How to get through the closed season: a guide
It is upon us once again: the dreaded closed season. Months of not visiting any UK theme parks and longing to get back on our favourite rides. This year, to help us all get through the closed season we’ve come up with a quick guide which includes some things you can to do make it through the hard winter months.
Travel to parks that are open
The UK parks may be shut for the winter months, but do not fear - there are other parks not so far away which remain open! Parks across Europe are often open over winter and some even hold Christmas events. The closed season is the perfect time to travel further afield and check out some new parks in different countries. Some of them are closer than you think - Disneyland Paris is only a train ride away! You could even make a trip to London to visit Winter Wonderland and ride Olympia Looping. If you’re feeling really adventurous why not venture even further than Europe? There are loads of parks all over the world that are still open during the winter months. You might even get the chance to get out to some winter or Christmas events to get you in the festive mood, which is not something we have the chance to experience in the UK often. Think of the closed season as an opportunity to explore some new parks outside of the UK!
Plan next season’s trips
One of the most exciting things we like to do in the closed season is plan our trips for the next year. It’s a good opportunity to figure out which parks you want to visit and which rides you want to get on next season. Then you can start formulating a plan for how to get there! It’s a really great way to fill the theme-park-shaped hole in your life over the winter months and gets you excited for next year’s season. One of our favourite trips to plan in the closed season is opening day, not only because it’s the earliest day we can get back to a park, but because it’s a really exciting day - especially when visiting with fellow enthusiasts!
Find new content
Over the closed season we love to check out new theme park YouTube channels, blogs and podcasts to help pass the time. This means we have more coaster context to keep us occupied through the winter months. It’s great to find UK based channels that still consistently produce content during the closed season but often we rely on channels based in other countries, like America! Watching vlogs or listening to podcast episodes are a great way to give us a theme park fix when we are unable to get out to a park ourselves. So look out for new channels and find some content you enjoy to keep yourself entertained!
Keep up to date
Another thing we love to do is keep an eye out for news and announcements from parks. During the closed season, lots of parks are busy updating areas of the park, building new rides or removing old rides. Just as we do when the parks are open, we like to keep up to date with updates and news about what parks are doing. Sometimes very exciting announcements are made over the winter months, so we like to stay tuned! The announcements that are made can also spark conversations about what the next season might bring. We love discussing which new rides or attractions might be introduced to parks in the future.
Stay strong
Don’t panic! Not long to go until the parks re-open and the closed season comes to an end for another year. One way we like to stay calm in the winter months is by keeping a countdown going in our mind to the first day of the season. Once Christmas is over it’s not long to go until the first parks, like Blackpool, start opening again - only a few months! It’s not long at all. Doing the things we mentioned above helps to keep us busy and occupied, so that before we know it we’re back on a ride, pulling down the restraint, ready to go.
Good luck everyone. We’ll see you on the other side.
- Zoe
