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Which UK Park is most likely to get an RMC?

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
I can't see the UK not receiving an RMC, so which park should one go to? Thorpe park would be good, as it would be a fantastic fit for the park, but Alton towers would be great as they could have one hugging the terrain and in the woods, for example. What do you think?
 

TLARides

Hyper Poster
I'd like to say Alton Towers, but I think we already eliminated the thought of SW8 being an RMC...
 

Lofty

CF Legend
I've answered this SO many times on groups on Facebook hahaha.

The only parks that are likely to get one (but probably won't) are; Blackpool Pleasure Beach (Grand National Makeover) and Flamingoland (T-Rex or Raptor). I truly don't believe any other UK park could or would buy one.
 

Ketchup

Mega Poster
It's got to be Thorpe surely and I guess it ultimately depends on the success of SW8 and how that ride is perceived by the general public. If it's a hit, you'd have to think Merlin might want to introduce a more exciting variant of a wooden coaster at Thorpe to diversify their coaster line-up.

Of course that would make too much sense for Merlin and we'll probably end up with something like the Jeremy Kyle simulator instead.
 

Lofty

CF Legend
It's got to be Thorpe surely and I guess it ultimately depends on the success of SW8 and how that ride is perceived by the general public. If it's a hit, you'd have to think Merlin might want to introduce a more exciting variant of a wooden coaster at Thorpe to diversify their coaster line-up.
You have to realise that the Alton coaster opens in 2018 and the new coaster for Thorpe will be 2020 (based on the low, low, medium, high investments) - so by the time Alton's coaster opens, they'll already know what coaster they're getting and will be well underway with the creative process behind it.

Thorpe just won't get one, Merlin won't touch RMC due to the accident on New Texas Giant (albeit that was a Gerstlauer train) as the correlation and potential PR angle that could create is huge.
 

airtime_uk_ash

Mega Poster
You're going to base that off of one accident?

Yeah he is and he is spot on! Merlin will not want to be associated with any company with a history of accidents for a long time to come the uk press would have a field day


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airtime_uk_ash

Mega Poster
With the exception of Blackpool none of the U.K. Parks have the budget for an rmc! with them getting a mack in 2018 I highly doubt they will have another major investment for at least 5 years. with merlin also out of the frame for the reasons mentioned above, I highly doubt we will see any rmc in the uk at least not in the next 10 years.


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Lofty

CF Legend
Yeah he is and he is spot on! Merlin will not want to be associated with any company with a history of accidents for a long time to come the uk press would have a field day

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You beat me to it, but thanks. This is the exact reason why it would not happen - RMC are associated with the accident, whether it was their fault or not, it still happened on one of their coasters. After The Smiler incident, Merlin will try anything not to be associated with that form of negative press again which is completely understandable. So yeah, they're not gonna get one, it's that simple.
 

TLARides

Hyper Poster
Yeah he is and he is spot on! Merlin will not want to be associated with any company with a history of accidents for a long time to come the uk press would have a field day


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I'm going to guess they won't go for Gerstlauer again after the Smiler incident?
 

owentaylor121

Giga Poster
I'm going to guess they won't go for Gerstlauer again after the Smiler incident?

Even though The Smilers accident wasn't directly caused by Gerst, it would have never have happened if the ride didn't stall. Plus all the other problems the ride has had before the accident makes it extremely unlikely Merlin will buy a coaster off Gerst again.
 

Jared

Hyper Poster
You do realise the majority of the issues they've had with the Smiler are not due to Gerstlauer and are down to the company who did all the ground works?

Merlin have not black listed Gerstlauer in any way, shape or form and should a project arise that they are best suited to, they'll most likely do it, but it'll be more heavily planned. RMC have used Gerstlauer in 2 projects, both of which opened on time and on budget. If Merlin choose not to work with RMC because of Gerst then that's just stupid. They'll happily work with whoever does the most suitable product at the right price.
 

Tomatron

Giga Poster
None of them.

Alton Towers won't go anywhere near a ride company associated with any sort of recent bad press for the next few years.
I'd love Blackpool to get Big Dipper or Grand National RMCed, but given it's taken them as long as it has to be able to afford this Mack Launched coaster (the biggest investment since Valhalla I think) I' be very surprised to see another big investment so soon.
Thorpe Park have a recent history of well-marketed, gimmicky creds since Stealth so a looping woodie sounds great on paper, but the Alton Towers connection that's already been mentioned puts paid to that notion, at least in the short term.
Flamingoland will get new creds and could get an RMC, but they don't go for big blockbuster rides or companies such as B&M, Intamin or the like. It would take a massive change in their development strategy for an RMC of any sort to happen.

As for the others, Chessington is a non-starter because Thorpe is down the road, Lightwater Valley are permanently skint, Drayton just don't get amazing creds, and Oakwood...ha. And I purposely haven't mentioned Paultons until now because I'd love them to pull one out of the bag, but that ain't happening any time soon.

Merlin certainly won't touch any products they consider "tainted", especially with the amount of press coverage the Smiler accident received. You could argue that Six Flags have still continued with Intamin and RMC projects despite accidents with overweight/disabled people not being secured in properly and getting ejected. But I've never known any bad press quite like the Smiler accident. And because it's now the defacto answer when you think of "rollercoaster crash", Merlin flat out won't take any risks.
 

davidm

Strata Poster
Paramount London.

It's a pipe dream already, so why not gild it.

Totally a RMC at the back there...

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TLARides

Hyper Poster
I don't know how many incidents RMC has had. I'd be suprised to see a Gravity Group coaster be installed in one of them. They're reletively new to the design world. And rollercoasters such as Hades 360 and Switchback are both great coasters. I don't think any GG coasters have reported accidents. For all we know, GG could be building SW8.
 
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