THORPE Park has been named the country’s best theme park by the Great British public.

The UK Theme Park Awards took place last night, with the Surrey-based park bagging the top spot.

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The awards were organised by ThemeParks-UK.com who publish independent consumer guides.

More than 360,000 votes were cast by the public and combined with scores from expert judges to rank the country’s best theme parks.

Awards were spread across 22 categories, including the Best New Attraction, the Best Theme Park for Families, the Best Seaside Park and the New Park of the Year.

Thorpe Park beat the likes of Alton Towers and Drayton Manor to be named the best in the country for 2024.

The Surrey-based theme park, which first opened to the public in 1979, also took first place for the best new attraction, Hyperia.

Hyperia opened to the public earlier this year, becoming the country’s tallest and fastest rollercoaster.

Standing at a whopping 236ft tall, the hypercoaster claims to be the UK’s highest, swiping the crown from Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s The Big One by just a few inches.

It also smashes coaster speed records, reaching break-neck speeds of 81mph.

Hyperia wasn’t the only new addition this year, with American-themed Big Easy Boulevard also opening this year.

The new area replaced the park’s Angry Birds land, which had been in place for ten years.

Big Easy Boulevard is based on New Orleans and has several rides, as well as a 4D cinema.

Detonator, a drop tower ride that sends people plummeting 100ft, remains in the area from the Angry Birds land – although it has been rebranded to fit in with its new surroundings.

Other rides at the theme park include Stealth, the UK’s fastest launch coaster, and Vortex, a giant pendulum that swings riders through the air.

Drayton Manor’s Gold Rush took second place as the best new attraction at a UK theme park, with Legoland’s Minifigure Speedway coming in at third.

OTHER AWARD WINNERS

Nemesis Reborn

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Other winners of the night included Nemesis Reborn at Alton Towers, which was named the Best Reimagined Attraction.

Nemesis was first unleashed to the public in March 1994 and has become a favourite among thrill-seekers ever since.

However, it closed in November 2022 for retracking and for other changes to be made to the rollercoaster.

After undergoing the biggest overhaul in its 30-year history, the ride was renamed Nemesis Reborn.

You can read our world-first review of Nemesis Reborn here.

Paultons Park

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Paultons Park bagged the top spot for the Best Theme Park for Families and Toddlers.

Paultons Park features more than 70 rides, including roller coasters, family rides, and attractions.

It is also known for being the home of Peppa Pig World, voted the No.1 theme park on TripAdvisor.

Guests will find Grampy Rabbit’s Sailing Club, The Queen’s Flying Coach, Grandpa Pig’s Little Train, and Peppa’s Big Balloon in the Peppa Pig World.

Kids can also enjoy play areas, as well as meet and greets with Peppa Pig and George Pig.

Peppa Pig World isn’t the only attraction at Paultons Park, as there’s also Tornado Spring, a world set in a midwest desert resort town in the 1950s.

Other themed worlds include the Lost Kingdom, Critter Creek, and Little Africa.

Drayton Manor

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Drayton Manor topped the list as the UK’s Best Value Theme Park.

The park is already considered to be among the more affordable resorts in the UK, with UK Family Break previously describing it as “the ideal place for an unforgettable cheap family day out”.

Drayton Manor is home to more than 50 attractions, including Stormforce 10 River Rapids, Thor, Accelorator, Thomas and Percy’s Submarine Splash and The Bounty Pirate Ship.

Meanwhile, this new theme park with 25 attractions has opened in Europe – and flights are only £15.

And here are five European theme parks that are alternatives to Disneyland.

The Sun’s review of Hyperia at Thorpe Park

The Sun’s Lee Bell visited Thorpe Park to try the new ride out. Here’s what he thought…

“I was able to ride the steel monster three times, experiencing its exhilarating speeds in the middle of the train, at the front and then, for my last (and best) ride, right at the back.

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“First impressions: it’s unlike any other rollercoaster in the UK right now.”Not only for the obvious reason that it’s over double the height, but its focus on flinging riders out of their seats and experiencing ‘weightlessness’.

“It’s no surprise that the first drop is what really steals the show on this rollercoaster.

“While it’s the tallest in the country, it’s unique in that it twists riders 180 degrees while they plummet down a huge vertical drop right before reaching the ground at top speeds of over 80mph.

“The back row is easily the best place to experience this, since you’re catapulted over the crest of the drop at speed, and right into the drop with a free-fall-like feeling.

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“It’s an incredible ride that will make you want to ride it again and again.”It’s certainly a coaster that can compete with some of the best in Europe and is easily, in my experience, the best the UK has to offer.”

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As the border continues to play an important policy role in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, former President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump criticized the government’s immigration process during a campaign speech on Saturday, Sept. 28, in Wisconsin.

He once again called out the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) app—a mobile application that hosts a single portal to multiple CBP services, including a space for immigrants to schedule appointments to present themselves at a port of entry and for carriers to request cargo inspections. 

“They have a phone app so that people can come into our country… these are smart immigrants, I guess, because most people don’t have any idea what the hell a phone app is,” Trump said at the Prairie Du Chien Area Arts Center in Prairie Du Chien, a city of about 5,500 people along the Mississippi River.

The campaign for Vice President and Democratic nominee for President Kamala Harris posted a video of the moment on X (formerly Twitter), with a caption reciting Trump’s comments.

Many users on X have reacted to Trump’s comment, showing surprise that Trump believes many don’t know what apps are.

“I feel like most people know what a phone app is,” former tennis star Andy Roddick wrote on X. “It’s not 2004 any more. It’s 2024,” another person wrote, pointing out that Trump owns his own social media platform, Truth Social, which has an app component. Meanwhile, one commenter claimed: “How out of touch with reality do you have to be to believe most people don’t know what a phone app is?”

The post from Kamala HQ mirrors the campaign’s recent strategy of simply posting clips from Trump’s speeches, and letting the Internet’s virality culture do the work. The campaign’s X account posted other clips from Trump’s speech in Wisconsin, including comments Trump made about a fly on stage.

“Oh, there’s a fly. Oh, I wonder where the fly came from,” Trump said. “See, two years ago, I wouldn’t have had a fly up here. But they’re changing rapidly. We can’t take it any longer.”

Trump didn’t elaborate on his comments regarding the insect, which were made during a section of his speech whereby he discussed immigration. Responding to the moment, some social media users called back to the viral instance in 2020 when a fly landed on Mike Pence’s head during the vice-presidential debate against Kamala Harris.

This is not the first time Trump has targeted the CBP One App. Earlier this month, Trump posted about it on his Truth Social account, calling the service the “Kamala phone app for smuggling illegals” and vowing to close it.

According to the CBP website, the CBP One App was launched on Oct. 28, 2020—when Trump was still President. In January 2023, the Biden Administration announced that it would expand use of the app, at which point migrants began requesting appointments using CBP One. The app became particularly prominent once the Biden Administration put in place new asylum rules after the expiration of Title 42.

If a person does not seek asylum in the country they moved through to get to the U.S. or didn’t use the CBP One app, any asylum claim they make in the U.S. will likely be rejected. Yet, there is much criticism from immigration rights advocates that the CBP One App has been unable to keep up with the demand from migrants.

Read More: Migrants Struggle to Make Asylum Claims Through CBP App

Trump’s Wisconsin speech, and its focus on immigration, follows Harris’ visit to  the U.S.-Mexico border. It was Harris’ first appearance there since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. After visiting the border on Friday, she made remarks in Arizona, putting forth a more visible “tough on immigration” image.

“I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose either between securing our border and creating a system that is orderly, safe, and humane,” Harris said. “We can and we must do both.”

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Benjamin Netanyahu has struck a deal with opposition politician Gideon Sa’ar to bring his right-wing New Hope party into government, in a move that will bolster the Israeli prime minister’s ruling majority.

The agreement comes as polls suggest that support for Netanyahu’s Likud party is recovering from the depths it plumbed after Hamas’s October 7 attack, as Israel has launched aggressive operations in both Lebanon, where it has delivered a series of devastating blows to Hizbollah, and Iran.

Sa’ar, a hawkish lawyer who began his career in Likud before falling out with Netanyahu and becoming one of the prime minister’s most vocal critics, will enter the cabinet as a minister without portfolio.

In a joint press conference on Sunday night, Netanyahu acknowledged the pair’s fractious history — which also included Sa’ar joining and then leaving the emergency government set up after October 7 — but said that the two men had decided to put those differences behind them.

“It’s not a secret that we have had disagreements in the past,” he said. “But since October 7, we have both put all the grudges of the past behind us.”

Sa’ar, who has staked out hawkish positions on the war, including urging a more aggressive approach both against Hizbollah and in Gaza, said he had decided to rejoin the government because he had concluded that “the majority of [the opposition’s] members hold views on the war that are different from mine”.

“This is a time when my duty is to contribute to decision-making,” he said.

The addition of New Hope’s four seats means that Netanyahu’s now six-party coalition with an assortment of rightwing, far-right and ultrareligious parties will control 68 seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament, weakening the ability of smaller partners to extract concessions.

Since the coalition came to power in 2022, both ultranationalist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have threatened to pull their parties out of government owing to disagreements with Netanyahu. But now neither would on their own be able to topple the government by doing so.

The arrival of Sa’ar could ultimately also pave the way for Netanyahu to replace his defence minister Yoav Gallant, who has been increasingly critical of Netanyahu’s leadership, including over his failure to reach a deal with Hamas to free the Israeli hostages still held by the militant group in Gaza.

Sa’ar announced last weekend that Netanyahu had offered him the position of defence minister, but said he had decided not take up the role at that time, as a change of minister in the middle of an escalation with Hizbollah would be an unnecessary distraction.

Netanyahu previously attempted to fire Gallant in March 2023 after Gallant warned that the polarisation sparked by a controversial judicial overhaul being pushed by Netanyahu’s coalition was undermining Israeli security, only to back down in the face of mass protests.

Frank Chalmers

Frank Chalmers

‘Dreadful’

A UNIQUE holiday destination in Suffolk has just been named one of the friendliest accommodation providers in the UK. 

Hippersons Boatyard in Beccles has been announced as one of this year’s winners at the Visit Britain’s ROSE Awards. 

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The awards recognise the accommodation providers across England who provide visitors with the warmest of welcomes.

But Hippersons is very different from your usual holiday park or self-catered apartment. 

Guests can stay in in one of six quirky houseboats which are nestled on the River Waveney in The Broads National Park.

The boatyard is self catering, offering fun for families or a romantic getaway for couples. 

Each accommodation has a private rowing boat for exploring the river, and there are a wide range of other water-based experiences on offer. 

Canoes, kayaks, stand up paddle boards, and a pedal boat are all available for hire. 

There are also self drive boats you can take out for the day to explore the wider Broads. 

Among the houseboats to choose from are ‘Secret Water’ – a luxury floating glamping pod with a large deck at the front to watch the sunrise and sunset from, a double room and a bunk room, small kitchenette, and a wet room with underfloor heating. 

Local cafe Relish can make food hampers if you’re in need of supplies, or if you need some time out from cooking, there are plenty of pubs and restaurants nearby. 

Nearby attractions include the Beccles Lido, where you can book a slot and swim in the outdoor pool.

There’s also Beccles Museum with displays on local industries and crafts.

A 30 minute drive away is Secret Sauna, a wood-fired sauna cabin in a secluded location, perched on the banks of the River Waveney.

And if it’s speed you’re after, you can book a turn at Beccles Go Kart race circuit.

One Hippersons Boatyard guest, who visited in August this year, described their stay on Tripadvisor.

They wrote: “The accommodation was well finished with a beautiful view out of the boatyard towards the river. My kids (and I) loved watching the fish swim past as we ate out on the water. We were welcomed by very hospitable staff and found a welcome hamper on arrival. The boathouse came with a dingy and life jackets, which we could use at our leisure.

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“The boatyard is really well placed a short walk from the historic centre of Beccles (but no road or town noise!). My kids loved visiting the headed lido and we enjoyed a meal out at the Royal Oak. Both Norfolk and Suffolk attractions were accessible from Beccles. Just a brilliant stay, I really can’t recommend enough. We’ll be back!”

Prices start from £315 for a three night stay. To book, visit the Hippersons Boatyard website.