I think Oakwood did have a fair backbone of family rides already built up from the park’s initial years in the late 80s and early 90s, though, with things like Treetops, Spooky 3D, the Bobsleigh, Waterfall, Snake River Falls and Brer Rabbit’s Burrow amongst others, as well as numerous play areas and go-kart tracks.
The park was very much aimed at families in its earlier days, even up until Megafobia was built. Apparently Megafobia was originally intended to be a more modest, family-orientated woodie, but CCI offered Oakwood the larger ride we have today at a substantially reduced price so that they could have a large ride in Europe showcasing the best of their abilities to show off to potential European clients (Megafobia was the first CCI built in Europe).
After that, it seems as though the park took an almost Thorpe Park-esque approach for the decade or so after that, going all in on the huge thrill rides. Everything major built in the decade following Megafobia’s opening was aimed at the thrill seekers; Bounce, Vertigo, Hydro and Speed were all big, white-knuckle thrill rides. In fairness, though, this did seem to be going well for them prior to the death on Hydro, and in spite of the Hydro incident, Speed still raised guest figures by 53% back to around 400,000 or so in its opening year, so I don’t think it was going for the thrill market that caused Oakwood’s downfall; this approach was very, very successful for them when they took it, and caused some of their most successful years.
Under Aspro, the park seems to have taken a more family-orientated approach once again, with theming/aesthetics taking centre stage, and playing a far larger role than it had previously. I also think that the park is trying to create areas instead of sole rides; things like Neverland and Spooky Street are intricately themed areas with multiple different attractions within them, and still represent substantial investments in themselves, but the only difference is that they are more aimed at families with younger children, and perhaps lack a huge headliner in the vein of Megafobia, Drenched or Speed.
Oakwood is an enigma, I’ll admit. I think it’s a lovely little place with real charm and a solid ride lineup, and it looked fairly well-maintained last time I went; Aspro have done a lot of refurbishment and renovation, and they’re still making a fair amount of investment every now and then, or at least, a fair amount for a park of Oakwood’s size. However, it never seems busy these days, and you often get the impression that the park doesn’t make much money. Guest figures have fallen by over 50% since the 2000s.
On a side note; a fun fact that you might not know is that according to his autobiography, John Wardley apparently played a fairly heavy role in Oakwood’s creation, acting as a consultant assisting the McNamaras. I knew that he designed Megafobia, but I thought that was the only thing he’d done for Oakwood; I never knew he played such a heavy role in developing the park!
