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Emerald Park News/Discussion

gavin

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Is it just me who's now feeling a bit cynical about the place?

There was so much "This is going to be an amazing park; they're going to get so many amazing coasters!" talk when they first built the woodie, but then nothing has really happened? The flume thing has had corners cut from day one, they're adding an off-the-shelf spinner, and they're already whoring themselves out for sponsorship for that kiddy driving thing, despite that kind of attraction being cheap as hell.

The owners were all "We want this, we want that", but it doesn't massively seem like they really knew what they were getting into and how much money all of this stuff was going to cost. Yeah, Tayto is a big company, but it's not the done thing to bleed money from one area into another if it's not supporting itself.

I hope I'm wrong since I really liked the place, and I hope that that multi-million coaster does actually appear next year, but, at the moment, it seems to be going all a bit "Oakwood".
 

ciaran75

Roller Poster
Attendance in Tayto Park was down from 762,000 in 2016 to 735,000 in 2017, this must be having an impact on finances which require sponsorship like with Nissan / off-the-shelf spinner etc.

also, due to the never ending winter this year, delaying opening around Paddy's day and poor easter holidays might be down again although with extended good weather recently they might have clawed back some numbers.

Can def still see new coaster next year but not sure if they'll fork out the 17.5 million (hope they do)

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/visitor-attractions-entice-record-numbers-451800.html
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and...t-popular-tourist-attractions-named-1.3522528
 

CSLKennyNI

Giga Poster
Of course a steel coaster does not take long to erect however don't Tayto need planning permission for all major additions (Cu Chuliann, flume + hotel). The fact we haven't seen any yet is worrying.
The recent article which mentioned the plans for a new steel coaster didn't mention a year, unlike the previous articles which said 2019, which makes me wonder if they have maybe delayed the coaster? Perhaps due to the financial impact of the fall in visitors numbers? - which is real shame to have happened in the year they opened their next major investment (Viking Voyage) after the woodie.
 

Pokemaniac

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Attendance in Tayto Park was down from 762,000 in 2016 to 735,000 in 2017, this must be having an impact on finances which require sponsorship like with Nissan / off-the-shelf spinner etc.

That's a drop of 3.5 %, though, which shouldn't really be that dire. I mean, they did make a big investment in Viking Voyage, but it wasn't really big enough to draw a similar number of people that a new coaster would. I'd say it would be well within natural variations, it's not like Sea World, which somehow lost 10 % of its visitors between those two years. Five percent up or down between years is just to be expected, especially if it's coming off a year of really high numbers thanks to a new attraction.
 

ciaran75

Roller Poster
For Cu Chuliann it took about 15 months total after planning submitted to opening.

if planning a 2019 release you must wonder why no application so far if want to open next May / June?
maybe you can build a steel quicker than wood, no idea.
 

CSLKennyNI

Giga Poster
Well I'm certain the Zierer isn't costing 17.5 million euros so the coaster previously talked about for 2019 has either been delayed or scrapped for alternative plans. Will be interesting to see what the next few years at Tayto Park bring.
 

hamcake

Roller Poster
Well I'm certain the Zierer isn't costing 17.5 million euros so the coaster previously talked about for 2019 has either been delayed or scrapped for alternative plans. Will be interesting to see what the next few years at Tayto Park bring.

no zierer force 3000 hypercoaster with those 20 car trains? :(
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Maybe the Zierer family coaster will be something akin to Verbolten and/or Polar X-Plorer? Dependant on amount of theming, I can definitely see something like either of those costing €17.5million. Although drop track coasters sort of seem to have dropped off the radar as of late, so I'm not sure whether they'd want to get one. Saying that, though, Universal's 2019 coaster is rumoured to have one, so it's within the realms of possibility. I just massively contradicted myself there!
EDIT: Just watched the interview and I heard Charles Coyle refer to the ride as a junior coaster, so the chance of it being like Verbolten is probably slim to none.
 
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hamcake

Roller Poster
it's hard to go back and look because the sources for this park are in tiny super local newsletters or paywalled business articles and such, but I think I'm under the impression that the big investment major coaster has been recently referred to as at least 2 years out. That does contradict the article from a couple years ago.
 

ciaran75

Roller Poster
doesn't look like it unfortunately.

I do think getting a decent family coaster first is a better fit for this park. It is a very family focused park, don't really see groups of older teenagers / adults without kids. Was there twice last summer with nephews (11 & 13), Cu Chuliann was to big for them so didn't ride but reckon they would have done something smaller no problem.

Maybe 2020 for 10th anniversary might get quality thrill ride
 

gavin

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Has transport to/from Dublin been sorted yet? They're never going to get the teenage market if there's no way to get there apart from taxis, which teenagers generally can't afford.
 

hamcake

Roller Poster
Has transport to/from Dublin been sorted yet? They're never going to get the teenage market if there's no way to get there apart from taxis, which teenagers generally can't afford.

there's been a bus for a few years now with a second route added this year I think. They just added it on to existing rural bus routes that take forever and stop a million times though, so it's a bit crap.
 

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
Viking Voyage looks more complete now, or at least as complete as it will probably get:-
I hope the Zierer family coaster for next year will be an ESC, either that or a larger-scale Force. I doubt it would be as thrilling as Verbolten, but as long as it is a Force 2 or larger, I think it will be a great addition.
 
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