicker Man (Alton Towers)
  • SILVER: Mandrill Mayhem (Chessington World of Adventures)
  • BRONZE: The Swarm (Thorpe Park)

Best Thrill Ride presented by Attraction Source

  • GOLD: Maelstrom (Drayton Manor)
  • SILVER: Samurai (Thorpe Park)
  • BRONZE: Red Arrows Skyforce (Blackpool Pleasure Beach)

Best Water Ride presented by InterPark

  • GOLD: Valhalla (Blackpool Pleasure Beach)
  • SILVER: Stormforce 10 (Drayton Manor)
  • BRONZE: Tidal Wave (Thorpe Park)

Best New Event presented by The Business Creative

Large:

  • GOLD: Night at the Manor (Drayton Manor)
  • SILVER: Eggsplorers (Chessington World of Adventures)
  • BRONZE: Springfest (LEGOLAND Windsor)

Small:

  • GOLD: Festival of the Dead (Robin Hill)
  • SILVER: BeWILDerwood Presents Christmas (BeWILDerwood)
  • BRONZE: Jurassic June (Pleasurewood Hills)

Best Live Entertainment presented by TAG Live

  • GOLD: Hot Ice (Blackpool Pleasure Beach)
  • SILVER: Return to Skeleton Bay (LEGOLAND Windsor)
  • BRONZE: Sooty's Big Top Showtime (Crealy)

Seasonal:

  • GOLD: Amity High vs LycanThorpe (Thorpe Park)
  • SILVER: Banyan - The Circle of 8 (Chessington World of Adventures)

Best Adventure Golf

  • GOLD: Extraordinary Golf (Alton Towers)
  • SILVER: Lava Creek Adventure Golf (Fantasy Island)
  • BRONZE: Adventure Golf (Adventure Island)

Best Theme Park Food presented by Rollover

  • GOLD: Route 83 Diner (Paultons Park)
  • SILVER: Rollercoaster Restaurant (Alton Towers)
  • BRONZE: Loki's Après Ski Bar (Blackpool Pleasure Beach)

Best Theme Park Hotel presented by Pure Entertainment Group

  • GOLD: Boulevard Hotel (Blackpool Pleasure Beach)
  • SILVER: LEGOLAND Castle Hotel (LEGOLAND Windsor)
  • BRONZE: Chessington Safari Hotel (Chessington World of Adventures)

Best Theme Park Music

  • GOLD: The Curse at Alton Manor (Alton Towers)
  • SILVER: World of Jumanji (Chessington World of Adventures)
  • BRONZE: Haunted House Monster Party (LEGOLAND Windsor)

Best Customer Service presented by Convious

  • GOLD: Paultons Park
  • SILVER: Adventure Island
  • BRONZE: Drayton Manor

Best Value Theme Park presented by Rose Events

  • GOLD: Drayton Manor
  • SILVER: Paultons Park
  • BRONZE: Crealy

Best Marketing Campaign presented by Agility

  • GOLD: World of Jumanji (Chessington World of Adventures)
  • SILVER: The Curse at Alton Manor (Alton Towers)
  • BRONZE: Rebuilding Nemesis (Alton Towers)

Best Social Media Content presented by Rubber Cheese

  • GOLD: Drayton Manor
  • SILVER: Thorpe Park
  • BRONZE: Chessington World of Adventures

Content Creator of the Year

  • GOLD: DigitalDan
  • SILVER: Theme Park Worldwide
  • BRONZE: Diary of a RollerCoaster Girl

Nominees

See the full list of nominees.

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