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Oakwood - Aug 2014

MarsdenDean

Roller Poster
Hello All!

I very rarely post on the forums, i'm more of a reader rather than a contributor, mainly due to not visiting theme parks that often - My last theme trip was early last year to Alton Towers!


Oakwood

We booked online part of their Friends package, which is £75 for 5 adults, then a junior ticket taking the cost to £88.50, which we thought was good value based on previous visits . . .

Now, we did visit with family so some of the photos are family related!

Bobsleigh

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The Queue for this was about 30mins, and this was at 10:30 just after the park had opened. A favorite of mine and my 2 year old son also loved it, and kept prompting me to go faster! Not as long as the one based in Llnadudno but still a good attraction

Skull Rock

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This again took about 35 mins to queue for at around 12PM. Only 3 boats running so seamed to take forever to get people on and off. Good for the smaller children, which is good since its based in Neverland! I feel it does need some more theming or more water in the pool, as it looks rather sparce and empty. To me it looks exactly what it is, a portable swimming pool with a ride on top of it!

Areodrone

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Well this was a ride i had to ride with my younger son! It was closed between Jolly Rodger which kind of highlights the staffing problems which is a shame

Speed

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Took about 35 mins again to get onto the ride. Only one car was running, along with one staff member. This ment the ride operative had to check everyone's restraint, check everything was OK, dispatch the ride then get everyone off. This led to very slow loadup / unload times which was very frustrating.

The ride itself was OK. The drop was the best part for myself, where everything else was just OK.Classic vibration all around the ride but i would of re-rode it if it was not for the one operative and lack of trains

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Taxi

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Mrs on the taxi ride in the Neverland area . . . . . Had to have a go with the kids later on :)

Crocodile coaster

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Based in Neverland and not much to say really!

Waterfall

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Circus Show

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This was good fun for the Kids, but i do feel if they scrapped the show they could spend some money on getting staff to operate the rides. The commentator was a little annoying, putting on a fake american / cowboy accent and reading from a sheet of paper now and again . . ..

To the Moon

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Megafobia

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My 7 year old sons first "big" rollercoaster and we couldn't stop laughing at him! Just had an "emotionless" face but he did say he enjoyed it.

Again queued about 35 mins for this ride, but again only one operative loading, dispatching the ride, combined with only one train! Are they allowed only one person running the ride? Rode this twice and enjoyed it both times.

Overall it was a good day.


The new area however was miles from being completed - That's if it had been started. They have shut a load of shops opposite Vertigo and looks like they are working on the area, but nothings finished / really started!

I can see the park going downhill, and i kind of felt sorry for the park. I've been here a selection of times since 1997, and i feel its a good all rounder park with some good quirky rides!


Come on Oakwood get your act together - This looks kind of promising http://www.llanellistar.co.uk/Oakwo...ew-2-million/story-22762134-detail/story.html
 
The operations sound really **** yeah. Is that always the case in this park?

It does seem like a nice park, and Megafobia looks excellent.
 
I've heard quite a lot of bad things about Oakwood lately and the reviews on TripAdvisor are really negative. Is it true that Bounce, Drenched and the Pirate Ship are all currently closed?
 
I went on a Saturday in May and they were only running one train on Megafobia and Speed, but it was very quiet so I assumed that was the reason. Only running one train on Speed when there is a 35 minute queue is like the **** of the **** in terms of operations. Six flags would disapprove :wink:

Anyway, I'm you still had a good day. Megaphobia isn't an amazing woodie, but's better than most and I'm thankful to have it in the Uk as it helps to fill quite a large void in our coaster line-up.
 
Bounce was open but yet again one operator. Which when you have about 36 people to check it really does take a long time. The pirate ship was open but hate the things!

Drench was closed due to "technical problems" but only opens from 2 pm now. I presume they only run it on the firework & dark nights - them being we'd and sat.

All the reviews are quite bad. I would return as it is a good park. Things do need improving thou . . .
 
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