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Flamingo Land: General Discussion
Benzin
TS Member
Re: flamingo land
Went today, it's actually alright really, operations are lacklustre although for Mumbo it's not really helped by the ride system itself, they are limited in a similar way to Fury/Spinball...
However, people on here complain about Towers' entrance looking crap, need to get to here... Because it's god damn awful with a weird array of dodgy looking buildings which seem to have been taken from a seaside town, random children's rides plonked around, and just a general lack of anything really...
A fair few parts of the park could do with a bit of TLC, and the zoo is quite good, but really what they lack is some consistency between themed areas... Let alone the names of Splosh and WHHHOOOOSH! (seriously guys?)... However they have a decent ride line up for their level of income, with 3 good rate coasters which are suitable for a good number of the family, and Flip Flop is an extremely good if sickening flat ride...
Once they get some consistency between the themed areas (and perhaps find a way to expand the park section, which makes Thorpe look like the size of Towers), they could start really providing a good overall experience... They defo need to redevelop the entrance area though... That should be a priority...
Went today, it's actually alright really, operations are lacklustre although for Mumbo it's not really helped by the ride system itself, they are limited in a similar way to Fury/Spinball...
However, people on here complain about Towers' entrance looking crap, need to get to here... Because it's god damn awful with a weird array of dodgy looking buildings which seem to have been taken from a seaside town, random children's rides plonked around, and just a general lack of anything really...
A fair few parts of the park could do with a bit of TLC, and the zoo is quite good, but really what they lack is some consistency between themed areas... Let alone the names of Splosh and WHHHOOOOSH! (seriously guys?)... However they have a decent ride line up for their level of income, with 3 good rate coasters which are suitable for a good number of the family, and Flip Flop is an extremely good if sickening flat ride...
Once they get some consistency between the themed areas (and perhaps find a way to expand the park section, which makes Thorpe look like the size of Towers), they could start really providing a good overall experience... They defo need to redevelop the entrance area though... That should be a priority...
Adam
TS Member
Re: flamingo land
Stay at home/go to a better theme park are my two suggestions.
If you do still want to go then lower you expectations greatly, the place is crap. And as for queues well considering how awful the main rides capacity are, you'll be queueing for quite a bit even if the parks not that busy.
RyanYoxall said:
Stay at home/go to a better theme park are my two suggestions.
If you do still want to go then lower you expectations greatly, the place is crap. And as for queues well considering how awful the main rides capacity are, you'll be queueing for quite a bit even if the parks not that busy.
Sazzle
TS Administrator
Re: flamingo land
Bit harsh there Adz :-/!!
I visited during my holiday to Yorkshire in July of last year and I genuinely enjoyed myself!
Found Kumali to be rougher than anticipated, Velocity to be uncomfortable, and the Motion Master to be... broken.
REALLY enjoyed the zoo - wide variety of species to have a gander at, and its on the large side too.
Absolutely adored FlipFlop - definitely more intense and fun than I had envisioned, mostly because I expected Maelstrom.
Had dinner in an American Diner, which was good fun, and the food was quite nice if I remember correctly?
Their drop tower had epic problems when we were on park... it shot, but no drop :-/.
The only saving grace is that The Corkscrew has gone. Vile thing.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Bit harsh there Adz :-/!!
I visited during my holiday to Yorkshire in July of last year and I genuinely enjoyed myself!
Found Kumali to be rougher than anticipated, Velocity to be uncomfortable, and the Motion Master to be... broken
.REALLY enjoyed the zoo - wide variety of species to have a gander at, and its on the large side too.
Absolutely adored FlipFlop - definitely more intense and fun than I had envisioned, mostly because I expected Maelstrom.
Had dinner in an American Diner, which was good fun, and the food was quite nice if I remember correctly?
Their drop tower had epic problems when we were on park... it shot, but no drop :-/.
The only saving grace is that The Corkscrew has gone. Vile thing.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
CGM
TS Member
Re: flamingo land
Why so much Flamingohate? It's not that bad. Ride operations are definitely the weakest aspect of the park but I've still enjoyed every visit I've made over the last few years. It's worth visiting if you have never done so before.
As for tips, I would hit Mumbo Jumbo/Kumali early to avoid queues.
Why so much Flamingohate? It's not that bad. Ride operations are definitely the weakest aspect of the park but I've still enjoyed every visit I've made over the last few years. It's worth visiting if you have never done so before.
As for tips, I would hit Mumbo Jumbo/Kumali early to avoid queues.
Benzin
TS Member
Re: flamingo land
A big definite YES to the first 3 there... Although when I went Velocity was being run very efficiently (for one train operation), Kumali was probably the worst offender for it since Mumbo Jumbo isn't the ride staff's fault, the management are to blame for the decision to only load one car at a time...
Stupid ride names, stupid area names to boot with that... Although really the only awful one is Zooooooooooom!... The rest aren't that awful and fit the theme... Well, what theming there is, the lack of consistently good theming is a big problem... Especially the avenue of rides between the zoo and Kumali... Put in a entrance refurb to something nice and generic (with some bigger and more detailed buildings, ride removals and added nice things), add some defining features to things like Metropolis and the avenue of crap are all potential improvements the park should consider to take itself forward...
Of course, cleaning up the Seaside area and Lost Kingdom should be done as well, these are the most themed areas and require less work really to be of a good standard... Maybe just more defining features again to improve matters more...
The issue they have is lots of rubbish rides that they've had for years and not gotten rid of yet, resulting in thematic clashes and just plain old crap placement (see every ride in the entrance plaza)... They have 3 decently solid coasters in Kumali, Mumbo and Velocity, and Flip Flop is certainly an excellent flat ride I'm sure would be welcomed at Towers... Pterodactyl is also quite a decent flat ride and Cliffhanger is quite well received (though I didn't bother with it on my trip)... If the park removed a fair few of their really dire flats (the Inverter, everything in the entrance plaza, the 'Ferris Wheel') and replaced them with nice things, there could be a great improvement right there alone...
Lost River Ride would be good if they didn't stop the bloody thing halfway through as well, seemed like they've properly cleaned up the water on it though... Kinda links to operations here though, it'd be a good (and unique) ride if you didn't sit in the middle of nowhere for hours...
Dunno about the food, took a packed lunch in preparation (since for all of Merlin's faults, their on park food is brilliant, especially in comparison to the independent parks)... But it seemed that they MIGHT have a Merlin-like pizza and pasta place now, in amongst the rest of the random crap...
The zoo is really good though, although the tumour arsed baboons scared me... The shows they have there are typical fare but good... Probs the best part of the entire place is the zoo...
Yay for parks that have potential but need to fix up a whole lot to be much much better...
Adz95 said:CGM said:
In my opinion:
Awful operations
Pathetic theming
Needs a clean up
Stupid ride names
Loads of rubbish rides
Poor staff
Overpriced/Under Quality food
I've got plenty more minor niggles, but there the main reasons for me.
A big definite YES to the first 3 there... Although when I went Velocity was being run very efficiently (for one train operation), Kumali was probably the worst offender for it since Mumbo Jumbo isn't the ride staff's fault, the management are to blame for the decision to only load one car at a time...
Stupid ride names, stupid area names to boot with that... Although really the only awful one is Zooooooooooom!... The rest aren't that awful and fit the theme... Well, what theming there is, the lack of consistently good theming is a big problem... Especially the avenue of rides between the zoo and Kumali... Put in a entrance refurb to something nice and generic (with some bigger and more detailed buildings, ride removals and added nice things), add some defining features to things like Metropolis and the avenue of crap are all potential improvements the park should consider to take itself forward...
Of course, cleaning up the Seaside area and Lost Kingdom should be done as well, these are the most themed areas and require less work really to be of a good standard... Maybe just more defining features again to improve matters more...
The issue they have is lots of rubbish rides that they've had for years and not gotten rid of yet, resulting in thematic clashes and just plain old crap placement (see every ride in the entrance plaza)... They have 3 decently solid coasters in Kumali, Mumbo and Velocity, and Flip Flop is certainly an excellent flat ride I'm sure would be welcomed at Towers... Pterodactyl is also quite a decent flat ride and Cliffhanger is quite well received (though I didn't bother with it on my trip)... If the park removed a fair few of their really dire flats (the Inverter, everything in the entrance plaza, the 'Ferris Wheel') and replaced them with nice things, there could be a great improvement right there alone...
Lost River Ride would be good if they didn't stop the bloody thing halfway through as well, seemed like they've properly cleaned up the water on it though... Kinda links to operations here though, it'd be a good (and unique) ride if you didn't sit in the middle of nowhere for hours...
Dunno about the food, took a packed lunch in preparation (since for all of Merlin's faults, their on park food is brilliant, especially in comparison to the independent parks)... But it seemed that they MIGHT have a Merlin-like pizza and pasta place now, in amongst the rest of the random crap...
The zoo is really good though, although the tumour arsed baboons scared me... The shows they have there are typical fare but good... Probs the best part of the entire place is the zoo...
Yay for parks that have potential but need to fix up a whole lot to be much much better...
CGM
TS Member
Re: flamingo land
I can't believe the ride names at Flamingoland offend you so much when in recent years, Alton have given us some of the worst ride names known to man. One of them has a woman's name and another one is named after a number. Compared to those, Zoooooooom! and Flip Flop aren't too bad.
As for the rides themselves, I don't know what you expect from the park really. Some of them are very old but they can't just rip out all of their old rides and replace them in one season. They have been gradually refreshing their ride lineup and so far, most of their replacements have been an improvement. I don't think the overall ride selection is that bad either, they have 3 decent coasters, an excellent drop tower and a few good flat rides.
With the theming, writing it off as pathetic is a bit harsh. at least they made an effort to theme at all. They don't exactly have a huge budget and I think what they've done looks pretty good, particularly at the splash Battle end of Splosh. They're not exactly helped by the park's site which is mostly very flat with few trees. This makes it difficult to define themed areas and means the money spent on theming doesn't go as far as it gets lost in the open space.
Most food at the park is terrible apart from the Metropolis Cafe which does very good food for a park. It's not too pricey either.
Overall, it sounds like you were expecting the park to be Alton/Thorpe standard which is just unrealistic. If you look at where the park is now in its development and where it was a decade ago, the rate of improvement has been huge.
I just think that Flamingoland's status on here as the go-to example of a terrible park isn't justified because it isn't a terrible park. If anything, it's a middle sized, average park and for its catchment area, it does fine.
Adz95 said:CGM said:
In my opinion:
Awful operations
Pathetic theming
Needs a clean up
Stupid ride names
Loads of rubbish rides
Poor staff
Overpriced/Under Quality food
I've got plenty more minor niggles, but there the main reasons for me.
I can't believe the ride names at Flamingoland offend you so much when in recent years, Alton have given us some of the worst ride names known to man. One of them has a woman's name and another one is named after a number. Compared to those, Zoooooooom! and Flip Flop aren't too bad.
As for the rides themselves, I don't know what you expect from the park really. Some of them are very old but they can't just rip out all of their old rides and replace them in one season. They have been gradually refreshing their ride lineup and so far, most of their replacements have been an improvement. I don't think the overall ride selection is that bad either, they have 3 decent coasters, an excellent drop tower and a few good flat rides.
With the theming, writing it off as pathetic is a bit harsh. at least they made an effort to theme at all. They don't exactly have a huge budget and I think what they've done looks pretty good, particularly at the splash Battle end of Splosh. They're not exactly helped by the park's site which is mostly very flat with few trees. This makes it difficult to define themed areas and means the money spent on theming doesn't go as far as it gets lost in the open space.
Most food at the park is terrible apart from the Metropolis Cafe which does very good food for a park. It's not too pricey either.
Overall, it sounds like you were expecting the park to be Alton/Thorpe standard which is just unrealistic. If you look at where the park is now in its development and where it was a decade ago, the rate of improvement has been huge.
I just think that Flamingoland's status on here as the go-to example of a terrible park isn't justified because it isn't a terrible park. If anything, it's a middle sized, average park and for its catchment area, it does fine.
Danny
TS Contributor
Re: flamingo land
Are you joking?
Rita's name I can see where you are coming from, but it had a significance when the ride was opened. [They had the perfect oppertunity to do something about it in 2010, but I guess they could only be bothered to smear turd on the cars and stick a couple of vines in places].
Thirteen isn't a bad name, I quite like it. It has a lot more tie ins to the entire bad luck concept and therefore makes it significant, and actually quite imaginative. A lot of thought would have gone into the ride name and it certainly helped make up the logo. They even managed to give teasers about the freefall drop element in the logo itself.
I really don't see what the name "Flip Flop" has to do with the ride itself. And I still think Zoooooooom [however many "o"s it has] is quite a poor ride name.
CGM said:Adz95 said:CGM said:
In my opinion:
Awful operations
Pathetic theming
Needs a clean up
Stupid ride names
Loads of rubbish rides
Poor staff
Overpriced/Under Quality food
I've got plenty more minor niggles, but there the main reasons for me.
I can't believe the ride names at Flamingoland offend you so much when in recent years, Alton have given us some of the worst ride names known to man. One of them has a woman's name and another one is named after a number. Compared to those, Zoooooooom! and Flip Flop aren't too bad.
Are you joking?
Rita's name I can see where you are coming from, but it had a significance when the ride was opened. [They had the perfect oppertunity to do something about it in 2010, but I guess they could only be bothered to smear turd on the cars and stick a couple of vines in places].
Thirteen isn't a bad name, I quite like it. It has a lot more tie ins to the entire bad luck concept and therefore makes it significant, and actually quite imaginative. A lot of thought would have gone into the ride name and it certainly helped make up the logo. They even managed to give teasers about the freefall drop element in the logo itself.
I really don't see what the name "Flip Flop" has to do with the ride itself. And I still think Zoooooooom [however many "o"s it has] is quite a poor ride name.