Theme parks' 'fantastic season' ends with award nod

Gulliver's theme parks have been nominated 11 times at the UK Theme Park Awards

A theme park said award nominations had rounded off a "fantastic season", boosted by sunny weather.

Gulliver's Theme Parks, which has sites around the country including Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire, has been nominated in multiple categories at the UK Theme Park Awards.

It is up for 'theme park of the year' alongside major players such as Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and LEGOLAND Windsor.

Darren Hoy, hospitality manager at Gulliver's Land in Milton Keynes, said: "The weather's been fantastic for us. Every single day it's been warm and sunny. It meant that a lot of people have decided to come out on the day and enjoy us."

The Met Office confirmed that the summer of 2025 was officially the hottest on record for the United Kingdom.

This was in line with evidence that summers were getting hotter and drier due to climate change.

Darren Hoy said sunny weather had boosted park visitors despite the cost of living crisis

Gulliver's Theme Parks, based in Matlock in Derbyshire, has been nominated eleven times for categories such as best new attraction, best theme park for toddlers and best new entertainment.

"We thought at this moment in time there were some issues with cost of living and stuff like that," Mr Hoy said, "but we've really bounced from that and it's been a really, really good season for us."

"With the awards on the back of it now, it's made it worthwhile... It's like kind of a well-done thing at the end of it."

Andy Fuller said Pleasurewood Hills in Lowestoft, Suffolk was "excited" to be nominated for five awards

Winners of the 22 categories will be announced today during an event at Wicksteed Park in Kettering, Northamptonshire.

In the running for awards are 35 theme parks across the UK, including Pleasurewood Hills in Lowestoft, Suffolk, which is nominated for five awards.

Sales manager Andy Fuller agreed that the recent season had been boosted by sunny weather.

He said: "On a beautiful day like this, we'd have a very busy park ... [When it is not nice weather] it does put a bit of a dampener on it.

"We've had our challenges, but we have ridden those waves, and we had a good season overall

"We're incredibly excited. We've had nominations for five awards. We're absolutely thrilled and we can't wait."