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Oakwood Discussion

I don’t know operator names or what businesses were interested was not told that information but I was told that everyone that wanted the park as it stood when closed was told it was not for sale

JMW said:
From serious operators? Do you know any names?

Yes the Sud-Ouest park i believe. They're not open for Christmas this year so that they can construct the ride
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That’s the one

Matt Cartmill said:
I don’t know operator names or what businesses were interested was not told that information but I was told that everyone that wanted the park as it stood when closed was told it was not for sale
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Welsh government also had interested buyers and still do but aspro will not sell the park with assets on
 
We can only hope Megafobia remains and can be utilised in some way in any future development. I'm guessing the bobsled will probably stay aswell as I can't imagine Aspro going to the trouble of ripping it all up.

It might not be such a bad thing to start from scratch again when you think about it. The park wasn't great with what was there towards the end with the only exceptions being Speed and Megafobia

It just depends if anyone's prepared to invest what is needed.
 
As far as I can see from the various photos and videos online, the only rides that haven’t been dismantled or haven’t started to be dismantled are:

- Megafobia: too difficult / costly to relocate.
- Toboggan: too difficult to relocate as it is terrain specific.
- Waterfall: Could be relocated but I can’t imagine parks would put an aquaskoot in as a ‘new’ attraction from a health and safety perspective these days.
- Skull Rock: Could be relocated but would be its third location and again parks seem to either have log flumes or are getting rid of them.
- Vertigo: could be relocated but sky coasters seem to be losing popularity and being removed at parks around the world.

So could be at the point where Aspro have taken most of the assets they want soon? Whilst it would be difficult (and I think unfortunately unlikely), the couple of rides plus more importantly all the infrastructure that is left standing may make it possible for someone to buy it and bring it back in to use, but need quite an investment in rides. Megafobia is definitely the ‘halo’ ride that could anchor a revived attraction, but once that’s gone, it’s completely dead. Beyond that it’s likely to be for more Bluestone lodges.

I can’t see it being valuable for housing, given its rural setting. Once Aspro have taken everything they can to pay off debts and kit out all their other parks with ‘new’ rides at little cost, surely they will reach a point where selling it with some assets left on the site may be more financially beneficial than selling it off as effectively cleared fields.
 
JamesP said:
As far as I can see from the various photos and videos online, the only rides that haven’t been dismantled or haven’t started to be dismantled are:

- Megafobia: too difficult / costly to relocate.
- Toboggan: too difficult to relocate as it is terrain specific.
- Waterfall: Could be relocated but I can’t imagine parks would put an aquaskoot in as a ‘new’ attraction from a health and safety perspective these days.
- Skull Rock: Could be relocated but would be its third location and again parks seem to either have log flumes or are getting rid of them.
- Vertigo: could be relocated but sky coasters seem to be losing popularity and being removed at parks around the world.

So could be at the point where Aspro have taken most of the assets they want soon? Whilst it would be difficult (and I think unfortunately unlikely), the couple of rides plus more importantly all the infrastructure that is left standing may make it possible for someone to buy it and bring it back in to use, but need quite an investment in rides. Megafobia is definitely the ‘halo’ ride that could anchor a revived attraction, but once that’s gone, it’s completely dead. Beyond that it’s likely to be for more Bluestone lodges.

I can’t see it being valuable for housing, given its rural setting. Once Aspro have taken everything they can to pay off debts and kit out all their other parks with ‘new’ rides at little cost, surely they will reach a point where selling it with some assets left on the site may be more financially beneficial than selling it off as effectively cleared fields
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You would be very surprised how much custom fees are for shipping to the EU it’s crazy money

Matt Cartmill said:
You would be very surprised how much custom fees are for shipping to the EU it’s crazy money
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Aspro will be spending a lot of money relocating these rides not sure why they didn’t sell
 
I would imagine that the decision not to sell Oakwood is part of some creative accountancy, there are a few scenarios I can think of where this would make more sense than just selling the park. Most of the speculation about the bafflement at the decision not to sell forgets that Aspro is a multinational operator, rather than just Oakwood, so the decisions will be strategically made to best benefit Aspro rather than Oakwood.

Whilst seems entirely illogical for a company to say a park isn't for sale whilst simultaneously dismantling it, it makes perfect sense when you stop thinking like a park guest and start thinking like an accountant for a multinational operator.

Oakwood's rides are assets on a balance sheet and by dismantling them, Aspro can write off their remaining book value as a loss. This loss is then used to offset profits from their other attractions around the world, leading to a smaller overall tax bill. In some scenarios, the tax saving from the write-off is worth more than what they'd get from selling the park as a single, failed entity. We saw similar practices at the end of the streaming wars, most notable from Warner Bros. Discovery, where they destroyed and refused to release already completed projects, for the write off. Or where companies entirely removed shows / films from their platforms for the same reason, Disney and Artemis Fowl springs to mind as an example.

The most valuable part of Oakwood is almost certainly the land it sits on, not the collection of aging rides. Aspro is likely holding onto the land, waiting for its value to appreciate for future property development. Announcing it's "not for sale" is a classic corporate negotiation tactic to fend off opportunistic, low-ball offers and signal that they're in no rush to sell, allowing them to wait for the most profitable moment.

A defunct theme park is a complex and messy thing to sell, full of environmental and safety liabilities. If Aspro dismantles the rides themselves, they control the decommissioning costs. Once cleared, they are left with a simple, clean parcel of land. This is a far more attractive proposition for a much wider pool of buyers, like housing developers, who wouldn't touch a site that comes with the headache of removing a rollercoaster.

Ultimately, it's rarely about the park itself. It's about extracting the maximum value from the asset on a balance sheet, and sometimes the most profitable way to sell a theme park is to ensure it's no longer a theme park first.
 
Do Aspro actually own the land? Or was it a similar deal to the Merlin parks? Merlin don’t own the AT site, nor Warwick Castle nor, I believe, Chessington and Thorpe - they sold the site to someone else, and lease it back to run the attraction(s). I believe DMP also do not own the land, only the attraction on a lease agreement. If the land still, in some form, belongs to the McNamara family, then I fully expect it to be part of a Bluestone expansion in the near future, once the legal lease agreements and site clearances are completed if that’s the case. But genuinely don’t know - but I can understand why keeping a land asset in their business is probably no bad thing. Especially when it borders a very popular tourist attraction. It has undoubted value in any case.
 
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Johnny_5 said:
Do Aspro actually own the land? Or was it a similar deal to the Merlin parks? Merlin don’t own the AT site, nor Warwick Castle nor, I believe, Chessington and Thorpe - they sold the site to someone else, and lease it back to run the attraction(s). I believe DMP also do not own the land, only the attraction on a lease agreement. If the land still, in some form, belongs to the McNamara family, then I fully expect it to be part of a Bluestone expansion in the near future, once the legal lease agreements and site clearances are completed.
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Aspro own the freehold for Oakwood.

Merlin still own the freehold for Chessington World of Adventures.
 
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