News from UK Theme Parks

Devon's Crealy, the adventure park near Exeter in Devon, has opened a new spinning roller coaster, The Twister.

The Twister is the biggest ride to be built at Devon's Crealy and has seen the largest investment in a single ride in over 5 years. The new roller coaster features 310 metres of winding track and stands 12 metres high, with views across the park.

Dreamland Margate, the UK's original pleasure park, re-opened on 19th June 2015 with a grand opening day and star-studded opening night party. ThemeParks-UK were invited to check out the re-imagined park with it's restored, recreated and retro-fitted rides from the Golden Age of the British seaside holiday up to the present day.

Rather than competing with the hi-tech thrills offered by other UK theme parks, the park features a collection of rides celebrating the heritage of amusement parks. Famous designer Wayne Hemingway has worked his magic, creating a distinctly retro vision for the £18m project following a long campaign by The Dreamland Trust to get the park back open.

Travel back in time for a Jurassic family adventure at Paultons Park in 2016, as the Lost Kingdom arrives featuring two new roller coasters and much more.

Opening 17th May 2016, step into the Lost Kingdom, a prehistoric world where dinosaurs still roam the earth. This new land will join the other themed areas Peppa Pig World and Critter Creek as the theme park continues to develop.

The Lost Kingdom at Paultons Park will include six dinosaur themed family rides, animatronic dinosaurs, a dinosaur themed play area and new places to eat and drink.

Four roller coasters at three theme parks in the UK have been shut after the crash on The Smiler at Alton Towers in which 16 people were injured, four seriously.

The Smiler, which crashed, and SAW - The Ride, another multi-car roller coaster manufactured by Gerstlauer which is at Thorpe Park, have both been shut "for the foreseeable future" according to Merlin Entertainments.

Two other multi-car roller coasters, Dragon's Fury and Rattlesnake at Chessington World of Adventures, have also been closed until new safety protocols have been applied.

Growth in visitor numbers at some of the UK's biggest theme parks during 2014 revealed in figures from TEA/AECOM.

The annual TEA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum Index, the definitive annual attendance study for the themed entertainment and museum industries, has been published.

Theme park numbers for calendar year 2014 show that the industry has continued its post-recession attendance growth at a healthy rate of 4% for the top parks globally. Europe has rebounded with 3% volume growth, the U.S. has remained steady at a little over 2%, and Asia, still the leader but not by as much, increased by about 5%.

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