Dhev123
TS Member
In the past few years all of the major UK merlin parks have received a new (or reborn) coaster, with minifigure, nemesis, hyperia, and mandrill mayhem. Other parks such as Flamingo land, drayton manor and BPB have also seen additions in relatively recent times (icon, gold rush and sik).
With these additions, we've seen some newer coaster models enter the UK market, including one of the few mack hyper coasters in the world at thorpe, intamin's modern and dynamic family coaster model with gold rush, and B&M's first shuttle wing coaster with mandrill, amongst others.
What coasters do these UK parks need next, in your opinion? Manufacturer, models, elements, etc...
Thorpe Park:
I think this is the most obvious answer, being an RMC I-box hybrid coaster. I feel like thorpe is probably the only UK park that could do this ride type justice, due to the less extreme height restrictions and available land behind swarm/in rumba rapids site. RMC are also very creative with their layouts. Given that hyperia features many RMC like elements, including outer banks and stall, the proposed RMC could instead focus on more snappy inversions and quicker pops of ejector.
I contemplated the prospect of a Mack extreme spinner, but I'll discuss this one later in the thread.
Another pressing issue is that thorpe could benefit from a second launch coaster at some point in the future, considering the uncertain future of intamin's hydraulic launch coasters. While I believe stealth still has a good few years left, I think the park would need either a worthy successor to replace stealth, or build a launch coaster prior to stealth's departure. In terms of manufacturer, I would like to see an intamin launch coaster like pantheon/gotham/toutatis/VC etc.
Alton Towers
This one is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the prospect of project horizon at AT seems good on paper - it would allow the park to transition into 365 operations if they wanted to go in that direction, and would have the USP of being the parks first indoor coaster since the black hole.
However,
Another part of me feels like the park hasn't received a high thrill coaster in way too long, with the last one arriving in 2013. Therefore, this park I think would be the perfect candidate for a mack extreme spinner. Due to the park's height restrictions, the launch capabilities would make for a fun experience without the need for huge drops. Similar to stealth, this would also be a good candidate for the eventual rita replacement.
With hyperia at thorpe, they finally have an 'elite' coaster, and while nemesis is one of the very best in the UK, AT need that stand out attraction that can finally top nemesis, it's been 30 years and nothing has come close!
BPB
I think this park would benefit from a high quality, modern family coaster, as that is currently missing from their lineup of classic woodies. Although I guess an argument can be made that icon satisfies this gap (not a clue I've never been so just assuming it's a family thrill ride).
Flamingo
This park I think needs another standout coaster, one that isn't an off the shelf layout of an already existing UK coaster and is unique in some way. Of course I can appreciate that this is a smaller park and likely doesn't have the budget for something huge and groundbreaking, but maybe something like a Premier sky rocket 2, vekoma launched coaster like formula at energylandia would be a good fit.
In terms of the other parks, we know that chessington is planning their minecraft coaster, which I think is a perfect addition, and other parks such as legoland/paultons/drayton all have a well balanced ride line up for their target markets.
With these additions, we've seen some newer coaster models enter the UK market, including one of the few mack hyper coasters in the world at thorpe, intamin's modern and dynamic family coaster model with gold rush, and B&M's first shuttle wing coaster with mandrill, amongst others.
What coasters do these UK parks need next, in your opinion? Manufacturer, models, elements, etc...
Thorpe Park:
I think this is the most obvious answer, being an RMC I-box hybrid coaster. I feel like thorpe is probably the only UK park that could do this ride type justice, due to the less extreme height restrictions and available land behind swarm/in rumba rapids site. RMC are also very creative with their layouts. Given that hyperia features many RMC like elements, including outer banks and stall, the proposed RMC could instead focus on more snappy inversions and quicker pops of ejector.
I contemplated the prospect of a Mack extreme spinner, but I'll discuss this one later in the thread.
Another pressing issue is that thorpe could benefit from a second launch coaster at some point in the future, considering the uncertain future of intamin's hydraulic launch coasters. While I believe stealth still has a good few years left, I think the park would need either a worthy successor to replace stealth, or build a launch coaster prior to stealth's departure. In terms of manufacturer, I would like to see an intamin launch coaster like pantheon/gotham/toutatis/VC etc.
Alton Towers
This one is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the prospect of project horizon at AT seems good on paper - it would allow the park to transition into 365 operations if they wanted to go in that direction, and would have the USP of being the parks first indoor coaster since the black hole.
However,
Another part of me feels like the park hasn't received a high thrill coaster in way too long, with the last one arriving in 2013. Therefore, this park I think would be the perfect candidate for a mack extreme spinner. Due to the park's height restrictions, the launch capabilities would make for a fun experience without the need for huge drops. Similar to stealth, this would also be a good candidate for the eventual rita replacement.
With hyperia at thorpe, they finally have an 'elite' coaster, and while nemesis is one of the very best in the UK, AT need that stand out attraction that can finally top nemesis, it's been 30 years and nothing has come close!
BPB
I think this park would benefit from a high quality, modern family coaster, as that is currently missing from their lineup of classic woodies. Although I guess an argument can be made that icon satisfies this gap (not a clue I've never been so just assuming it's a family thrill ride).
Flamingo
This park I think needs another standout coaster, one that isn't an off the shelf layout of an already existing UK coaster and is unique in some way. Of course I can appreciate that this is a smaller park and likely doesn't have the budget for something huge and groundbreaking, but maybe something like a Premier sky rocket 2, vekoma launched coaster like formula at energylandia would be a good fit.
In terms of the other parks, we know that chessington is planning their minecraft coaster, which I think is a perfect addition, and other parks such as legoland/paultons/drayton all have a well balanced ride line up for their target markets.
