It’s that time of year again as the UK theme park awards 2025 delivered a whole host of worthy winners in this years ceremony. As you know we personally opt out of all awards, it certainly helps us steer clear of all the drama in that creator space but we’re happy to cover the worthy theme parks that we love and support.
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 Use of IP in an Attraction, Best Queue Line Experience or Pre-Show, and Best Integration of Technology in a Guest Experience.
334,371 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, 24 won awards.
The UK theme park awards deal with their awards just like the olympics with Gold, Silver and Bronze handed out to the winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively) and whilst this is a great way to acknowledge everyone I certainly feel as though this style of awarding should only be applicable to the content creators category as theme parks who come in 2nd and 3rd place jump on social media to announce WE WON AN AWARD, as opposed to the reality which is very much… WE WON SECOND (or third) PLACE!
A little misleading to those who narrowly missed out on gold but anyways, enough of my pedantic nature let’s get on with the winners from each category.
Theme Park of the Year presented by ADIPS
WINNER: Paultons Park
Best New Attraction presented by TEP Technica
GOLD: Ghostly Manor (Paultons Park)
SILVER: Toxicator (Alton Towers Resort)
BRONZE: Jurassic Resurrection (Bottons Pleasure Beach)
Best Reimagined Attraction presented by AWC
GOLD: Launch Pad (Pleasure Beach Resort)
SILVER: Wipeout (Pleasurewood Hills)
BRONZE: LEGO City Deep Sea Adventure (LEGOLAND Windsor Resort)
Best Theme Park for Families presented by Pure Entertainment Group
GOLD (Large): Paultons Park
SILVER (Large): Drayton Manor Resort
BRONZE (Large): LEGOLAND Windsor Resort
GOLD (Small): Crealy Theme Park & Resort
SILVER (Small): Gulliver’s Theme Parks
BRONZE (Small): Fantasy Island
Best Theme Park for Toddlers
GOLD (Large): Paultons Park (Peppa Pig World)
SILVER (Large): Drayton Manor Resort (Thomas Land)
BRONZE (Large): Alton Towers Resort (Cbeebies Land)
GOLD (Small): Crealy Theme Park & Resort (Sooty Land)
SILVER (Small): BeWILDerwood
BRONZE (Small): Sundown Adventureland
Best Theme Park for Thrills
GOLD: Thorpe Park
SILVER: Alton Towers Resort
BRONZE: Pleasure Beach Resort
Best Theme Park with Animals presented by QLINE Consulting
GOLD (Large): Chessington World of Adventures Resort
SILVER (Large): West Midlands Safari Park
BRONZE (Large): Flamingo Land Resort
GOLD (Small): Drusillas Park
SILVER (Small): Folly Farm
BRONZE (Small): The Big Sheep
Best Seaside Park presented by Universal Verification
GOLD (North): Pleasure Beach Resort
SILVER (North): Fantasy Island
BRONZE (North): Adventure Coast Southport
GOLD (South): Adventure Island
SILVER (South): Blackgang Chine
BRONZE (South): Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach
Best New Food or Retail Outlet presented by Rossi
GOLD: Lost Island Grill (Fantasy Island)
SILVER: The Pancake Kitchen (Paultons Park)
BRONZE: Nuii Hippo Creek (West Midlands Safari Park)
Best New Sustainability Initiative presented by Taylor Made Designs
GOLD: The Solar Energy Project (Paultons Park)
SILVER: Carbon Neutral Woodland Village (LEGOLAND Windsor Resort)
BRONZE: Hedgehog Charter (Wicksteed Park)
Best New Accessibility Initiative presented by Future Street
GOLD: Quiet Mornings (Drayton Manor Resort)
SILVER: Sensory Space (Chessington World of Adventures Resort)
BRONZE: Accessible Minibus Guided Tour (West Midlands Safari Park)
Best New Event presented by Brave New Beast
GOLD: LEGO Festival (LEGOLAND Windsor Resort)
SILVER: 75th Anniversary Fireworks (Drayton Manor Resort)
BRONZE: Hyperia VIP Lift Hill Climb (Thorpe Park)
Best New Entertainment presented by TAG Live
GOLD (Large): DeadBeat (Thorpe Park)
SILVER (Large): COMPOUND (Alton Towers Resort)
BRONZE (Large): Battle of the Bands (LEGOLAND Windsor Resort)
GOLD (Small): Tumbling Tigers Trampoline Show (West Midlands Safari Park)
SILVER (Small): Sooty’s Disco Dance Off (Crealy Theme Park & Resort)
BRONZE (Small): T-Rex Tales (Fantasy Island)
Best Use of IP in an Attraction presented by Katapult
GOLD: Peppa Pig World (Paultons Park)
SILVER: Wallace & Gromit’s Thrill-O-Matic (Pleasure Beach Resort)
BRONZE: Thomas Land (Drayton Manor Resort)
Best Queue Line Experience or Pre-Show presented by KA Creative
GOLD: Wicker Man (Alton Towers Resort)
SILVER: The Curse at Alton Manor (Alton Towers Resort)
BRONZE: Ghostly Manor (Paultons Park)
Best Integration of Technology in a Guest Experience presented by Photo Experience
GOLD: The Curse at Alton Manor (Alton Towers Resort)
SILVER: Ghostly Manor (Paultons Park)
BRONZE: Flight of the Sky Lion (LEGOLAND Windsor Resort)
Best Customer Service presented by Rose Events
GOLD (Large): Paultons Park
GOLD (Small): Blackgang Chine
Best Value Theme Park presented by Semnox
GOLD (Large): Drayton Manor Resort
GOLD (Small): Adventure Island
Best Marketing Campaign presented by Agility
GOLD: Toxicator (Alton Towers Resort)
SILVER: Fright Nights (Thorpe Park)
BRONZE: Talking Bins with Joe Sugg (Blackgang Chine)
Best Social Media Content presented by Rubber Cheese
GOLD (Large): Alton Towers Resort
GOLD (Small): Adventure Island
Best Established Content Creator
GOLD: Theme Park Worldwide
SILVER: DigitalDan
BRONZE: UK Theme Parks
Best Developing Content Creator
GOLD: Coaster Dad
SILVER: Thrills and Food
BRONZE: Ben and Hollie’s Theme Park Adventures
I absolutely love that Paultons Park took home the best theme park award, they have been head and shoulders this year with a new ride, new eco initiatives and an incredible fan event allowing theme park fans the chance to enjoy the park and all of its behind the scenes goodies unlike any other theme park in the country and I have a feeling they’ll be scooping next years best theme park award also!
Alton Towers scooped a few gold awards but missed out on some major key categories further highlighting the rather turgid year they’ve had this year but rightfully won gold for best queue-line experience (Wicker Man) and best use of technology (Curse At Alton Manor).
Pleasure Beach got their flowers for their new reimagined shot tower Launch Pad and scooping the Best Seaside Park award which was never in doubt and Fantasy Island scooped Best Restaurant award for the incredible Lost Island Grill which is leaps and bounds above any other theme park restaurant currently in the country.
A fun awards season this one and I look forward to who will scoop the awards in 2025!
