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Obscure UK Parks

Just got back from Cornwall and we did pay a visit to Camel Creek

The good:
It's a well located park in a nice setting. There is clearly a viable business here and the park was very busy when we attended last Wednesday. They had a foam party and opening extended to 8:30. All of the rides were for younger children which was fine and they do have a large soft play which was popular. The new outdoor play area looked good and is a solid investment.

The bad

Worst food and beverage operations I've ever seen at any park. An absolute shambles. The Secret garden in particular was abysmal with ridiculous slow service, food all over the floor and plenty of very fed up customers. They park as a whole seemed understaffed with nobody cleaning or tidying in general. My wife commented on the awful condition the Guinea pigs were being kept in as well.

The coasters are rubbish from the 1980s, clapped out with little to no capacity when the park is busy. The park has a decent selection of flats but not enough for peak season.

Overall the park needs better management, more staff and someone to sort out it's food and beverage operations.

They could also do with some higher capacity rides. A decent family coaster would be a start. The park needs investment and with Flambards jumping the shark they are that last amusement park in Cornwall of any scale. Hopefully they get the right investor (not Brighton Pier group) as it stands it's a once and done park.
 
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I wasn't sure whether to mention this here as we don't really talk about alpine coasters too much here (though there is a thread that exists for the Alpine coaster in Snowdonia) but it looks there will be a new mountain coaster opening quite soon at the redeveloped Midlothian Snowsports Centre near Edinburgh. RCDB has some nice pictures of it's construction and layout and lists it as due to open in October this year.

https://rcdb.com/21755.htm

There is an article about it here from Time Out.
www.timeout.com

Scotland’s first alpine coaster will open later this year

And it'll go speeds of up to 28mph
www.timeout.com www.timeout.com
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
I wasn't sure whether to mention this here as we don't really talk about alpine coasters too much here (though there is a thread that exists for the Alpine coaster in Snowdonia) but it looks there will be a new mountain coaster opening quite soon at the redeveloped Midlothian Snowsports Centre near Edinburgh. RCDB has some nice pictures of it's construction and layout and lists it as due to open in October this year.

https://rcdb.com/21755.htm

There is an article about it here from Time Out.
www.timeout.com

Scotland’s first alpine coaster will open later this year

And it'll go speeds of up to 28mph
www.timeout.com www.timeout.com
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Not the first coaster in Scotland that was a fairground attraction, that honour goes to the Vekoma Boomerang now at Pleasurewood Hills as far back as 1988 but still...is it not hard enough to have asked for a Mack or RMC terrain hugging that mountain side?
 
A new European indoor theme park has been announced at IAAPA!

Bommelwereld in Groenlo, Netherlands is due to open next year, and will feature a family rollercoaster and flume ride (the latter appears to be similar to Splash Lagoon at Paulton's), among others.

www.thesun.co.uk

New indoor theme park opens in Europe next year with huge castle and water flume

A HUGE new indoor theme park is set to open just a few hours from the UK. Bommelwereld, in Groenlo in the Netherlands, is set to open next year. First announced in 2022, the 9,000sqm (97,000sqft) w…
www.thesun.co.uk
 
IDB said:
The Reverchon Magic Mouse has been sold to showman Abie Danter (who now owns two mice!)
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As a former ops manager from Brean this is sad to hear and I hope there are replacements coming.
As for the KMG xfactory (miami) I believe it hasn't run the fountains or tilt since the cadells sold the park which is a shame as it set this ride apart from similar rides and was a big draw for customers especially on a hot day.
 
Steve Minor said:
As a former ops manager from Brean this is sad to hear and I hope there are replacements coming.
As for the KMG xfactory (miami) I believe it hasn't run the fountains or tilt since the cadells sold the park which is a shame as it set this ride apart from similar rides and was a big draw for customers especially on a hot day.
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I was in brean today for the country music festival the mouse has now completely been taken away. They do have signs up around the park saying New Rides coming soon 2025
 
Didn’t get around to mentioning the trip myself and @Alix did around the far South West nonsense a couple weeks back. Not a proper TR just a few thoughts.
  • Crealy: My first visit ever here (despite only living an hour away, I just never bothered before). Nice little park actually! Sooty Land genuinely quite charming and lovely as someone who grew up on it. Vekoma Junior also had actual theming and the SBF Visa indoor thing existed. Spited by the spinner sadly but by all accounts if there’s even a breath of wind it doesn’t open, and it was heavy all day. The indoor cafe next to the SBF Visa indoor thing did vegan coffee with nice coffee beans so Alix was happy. Would very happily come back here again!
  • Funder Park Dawlish: Permanent funfair with a wacky worm basically, but +1.
  • Milky Way: Nothing really changed since last time I was here but I still find the layout bizarre. It’s basically a massive warehouse with paths in a circle and lots of kiddie stuff dotted around inside and out. The Zyklon didn’t break my spine either (I was spited last time) so good points from me. Also the train is weird with random model dinosaurs around the circuit??? Also, they do weddings with exclusive ERT on the Dodgems now so that’s a thing.
  • Camel Creek: All rides operated in spite of there being a torrential downpour, so was able to get in and out in about an hour (good thing in retrospect), including time to venture the stables and say hello to the shire horses. Also Morgawr is definitely a Soquet, whatever they claim. It’s still still very sad though - seems like it gets barely any passing trade and the fact it’s been in and out of bankruptcy is hardly surprising. Didn’t risk food.

Still maintain that unless you really want the creds none of them are worth bothering with except Crealy if you’re in the area otherwise anyway, or (if you have young children that can do the activities) Milky Way.
 
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Highlight was definitely all the animals - miniature ponies, donkeys and those gorgeous shire horses. Lowlight was the distinct lack of Alix friendly cake - but I suppose that was probably good for me.

The twinkly lights in Maximus were nice, the clown coaster at camel creek had more theming than the one at Wickstead, and the 3 point seat belt plus lap bar combo on the dragon was something 😂

Was a fun weekend - those lanes still give me nightmares - and I even tried my first ever pint of rattler
10/10
 

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Crealys some potential to become a bigger park. With Flambards on borrowed time and Camel Creeks future uncertain, there is an opportunity to be the best theme park in the south west. It's probably the best located of all the parks in the area, not far from Exeter
 
Twister at Crealy also won't operate in the rain. We nearly got spited but it held off long enough
 
This may have been mentioned already, but I just went onto the Adventure Wonderland website and it said it was closed for a restructure. When I did a bit of Googling it sounds like it's closed for good. This one passed me by.
www.adventurewonderland.co.uk

Adventure Wonderland family theme park, Bournemouth, Dorset.

Adventure Wonderland, Its a full days fun at Dorset's No1! with over 30 rides and attractions all included. Located opposite Bournemouth airport.
www.adventurewonderland.co.uk www.adventurewonderland.co.uk
 
Funcone said:
This may have been mentioned already, but I just went onto the Adventure Wonderland website and it said it was closed for a restructure. When I did a bit of Googling it sounds like it's closed for good. This one passed me by.
www.adventurewonderland.co.uk

Adventure Wonderland family theme park, Bournemouth, Dorset.

Adventure Wonderland, Its a full days fun at Dorset's No1! with over 30 rides and attractions all included. Located opposite Bournemouth airport.
www.adventurewonderland.co.uk www.adventurewonderland.co.uk
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Adventure Wonderland has been closed for over a year.

On Coasterpedia, the mini Log Flume, Pirate Ship and the Jabberwocky slide ended up at Southport Pleasureland and the Giant YoYo ride ended up at Funland Hayling Island.

The rollercoaster doesn't seem to have been relocated anywhere according to RCDB and Coasterpedia as of current.
 
The writing has been on the wall since they closed the park to remove their major thrill rides including their only rollercoaster and replaced them with Dodgems and a Flying Planes fairground ride. It's almost like this has been decided for months.

I'm hoping that the Victorian Village and the Blitz exhibitions are preserved in some way, shape or form.

I wonder what will happen to some of the rides 🤔

It's a real shame as this place had a place in a lot of people's hearts.
 
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