RideRater is an independent UK theme park media organisation founded on 10 June 2010. Our content is produced by volunteer writers, journalists, and editors.
Our primary purpose is to deliver unbiased news and reviews of the United Kingdom’s theme park, amusement park, and travelling fair industries. We also produce feature articles and other content. Since we began, we have always had a focus on larger and more thrilling rides and attractions.
RideRater is entirely independent of all parks, funfairs, their operators, and all other websites. We are also entirely self-funded and do not use advertising. RideRater is not a company, business or revenue-generating organisation.
We write our news articles in an balanced and impartial fashion, following our own editorial guidelines. We also write in a way that is designed to make sense to general members of the public, as well as theme park and ride enthusiasts. Our reviews almost always take place off the back of unannounced, “mystery shopper”-style visits, rather than based on any exclusive access or previews.
RideRater provides coverage from across the UK. England and Wales currently contain theme parks that automatically fall within our ‘largest and thrill-based’ scope. Our policy also ensures coverage of the largest amusement park in both Scotland and Northern Ireland, in order to ensure UK-wide representation. Our UK theme parks map outlines our current scope of theme and amusement parks across the country.
Given that the various forms of Merlin Annual Pass are held by many of our readers and followers, RideRater also provide major news concerning the passes, as well as their included attractions.
Article content and categories
We tend to focus on news concerning rides and attractions that could be categorised as ‘thrill’, ‘dark’ and sometimes ‘family’ in nature. We do not typically cover developments of rides and attractions specifically aimed at very young children.
News
We endeavour to factually report stories in the public and/or theme park/ride enthusiast’s interest. These articles can also include coverage of accidents and serious malfunctions of rides and attractions, but this is subject to our own internal guidelines to ensure fairness and consistency of reporting.
Reviews
Articles featuring our opinion on new rides, attractions, events, and occasionally even relevant media & arts releases. They are accompanied by a star rating out of 5, which includes half-stars. These articles may not necessarily contain entirely factual information throughout and are naturally opinion-driven in nature. We may accept visits to preview events, but generally our reviews are always written from a perspective the general public can expect if they choose to visit the attraction.
Features
Articles that may also contain content based on the writer’s personal knowledge and analysis; however, we attempt to produce fair, critical and balanced articles under this category. Ultimately any analysis includes opinion and interpretation, and factual information may not necessarily feature throughout. Features can also include purely information-based posts such as new restaurant menus. Some of our archive content falls into the category of features or opinion, but was automatically re-categorised as news following a temporary retirement of those categories. Editorials were discontinued in 2022 following a policy review.
Announcements
Contain details of our competitions and award winners. Statements from the RideRater team will also appear under this category.
News sources
RideRater’s news sources are varied and widespread. We have contacts in the industry and conduct independent research, which is often the basis of many of our articles. We also monitor other news providers and cite these as sources where their content has been drawn upon. Articles that are unattributed should be taken as being the product of RideRater’s own research and journalism.
Right of reply
The right of reply exists to all organisations covered in our news articles; however, the burden of responsibility may fall to the applicable party. Inclusion of responses is made at the discretion of the Editors. Also at the discretion of the Editor, a response may be proactively sought from an applicable party either before, or immediately after, publication of a news article. Where an approach has been made but not yet received, this will be stated within the article.
Sections of the website
Contact
We welcome correspondence from those in the industry, as well as our readers, on anything regarding UK theme & amusement parks, funfairs and rides. You can send us any questions, comments or feedback you have, as well as any news stories you have come across.
Credits
A list of people who have made valuable contributions to RideRater. If you would like to join them, get in touch.
Hall of Fame
The home of our various award winners since our founding in 2010.
Links
We share links with a select number of active theme park websites, which usually forms part of mutual linking back to RideRater.
New Rides
Here we list the major new rides and attractions planned for the UK’s theme and amusement parks. Opening dates may not yet be confirmed by the parks themselves.
Rumours
Nothing that appears on this page has been officially confirmed. It should however be noted that RideRater has a target for the majority of rumours posted to later emerge as accurate. Postings are made at the discretion of the Editors and are based on various sources.
UK Funfair Calendar
The United Kingdom has a number of major travelling fairs that are held each year across the country. Some of the largest fairgrounds and collections of rides are listed here.
UK Ride and Park Statistics
This page contains UK Top 5 rankings of various statistical categories of rides and theme parks.
UK Theme Parks Map
This map does not show every establishment describing itself as a theme or amusement park in the United Kingdom. Typically, only both the largest and most-fitting with RideRater’s thrill-based scope are shown.
UK Top 40 Rides
Each year, RideRater compiles a list of its Top 40 non-travelling rides in the United Kingdom. The list is mainly based on ride experience but is also weighted by availability/reliability of the rides throughout the season.
RideRater name
The name RideRater comes from an early website concept, which was to create an interactive voting system where UK rides could be ranked by site visitors to give an indication of which are held in the highest regard by enthusiasts. This was an ambitious and time-consuming plan. This concept was dropped in favour of a news, features and reviews website, but we retained the name RideRater. Over 10 years later, we did however launch our annual list of the UK’s top rides in 2021.
Social media
RideRater has social media accounts on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Privacy
RideRater does not directly use cookies or other automated data collection systems that gather personally-attributable information. Google Analytics is used to monitor the performance and reach of our website.
If you use our contact form, the details you provide may be retained for the purposes of future contact only. Our Mailing List stores your contact details for this purpose alone and they will not be used for marketing or any other purpose. We will never pass on your details to another party.
Please contact us if you require any further information.
Disclaimer
The information contained on RideRater.co.uk and that relayed via RideRater’s various social media presences is for general information purposes only. Whilst we endeavour to ensure that all information posted is correct, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy; nor do we commit to ensuring that the website remains available, or that the material on the website is kept up to date.
RideRater is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims all liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to, or reliance on any information contained within the site. Visitors who use this website and rely on any information do so at their own risk.
You must not use our website or its content in any way which is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity.
RideRater respects journalists’ legal right to quote material published elsewhere, but copying and redistributing material in its entirety – particularly for commercial purposes and without credit – is not permitted.
We are not responsible the content of external – i.e. non RideRater.co.uk – links posted on this website.
The laws of England & Wales – and where applicable the wider United Kingdom – shall govern your use of the site and you hereby agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English – and where applicable UK – courts.
This website uses Google Analytics to gather anonymous data about the numbers and web origins of our visitors. This is not used by RideRater or its staff to identify individuals or obtain personal information.
By using RideRater.co.uk, you accept this disclaimer in full. If you disagree with any part of the disclaimer, you should not use this website.
Page Updated: 9 October 2023