The Facts And Figures Of Some Of The UK's Biggest Theme Parks
It's difficult to provide a final figure on how many theme parks there are in the UK, as there are so many different places throughout the country that feature one rollercoaster or a handful of rides and call themselves a theme park.
However, there are at least a dozen major theme parks up and down the country and these 14 facts and figures give an interesting insight into a wide selection of them.
1. Alton Towers is home to several 'world's first' titles, including having the world's first vertical drop roller coaster (Oblivion) and the world's first vertical free fall drop roller coaster (Th13teen)
2. In addition, Alton Towers also has Europe's very first inverted roller coaster with Nemesis
3. Lightwater Valley in North Yorkshire is home to The Ultimate, which is Europe's longest roller coaster at 7,442 feet long
4. The Ultimate is actually the second longest roller coaster in the world, beat to the top spot by the Steel Dragon 2000 which is 691 feet longer
5. The world's very first megadisk-O ride can be found in Flamingo Land, also in North Yorkshire. The ride is called the Navigator and was opened in 2005
6. Flamingo Land also has Velocity, the only motorbike launch rollercoaster in the UK
7. Velocity is also the fastest ride of its kind on earth
8. The most visited theme park in the UK is Pleasure Beach Blackpool, with 5.5 million visitors entering through the gates in 2007 (according to the 2007 Attraction Attendance report, created by the Themed Entertainment Association and Economics Research Associates)
9. Located in Pleasure Beach Blackpool is the Pepsi Max Big One, the tallest roller coaster in the UK
10. The Pepsi Max Big One was actually the tallest, fastest and steepest roller coaster in the world when it opened in 1994. Its records were taken away in 1996 (steepest, by Fujiyama in Japan), 2001 (fastest, by Colossos in Germany) and 2002 (tallest, by Silver Star, also in Germany)
11. The fastest roller coaster in the UK can be found at Thorpe Park. It's called Stealth and reaches a maximum speed of 80 miles per hour
12. Also at Thorpe Park you can find the very first roller coaster in the world that was themed around a horror movie; SAW: The Ride
13. There's also the UK's tallest log flume, Loggers Leap, which it has held the record for (albeit with a 12 year break between 1993 and 2005) since 1989
14. And not forgetting X:\ No Way Out, the only backwards and in-the-dark roller coaster in the world
15. The only regular and fully operational jousting arena in the UK is in Camelot Theme Park, Lancashire
14. Camelot Theme Park was run by The Granada Group for over a decade in the 1980s and 1990s, the same group that owned and managed the popular but now closed Granada Studios Tour. Here, guests could take a walk down the cobbled street of the Coronation Street soap opera, as well as a look around several of the studios
About the Author:
Open Roads has a variety of tourist information and visitor guides on Alton Towers, London trips and Lake District for you to enjoy a perfectly planned vacation. They also have a range of discounts and offers for other attractive travel destinations around the world.
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