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Is your home park doing well?

My home park is Alton Towers. I have visited at least once a year (usually much more) since 1997 and in my opinion it is better now than ever before.

I'm getting tired of reading all the mindlessly negative posts about anything to do with Merlin on here. Anyone who thinks that Alton Towers is not making the right investments or has poor operations needs to compare it to Mingo or Oakwood or Tusenfryd (see post above) etc etc and you should realise that we are very lucky to be treated to a new coaster every 4 years, with mostly efficient operations, running rides with the original design maximum number of trains/cars.
 
Peet said:
I'm getting tired of reading all the mindlessly negative posts about anything to do with Merlin on here. Anyone who thinks that Alton Towers is not making the right investments or has poor operations needs to compare it to Mingo or Oakwood or Tusenfryd (see post above) etc etc and you should realise that we are very lucky to be treated to a new coaster every 4 years, with mostly efficient operations, running rides with the original design maximum number of trains/cars.
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This mindset is the reason why we can't have nice things. The atrocity of the others is never an excuse for someone's own sh*ttiness. The sh*tiness of others is never an excuse for someone's own mediocrity. And so on and so forth.

Comparing Alton Towers to Tusenfryd and Oakwood is just agreeing with the Merlin haters BTW, if you think that's the kind of league Alton plays in and should be compared to. You're undermining the historical relevance and reputation of Alton, which is probably even worse than mindless bashing.
 
I've literally never been to Gulliver's MK and I have no idea how it's getting on.

Alton's probably my spiritual home park. I'll still maintain that it's a good park that can still put in solid attractions (I like The Smiler don't @ me). Feels like it's flagging with maintanence and feeling corporate, but can never quite remember how much of that has always been a problem. I'm basing my opinion on operations on a summer weekend, when I'd been to a rammed PortAventura a few weeks prior.
 
I’d say Holiday World is doing pretty well. I haven’t been in awhile but I still try to keep up with it as much as possible. Rumor is that the park’s next coaster is set for 2020.
 
Wicksteed Park is somewhere I haven't been for years. In that time the park has added a Clown Coaster, a Wave Swinger and some zip wire things. I guess it's probably doing ok. Maybe one day I'll go back and find out for sure.
 
Blackpool is my home park, and they have definitely been turning for the better in the past few years, especially with the opening of Icon. It's also good to see they have multiple projects in the works too, so good on them!
 
SFSTl is garbage, the only good coasters are screaming eagle, American Thunder, and MR freeze. The park is disgusting, the toilets never get cleaned, the staff is rude, and the dispatch is so slow. Batman the ride was running one train and had 7-minute dispatches last time I was there. I mean come on, it's our most popular ride, work harder on at least that one. We haven't gotten a new coaster since 2013ish and that was a f****** relocated vekoma boomerang. The Boss needs to be retracted or RMCd or just taken out. Apart from Cat Woman Whip, we hardly get new flat rides. SFSTl is a f****** joke. At least have good staff and a clean park if you're going to have that s*** of a coaster line up.
 
If it counts - Brighton's Palace Pier.

Are they doing well? There's no doubt that they rake in a mountain of money each year, but even by seaside resort standards the fun fair itself is a depressing dump. The rides are all slowly limping towards their deaths. They couldn't even fix their 10(ish) year old Air Race last summer. It spent most of last year sat there covered in seagull crap. This is their most recent addition!! (not counting a couple of tiny flat rides)

It was all very exciting when the new owners took over, I wanna say 3 or 4 or 5ish years ago? They made some wonderful cosmetic changes and restored the piers actual name! But I get the impression that when their thrill rides do expire, they won't be in a hurry to replace them with anything good. This is the same company that is currently tearing LWV apart and replacing it with... nothing? So I'm certainly not harbouring any optimism about PP.

I know there's not a great deal you can do with a relatively small, 123 year old structure. But almost all of their major rides are 20+ years old at this point. They're going to find themselves with a lot of gaps to fill in the coming years!
 
PortAventura and Tibidabo.

Tibidabo is doing great, overall it's been a good family park for years. Admission prices are expensive for adults without children, but they definitely make up for it with discounts, and so I still visit once or twice a year. They're planning to open a 160 ft. drop tower in 2024, probably to increase the number of adult-targeted rides and reduce Hotel Krueger's line (it's always at least a 90 minute wait). Even if I don't like certain renovations the park has had in the past years (e.g. the Embruixabruixes ride has had its scenes modified and now relies heavily on light packages instead of physical sets) it's a well mantained park and it's got a great atmosphere.

PortAventura is always doing well, but I really hope the opening of their new coaster also brings some more maintenance to the park, as I feel some areas are not as taken care of as they should. Some rides like Dragon Khan have become extremely rough and need either a retrack or to be removed (I hope it's the former as DK is one of the park's icons). I visited the park on Feb. 20th and the athmosphere was great, with lots of Carnival theming and shows/parades everywhere. The ops were actually good, but of course it was their third day of operation this year and the park was relatively empty, so it is not a good indicator of how it's gonna be for this season. If I visit again before the opening of the new coaster, I'll expand on this.
 
I guess Gulliver's MK, it seems to be doing okay but could do with a refresh.

In terms of 'proper' parks I'd say Thorpe which has had a turbulent decade in my opinion (and I doubt I stand alone there). Areas of the park are in desperate need of refresh, the Ghost Train really shouldn't have happened though I don't know how Merlin see it commercially, then nothing major has happened since then... It's a park I've been visiting since I was a little kid, since it still had an educational focus too, so it holds a special place in my heart and I really want to see it working properly again. The 2000's were a brilliant time for it and it recovered from the fire excellently.

I really hope Exodus is a start of a new golden era.
 
Paultons Park 😎

I loved this park as a kid, but by 2008 i stopped going as i wanted more theming and thrills, it did not really stand out among outer UK parks.

When they got the pig i heard it worked well for them but assumed this was where the park was going, kiddie rides and thats it. However in 2016 they added the dino area and i made my first visit in 10 years in 2018, not only were the two new coasters great the area was a massive upgrade to the rest of the park. What amazed me was when i went the park they added little africa and a pig exspanshion, which were both nice additions but also showed they were investing heavily.

Of course Tornado Springs was next and that was a brilliant area with some fantastic attractions, while there was a delay due to Covid they still expanded the land with Farmyard Flyer the year after.

On the horizon we have a dino land expansion with a new water ride of some sort for next year, the park have also got planning permission to build something on the plot of land by the go carts so there is no signs of slowing down.

With the Survey they posted ( you can still take part ) I am very hopeful for their future and am happy to see them continue to do well 🥰
 
My homepark is Sfgam so I'd say it's doing pretty well. We've gotten our fair share of investments from Six Flags so of which were major attractions. The only real compliant I have is the new DC themed area which is abysmal.
 
Ocean Park

No. No, they are not doing well. Two major coasters and the log flume, possibly the most popular ride there, have been closed for good with no signs of any replacements.

There was a massive expansion plan, but that's gone out of the window with the funding intended for it being used to keep them afloat over the last 3 years.

The new waterpark opened a year or so ago, but I've no idea how many people that's bringing in. Maybe we'll get an idea with those attendance reports later.

Hong Kong is open for tourists again and the border with China has reopened, so tourism in general is picking back up again. Traditionally, Ocean Park was on a lot of tour group itineraries, but I've got no idea if that will continue to be the case after a 3-year gap. Realistically, it offers nothing that you can't now find in mainland China.
 
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