Merlin is a big player in the UK theme park game, with 4 of the most popular theme parks in the country. Covering a wide range of audiences, I feel like Merlin have got a pretty good handle on the UK theme park industry in terms of having everyone covered. But which is the best? Obviously, I’m a 23 year old with no kids and a love of roller coasters so my opinions, as you can expect, could be very different to yours or anyone else’s. That being said, here’s my rankings on the 4 Merlin theme parks in the UK.
4 – Legoland Windsor
Legoland is by no means a bad park and that isn’t why it is at the bottom of my list at all. Legoland is adorable and I spent a large amount of time there when I was tiny. The problem that Legoland faces is that it is ALWAYS so hugely busy. As the most visited theme park in the UK in 2018, Legoland is massively popular and appeals to lego-fans and families of all ages. The rides are geared more towards a younger audience and queues can get insane, especially during the summer months. There’s not a huge amount to do at Legoland, though I do love the mini land attraction. Legoland’s popularity is its own worst enemy for me, with operations never running that smoothly, crowds huge and a ride offering that isn’t really too appealing to me. Still sad to missing my trip there later this month though 😦
3. Chessington
Again, there’s nothing about Chessington that I dislike really. It is a nice family park with a cute zoo area and some fun rides. I do think Chessington has started looking a little bit old. I was really excited to see that they’ve put some work in this year to get things looking better but last time I went (admittedly before the Gruffalo ride was introduced), it looked a bit sad and sorry for itself. The park has a lot of promise and a lot of potential. With some TLC and investment, it could be amazing. I do think that this is the way it is going as well, with the new area opening this year, rethemes of rides to keep them fresh, the updates to Tomb Blaster and Vampire. They are moving in the right direction. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Chessington.
2. Thorpe Park
Of course, in number 2, we have Thorpe Park. Now, this is here purely for its ride line up. My issue with Thorpe is that a lot of the park lacks atmosphere. It feels more like some of the American parks with roller coasters just dotted around and not much else. Again, I must admit that I’ve not been to the park for a few years (I was meant to be doing all three of the more Southern parks for my birthday), but the times I’ve visited, I’ve been left underwhelmed by the atmosphere. That being said, the rides are astonishing. There’s some real amazing coasters, and other rides as well, at Thorpe Park that make it deserve the second place in this ranking. Stealth, The Swarm, Nemesis Inferno. There’s a lot going for this park, I just wish they’d run with it a bit to make the whole place more of an experience.
1. Alton Towers
At number one, it had to be Alton Towers. This park is beautiful. The scenery, location and history definitely set it apart from all the other Merlin parks. Where else could you see such a gorgeous historic building from the top of a coaster with the highest number of inversions in the world? Where else could you look out over fields and woodlands before plummeting in the world’s first dive coaster? It blows me away every time. The park has a lot of stand out rides to me and maybe I’m a little biased since this is, by far, my most visited park but I think it deserves to sit at the top of this list.
No Merlin park is perfect, I’ll give you that. But I think all 4 are really enjoyable parks with a lot of great things about them that people often overlook for the sake of being able to moan. I can’t wait to get back to every single one as soon as I can. Until then.
Mission Theme Park 
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