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Lightwater Valley
- Thread starter Nathan
- Start date
I can't see houses being built here but it could easily become a holiday park of some sort, slap a load of caravans and challets on there would work as it's in a nice area. Would also still class as leisure so wouldn't be as tricky getting planning permission.
We went to LWV at the end of the summer holidays with 2 toddlers and a teenager, first time we’ve been. It was £15 a ticket (they had a flash sale on the website). It was a wet day, but it was ok, we left happy - just. There was plenty to do, we filled the day, and you can see how they’re updating the place - there’s a couple of new rides been built to the right as you go in, behind the a little train and the kids bump/drop tower.
The older parts of the park are really on their backside though, the ancient looking ladybird themed coaster was closed half the day as the drive tyres were too wet to get the train up the hill. The Alice themed car ride is just scary and the caterpillar coaster is a rusty mess.
Having said that, staff were friendly, and the issues we had with food and beverage were quickly resolved.
I reckon they’re about £2/3 million investments away from having a top park aimed at younger families. Would we return? Maybe in a couple of years and if the price was right, but as for a planned family get away, we’ll go to Paulton’s or elsewhere else as there’s rides for us all.
The older parts of the park are really on their backside though, the ancient looking ladybird themed coaster was closed half the day as the drive tyres were too wet to get the train up the hill. The Alice themed car ride is just scary and the caterpillar coaster is a rusty mess.
Having said that, staff were friendly, and the issues we had with food and beverage were quickly resolved.
I reckon they’re about £2/3 million investments away from having a top park aimed at younger families. Would we return? Maybe in a couple of years and if the price was right, but as for a planned family get away, we’ll go to Paulton’s or elsewhere else as there’s rides for us all.
Shaggy_Dog_
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Ride To Happiness
The question though is whether the current owners would even be bothered to semi-theme some flats. Since taking over the park any of the rides they’ve added have just been bog standard travelling models and given their background in running a seaside pier amusement park I honestly don’t think they are interested in creating anything worthy of a theme park.
Even without the losses that have been announced by the company I never got the impression that there was any real interest in building the park up and utilising it’s potential. The sad thing is that there truly is the scope to have a great family focused park there but I don’t think that Brighton Pier Group have ever talked about bringing any significant new hardware to the park in terms of having a long term plan (like say Loopings did with Drayton). Sure, they’ve bought in a Twister, dodgems, and an arcade but that’s exactly the kind of thing you’d expect from a seaside amusement park, but that’s very different from announcing an investment in a proper permanent coaster or flat ride for example. I just don’t think that kind of thing was ever on their radar.
Edit - I’ve just seen that they’ve added a new Zamperla Junior Miami ride called Tiki Raft and it’s actually the relocated Flying Carpet that was at Gulliver’s Land at Milton Keynes.
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They have always had such space, since the Ultimate opened, but they never filled the spaces up with rides.
A big part of their overall issues, they never continued to develop, they had the same rides for decades, with little progression, apart from the pirates bit, with two pirate boats!
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Interestingly, Lightwater Valley apparently received planning permission recently for a glamping and lodge complex:
www.facebook.com
Source: Theme Park Insanity (Originally sourced from Sneakycoasters)
(My apologies… the Facebook link wouldn’t embed)
The proposed complex is to be built on a combination of the former Wave Swinger site and part of the former footprint of The Ultimate.
This is surprising news, in my opinion… could the park have some ambitious plans in the pipeline within this new era of targeting the under-10s? I can’t help but think that the current park offering seems a little underdeveloped to warrant investment into on-site accommodation…
Bei Facebook anmelden
Melde dich bei Facebook an, um dich mit deinen Freunden, deiner Familie und Personen, die du kennst, zu verbinden und Inhalte zu teilen.
www.facebook.com
(My apologies… the Facebook link wouldn’t embed)
The proposed complex is to be built on a combination of the former Wave Swinger site and part of the former footprint of The Ultimate.
This is surprising news, in my opinion… could the park have some ambitious plans in the pipeline within this new era of targeting the under-10s? I can’t help but think that the current park offering seems a little underdeveloped to warrant investment into on-site accommodation…
Zeock
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Journey to the Center of the Earth
Interestingly, Lightwater Valley apparently received planning permission recently for a glamping and lodge complex:
Source: Theme Park Insanity (Originally sourced from Sneakycoasters)Bei Facebook anmelden
Melde dich bei Facebook an, um dich mit deinen Freunden, deiner Familie und Personen, die du kennst, zu verbinden und Inhalte zu teilen.
(My apologies… the Facebook link wouldn’t embed)
The proposed complex is to be built on a combination of the former Wave Swinger site and part of the former footprint of The Ultimate.
This is surprising news, in my opinion… could the park have some ambitious plans in the pipeline within this new era of targeting the under-10s? I can’t help but think that the current park offering seems a little underdeveloped to warrant investment into on-site accommodation…
That is interesting. The under 10 market seems like the most sensible market for LWV to go for.
Looks like these plans were drawn up before they decided to scrap the Ultimate. In the bottom left of the masterplan it states 'acoustic fence ... screening from roller coaster'.
Nice to see they're getting the important things right though. Pub in the wood is the only attraction worth going for.
Nice to see they're getting the important things right though. Pub in the wood is the only attraction worth going for.
Shaggy_Dog_
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Ride To Happiness
I think this might indicate the opposite actually, that the owners want to focus more on the revenue that could be had from turning the park in to a site for short breaks and glamping than from building up the theme park in terms of its ride lineup. I think plenty of families would like the idea of a short break in North Yorkshire where the kids could have a go on some rides without caring too much about what those rides actually are.
And given the current ownership if there were any rides being added they probably wouldn’t be anything of much interest, just some fairly unexciting stuff that you’d find on a pier somewhere.
Knew we had full details on here from over a decade ago...Jan 3rd, 2013!News has just gone up from the park on Twitter, Harrogate council has voted a unanimous yes towards the New Lightwater Holiday Village!!
This is great news for the park, after last seasons 12% fall in visitors!
More news to follow later on I would imagine!
Not much different from then either.
Pages 1 to 4 in this very topic make amusing reading a decade on.
James Watkins
TS Member
https://lightwatervalley.co.uk/rides/view/the-rocket-rollercoaster
New roller coaster coming 2024! Let’s hope it’s something at least slightly substantial
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Id be amazed if it's anything bigger in scale something like Octonaughts or some second hand spinning model you get on funfairs
Katy
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Wildfire (Kolmården)
"twists, turns and spins" probably a Reverchon spinning coaster as you say. Nothing on RCDB about this, was hoping that would have more info!
evilcod
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Pirates of the Caribbean - Paris
That would seem a very risky move publicity wise for the park considering their history.
I agree on something of that scale though.