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Flamingo Land: General Discussion

Actually think it's very clever advertising by FL.

They are clearly not going to call their coaster Colossus so by putting that in that hashtag they are going to get a load of shares and mentions for very little effort and no cost.

Then they can roll out the actual marketing closer to the time and there will already be interest.

They've probably chosen to do this before everyone points out to them they are installing a clone ride. Flipped it on its head.

I like it. Bit cheeky and with it being at Merlin's expense who cares right?
 
Flamingo Land are claiming they've spent £20,385,000 on a second hand coaster.

Sure, transportation of it from Brazil isn't going to be cheap... but seriously? £20 million all in? I smell cow turd....
 
Flamingo Land are claiming they've spent £20,385,000 on a second hand coaster.

Sure, transportation of it from Brazil isn't going to be cheap... but seriously? £20 million all in? I smell cow turd....
Hopefully that means it will actually have theming. :)
 
Considering one article from Malaysia stated a price of about $2.8 million for the coaster back in April. So it could be one of a number of things:
  • Someone added a zero to the final bid which probably isn't completely impossible there :tearsofjoy:
  • There's about 18 million quid going on theming, painting, transport and commissioning
  • Or (blatantly) the most likely - it's all marketing crap
The cost of buying, consulting fees and assembling it in Malaysia was put at £5 million (and they apparently overpaid on that!), it could of course be that we've found the one coaster in the world that seems to be a very rapidly appreciating asset but somehow I doubt that one too!
 
Also this irks me:



Using the term "the LATEST UPGRADED GENERATION 2 MODEL" makes out it's some sort of modern marvel with the latest tech. Going from the date on the photos on RCDB, this thing was sent out by Intamin almost 8 years to the day back in 2011. It's like advertising a brand new car, turning up at the dealership and finding it's a rusty old banger that's been stuck on the forecourt for not far off a decade.



Come on Flamingoland, stick to the facts. You have a ten looping coaster coming next year. That's exciting enough for the public without throwing around insanely inflated budgets or going on about "generation 2" models. The enthusiasts are the main target audience for that sort of stuff, but they'll also be the people that will instantly call you out on it - as we've already seen!
 
You could argue that their social media post has worked a treat. Plenty of comments from people calling them out which has only lead to the post gaining ever more attention than it otherwise would have, and most non-enthusiasts aren't really going to care whether or not the facts are right.

Of course it is a load of tosh and it is hardly imaginative marketing, it does scream more of desperation until they can come up with a proper campaign.
 
I think people are worrying about this far too much. Don't believe the hype.

Plus it is the latest isn't it? If you went to Intamin and bought it new tomorrow it'd be the exact same ride with the same trains? It's been sat around for a while, but it's hardly Orphan Rocker.
 
I think people are worrying about this far too much. Don't believe the hype.

Plus it is the latest isn't it? If you went to Intamin and bought it new tomorrow it'd be the exact same ride with the same trains? It's been sat around for a while, but it's hardly Orphan Rocker.

I do think think the ride is a great addition and it'll do well at the park. My main concern is the way they're talking about it right now. Do joe public really need an inflated "cost" of the ride to make it look impressive? This ride is located miles away from the likes of Thorpe with the vast majority likely to have never even ridden Colossus - the coaster is impressive enough to most. Do they care about what generation model it is? Sure it's generated a lot of comments and visibility due to enthusiasts calling them out, but are those comments what the park really want everyone to be seeing?

Personally I think they're best sticking to talking about the ten inversions, it being the longest coaster on park, hell even talk about it being the largest investment however many years - just stay away from those hideously inflated budgets. Then move to construction updates once things are moving on site - everyone loves those!
 
Maybe they have followed merlin in inflating the costs for marketing purposes ?
This is inflated far beyond any exaggerated costs Merlin may have given in the past to a level that is just unrealistic.

All I can imagine is that they have taken:

The amount the Hopi Hari paid Intamin for it
+
The amount Movie Animation Park Studios paid Hopi Hari for it
+
The amount Flamingoland paid MAPS for it
+
total shipping (Switzerland -> Brazil -> Malaysia -> UK)
+
groundwork
+
I would say themeing but its Flamingo so at best it will have a colour scheme and a rock
=
The total amount of money that has been "paid" for this coaster
 
Been today with mates and their kids.
Company good, rides ok, operations on the sh!te side of awful.
Staff slow, and only got slower as the day went on.
Had to use a few queuejumper tickets to make things bearable.
The drop tower was looking in a right sad state, and a short queue shouldnt have taken an hour really, should it?
The kids wanting to do the big water ride mid afternoon killed the day off.
Three boats in total, half of each boat on jump passes.
Water flows really slowly, so I would guess at about 200 desperate, bored punters per hour, if that.
Will go next year to ride the new coaster, on a weekday, in term time, on a rainy day.
The place was also looking rather grubby and unloved.
Again.
 
Ah, lost river ride, the only rough water ride I've ridden! The bump on the drop about put me in traction! :p

How were the operations on Kumali? From a distance it looks like it's hand cranked up the lift
 
Slower than that.
Half of each train...two quid passholders.
Quality of service...I quote the till op at the queuebuster till...
"The queuebuster till queue needs a queuebuster line."
Half an hour to buy your queuejump tickets...timed and ride named.
I spent twenty quid extra in total to make life bearable.
One train service, running on the very slow side of slow, means a main queue throughput of about one hundred miserable, po faced punters an hour.
The ride itself is good, but the headrest smell of cheese is the main memory.
The only good ride op was on velocity, young lady who knows how to batch.
Sadly, the only one on the park.
 
The theme park is like a sandwich as they’re all there as you walk in and it’s not bad; apart from Hero breaking down and then later Flip Flop, Mumbo Jumbo or Kumali decide to stop working.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Considering one article from Malaysia stated a price of about $2.8 million for the coaster back in April. So it could be one of a number of things:
  • Someone added a zero to the final bid which probably isn't completely impossible there :tearsofjoy:
  • There's about 18 million quid going on theming, painting, transport and commissioning
  • Or (blatantly) the most likely - it's all marketing crap
The cost of buying, consulting fees and assembling it in Malaysia was put at £5 million (and they apparently overpaid on that!), it could of course be that we've found the one coaster in the world that seems to be a very rapidly appreciating asset but somehow I doubt that one too!

Maybe I’ve missed something here, but do we actually have any confirmation that it 100% is the ride from Malaysia?

I mean, I know it would make sense for it to be based on how long it’s been in storage, however I’ve not seen anything to confirm it definitely is the same ride yet everyone is talking about it as though that’s a fact. Even the RCDB entry seems to be implying that this is just speculation.

The very high price tag that the park have attributed to it would suggest that it is a new model which, although seemingly unlikely, could be the case.
 
Well the track and supports recently disappeared from their storage spot in Malaysia, after being sat there for years. So it's either a massive coincidence and we're getting 2 new 10-looper installations next year. Or it's going to Dingo
 
Maybe I’ve missed something here, but do we actually have any confirmation that it 100% is the ride from Malaysia?

I mean, I know it would make sense for it to be based on how long it’s been in storage, however I’ve not seen anything to confirm it definitely is the same ride yet everyone is talking about it as though that’s a fact. Even the RCDB entry seems to be implying that this is just speculation.

The very high price tag that the park have attributed to it would suggest that it is a new model which, although seemingly unlikely, could be the case.

It's all very much speculation, but it's a case of joining up the dots and coming to the conclusion that it's 99.9% certain that particular ride will be going to Flamingo Land:

- As Dar mentioned, the ride hardware has been moved from where it was stored
- The recent Malaysian news article reported that the highest bidder for the ride was from the UK. I can't think of another UK park at the moment who would have the market for that sort of ride and the money to part with for it.
- There's been rumours from multiple sources about this for months now
- We'd normally have heard about a brand new ride being manufactured for them by Intamin by now

I'd be amazed if it wasn't the Malaysian model at this point!
 
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