Thursday, 19 September 2024 12:30

Winners of the UK Theme Park Awards 2024

The winners of the UK Theme Park Awards 2024 have now been announced, with Thorpe Park crowned Theme Park of the Year and Hyperia voted Best New Attraction.

For the fifth 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.

This year there were 22 categories in total, including Best New Attraction, Best Theme Park for Families, for Toddlers and for Thrills, the Best Seaside Park and Theme Park of the Year. New categories for this year included Best Ride Storytelling, Best New Food or Retail Outlet, Best Theme Park Lodges or Glamping, Best Accessibility Initiative and Best Sustainability Initiative.

367,441 public votes were combined with the scores from the judging panel to determine the winners in each category. Of the 38 theme parks that received nominations, 20 won awards.

The awards ceremony was held at Thorpe Park on 19 September and it was attended by more than 150 representatives from the UK theme park industry. A recording of the awards ceremony is available to watch here.

The biggest winners in the awards include Alton Towers and Drayton Manor in Staffordshire (with 12 and 8 awards respectively), Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Lancashire (3), LEGOLAND Windsor in Berkshire (6), Paultons Park in Hampshire (6), and Chessington World of Adventures and Thorpe Park in Surrey (with 4 and 7 awards respectively).

The other British theme parks winning multiple awards include Adventure Island in Essex (2), BeWILDerwood in Cheshire & Norfolk (2), Blackgang Chine on the Isle of Wight (2), Crealy in Devon (2), Fantasy Island in Lincolnshire (2), Flamingo Land in Yorkshire (2), West Midlands Safari Park in Worcestershire (2), and the various Gulliver's Theme Parks (2).

Also winning awards this year: Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach in Norfolk (1), GreenWood Family Park in North Wales (1), Pleasurewood Hills in Suffolk (1), Southport Pleasureland in Merseyside (1), and Sundown Adventureland in Nottinghamshire (1).

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.

Neil Poulter, Divisional Director at Thorpe Park, said:

“We were delighted to be chosen as the host venue for the highly anticipated UK Theme Park Awards 2024 this year as we celebrated our 45th anniversary, with the added bonus of being shortlisted for a number of awards in what has been an incredibly exciting year for the park. It was our pleasure to welcome colleagues from across the industry to Thorpe Park as we collectively celebrated and congratulated each other on creating another year of feel-good fun for our guests.”

“We are thrilled to have won a number of awards, including Theme Park of the Year, after an incredible 12 months that have seen us launch the UK’s tallest, fastest and most weightless rollercoaster, unveil a brand new land alongside a huge number of other projects all of which added sparkle across the park. What a year it has been for Thorpe Park, our guests and our staff!”

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


We would like to thank our sponsors for making the UK Theme Park Awards 2024 possible - find out more about them.

Winners

Theme Park of the Year presented by ADIPS

  • GOLD: Thorpe Park
  • SILVER: Alton Towers
  • BRONZE: Drayton Manor

Best New Attraction presented by LEAPS

  • GOLD: Hyperia (Thorpe Park)
  • SILVER: Gold Rush (Drayton Manor)
  • BRONZE: Minifigure Speedway (LEGOLAND Windsor)

Best Reimagined Attraction presented by The Experiences Group

  • GOLD: Nemesis Reborn (Alton Towers)
  • SILVER: The Wave (Drayton Manor)
  • BRONZE: Big Easy Boulevard (Thorpe Park)

Best Theme Park for Families presented by Vennersys

  • GOLD (Large): Paultons Park
  • SILVER (Large): Chessington World of Adventures
  • BRONZE (Large): LEGOLAND Windsor

  • GOLD (Small): Gulliver’s Theme Parks
  • SILVER (Small): Fantasy Island
  • BRONZE (Small): Crealy

Best Theme Park for Toddlers

  • GOLD (Large): Paultons Park (Peppa Pig World)
  • SILVER (Large): Drayton Manor (Thomas Land)
  • BRONZE (Large): Alton Towers (Cbeebies Land)

  • GOLD (Small): BeWILDerwood
  • SILVER (Small): Sundown Adventureland
  • BRONZE (Small): Crealy (Sooty Land)

Best Theme Park for Thrills presented by Semantic

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

Best Theme Park with Animals

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

Best Seaside Park presented by Universal Verification

  • GOLD (North): Blackpool Pleasure Beach
  • SILVER (North): Fantasy Island
  • BRONZE (North): Southport Pleasureland

  • GOLD (South): Adventure Island
  • SILVER (South): Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach
  • BRONZE (South): Blackgang Chine

Best Ride Storytelling presented by The Business Creative

  • GOLD: The Curse at Alton Manor (Alton Towers)
  • SILVER: Flight of the Sky Lion (LEGOLAND Windsor)
  • BRONZE: Valhalla (Blackpool Pleasure Beach)

Best Accessibility Initiative  presented by Katapult

  • GOLD: Cbeebies Land Sensory Space (Alton Towers)
  • SILVER: Total Sensory Space (LEGOLAND Windsor)
  • BRONZE: Magic On Tour (Merlin Entertainments)

Best Sustainability Initiative presented by Taylor Made Designs

  • GOLD: Reverse Vending Machines (Merlin Entertainments)
  • SILVER: Going Green (GreenWood Family Park)
  • BRONZE: Paultons Promise (Paultons Park)

Best New Event presented by Pure Entertainment Group

  • GOLD (Large): Alton After Dark (Alton Towers)
  • SILVER (Large): Vikings Festival (Drayton Manor)
  • BRONZE (Large): Ninjas Unite (LEGOLAND Windsor)

  • GOLD (Small): Land of Lights (Gulliver's World)
  • SILVER (Small): Fiesta of the Dead (Blackgang Chine)
  • BRONZE (Small): Ibiza Sunset Party (Flamingo Land)

Best New Entertainment presented by TAG Live

  • GOLD: Stitches (Thorpe Park)
  • SILVER: The Phalanx (Alton Towers)
  • BRONZE: Blast Off – A Space Rocket Adventure (Paultons Park)

Best Theme Park Map

  • GOLD: Alton Towers
  • SILVER: LEGOLAND Windsor
  • BRONZE: Pleasurewood Hills

Best New Food or Retail Outlet

  • GOLD (Food): Grande Central (Paultons Park)
  • GOLD (Retail): Bunker '94 (Alton Towers)

Best Theme Park Lodges or Glamping presented by Lichfields

  • GOLD (Lodges): Safari Lodges (West Midlands Safari Park)
  • GOLD (Glamping): Explorer Glamping (Chessington World of Adventures)

Most Missed Attraction From The Past presented by Brave New Beast

  • Bubbleworks (Chessington World of Adventures)

Best Customer Service presented by Rose Events

  • GOLD (Large): Paultons Park
  • GOLD (Small): BeWILDerwood

Best Value Theme Park presented by Semnox

  • GOLD (Large): Drayton Manor
  • GOLD (Small): Adventure Island

Best Marketing Campaign presented by Agility

  • GOLD: Nemesis Reborn (Alton Towers)
  • SILVER: Hyperia (Thorpe Park)
  • BRONZE: Frontier Falls (Drayton Manor)

Best Social Media Content presented by Rubber Cheese

  • GOLD: Thorpe Park
  • SILVER: Alton Towers
  • BRONZE: Drayton Manor

Content Creator of the Year presented by Magic Little Giants

  • GOLD: DigitalDan
  • SILVER: Theme Park Worldwide
  • BRONZE: TheJackSilkstone

Nominees

See the full list of nominees.

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