CrashCoaster
CF Legend
Well... There goes my last lingering strand of hope for this park. If they are still around in even a few years time it will be a miracle.
Last edited:
LWV confirm removal of several rides
- Thread starter Mushroom
- Start date
Steely Dan
Mega Poster
So what do people think the long-term prognosis for Ultimate is?
Seeing it removed on the new park map really drove home the point for me that it might truly be gone forever. As a yank, I've unfortunately never ridden it, but it's always held a place of mystique for me due to its extreme length and general all around unusualness.
What are the odds that, what is quite possibly the world's most eccentric coaster, will ever roll again?
Seeing it removed on the new park map really drove home the point for me that it might truly be gone forever. As a yank, I've unfortunately never ridden it, but it's always held a place of mystique for me due to its extreme length and general all around unusualness.
What are the odds that, what is quite possibly the world's most eccentric coaster, will ever roll again?
Last edited:
adrenaline1996
Mega Poster
According to RCDB, Raptor Attack has been relocated to Texas: https://rcdb.com/19267.htm.
rob666
Hyper Poster
Personally, I think it is dead.
The whole structure in the second half suffered from massive lateral forces, that shook the trains and track to bits.
Track that was a British Rail build!
For a small park, keeping it in good repair was a massive cost, a mile and a half of track, with wooden supports, took an awful lot of inspecting.
Just keeping the track clear of brambles and seedling trees, and keeping the deer out with fencing was another expensive issue.
It used to be a strawberry farm with a cafe and boating lake, that is where it is heading, full circle.
Damn shame, fantastic one off ride.
Steely Dan
Mega Poster
Yeah, it doesn't look good, does it.
I don't want to believe it, but the tea leaves don't appear to be aligning themselves in a terribly favorable arrangement at the moment.
What a shame.
Thanks for your in depth reply.
Last edited:
Personally i don’t think LWV has been a main attraction for thrill seekers for probably a decade and apart from the ultimate and raptor attack there wasn’t really anything to draw people to the park.
I think for the park to survive it needs to move forward with its holiday village plans which they spent years getting permission for. The site itself is stunning and offering lodges and moving more towards a family resort would be great. They could offer a lot of outdoor activities to make use of the space. Although it would be completely different to what it has been in the past it would survive if done well
I think for the park to survive it needs to move forward with its holiday village plans which they spent years getting permission for. The site itself is stunning and offering lodges and moving more towards a family resort would be great. They could offer a lot of outdoor activities to make use of the space. Although it would be completely different to what it has been in the past it would survive if done well
Living in the immediate catchment area for LWV I thought the park provided a viable alternative to Flamingo Land and on some occasions, certainly events, came up trumps over Flamingo Land.
I think the direction they’ve moved in now makes them no longer comparable to Flamingo Land and more comparable to farm attractions such as Big Sheep, Little Cow in Bedale for a ‘family day out’.
I don’t know what their planning restrictions are etc but it’s a shame because it’s in a decent location with plenty of land and so much could be done with the right management and funding.
Caught up with this topic - the map comparison on the previous page is stunning. Trying to pinpoint the moment when things started going south for LWV. Possibly the investment and draw of Flamingoland? LWV didn’t suffer from lack of investment imo - they had the new pirate area, the travelling rapids, Ray/Raptor retheme and ERT, Angry Birds. Perhaps it was the removal of Boat on a Rope or the atmospheric Pirate Ship tucked away in the corner? Not lack of investments, just the wrong ones?
A shame to Ultimate rot away. Not the best ride ever but it was an unique adventure with something special about it. Everything is so “safe” nowadays, carefully considered. The Ultimate was so outrageous, we’ll probably never see anything like it again and nobody will want to buy what’s left of it.
A shame to Ultimate rot away. Not the best ride ever but it was an unique adventure with something special about it. Everything is so “safe” nowadays, carefully considered. The Ultimate was so outrageous, we’ll probably never see anything like it again and nobody will want to buy what’s left of it.
rob666
Hyper Poster
I think the problem was the new "Pirates" area...bit crap having a few flats and 2 pirate ships, a single decent family coaster would have cost about the same.
They should have developed the holiday village when they got permission, they should have kept the "Pub in the wood", they should have kept the dodgems instead of spending lots on an outdated IP in Angry Birds Land.
But they didn't invest, and it all went flop.
They should have developed the holiday village when they got permission, they should have kept the "Pub in the wood", they should have kept the dodgems instead of spending lots on an outdated IP in Angry Birds Land.
But they didn't invest, and it all went flop.
MouseAT
Hyper Poster
I think that's part of it. They had a short burst of investment, and a couple of years of trying to make some real improvements to the place, and then just seemed to stop. It's like the parent company lost interest, the money stopped coming, the people behind the improvements left, and everything just stagnated. I do wonder, if they'd kept the small improvements coming, and hadn't removed some of their best attractions, whether they'd be in better shape now.
Smaller, steady investments were always going to take time to "turn the ship", so to speak, and without the sort of more significant investment that they clearly weren't prepared to make (e.g. mid size Eurofighter sort of scale), I wonder whether they naively expected a big surge in visitors from the small stuff, and then got cold feet when they didn't get an immediate surge in attendance that only a bigger flagship attraction would have accomplished.
Smaller, steady investments were always going to take time to "turn the ship", so to speak, and without the sort of more significant investment that they clearly weren't prepared to make (e.g. mid size Eurofighter sort of scale), I wonder whether they naively expected a big surge in visitors from the small stuff, and then got cold feet when they didn't get an immediate surge in attendance that only a bigger flagship attraction would have accomplished.
tynemouthsurfer
Roller Poster
There was definitely a time 15+ years ago when LWV and FL were seen as relatively equal.
Being from the north east, Towers remains the theme park which people will travel to. FL is a different attraction with the added zoo but it has added half a dozen family/thrill coasters (appreciate most are not great) since 2000. I think the two Vekomas are decent relative to a park of that stature, with hopefully the inverted Intamin to come eventually.
LWV has not done much at all and has been pretty poor for best part of 20 years now. I fear the 2019 accident on the Twister and £350k fine by the regulator last year may have finished them off.
I would love to see LWV get you owners, a different direction and something as basic as a family boomerang- the Accelerator is always popular at Drayton - but the path to adminstration/closure feels more likely. The site has a lot of potential and it is a shame likely never get another go on the Ultimate.
Being from the north east, Towers remains the theme park which people will travel to. FL is a different attraction with the added zoo but it has added half a dozen family/thrill coasters (appreciate most are not great) since 2000. I think the two Vekomas are decent relative to a park of that stature, with hopefully the inverted Intamin to come eventually.
LWV has not done much at all and has been pretty poor for best part of 20 years now. I fear the 2019 accident on the Twister and £350k fine by the regulator last year may have finished them off.
I would love to see LWV get you owners, a different direction and something as basic as a family boomerang- the Accelerator is always popular at Drayton - but the path to adminstration/closure feels more likely. The site has a lot of potential and it is a shame likely never get another go on the Ultimate.
davidm
Strata Poster
Raptor Attack coming back to life....
(in Texas)
(in Texas)
CrashCoaster
CF Legend
Better than a Pinfari Zyklon at least.
sneakycoasters
Roller Poster
Just for anyone interested, can confirm the Ultimate's 2 trains are currently parked in its station, fully assembled. The track's running strips are quite rusty, it clearly hasn't ran at all in the last 2 years since it went SBNO.
The ride has always used generators to power it, those generators were removed at some point in the last 2 years. Its final brake block is missing, the rest are all there, the chains are all still there, etc,
Does appear that if they put the generators back in it could run again after some servicing. I have very little faith it'll ever run again - it's such a unique coaster and is so sad to see it in this state but I think now they've removed all their thrill rides it probably doesnt make much sense to run The Ultimate....
As someone who grew up in the 90s it's depressing to see it this way. I went on a Scouts trip to LWV and have a keyring of me on the Ultimate back then; we all absolutely loved it as kids.
I hope LWV can turn it around but I don't have much hope sadly.
The ride has always used generators to power it, those generators were removed at some point in the last 2 years. Its final brake block is missing, the rest are all there, the chains are all still there, etc,
Does appear that if they put the generators back in it could run again after some servicing. I have very little faith it'll ever run again - it's such a unique coaster and is so sad to see it in this state but I think now they've removed all their thrill rides it probably doesnt make much sense to run The Ultimate....
As someone who grew up in the 90s it's depressing to see it this way. I went on a Scouts trip to LWV and have a keyring of me on the Ultimate back then; we all absolutely loved it as kids.
I hope LWV can turn it around but I don't have much hope sadly.