Mark's Parks home

Theme Parks

  • Chessington’s ‘Project Play’ gets the go-ahead
    20th February 2025

    Chessington’s ‘Project Play’ gets the go-ahead

    I reported a while back that Chessington had submitted planning permission to re-develop the Mexicana area of the park. Yesterday, that planning permission was granted by Kingston upon Thames Borough Council. You can see the full planning application here. What next? It’s been reported that some preliminary work has already started in the Mexicana area […]

  • What is going on with Merlin?
    12th February 2025

    What is going on with Merlin?

    It’s no secret that Merlin have got some financial issues after running a huge loss, seeing lower visitors than expected at their new Korea and New York Legoland parks plus visitors spending less money when visiting their parks. In the last few days however news of further cut-backs have come for Merlin’s UK parks. In […]

  • Walibi Holland Announce Opening Date for Duelling RMC Single Rail Coasters
    5th February 2025

    Walibi Holland Announce Opening Date for Duelling RMC Single Rail Coasters

    Walibi Holland have today announced on their social media platforms that their new RMC single rail coasters known as YOY will open on the 5th April 2025. What is YOY at Walibi Holland? YOY are a pair of single rail coaster opening this year at Walibi Holland Theme Park. They are manufactured by RMC (Rocky […]

  • Has the Eagles Claw left Lightwater Valley?
    4th February 2025

    Has the Eagles Claw left Lightwater Valley?

    Lightwater Valley, once a fantastic park in Yorkshire has been through quite a journey over the last few years since The Brighton Pier Group took over. During that time as they have tried to refocus the struggling park to be aimed at families they have removed a number of rides but most notably The Raptor, […]

  • Could Universal Studios UK get the green light by the end of January?
    21st January 2025

    Could Universal Studios UK get the green light by the end of January?

    It’s no secret that Universal Studios have purchased a huge amount of land near Bedford and have been going through a consultation process around opening a new Universal Studios Resort in the UK which is incredibly exciting, not least because the UK economy really needs it plus it would make Merlin work harder to compete. […]

  • What does Plopsa de Panne need next?
    4th January 2025

    What does Plopsa de Panne need next?

    I’ve previously written about my opinion that The Ride to Happiness is overrated and that you can do a day trip to Plopsaland from the UK but in this blog I’m going to share what I think this Belgium-based theme park needs next! Plopsa de Panne is currently building some new accommodation which looks incredible […]

  • Is the Ride to Happiness overrated?
    1st January 2025

    Is the Ride to Happiness overrated?

    Located within a 40 minutes drive of the car port in Calais you’ll find Plopsa De Panne, a largely family-focused park in Belgium with one coaster drawing people in from around the world, The Ride to Happiness. This extreme spinning coaster is built by Mack rides and holds the record for most inversions on a […]

  • Can you do a day trip to Plopsa de Panne from the UK?
    31st December 2024

    Can you do a day trip to Plopsa de Panne from the UK?

    Situated in the Belgium town of De Panne Plopsaland is one of the various Plopsa parks located across Europe and one of the largest. The opening of The Ride to Happiness, a Mack extreme-spinning coaster, in 2021 really put this park on the map but, can you do a day trip to Plopsa de Panne […]

  • Getting to Efteling and Toverland from Eindhoven
    17th December 2024

    Getting to Efteling and Toverland from Eindhoven

    Eindhoven is a city in the Netherlands which is easy to get to by air and has some great, affordable hotels you can stay in. The city also has a fantastic food hall in the form of the Down Town Gourmet Market and some great places to enjoy a drink too. On top of that […]

  • Alton Towers to remove The Blade and 2 other attractions
    3rd December 2024

    Alton Towers to remove The Blade and 2 other attractions

    It’s not been a great few years to Alton Towers with budget cuts, terrible ride availability and the introduction of staggered opening hours and it seems this is set to continue. In their first Winter Update posted on their blog yesterday Alton Towers announced the permanent removal of The Blade and 2 other attractions. Read […]

  • Getting to Energylandia from Krakow
    13th November 2024

    Getting to Energylandia from Krakow

    Just under 3 years ago on a Christmas market trip to Krakow I sat on a train and saw an advert for Energylandia, a theme park I had never heard of…by the end of that evening I’d booked tickets! I have since revisited and in this blog I’ll share how to go about getting to […]

  • Planning a Trip to Phantasialand & Movie Park in Germany
    11th November 2024

    Planning a Trip to Phantasialand & Movie Park in Germany

    Germany is full of theme parks and home to some of the best parks in Europe including Europa Park, Phantasialand, Movie Park, Hansa Park, Holiday Park and Heide Park however, these parks are quite spread out across the country. Two parks that are situated relatively close to each other are Phantasialand and Movie Park. In […]

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