What the heck happened to the UK coaster scene?

[furie]

I think in the 90s there was a grab to get people. I can't see why anyone would go anywhere other than Alton (cost maybe?) from the Midlands in that time period, but I'd say Blackpool and LWV were both trying to poach visitors from beyond their normal catchment.


I know anecdotally that Alton was popular in the south, and Drayton would also want a share of that. As well as both trying to poach from the Northern parks.

You have your bread and butter locals, then expension comes from drawing in the extended masses.

Yep, did mean Spanish City. Sorry, it's been a long day. It's always struck me as odd that the North East couldn't sustain the likes of Spanish City, or attract the opening of a new larger scale park.

 

[Matt N]

Sorry to bump the thread, but with recent developments that have occurred in the UK's independent park scene since this thread was created, I personally feel that it would be interesting to discuss this topic again.

Now, the developments I am referring to in particular are:

• Blackpool Pleasure Beach building Icon, a custom Mack launch coaster that represented their first brand new coaster in 24 years, although Infusion was substantial to an extent. It was also mentioned earlier in the thread, but I personally feel that it is worth noting that Nick Thompson said at the press event that 3 or 4 other major rides were scheduled for the decade following Icon.
• Paultons Park announcing Tornado Springs for 2020; this area just gets more and more interesting the more we hear about it! A Mack spinning coaster is highly likely, and if we're being optimistic, it could even be a Mack XTREME Spinning Coaster akin to Time Traveler, which would be very exciting for the UK industry! Some people have also seen what looks like an Intamin Gyroswing in the renderings for Tornado Springs, so this area could represent very exciting things for the UK's theme park scene!
• Flamingo Land are doing relatively large-scale clearance work for a project that sounds relatively substantial. They've cleared a fairly large site, and if the Intamin 10-looper rumours are true, then it would represent the most substantial investment into Flamingo Land in at least 10 years from my perspective! Even if they go with the used coaster from Malaysia, it has never operated, so is basically good as new! This would still be a substantial investment for Flamingo Land; we're not talking a little used Pinfari or Zamperla coaster here, we're talking a fairly substantial Intamin coaster with 10 inversions. We have not seen a coaster of this scale outside of Alton, Thorpe and BPB in some time.
• I know this one might seem smaller, but Oakwood recently announced the installation of Dizzy Disk, a Zamperla Disk'O, as well as the reopening of Bounce after 3 years of closure. I know that might not sound like much, but if Dizzy Disk is brand new (which I think it is), then it will represent the most substantial brand new ride to be built at Oakwood since Speed in 2006, to put things into perspective. And the sudden reopening of Bounce after 3 years would certainly imply that Oakwood has recieved a cash injection of some sort recently; I reckon Oakwood could be one to watch!
• On a slightly less positive note, I feel that Merlin are worth mentioning here. While I personally still like Merlin's parks and believe that they provide some of the best days out in Britain, along with still investing in good things for their theme parks, many people (including non-enthusiasts) are beginning to turn on Merlin's Resort Theme Parks in Britain. Their 2019 investments have been met with a somewhat mixed reception, to say the least, with some such as the Stargazing Pods and Thorpe's events being almost universally panned. Many enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike (myself excluded for the reasons I mentioned above) are also not too happy with the way in which Merlin treat their parks in general, so maybe the smaller parks have seen this as a form of motivation to build bigger again.
• There's probably more examples that I forgot to mention!

What do you guys think? Do you think that we could see the renaissance of independent theme parks in Britain? Are Merlin losing their grip on the UK monopoly? In my opinion, there are definitely some up and coming players who are worth watching over the next few years!
P.S. I wasn't sure if this warranted a new thread. If it does, feel free to move this post and I'll edit the opening post slightly.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Not really sure if I would consider the situation significantly improved just yet. Never mind whether all those projects combined really is much to cheer for over a three-year period in such a large country with such long theme park traditions, your list seems to count a lot of chickens before they hatch. To take it point by point:

• Icon was already built when the thread was created, so it's not exactly a new development. And it was the first newly built coaster to open at BPB in 24 years, so not sure if it heralds a new era of new coaster projects or if it just represented a long overdue investment to follow up The Big One. Vague promises of future rides isn't really making me optimistic either, but if anything more concrete comes out of it, then maybe.
  
• Even if the Paultons Park project turns out to contain a new coaster (which, in fairness, seems to be pretty likely), I don't think we should count on anything bigger than a Dwervelwind clone at the very largest. That in itself would be a pretty big coaster by modern UK standards, at 20 m tall, but that is more a statement about the dire state of the coaster scene than a compliment to Paultons. Either way, the coaster isn't even announced yet.
• Same goes for the Flamingo Land project. A lot of smoke, no sign of flame yet. Let's not count this chicken before it hatches either.
• The Oakwood Disk'O is at least something concrete, but... it's still a Disk'O. Granted, it may not be secondhand, or a Big Apple or a Reverchon Spinner, but probably the smallest step possible up from that.
  
• Merlin's behaviour seems more indicative of complacency than a sign of improvement to me. They're investing at a sustenance minimum and still raking in money, because they have no competitors. If they're being panned, but still make money, they'll continue down the same track because there's no reason to make more of an effort. It's not like the public have any other similarly-scaled parks to Thorpe or Alton within easy reach in the UK, and the treshold for the GP to cross the Channel for a park trip is famously about to rise a little. Merlin plays the crooked game, but it's the only game in town, so to speak. They can get away with it, and they know it. Hence temporary attractions themed to reality TV shows, built on a budget comparable to that of a new pair of shoelaces, while decades-old coasters remain the main bulk of stuff to do in the parks. What alternatives do people have?

So yeah, "renaissance" is taking it a little too far. A couple of the largest non-Merlin parks have something brewing (and it can't be stressed enough, we still have no concrete indicators as to what), but compared to what those same parks - and myriads of others like it - churned out on a fairly regular basis between 1980 and 2000, it's a fart in the wind.

 

[bob_3_]

I hate how pants the UK is now for new rides as the rest of the world pumps out great coasters.

The Smiler crash didn't help, but I wish a park would be brave and build something the public can talk about! I still find it mad to think we had the tallest roller coaster IN THE WORLD at one point. I miss the days where there wasn't a dead spot for a new coaster, one ride would open and the next year another park would be getting something major to follow. I'm worried we're not gonna see another major investment year for a while. The planning laws and publics general attitude to thrills just irritates me sometimes.

I just look over at Cedar Fair's huge B&Ms, Six Flags banging out RMC after RMC, Disney and Universal building new huge lands and vasting imporving their parks. Then Sea World/Busch are buying every bloody brilliant coaster model out there berely a year or two apart from each other. Then China's getting more B&Ms and Intamins that I can't even name them. Then Europe, all the parks seem to be pushing each other to up their game! And they're doing so!

Why didn't Icon/Wickerman satisfy the need? It almost felt like too little too late for alot of us. Atleast it's easy enough to bugger off to mainland Europe ... for now.... brexit urgh. *bangs head on desk*

 

[zazobo]

Yeah... really not feeling Matt's enthusiasm. Just look at what Europe have done in the last three years? It's not comparable.

And Merlin are still bastards. Probably even worse then when this thread was created.