Oakwood

[Mit deLuxe]

Oakwood: What Happened?
So as you all know the last ride built at Oakwood was Speed in 2006 which meant this year we were suppose to see a new big ride, however with the change over in the parks management this seems to have changed everything as there have been no rumours or any sort of news from the park.
This could be the sign of the recession hitting them and thinking that it's not worth building a new coaster in the current financial climate. But look at other park around the U.K. or abroad, it seems most parks are adding new exiting additions to bring the customers in.

What do you think?

 

[Hixee]

I'm sure there are many ways you could look at this.

I'm of the opinion that Oakwood hasn't had the easiest time in the last couple of years, even before the recession, and I don't think any of there plans are going to be rolled out quite yet.

Oakwood's a great park, but it just doesn't draw the visitor numbers that other parks do, so it's bound to struggle with funding etc. The recession has made this a hell of a lot more difficult for them. I also thing the management change may have disrupted plans a bit.

I don't rightly know, I'm just posing a reason, I just hope Oakwood can keep guest coming it, it's a fantastic little park.

 

[Ollie]

Did anything else become of those slippers underneath Hydro?
Oakwood hasn't built anything in a few years which is a shame as they used to try and have one new ride each year like most other parks.

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Because it's in the middle of nowhere, it doesn't have the high ability to draw people in...

Although Alton is also in the middle of nowhere to a degree, it's much easier to get to from many more places under 5 hours...

Oakwood is not...

If they built a new coaster they could easily see an increase in numbers, but how many of those would be English?

Maybe in the future, and hopefully cos I do like the park, but nothing has been done to make me want to travel so far back to it, and that's the main issue, a trip to Oakwood needs to be planned so far in advance due to the distance...

 

[bob_3_]

It is a very hard park to get to on public transport. That's it's biggest downfall I think.

 

[rollermonkey]

Um, how about all the litigation that they were involved in this past couple of years? Perhaps they were saving their pennies for when the judgement was handed down?

 

[Ploddish]

I think they were hit with the tripple whammy of Hydro death, the investigation and then getting bought by Aspro. Each of them delayed the building/renovation of new/existing rides.

With the growing popularity of Bluestone right next door though, and the (supposed) rumours of two new kiddie rides, I think they're back on the upswing.

The park has been tidied up recently, too. Speed has a, er, trellis and... yeah

 

[slappy mcguire]

I'd love to visit oakwood, but it is simply too much of a chore to get to; I have a simple rule - if a park costs more to get to than get into, then it's a no go-er. Sadly I suspect if Oakwood was say in Yorkshire or the Midlands, all the years of investment would have paid of; as it stands, it will always be a visit once curio, rather than a year-on-year destination, and that is always likely to catch up on an attraction.

 

[Ploddish]

It's not that hard to get to by public transport, too. You can get a train to within 3 miles, and take a taxi from there. Train from bristol is about 3.5 hours and costs about £19 (open return is £23) on my rail card (add 33% for non-railcard fares).

The most awkward thing is sleeping, but there are loads of cheap B&Bs around the area.

Though, saying this, I do live a mile away and do the journey all the time

 

[jokerman]

If you save a third on rail travel like on most railcards, then we need to add 50% to that cost.