Stagnant UK Coaster Situation

[Howie]

Re: Stagnant UK Coaster Situation.

To be honest, I'm almost past caring. My main thought over recent years has been 'For the love of God, somebody build something.'
But it's gone beyond that now. I've given up. Like Ben said, I just look at overseas parks now when planning my next outing.

Or anywhere to be fair. The U.K. has to accept our coaster situation sucks and just leave to go abroad.

Our last attempt at a major coaster ended up chopping peoples legs off.
Our next major coaster investment isn't even a coaster at all, but a poxy dark ride that nobody knows anything about, and more to the point, nobody cares about.
The Paramount park offered a glimmer of hope, but Jesus, I'll be an old man by the time that gets off the ground. Already a year behind schedule and the first digger isn't even on site yet? Typical!
I guess all eyes are now resting on Tayto Park's woodie. With a bit of luck, some of the above mentioned parks are watching that with interest.

You would think - given that even Joe Public seems to be getting bored of gimmicky, world-first coasters, and that Merlin is currently scratting around in the Smiler aftermath - that now would be the perfect time for one of (or even some of) those parks to snatch some of the limelight with a shiny new, QUALITY coaster.
But no.
Ain't gonna happen.
I'll scan the news n rumours pages occasionally, maybe even Screamscape, in the vague hope of even the faintest UK based rumour, but I've gotten tired by inevitability of it all.

Don't get me wrong, generally I'm a very proud Brit, I love our little island, but it just so happens that the one thing I'm passionate about, is the one thing we're **** at.

edit: I did cast a vote for Bkackpool though as the most likely, based on that 2017 whisper, but like... y'know... where they gonna put it?

 

[cjbrandy]

Re: Stagnant UK Coaster Situation.

^IF Paramount does get off the ground I don't think they'll even care to build a major coaster, I reckon they'll focus on dark rides, shows and other indoor things and the biggest they'll do is a family coaster. I think it would be like USO sans anything like Hollywood rocket.

 

[sarahwoolley]

Stagnant UK Coaster Situation.

Just returned from three weeks in Florida and was reminded the sorry standard of roller coasters in the UK. Best day was at Busch Gardens and I'd love to see something along the lines of Cheetah Hunt in one of our parks. It's classed as a 'family coaster' but still has speeds of 60mph, is as smooth as anything and has three fun launches. I've ridden 30 coasters now - Sheikra at Busch was my 30th and Cheetah Hunt remains my absolute favourite. Please build at Paultons... It's only down the road from me!!


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[Treybleed]

Re: Stagnant UK Coaster Situation.

From being a ride operator at Paultons for the last couple years i can say don't hold your breath for a big thrill coaster anytime soon. As far as i'm aware the go karts, dragon and the bouncer (trampolines+bouncy castle) are next to go for possible lost kingdom expansion to magma (dinosaur themed drop tower) if all goes well. The money for them is in the younger market, they have no interest in a "thrill" ride at the moment.

 

[Chris Brown]

Re: Stagnant UK Coaster Situation.

Ahh more local people! Im from near Paultons too, Winchester to be precise. I understand the Paultons situation and can see that what they are doing is perfect for their target audience. They literally rake the cash in! However i dont think many could have predicted the Gerst Bobsled going there, just shows they are capable of surprising us. Like many on here i'd love to see a small GG woodie. I'm hoping more of these switchback coasters pop up. Having one of those at Paultons would be simply amazing.

 

[Ian]

Re: Stagnant UK Coaster Situation.

To keep the Paultons rumour mill going, I know that the boys from Gravity Group visited Paultons a couple of years ago and proposed a wooden coaster that went by the side of the lake (by Jumping Bean). I don't know why it was turned down but at least they looked into it. Paultons would never go for anything too big, fast or thrilling. They know their target market very well and would't do anything to jeopardise that.

I can't see Merlin or Blackpool investing in something for us for the next couple of years. There's a small chance Drayton might surprise us. They have a new MD and new MDs are always keen to make their mark. Drayton has also paid off the hotel. But again, they're so successful with their family market why would they want to put money into thrills?

As depressing as it seems, I think we'll keep seeing small-medium coaster for the next five years, and the emphasis at parks will be on "immersive experiences" and "family values" rather than thrill seekers.

I'm pinning my hopes on a small park doing a Tayto and building something impressive out of the blue. But then when I think about it, none of the UK parks have multi-millionaire crisp factory owners who can chuck cash at it.

 

[sarahwoolley]

Re: Stagnant UK Coaster Situation.

Aren't Paultons bringing out two new family coasters next year?


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[cjbrandy]

Re: Stagnant UK Coaster Situation.

Aren't Paultons bringing out two new family coasters next year?


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Why yes they are! Click this link and you can see the coasters for yourself, I think POVs have been released

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=38628

 

[sarahwoolley]

Re: Stagnant UK Coaster Situation.

Aren't Paultons bringing out two new family coasters next year?


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Why yes they are! Click this link and you can see the coasters for yourself, I think POVs have been released

http://forums.coasterforce.com/viewtopi ... =4&t=38628

Couldn't get the link to work but sounds like a step in the right direction for this friendly award winning park


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[jackdude101]

On a spreadsheet I maintain on the topic, England (not UK) has the largest relevant roller coaster collection out of all subnational entities (states, provinces, oblasts, etc.) on Earth. #2 is California, BTW. So, I'd say England has not made a lot of big coasters in non-Merlin parks in a while because the market seems to have matured, and let's not forget the very "British" weather they have.

I also maintain a separate spreadsheet on steam railways and England wins the top prize again (England on its own in terms of steam railways is comparable to the whole USA, which is beyond staggering). Suffice it to say, England has no shortage of "fun allowed" activities.

 

[Howie]

^That's an interesting post. I suppose it's true in a way - if you compare statistics, things like 'size of country' vs 'no. of operating coasters' you'd think England is THE place to be.
So how come most of us still feel like we're being short-changed?
Well, we're a small island for one thing, which means that we have lots and lots of seaside, holiday towns so the 'numbers', as it were, are boosted by lots and lots of small, seaside amusement parks/piers/boardwalks/ardades etc with crappy little, wacky worms, Reverchon spinners, Pinfari death machines, ancient woodies etc.. Creds, for sure, but nothing you'd get really excited about, and certainly not anything worth getting on a plane for.
When you say the market has 'matured', I'd say it has 'gotten old' and needs euthanising and upgrading.

Then there's the Merlin thing. I notice you're fairly new to the forum (welcome by the way ) but trust me, you'll read about the Merlin monopoly over the UK lots on here - it's all true, they DO control the market. Other UK parks just seem either unwilling or just financially unable to take them on.
So where does that leave us? Well, when it comes to major investments, we get them the Merlin way, ie 'Sod it, that'll do', and we get them as and when Merlin feel like it.

So while it may seem that we English are a bunch of ungrateful whingers, it's just that the one thing most of us on a coaster-based forum are passionate about (new and exciting coaster developments) is the one thing we're **** at!

Compare that to the States, where there seems to be a constant stream of Fury's, Thunderbirds, Cannibals, Wicked Cyclones and Lightning Rods coming out. Even given the massive size difference between Lil' Ol' England and America, it still feels like we're getting a bum deal.
And now, the ultimate slap in the face, it turns out that Sweden is getting an RMC before we are.
Sweden!! FFS! What's that about??

 

[owentaylor121]

I'd say the parks to look out for at the moment outside of Merlin are Pleasure Beach with its growing number again, Drayton Manor littarly dominates the family park with having such rapid growth of Thomas Land and Paultons Park with its constant investment and ever increasing visitor numbers.
With the new coaster coming Pleasure Beach it will hopefully encourage other UK parks to invest in a new thrilling coaster.

The last 'large' coaster we got was The Smiler, that was 3 years ago now! It is quite depressing when you think about it.

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[jackdude101]

you'll read about the Merlin monopoly over the UK lots on here

Here in Central Florida, Merlin is just beginning to establish a presence, with the opening of Legoland Florida a few years ago and the Orlando Eye Ferris wheel last year (there is also a Madame Tussauds and Sea Life Aquarium flanking it). Been to both and they are quite nice. Of course, the market is dominated by Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld, so Merlin won't be gaining much ground here with that kind of competition.

Anyway, I suppose it comes down to competition. Here in the states, pretty much every theme park operator with an international scope has a presence here, but in Britain you guys just have Merlin and a tiny presence from Looping Group, which runs Pleasurewood Hills in Wales (they operate a handful of other mid-sized parks on the continent). Merlin dominates in Britain because they have no competition there that can compete on their level. It would be interesting if a new chain of British parks were formed, where say the likes of BPB, Flamingo Land, Drayton Manor, and a few other similarly-sized parks banded together. That sort of scenario would foster a lot of growth, which would translate into new big-ticket rides.

 

[Thekingin64]

^Pretty sure PWH is in Suffolk, East England not Wales.You might be thinking of Oakwood though, think they are both owned by the same people.

Can see your point though, we do need something to attract big investment away from Merlin over here.

 

[jackdude101]

^Ah, yes you're right. PWH is in Lowestoft, England. Also, Oakwood is run by Aspro Group, another smaller park chain with a big continent presence.

I'll tell you what...if I were an entrepreneur with big pockets who wanted to open a brand-new large-scale park in Britain, my number one priority would be to make sure that it is all indoors to completely eliminate what I feel is the biggest obstacle for new park development in Britain: the rain. Plus, such a place could be open all year regardless of its exact location. Frames of reference that could be used would be the parks run by the Triple Five Group in Canada, who run Nickelodeon Universe in Mall of America and Galaxyland in West Edmonton Mall, two of the biggest all-indoor parks.

 

[shawnoc]

That would be nice, if only the planning restrictions in the uk weren't so tight. A building big enough to house a theme park would never get passed.

 

[jackdude101]

^Here we use the "it will add jobs" defense when supporting big projects like these, and it often works. Does that work in the UK?

 

[Dar]

^No, the people that live nearby say it will affect their house prices and their views. Or some hippy will find an endangered spider that means nothing can be done while it lives there.

 

[jackdude101]

^What if the endangered spider was skeptical towards the value of letting in immigrants and/or the UK's membership in the EU?

 

[nadroJ]

My absolute fav is when new guys come along and talk to us like we don't know anything about the theme park industry haha!

Hey jackdude, great contribution to the topic, might want to think about toning down the condescending tone though, especially when what you're posting isn't 100% accurate.


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