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West Midlands Safari Park: General Discussion

Sorry to bump the post, I was having a think last night and could places like wmsp or any park with a drive round safari be the first tourist places to reopen? If you only open the drive round safari section then surely that’s social distancing sorted as you are only staying in your car?.
 
In theory I think you are right. They would still have to wait for the restrictions on driving being lifted (breakdowns or crashes either onsite or getting to the site could be considered an issue). However the activity itself would comply.
 
Ah well that’s one thing to possibly look forward to then, we can’t ride rides but we can drive round and look at animals. 2020 might not end that bad then haha.
 
Not what the industry needs right now that's for sure. Is it me or are these accidents in the UK becoming a bit of a concern?

Since Smiler we've had trains de-rail at Gullivers and M&D's. We've had a boy fall out of a ride at Lightwater Valley. We've had the Drayton one which was truly tragic of course.

And to top it off we've had a stabbing at Thorpe Park. Not ride related I know but just as concerning.

My faith in the domestic scene is continuing to slip im afraid. As I'm getting older my theme park excursions are becoming far less frequent but when I do fancy a visit, a 2 to 3 day trip to Europe appeals far more to me these days.
 
Benjsh said:
Not what the industry needs right now that's for sure. Is it me or are these accidents in the UK becoming a bit of a concern?

Since Smiler we've had trains de-rail at Gullivers and M&D's. We've had a boy fall out of a ride at Lightwater Valley. We've had the Drayton one which was truly tragic of course.

And to top it off we've had a stabbing at Thorpe Park. Not ride related I know but just as concerning.

My faith in the domestic scene is continuing to slip im afraid. As I'm getting older my theme park excursions are becoming far less frequent but when I do fancy a visit, a 2 to 3 day trip to Europe appeals far more to me these days.
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I don't think it is all doom and gloom.

The theme parks seem to be fairly popular this year as people aren't going abroad. The poor operations at Thorpe with long queues may do more to put people off.
Some did get scared off by the Smiler incident, but many people accept the park put in place new measures. At Drayton Manor, although the operations weren't correct in terms of monitoring, the guests actions on the ride did play a part, but it could have put some people off rapids rides as there was a death.
In this case at WMSP, it only seems to be reported on local news I don't think it will affect many peoples decisions on visiting theme parks, if they are the sort who would be put off by bad news, then I expect Smiler and Splash Canyon would already have made their mind up.

I think given there has now been two incidents on rapids where it is reported the guest was at partly at fault this may be causing parks to make other decisions on whether guests can be trusted on rapids, so as Roy says the future for rapids rides may be bleak.
 
jon81uk said:
I don't think it is all doom and gloom.

The theme parks seem to be fairly popular this year as people aren't going abroad. The poor operations at Thorpe with long queues may do more to put people off.
Some did get scared off by the Smiler incident, but many people accept the park put in place new measures. At Drayton Manor, although the operations weren't correct in terms of monitoring, the guests actions on the ride did play a part, but it could have put some people off rapids rides as there was a death.
In this case at WMSP, it only seems to be reported on local news I don't think it will affect many peoples decisions on visiting theme parks, if they are the sort who would be put off by bad news, then I expect Smiler and Splash Canyon would already have made their mind up.

I think given there has now been two incidents on rapids where it is reported the guest was at partly at fault this may be causing parks to make other decisions on whether guests can be trusted on rapids, so as Roy says the future for rapids rides may be bleak.
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Think you answered the point for me. Theme parks have done well over the summer because people haven't been going abroad in great numbers at all and have more income right now due to having nowhere to go spend their money for months. My bank account has never been as healthy incidentally.

Has no indication that the parks are doing well or offering a good product because quite frankly we're falling way behind likes of Germany for example.
 
Benjsh said:
Think you answered the point for me. Theme parks have done well over the summer because people haven't been going abroad in great numbers at all and have more income right now due to having nowhere to go spend their money for months. My bank account has never been as healthy incidentally.

Has no indication that the parks are doing well or offering a good product because quite frankly we're falling way behind likes of Germany for example.
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I agree it is hard to know if people actually find the parks a good experience, although Tripadvisor seems to indicate Paulton is offering a good day out(4.5/5), Alton Towers, Drayton Manor, WMSP all pretty good (4/5), Chessington, Legoland and particularly Thorpe are poor (3.5/5).
Europa is at 4.5 and Phantasialand 4/5, but they seem to be more positive recently.
All parks seem to have some "they let too many people in" reviews, so it does seem to depend a lot on the day of the week and people perception on how many should be in the park.

It does seem like it is Thorpe offering the worst product. Also the passholder complaints about having to pre-book will have long-term effects for Merlin (but overall fewer passholders may not be a bad thing).

But back to the WMSP discussion, I don't think the incident will have any major effect on people coming to the park. Those who had concerns about rides will already have been put off by Smiler and Splash Canyon. As the WMSP incident has only been reported in local news anyway, I doubt many people will have heard even.
 
Trip advisor a lot of the bad comments have been about the length of the queues and how they spent x amount of money to get on on average 5 rides only. To me that means the parks have been sold out to the limit they can operate safety. You only got to see Shawn’s vlogs to see the popular theme parks have been busy but the holiday destinations have been less busy cause of the limited hours and numbers they can have in at 1 time so they doing 4 hour time slots.
As his not done the Safari Park yet I’m
Not sure how the safari works as it was rammed with cars when I last went.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Trip advisor a lot of the bad comments have been about the length of the queues and how they spent x amount of money to get on on average 5 rides only.
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This is getting off-topic, but at the major theme parks, that is fairly normal for summer holidays though and i think there are those complaints every year. Five rides in a day at Thorpe is fairly average really during school holidays. As much as it should be better, it has been that way for at least ten years.
 
Is the Safari Park doing the fireworks event this year on the 7th&8th Nov? The website is hopeless with a new rules pop up coming up on every page you open so can’t read the page underneath.
 
I visited WMSP for the first time (well, first time since I was very young, and it was my first time experiencing the amusement area and quite a lot of what’s actually on offer), and I must say that while it isn’t the largest of places, it is a nice little park for what it is! The safari is pretty good, and there’s some other nice bits as well (the animatronic walkthroughs are pretty good)!

The amusement area is nice, with some nice rides, but I do feel that another coaster would possibly be a nice addition. Even a more modern family coaster would be quite a nice fit, I think, as I’m not sure whether they’re actually that interested in targeting thrill seekers (I know they have Venom & Black Fly, but the queues for these thrill rides seemed noticeably shorter than the family ride queues, and they removed their only genuine thrill coaster back in 1991).

In terms of the park’s future, they are currently building a new elephant habitat in the safari, as well as safari lodges.
 
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