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Flamingo Land | Sik | Intamin 10 Inversion Coaster | 2022

Will

Strata Poster
Have we heard anything new about this coaster as of late? Is it testing or anything yet?
I'm glad somebody finally asked this, I kept forgetting :D

And the irony isn't lost on me - it occured to me yesterday that if Flamingoland had waited until 2017-8ish to become 'Vekomaland' - they'd arguably have the best ride lineup in the UK - replace Kumali & Velocity with new gen Vekomas and they still could have - and that makes my head hurt, because Flamingo basically exists to be our whipping boy ;)
 

Fleetwood_Mack

Mega Poster
It's a bit of a dive but I did really enjoy the place. Sometimes tacky, low-key amusement parks make a fabulous day out. It helped that it was early days for me and my other half, he's terrified of any kind of ride/height but took me to FL anyway and endured most of the stuff there! Fond memories of him coming off Cliff Hanger with tears in his eyes 🥰 still going strong 6 years later! Unfortunately, now, he's not afraid to tell me to p*ss off if I suggest he join me on anything 😂

Will definitely get back for Flalossus at some point if she ever opens but given that I no longer live part time in York it's a bit more of a mission to get there. Not worth the journey from Brighton!
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
Sorry @Matt N but the coaster selection at Flamingo is absolute garbage. All of their models are poor, either from a thrill perspective or a roughness/pain perspective. The only caveat to that is the SLC is slightly better than the version at Blackpool, which isn't saying much.
Yes it's better than the wacky worm and go-gator at the local amusement park, but let's not paint the place as a Towers/Thorpe/Blackpool of the north east.

When the looper opens it will be the only re-ridable coaster there from a thrill perspective, when you try these abominations you will get it, and you'll also see their incredible operations for yourself ;)
 

roomraider

Best Topic Starter
It's a shame really, I've only been to FL once. Way back when on an early CF trip and they had a fairly decent line up then. Velocity was the new ride and was and I hope still is a decent family ride. The mouse was good and Bullet and Magnum Force were both great.

On a side note it's the only time I've seen a coaster valley in person (bullet) and the only time I've been on a ride when it overshot the brakes (corkscrew) Which possibly says more about FL's maintenance than anything else.
 

rob666

Hyper Poster
Only place you have seen a coaster valley?
Not done Blackpool on opening day then.
Revolution managed it three years running, last time it was the Big One.
Mingo has probably got the very worst of operations though, full trains of fast passers on slow one train ops is the lowest of the low, but it was happening from opening last time I visited.
The sea lion "enclosure" was horrific, a grey, cracked concrete bunker that smells of wee, where you look through scratched plexiglass into murky water, at a single dark grey wiggle in the blurry distance.
The food was an absolute horror show as well, the usual overpriced theme park crap, but with an hours queue all day.
I look forward to riding the new coaster, but it needs low expectations, a quality picnic and the good company of friends to make any sort of day at the place a success.
 

Will

Strata Poster
^
Cheers for the update, Lee (such as it is!) :)

Shan't be booking a trip for opening day anytime soon then...
 

Tonkso

Hyper Poster
I'm actually feeling increasingly gutted for Flamingoland now, it's clear that the park has real ambitions within its budget, but 2020 really killed it for them. This should have been open now and given the park a pretty solid lineup*. They get slated on here a lot, but where-else outside of Merlin and Blackpool are you seeing the same level of coaster ambition as 'Mingo? The general public don't care that this is a third-hand ride, or that it is a clone of Colossus (it isn't anyway, it's RevB), they care that 'Mingo has a big new ride that goes upside down a lot.

* Yes, I know many on here will disagree, but remove Hero and the park has a really good lineup as far as the average joe is concerned, Hero is the only one I'd avoid as an enthusiast too.
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
I'm actually feeling increasingly gutted for Flamingoland now, it's clear that the park has real ambitions within its budget, but 2020 really killed it for them. This should have been open now and given the park a pretty solid lineup*. They get slated on here a lot, but where-else outside of Merlin and Blackpool are you seeing the same level of coaster ambition as 'Mingo? The general public don't care that this is a third-hand ride, or that it is a clone of Colossus (it isn't anyway, it's RevB), they care that 'Mingo has a big new ride that goes upside down a lot.

* Yes, I know many on here will disagree, but remove Hero and the park has a really good lineup as far as the average joe is concerned, Hero is the only one I'd avoid as an enthusiast too.
Paultons.
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
Not comparable, Paulton's is targeting a much younger market than Flamingo are targeting with this, Kumali, Velocity and Mumbo. I have no doubt that Paulton's can pull off something bigger and more thrilling, but that's not their aim right now.
It's comparable in the fact that I would much rather go back to Paultons to ride their thrill rides than Flamingoland ;)
Target audience may be different but the coaster ambition of Paultons is clearly higher than FL.
 

Sandman

Giga Poster
The general public don't care that this is a third-hand ride, or that it is a clone of Colossus (it isn't anyway, it's RevB), they care that 'Mingo has a big new ride that goes upside down a lot.

The thing is, 99.9% of people don't even know that Mingo has a big new ride on the horizon, nor will they when it opens. Flamingoland's marketing doesn't have much of a reach.

I'm in the North West of England and half of the people around here don't even know Flamingoland is a place, let alone that they have a new ride!
I imagine down south there's even more of a disparity.

Peppa Pig World (not necessarily Paultons) has been a frequent topic of conversation between a lot of the parents I work with. Some have even ventured the 5 or so hours south to visit it. And that's before our incompetent PM even referenced it haha.

I get the point you made originally, but I suppose if kids are visiting Peppa Pig world, then families (including potential thrillseekers) are also visiting Paultons. That's going to lead to even more significant ambitions/investment in the coming years.

 
I can only assume they aren't painting it, or doing anything with the brown warehouse of a station. It looks the same as what it did 2 years ago!

As far as I know, it is going to be painted but I have yet to see the painters.... They really need to get their arses in gear because I'm putting the train on the track next week to start the comissioning work with Intaminge.

Hopefully we should be making a bit more progress with it now that me other rides are almost ready for the season as we are down to pretty much a skeleton crew.
 
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