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If you could build a theme park?

TLARides

TLARides

Hyper Poster
Interesting idea, kinda like that "If you could build a roller coaster" topic I made a while back.

So yeah. You've just received a crazy ammount of money. Instead of paying your bills, or doing something logical with the money, you realize that there's enough to open up a large park.

What do you do first? Come up with the ride lineup? Name it? Decide if it'll be themed? The possibilities are virtually endless.

Well let's get started with my idea.

Park Name: Magic Bay.
Themed?: No.
Coaster Lineup: The Raven (B&M Wing Coaster, has the largest overbanked turn at 130°), Red Rocket (Intamin Accelerator that's 415 ft. tall.), Speed: Duel (Duelling launched Gerstlauer Infinity Coasters), Flying Dutchman (B&M Flyer that's over water.), Into Darkness (Underground Launched Freefall Coaster).
Flat Ride Lineup: Drop Zone (Drop Tower), Dr. Flux's Drop of Terror (Launched Freefall Tower), Bay Wheel (Ferris Wheel), Bay Raceway (Go-Karts in a full raceway "stadium".), Giant Slide (Giant Slide), Spin Whiz (Standing Spinny Ride That I Don't Remember The Name Of), Firebawl (Fireball).
Form of Transport: Magic Bay Underground (Subway System across the whole park.)
Location: Geagua Lake, Aurora, Ohio.

What about you guys?

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I've had a few fantasies about my own park.

I will say this- if I were to start my own park, I'd start small. A few flats in varying intensities(probably a carousel, a ferris wheel, a tea cup ride, and some sort of spinning flat), some nice plazas, restaurants, and maybe a small cred. Nothing too big. Cater to the families first, because they have the money. Anyway, after a few years of small expansion(a new flat every year, maybe a medium Family Thrill cred), I'd want to get a waterpark open. Again, not too big, but something to attract more families. Waterparks make a lot of money, let me tell you. From here, start making the dry park expansions more substantial. Maybe a more thrilling flat(like an ARM Drop Tower or Gerst. Sky Fly), some more infrastructure, and preparations for a first 'major' coaster. At this point, the park probably has a lineup consisting of a Wacky Worm, a Dragon Wagon, and a Zyklon. If we were to start making more permanent rides, I'd think a nice Family Gravity Group would suffice. Once enthusiasts start coming to the park, add some more things that would appeal to them, but would still attract families. At this point, I would also start testing out different holiday events. Get some nice lights, props, and new sound equipment. Make the park nice and pretty for the fall/winter. After 2-3 seasons with the woodie, I'd look into a medium-major steel coaster of some sort. It could be a Chance Hyper GT-X, a Gerst. Infinity, or even one of those new Vekomas. Something that would really put the park on the map.

After that, it's really just entering the cycle of 'Small, Medium, Small, Large' additions. Maybe look into new properties? Although, I'd rather acquire pre-built parks rather than start from scratch again.

For that initial park, I'd say put it in the Pacific Northwest. Nice scenery, and not too much competition. I'd like to think a Carowinds-style park on the US/Canada border would be cool, but the planning processes would be nightmarish. So maybe a park in the Northern Seattle area would be enough.
 
Okay, so picture a theme park the size of say Alton Towers sprawling across many acres of land with varying topography. This theme park would be somewhere in the south of England, within close proximity of London but far out enough to be relatively rural, in the heart of the English countryside. Perhaps this park would also take advantage of the lack of parks in the South West towards Bristol and Wales too.

The park would be extensively themed (think Phantasialand level of detail in an Efteling environment). All of this would be Medieval. Welcome to Camelot Reborn, ha.

 
At first, I thought of the South Park episode where Cartman buys Funland for his own use.

Then I got stuck in traffic and took it a bit more seriously. Firstly, the park will be in Oxfordshire, near the M40 - M1 corridor; there's no decent parks nearby and it's a relatively well-off area. Although we'd have to start small, we're also in fantasy land here and as it's my cash, I want something that I'd rank in the UK's top three - which I decided would have to be a Mack multi-looper; something like Helix but with a chain lift. There'd also be a Mack youngstar, and possibly some kind of new vekoma to bridge the gap between the two. 'Filler' rides to be decided on at a later date, decent capacity flat rides and a water ride to rival Valhalla. I also want an aquarium - I considered a zoo, but the animal welfare argument put me off - sleepy animals and loud coasters make poor bedfellows.

Realising I have very little imagination and that I'm pretty crap at RCT and nobody wants to ride Roller Coaster 1, I decided I'd need some staff and assuming I've got that kind of money, would assemble a 'dream team' of enthusiasts - I'd want an imagineer, an engineer, a part-time events co-ordinator - and vitally, somebody with some kind of business acumen - their main job would be arguing with me and treading the line between making a profit and preserving the company's values ('What would Merlin do? Better do the opposite then'). It'd be nice to have somewhere like Phantasia, Europa or Efteling which effortlessly parts guests from their money, whilst making them happy enough that they don't realise they're being parted from it. I have a fair idea who I'd offer three of the jobs to.

No VR, no gimmicks, no fastracks and free parking. Oh, and take outside enthusiast reviews with a pinch of salt ;)
Every evening for the last two weeks of the season, the park loses any family friendliness with a Halloween/fireworks event that turns the volume up to 11 and throws the rule book out of the window.

Alas, I have once again not bought a lottery ticket.
 
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^Basically what he said. It would be like the Anti-Merlin of theme parks.
Didcot power station is for the chop isn't it? Make a good site, that. Good location, lots of acreage, plenty of infrastructure already in place and crucially, should be ok for planning regulations seeing as even a B&M giga coaster would be less of an eyesore than the cooling towers that were there before.
Oh yes - a B&M giga coaster. I defo want one of those!
Wouldn't mind one of those Mack Power Splash rides, a la Pulsar. Good ride, that.
And a MegaLite.
Oh my God - those powered alpine coasters, like Blitz Bahn at Toverland - we have to have one those. Actually, make that 2, so they can race!

Basically, I'd like to have a park packed with things that the UK hasn't got, or got very few examples of.
Aw man, can I be on your team, Will? Make a good imagineer, me.
We'd need @Lofty on board to handle all the creative stuff, @Ian to start the ball rolling with all his 'connections', @Hixee as lead engineer and (assuming Alan Silvestri is unavailable) @Serena to write all the park and ride music.

Let's do this!
 
^
I was thinking @Joey and that Tim bloke he used to hang around with on the imagineering side, but I'm sure we can fit you in somewhere :p
 
Tim would be lead creative director whether he likes it or not.

Lofty would technically be the creative director of entertainments, but basically spend most of his time managing Tim's team because Tim doesn't want to manage anyone and ends up doing 99.9% of the work by himself anyway so the rest of us don't do **** and just revolve in our chairs all day and also because screw entertainments, this perfect theme park wouldn't have any, so Lofty wouldn't actually have anything to do in his own job role.

imjokingbutnotreally
 
Will said:
^
I was thinking @Joey and that Tim bloke he used to hang around with on the imagineering side, but I'm sure we can fit you in somewhere :p
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To be fair, that would probably be a wiser choice.
But I'm a beast with a mower, I could make the lawns look real nice?
 
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Howie said:
But I'm a beast with a mower, I could make the lawns look real nice?
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You're hired! :p
 

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Turning this topic back to it's original intention, I have actually had some serious thoughts about this. Patch of land would either be my friend's (which I bet I could actually own for relatively cheap in a few years) or a patch of land near Mold. Both locations are within an hours drive from the large cities of Liverpool and Manchester so will have a large catchment area.

Haven't completely decided on rides but both parks will have a decent log flume among numerous flat rides. Stand out attraction at the farm location will be a terrain coaster taking advantage of the hilly terrain. Stand out attraction for Mold location will be a B&M looper alongside the A494 (Mold Bypass) with a zero-g over the road before turning 180 degrees to tunnel back under the road. Other stand out attraction at either location would be similar to the Boating School attraction at Legoland but themed around canal boating. This will involve steering the boat with a proper tiller and going through an operational stop-lock. Any other attractions at opening would probably be 2nd hand from other parks (e.g. Knightmare) until the park is profitable enough to replace them. Mold location would also feature a miniature railway down the route of the old Mold-Chester railway line which would have run through the park.

To avoid traffic through my local village for the farm location, the car-park will be located on a piece of flat land off the main road past the village and visitors will either walk or take free bus up the hill through the village to the park entrance. Shuttle bus would also occasionally extend into Mold for those coming by public transport. For the Mold location, car park will be on field across A494 (Mold Bypass) from park with bridge over road near the coaster's zero-g.

No names for rides have been decided yet but park will have permanent name of TBA (To Be Announced) and rides will most likely continue that theme (e.g. Coming Soon, To be Confirmed, To be continued (for an unfinished dark ride), Now Fully Open or New and Improved (for once dark ride is complete)) or use names used by other parks already (e.g. Colossus, Rush etc.)

Farm location:
upload_2017-11-27_20-45-38.png
(White = Park Boundary, Black = Car park, Red = shuttle bus route, Grey = entrance area (including possible holiday accommodation in farm buildings))
Mold location:
upload_2017-11-27_20-43-0.png
(White = Park boundary (including bridge over road), Black = Car Park, Brown = miniature railway, Green = B&M Looper, Pink = Location of Eisteddfod when it was in town a few years back (proof that area can handle large tourist attraction))
All people mentioned above are more than welcome to work with me on this. I realise there are some pretty big problems with both locations, namely being so close to existing housing, Mod location have 2 houses within the land and a public road passing straight through the middle of the Farm location.
 
I'm still waiting for someone to get the joke I made with the B&M Flyer.

Flying Dutchman? As in, Vekoma Flying Dutchman? But it's a B&M Flyer?

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Thought about this a bit as well!
I'd have fantasy themed areas including a mythical tropical paradise area and maybe an Atlantis style underwater area and a fairytale area with original characters in some kind of enchanted forest for a family section. Not sure about individual themes for rides but would have a high thrill multi launch Inatmin blitz - Taron style but with more airtime moments, a ground up RMC woody utilising hilly terrain with a tight twisting layout (maybe the first vertical woody to get the GP through the door), an intense B&M flier similar to Flying Dinosaur, and a varied Intamin/Mack hyper (250+ feet) for starters. For flat rides I'd have a 200+ft drop tower, a new generation top spin, a giant frisbee and a topscan. On the family front I'd have a fun water coaster, a log flume/rapids ride, a multi-launch coaster along the lines of Juvelen/Wave Breaker, a Mack spinner, a small pirate ship, and a variety of other flats and family dark rides.
The park would be set in the British countryside in the Shropshire hills fairly near the M54 for easy access - close enough to Birmingham, Wales and the North and not too far from London - and all the rides would utilise the terrain as much as possible. I'd have self catering cabins similar to centre parcs with a high ropes area, outdoor instructors to teach fun skills for families, and a separate 4* hotel with themed rooms and a waterpark. There'd also be camping onsite with people able to bring caravans etc and have electricity supplied. There'd also be festival-like events in summer with camping and glamping available, and the rides would be open until 11pm for these kind of events.
This is of course in a money no object scenario...
 
henryjwillis said:
The park would be set in the British countryside in the Shropshire hills fairly near the M54 for easy access - close enough to Birmingham, Wales and the North
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I know just the place! :D
In an earlier post I mentioned Didcot Power Station as a potential site. Well, change that to Ironbridge Power Station (also due for demolition soon) and bingo!
The area's rich heritage (birthplace of the industrial revolution and all that) would make it a prime candidate for some cracking steampunk style theming.
You could even leave one of the cooling towers standing as a theming centrepiece and stick a cred inside it, and build a viewing platform on the top, and bolt a 500ft drop tower to the side.
Oh my god, I'm on a roll now!

The fact that all of this would be within walking distance of my house has nothing to do with it, of course...
 

I’ve slowly been making my “dream” theme park over the years in No Limits.

So far it has 8 themed lands, which are all set in a fictitious Steam punky post apocalyptic version of earth called Terra. Each land is different but there’s a narrative that joins it all together, as different “regions” of the world, and the guests are explorers setting out on an adventure to conquer it.
 
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