In this special episode of Skip the Queue, Andy Povey speaks to the winners of the UK Theme Park Awards in Blackpool to discover what makes a truly great attraction. From storytelling and guest experience to innovation, technology and the people behind the scenes, hear directly from some of the UK's best attractions about what creates memorable visitor experiences and where the industry is heading next.
In this special episode of Skip the Queue, Andy Povey is back in Blackpool for the UK Theme Park Awards, speaking to some of the people and businesses recognised for delivering some of the best work in the UK attractions industry.
But this episode isn’t just about celebrating the winners.
Andy explores what it actually takes to create a great attraction and a memorable visitor experience, asking the people at the heart of the industry what they think makes the difference.
From storytelling and guest experience to technology, people, innovation and the small details visitors remember, Andy gets the winners’ perspectives on what’s working, what could be better and where the industry should be looking next.
If you want to know what the best in the business think makes a great attraction, this is the episode for you.
Listen now and hear directly from the winners of the UK Theme Park Awards.
Show references:
UK Theme Park Awards 2026 - https://www.ukthemeparkawards.com/
UK Theme Park Awards 2026 – Interviewees
Courtney Baker - Pleasurewood Hills
Award: 🏆 Theme Park of the Year – Under 1m Visitors
Howard Ebison - Alton Towers Resort / Merlin Entertainments
Award: 🏆 Alton Towers won 9 awards, including Gold for Best Landscaped Theme Park and Gold for Best Brand Activation – Minecraft: Meet the Mobs
Daisy Shirley, Digital Marketing Executive - Crealy Theme Park & Resort
Award: 🏆 Crealy won 5 awards, including Gold for Best Theme Park for Toddlers – Sooty Land
Jodie Hodgkins, Sales & Marketing Manager - Crealy Theme Park & Resort
Award: 🏆 Crealy won 5 awards, including Gold for Best Theme Park for Toddlers – Sooty Land
Rupert Viney - Merlin Entertainments
Representing: LEGOLAND Windsor, Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures
Awards: 🏆 LEGOLAND – 6 awards; Thorpe Park – 4 awards; Chessington – 3 awards
Debs Griffin, Director - Sundown Adventureland
Award: 🥇 Gold – Best Christmas Event – Christmas Spectacular
James Cox, ICAE, Director of Marketing - Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Awards: 🥇 Gold – Best Seaside Park (North); 🥈 Silver – Best New Attraction; 🥉 Bronze – Best Theme Park for Thrills; 🥉 Bronze – Best Halloween Event – Journey to Hell
Josh Haywood, Board Director / General Manager - Crealy Theme Park & Resort
Award: 🏆 Outstanding Achievement Award
Lawrence Mancey, Marketing & Technology Director - Paultons Park
Award: 🏆 Theme Park Personality of the Year
Owen Ralph, Attractions Industry Journalist / Awards Judge - Kirmes & Park International / Words and Attractions
Interviewed as a UK Theme Park Awards judge
Lawrence Roots, Founder - Theme Park Network / UK Theme Park Awards
Interviewed as the awards organiser/founder
Skip the Queue is brought to you by Merac. We provide attractions with the tools and expertise to create world-class digital interactions. Very simply, we're here to rehumanise commerce. Your host is Andy Povey.
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Awards Presenter: The nominees are on screen, so let's give them all a huge round of applause.
Andy Povey: Welcome back to Skip the Queue. I'm your host, Andy Povey and we're still in Blackpool for the UK Theme Park Awards. And this time we're going to be talking to the winners. These are the people and businesses being recognised for some of the best work happening across the UK attractions industry. Here's what they had to say.
Theme Park Awards Host:
And the 2026 winner is Pleasurewood Hill.
Andy Povey:
Courtney, welcome to Skip the Queue. You've just picked up the award for best theme park in the uk. That's got to be a real thrill.
Coutney of Pleasurewood Hills:
It was a complete shock, but the whole team are absolutely over the moon with it. We can't thank everyone enough, really. Just a massive turnaround for the park and we're glad that everyone is seeing the park for what we can offer and what we can do.
Andy Povey:
Yeah, you really are going through a transformation down at Pleasure Wood Hills at the moment and. And I'm loving watching from the side.
Coutney of Pleasurewood Hills:
Yeah. Four new rides this year. We just opened our Castle Theatre to Circus Izani as well, which was a huge success after it not being open for nearly a decade. Got other things coming up with Halloween as well. New Scare Maze on the horizon. Fingers crossed. And the social media has been absolutely booming, which was, you know, a bit difficult to take over with no social media experience between myself and the Tom who does social media with me. So massive changes. We've all kind of had to expand this year with job roles and learning what we can and can't do. But overall, winning back the locals has been huge for us and we're. We're glad to see all of the support.
Andy Povey:
Fantastic. And I really hope Pleasurewood Hills continues to grow, builds on this success and just becomes what it is capable of being. So good luck with that.
Coutney of Pleasurewood Hills:
Thank you very much. Watch this space is all I can say.
Andy Povey:
We're watching intense.
Coutney of Pleasurewood Hills:
Thank you.
Andy Povey:
So I'm with Howard Ebison from Alton Towers. Howard, have you enjoyed today's Theme Park Awards?
Howard Ebison:
It's been fantastic. It's been a really fantastic moment to celebrate some great achievements across the whole industry.
Andy Povey:
And you picked up a bucket load, haven't you?
Howard Ebison:
Well, we are very proud to be taking home nine awards today.
Andy Povey:
Nine awards I've seen. There's a couple of other Merlin parks here. Is there a competition going off internally?
Howard Ebison:
Oh, always, yeah. There's always competition amongst us for sure.
Andy Povey:
So of all of the awards you've picked up today, what's the one you're Most proud of?
Howard Ebison:
Well, there's two, actually that really stand out. Which are the two gold awards that we won. One is for our Minecraft Meet the Mobs activation this summer. It was amazing to bring the world's most popular video game to life. But alongside that, the gold award for best landscape theme park. Because actually, I love the contrast of the fact that we've got this beautiful heritage that we look after and we can bring something that is so modern and current to life and celebrate both of those things at the same time.
Andy Povey:
The gardens at Alton are phenomenal. I mean, I remember walking around those as a child many years ago. So now we're going out on the park. What ride are you most looking forward to going on?
Howard Ebison:
I'm heading straight to Aviktas. I can't wait to try it out.
Andy Povey:
I won't get. Anyway, thank you for your time.
Howard Ebison:
No problem. Thanks.
Andy Povey:
Daisy and Jody, marketing team from Crealy. Ladies, how's it been today?
Daisy of Crealy:
Really good. Really happy, aren't we? Really, really successful.
Andy Povey:
You picked up a bunch of awards.
Daisy of Crealy:
And, you know, just being in the room with the industry leaders and seeing our marketing campaigns that Daisy coordinates and does everything, it's incredible.
Andy Povey:
I mean, the pirates campaign I loved. That was a hairs up on the back of the neck moment as I saw the advert.
Daisy of Crealy:
It was incredible. So proud. Really fun to work on such a good project, especially down in the Southwest, you know, it's one of the biggest investments in a long time. So.
Andy Povey:
Yeah, very much so.
Jody of Crealy:
Yeah.
Andy Povey:
And obviously our office is two miles away, so we get to see exactly what's happening. So what's it like being the supporting team behind Josh and his Outstanding Achievement award?
Daisy of Crealy:
We love working with him, don't we? So, so proud.
Andy Povey:
He's not. He's not listening to this.
Daisy of Crealy:
He's behind us now. Can we get a pay rise? He is incredible to work for. Worked for him for a long time. Both like nine years for me. Six.
Jody of Crealy:
Six.
Daisy of Crealy:
Yeah. Six, seven years. And now he's doing a lot more on social as well. And he's great at it. He's a natural in front of the camera.
Andy Povey:
You're the guys who put him there and tell him what to do.
Daisy of Crealy:
Yeah, yeah. Rein him in sometimes. Yeah. Sometimes, no. He's incredible. And what he's achieved at Crealy over the years as well, so see him up there today and accept that award is really. We were a bit like taken back by emotional. Very deserved. Yeah. (Edited)
Andy Povey:
Ladies, thank you so much. Yeah. You're going to head out to the park and get on some of the thrill rides now.
Daisy of Crealy:
Yeah, definitely. Definitely the new one for sure.
Andy Povey:
So now I've collared Rupert Viney, who's here representing a bunch of attractions within the Merlin family. Rupert, have you found theme park awards today?
Rupert Viney:
Amazing. It's my first one. I haven't been lucky enough to be chosen to go to the awards previously, so this year was my year, so very happy to come into an amazing attraction in itself as well. And, yeah, it's been amazing to network with people in the industry and celebrate some amazing individuals as well.
Andy Povey:
Oh, it's fantastic, isn't it? I love this event. So which parks are you representing today, Rupert?
Rupert Viney:
So I'm representing the Lagalan Ranger Resort, Fort Park Resort and also Chesington World of Adventures. (Edited)
Andy Povey:
So you're the London man, really?
Rupert Viney:
Yes. Yeah, I'm all things in the south is. Is my. Is my remit.
Andy Povey:
So you picked up four awards today? I believe so.
Rupert Viney:
Picked up a few. So we picked up six for Legoland. I think we picked up four fort park and I think three for Chesington. So a really nice variety of awards across.
Andy Povey:
And are you stacking all of yours up? Thanks to Howard's?
Rupert Viney:
Oh, I would. I would love to. I think some will definitely go back to the attractions because as much as I would love to have the attraction, the awards in my office, it's not my award, it's their award. So it's very much for everyone to see and celebrate and especially for the likes of. I know that Alton Towers won best landscape, for example, so it'd be really nice for the teams on the ground to receive that award. And Legoland won Best Water attraction as well, so it'd be really nice for the aquatic team to really see that award as well, so.
Andy Povey:
Completely. And what are you most looking forward to for next year, for next season that you're allowed to share at this point?
Rupert Viney:
I can share. It's got to be Minecraft coming into Chesington next year. We've got some really ambitious plans, some really exciting plans and a really big investment going into Chesington. It's a really exciting year for Chesington with lots of opportunity for growth. So, yeah, watch this space.
Award Presenter:
And the gold goes to the Christmas Spectacular at Sundown Adventureland.
Andy Povey:
Debs, fantastic award. Well done. Congratulations.
Debs Griffin:
Thank you very much. After the conversation last night, it's nice that, yeah, went for it. We've got gold. Like me and all the family, all the team, everything that goes into Contact Christmas, it really is a mammoth task and yeah, just thanks to everybody involved in it, everybody that voted. Yeah, Proper full circle moments. I'm over the moon.
Andy Povey:
I've seen the effort that goes into it. I remember being in ticket offices at sundown 10 years ago in May, June and people are wrapping presents already then to get ready for Christmas.
Debs Griffin:
Yeah, we start wrapping in for February. We did it all in house. Yeah, we start in February and then it's about 20,000 presents we need to wrap, give or take. So, yeah, big job.
Andy Povey:
What a fantastic effort. So absolutely, from the bottom of my heart, congratulations.
Debs Griffin:
Yeah, means a lot. Means a lot. When you're a family run company which there's so many of us here today, it just, it hits a bit different. It, it means so much more.
Andy Povey:
It certainly does.
Debs Griffin:
So much more.
Andy Povey:
So congratulations to you and the rest of the team at Sundown.
Debs Griffin:
Thank you so much.
Andy Povey:
So I'm now joined by James Cox, marketing director for the Pleasure Beach. First. James, what a fantastic event. Thank you to you and the rest of the Pleasure beach team for everything you've put in so far.
James Cox:
Yeah, no, really happy to host it. I think it's the seventh year, we're the fifth host, so it's the first. It's gone into two days so hopefully it's working on the two day format for everyone.
Andy Povey:
Certainly is. My hands need a rest from all the applause, but we're only halfway through. So you picked up four awards so far. Yeah. And is it fair of me to test you and actually what they all are so.
James Cox:
Well, we got silver for Best of Attraction, bronze for best for Thrills, bronze for Halloween event with Journey to Hell and gold for best seaside park in the North. So yeah, good start for Halfway Through.
Andy Povey:
It's not bad, is it?
James Cox:
Not that bad.
James Cox:
Let's see if we do can double it in the second half.
Andy Povey:
And you don't have to carry them very far.
James Cox:
No, we've got the office just upstairs. We have them all on a wall. We actually need to get a new wall now because we filled one wall with them, so.
Andy Povey:
Fantastic.
James Cox:
I'll be on the scout for a new wall as I get back up there.
Andy Povey:
James, thank you on behalf of Skip the Q and everybody at theme Park Awards for everything you've done.
James Cox: Perfect. Cheers, Andy. Thank you.
Award Presenter:
The winner of Theme Park Personality of the Year is Lawrence Mansy.
Andy Povey:
Josh Haywood and Lawrence Mansi. Josh, let's talk about Sooty. I mean, how many awards has Sooty won for you now? (Edited)
Josh Haywood:
Oh, this is our second year winning gold for best theme park for toddlers, which we're delighted about. The Sooty brand's done a great job for us and we're so protective over it and we know that it's got many more years to come and probably more awards. Sooty has been around for 90 years plus and will continue to go, so we're delighted about that. (Edited)
Andy Povey:
Perfect. And of course, the elephant in the room, Lawrence is theme personality of the year. Congratulations.
Josh Haywood:
Thank you very much. Yeah, it's very humbling. It's amazing that so many people have voted for me. And as I said when I accepted the award, it's not really about me. It's about the team behind us that are building these amazing attractions and these amazing themed areas that allows me the ability to talk about them.
Andy Povey:
I couldn't agree more. We all stand on the shoulders of giants, don't we? And Paulton's, You've got a lot of giants down there.
Lawrence Mancy:
We certainly do. There are a lot of good people and we're very lucky to have them. And they work very hard to deliver the customer service and the quality visit that we expect.
Andy Povey:
And I'm really pleased to see the two of you are still talking in a friendly.
Lawrence Mancy:
We're still good friends, I think.
Josh Haywood:
Absolutely. I mean, I have to say I disagree with Lawrence a little bit, because it is all about me and if I had won it, I would have been saying it's all about me, nothing about anybody else. But I am delighted for Lawrence. You know, him and the family do a great job at Paulton's, and, you know, we work closely. And thanks to the Mancy family, we have a new attraction this year as well in Pirates Plummet, which was the new imagined Magma ride. So it's. It's, you know, it's good to see each other. It deserves it more.
Lawrence Mancy:
The team are doing some fantastic things and it's great to see you guys recognised as well in your awards. And it's great. It's great. And that's what it's about. It's collaboration in this industry and we should be doing more of this.
Andy Povey:
I agree completely. And the award you got for rotor, which is fantastic, Southwest's first inverted ride, is it?
Lawrence Mancy:
Not the first, but the only now? So it's the only inverted ride. And, yeah, were really pleased with that. And we launched the Extreme Hour in the summer, which was really popular as well, where we turned the dial right up to 10 and riders could ride ROTOR at their extreme setting, where it was inverting 30 times during the ride rotation, which has been really popular. So we're delighted with that as well.
Andy Povey:
Congratulations to both of you and thank you for your time.
Lawrence Mancy:
Thank you, Andy.
Josh Haywood:
Thanks.
Lawrence Mancy:
Thank you.
Andy Povey:
So I've collared Owen Ralph, who you may remember as one of our guest hosts from an episode a few weeks ago. Owen, you've been part of the judging panel.
Owen Ralph:
I am very honoured to be invited by Lawrence. The third year, I think now, but this is actually my first year attending the event in person. It really is a great looking event, you know, and there's a lot of warmth in the room from the people here and it's great to see that people bring their teams because it's in the UK and it's just for one day. Maybe bring more teams than they might to other shows. And not just the owner, operators, you know, people from marketing, from operations. All different levels of the parks, I think.
Andy Povey:
So, I mean, what's it like being a judge? How do you judge from the many fantastic entries?
Owen Ralph:
Well, we take a lot of bribes.
Andy Povey:
No brown envelopes are us.
Owen Ralph:
Yeah. Yeah. Lawrence issues a short list to everybody. There's some stuff that you. You probably got some things in, ideas in your own head. He issues the short list, the long list. We make it down into a short list and then it goes out to the public. But there are awards like the Industry Newcomer and the Lifetime Achievement.
Andy Povey:
Not lifetime achievement, outstanding achievement.
Owen Ralph:
Those are nominated by the teams in the parks and they give reasons why those people won. And Josh and Sarah were both very deserving winners of those.
Andy Povey:
I couldn't agree more. It's fantastic to see people being recognised for the commitment and energy they put into it.
Owen Ralph:
Yeah. And I think the people. And also when you look at some of the other categories, not just the rides, things like the accessibility and the landscaping, you know, it's not all about rides and attractions and I think that's important to acknowledge. And maybe other awards don't do that.
Andy Povey:
It's a beautiful thing.
Owen Ralph:
It is, yeah. Yeah.
Andy Povey:
So we're going out into the park. It's a little damp.
Owen Ralph: I've already been out. I've got a poncho over there that's poncho soaked through. But there was a reason we did the team photo in here. Right. Because it was absolutely soaking.
Andy Povey: Absolutely. Yeah. Lawrence, what a day. What an award ceremony. And what day yesterday. Thank you on behalf of everybody for everything you put together here. You must be exhausted.
Lawrence Roots:
Thank you. I am. But the satisfaction is absolutely enormous. I've thoroughly enjoyed today. We've seen so many winners go up on stage. You have really heartfelt acceptance features from the awards. You can see how much it means to people. So I am tired, but it is all worth it.
Andy Povey:
I was talking to Deb Griffin from Sundown Adventureland about their Christmas award last night, and she almost had me in tears. And then to see them winning gold, it was just a phenomenal moment, really special. And this year has been phenomenal success. Was it quarter of a million public votes?
Lawrence Roots:
It's been huge. So the public have been voting online, they've registered for accounts, They've got their votes in over a quarter of a million. The whole numbers for the awards have been amazing. So 36 theme parks actually nominated for awards this year. 24 Of those went away with an award today and 15 won gold. So it's real recognition for everybody across the industry.
Andy Povey:
I admire your number crunching, keeping those figures in the head. I'm assuming you knew the numbers before today.
Lawrence Roots:
I did indeed. And I've had to keep my lips firmly sealed for quite a few days to make sure that none of the results get out before the ceremony, because nobody knows until it's announced in the room. Nobody's tipped off. You don't know you're winning until it is read out on stage. So you just get the most amazing tension in the room waiting for the results to be announced.
Andy Povey:
No, I saw it. And the reaction from the people who won the new awards this year, so Josh getting the outstanding achievement and Sarah Smith from Raw getting the upcoming Star Award. Recognizing the individuals in the teams like that is really phenomenal, I think.
Lawrence Roots:
Yeah, yeah. She was. She was. I've met Sarah before. She is the kind of person that's absolutely behind the camera. She's not in front of the camera. She doesn't like her photo taken. So for her to get up on stage, accept the award, give a really heartfelt thank you and have her photo taken was a big deal for her. And then at the end with Theme park of the Year and the team for Pleasurewood Hills, who were completely caught off guard with that win. They did not see that coming, but, my goodness, do they deserve it? And it just got an enormous round of applause in the room.
Andy Povey:
I think as an industry, we're watching what's happening over there with an awful lot of interest. I mean, four new rides this year.
Lawrence Roots:
People have been watching what they're doing. It's new rides, they've been putting up new flags, They've been opening a theater that's been closed for many years. They've been resurfacing paths They've been doing work with their teams. What they have managed to achieve in an incredibly short space of time is incredible. So they absolutely deserve that award.
Andy Povey:
It's great to see. Keep watching what's happening in Norfolk.
Lawrence Roots:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. They want to watch. I've heard a little bit of some of their plans for the next few years and if you think what they've done in just that first year, you're going to like what to see what they got next.
Andy Povey:
Absolutely fantastic. So now we go on to the park and we have a couple of thrill rides in what's more normal or traditional Blackpool weather versus yesterday.
Lawrence Roots:
Yeah, yesterday were blessed with the sun, those views looking over Blackpool and the sunshine were fantastic. Today we do have a little bit of rain in the sky, but it's not due to last very long. And then we've got an after party to look forward to with a live DJ. And then the big finale for today, celebrating 90 years of hot ice here at Blackpool is the final performance of the 2026 season of Hot Ice XC, the world class ice skating show. So what a way to end a spectacular couple of days here in Blackpool completely.
Andy Povey:
And then, so what's next for you? Is it home to put your feet up for a couple of weeks?
Lawrence Roots:
There'll be a bit of media work over the next couple of days, but then I will be putting my feet up. A huge amount of work from Tom and myself has gone into making this happen together with our partners. But I'm looking forward to putting my feet up, just having a little break and then I'm straight back on it because I'm a media partner for IAAP Expo in Europe in London in a few weeks time. So I will be on the floor live reporting all of the announcements the ride reveals over the entire event. So that's the next big thing in the diary.
Andy Povey:
Superb. That's not very far away at all.
Lawrence Roots:
No, it's only two weeks. So when you say put your feet up. I've not got long to put my feet up.
A
Andy Povey:
17:36
Not at all. And when do we start talking about next year?
Lawrence Roots:
I already am. I'm already talking about next year. And how can we top this? How can it be bigger again? All where is the host park going to be next year?
Andy Povey:
Well, you should know that I don't.
Lawrence Roots:
I may know some ideas but I can't possibly share any of those with you today.
Andy Povey:
Lawrence, once again, thank you to you and Tom for everything you've done. We've really enjoyed being here.
Lawrence Roots: Thank you very much and thank you for covering the whole event so well on Skip the Queue. We really appreciate it.
Andy Povey: Thank you for listening. If you like what you've heard, please do leave. Subscribe a a review or recommendation. It really helps others to find it.
Andy Povey: Today's episode has been produced by Emily and Sami from Plaster, edited by Steve Folland with scheduling and socials by Wenalyn back at Merac HQ.
Skip the Queue is brought to you by Merac. We provide attractions with the tools and expertise to create world-class digital interactions. Very simply, we're here to rehumanise commerce. Your host is Andy Povey.
If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.