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Oakwood Discussion
Nobody wants to buy into theme parks at the moment due to the state of the economy.
They seem to be quite a good way of losing money quickly, especially where there is no large local population.
There are thousands of better investment options.
A decade of underinvestment eventually comes home to roost.
Like Camelot/Morecambe/Belle Vue etc.
They seem to be quite a good way of losing money quickly, especially where there is no large local population.
There are thousands of better investment options.
A decade of underinvestment eventually comes home to roost.
Like Camelot/Morecambe/Belle Vue etc.
Enter Valhalla
TS Member
I’m pretty sure Lightwater Valley and Pleasurewood Hills have recently been sold?
Squiggs
TS Team
*and Puy du Fou. And to a certain extent The Storied Lands at 11Arches.
GooseOnTheLoose
TS Member
When you sell a business as a "going concern", the concern actually has to be going somewhere other than into the ground.
A sale requires a willing buyer. Who, in the current economic climate, looks at a geographically isolated park in West Wales (with a ride lineup which requires millions in immediate maintenance CAPEX just to pass ADIPS) and a catchment area limited to holidaymakers and sheep, and sees a profit opportunity?
Lightwater Valley and Pleasurewood Hills (regardless of who's currently shuffling them around the deck) have local catchment areas and infrastructure that make them viable fixer uppers for a domestic operator looking to expand a regional portfolio. Oakwood is an outlier. It is too big to be a family fun park, but too remote to be a national destination.
As I alluded to previously, for a multinational conglomerate like Aspro, the maths is different. Selling the park for a nominal £1 fee just to get it off the books doesn't help them.
Stripping the assets, however, allows them to write off the book value of the rides as a loss against their group profits (reducing their tax bill), whilst retaining the freehold of the land which will sit on the balance sheet as an appreciating asset for future development.
It's worth more to them dead than it is alive (or sold).
History does have a rather uncomfortable habit of repeating itself.
It's a well documented phenomenon that far right nationalists often view periods of severe economic instability and national decline as the opportune moment to expand their territory.
If nothing else, at least they are consistent with the playbook.
Skyscraper
TS Member
Burner
TS Member
That's what I call bath time.
Skyscraper
TS Member
I didn't know you went South East for your bath time
John_P
TS Member
Boudewijn Seapark really losing out getting both Creepy Crawler and Crocodile Coaster from Oakwood.
Boudewijn Seapark (Bruges, West Flanders, Flemish Region, Belgium)
Looking for statistics on the fastest, tallest or longest roller coasters? Find it all and much more with the interactive Roller Coaster Database.
rcdb.com
The Pinfari lives on after over 30 years!! Both ex-Camelot coasters now moved again!!
The only coaster yet to be moved now is Megafobia, hopefully it gets saved in some way...
It is highly implied to be since Sorcerer closed at Camelot Theme Park in 1997 and M&D's in Scotland received an Pinfari RC40 the following year in 1998, judging by the fact that few Pinfari RC40s were ever built.
Megafobia might not be relocated Woodies (though have been relocated been in the past). It is difficult to do so. Think the last relocated woodie was pre 2000's
John_P
TS Member
Yep, had exactly the same issue. Has transferred over to coaster count as well so that's automatically updated at least (not that that number is even accurate).
Zes nieuwe attracties in Boudewijn Seapark dit jaar, waaronder een achtbaan
Boudewijn Seapark pakt dit seizoen uit met zes nieuwe attracties. Het Belgische dieren- en attractiepark, dat vandaag weer opengaat voor publiek na...
www.looopings.nl
According to this article they are getting a Neverland area, with Crocodile Coaster, Tinks, Neverland Chase and Jolly Roger lifted directly from Oakwood and installed as they are. Also looks like the airplanes ride as well
QTXAdsy
TS Member
The only other RC40 model built that I know of was based in Argentina though IIRC closed before Tornado at M&D's did...likely still had that dreadful Corkscrew element on it.