Lightwater Valley

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Gloomy Dude
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Yes! I forgot about the breakdance. Rather delighted. Lightwater now has, without a doubt, the best collection of flats in the UK (sorry Thorpe :P ) by a country mile.

As I mentioned earlier, the HUSS ship from Loudoun was in terrible shape when i visited. Creaking, clanking and slow. It must, must get some TLC.

7 new rides in one season! Much better than that crappy Vekoma Whirlwind.
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Craig

Predictable in that it was going to be a pirate themed area? That's been known for a long long time :?. Fair enough it may not sound amazing to an enthusiast on first look, but as an investment to such a small park is great news. As I've mentioned in previous posts, think of it as a stepping stone for bigger things to come. Let's not forget there's some pretty interesting stuff still going on:

- Another park model topscan, and one that can hopefully be ran properly following a proper refurb at Mondial.
- A Huss Breakdance remaining in the UK rather than being sold off somewhere else in Europe.
- Improvement and renaming of Riviera Food Court. PLEASE let this mean a review of food options too. I like LWV but the food choice in there was atrocious :P.

Remember, LWV is still first and foremost a family park, hence the number of family ride additions. Yes it might have one of the most crazy coasters on earth there, but it's the families and younger visitors from schools that still forms their core market. That said, I don't think we've done too badly out of this years additions. From an enthusiast's point of view, a permanent Topscan is a great addition, especially as it leaves last year's Topscan to continue on the fair circuit!
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John
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I don't think predictable is a fair criticism, we've known that it's a pirate themed land on the Go Karts site for ages.

The ride line up is pretty impressive, they've added a couple of major thrill rides to what was already a fairly solid line up, as well as a decent new family ride in Skull Rock . The remaining three are obviously less exciting, the Flying Cutlass is a direct replacement for the Wave and the other two are just smaller versions of existing attractions (Jr pirate ship and jr wave swinger)

I'm not too sure about the location of Whirlwind either, they've ended up with their 3 largest attractions all right next to each other, which seems an odd decision. Hopefully they've got something in mind for the old whirlwind site, as at the moment Eagles' Claw is a bit out on its own in what could be a great little area.
Last edited by John on Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Nathan
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Work has already started on the pirate ship, they do realise it needs quite a bit of work.

Breakdance arrived this morning. :)
Craig

[quote=""John""]

I'm not too sure about the location of Whirlwind either, they've ended up with their 3 largest attractions all right next to each other, which seems an odd decision. Hopefully they've got something in mind for the old whirlwind site, as at the moment Eagles' Claw is a bit out on its own in what could be a great little area.[/quote]

They've already answered that question :D

[quote=""LWV Blog""]In addition to the new rides in Skeleton Cove, we're also pleased to announce that, given the success of Whirlwind throughout the 2010 season, we have now purchased a Mondial Top Scan which will be a permanent fixture at the park. The ride will be located between The Ultimate and Raptor Attack, almost directly behind Ultimate Snacks. As for the pad that played host to Whirlwind in 2010, another ongoing project is earmarked for this spot adjacent to the Eagle's Claw.[/quote]

So looks like it won't be forgotten after all! I quite like the idea of having the Topscan near The Ultimate and Raptor Attack, seems everything is then centralised. The park seems to want to bring everything inward a tad rather than having such a big gap between everything (e.g walking all the way over to The Wave!).
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thefatone
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It makes sense for them to put everything closer together really. It makes the place look like its got more to offer, rather than huge gaps.

The topscan going between the two huge rides should help level out their queues a bit.

Ensuring the rides are together is a good way of utilising them as well. I didn't even realise the wave existed until walking past it by chance (first time, didn't look at map - more sense of adventure). Should make the day out a little bit better for us lot as well. Good old lightwater :)
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John
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Is it too early to award "best new for 2011" to LWV?
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Sam
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RAPTOR. ATTACK. LIVE.

That is all. Show's over folks. 8)
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James6
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Sorry if I've missed it, but does anyone know why they're replacing the Wave with a Huss version? Seems like a relatively big cost for only a slightly improved ride experience.

Other than that, looks like it's going to be a great year for LWV, at least one park is doing something quality this season!

I do however wish Alton/Chessy had got in there for a couple of them, more chance of me getting ride them! Aha :P The breakdance in particular as they are fantastic rides.
If you go down to the Towers today, you\'d better ride Th13teen. :P
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Sam
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[quote=""James6""]Sorry if I've missed it, but does anyone know why they're replacing the Wave with a Huss version? Seems like a relatively big cost for only a slightly improved ride experience.[/quote]
I believe The Wave is already a HUSS version, albeit a slightly larger one than the 'HMS Flora McDougal' model they are getting from Loudon.

It's possibly because The Wave was too out the way, and was missed by a lot of visitors, being totally out-of-line with the rest of the rides. It was also a bit knackered.

A few years ago, there were plans to use the large amount of land on the opposite side of the railway lines from the White Water Rapids for a holiday village, and that would have required The Wave's removal/move. Although those plans were rejected on planning grounds at the time, they may be now planning to do something similar again with that bit of land. :)
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James6
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Thanks very much Sam :)

I was under the impression The Wave was a Zamperla, it resembled a crappy Ship we have at Gullivers MK which is a Zamperla, thanks for clearing that up. :)

But yeah, I'm with you now, I definitely need to get down to LWV soon! :P
If you go down to the Towers today, you\'d better ride Th13teen. :P
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Nathan
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The Wave is a Zamperla, not HUSS.

The reason they've bought an almost like-for-like replacement is that The Wave would have cost quite a bit of money to move and has very dated engineering practices. It was deemed it would be easier to simply buy the one from Loudoun and put The Wave on the market.

It's also worth noting that the HUSS model already carries a pirate theme, whereas The Wave is more of a Roman Galley.
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Sam
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[quote=""Nathan""]The Wave is a Zamperla, not HUSS.[/quote]
Apologies James, I'm an idjit, I always thought it was HUSS. :P
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James6
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Haha no worries buddy. :)

Just looking into ways to get up to LWV as we speak.

Still don't understand how LWV can offer free parking and add 7 new rides in a season, and out of Chessy, Alton and Thorpe, we get 1, a glorified slide. Not great for Merlin, phenomenal by LWV :)

Edit: Obviously with Towers they added Th13teen last year, but I think you kinda get my point :P
If you go down to the Towers today, you\'d better ride Th13teen. :P
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Slappy McGuire
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In the scheme of things, LWV's additions are probably as good as any park have lined up for next season; three new thrills, two new decent family rides, and two new kiddie rides, you really can't complain. What the locating of the area and the Whirlwind does is reduce the park's dead spots; decent it may be, but by all accounts the Whirlwind was often overlooked last season, so to have a White Knuckle Valley, seems logical, as it now creates three hub areas for the park - Fair, Pirate and Thrillseeker, and that could prove inspired.
DiogoJ42

:mrgreen: A Breakdance?. WOOOHOO! So we what we now have, is the best flat spin ride ever made, the best aerial spin ride ever made, and the best non-looping coaster ever made... all in one park!

And you don't even have to pay to park your car. :D

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AstroDan

Good moves for the park, shrewd second hand moves.

Hopefully everyone in Britain will now go to LWV, leaving me to visit the other parks in peace.

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Anonymous

:O What model and break dance? LINK LINK?

This could change a lot in terms of flat rides in the UK!
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Nathan
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Breakdance 4.

[url=http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/ph ... pageid=318" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/ph ... pageid=318[/url]
DiogoJ42

Ah. :|
Oh :(

Forgive me for feeling a tad disappointed here, but that hardly looks like a high class model of Brakedance. Is it at least a Huss?
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