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Flamingo Land: General Discussion

Matt N said:
I've never visited Flamingo Land, but I always thought it looked fun; kind of like a British Busch Gardens Tampa, but on a smaller scale coasters-wise!
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Flamingo Land = British Busch Gardens. A phrase I never thought I’d hear. Not sure the place is worth a long drive unless you are extremely desperate to tick rides off a list.

I say that as someone who grew up with it as my nearest park. Last visit was 2008. At least 3 coasters I’ve not done there. Due another trip but may as well wait for the new coaster now. Not that I’m excited about that stupid barrel roll.

Also lost count of the number of complaints about poor ops. Doesn’t sound like the (relatively speaking, with rose tinted glasses) fun day out it was back in the 90s
 
Dipper_Dave said:
Flamingo Land = British Busch Gardens. A phrase I never thought I’d hear. Not sure the place is worth a long drive unless you are extremely desperate to tick rides off a list.

I say that as someone who grew up with it as my nearest park. Last visit was 2008. At least 3 coasters I’ve not done there. Due another trip but may as well wait for the new coaster now. Not that I’m excited about that stupid barrel roll. Also lost count of the number of complaints about poor ops. Doesn’t sound like the (relatively speaking, with rose tinted glasses) fun day out it was back in the 90s
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I know that BGT probably sounds like an odd comparison, particularly to those of you who've been to both it and FL, but "mini Busch Gardens Tampa" is always the kind of vibe I've gotten from Flamingo Land... I'd even say many of the rides oddly parallel BGT's, in a broad sense:
  • Kumali = Montu
  • Mumbo Jumbo = SheiKra
  • Inversion = Kumba
Only those three, actually... and as I say, I'm talking very broadly there. I probably just associate them because they're African-themed rides with a mildly similar basic description to some of Busch's!

But with the zoo and the theming, as well as the general aesthetic, Flamingo Land has always given off the vibe of "British Busch Gardens on a smaller scale" to me, as someone who's never been.
 
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From Theme Park Insanity on facebook, the station is coming along nicely, doesn't look like much else has changed though. This was from a couple of weeks ago though so not sure what progress has been made since.
 
I think you sorely misjudge the quality and level of the theming, as well as the hardware, I’m afraid to say Matt.

BGT will of course never be claimed to be the best themed park in the world, but it is well presented and consistent. It’s attractions each generally have themes or styling that are sympathetic to the rest of the park and in a few cases to attempt a narrative (Cobra’s Curse for instance). Flamingo Land is a patchy hodge-podge of weakly themed and lacklustre rides. Mumbo Jumbo and Kumali have themed rockwork entrance archways and that is about it.

Velocity and Hero are devoid of any real theming. I wholeheartedly expect Inversion to continue this trend. Zoom is out of place and off the shelf (biplanes in a safari park?!). The same goes for Go Gator (I mean, really…), Dino Coaster and Runaway Mine Train. All standard off the shelf rides plonked on a bit of gravel with a wooden fence around them. Twistosaurus is another stock ride that has a paint job on the trains to look like eggs and a concrete termite mound in the middle of it, but again, has nothing beyond this.

The park in general has no real atmosphere and I personally find it quite drab and soulless. To draw any real comparison to BGT is an insult to Busch quite frankly. The only real similarity that can be drawn is that they are both theme parks combined with zoos. That’s where the likeness ends in my opinion.
 
Matt N said:
I know that BGT probably sounds like an odd comparison, particularly to those of you who've been to both it and FL, but "mini Busch Gardens Tampa" is always the kind of vibe I've gotten from Flamingo Land... I'd even say many of the rides oddly parallel BGT's, in a broad sense:
  • Kumali = Montu
  • Mumbo Jumbo = SheiKra
  • Inversion = Kumba
Only those three, actually... and as I say, I'm talking very broadly there. I probably just associate them because they're African-themed rides with a mildly similar basic description to some of Busch's!

But with the zoo and the theming, as well as the general aesthetic, Flamingo Land has always given off the vibe of "British Busch Gardens on a smaller scale" to me, as someone who's never been.
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SheiKra is nothing like Mumbo Jumbo. I haven’t ridden MJ but can’t see that they are alike whatsoever just because they both have a steep (well, one beyond vertical) drop. One is a dive coaster and one isn’t.

I haven’t ridden Kumali either but have done Montu, which to me from what I can see, dumps all over Kumali from a great height.

I think some of us have said this before but the new Dingoland coaster will likely just be plonked on the ground with no theming. No way can it give off the vibe or roar of Kumba.

From memory the FL zoo isn’t that exciting anyway if you are over 8 years old. Not even sure BG & FL should be in the same sentence.
 
Would "West Midlands Safari Park on steroids" be a marginally fairer assertion from the parks I've visited, then?
 
I was just about to write...
"You haven't done Mingo yet have you Matt?"
I have done Mingo many times, and had good days there...because of the fantastic company, not because of the lukewarm coasters, run with very poor operations.
One train ops, dodgy queuejump tickets, haphazard layout and a dodgy zoo do not combine to make the place "A British Busch Gardens"..even though I have never been!
They have invested in a dodgy second hand coaster, that they haven't actually got going yet.
Not really worth driving too for a one off...unless you are on a tour of a number of parks.
 
rob666 said:
One train ops, dodgy queuejump tickets, haphazard layout and a dodgy zoo do not combine to make the place "A British Busch Gardens"..even though I have never been!
They have invested in a dodgy second hand coaster, that they haven't actually got going yet.
Not really worth driving too for a one off...unless you are on a tour of a number of parks.
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Exactly, he could do Lightwater on the same trip. They have a massively long, insane wild coaster and a fun indoor coaster. Oh, wait. . .

Didn’t you once see a one hour queue to buy queue jump tickets?!
 
Indeed.The classic line, spoken by the lovely young lady on the fastpass ticket booth...
"The chuffing fast pass ticket queue needs a chuffing fast pass line. Four ticket maximum at the till, then you have to go to the back of the line, and I don't care how many are in your group."
Within seconds, she sold me twelve tickets, and I vowed to never, ever, go to Mingo again in the school holidays.
 
I miss the themed area around Cliffhanger.

The zoo part is quite nice though. I'll give them that much.

You might as well compare one of those naff Seaside fairs to Blackpool if you're comparing Mingo to Busch Gardens.
 
They really have to start looking at making the park look more appealing. It can't be denied how ugly it is.

Fair enough they can't do anything about the sea of Caravans nearby but at least add some Foliage and more theming to the park to make it look more cheery. It's a dreadful place.

The coaster line up is bang average too. Velocity and Mumbo Jumbo are decent and always worth a go but nothing to write home about. Kumali is actually pretty decent coaster for a SLC and I always find riding those coasters in the front row always makes a huge difference to the ride experience.

They need this new coaster to ride really well and also be reliable too.
 
Mingo is a random flat piece of land with cheap coasters thrown at it, themeing where it is used is rotten and it has several very sad looking animals. @Matt N you can't judge coasters or theme parks on facts, there's a lot more to it. For an example away from Mingo, I'll stack EGF vs Silver Star. Factually Silvia is better but on ride EGF is miles and miles superior in terms of quality
 
I agree about it being a total dump, but disagree about it being a matter of time before it goes bump.
The caravan site is huge, charges an incredible amount out of school term, and had pretty much sold out through covid.
It fills out every summer holidays, as well as the warm half terms.
That subsidises the rides and animals.
The food, drink and tat sales cover their own costs.
The profit comes from the caravan site.
Allegedly.
 
Are the park and the caravan park the same company though - if I were them I’d split the two entities under a holding company

guess that’s the business man in me though
 
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The whole place has been single family owned and run since the late seventies.
Father passed away, now run by his son and two daughters.
The caravan site keeps expanding to their boundaries, now with log cabins as well.
They charge about seven hundred quid (basic) for three nights in summer, so the site is a real cash cow.
They make more money from the small campsite supermarket than they do from the rides.
Allegedly.
 
As someone else that hasn't been to Flamingo Land I can sort of see where @Matt N is coming from.
I remember my first introduction to the park was the adverts that used to run during the Primeval TV show. Based on the adverts alone there was a deffinet Busch Gardens Tampa vibe and they somehow made it look like a premium quality attraction.
It was only after seeing pictures of the actual park I realised how far off from that it was. Credit to whoever did their marketing then!
 
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