What Coasters do each UK park need, in your opinion?

[rob666]

Mingo is technically the nearest, but Blackpool is the easiest and quickest to get to.
And they go there in swarms in certain weeks, love it!

 

[owenstreet7]

Scotland has an excellent opportunity for a semi-decent theme park, given the lack of competition. Is flamingo land the nearest major park?

I believe it's a toss up between Pleasure Beach Blackpool/Lancashire/South Shore/Mandyland/Resort and Flamingo Land.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

I believe it's a toss up between Pleasure Beach Blackpool/Lancashire/South Shore/Mandyland/Resort and Flamingo Land.

Flamingo Land looks like the nearest on the map but I think it’s a bit of a longer journey than you might assume it to be (for example it takes me 2 hours to get there from Newcastle which is only 65 miles away from it).

I had a look at on Google Maps to calculate some typical journey times from Glasgow and Edinburgh to BPB, FL, and AT.

Edinburgh to Flamingo Land - 199 miles, 4hr 12m

Edinburgh to Pleasure Beach - 197 miles, 3hr 46m

Edinburgh to Alton Towers - 258 miles, 5hr 18m

Glasgow to Flamingo Land - 226 miles, 4hr 22m

Glasgow to Pleasure Beach - 198 miles, 3hr 41m

Glasgow To Alton Towers - 259 miles, 4hr 49m

It’s interesting that quicker to get to Pleasure Beach on the other side of the country from Edinburgh than it is to go straight down to Flamingo Land even though they are a similar amount of miles away in distance. And it’s also interesting that Alton Towers is only half an hour longer to get to than Flamingo Land from Glasgow (granted though both are a long drive).

So I think really that for almost everyone in Scotland they’d find that Blackpool is much quicker to drive to than Flamingo Land, though of course the caravan park side of FL is something it has as an advantage.

 

[rob666]

By very lengthy tradition, Blackpool.
I would say that the Beach beats Mingo by at least five to one.
Swarm invasion of tartan in Blackpool every summer, first three weeks in July.
Crevettes is a place to behold in such times.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Actually there was once a time in which Morecambe Frontierland was actually very popular with many Scots, more so than Blackpool actually, right up until its closure given how closer that was compared to even Blackpool, can't say the same about Southport but certainly nowadays Blackpool has the lion's of visitors though admittedly Drayton is starting to catch up with being one for many here to visit as an alternate to Towers.

 

[Ryan]

It’s interesting that quicker to get to Pleasure Beach on the other side of the country from Edinburgh than it is to go straight down to Flamingo Land even though they are a similar amount of miles away in distance. And it’s also interesting that Alton Towers is only half an hour longer to get to than Flamingo Land from Glasgow (granted though both are a long drive).

"Sides" of the country does get weird once you get up to Scotland, Edinburgh is further west than Blackpool, and are there no motorways in the North East beyond Newcastle - the A1 is winding, and often drops down to a lane each way...it can be a slog!

 

[rob666]

... Edinburgh is further west than Blackpool...

Stunning useless fact of the day sir...congratulations.
Never would have thunk it, even with a level geography and a love of maps.

 

[Matt.GC]

A few years ago, we had a big work conference in Liverpool. It was a Yorkshire based company so we were all complaining of Northern bias that they held it just across the Pennines from their head office so they didn't have to go very far. Some of the people who met us at Bristol on the way up for lifts had driven 2 hours from the likes of Penzance already.

But when we got there, we spoke to the Jocks. Some of those poor buggers had taken the entire day to get there. All of us struggling with the altitude change, us for being so far north, the Jocks for being so far south. Yet even we struggled to keep up with them at the bar. The northern, midlanders, and south eastern lot off to bed first, then the Welsh, but even us carrot crunchers had to stumble off to our rooms before the Scots.

I think the problem with Scotland is both the sparsity of the population, and the sheer natural beauty of the country. It would be hard to find a plot of land that wouldn't spoil the natural landscape but is also close enough to dense enough population centres.

 

[QTXAdsy]

A few years ago, we had a big work conference in Liverpool. It was a Yorkshire based company so we were all complaining of Northern bias that they held it just across the Pennines from their head office so they didn't have to go very far. Some of the people who met us at Bristol on the way up for lifts had driven 2 hours from the likes of Penzance already.

But when we got there, we spoke to the Jocks. Some of those poor buggers had taken the entire day to get there. All of us struggling with the altitude change, us for being so far north, the Jocks for being so far south. Yet even we struggled to keep up with them at the bar. The northern, midlanders, and south eastern lot off to bed first, then the Welsh, but even us carrot crunchers had to stumble off to our rooms before the Scots.

I think the problem with Scotland is both the sparsity of the population, and the sheer natural beauty of the country. It would be hard to find a plot of land that wouldn't spoil the natural landscape but is also close enough to dense enough population centres.

I made the choice one time driving to Southampton a fear years ago...never again and I felt so far from home that I was near France which made it all a bit of a culture shock and the Isle of Wight was such an oddball of a place that I can't really put my finger on.

The thing with Scotland is that the majority of the population live in the central belt and it is here that politically that every party wants to get seats here as if you get those then you control Scotland though it means that the rest of the country gets left behind and regarding you saying about finding a plot of land that wouldn't spoil the landscape but being close enough to a population density, it is hard to find one in which ironically M&D's does have that in its favour if they really gave a damn, honestly any theme park operator would have killed to have that land as with no restrictions and with easy access from most of the central belt, you could make it work landscaping it and all.

I know many say near Edinburgh but sadly there are some serious NIMBY folk living nearby and land round there is very difficult to find to develop on due to ancient burial sites and such though the idea that was mentioned on here that north of Harthill just west of Edinburgh isn't a bad shout though there is the quirk that Grangemouth Oil Refinery is closing and within a few years there will be a large area of land with lovely views over the Forth going soon so...

 

[rob666]

The northern, midlanders, and south eastern lot off to bed first, then the Welsh, but even us carrot crunchers had to stumble off to our rooms before the Scots.

You need to join me and the Tartan Army early in July in Crevettes mate...a joy to behold, but I never manage to last more than a couple of hours!
Often home in bed poorly via the train by teatime.
"Where is your bloody car?"
"No idea love sorry".
Blackpool needs a nice wooden mouse.