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Small News From The Theme Park Industry

Will

Strata Poster
^
I noticed on RCDB that they'd been SBNO for a while. Hope the creds make their way over here ;)
 

Nick13

Mega Poster
Lightwater announced a new attraction... THE ULTIMATE VR ROLLERCOASTER

£5 upcharge though

They’re taking the piss calling it The Ultimate 😂

“Please ignore the big coaster at the back of the park, pay us a fiver to put this headset on instead”
 

Joelpagett

Mega Poster
Lightwater announced a new attraction... THE ULTIMATE VR ROLLERCOASTER

£5 upcharge though

I didn't realise Merlin bought Lightwater Valley...

This is a really poor move, no matter the cost. People don't spend their entry fee + an upcharge to ride a roller coaster through VR. How utterly pointless.
 

JMW

Roller Poster
To be fair, in an interview with Ride Rater the park’s new owners discussed the addition of VR attractions AND that they’d ‘look at’ reopening the Ultimate as they’re ‘well aware of its iconic status’.

I guess at best this shows they’re acting on their word? Hope for the ultimate yet? 🤷‍♂️
 
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Will

Strata Poster
I guess at best this shows they’re acting on their word? Hope for the ultimate yet? 🤷‍♂️
Like any UK enthusiast, I really hope you're right - but I'm not optimistic.

I don't think there's anything I can say on the VR simulator that's not already been said - even without the upcharge I'd see that as a kick in the proverbial.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
The audacity is actually pretty impressive, I'll give them that. The idea is so spectacularly awful that it becomes notable in itself. "Want us to fix our coaster so that you can ride it? How about just seeing a video of it instead?" The upcharge is a nice cherry on top. It just makes the whole boondoggle complete.

LWV might not have The Ultimate to thrill guests with anymore, but this sorry excuse for a compensation is at least one for the history books in its own ways instead.
 

Dar

Hyper Poster
Given that the splash screen on lightwater's website now boasts that they've tailored the offering to under-12's, I don't think T'Ultimate is going to be moving again. I know maintenance on it cost a fortune, I can't imagine they'll have been spending cash on keeping it "Rider ready" all this time while the rest of the park is struggling
 

Tomatron

Giga Poster
I mean, they've got a Wacky Worm and Dragon Wagon that travel as well :p
I was supposed to do Alaska State Fair + Cruise last August, but that got canceled at the beginning of Covid :(

I just found out about the Wacky Worm. I'd go there just for that!

Hope you get to head up there at some point. I'm still trying to do all 50 states. I've only got 8 left to do, and now there's an official park cred and the travelling ones, that's a happy bonus. Honourable mention to Denali as well.
 

davidm

Strata Poster
Probably not small-news in the scheme of things, but Di$ney have announed their replacements for FastPass etc at the US parks ; App-based "Genie" and "Lightning Lane" queues. Hmmm.


 

liam147a

Roller Poster
Given that the splash screen on lightwater's website now boasts that they've tailored the offering to under-12's, I don't think T'Ultimate is going to be moving again. I know maintenance on it cost a fortune, I can't imagine they'll have been spending cash on keeping it "Rider ready" all this time while the rest of the park is struggling
We have season passes, having young kids and not a bit of maintenance has took place at all this season, we always go check.
spoke to a few operators and they all don’t seem confident on it getting work done anytime soon.

the new vr area is 4 pods of 2 and last weekend I’d say the 15 mins I was around that area it was full the whole time. Crazy, people must have money to waste because I wouldn’t give them 50p for it
 

Thekingin64

Strata Poster
Zamperla have released a new design for their spinning mouse coasters:

1629474184049.png
Source: Zamperla FB

Looks much better than the standard design, should be a fun ride. Footprint and dimensions doesn't appear to be too different than standard design either so can see a lot of the smaller parks getting this in place of a standard mouse.
 
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