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Which city/region needs a theme park?

Let's think about large cities/metropolises that do not have a major amusement park within a fair driving radius. (While SFMM is often credited as LA's amusement park, it is still a fair drive north of the city)

1. San Diego, California
2. Houston, Texas
3. Indianapolis, Indiana
4. Omaha, Nebraska
5. New Orleans, Louisiana
6. Montgomery, Alabama
7. Jacksonville, Florida
 
Hyde said:
Let's think about large cities/metropolises that do not have a major amusement park within a fair driving radius. (While SFMM is often credited as LA's amusement park, it is still a fair drive north of the city)

1. San Diego, California
2. Houston, Texas
3. Indianapolis, Indiana
4. Omaha, Nebraska
5. New Orleans, Louisiana
6. Montgomery, Alabama
7. Jacksonville, Florida
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San Diego? They have a SeaWorld and the Zoo, plus Disney is 90 minutes up the road.

I would put Nashville, TN on that list before the last 4 (well, maybe New Orleans would be tied with Nashville but even they have to compete with the Houston market).

EDIT: I know Jacksonville has a "huge" population but it is spread out over a ton of miles.
 
Double post but my 2 cents:

The barriers to enter the industry are so high and the market is so saturated I wouldn't be surprised if we continue to go decades before new parks open. Excluding Hard Rock Park (which lasted 2 years all told?) the last major expansion was in the late 90's with Disney and UO, nothing since.

There are more profitable business opportunities out there, which leaves us theme park fans in the cold.
 
TilySlo said:
*Eastern part of Central Europe (Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, also Austria) - after Vidampark's closure (which wasn't really a major park by any means) there is practically nothing to speak of in that part of Europe.

*Whole of the Southeastern Europe - apart from some random city and coastal parks with a Wacky Worm and occasional Cyclone there is also a blank space theme park wise. There were some talks of a semi-major park in Romania with 3 Fabbri coasters, but those rumours have apparently disappeared with the wind.

*Baltic states - there's a small park in Lithuania that operates a Schwarzkopf Jet Star (which, I believe has already been SBNO for over a year), but if discount that, there is also a complete blank space.
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Agreed with eastern Europe. And the eastern part of the Mediterranean as well! Of course now Turkey has opened/is going to open a couple of parks. But I've never understood why a country like Greece with such a big focus on turism doesnt have a single major park? Athens is a fairly arge town too, which would further support a park in the area.

Another large city in Europe that lacks a major park is Berlin. Belantis and Plohn are close by yes, but since Germans are crazy about their theme parks (and fairs) Berlin sure could support something bigger than those two parks?
 
Puerto Rico but our government/economy is **** and nobody knows how to run even a simple water park.

But talking about other places:

New York City (indoors within Manhattan would be awesome)
Miami
San Diego

That's all I could think of.
 
ATTACKHAMMER said:
CoasterCrazy said:
ATTACKHAMMER said:
It would be awesome if somewhere close to Cambridge got one as I live there!
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I'll second that! Living on the Cambridge Essex border, it's over an hour's drive to reach Thorpe, which is loosely my 'home park'. I spied a Go-gator on Parker's Piece once, but that's quite literally the extent of Cambridgeshire's coasters. Essex only really has Adventure Island, which is doubtful as a 'theme park'....I shall just have to pray to the coaster gods in vain.
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Exactly! I have that Go-gator! I think one could be built around the Cambridgeshire area even if it was on fenland such as near March.
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Well done on the cred :wink: , I really need to properly goon out some day. On a serious note, there's a real gap in the UK theme park market itself, with Alton and Thorpe being the only parks with bigger B&Ms and Intamins (excluding Drayton). The public tend to really enjoy theme parks too, and if we saw an 'American style' park blossom in the UK, with maybe a modern woodie :shock: , I'm sure some of the public's perceptions could be overturned. Because Thorpe is Alton's only real competition and vice versa, maybe Merlin would invest a little more if a new competitor forced their hand! :--D

But we have planning restrictions :evil: unfortunately. Could any park really build something taller than Stealth in the UK?
 
It would be cool if Cedar Fair came to Britain to build "Cedar Point U.K" or perhaps "Queens Island" or alternatively if Six Flags came to Britain to build "Six Flags Over England". I would like to see a new park in Britain which has coasters that sacrifice theming for height, length and intensity just like most coasters in America. I appreciate good theming but I would much rather have a great ride experience like Skyrush or Leviathan.
 
The UK, given its size, is actually doing pretty well for parks. We can all say, "There should be one outside my house lol", but the fact is that most of the population can get to one of the major parks within a couple of hour's drive.

If Paramount happens, that'll mean that nothing else is happening for a very, very long time - if at all.

Some places that could actually do with something then:

Greece: There's really **** all there. The "major" park in Athens, while quite nice, is far from a decent park.

Portugal: There's literally nothing anywhere near Lisbon, and just a crappy park with one coaster on the south coast.

Switzerland: a very wealthy country, with a decent tourist industry, without a remotely decent park.

Moscow: biggest city in Europe and it doesn't have a proper park anywhere near.

As has been mentioned, Prague and Budapest could do with something. Both places have/had an absolute **** hole of a local park, despite both cities being major tourism hubs.

Las Vegas: I really don't know why Six Flags or Cedar Fair haven't built something here.

North West USA: seems to be nothing of any note in an area with a few major cities (Portland, Seattle) and also very close to Vancouver.

Sydney: The Australian parks are really nowhere near its biggest city.

Jakarta: An enormous city with nothing of any note in the immediate area.

India: so many huge cities around a massive country with an enormous population. There's that Adlabs place outside Mumbai now, but that's basically it. I can see this changing a lot over the next few years though.
 
gavin said:
Switzerland: a very wealthy country, with a decent tourist industry, without a remotely decent park.
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I completely agree. It's home to B&M and Intamin and the country that's home to the two biggest manufacturers in the industry should have at least one good park. Maybe either could start a test park like Mack has with Europa?

gavin said:
Las Vegas: I really don't know why Six Flags or Cedar Fair haven't built something here.
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I couldn't agree more. Circus Circus Adventuredome was an outdated **** joke except for El Loco and my favorite "classic" Arrow looper. The climate isn't harsh at all and there's all kinds of space outside the city or between the strip and Fremont. The only issue I can think of is green space. I learned while I was out there that there is almost no grass in Vegas, people fill larger expanses with gravel while landscaping. It might make building a pretty park a challenge but I saw a lot of people use fake turf-like grass, so something like that might work.

gavin said:
North West USA: seems to be nothing of any note in an area with a few major cities (Portland, Seattle) and also very close to Vancouver.
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Again, agree. I feel like if there's ever any desire to build Canada Disney putting it just south of Vancouver would be the best option.

Another one I was thinking was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It's a pretty big and modern city if I'm correct, I could see a big park developing around here.
 
2012Jarrett said:
Another one I was thinking was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It's a pretty big and modern city if I'm correct, I could see a big park developing around here.
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Genting is relatively close to Kuala Lumpur and they're getting Fox's first theme park.
 
2012Jarrett said:
Another one I was thinking was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It's a pretty big and modern city if I'm correct, I could see a big park developing around here.
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I almost put Kuala Lumpur, but there's a major park - 20th Century Fox I think - currently under construction, replacing the old Genting Highland theme park.

Edit - posted before I finished reading the topic. Durrrr.
 
2012Jarrett said:
Another one I was thinking was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It's a pretty big and modern city if I'm correct, I could see a big park developing around here.
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Great for the people who live around the city, but not so great if you have to fly there...
 
Vancouver, SeaTac, and Portland all have small parks but deserve and could support much bigger ones.

Houston needs more than the couple Galveston coasters.

Phoenix needs more than Castles & Coasters.

I'm sure Albuquerque, Calgary, Winnipeg, Quebec City, and Omaha could support decent-sized parks.

Miami needs something, anything, seriously.

Memphis and Nashville could both use parks.

Chicago, Toronto, and DFW could all definitely support a second major park.

I would love to see a big park in western South Dakota capitalizing on the tourism industry in the Black Hills.

Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth all deserve better.

Tbh there's not really anywhere in western Europe that isn't already well connected (same story with northeast US and most of the Great Lakes and Southeast). Dublin I guess. Maybe Portugal. Remember that the entire island of Great Britain is only the same size as Minnesota.
 
Jarrett2012 said:
I completely agree. It's home to B&M and Intamin and the country that's home to the two biggest manufacturers in the industry should have at least one good park. Maybe either could start a test park like Mack has with Europa?
gavin said:
Switzerland: a very wealthy country, with a decent tourist industry, without a remotely decent park.
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Will the mountainous region permit it? Even though a park could be made on the side of a mountain, most of Switzerland's tourism is based of skiing, hiking, and camping.
 
Went to Colchester Zoo today and I think they need a rollercoaster because its just animals there and none were out making it a boring experience.
 
elephant58 said:
Scotland.
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Yeah Scotland. We have zilch up here other than M&D's or Codonas & they aren't really theme parks. All the UK theme parks are at least 400 miles away from me.
 
jj23w said:
Went to Colchester Zoo today and I think they need a rollercoaster because its just animals there and none were out making it a boring experience.
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Damn those zoos having animals and giving them the opportunity to stay away from public view!

I'm looking forward to Chester Zoo installing that rumoured B&M. So sick of those boring animals!
 
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