Lightwater Valley

[meames]

Not really, but I like to speculate - its fun at least for me

[Tom G]

Bottons had a pirate ship, but I'm not sure if it is still there this year?

[Sam]

Nathan on ValleyMania has posted this:

Little bit of an interesting development at the Valley this week, the Marquee has been relocated next to the shopping village - leaving a considerable amount of space in its wake.



With the long-term future of the now closed Amazing Maze also uncertain, are we seeing the first signs of site clearing for future redevelopment?

Well... I'll let you guys be the judge of that.

[BigAl]

A new white knuckle roller coaster please?! :P

[Sam]

Maybe it could be the old Schwarzkopf looper Twist n' Shout from Loudon Castle?

[BigAl]

That would be fantastic. Any park that can put a couple of classic Schwarzkopf coasters to good use gets kudos frm me. Especially when one has a loop! Loops!

But are they not getting a tractor ride from there too? Maybe that land is just for that?

[John]

The tractor ride is going next to Eagle's Claw - it's already half built and was due to open this year but got postponed for some reason.

I'm wary about getting excited about any new additions at LWV for that exact reason.  Much though I love LWV, it's hard to get excited for possible new coasters at a park that can't get a tractor ride open.

[BigAl]

Ah right, thanks, John.

They have spent quite a bit on updating their branding though and they spent quite a bit on attractions the year before. Or, perhaps they haven't got much money at the moment because they blew it all on a coaster? :P

[Dar]

I thought they had no money because they didn't sell The Wave in time?

I hope they buy either The Bullet or Magnum Force. Just so I can ride them and see what all the hype is about.

[BigAl]

Perhaps money had already been set aside for whatever this may be?

[Nathan]

I hope they buy either The Bullet or Magnum Force. Just so I can ride them and see what all the hype is about.

Never going to happen.

They don't have the power to run something like The Bullet.

[BigAl]

I'd like to think that if it's a coaster then it's what Sam said; Twist n' Shout from Loudon. Would that be suitable to run at Lightwater?

[Tom G]

The marquee has been moved becaus ethey're in the middle of pushing their corporate offerings, and having the marquee closer to the entrance and other facilities supports this.

I find it unlikely it's been moved to accomodate the plans for a new ride, at least not in the short term anyway.

[BigAl]

I'm going to keep my hopes up for this, even if it may be unlikely to be anything big. Tom makes a good point about the marquee being moved for convenience, but what about the maze? And the person that posted this over on ValleyMania forum put a 'wink' face at the bottom of the post too. That must count for something, right!? :P

[Longy]

No

Lightwater has developed into a good theme park over the years, and is improving each year!
I can't wait to see if anything happens with this!

It could be a coaster that really makes them known!

[Tom G]

You have to look at the evidence. The Tractor Ride project being put on hold for what has to be a lack of funds. I can't see them suddenly splashing out hundreds of thousands on a rollercoaster next year.

[John]

According to a poster on VM who seems to know what he's talking about, there are currently no plans for that site - they're just moving the marquee to a more suitable location.

Until/unless we have any reason to suggest otherwise, I 'd advise against getting too excited about this one.

[Nathan]

According to a poster on VM who seems to know what he's talking about, there are currently no plans for that site

She.




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[Slappy McGuire]

I'm slightly baffled where the perception that the park either has no money, or last year had millions to spend comes from.  The park, unlike several higher profile parks, makes profit.  It has been hamstrung over the past ten to twenty years, partly due to its own fault, partly due to circumstance, partly due to bad luck.  Fundamentally though, it is a park with massive potential, just physically not the seemingly endless funds that many of it's peers do. 

The truth of the matter is, no matter how boring an answer this is, the park needs to make better use of things like the Marquee, just as much as it needs new rides (which for what it is worth, I would prefer to either see them take a coaster on long term lease, or aquire something like the coaster that is up for sale from Blackgang for 250K, and chuck it in the woods, or in the dark...) to generate the revenue that could eventually see the park move forward.

I would hope that if the park is ambitious, it will use the Marquee to put things like Weird Science shows on, or something similar - something different to give people a reason to go.  A couple of other things I have mentioned on VM would help as well, like using the huge underused theatre the park has on site for year round exhibitions like Horrible Histories, or the Doctor Who or Wallace and Grommit exhibits that were at the centre for life, not so long ago.

Similarly rather than complaining about the park not installing the tractor ride, let's remember in real terms, most of us probably would whine if all the park had done this year was install a tractor ride - let's actually give some plaudits to the park that they haven't put a ride in half heartedly this time - make it right, or wait until you can.  The park is probably better served drastically rethemeing and reskinning some of its existing rides such as Twister and Trauma Tower to get much more out of them, for a better cost.  The park's effort's with Skeleton Cove and Raptor Attack prove at least they can theme.

If it sorts out its infrastructure (oh and protection from the impact of the weather!) then in time rather than wishing/hoping that a big space may be used...it becomes an inevitability.

[Nathan]

For what it's worth, work on the tractor ride has recommenced.

As Slappy picked up on, the project was postponed simply because the park didn't quite acquire the funds necessary to complete the job to the standard that they are aspiring to. The tractor ride could have opened this season, but it would have been the bare bones, and that's not something the park were prepared to do.

I assure you there are some very nice theming ideas on the board.

Here's a sneak peak at one of the many concept arts floating about for props/theming.