Each theme park was scored based on their amenities, attractions, availability, price, owd levels, popularity, theming, and value for money. While Alton Towers won thanks to its extra-spooky theming, Legoland Windsor Resort was a surprise second-best. Meanwhile, Fantasy Island in Skegness was named the worst of the bunch due to poor seasonal availability and low popularity among guests.
A new ranking has revealed which popular UK theme park’s Halloween celebration is the best this year, with fan favourite Alton Towers crowned the winner. The ranking, created by JeffBet, assigned each theme park a score out of 10 based on their amenities, attractions, availability of their Halloween event, crowd levels, price, seasonal popularity, spooky theming, and value for money.
Amenities looked at the number of on-site restaurants, food stalls, and gift stops. Attractions relate to the number of rollercoasters, their wait times and their ratings, while availability is based on the number of days the Halloween event runs and the park’s opening times. Crowd levels consider queue times and footfall, price refers to tickets and parking, seasonal popularity looks at the visitor reviews for each park, while theming refers to the number and variety of Halloween attractions available and how much demand increases in October.
Meanwhile, value for money scaled ticket price by the number of attractions and the hours each guest can spend in the park to see where their money will go the furthest. And when all the factors are considered, it turns out Alton Towers is the theme park that’s actually worth visiting this October, as it scored the best with 5.7 out of 10.
The theme park and resort in Staffordshire soared to the top thanks to its extensive spooky theming, with eight Halloween-specific attractions available – including their new Daz Games escape room – compared to just three at Drayton Manor. The park also saw the second-highest increase in interest last October, just behind Thorpe Park, and scored highly for amenities with 11 eateries and eight gift shops on-site.
Halloween events at UK theme parks, ranked from best to worst
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Chessington World of Adventures
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However, Alton Towers was let down by its price and, subsequently, its value for money, as it’s the second-most expensive park in the ranking as tickets retail for £73 online. Surprisingly, Legoland Windsor Resort’s Halloween offering – this year called Brick or Treat – came out as better than Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights, scoring 5.6 out of 10.
This was largely due to its variety of spooky-specific events, including The Great Monster Chase and a Haunted House Monster Party, and its attractions, where the park performed better than Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, and Lightwater Valley.
Despite having just three roller coasters, Legoland’s attractions are among the highest-rated and benefit from low queue times, which is great news for visitors.The park also scored considerably better than Alton Towers and Thorpe Park for crowds, with queue times kept low despite a higher volume of daily average attendees and a predicted crowd level of 75% throughout October, compared to Alton Towers’ 82%.
Thorpe Park rounds out the top three best parks to visit this Halloween, coming out as the top performer for availability as their event runs for 25 days, each up to 11 hours long. The park also performed well for theming, as their Fright Nights include six specific attractions that prompted a high level of interest last October, with this year’s top events including riding rollercoasters in the dark and attending one of their four live scare shows.
On the other end of the scale, the theme park that’s least worth visiting this Halloween is Fantasy Island in Skegness, as it scored particularly poorly for popularity thanks to an average review score of 4.3 and a low annual search volume from interested visitors. The availability of their Halloween event also let down the park, as their ‘Fear Island VII’ is available for just ten days throughout October, making it one of the more limited runs.
Overall, Alton Towers was best for those looking for spooky theming, while thrill-seekers will want to visit the park with the highest-rated rollercoasters – Lightwater Valley.
Speaking on the findings, a JeffBet spokesperson:
ne of the most in-demand events at UK theme parks, as they take the opportunity to attract visitors with live-action scare shows, pumpkin carving competitions, and fancy–dress parties.However, the big names like Thorpe Park and Blackpool Pleasure Beach tend to overshadow smaller providers like Flamingo Land and Fantasy Island, making it easy for visitors to end up overpaying for an experience that may actually be better elsewhere.
“It’s surprising to see Legoland above Thorpe Park in the ranking – and while the former is more tailored to little ones, there’s plenty of spooky fun for adults to enjoy too this year.”
