Attraction Source Forum

I don't know if this is the right place to put this but oh well
What would you guys think to a new theme park opening in the UK?
I think it would be great, we could do with some more parks maybe in East Anglia, they only really have Pleasurewood Hills. It would be great as well if people would stop monaing as well so we could build taller rollercoasters and if health and safety was more leanient, we could be even more inventive with our rides!! 

The problem you got with the uk in Recession I doubt any wise business men would invest at least 200 million into a new theme park. They could have easily snapped up the old American adventure if they wanted to build a new park.

Themeparksandy1981 wrote: The problem you got with the uk in Recession I doubt any wise business men would invest at least 200 million into a new theme park. They could have easily snapped up the old American adventure if they wanted to build a new park.

I was thinking this exactly. However, a new park would mean less unemployment 

Like a Merlin park, or something equally as big?
If it was something that going to be awesome and new I couldn't help but look forward. If it was gonna be ordinary I would rather they spend the money improving the existing Merlin parks. Alton and Chessie are in beautiful places and have, at some point had an incredible atmosphere.

The problem is the only business that making big profits is Poundland and 99p shops.

Pound Land - now theres an idea.

Cedar Fair UK. End of.

MattsDesigns wrote: Like a Merlin park, or something equally as big?
If it was something that going to be awesome and new I couldn't help but look forward. If it was gonna be ordinary I would rather they spend the money improving the existing Merlin parks. Alton and Chessie are in beautiful places and have, at some point had an incredible atmosphere.

I'm talking of a park that's properly done. Proper themeing and effects and ride experiences for all the family.

Lincolnshire needs a park,might sound a bit bias but we really do

JaykeAT wrote: Lincolnshire needs a park,might sound a bit bias but we really do

I agree. There are quite a few places in the UK that could really do with a theme park; they are good sources of jobs and income for towns and cities. Or in Alton Towers' case,, small villages (but not everyone is happy 'cough' 'cough' the Ropers  )
Places that I can think of that need a theme park:
Lincolnshire
East Anglia
Wales
Cornwall/Devon

Krazycoaster wrote:

JaykeAT wrote: Lincolnshire needs a park,might sound a bit bias but we really do

I agree. There are quite a few places in the UK that could really do with a theme park; they are good sources of jobs and income for towns and cities. Or in Alton Towers' case,, small villages (but not everyone is happy 'cough' 'cough' the Ropers  )
Places that I can think of that need a theme park:
Lincolnshire
East Anglia
Wales
Cornwall/Devon

I think East Anglia Is fine with Pleasurewood hills. I mean they have wipeout etc...
Wales is dire and Scotland needs more.

Rollermad wrote:

Krazycoaster wrote:

JaykeAT wrote: Lincolnshire needs a park,might sound a bit bias but we really do

I agree. There are quite a few places in the UK that could really do with a theme park; they are good sources of jobs and income for towns and cities. Or in Alton Towers' case,, small villages (but not everyone is happy 'cough' 'cough' the Ropers  )
Places that I can think of that need a theme park:
Lincolnshire
East Anglia
Wales
Cornwall/Devon

I think East Anglia Is fine with Pleasurewood hills. I mean they have wipeout etc...
Wales is dire and Scotland needs more.

Have you been to Pleasurewood Hills? Yes, it's a good little park but in my opinion isn't really big enough for an entire county

My thoughts on a new theme park in the UK are as follows:

It would need to be set-up by an existing big business, not necessarily a company already in the entertainments sector, but a business with enough clout to gain sway with local government, open up franchise opportunities and have capital available.

It would need to be able to compete with the Merlin parks, but aspire to more than that. Thrillseekers all over Europe travel to Eurodisney, Port Aventura and Europa Park, but at present, the current UK parks don't have that level of pulling power. For a big investment theme park / resort to truly work, providing incentive for tourists to travel overseas for a weekend at your park would be massive. On site hotels would be essential in making this work.

It would have to offer something different and unique. I'd like to see a well themed, varied ride line-up housed underneath Eden Project style bio-domes. But much, much bigger. One of the biggest issues with UK parks is the restrictions on opening due to British weather, so look in to the option of housing some or all of the park indoors, opening up opportunities for 365 day a year operations. Again, it helps make the business more viable, it would also help reduce noise pollution, which is a common theme park issue.

As much as people seem to hate them, I think 1 or 2 IPs are essential from a business perspective. Being able to utilise branding from popular films or TV shows is a huge crowd puller. However, it would need to be properly balanced against original themes and ideas.

And finally, in terms of location, I'm going to be completely unbiased and again approach this with my business head on and suggest the outskirts of Milton Keynes. Why MK? It's cental, it's right off the M1 allowing easy access from London, the South and the North. It has a train line running direct to London and other major cities (again, essential from a tourism perspective as you could attract customers from Europe via the Eurostar. Brussels to major UK theme park in under 3 hours would surely be appealing...). Most importantly, MK appears to have a council who seem to be quite up pushing the boundaries a bit. Considering it's a flat, grey mish-mash of villages brought together by an endless collection of roundabouts, there's actually some quite interesting stuff going on. A HUGE shopping village and an ice rink for example, they built a whole new stadium to convert Wimbledon to MK Dons and they even have an indoor ski-slope housed inside a giant pyramid!

I think I've probably thought about this too much...

Built by Cedar Fair.

I was reading through all the posts and thinking that the area around Milton Keynes is the best bet, then Ponder went and put just that!
MK is good in terms of location because it would allow both us northerners and the southerners to access it within a reasonable time and therefore get the maximum visitor levels possible for the UK. This is what is needed to be able to sustain the kind of theme park that we would want - one that aspires to a disney level of quality.
Lincolnshire, east anglia, wales - they would only be regional sized parks, not something that would get me really excited.
Another option would be near Cambridge, thus allowing a weekend trip to both the park and city. And having the rides indoor is a must - I can't beleive the others don't do it now - just look at universal theme parks, almost all of their rides are indoor and would be perfect for the UK. I bet if a park like that came along they would be able to top 5million visitors per year with a year round opening easy.

Krazycoaster wrote: Places that I can think of that need a theme park:
Lincolnshire
East Anglia
Wales
Cornwall/Devon

If you're talking of any theme park, Cornwall and Devon at least have a few. Flambards, crealy etc. However, if you're talking of a AT size park, then the area is stuffed. The south west do need a large Theme park.

Scotland needs one badly! I'm saying this because the best theme park in Scotland is M&D's and being Scottish myself it's such a terrible theme park! I really would like one to be built up here as the closest decent theme park is Alton Towers or Flamingoland! Rubbish!

We Need A Theme Park Pronto!!! 

AR12 wrote:

Krazycoaster wrote: Places that I can think of that need a theme park:
Lincolnshire
East Anglia
Wales
Cornwall/Devon

If you're talking of any theme park, Cornwall and Devon at least have a few. Flambards, crealy etc. However, if you're talking of a AT size park, then the area is stuffed. The south west do need a large Theme park.

Lincolnshire has Fantersy island in skeggie, so I wouldn't say it needs one as such.

East Anglia could be on the cards.

Wales has Oakwood and isn't too far away from Alton Towers.

Cornwall and devon have a lot of small parks but not a big theme park. It would be very popular with the locals and tourists.

In pretty much all areas, transport would be a problem as they would be very hard to get to by train,bus.

As much as a new park would be exiting, we need to focus on making our current parks the best in standards. We do have more parks than anywhere in Europe.

JaykeAT wrote: Lincolnshire needs a park,might sound a bit bias but we really do

yer Lincolnshire needs oblivion but with tractors as the carts

It needs to have a large population of people, London is not an option due to the large number of things to do in London and Chessington, Thorpe and Legoland just outside. Birmingham has Drayton. MK is a very good suggestion and I agree the council will more than likely want to support it.

It would have to be a full resort offering multiple hotels, water park, mini golf, a selection of rides for all. But it will also have to have something very special to attract MAP holders to go. With a MAP you have a selection of 30 attractions, so if you bored of Chessington, you go to Thorpe or Legoland or Alton, you have many attractions on your MAP you can do throughout the year.

Merlin really have the market here, they are experts at kids parks (Legoland), they have the Zoo at Chessington which I believe they do a fantastic job with, they have the Thrill (ride breakdown capital) at Thorpe and Alton which showcases everything they do well. Plus with Sealife and the other attractions, the MAP really does offer excellent value for money. So this new park would have to offer a good entry price and give us something great.

Will it have enough child facilities to get people from Legoland? Will it have a Zoo (Well no Whipsnade is down the road), will it have large thrilling rides like Thorpe? (They will need a very big budget)

and how much would such a park cost 500 Million, 1 billion, when you take in to consideration purchase of land, building the rides, facilities and car parks... Will the people paying for it get a return on their investment?

The only big boys I can see who could make such an investment would be people like Universal, SixFlags, SeaWorld etc who have big budgets and currently don't have anything in the UK. Disney would not build in the UK as EuroDisney is in so much debt and the last thing they want is the UK people going to a new park in the UK and not going to their European park which they have just have to give a shed load of money to keep it going.