What the heck happened to the UK coaster scene?

[Pokemaniac]

This is another topic that sprung out of a Discord discussion. Maybe it should be in Q and A, but since I feel there is no straightforward answer, I'll put it here instead.

The topic in a nutshell: Between 1990 and 2005-ish, the UK had around a dozen parks that built coasters that would feature among the largest or most thrilling in the country. None of them were quite on the level of Alton or Thorpe, but big custom coasters were ordered from well-known manufacturers, some of which had some pretty impressive stats. Nowadays, you only ever hear about custom-designed, non-kiddie rides from Alton, Thorpe, and Blackpool. What the heck happened to the rest?

Some examples:

- Odyssey at Fantasy Island was the third fastest and second tallest coaster in the UK when it opened in 2002. Three years earlier, it had also built a custom Vekoma with fairly impressive stats: 46 m tall and a speed of 100 km/h. Odyssey and Millennium are still the third and fourth tallest coasters in the UK, and Odyssey remains the second-tallest full-circuit Inverted coaster built to date. Between the two, a Reverchon Spinner clone was opened in 2000. The only coaster addition to the park since Odyssey is an identical, semi-permanent replacement for the Spinner, which was dismantled and sent to Margate in 2015.
- Oakwood built Megafobia in 1996 and followed it up with the world's then-largest Eurofighter, Speed, in 2006. Since then? A second-hand Pinfari of indeterminable age, and a kiddie coaster RCDB has no information about.
- Flamingo Land seemed to enter the fray in 2006 with Kumali, a custom Vekoma SLC, and a handful of other coasters added in the following years. They got less and less impressive as time went on, and it's been five years since the last one now - which was a Zamperla Volare.
- Drayton Manor used to be famous for Shockwave and G Force. Neither of which were top contenders on the world coaster scene, but pretty sizable and unique both on a UK and European scale. Since then? A kiddie coaster and a family boomerang, currently 10 and 7 years old, respectively.
- Lightwater Valley. Need I say more? Built the world's longest coaster somehow in 1991. The follow-up in 2001 was a little less impressive, a Reverchon spinner clone. And since then? A Big Apple the park built in 2003 and rebranded in 2014.
- Southport Pleasureland once could afford a brand-new Vekoma 689 m SLC in 1999. This was never a world beater coaster by any means, but pretty large for the UK scene, passing the 100-foot height mark. Somehow Southport also acquired a secondhand wooden wild mouse in 2000. Then it went all south. It currently operates a Big Apple and a Pinfari Looper, the latter of which it got second-hand from a small park in West Norway of all places. Said park threw it out back in the day to make room for a Reverchon Spinner.
- Loudoun Castle and Dreamland Margate were also home to fairly large coasters, if only temporary, owing to their business model. Still, they put up coasters with inversions from time to time, which is a very rare sight nowadays.

UK, what the heck happened to your park industry? Okay, none of these were world beaters (maybe except the ones at Fantasy Island), but at least there used to be almost a dozen parks that built coasters that could be said to belong to the best and biggest in the country, or even in Europe. Now there seems to be three parks left you can expect anything like that from, and I only include BPB because of Icon, its only brand-new coaster since 1994 and only the second coaster built there since the turn of the millennium. Meanwhile, the coaster scenes in other countries such as Sweden, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Denmark still go strong.

What happened to the market that could justify this investment level? Was it all a bubble? Did the parks with money run out of room once they had made their big purchases? Have everyone really fared that bad financially since the 2007 crisis? And where are they headed in the future? Did UK-ers just stop going to parks altogether? Is the domestic market doomed in the long term?

When I look at the kind of rides built in the UK in the nineties and early noughties, there's no wonder why a community like CF could spring up and thrive. Everybody seems to have had a home park with nifty, recent additions and seemingly bright ambitions. Since 2010, there's literally just Big Apples, Reverchon Spinners, and second-hand (or third-hand or fourth-hand) family coasters anywhere to be found outside the big three, and not a custom layout in sight since that Thomas Land ride Drayton built in 2010. What the heck happened in the UK that didn't happen elsewhere?

 

[airtime_uk_ash]

Great Post you could also add Blackpool to that list tbh as icon is the first "new" coaster to be built since the big one 24 whole years ago... Growing up in the 90's and visiting these parks as a kid there always seemed to be something new added each year. Admittedly not always a coaster but something at least.. The uk's biggest problem is the fact it is an island if it was in mainland Europe parks would need to compete to stay alive but as it is operators have a captive audience and imo and take advantage with poor investment.

Sent from my F8331 using Tapatalk

 

[TilenB]

Pinfari Looper, the latter of which it got second-hand from a small park in West Norway of all places. Said park threw it out back in the day to make room for a Reverchon Spinner.

That coaster didn't have such a simple history. It seems that the Norwegian park only rented it from an Irish showman for the 2004 season. The Irish showman sold it on to Czech Republic in 2009, from where it got sold on to Serbian/Croatian (can't really pinpoint which, since it operated at fairs in both cointries) showman and ended up with a Slovenian showman in 2015. This last owner only operated it at a single fair in 2015, before selling the coaster to Southport later the same year. Interestingly enough, the train's paint job still carries their name (Müller).

 

[Howie]

Merlin.

Merlin happened to the UK theme park industry. They bought a few of our parks, pumped a bit of cash into them in the form of some big new rides, and then started revving the Merlin advertising and promotional juggernaut to flood the market with cheap tickets, 2for1 vouchers, discount coupons and multi-attraction season passes.
Anything not under the Merlin umbrella got left behind, simply because they just can't compete with Merlin's corporate marketing machine.

Nowhere else in the world would a 2,000ft long, family woodie with broken fire effects draw a 5 hour queue... but the Merlin Juggernaut just conditions everyone to accept that this is normal.
"Alton Towers have a new ride, thou shalt go and stand in line".
And, like thousands of mindless sheep, we do.

Icon offers a ray of hope, as does Paulton's Park, but for the time being at least, I can't see much changing.

 

[Peet]

^ If anything that should show the smaller parks that even a relatively small coaster can get people excited and draw the crowds, if packaged with good theming and the right marketing.

But yeah it is sad that we've had so few major new coasters in the last decade.

 

[Matt N]

This country has still had some decent coasters since 2008, guys! For example, we've received:

• A decent family coaster in the form of Thirteen.
• A decent wooden coaster in the form of Wicker Man.
• Two decent Gerstlauers (well, I don't personally like Saw, but I know many who love it) in the form of SAW: The Ride and The Smiler. The Smiler is even a world record breaker!
• A decent B&M wing coaster in the form of The Swarm.
• A decent Mack launch coaster in the form of Icon.

To name just a few rides that have come to Britain since 2008! We've also had major non-coaster rides such as Derren Brown's Ghost Train and Zufari! I do think, however, that the country's coaster scene is now oriented more in Merlin's direction than it was 10 years ago, which means that the smaller independent parks have not had as much of a chance to shine, unlike independent parks in Europe and the USA.

All this country needs now is either for Merlin to take a trip to the USA to ride some RMCs and hypers or for an independent park to build something great.
P.S. I suppose whether you call these decent is subjective.

 

[mouse]

Yeah as Matt N says we have still had some decent new coasters - although they have all been from Merlin parks. I think the problem is that it's a Merlin monopoly - there isn't enough competition between parks to justify significant investments. Merlin have such a massive share in the UK market, why would they go on investing money on a really decent ride when they'll get the visitor numbers they want anyway? As for other parks, Merlin are just too dominant to compete with - only Blackpool really stands a chance and thats still only one major park against three. If there was another big company operating - for example Plopsa in Germany, it would be less of a monopoly and there would more competition - and therefore more innovation. Imagine a town that is full of thriving independant coffee shops. Then imagine Costa opens three coffee shops in the town. Costa would dominate and I'm not sure where I'm going with this analogy

 

[witchfinder]

The point is though @Matt N that all those rides apart from Icon were at Merlin parks, which just enforces @Howie's point that Merlin killed the UK scene for the smaller, independent parks. I've visisted most of the other parks in the last few years and I can't see myself revisiting them unless they add a new cred, as the parks themselves don't have an attractive enough line-up to make them worth the visit.

It is a real shame but some park needs to take a chance on a big investment to rejuvenate itself. If Drayton Manor added a small RMC, Gravity Group or new-gen Vekoma I'd be back in an instant!

 

[ThrillX_the_Xplorer]

I'm hoping Paultons Park continues to develop in the same way that it has done over the last few years - I could see them adding a woodie in time. I also feel that the direction both Drayton Manor and Blackpool Pleasure Beach have taken is good for securing the future of those parks (not necessarily great for coasters at the moment though), which should eventually mean the return of investment into some bigger rides (e.g. Icon).

And whilst technically not in the UK, I think Tayto Park holds a lot of promise. Hopefully that rumoured Mack is still on the cards?

 

[Pokemaniac]

This country has still had some decent coasters since 2008, guys! For example, we've received:

All well and good, but see what happens if you list the examples by park and not by coaster:

• A decent family coaster at Alton Towers.
• A decent wooden coaster at Alton Towers.
• Two decent Gerstlauers at Thorpe Park and Alton Towers. The Alton Towers one is even a world record breaker!
• A decent B&M wing coaster at Thorpe Park.
• A decent Mack launch coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

I'm not denying that the Big Three (well, Big Two Plus One That Coincidentally Chose This Year To Build Its First New Big Coaster In Fourteen Years) are building some decent stuff, but there used to be a much more varied playing field than this. Three of the parks I listed above built 30+ meters tall multi-inversion Inverts in the decade before the previous, two of which had custom layouts. Lightwater Valley broke a world record. Drayton Manor got a world's first. There used to be way more parks at the second-tier level, building coasters that wouldn't be out of place even in the big parks (as evident by example with Truamatizer). Heck, is there even a second-tier level at all these days?

The question in the thread isn't about the UK building smaller coasters than it used to, but how there are way fewer parks that build decently big ones. Most of said parks evidently still exist, but when they build their new coasters, they are usually second- or third-hand clones of bog-standard models. What happened to the conditions that led to stuff like Jubilee Odyssey being built?

 

[Robbie]

Tied in with Merlin, blame families. They're the only ones spending money now, so parks have pursued child-friendly licences such as Thomas, Peppa Pig, CBBC, Nickelodeon, Lego, Peter Pan, etc rather than invest in more 'grown-up' attractions. Even Thorpe Park suddenly went for that market with Angry Birds. I'd like to think it's changing but Wicker-Man and Icon are still "family friendly" rides, despite what some of the hype might say.

 

[streetmagix]

As echoed by many people here, it's mostly down to competition (or the lack of it).

In Sweden you have Gröna Lund and Liseberg. In Germany you have Europa Park, Phantasialand, Hansa Park and Heide Park. In Italy you have Gardaland, Rainbow Magicland and Mirabilandia . In Spain you have Portaventura and Parque Warner Madrid.

All owned and operated separately, all in competition with each other. Because of this, the customer experience is much better.

The biggest competition in the UK is between Merlin (Alton, Thorpe and Chessington) and Pleasure Beach. Let's be honest, it's fairly one-sided.

I firmly believe that if Thorpe Park hadn't been bought by Merlin/Tussauds we would be all the better for it.

 

[MouseAT]

This country has still had some decent coasters since 2008, guys!

I'm afraid I beg to differ.

A decent family coaster in the form of Thirteen.

A poor example of a family coaster when compared with the likes of Mine Train Ulven or Polar Xplorer. Many of us expected better and were ultimately disappointed in the end result.

A decent wooden coaster in the form of Wicker Man.

GCI at its most bland. I wasn't necessarily expecting crazy ejector, but I was hoping that it would at least deliver some of the floaty awesomeness that Thunderbird is capable of. Nah. It's popular with the general public, but it could easily have been so much more so.

Note that these weren't supposed to be thrill machines, and didn't need to be stupidly intense, they just needed to deliver enough fun elements to escape the blandness, but couldn't even achieve that.

Two decent Gerstlauers (well, I don't personally like Saw, but I know many who love it) in the form of SAW: The Ride and The Smiler. The Smiler is even a world record breaker!

Saw is rough as a badger's arse, which is a shame because the ride is otherwise promising. Smiler is just bland and rattly, and I seriously doubt it'll age well. It's presence ensures that the multi-looper box is now ticked at Alton, which means we've no chance of getting anything better in its place any time soon. "World Record Breaker" is simply something for marketing to shout about - it's not an excuse for mediocrity.

A decent B&M wing coaster in the form of The Swarm.

Again, a fairly disappointing end result from what initially looked promising. Raptor was awesome, but somehow the concept didn't scale up particularly well at Thorpe.

A decent Mack launch coaster in the form of Icon.

That's exactly the sort of thing the UK needed, but it's taken far too many years for anyone to actually get to this point. I'm incredibly glad that we've finally got something genuinely worthwhile, but I'd actually like something worthwhile to be added somewhere in the UK a little more frequently than every 12 years.

We've also had major non-coaster rides such as Derren Brown's Ghost Train and Zufari!

The former of which is apparently a poor attraction, the latter of which is more of an animal tour with big queues than a ride.

All this country needs now is either for Merlin to take a trip to the USA to ride some RMCs and hypers or for an independent park to build something great.

I can't see it happening. Merlin are all about the gimmick and marketability of their attractions, and in the absence of real competition in the UK, ride hardware and the quality of the actual ride come a long way down the list of priorities. Merlin are about the only UK park owners with money to build top tier attractions, but just aren't interested in building good rides.

I think the issue is mainly to do with the gap in resources between the UK parks. Blackpool have access to money, finally put it to good use, and should be commended for that. The smaller parks simply don't have the funds to compete on that level, and with the exception of Paultons simply haven't been investing what money they have particularly wisely. This in turn perpetuates a heavily skewed market. There aren't many top tier attractions in the UK, and those that are in the top tier don't have to compete, so have become complacent.

 

[Matt N]

@MouseAT OK, I guess it's a matter of opinion as to whether you think that the UK has had decent coasters since 2008. I agree with you about Saw being rough as hell, but I don't agree on some of the others. I personally think that Swarm is the UK's best roller coaster, and that Wicker Man has a couple of decent pops of airtime, and that The Smiler is a slightly rattly, but incredible ride! So it really does depend on your opinion! I am yet to ride Icon, but I think it looks absolutely fantastic, and I would definitely agree with you about it being what the country needed!

 

[jayjay]

I don't know if it's specifically Merlin, or more generally that each half of the country now has its designated "destination park" for thrills (Merlin's pushing of the resort concept backs this up) and any other park nearby can only hope to draw in a local crowd, who'll inevitably just go to Alton/Thorpe. The market structure has changed and the biggest parks happen to be part of a chain.

The difference now is how a lot of the smaller parks have stopped trying to compete directly. Take Drayton for example. They opened Shockwave in the same year as Nemesis, when they were more equal competitors (maybe?), but since that, Alton's now known nationally and Drayton started going down the family route with Thomas Land.

 

[henryjwillis]

@MouseAT OK, I guess it's a matter of opinion as to whether you think that the UK has had decent coasters since 2008. I agree with you about Saw being rough as hell, but I don't agree on some of the others. I personally think that Swarm is the UK's best roller coaster, and that Wicker Man has a couple of decent pops of airtime, and that The Smiler is a slightly rattly, but incredible ride! So it really does depend on your opinion! I am yet to ride Icon, but I think it looks absolutely fantastic, and I would definitely agree with you about it being what the country needed!

No one's arguing against the fact Alton and Thorpe (and now Blackpool) have had big investment coasters since then. The point of the topic is that no other park has.

Take Drayton for example. They opened Shockwave in the same year as Nemesis, when they were more equal competitors (maybe?), but since that, Alton's now known nationally and Drayton started going down the family route with Thomas Land.

Yeah I find Drayton a particular shame as it was once about half an hour from me. Haven't been in years but it's so bleak that they're last coaster of interest was that piece of **** G Force. They've been recording their highest ever attendance recently so part of me thinks they might get at least a mid size coaster soon, but if they're comfortable with where they are and it's working for them then maybe they'll not think it warrants the risk. I think lack of wanting to risk going up against the big 3 is one of the factors involved across the board. Look at small parks in other countries adding significant (albeit family) coasters like Le Pal and Sesame Place. Those parks are tiny compared to some of the parks here that have had nothing in years. Agreed that Merlin have somewhat of a Monopoly but I refuse to believe people wouldn't bother taking a trip to Drayton if they added a Raptor or new gen Vekoma. Both of which it could easily afford.

 

[roomraider]

So what everyone is saying is we need The London Resort to happen right?

 

[jayjay]

So what everyone is saying is we need The London Resort to happen right?

And isn't it great news that the council have opened it up to another round of talks! Definitely gonna happen now.

 

[Matt N]

And isn't it great news that the council have opened it up to another round of talks! Definitely gonna happen now.

That's the spirit! 2026 can't come soon enough!

 

[Pokemaniac]

Tied in with Merlin, blame families. They're the only ones spending money now, so parks have pursued child-friendly licences such as Thomas, Peppa Pig, CBBC, Nickelodeon, Lego, Peter Pan, etc rather than invest in more 'grown-up' attractions.

Interesting point, but it raises a further question: Was it ever different? Did families use to spend less money at amusement parks than thrill seekers? Or did the parks just cater to the wrong demographic during the coaster boom?