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Lightwater Valley

slappyofmcguire said:
Pleasurewood I think has a lower ceiling. I don't think the park will ever grow much, but it probably doesn't need to do too much to be steady and make a profit. It I think has more in common with a lot of the beach parks where the area is the destination not the park, for better or worse.

Lightwater is the other way around. People might go to Ripon and it's surrounding attractions, but LWV is much more of a destination park, and with that much more scope to grow, especially given the lack of competition and decent access to the A1.

BPG have both done Mellors a favour, but also critically damaged the park. The removal of so many rides was catastrophic but most of those removed were long past their best of hugely expensive to maintain and even the loss of the ultimate probably had to happen some time.

The benefit is that Mellors comes in as the 'good guys' with a blank canvas to grow, and an established base who are used to feeding off scraps. The trouble is in just bringing in the one new ride, they are committing it to being 'the attraction' with the long queues and issues in the case of breakdowns that brings.

I'm surprised there isn't a support ride like a star flyer or something along those lines to take some of the capacity and give the idea of more for older visitors, but ultimately I suppose they have extra rides if they feel there is an issue.

I am surprised that PWH appears to be making the better fist of the social media landscape. The whole fiasco on the logo was a genuine surprise, given the learning curve the park will have had with FI.

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While Brighton Pier Group were directly responsible for the destruction of The Ultimate, most people seem to forget that Livingstone Leisure were basically responsible for all of the major other ride removals such as Black Pearl and Raptor Attack. Not surprising at all given their treatment and handling of Flambards in Cornwall. They were way worse than Brighton Pier Group as they add not anything more than just close stuff off such as the Shopping Village and Twister. At least BPG, despite their asset-stripping, tried to at least revamp the park into something different, LL ran it straight into the ground the whole time they had it.
 
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VHSGnome said:
While Brighton Pier Group were directly responsible for the destruction of The Ultimate, most people seem to forget that Livingstone Leisure were basically responsible for all of the major other ride removals such as Black Pearl and Raptor Attack. Not surprising at all given their treatment and handling of Flambards in Cornwall. They were way worse than Brighton Pier Group as they add not anything more than just close stuff off such as the Shopping Village and Twister. At least BPG, despite their asset-stripping, tried to at least revamp the park into something different, LL ran it straight into the ground the whole time they had it.
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This is absolutely fair comment. Although there is an ironic twist. Livingston Leisure was a company with more than a few ties to Queensbury holdings which owned both parks in the mid nineties. It was there that LWV started to very much go off the boil, and it became more reliant on fairground rides and loaned attractions.

Not sure what fate pleasurewood had at the same time, but Queensbury had big plans initially for LWV, bringing the mascot woody along, but gradually seemed to draw back from the park when it had the start of its legal problems due the the accidents.

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Here today, and unlike the merlin parks, everything seems to be running and well. Spinning racer is a great addition.
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Glad to hear that, it looks like a great addition! Any other news/works happening around the park? Be interesting to see what mellors have planned next.
 
So that's the only new thing, but it's clear the park has made huge efforts in cleaning and refreshing the park, and it's the best the park has looked in years.

The cheap filler rides that were a legacy of the old ownership stand out as ill fitting the surroundings, and it's clear there is opportunity for Mellors to really make their mark, but special mention to the things they have done to make spinning racer look more permanent, like a racing car with sound effects in a garage on the site selling refreshments, and they have kept it simple by not putting all of the fairground signage and lights on.

Also it has to be said the ride is a perfect fit for the park. I hadn't been in 15 years, and enjoyed the rides on it more than any of the coasters INCLUDING the ultimate which had become simply unenjoyable when last I visited.

Progress is progress, but the first steps seem positive, and I wonder if Mellors selling a couple of their travelling coasters is sign of a big investment coming in the next couple of years.

As a start though, 8/10. I enjoyed the visit far more than I expected to. And that was without the ladybird running, the park's only other coaster of note.

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Smudgy said:
Flashback to a year ago today when LWV announced they were replacing Eagle’s Claw with Spin-Bug on April Fool’s day and everyone thought it was a joke…
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I mean, I keep Spin Bug but I would move it to possibly bring back Eagles Claw or something new that is much bigger.
 
VHSGnome said:
I mean, I keep Spin Bug but I would move it to possibly bring back Eagles Claw or something new that is much bigger.
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I wonder what has happened to Eagles Claw. Was it put up for sale, is it in storage somewhere, or has it been scrapped?

Black Pearl is for sale at €100k on Rideszones by the look of it.
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It's a real shame Mellors didn't acquire the park when Brighton Pier group did. It wouldn't have had to go through the asset stripping. Good look to them, it's going to be hard rebuilding the park but at least it's in a lovely spot.
 
Quantum said:
It's a real shame Mellors didn't acquire the park when Brighton Pier group did. It wouldn't have had to go through the asset stripping. Good look to them, it's going to be hard rebuilding the park but at least it's in a lovely spot.
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We spoke to James about that. He said he would have retracked various parts of the ultimate and put booster wheels where it tended to stall.

I loved the ultimate and it was heartbreaking to see all that followed, but I honestly think it'll be a blessing in disguise as the park is allowed to build a new identity not dominated by the ultimate.

If he gets sufficient visitors he said that there are big plans for the park and the potential is massive.

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Yeah as heart breaking as it was to see the ultimate go it did kind of hold the park somewhat back for years, however arguably they’ve never had ‘decent’ owners since the Stavelys sold it, maybe if someone else had come in years ago with more financial backing and made some big permanent investments things would be different, still sad to see my
First ever big coaster torn down but like you say slappy, new slate for the park now and it’s seeming very positive.

As for the new attraction/development in the entrance area anyone ideas what could be getting built? Ground work seems to be taking place and there’s some little cars on the site, im thinking maybe one of the kids ‘driving school type attractions maybe getting built?
 
Danrudd123 said:
As for the new attraction/development in the entrance area anyone ideas what could be getting built? Ground work seems to be taking place and there’s some little cars on the site, im thinking maybe one of the kids ‘driving school type attractions maybe getting built?
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It looked like a little figure 8 circuit, so I'd imagine yeah a little car track. They seem to be very active in seeing what the park needs as they go and cutting their cloth accordingly. It was very notable that since visiting on on Sunday they have already filled a load of potholes in the 4 days proceeding.

James said that there will be more new stuff this year, and said to bear with them because they only got the keys so to speak in January. Interesting times.

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That’s great they are taking such care with just general maintenance scrubbing the place up and fixing things that have just been left for years! Very intresting times!

Just seen on James mellors instagram the former ‘bling’ zierer starshape been loaded onto the back of a truck with the caption ‘on the move’ I really hope this is going to turn up at the valley, just what the place needs right now.
 
Danrudd123 said:
That’s great they are taking such care with just general maintenance scrubbing the place up and fixing things that have just been left for years! Very intresting times!

Just seen on James mellors instagram the former ‘bling’ zierer starshape been loaded onto the back of a truck with the caption ‘on the move’ I really hope this is going to turn up at the valley, just what the place needs right now.
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I think it was mentioned somewhere else on here that Turbulence is on its way to one of Mellor's yards for electrical work.

Edit: It was mentioned in the Fantasy Island topic.
 
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