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Fantasy Island Owners Have Gone Bust

EthC

Mega Poster
Company behind Fantasy Island goes into Administration

The company which owns an amusement park in Skegness has gone into administration.

Conduit Skegness Limited, and associated group trading companies, own Fantasy Island - which includes theme park rides, Europe’s largest permanent seven-day market and 340 static caravan pitches.

The business will continue to operate as usual while the administrators review the company’s financial position, and no job losses are expected among permanent staff.

The seasonal temporary expansion of the payroll during the summer holiday season will also continue as usual.

Paul Clark and Ben Wiles, Managing Directors of Duff & Phelps, have been appointed as administrators.

“Fantasy Island is an important leisure destination that attracts up to 40,000 visitors a day.

As we head into one of the busiest months of the year it is very much business as usual and customers should be assured that this will not impact their experience, whether they are visiting the rides, market or one of the shows.

"It’s also important for employees to know that their jobs will not be impacted during these busy summer months and we look forward to working with the team.”

– PAUL CLARK, JOINT ADMINISTRATOR

Source: http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update ... istration/
 

jj23w

Hyper Poster
Someone on my facebook has posted today that Fantasy Island home to Jubilee Odyessy and some other Vekomas is going into administration.
Fantasy Island, which employs over 170 staff, attracts up to 40,000 visitors a day Continue reading the main story
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A seaside theme park that attracts up to 40,000 visitors a day has gone into administration.

Fantasy Island, a 41-acre site in Ingoldmells near Skegness, employs 52 permanent and 120 seasonal staff.

The appointed administrator said no job losses are expected during the summer but gave no indication of the park's long term prospects.

A spokesman said Fantasy Island will continue to operate "as normal" while its finances are reviewed.

Oompah band

The theme park is also home to what claims to be "Europe's largest seven-day market" and 340 static caravan pitches.

As well as rides the park, which opened in 1995, has many live acts throughout the season, including a British oompah band and various tribute acts.

Duff & Phelps Ltd, which has been appointed as administrator, said the company owned by Conduit Skegness would continue as normal until the various businesses on the site had been assessed.

Paul Clark, from the administration team, said: "Fantasy Island is an important leisure destination and as we head into one of the busiest months of the year it is very much business as usual.

"Customers should be assured that this will not impact their experience, whether they are visiting the rides, market or one of the shows.

"It's also important for employees to know that their jobs will not be impacted during these busy summer months and we look forward to working with the team."

He said it was too early to say what would happen over the winter, but added the business was being treated as a going concern and potential investors were welcome to register their interest.

I honestly am quite sad to hear this because its a theme park that I haven`t been to yet and because it`s another theme park in the UK gone if we don`t get a buyer. What do you guys think?
 

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
****. I was gonna leave Jubilee Odyssey till next year, but they're may not even be a next year for this park. Haven't got much time left this year as JO probably closes after August. Hopefully be able to squeeze it in. Really hope the park can stay open.
 

nadroJ

CF Legend
That's surprising, yes Skegness is a hole of a place but I've always felt that Fantasy Island was a fairly well kept park, it seemed like they knew what they were doing with their money.

Urgh, another one bites the dust and Merlin have a slightly bigger monopoly on the UK park market. Sad times.
 

Pierre

Strata Poster
I think the problem is, the type of people who got to Skegness are the ones who go year after year and I guess the novelty of the rides could have worn off?

Skegness is never going to attract lots of brand new business and new customers for FI to go with.
 

Martyn B

CF Legend
This has happened before, a couple of times if I remember correctly. I think it's a case of the company borrowed too much to pay for it, so chances are it will just get sold.

It's still a shame though, it finally felt like they were ready to run the place properly this year. I know it's not saying much, but the Odyssey has been open every day since it first opened this year in June. They've been sticking to their opening times, and they've spent a lot of money on ride refurbs, re- branding the park and market, and a 6 week long fireworks event. Plus finally resurfacing the car park. Yeah it's not much, but anyone who's been to the places over the last 10 years will know that's pretty substantial for FI.

Plus there was the planned repaint and retracking for JO next year....
 

jj23w

Hyper Poster
Looking around the web today this may be something of interest sorry for bumping the topic:

Fantasy Island has confirmed that it will open for the 2015 season, despite the amusement park entering administration earlier this month.

The attraction confirmed via a posting on its Facebook page that it would open for business on 28 February next year, following the usual winter break.


It entered administration earlier in August following a period of “financial difficulty” and welcomed registrations of interest from potential buyers.

Fantasy Island said: “To all our faithful friends and followers, please rest assured despite the unpleasant rumours that FI will be closing down we can assure you that this is not the case.

“The Market will be open full time to the end of October and at the very least weekends leading up to Christmas.

It added that the park would be open “for years to come” and that it would end its season as normal in October with fireworks and unlimited ride wristbands costing £5 each.

Changes

Administrators Duff & Phelps has initiated a number of changes in the way in which the business markets itself, with a significant increase in promotional images and updates emerging on social media since their takeover.

The announced 28 February opening date is also earlier than when the park typically begins its new season, which is generally in mid-March.

The park has also been undertaking market research asking for customer feedback and suggestions regarding potential park improvements.

This website understands that the park’s large market in its current format is under review.

What do you guys think to be honest i think maybe they should put another cred in and make sure that the rides such as Millenium Coaster and Jubilee Odyysey are open for most of the season.
 

Jordanovichy

Credit Whore 2016
It's good news they're staying open, I need the Odyssey cred still :p

As for adding a new cred? Space is tight, I can't see it, unless they remove a remaining cred, having said that if they've just gone into administration I'd assume the last thing their thinking of is getting a new cred. Let's focus on getting Odyssey open for the whole season rather than it being shut the first 3 odd months.
 

Martyn B

CF Legend
Keeping all rides open and sticking to the opening times is key. They made a good job of it this year, let's hope they continue that next year.

I sort of follow this park closely, and by the looks of things, going into administration could be the best thing thats happened to the park in a long while.
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
I was going to try and get there in the summer, but couldn't be arsed with the effort and I was already really pushed for time. I'm back again this summer though, so it's nice to know I've got another opportunity to not bother going.
 

Darren B

Giga Poster
jj23w said:
What do you guys think to be honest i think maybe they should put another cred in and make sure that the rides such as Millenium Coaster and Jubilee Odyysey are open for most of the season.

Due to the complete lack of any grammar or punctuation I've had to put jj23w's comments through an online translator - and I must say that I completely disagree with him.

New coasters cost money, and what's their current issue? Oh yeah, they're in administration, they have no money. And in regards to the 2 major coasters staying open for the majority of the season - That's always been the case (bar the Odyssey this past year). They also can't open in high winds.

Jordan, are you judging your suggestion on your past visits? Because surely to give an opinion on such a unique park you'd have to visit first.
 

MouseAT

Hyper Poster
I definitely have some issues with the park. Some are easily solvable, others not so much.

Odyssey really needed better restraints fitting to the train during the refurb. That may have been a cost issue, but it's a fairly minor thing that could have made the ride so much better. The ride layout and forces are amazing. The unavoidable head bashing is not.

The park layout with the market is also horrendous when the park is busy. I suspect the market is a big part of the company's business model, and I can understand them wanting to profit both from both riders and shoppers even if there isn't a lot of overlap between the two, but the ride area and the shopping area really need to be separated from each other. Trying to get from the area with the spinning mouse and powered cred to the area with Odyessey and Amazing Confusion is an absolute nightmare when you're trying to dodge around stalls, buggies and people walking at 1mph. Let the riders ride stuff and the shoppers shop without the two getting in each others' way.

Finally, operations need a lot of work. Batching on the shot tower was abysmal when I last went, and there is absolutely no excuse for the way in which they were operating Millennium Coaster either. It was literally a case of a train arriving in the station, waiting until the exit platform was completely clear, then starting to scan people's wristbands and fill up the air gates, then only opening the air gates and letting people board the train once all the gates were full. The result was around one train dispatched every five minutes. We're talking worse than Kumali level operations here. They need to be sending trains, then immediately starting to fill the gates whilst the train is in motion. It's not hard.

I suspect Fantasy Island is one of those parks that is heavily dependant on return visitors. That being the case, they really should be focussing on making sure people don't come away with a negative opinion of the place. They've got an acceptable ride line-up that they can build on later if they have the budget, but I'd be looking to fix the simple stuff before looking to throw money at new attractions.
 

nadroJ

CF Legend
The sad thing is that the recession was the perfect time for seaside parks to thrive. With people having less money to go on holiday abroad places like Skegness were looking a lot more attractive in terms of a cheap getaway. If Fantasy Island didn't profit from that then I'm holding my breath for what awaits them as we leave the recession.
 
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