Which UK Theme Parks are worth a visit in 2025?

2024 was certainly the year of the new attraction in the UK with the opening of Hyperia at Thorpe Park, Nemesis Reborn at Alton Towers and Gold Rush at Drayton Manor whereas 2025 is shaping up to be a much quieter (and more destructive) year. For that reason I thought I’d write about the top UK Theme Parks and whether I think they’re worth a visit in 2025.

Thorpe Park

Starting with my favourite theme park in the UK, Thorpe Park! 2025 won’t see any new attractions open at Thorpe Park but we know from recent publicity that they have finally removed the Slammer ride after many years of it standing-but-not-operating (SBNO), have continued painting Colossus and have been making improvements to the plaza around Hyperia. They are also still awaiting planning permission to develop Amity Beach into an entertainments area.

In my opinion Thorpe Park is worth a visit in 2025…over the last few years the park has been looking better than ever and it’s packed with some of the best roller coasters in the UK including Stealth, Hyperia and The Swarm. There’s plenty to do but, be warned, queues get long at peak times so if you can sneak in a mid-week day during May, June or September you’ll get much quieter queues (late June and July often see lots of school visits).

Blackpool Pleasure Beach

My 2nd favourite UK park has to be Blackpool Pleasure Beach which offers a wide variety of steel and wood coasters including the incredible ‘Icon’, the former tallest roller coaster in the UK ‘The Big One’ and classics such as The Big Dipper.

However, the park is very much in a transitional year and whilst this year will see the re-opening and re-imaging of Ice Blast as Launchpad there are also a number of rides remaining shut for all of 2025, Grand National closing for part of and a big question mark around River Caves (I reported on all this recently).

For those reasons, in my opinion 2025 is not the year to visit Blackpool Pleasure Beach as ride availability is going to be lower than previous years and with various boarding up around the site and the empty area from the now part-demolished Grand Prix from vlogs I’ve seen the park is not looking it’s best. I can’t wait to see what they do next but 2025 is not the year for a trip to Pleasure Beach unless you live nearby.

Chessington World of Adventures

Much like Pleasure Beach 2025 is a transitional year for Chessington. Scorpion Express and the Mexicana area are being removed to make way for Project Play opening in 2026 and Wild Asia will be closed for the whole season ready for Minecraft’s arrival in 2027 which will see a new coaster and other attractions.

That means the ride offering at Chessington is going to be limited and the park won’t be looking its best.

Flamingoland

A park I rarely talk about and haven’t visited in many years is Flamingoland in Yorkshire. Whilst Flamingoland doesn’t have the same standard of theming as other UK parks there are a large amount of rides including SIK which is basically the upgraded version of Colossus with lap-bars (please, Thorpe Park…get lap bars!), a variety of other roller coasters including the UK’s most hated coaster, ‘Hero’ and, a variety of flat rides too. Alongside that the park also offers a zoo.

For 2025 we may also see the opening of the re-imagined Lost River Ride which is rumoured to include a new indoor dark scene and lower drop but the park is yet to officially confirm this.

If you’re in the area then Flamingoland could well be worth a visit in 2025.

Lightwater Valley

Whilst talking about Yorkshire I should mention Lightwater Valley which has completely refocused to being a park for younger children over the last few years with the Brighton Pier Group massacring The Ultimate and removing anything remotely thrilling from the park with the latest casualty being Eagles Claw.

For under 8’s you’ll probably have a nice day at Lightwater Valley but kids over that will probably get bored quickly and, if I’m completely honest (and it’s my blog so I’m going to be)…Lightwater Valley is dead to me after the lack of respect they showed to The Ultimate, literally tearing it to pieces.

Alton Towers

2024 saw the opening of the re-tracked and re-themed Nemesis and in 2025 Alton Towers will open Toxicator, a new Huss top-spin ride. The park has also said the Sky Ride will finally re-open in 2025.

This means 2025 might be the best year in many years to visit Alton Towers despite the removal of The Blade and their last remaining retro-squad Twister ride during the closed season however, I’d hold fire on booking those tickets until the season begins and vlogs come out. Ride reliability at Alton Towers was terrible last year with periods of downtime happening for all the major coasters (often at the same time as each other). If the park has improved this then it could be worth a visit in 2025.

Paulton’s Park

Finally, a park that is opening something new this year! In 2025 Paulton’s Park will be opening Ghostly Manor, an immersive indoor ride built by Mack which will be a gameplay theatre with some kind of interactive element. The previews of this attraction, set to open in May, look incredible with Paulton’s going all out on theming.

Add into the mix a variety of attractions geared towards families in a beautifully themed park then Paulton’s will make for a great family day out in 2025.

Legoland

There’s a theme here of Merlin Parks stagnating and Legoland is another one of those. For 2025 you can expect a very similar experience to 2025 but with Sky Rider now being removed from the park. If you’ve not been for a few years you’ll also notice the lack of Viking River Rapids which closed at the end of 2023.

Drayton Manor

This year Drayton Manor celebrates its 75th anniversary and whilst it doesn’t look like we’ll see the return of Pirates Adventure the park is in a really good place at the moment. The Wave (a sit-down, re-imagined Shockwave) is fantastic (but needs another train), Gold Rush is a fantastic family coaster and as a whole the park is just looking fantastic and really well looked after and certainly worth visiting.

Pleasurewood Hills

Situated in Lowestoft in Suffolk Pleasurewood Hills is also run by The Looping Group who own Drayton Manor but is in a very different place (geographically and in a park-wellbeing sense!) to Drayton Manor. It’s been many years since Pleasurewood Hills saw any major new attractions and whilst Marble Madness (their wild mouse coaster) will return this year after it’s full-refurbishment and Wipeout has had a new paint job over winter the park remains pretty much the same which is a shame given the investment that’s gone into Drayton Manor.

Recent reports of Pleasurewood Hills making a sizeable loss in 2024 do concern me for the park’s future especially with it’s ageing ride collection and I don’t think we’ll see the Cannonball Express operating for many more years (that’s for another blog).

Is it a park to visit in 2025? For me, it’s not, if you’re local then pop along but expect more of the same as previous years and nothing new.

Everywhere else!

I couldn’t possibly cover all the smaller parks in this blog and places like Southend’s Adventure Island, Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and various other regional attractions largely site in the category of ‘if you’re nearby then visit but they’re probably not worth the trip alone’.

Which parks will you be visiting this year? Personally, I’ll be making it to Thorpe Park but then focusing on European parks such as Phantasialand, Europa Park and Wallibi Holland.