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Oakwood Discussion

T3 will probably go to India or somewhere like that. They seem to be buying a lot of second hand rides (including a Batclone) recently. I'd hope no UK park has been stupid enough to buy a Kumbak train SLC.
 
Nothing new for Oakwood planned then? Such a shame! Even though i have never been, it looks such a nice little park! and the only one in my home country
 
Seeing some post on X showing the park empty this weekend. Several rides SBNO and the park looking very Bleak. For a park to open in June and have several big attractions closed is not a good look. Very concerned for the future of Oakwood.
 
@Relife I’m guessing that these are the tweets you’re referring to?:


In summary:
  • Bounce is closed indefinitely due to an “operational incident”.
  • Spooky 3D renovations have seemingly been abandoned.
  • Creepy Crawler is still half disassembled, as it was at the start of the season.
  • Drenched is still closed.
  • Speed and Megafobia both suffered downtime.
I must admit that these accounts are not a ringing endorsement of Oakwood right now.

A trip there wasn’t on the immediate agenda, but a small part of me keeps wondering if I should go and visit and try the retracked Megafobia while the park is still here… as things don’t look terribly good at Oakwood right now.

The problem is, though, that the public transport situation in that region gives me a headache every time I look into it…
 
Matt N said:
@Relife I’m guessing that these are the tweets you’re referring to?:


In summary:
  • Bounce is closed indefinitely due to an “operational incident”.
  • Spooky 3D renovations have seemingly been abandoned.
  • Creepy Crawler is still half disassembled, as it was at the start of the season.
  • Drenched is still closed.
  • Speed and Megafobia both suffered downtime.
I must admit that these accounts are not a ringing endorsement of Oakwood right now.

A trip there wasn’t on the immediate agenda, but a small part of me keeps wondering if I should go and visit and try the retracked Megafobia while the park is still here… as things don’t look terribly good at Oakwood right now.

The problem is, though, that the public transport situation in that region gives me a headache every time I look into it…
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If only you had a driving licence! ;)
 
AT86 said:
If only you had a driving licence! ;)
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I do, but I’m not sure I’m quite brave enough to do that length of drive, at this point at least. I live around 120 miles, or 2h 15m on a good run, from Oakwood, and I’m trying to keep my driving quite low-risk and low-distance for the time being.
 
It really doesn't look good for the park seeing those photos.

The only hope for the place is for the McNamara's buy it back which doesn't seem likely.
 
It really saddens me to see this uk park really driving into the ground.

I haven’t been to the park since 2015, but judging by these photos it’s become much worse. With rides abandoned, fenced off or left to rot away.

It’s currently owned by Aspro, which judging by the state of their other parks, have absolutely no care or passion for their attractions. I saw some videos from Boudewijan Sea Park recently and was shocked to see how badly that place also looked.

Without a buyout in the coming years, can see this park being the next uk park casualty. A real shame because Oakwood in the right hands has loads of potential.
 
Matt N said:
I do, but I’m not sure I’m quite brave enough to do that length of drive, at this point at least. I live around 120 miles, or 2h 15m on a good run, from Oakwood, and I’m trying to keep my driving quite low-risk and low-distance for the time being.
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Take your parents, split the drive and get some experience. Perfect opportunity to do some driving in unfamiliar territory
 
Feels more like a question of when, rather than if. The longer you do nothing and let things slip the more expensive it becomes to turn the park back into something decent. I don't see it even being an attractive purchase for a new company at this stage, why would you spend any money on it other than to strip it for parts? I'd be interested if anyone can propose the strategy that would make significant investment worthwhile.
 
Oakwoods biggest problem is it's location. It's in the middle of knowhere. It's still a fair trek from Cardiff and Swansea and you really need to be staying in the area if your from England to.make it worth while. Pembrokeshire is a very nice place but it's not as well connected or geared up for tourist like Devon & Cornwall.

Oakwood needs a reason to make the trip and sadly there's less and less reason to do so. I don't see any advertising for the park the side of the border either.
 
Probably the sort of place which has suffered as a result of people seeing how easy it is nowadays to hop on a plane and go to a world class theme park for not much more money.
 
Mick said:
Probably the sort of place which has suffered as a result of people seeing how easy it is nowadays to hop on a plane and go to a world class theme park for not much more money.
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Or just getting on a plane and having a summer holiday in Benidorm and not South Wales. As a child all my holidays were Cornwall, Devon or South Wales and when visiting Pendine or Tenby we would go to Oakwood. Only time we went abroad we drove to Ireland, I was 20 when I went on my first flight (to Disneyworld without my parents!).
But now with flights even cheaper and low cost all-inclusive resorts, more families fly off to sunshine. Whereas a holiday in the UK would involve visiting castles, gardens and smaller theme parks. Even places like the Eden Project I think are getting fewer visitors than 10 years ago and I expect Cornwall is still a bigger draw for a UK holiday than South Wales is.
 
AndrewJD said:
Feels more like a question of when, rather than if. The longer you do nothing and let things slip the more expensive it becomes to turn the park back into something decent. I don't see it even being an attractive purchase for a new company at this stage, why would you spend any money on it other than to strip it for parts? I'd be interested if anyone can propose the strategy that would make significant investment worthwhile.
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I don’t agree. If it was family run, then yes, I’d be concerned. But this park is owned by Aspro. Although their parks all seem a bit run down and lacklustre, they are all ticking over. None smashing it, as far as I know, but ticking over fine.

Aspro has more parks in Europe than any other operator. They aren’t in the type of debt that companies such as Merlin are in. They tick over. They take over sites, strip them right back to basics, invest very little, but get just about enough visitors to survive. And they’re happy operating this way. They don’t want to be one of the big boys. I’ve never known Aspro close a park, and they have loads.

I can’t see Oakwood closing, nor can I see Aspro selling it. They’ll keep it going, running at bare minimum, and doing nothing that exciting.
 
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I’ll be honest, Creepy Crawler being dead isn’t exactly the end of the world. It’s an ancient Pinfari that spent most its life getting disassembled and reassembled at M&D’s and on the fair circuit, and it’s not even a particularly notable one at that. I don’t think many tears will be shed if it just goes entirely.

Drenched not being working again yet though is far more concerning. They’ve had over 18 months (probably longer than that) to get the thing operational again and yet it’s still sat there.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I don’t agree. If it was family run, then yes, I’d be concerned. But this park is owned by Aspro. Although their parks all seem a bit run down and lacklustre, they are all ticking over. None smashing it, as far as I know, but ticking over fine.

Aspro has more parks in Europe than any other operator. They aren’t in the type of debt that companies such as Merlin are in. They tick over. They take over sites, strip them right back to basics, invest very little, but get just about enough visitors to survive. And they’re happy operating this way. They don’t want to be one of the big boys. I’ve never known Aspro close a park, and they have loads.

I can’t see Oakwood closing, nor can I see Aspro selling it. They’ll keep it going, running at bare minimum, and doing nothing that exciting.
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a bit like Brittania hotels then!
 
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