Theme Park Updates: February 2026 — New Parks, Closures & Status Changes

What's Changed in February 2026

Update, October 2026: Since this was published, Brean Theme Park has reopened and is trading, Flamingo Land reopened on 21 March (the park still calls its rebuilt boat ride the Lost River Ride rather than Lion Coast), and every ride in our "confirmed heights" table has appeared on its park's own website with a height. Three of the figures we gave here were wrong and are corrected below: Vild Swing at Paultons Park needs 95cm, not 90cm; Valkyrie at Festyland needs 110cm with an adult, not 105cm; and Kyûbi Unchained at Parc Spirou Provence needs 105cm with an adult, not 120cm. Chessington's four PAW Patrol rides opened from 90cm with an adult. The Sundown Adventureland, Adventureland Sharjah and Yas Waterworld sections now match each park's current listing. We now cover 124 parks and 3300 rides: 41 in the UK, 34 in France, 31 in Spain and 18 in the UAE.

A significant month for theme park news across the UK and UAE. Three new parks join our directory, the UK's oldest operating roller coaster has permanently closed, Flamingo Land is returning after a full year of refurbishment, and one park has entered financial difficulty.

Here's everything you need to know before planning a 2026 visit.

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New Parks Added to Our Directory

Sundown Adventureland — Retford, Nottinghamshire

We've added a full height guide for Sundown Adventureland — the UK's most beloved theme park for the under-10s. The Rhodes family have run this magical 50-acre park since 1968, and it remains one of the most thoughtfully designed parks for very young children anywhere in the UK.

Key facts for families:

• 22 rides and attractions across 6 themed adventure zones
• Most rides are open to all heights — 20 out of 22 attractions have no lower limit, with an adult where one is needed
• Under 90cm go FREE — youngest children get in at no cost
• FREE parking

The park reopened for 2026 on 14 February. The Galleon at Smugglers Cove has been restored with a new three-metre plank and slide for the new season.

Table updated October 2026 to match the park's ride pages. In February we gave Monkey Mayhem as 110cm–140cm and the Night Before Christmas Ride as a flat 120cm, and listed the five rides that need an adult with young children as unrestricted.

See the full Sundown Adventureland height guide

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Adventureland Sharjah — Sahara Centre, UAE

The UAE's largest indoor family entertainment centre now has a dedicated page on our site. Adventureland at Sahara Centre spans 80,000+ square feet across two levels of the iconic Sharjah shopping mall — fully air-conditioned and open year-round.

Three roller coasters, a suspended track ride, and 170+ arcade games make this a full-day destination for families with a range of ages and heights.

The park publishes a single minimum height for each ride, with no accompanied option. This table is drawn from our current data:

Table updated October 2026. The table we published in February had several figures the park's own ride cards don't support: we gave Kukulcan 90cm with an adult (it is 105cm, with no accompanied option), listed Forest Train, the carousel (The Green Go Around) and the full-size bumper cars (Race Arena) as unrestricted (they need 105cm, 105cm and 125cm), had smaller differences on Rocket Cycles, Crazy Swing, Mirror Maze and Sky High Wall Climbing, and included bowling and arcade games, which aren't on the park's rides listing.

At the time of writing we quoted unlimited ride passes from AED 75 (weekday) / AED 85 (weekend). Our March 2026 price check found the park selling ride-credit cards instead, from AED 125; check the park's website for current offers.

See the full Adventureland Sharjah height guide

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Dreamland Aqua Park — Umm Al Quwain, UAE

The UAE's largest family waterpark since 1997 joins our UAE directory. Dreamland Aqua Park sits on a 250,000 sqm beachfront site in Umm Al Quwain — 45 minutes from Dubai — with 23 attractions in our data, ranging from gravity-powered dark slides to a genuine Dead Sea buoyancy pool.

The park's own website now publishes no per-ride heights, only a general rule that most rides need 1.2m, so treat this table as a guide and check at each slide.

At the time of writing we quoted AED 160 for adults (120cm+) and AED 100 for children (80–120cm), with under-80cm free. Our March 2026 price check found online tickets at AED 99 for adults (120cm+) and AED 69 for juniors (80–120cm); under 80cm is still free.

See the full Dreamland Aqua Park height guide

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UK Park News & Status Changes

Flamingo Land: Returning After a Full Year Away

Flamingo Land closed its entire 2025 season for a major refurbishment and is reopening 21 March 2026. The most significant change is the complete reimagining of the Lost River log flume, which has been rebuilt as Lion Coast — a new themed boat ride incorporating a living lion pride and an exclusive UK cape fur seal exhibit.

This is a significant addition for wildlife-loving families. The new attraction makes Flamingo Land one of the few UK parks where you can watch big cats on the same day as riding coasters.

Since then: Flamingo Land reopened on 21 March 2026. The park's own ride restrictions page still lists the rebuilt ride as the Lost River Ride, not Lion Coast. It needs 99cm with an adult, or 122cm to ride alone.

Dreamland Margate: Scenic Railway Permanently Closed

The Scenic Railway at Dreamland Margate — the oldest operating roller coaster in the UK, built in 1920 and Grade II* listed — has permanently closed. The ride derailed in August 2024, and the safety improvements required by the Health and Safety Executive were deemed non-viable by the park.

The good news: a Wild River log flume (relocated from Paultons Park) opened in summer 2025, and the park has introduced a new wristband pricing structure. Wild River needs 100cm with an adult, or 120cm alone. The park has since added Little River, a mini log ride new for 2026 for children between 80cm and 120cm.

Brean Theme Park: Financial Difficulty

Brean Theme Park's operator went into liquidation on 28 January 2026. The park is attempting an Easter 2026 reopening, but the situation remains uncertain. We'd strongly recommend checking for official confirmation of opening before travelling.

Since then: the park reopened for 2026 and was open and trading when we checked in May. It has 33 rides in our data. (In February we described this as administration; it was a liquidation.)

Brighton Palace Pier: For Sale

The owners of Brighton Palace Pier announced the pier is for sale in January 2026. The park continues to trade as normal during the sale process, but it's worth noting for longer-term planning. It was still trading normally at our May 2026 check.

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UAE: Ferrari World Abu Dhabi

Formula Rossa at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is no longer the world's fastest roller coaster. It was surpassed by Falcon's Flight at Six Flags Qiddiya, Saudi Arabia (250 km/h), which opened 31 December 2025. Formula Rossa (240 km/h) is now the world's second-fastest coaster — still an extraordinary ride, but worth noting if this distinction matters to you. It needs 140cm, with a maximum of 195cm.

Ferrari World has since announced a new record-breaking coaster. It wasn't open at our August 2026 check, so it isn't in our data yet.

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Yas Waterworld Expansion: New Attractions

Yas Waterworld completed a major expansion in July 2025, growing from 27 to 33 rides and attractions at the time. The new additions include the region's first mini zero-gravity boomerango, Al Sahel Junior (90cm), and a side-by-side dueling raft ride, Al Falaj Race (105cm). The new slides run from 90cm on the junior slides up to 120cm. The park now has one of the most comprehensive children's water play zones in the region.

Updated October 2026: in February we described the boomerango as having no height restriction and the new slides as mostly around 110cm; the park's ride pages say otherwise. A second wave of slides, the Matamir slides in the Lost City area, followed in April 2026, and the park now has 42 rides in our data.

See the updated Yas Waterworld page

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Confirmed Heights for 2026 New Rides

Our 2026 new rides post was published in early February with several heights listed as TBC. Here are the confirmed figures, updated in October 2026 with the heights each park now publishes:

Paultons note: The Valgard land's 95cm minimum on Vild Swing is particularly family-friendly for a thrill flat ride. Drakon's 125cm is the minimum with an adult; riders need 140cm to go on alone. All three Valgard rides are on the Paultons Park page.

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Chessington: PAW Patrol World Opening Spring 2026

Chessington is opening an entire PAW Patrol-themed land this spring with four new rides. At the time of writing no heights had been published and we expected very low or no minimums. The land has since opened, and every ride needs at least 90cm, with an adult (16+) below the solo height:

• Chase's Mountain Mission — junior coaster: 90cm with an adult, 110cm alone
• Skye's Helicopter Heroes — helicopter family ride: 90cm with an adult, 110cm alone
• Zuma's Hovercraft Adventure — the UK's first "Drifter"-style ride: 90cm with an adult, 120cm alone
• Marshall's Firetruck Rescue — firetruck ride: 90cm with an adult, 110cm alone

All four are on the Chessington page.

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Plan Your 2026 Visit

Use our height planner to check which rides your children can access at any park we cover. Enter their heights and select your target parks to see a complete breakdown by height category.

For the latest park-specific information, check the individual park pages — we update these as announcements are made throughout the season.