What actually pursades you to visit a park?

[slappy mcguire]

In these times of credit and crunchery, one of the first casualties is leisure time, as people have less time and money to just go out and enjoy themselves. So I ask you this - what is the single most important factor in deciding whether you will visit a theme park?

 

[marc]

For me this year its new rides.

Yes I enjoy cf lives but due to lack of money I am having to make a choice and the lives I attend this year will be for CF and new rides I do hate it being like that though as last year I went to every single live.

 

[furie]

Not an easy question for enthusiasts to answer. We do tend to try and "collect them all". I think you'd find that a single, decent, coaster would get most enthusiasts to a park.

Before I became a coaster geek, I would visit parks with the family if they were close to somewhere I was staying. I've always done the theme park thing though as part and parcel of a trip somewhere.

Likewise, I've always made an effort to visit local parks to me at least once every couple of years. I just go to parks, and always have. It's not exactly a decision

 

[slappy mcguire]

I set the poll, then realised to my horror, that I wasn't sure of my own answer...

 

[Anonymous]

Liveing 40 mins by train from blackpool is an advantage as it is classed as my sort of home park. I love the adventure of a trip to Alton on the train but the price always hurts. Mainly what drives me is haveing the time and money to go.

 

[Ben]

Credits <3


And quality on a re-visit.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Location (obviously the closer the better when you can't drive yet and rely on your parents to get you there), and obviously how good the selection of coasters and rides looks. Let's face it, I wouldn't have traveled ten hours to Great Adventure if their coaster lineup wasn't as incredible as it is!

 

[Ormerod]

The ride lineup, the prices and any kind of offers going on. I also tend to visit parks a lot more when they are local to me, easy access is a pro.

 

[thx]

A bit tough to choose..
I'd say location first as most of the time when going abroad, I go for non-coaster reasons and if there's an unvisited park nearby, I'll go there (regardless of anything in the poll question). New rides would be the 2nd option.

 

[Gavin]

Location has a lot to do with it really. I used to take a lot of holidays, and would visit parks as part of that. Apart from once, they were never the sole reason for the trip, but happened to be near where I was visiting at the time.

 

[nealbie]

The thing that persuades me most is the quality of the people who will be attending with me. They're the one's that make the trip most memorable

 

[Snoo]

Fun.

I like having fun.. and as long as it isn't SFA.. it is worth visiting.

 

[Hyde]

^ Amen.

Cedar Point was the hang out spot growing up, a place you go to with friends in order to have a good time.

I go to amusement parks to have a good time with friends and family, regardless of the feature rides.

 

[Brookes]

Whether I choose to visit a certain theme park normally depends upon the location and the quality of rides. If a park is far away, but has a certain ride(s) that I really want to ride, then I will travel there if possible. Also, if a park is close I will go as it is easy to get to, having to get any family to take me usually the only option to get to theme parks which is why location is important. New rides is probably a big factor as well but probably only for when I'd want to re-visit, if the park is a while away.

 

[CoasterKing]

Well that is pretty hard to answer to I wont vote. However out of the above listed it is probably the quality of rides which draws me in first. Entry price etc is of course important and I do sometimes try and balance out which park would work best for me to visit at the time of how much credit I have on my card, but I think it is how attractive the rides in the park actually are and how good in terms of quality they are. I could visit Pleasure Beach every day and probably never get bored because I am IN LOVE with the woodies there and having a Season Pass means I don't have to hand over £30 every time but visiting places like Alton Towers and Thorpe Park can be an expensive day out unless you have a Merlin Pass or a bloody good discount voucher. I tend to visit these parks at least once a year, purely for the quality of the rides (can't grumble where B&M or Intamin are concerned) however I don't like spending too much money at our parks.

 

[Ian]

If I had to pick one of those, then "Quality of Rides" is what makes me visit.

I tend to visit most of the UK's major parks during a season, be it for CF-Lives, something to do or location.

If a park has a decent quality of rides then I'll make several visits. For example, I'll probably do about four trips to Alton Towers this year even though it's a bugger of a drive and involves a fair amount of planning. The attractiosn there are enough to get me off my fat arse and get there.

I've been to several parks with crappy rides - not mentioning what parks though! - but that's down to location and friends/family.

I'll go to any park that I've not been to before, regardless of press, location, price if there is at least one ride is worth going there for.

 

[Pierre]

New rides.

I havn't visited Alton since the beginning of 2007, I don't intend on visiting Oakwood any time soon, nor do I fancy Chessington much easier.

Thorpe Park is a must for me this year but I think I'll wait until the hype of Saw dies down so the queues are only 2 hours not 3 :lol:

 

[theRock-steel]

Until I have been there I don't know the quality of coasters so I usually go with quanity. If I HAVE been there, the answer will depend on what park. I go to BGE, BGA, and SeaWorld Orlando for quality of coasters. I go to CP, KD, KI, and Carowinds for quanity of rides.

 

[Inverse]

Very different things attract me for my first trip than revisits. And over different times. Couple years ago, when i first started getting into coasters it was all about location, closest to home. Then i wanted to cover most of the UKs bigger parks, so i arranged trips to Alton and PBB. Right now i'm after new rides, and quality rides. I've got trips to Port Aventura, Flamingo Land and Holland/Germany planned.

But for a revisit i balence price by quality of rides. Last year my merlin pass meant i went to thorpe loads, as it's 40mins away and free on the day. However Legoland attracts me through it's gates for a totally different reason like old memories.

In your poll i've voted for Quality of Rides. Because if there is more than one place i wish to get too, the ride quality usually dictates the order in which i go.

 

[10WaTT]

I chose location as living in Penzance is a bit of an ass to get to places.

^ Someone was saying something about prices and living 40 mins from Blackpool?
Try 14 - 18 hours to Blackpool by coach and its not much better by train. I could go to spain for a week for the price of a ticket to Blackpool hence why I still haven't been lol.

So yeah, location is a big thing for me as that depends the cost aswell.