Year after year, the rides at UK theme parks get bigger, better and all the more (deliberately) stomach-churning. Loop-the-loops lovers and drop tower devotees, if you want to know where in the UK is the best place to get your adrenaline kicks, strap in. Acrophobes, maybe now’s a good time to look away.
ThemeParks-UK.com is an independent consumer guide to British theme parks which runs annual awards to crown the country’s very best. It calculates its rankings based on feedback from a panel of judges and voting from over 220,000 members of the public.
So, drum roll please… Chessington World of Adventures, based on the outskirts of London, came up trumps to win gold. Already boasting a zoo, an aquarium alongside its collection of rides, the family-friendly park opened its new Jumanji-themed area earlier this year, which won the prize for best new attraction.
Following closely behind, Alton Towers and Paultons Park in Hampshire came in second and third. There were a total of 22 categories in which awards were up for grabs. Some of the other big winners of these categories included Alton Towers, which won best large theme park for families and best theme park for thrills and Drayton Manor in Staffordshire, which bagged first prize for best value theme park.
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