Theme park fan rides into Gulliver’s leadership team after completing trainee programme

A lifelong Gulliver’s Theme Parks fan has stepped into a leadership position with the company after completing its in-house trainee management programme.

Andreas Kitromilides, 25, from Glossop, has graduated from the 2024-25 intake of trainee managers and secured himself a role as Rides Supervisor, based at Gulliver’s Valley in South Yorkshire.

Andreas loved visiting Gulliver’s Theme Parks as a child and has many happy memories of days out at Gulliver’s Kingdom in Matlock Bath.

He says those childhood experiences drew him towards the trainee management scheme at Gulliver’s, after completing his Masters degree in Business Management at The University of Hull.

Andreas said: “When I saw the trainee opportunity with Gulliver’s I knew I had to apply. I’d visited Gulliver’s Kingdom as a child and loved the idea of applying my Masters degree skills in that family-orientated environment.

“Over the course of the programme I spent time at all four Gulliver’s parks and learnt so many new leadership skills working alongside the management team, as well as trying my hand at a huge variety of other tasks including maintenance management and even introducing a new food and drink product, creating a new sundae at Gulliver’s Valley!

“The whole team have supported me throughout the last year and I’m so excited to be in a full-time role here at Gulliver’s Valley now. Every day is different and that feeling of seeing families making memories at the park as I did as a child is wonderful.”

Now in its tenth year, Gulliver’s trainee management programme offers participants opportunities and experience across a range of different areas of the business on a series of placements.

Trainees manage their own bespoke projects, receiving mentoring from senior Gulliver's staff and are provided with access to external development coaches and experts.

Julie Dalton, managing director of Gulliver’s Theme Park Resorts, said: “Seeing trainees such as Andreas graduate from our in-house scheme to become a fully-fledged part of the Gulliver’s management team is fantastic.

“We believe wholeheartedly in supporting and nurturing new talent and welcoming the next generation of theme park managers into our business and, already, Andreas is proving to be an invaluable member of our team, putting everything he’s learnt into practise and bringing new ideas to the table, too.”

This year also marks Gulliver’s Valley’s fifth anniversary, having opened its doors in July 2020 as the newest of four Gulliver’s Theme Park Resorts in the UK. Since then, the park has seen visitor numbers reach into the millions.

The resort, aimed at children between the ages of two and 13-years-old, has more than 50 rides, attractions, shows and activities – from the Apache Falls ride to the Ghostly Galleon pirate ship, a mini-farm and a Lost Jurassic World area with animatronic dinosaurs.

Over the last five years the park has expanded to add a number of new rides and areas, including ‘Gulliver’s Gears’ which opened in 2021 with the Grand Prix Racer rollercoaster and a range of classic cars on display, plus two new rides for 2025 - the Turbo Tower and Crazy Planes.

A new mini rollercoaster called ‘The Wriggler’ was also unveiled at Gulliver’s Valley in 2023 and, in 2025, Mayfield Animal Park relocated to the site as ‘Valley Wildlife’, bringing its popular animal experiences to the resort.