Towers

A 15-year campaign led by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to conserve Watts Towers has run out of budget at the same time that a $22-million renovation of the campus is poised to take flight. The situation highlights what community organizers and the site’s leadership say is a piecemeal approach to the protection and preservation of one of the city’s most important cultural landmarks.

For decades, the city of Los Angeles and private foundations have invested in preserving the towers, the 102-year-old masterpiece of folk art built by Italian immigrant Sabato “Simon” Rodia. But while the landmark itself underwent years of painstaking conservation, which was recently halted at 90% complete, the arts campus surrounding it evolved in fits and starts.

Now, after 14 years of planning, an equally ambitious investment is being made to transform the Watts Towers Arts Center Campus (WTACC), which has served as an essential cultural and educational center for more than 50 years. The work will mark the first major upgrade of the WTACC since it opened in 1970, and leaders hope the transformation continues uninterrupted until it reaches the finish line.

“This is about investing in the people of Watts and creating a space the community can be proud of,” Mayor Karen Bass wrote in an email. “Thanks to the dedication of our state, county and local partners, philanthropic supporters and community organizations, we’re one step closer to creating a greener, healthier and more vibrant campus that honors the legacy of Watts while serving generations of Angelenos to come.”

The campus renovation is slated to break ground in October, with completion targeted before the 2028 Summer Olympics. The project is funded through a patchwork of public and private sources, including a $10.1 million investment from the Bezos Earth Fund, the climate philanthropy organization founded by Amazon Executive Chair Jeff Bezos.

The redesign will reshape how visitors experience the campus. More than 30,000 square feet of park space will be added along E. 107th Street, while climate-resilient landscaping will reduce flooding, improve stormwater management and create cooler public spaces. More seating and shade will be added to its amphitheater, new public art will be commissioned, and additional walkways, gathering areas and 200 trees will make the towers the physical centerpiece of what will be a 5-acre campus.

“It’s been the right time for a long time,” said WTACC Director Rosie Lee Hooks of the project’s long gestation during a recent interview.

A girl plays near the Watts Towers at the Watts Towers Arts Center Campus, which is poised to undergo a $22-million renovation just as funding for the restoration on the towers themselves has run out.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

The center offers free art, film and music classes for students and seniors, houses an art gallery and hosts two annual music festivals. Thousands of artists, filmmakers and musicians have passed through its doors as students and instructors.

Hooks, who has led the center since 2010, said the project’s long timeline reflects more than bureaucracy.

“It took so long because we’re in Watts,” she said, noting that the neighborhood has faced decades of disinvestment dating back to the 1965 Watts uprising. “People are still scared to come down here. However, our community is very, very rich in culture.”

That history of underinvestment is reflected in the campus itself, supporters say.

“This is the story of development in Watts and other communities of color in Los Angeles, where racist planning practices, combined with a lack of investment in the city’s arts and culture facilities, create a haphazard approach to management and design,” Tori Kjer, executive director of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT), wrote in an email. The organization has partnered with the city on the campus’ redesign since 2012, when planning began to incorporate a vacant lot adjoining the towers into the campus.

The landscape design echoes Rodia’s own artistic process. Over the course of 33 years beginning in 1921, he transformed thousands of disparate objects — including mosaic tiles, plates, glass, shells and pottery — into 17 interconnected structures, one of which rises more than 99 feet.

“Assemblage is the practice of creating something meaningful from many distinct parts,” Sara Zewde, founder and principal of Studio Zewde, the landscape architecture firm designing the campus, wrote in an email. “Rather than erase those histories and make the campus feel as though it had always been a singular space, we wanted the landscape to celebrate them.”

A model created by landscape design firm Studio Zewde of the proposed renovations to the Watts Towers Arts Center Campus. Groundbreaking is set to begin in October on the $22-million project.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

The campus’ landscape has remained largely unchanged since WTACC opened. Since then, several buildings and public artworks have been added, but LANLT’s Kjer described the site as a “hodgepodge of concrete, worn-out planting areas and grass … with a disjointed flow and limited way-finding.”

Around the time that LANLT partnered with the city, a separate proposal to build a skate park on the adjoining lot drew community opposition and, according to Kjer, delayed the project by about four years. The skate park ultimately opened a few blocks away, allowing the parcel to become part of an expanded campus.

The WTACC project gained momentum in 2021 when California’s Proposition 68 Statewide Park Program awarded a $4.5 million grant. The following year, Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson) secured an additional $4 million in the state budget.

Once that funding was committed, “it was just a domino effect,” Gipson said, helping attract additional public and private investment.

“This will be a space that will be nourishing for the soul,” said Daniel Tarica, general manager of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, which manages the towers. “We’re finally going to be able to make the whole campus useful.”

A building at the Watts Towers Arts Center Campus, which will receive a $22-million renovation beginning in October. Community members and supporters say the work has been a long time coming.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Watts Towers attract about 40,000 visitors a year, according to the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and were designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1990. In June, the site was added to the World Monuments Fund’s “Irreplaceable America” list of 10 endangered historic sites in the United States.

While Gipson hopes the renovated campus will attract additional international visitors, he also wants more Angelenos to discover one of the city’s defining cultural landmarks.

“The towers tell a story about Los Angeles,” Gipson said. “We want people to know that the Watts Towers are part of who Los Angeles is.”

Tarica said the project is designed to serve neighborhood residents as much as tourists.

“It’s a huge resource, and we have fought as a department, and as a city, to make sure that we have the funding to continue teaching … and programming,” he said.

A statue of Watts Towers creator Sabato “Simon” Rodia stands at the entrance to the Watts Towers Arts Center Campus, which is getting a $22-million renovation beginning in October, with the goal of completion in time for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

For Hooks, however, the renovation’s success will ultimately be measured by its impact on the surrounding community.

She sees the campus as filling a void left by decades of cuts to arts education while providing a place where residents can gather and learn.

“Our community cannot afford art, especially now with all of the issues around health, around food, around jobs, around ICE separating families,” she said.

The project’s funding is restricted to renovating the campus and does not include the conservation of the Watts Towers themselves. LACMA Deputy Director Diana Magaloni said about $412,000 is needed to finish the project. The city has allocated $150,000 for ongoing maintenance and monitoring, and both Magaloni and Tarica said they remain optimistic the conservation campaign and campus transformation will be completed before Los Angeles welcomes the world for the 2028 Summer Olympics.

“It would be amazing to have this funding to be able to do the campus restoration and [the towers restoration] in preparation for us to be on the world stage,” Tarica said.

IF YOU love theme parks and often feel like you don’t get enough time in the day to see and do everything, then you might want to listen up.

Alton Towers is extending its opening hours from Friday, August 14 to Monday, August 31.

The park will stay open until 7pm each night, which gives guests an extra hour in the park.

Mina Fattahi at Alton Towers Resort said: “More time to experience thrills is always a good thing, but the classic mistake that people make is to head straight for the big rollercoaster they see from the entrance.

“Instead, head to the rides at the back of the park first.

“You’ll beat the crowds, spend less time queueing and fit in more rides throughout the day.”

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This summer Alton Towers also has “one of its biggest summer line-ups yet” with a Minecraft experience from July 18 until August 28.

And currently day tickets to the park cost less due to the Government’s Great British Summer Savings scheme.

Tickets cost £34.13 per person, instead of £39 per person when bought online in advance.

Guests under 90cm still visit for free.

Sometimes visiting for a day is just not enough though, even with the additional hour.

If this applies to you, you can also book to stay at Alton Towers Resort for short breaks from £87 per person.

The offer is available for stays between July 20 and September 1 and includes a day’s access to the theme park and free kids entry to the waterpark.

You can choose between either the Alton Towers Hotel, Splash Landings Hotel, CBeebies Land Hotel, the Woodland Lodges at the Enchanted Village, Luxury Treehouses or the Stargazing Pods.

If staying at the Alton Towers Hotel, you can book into a themed room including ones with beds that look like a bathtub, a hot air balloon or even a princess carriage.

Alternatively, if you have toddlers the CBeebies Land Hotel is a great option, with live shows, games and meet and greets with CBeebies characters.

After a day spent walking around Alton Towers, I was happy to be spending the night in their iconic hotel on the resort – here’s my honest review of a stay for our family of four

A day at a theme park is knackering, especially with two kids in tow who can seemingly have the best day of their lives while also complaining every single second. Nothing is worse than getting to the end of a day out and facing the drive home exhausted.

So, if you’ve got a day at a theme park planned, you may be considering staying in one of the park’s onsite hotels. Arguably, Alton Towers has one of the best selections of accommodation out of any UK theme park. It has hotels, woodland lodges, treehouses, and stargazing pods, so there’s all sorts of places to stay, and you’re right on the park’s doorstep so you’ve got somewhere to rest after a long day.

Recently, I stayed with my two kids at the Alton Towers Hotel, a three-star property that’s one of the park’s three hotels. Themed around a fictional Victorian explorer, Sir Algenon, the hotel has a sort of steampunk, historic look, although my kids thought it was pirate-y more than anything, but either way, the detail that has gone into it is impressive.

Stepping into the hotel, there’s a huge atrium with a large ship-shaped stage, and checking in late afternoon there was already entertainment and live music in full-swing. We went back later and the entertainers were playing some fun games with the kids, and it had a really joyful, slightly chaotic atmosphere around the bar.

We stayed in a Moon Voyage room, which had a similar theme to the hotel with lamps that looked like Victorian gaslights, lots of gears and levers, and explorer-themed murals. The room was clean and the beds comfy, and I liked that the kids sleeping area with bunk beds was slightly sectioned off and had their own TV. It meant we could lie in bed and watch some grown up TV while they could watch a bit of CBBC before dinner.

For dinner, we headed to the Splash Landings Hotel to try Flambo’s Jambo, an all-you-can eat buffet that had a bit of everything from peri peri to tacos, roast dinners, and Chinese dishes. The atmosphere was fun, with a giant waterwheel and the sounds of some very lively entertainment going on in the background, and the food was OK, with the kids more excited about the ice cream machine than anything else.

While we slept well and the room was comfortable, I woke up early to find the bathroom door had locked itself from the outside. I had to run down to use the loo in the lobby and find hotel staff, still in my pyjama bottoms and my hair looking even more dishevelled than usual. It did get fixed within an hour, but obviously that kind of thing is a pain when you’re up early with kids.

Breakfast was included and is served buffet style at the Secret Garden Restaurant. It had quite a basic selection of hot food, plus some cereal, pastries, and pancakes, which the kids were happy with. Again, the food wasn’t amazing, but it kept us going on the way home.

If you’re visiting Alton Towers and have a long drive, a stay at the hotel or its other accommodation is worth considering. For us, driving there and back would mean five hours in the car as well as the long day exploring the park, so it was nice to crash overnight and split the journey up.

I’ll admit, the hotel is expensive, and some parts felt more worth the price than the others. Packages include one day at the theme park, 9-hole golf, and breakfast, and there are deals on such as free child entry to the waterpark if you book an adult ticket. The hotel does have an incredibly fun style and is well-maintained, and kids are enchanted by the style.

But other things felt like they needed a little work. The themed rooms feel a little basic, and while they have nice décor it felt a little like they were missing something. I would have liked to have some bottled water in the rooms for example, as there were no refill points in the hotel and at £3 a pop, it’s expensive to rehydrate after a day in the sun. But I think most visitors know to expect theme park prices when they stay somewhere like this, and really, it’s the location that’s the main draw when you’ve spent all day on your feet in the summer.

Rooms start from £106pp for an Explorer Room at the Alton Towers Hotel this summer. You can currently book and take advantage of their Kids Swim Free offer. Find out more and book at altontowers.com.

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A BELOVED play area in Kent is set to open next week after months of closure.

The largest free playground in the south east has undergone an enormous upgrade and now has a new climbing frame, slides, swings and picnic tables.

The playground at the Lower Leas Coastal Park between Folkestone and Sandgate has been undergoing a £750,000 revamp since April.

Part of the area was forced to close much earlier in 2024 due to a landslip.

The local council announced its reopening on social media: “The exciting new Lower Leas Coastal Park play area has taken an extra week longer than planned, but we’re looking good for an opening by Friday 31 July.

“Details about an official launch event with free goodies on Tuesday 4 August will be announced very soon.

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“With £750,000 invested in the first major refurbishment of the district’s flagship play area since the year 2000, we’re excited to unveil this fantastic new space and help make the rest of your summer one to remember.”

In the comments, one local wrote: “Our kids love this park can’t wait to see it!”

Images have shown construction on the playground is almost complete and it will have a huge wooden climbing frame with at least two slides, rope ladders and swings.

Dotted around the outside will be picnic tables with buggy and cycle parking.

Proludic Ltd led the scheme to upgrade what is described as the south east’s largest free adventure playground.

Aside from the play area, the Coastal Park also has a formal garden and a peaceful wildlife zone.

Work to fully reopen the playground began in April of this year after cliff stabilisation work was completed following landslides.

The previous play area which had wooden towers, slide and ziplines had been there since 2000.

Talking about plans for the playground earlier in the year, the local council said it will have “more inclusive elements than ever before in the south east’s largest free adventure playground, an exciting new era is now just around the corner.”

SOMETIMES, one day at a theme park just isn’t enough.

So Alton Towers is offering a second ticket free this summer – and there are two ways you can redeem it.

This year is a great year to go, with new Bluey rollercoaster opening earlier this year.

Or if you want to go full throttle, hop onto Wicker Man, Nemesis Reborn, the Toxicator and The Smiler – so here is how to claim the deal.

Second Day-Ticket

Let’s start with claiming a second-day ticket with the Twice the Fun offer.

Families who book an Alton Towers Resort theme park ticket between June 25 and July 27 will receive a free second-day ticket.

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You can use it to return to Alton Towers, or check out one of the other three Merlin attractions; Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures and LEGOLAND Windsor Resort.

The offer is valid on visits between June 25 and September 30.

Overnight Stays

The other way to get a second-day ticket is if you book consecutive-night stays on dates between June 25 to October 22 2026.

This includes stays during the school holidays too.

To claim the offer, you have to book an overnight stay at one of the on-site hotels between June 25 and July 29.

You’ll get an overnight stay at the resort, full entry to the theme park plus a completely free second day.

You can choose from four hotels. There’s the Alton Towers Hotel which has the Secret Garden Restaurant and Dragons Bar.

It has themed rooms so you can even choose to sleep in a bed that is like a bathtub, a hot air balloon or even a princess carriage.

A weekend stay between July 11 and July 12 in the Explorer Room for a family of four starts from £363 – or £90.75pppn.

Little ones will love the CBeebies Land Hotel which has live shows, games and exciting meet and greets with CBeebies characters.

A two-night stay in the Bugbies Room at the CBeebies Land Hotel from August 10 to August 12 for a family of four is £735 – or £91.87pppn.

The Caribbean-inspired Splash Landings Hotel is a tropical retreat with themed exotic family-friendly restaurants and entertainment.

There are the luxurious Enchanted Village Woodland Lodges which have come with private outdoor decking and a play area for children.

If you want to really indulge, check out the Luxury Treehouses which sleep up to eight people and have private hot tubs.

Or there are even Star Gazing pods which come with telescopes for admiring the night sky.

A three-night stay in a Star Gazing pod for July 10 to July 13 for a family of four works out at £458 – or £38.17pppn.

At the hotels are plenty of evening entertainment, 9 holes of crazy golf, free parking and breakfast is included too.

Minecraft fans can enjoy an immersive pop-up event during the school summer holidays that includes the chance to meet baby Mobs and other characters from the popular video game universe

Alton Towers will launch a pop-up event for the six-week summer holidays where guests can enjoy an immersive Minecraft experience, including meeting adorable all-new Baby Mobs.

Announcing the new arrivals with a Buckingham Palace-style sign, the theme park has promised fans the chance to “meet baby Minecraft Mobs in real life across the park” in a first-of-its-kind event. Minecraft Meet the Mobs will take place between July 18 and August 28, coinciding with the school holidays in England and Wales.

Character appearances will include the Iron Golem, Chicken Jockey and Creeper, plus baby Mob scenes featuring yellow axolotls, pandas, pigs, goats, chicks and wolf pups.

The baby Mobs will be positioned in six Minecraft-inspired scenes across Alton Towers, and as visitors find each one, they can stamp their game card. Those who complete the trail will unlock an exclusive downloadable in-game reward – only available to visitors who’ve been to the theme park.

According to Alton Towers, Mobs “are living creatures in the Minecraft videogames that move, interact with the environment and can be passive, neutral, or hostile.”

In addition to the Minecraft trails, visitors can enjoy themed snack stands featuring Minecraft-inspired TNT popcorn and ice lollies. There will also be a range of exclusive Minecraft merchandise to purchase in the park.

Minecraft fans can book tickets for Alton Towers online now for summer dates, and the Meet the Mobs experience is included with the regular price of admission for all visitors from July 18 to August 28.

Minecraft is one of the best-selling video games of all time, with 350 million copies sold, a number only beaten by the addictive puzzle game Tetris. Its first formal release was in 2011 for the PC, and since then, it has been released on a number of consoles and mobile platforms. A version for the Nintendo Switch 2 was recently announced, with many fans speculating it could be released by the end of 2026.

Howard Ebison, vice president at Alton Towers Resort, said in a statement: “Minecraft is loved by families around the world, and this summer we’re bringing that sense of play and discovery into our park. ‘Minecraft Meet the Mobs’ is set to delight our guests with interactive moments across the park, an opportunity to unlock exclusive in-game rewards, enjoy themed treats and plenty of surprises along the way.

“We are proud to offer this unique Minecraft event for our guests joining us over the summer, all within the price of admission to Alton Towers Resort.”

Recently, the Staffordshire-based theme park opened brand new Bluey the Ride: Here Come the Grannies!, the world’s first rollercoaster based on the much-loved cartoon pup and her family. It’s also home to CBeebies Land, where kids can enjoy rides and experiences based on Hey Duggee, JoJo and Gran Gran, Go Jetters, and the Octonauts.

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Alton Towers has opened the world’s first Bluey ride and I went along with my kids to test out the new addition to CBeebies Land – but one thing saw disappointed parents turned away

Alton Towers opened its brand new Bluey ride earlier this year, and I was lucky enough to be one of the first into CBeebies Land to ride the exciting new rollercoaster.

Bluey the Ride: Here Comes the Grannies, which is based on Bluey and Bingo’s granny alter-egos Janet and Rita, is arguably one of the biggest attractions to open this year, and we even met fans from overseas who had travelled just to have a go.

The Bluey family is no stranger to the park, with a daily show also featuring mum, dad and bingo, and is performed multiple times a day. This allows young fans to dance along to some of the show’s hits, including Dance Mode and the infectiously catchy theme.

But now CBeebies has its very own ride, but does it live up to all the hype?

The queue

Before we get to the ride, please remember to check the height requirement for the rollercoaster. There were so many people literally panicking as it came to height measurement on the entrance (and yes, the queue was backed up to before the ride’s entrance). You must be 0.9m to ride, and those who are between 0.9m and 1.1m must be accompanied by an adult.

I saw people looking at 60 to 90-minute wait times for the ride, which is expected on opening day. But to the credit of the Alton Towers design team, they have this usual dreaded wait with kids sorted.

Two play areas and some Bluey and Bingo photo opportunities have been placed within the queue to help pass the time while waiting for the ride. Which, honestly, is a fantastic idea after being sat with a little one multiple times, bored of waiting and wanting to go off and do something.

I can tell you now that if your child loves Bluey or even rollercoasters in general, even if you are waiting over 100 minutes, Bluey The Ride is still worth it for their priceless reaction.

The ride itself

I had seen clips of it going round a test run on social media, and from those I thought it was going to be the same old slow coaster for kids. Where you are forced to have a fake scream of excitement for the kids.

But the clips did not do this ride justice. For starters, some parts are much higher than they looked, and the turns on corners really bring some momentum. At one point, I clung to my child even though they were secure and laughing and smiling all the way through. It just really caught me by surprise especially on the second way round. I was worried it was a one time around but the fact you experience the track twice really does make that wait time much better.

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It sort of hit me after the ride that this may be the best kids’ rollercoaster, and I think even adults would appreciate this as a ride with some thrill about it.

My son has special needs and learning disabilities, and he can’t walk for long. Staff even helped my wife push the buggy as close as possible and helped escort him round so he was not left out of being one of the first people to ride Here Come the Grannies. So thank you to all those staff who helped make his day. He liked the ride so much that he tried getting straight back on.

The extras

As with most rides around CBeebies Land, you get the theme tune of the show the ride is dedicated to, plus some other classics such as Telebubbies. But Bluey being here with its iconic theme feels like it has given the area a huge boost.

Visitors were smiling even in huge lines, and trust me, they battled the elements that day. We were hit with a frosty morning, then sunny, to hail, to rain and pretty much the repeat of that over the course of the day. But all with smiles on their faces, young and old.

The arrival of Bluey the Ride feels really significant in bringing a new era to CBeebies Land, and with how fast the ride is, it feels like it’s trying to cater for a growing audience as well as keep younger fans happy.

The Bluey family is no stranger to the park with a daily show, which is performed multiple times a day, allowing young fans to dance along to some of the show’s hits, including Dance Mode and the infectiously catchy theme.

Bluey is a worldwide phenomenon, and the fact that the UK is now home to the world’s first coaster dedicated to everyone’s favourite Australian dog is a huge coup for Alton Towers and CBeebies Land.

Alton Towers offers short breaks from £42pp. Find out more and book at altontowers.com.

Keeping the kids entertained is no mean feat, but a UK attraction has been named as the best for a family-packed day out or holiday, with thrill-seeking rides that beat Alton Towers and Thorpe Park

It’s not always easy to keep the kids entertained and prevent them from losing interest, but there’s one attraction that has been named as the UK’s best – and it’s not where you might think.

As we lap up warmer rays on weekends and edge closer to school holidays, parents will be looking for fun-packed holidays and activities to keep the little ones entertained now more than ever. A trip to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Paris has long been a popular choice among families, yet these trips can come with a hefty price tag, despite the never-ending fun.

In a bid to help parents beat the kids’ boredom, Attraction Tickets has ranked the holidays most likely to keep little ones happily off their screens. While Disney and Universal claimed the top spots on the global list, Blackpool Pleasure Beach was the top UK destination, ranking in a respectable sixth place.

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Taking the number one UK spot on the event ticket seller’s Banish Boredom Index, following thousands of analysed reviews across 160 worldwide destinations, Blackpool Pleasure Beach scored 24.3 out of 30. The combination of immersive attractions and high-energy experiences is thought to make these top attractions, where parents need not worry about their kids getting bored.

As a thrilling seaside amusement park with nostalgic wooden coasters and mega rides like ICON and The Big One, Blackpool Pleasure Beach even beats the likes of Alton Towers and Thorpe Park on the list. There are jaw-dropping rides at the Blackpool theme park, with loops, turns, twists and drops, along with Nickelodeon Land, water rides and attractions for younger children.

And it’s not just the event ticket seller that has hailed Blackpool Pleasure Beach as the best UK family day out. One visitor shared on TripAdvisor: “Visited through the week with my 11-year-old son. Had a great day. Got on loads of rides. Went on all the big rides numerous times. Found all the staff were very friendly. The guy at the entrance was lovely.”

They added: “Disappointed that Valhalla wasn’t open. Got lunch at the Southern Fried Chicken shop. Wasn’t expecting much, but the chicken was actually really nice. Not a bad price for a theme park either. Toilets were all clean too. We will be back.”

A second shared: “The children loved it here. Very good value with the ultimate pass.” While a third summed up their trip by commenting: “I love the Pleasure Beach, it seems to get a bit of a reputation for being a ‘tired’ amusement park, but I completely disagree, still think it holds its own against the more popular parks like Alton Towers or Thorpe Park, etc.”

Top 10 attractions to beat the boredom

1. Walt Disney World Resort, Florida, USA
2. Universal Studios Orlando, Florida, USA
3. Disneyland Paris, Paris, France
4. Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo, Japan
5. Aquatica, Florida, USA
6. Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Lancashire, UK
7. Waterbom Bali, Bali, Indonesia
8. Universal Studios Hollywood, California, USA
9. Diggerland, Kent, Durham, Yorkshire, Devon, UK
10. Legoland Billund, Denmark

Oliver Brendon, CEO of Attraction Tickets, said: “Nowadays, keeping children entertained on holiday is more challenging than ever. With many kids accustomed to the instant gratification of iPad games and interactive television shows, traditional holiday moments, such as lounging by the pool or playing on the beach, often aren’t enough to hold their attention.

“To take the guesswork out of planning, we created the Banish Boredom Index. By analysing hundreds of thousands of reviews, we identified the destinations and attractions that genuinely captivate kids and keep them engaged throughout the trip. The results are clear – the best family holidays are the ones where children are immersed in the experience from start to finish.

“It’s no surprise that destinations such as Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando Resort, and Disneyland Paris top the list, as they each offer high levels of interactivity and imagination. For parents, that means fewer screen-time battles and more meaningful moments together. However, you don’t always need to travel across the pond, as spots like Blackpool Pleasure Beach prove that the UK can deliver that same level of excitement and engagement closer to home.

“If you’re hoping to break the iPad habit this summer, the data speaks for itself – swap Wi-Fi for rides, tower drops, or historical activities. Whether you’re planning a staycation or a long-haul escape, real-world excitement is the key to banishing your children’s boredom in 2026.”

To book tickets or to read the full list of holidays on the Banish Boredom Index, you can visit the Attractions Tickets website. For more information on Blackpool Pleasure Beach or to plan your day out, visit their website.

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