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Which UK theme parks are still worth visiting for thrill-seekers?

Thameslink Rail

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In recent years several parks have started leaving the thrill market. Chessington, Drayton Manor and Lightwater Valley come to mind and others have had virtually no investment for years. This leaves very little competition in the thrill market.
Off the top of my head:
Alton Towers
Thorpe Park
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Flamingo Land (If you are desperate and don't mind having a massive headache at the end of the day)
Oakwood (Which is quite far out of the way unless you live in Wales)
Any more you would like to add?
 
I don't think Chessington was ever really trying to be a thrill park, it was always a zoo with some family rides, plus Rameses Revenge. Then of course once Tussauds bought Thorpe they decided to take the parks in separate directions.

Even Oakwood doesn't have a huge thrill ride collection does it?

Individual fairgrounds and piers probably have more non-coaster thrill rides than all Merlin parks put together.

Winter Wonderland is probably worth a mention as a large scale fairground.
 
It depends if you’re willing to mix thrill rides with family rides or not. Some “thrill seekers” are but some only want to go on thrill rides all day, which is a shame because it actually means they miss out on some decent parks with good thrill rides, albeit not enough thrill rides to completely fill the day.

Oakwood has already been mentioned and is a good example of a park where you can enjoy two really decent thrill coasters together with a lot of really enjoyable family rides. If you’re happy to go on family rides as well, then you should visit Oakwood. It’s worth it for Megafobia alone. It would also be a shame to miss out on riding such a great coaster just because the other rides aren’t intense white knuckle experiences.

To a lesser extent, you could even say the same for somewhere like Pleasurewood Hills. They have a couple of decent coasters and flat rides for thrill seekers but, again, if you want a day full of thrills and nothing else then this also won’t be the park for you.

Alton and Thorpe cater for those wanting nothing other than thrill rides. Other U.K. parks have somewhat more of a mix.

EDIT- Alton and Thorpe have family rides too. What I meant in the above comment is that if you only want thrill rides, Thorpe and Alton have enough. They do have non-thrill rides as well though.
 
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Alton and Thorpe cater for those wanting nothing other than thrill rides. Other U.K. parks have somewhat more of a mix.

Alton Towers has a reasonable number of non-thrill rides. The issue is they have too much for under-6s and not enough for 6-10 year olds. Then for adults there are too many coasters and not enough variety of other experiences.
Whereas Thorpe Park feels like it is relentless with thrill rides and can be quite sickening if the queues are short.
 
Yes sorry that was worded badly.

What I meant is that if you’re the type of person who only wants to go on thrill rides and not any other rides types, Alton and Thorpe will give you the opportunity to do that, whereas parks such as Oakwood and Pleasurewood Hills don’t.

Alton and Thorpe do of course have family rides as well. Alton has a really good selection, but this topic is about thrill rides so I was answering that question specifically.
 
Rather get a cheap flight and go to Phantasialand, Liseberg, Efteling, Toverland or Europa these days.

Every year that passes I visit our own parks less and less. Not been to Thorpe in over 5 years for example and I'm not in a rush to go back either. It's a hole.
I had Tussauds and then Merlin passes from about 2001 to 2013 and just realised I got bored of going to the same parks over and over again. We now go to Alton Towers for the fireworks only and have been to Thorpe Park twice I think.

We haven't got round to doing all the European parks, but did Phantasialand and would have done Europa if it wasn't for Covid.

I was sort of thinking about this in comparison to the USA, where most people have a theme park (such as Six Flags or Cedar Fair brands) or two in their state, but the better option is to travel to Disney.
 
Rather get a cheap flight and go to Phantasialand, Liseberg, Efteling, Toverland or Europa these days.

Every year that passes I visit our own parks less and less. Not been to Thorpe in over 5 years for example and I'm not in a rush to go back either. It's a hole.
I agree on that one as they've got like 5 SBNO things and they don't look to have a new coaster till 2024 at least tbh. Oakwood i think is meant to be a family thrill park and I'm just unsure what Pleasurewood Hills and Lightwater are trying to do !
 
There's just too many amusement / theme parks in this country in my opinion. There are states in America far bigger than England with much fewer parks. I know you have to account for population too not just size but we have too many.

I'd rather we just had 4 or 5 world class parks than 3 decent ones and about 10 to 15 poor ones. They basically take customers off each other which is frustrating.
 
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