2025 seems to be the year of the theme park VIP experience. We’ve seen more and more on offer and often they give us theme park nerds exciting unprecedented access to our favourite attractions. But are they really worth the cost and are “VIP” elements at theme parks going too far?

Kip Hakes is fresh from the Chessington Tomb Blaster experience so in this episode we find out what he thought of it, and was it worth it?!

After the shock closure of Oakwood earlier this year we’ve been on edge about the future of some other UK theme parks. But recently there has been talk that the park could be saved by a mysterious local who promises they have the backing to bring it back to its former glory. There’s also been an odd job advert for a park ops manager to help reopen another “much loved park”.

In this episode we’re joined by Danni from Off The Tracks as we chat about whether this is really the good news we’ve been wanting, or if these parks are now better left in the past. 

2025 has seen huge announcement after announcement in the theme park world. It’s an exciting time to be a theme park fan so who better to join us than writer of “Theme Park Fan: The Musical” himself - Nick Hutson.

You’ll have heard Nick’s work at Chessington or during the Oakwood fireworks but he also famously wrote and recorded a full musical about being a theme park fan. 

In this episode we talk about that and the biggest announcements of the year so far….

It’s official - everyone is talking about Paultons Park. This family theme park has grown from strength to strength over the last decade and just a couple of weeks ago they announced they had no plans to stop.

This week I’m joined by Kip Hakes who went to the Super Fans event and got all the details about their new Ghostly Manor attraction and their future investments. We discuss why enthusiasts are getting so excited about this park, and exactly why it is becoming so highly regarded.

This week we’re joined by industry veteran turned consultant Mark Shaw. Having cut his teeth at Thorpe and Chessington alongside legends like John Wardley and Glenn Earlam, Mark headed down under to turn around Adventure World in Perth. He took a park that was consistently scoring low on guest satisfaction to  become the highest rated in Australia.

In this episode he tells us how he did it, and why creating fantastic customer experiences is vital to running a successful theme park.

Strap in park fans because this is a long one!

This week I’m dissecting my trip to Universal’s newest theme park Epic Universe! Having booked an impulsive 5 day trip to go and check it out, was it worth it?

We’ll go through the portals discussing the highlights of each area of the park, and anything to note along the way.

And how does visiting make me feel about Universal coming to the UK?!

It’s about time for another trip across the pond! We’re joined by our favourite US-based enthusiast and industry insider Mark Rosenzweig, and there’s a lot to talk about! From Epic Universe previews, to Top Thrill 2 finally reopening, a Canadian coaster to get really excited about and just a general look at how parks in the US are holding up - we’re doing it all in this episode!

A few weeks ago UK theme park fans got the news we had all been waiting for - Universal are going to be building a park here! Set to open in 2031 it could be a game changer for the UK industry and will undoubtedly bring a world class park experience to our shores.

There was only one person we could get back on to dissect what we know so far - our friend Lawrence from Universally Bedford.  In this episode we look at absolutely everything we know so far, the strong predictions and what will happen next. 

Hold onto your lap bars park fans - Universal is coming! 

In this episode we continue our chat with former Alton Towers Resort Operations Director and General Manager Francis Jackson. 

Francis talks to us about how building cohesive teams hugely impacts ride operations, why we see staggered openings and we find out what his “Just Gotta Ride it” rollercoaster is.

We’re delighted to bring a theme park legend back to the UK for this episode! Francis Jackson was both Operations Director and General Manager at Alton Towers from 2016 - 2023 and his personable style and viral social media videos gave him renowned status amongst enthusiasts and the general public. 

Now living back in his native Australia and working globally as an attractions industry consultant, we’re delighted to have him on Parkcast to explain the realities behind some of our theme park frustrations!

This is Part 1 with Part 2 to follow next week….