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West Midlands Safari Hotel & Waterpark

K

kydog1299

TS Member
Topic about West Midlands Safari Park Hotel, Spa, Conference Centre & Waterpark, set to open within the next 5 years.

Plans have finally been released to the public, following weeks of public feedback/consultations/conferences in Bewdley and Kidderminster. Artistic official plans for the Hotel don't seem to have been fully submitted at the moment, however the waterpark seems to have lots of plans submitted.

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Interesting slide choices. I like that they have decided to mix the types of slides up, with a funnel styled attraction, and H20 Style bowls to the side!

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Childrens water play zone noticed, as well as another slide and River Rapids attraction, taking the thrill slide total to 7. Also looks to be lots of room to expand to the side if they ever wanted to add more slides/attractions. Big pool area in the centre, lots of dining places and a very nice reception/ticketing zone too!

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More of the River Rapids

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Not a fan of the colours on the side of the building, but this is just a plan, so hopefully they do look better!

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Disgusting slide colours in my opinion. Would of benefitted more from greens, browns and orange (safari-style) slide colours. The theme they want to go for is very foresty/jungle and safari style, so I don't understand why they have decided to go with a multi-coloured, and in my opinion, cheap looking coloured slides. But hey, it's just a plan, anything can change.

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Nice use of sketch-up!;)

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View from the road. Now, I have to say, I really like this, has a volcano feel to it.

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Other half of the street view! Very big building!

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Car park plan!

They have confirmed that they will be having an entrance off the Stourport, Bewdley and Kidderminster roundabout into the Waterpark & Hotel area, with a bus stop directly outside both The Hotel and Waterpark. They also plan to re-introduce shuttle buses from Kidderminster Train Station and Bus Station, to the park.

The park really has improved a lot recently. New Lost City Plaza entrance, new entrance podiums, new events tent, lots of new attractions like Penguin Cove, and soon to be a new Otter Exhibit and over 3 new exhibits, and also a new 4D cinema coming soon, which plans were approved for, as well as an interactive dinosaur style walk-through attraction. Now, if only they pumped more money into the Theme Park zone! :mad:;) I think this really will be the icing on the cake, and introduce lots more visitors to the park. In 5 years, it'll transform from a cheap-ish, tired looking, 1 day attraction place, to a multi-day Resort with tons of things on offer to do, as well as lots to do in the Kidderminster area, with the re-development plans now released for Kidderminster, to transform the town area from it's grubby look, to a brand new modern shopping and entertainment zone. Things are looking up for the area! :D

They also plan to introduce a Spa (Spring Grove House will become a new Spa area) and Conference Centre, which again will hopefully introduce more and more people to the area!

Looking amazing, and I am very excited to see this develop!
 
It might just be me, but I'm sure the indoor slide is an Aqua-Loop...

There's a lot of potential in the park, this and the hotel could be top additions for them...
 
As much as I'd like to see them add a big coaster, and I think they WILL eventually need it, I think this is a little bit of genius. There is really nothing like this locally, bar a couple of leisure centres, but this park with shuttles would be very easy to get to and would make it a far more attractive proposition.

Bewdley is already a popular little town with the Severn Valley Railway, and that is actually another viable route to getting to the park from farther afield, it's only 5 minutes drive away for those who don't know.

It also looks like it will be way, way better than Splash and if marketed well, especially given that it itself is in a nice part of the world, could pinch winter custom from Towers.

They haven't taken the standard park route, build a theme park, add hotels, add a waterpark.

I drive past this park often, this makes sense for the area, it makes it more of a visitable attraction on so many levels - if they could somehow add a big coaster after all this, they could become a real contender out of no where.

Got their heads screwed on the right way this lot.
 
I completely agree. I'd love to see them add a compact styled Eurofighter sometime in the future. They are taking some good steps to developing the place.

Lots of money has been chucked into doing up the Discovery Trail and Safari drive, as well as the Hotel & Waterpark zones, so hopefully new development in the Theme Park zone shouldn't be too far behind either, as I am pretty sure it's been over 7 years now since the last major thrill ride opened (Venom) in 07.

The amount of facilities and slides on offer will really knock Splash, considering this waterpark will have everything Towers has, and more, and is in a much more ideal location, with public transport a real benefit to this area too.

I have a feeling this could be opening for 2017, should they begin construction next year, or possibly summer 2016.
 
You're right. They will never take away from Towers' core market, and neither would I want them to, but this and DMP slowly making headway and Paramount is a welcome relief from Merlin dominance in the market place.

They are easier to get to than DMP, are also attractive for visitors right up to Wales, as you rightly say have a massive regeneration of Kidderminster which is a pretty successful little town anyway with affluent areas such as Romsley, Stourton, Kinver, Hagley, Blakedown etc that can all access it.

No reason why in 10 years it can't have a good coaster - it's all it needs really, that single headline attraction, if they save up the pennies for a few years and try and get something unique rather than a compact Gerst that could draw a wider crowd in who then realise everything else it has, who knows where it could go.

Exciting times for this dark horse of a park.
 
Wow, those watermark plans look great, as others said its a much better slide line-up than AT's water park. If I remember right there is a big leisure centre pool in Kiddiminster (Forest Glades??) and this water park could compete and bring in a lot of day guests for swimming only if the pricing is right.
 
I cant seem to work out the water park site in relation to the rest of the site.
 
delta79 said:
I cant seem to work out the water park site in relation to the rest of the site.
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Nor can I work out where it could possibly be located! Well, having only been once, I'm not really that familiar with the site. :p
 
TheMan said:
If I am not mistaken off the island shown here with the A456 and B4190 (Bewdley) to the back of the rides and adjacent to the road.

https://goo.gl/maps/CGiyV
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Yeah, TheMan is right. :) They plan to add a new road going off that island on the map above, which will connect with a new car-parking area, and bus stops, which will then feed onto the entrances of both the Hotel and Waterpark. The Waterpark will take up the lower part of the site I believe, and the Hotel will go towards the top, or possibly just behind the Waterpark to allow more parking space. So it'll have a completely new entrance rather than people using the main park entrance, which makes more sense, as then they don't need to spend as much building a road between the entrance and back site area.

The only problem I personally have with the park at the moment is the lack of event funding. They have started this year to introduce easter and 'Explorers Week' events in February, however the Spooky Spectacular is one thing I think lets them down slightly. I visited the other day, and although they do have more theming than Towers (even on the road up to the admission/payment booths, but I guess they can't be compared), they still are lacking decent shows and well marketed shows. They don't seem to go full-force with events and get them noticed, and the shows and extra attractions are not displayed anywhere at all really on the Spooky Spectacular events page. They should cut the event down to 2 weeks, not 1 month, and use the money made back from that saving to go towards more shows or attractions for the event. I'd like to see them trial a Scare Zone like Scary Tales in the future, just to see if it gets a lot of interest. However, on the other side of the arguement, the Firework Festival is spectacular, and this year they have extended it from a 1 day event, to 2 days, staying open until 10pm on the Saturday, and 9pm on the Sunday.

I don't think it will be too long before a thrill ride is invested in again, it's just a matter of how far will they go with it to bring people in, as Venom didn't really spark much interest, which is again I think why they left it a long time before investing in any more thrill rides, even though they are now in desperate need of one or two. They admitted themselves, they don't seem to get many people staying after the Safari, as most people don't realise the Amusement Area and all the attractions in Discovery Trail are there, and people just drive straight out after the safari. Another thing they need to consider is including the price of rides, in the admission cost, so people don't feel fobbed off paying twice, as no matter the cost of anything, the reaction to the public will always be "why am I paying again, when I have already paid?", and people will just not bother.

They are developing really well, just a few things let them down slightly, but they aren't major issues, just something they should consider.
 
The issue of the rides is a thorny one, it put me off using the attractions as well as when I last went (a LONG time ago now) they didn't have rides I wanted to pay for, I just thought, why?

Lot's of smaller parks have proven how lucrative focused events can be, and I'd rather they didn't get something like Scary Tales lol! The more I think back on that attraction, aside from the exit and one or two bits, it really did look cheap and crap. There are one or two nice elements, but something like that alone wouldn't attract people in. That doesn't feel right at all.

I think if they were going to do that, they'd have to go all out to begin a standalone event, they could do it, but they'd really need to focus and make it quality. Towers get's off with the fact it has the Towers, WSP doesn't have that luxury.

It's 17.99 though with a free return ticket. I kinda like it gives the option to sack the rides off if you're just going for the animals, it's not great for me personally, but I think it's of wider public value. It's a darn good value day out out tbh.

However, when you add the wristband prices on, for the rides they have, it's not imo.

Just checked the site, they've added a few since I last went, but they need a signature attraction there. They're extremely expensive though, but could they get something like Alpina Blitz? That would make the park VERY attractive I reckon.
 
Wow, that was quick;) Seems like they have already started on the Dinosaur Walk-through attraction and 4D cinema! They have put up a construction fence by the old animal cage thingy (can't remember what they have animal wise in there now), just behind the Sea Lion Show, which looks to be like the 4D cinema and interactive Dinosaur attraction!

Photo credit: Ride Rater

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Easter opening which is great!
 
Hmmmm, never sure about Dinosaur attractions.

Kinda seems the default choice when you have no other ideas.
 
TheMan said:
Hmmmm, never sure about Dinosaur attractions.

Kinda seems the default choice when you have no other ideas.
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Still great to see a development, after the last real development was Penguin Cove in 2012! By the looks/sounds of things, the 4D Cinema and interactive Dinosaur walkthrough sounds really good! Just what they needed to make people stay a little longer, and stop people driving out after the Safari!
 
kydog1299 said:
Still great to see a development, after the last real development was Penguin Cove in 2012! By the looks/sounds of things, the 4D Cinema and interactive Dinosaur walkthrough sounds really good! Just what they needed to make people stay a little longer, and stop people driving out after the Safari!
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I genuinely hope so, just concerns me a little, it's been done so many times that it's a hard one to make feel fresh. This is one I can't see really making people think, oh, giant fibreglass dinosaurs, never seen that before, let's go there. Particularly parents. I could be unfairly judging I've not seen the plans, but that's what springs to mind instantly to me.
 
AshleeKel said:
To be fair, kids love dinosaurs. Whether it's original or not, families will go.
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Do they?

I really am not so sure they hold the same mystique and wonder they used to.

When mini-me was a bit mini-er I really don't remember the boys growing up being "wow dinosaurs".
 
TheMan said:
Do they?

I really am not so sure they hold the same mystique and wonder they used to.

When mini-me was a bit mini-er I really don't remember the boys growing up being "wow dinosaurs".
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There's been a 'Dinosaur Adventure Park' near me that I visited many times when I was a kid. It's still going strong - so dinosaurs must still have a draw :)

It also hosts its own hardcore scare attraction for Halloween but that's a different story :p
 
Scott said:
There's been a 'Dinosaur Adventure Park' near me that I visited many times when I was a kid. It's still going strong - so dinosaurs must still have a draw :)

It also hosts its own hardcore scare attraction for Halloween but that's a different story :p
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That's because they were hoping to see their aunt or uncle ;)

Any idea how long this is going to take to be built? Looks right up my street!
 
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