Which theme parks are you most worried about during Covid-19 lockdown?

[Matt N]

According to Wikipedia, Blackpool Pleasure Beach has 38 rides, Alton Towers has 37, Drayton Manor has 39, and some like Paultons and Flamingo Land have over 50!

 

[Matt N]

Citing Wikipedia again, Legoland apparently has 53, Chessington has 33, Thorpe Park has 26, Oakwood has 30 (although I counted 26 from their totals for coasters, water rides and other rides), Pleasurewood Hills has 26, Adventure Island has 35, Paultons has “over 70”, Flamingo Land has 52 and Lightwater Valley has 36. So very few parks out of the ones I’ve looked at fall close enough. The closest I found was Fantasy Island at 31, but didn’t Mellors only recently buy Fantasy Island?

 

[Mr Pearse]

Citing Wikipedia again, Legoland apparently has 53, Chessington has 33, Thorpe Park has 26, Oakwood has 30 (although I counted 26 from their totals for coasters, water rides and other rides), Pleasurewood Hills has 26, Adventure Island has 35, Paultons has “over 70”, Flamingo Land has 52 and Lightwater Valley has 36. So very few parks out of the ones I’ve looked at fall close enough. The closest I found was Fantasy Island at 31, but didn’t Mellors only recently buy Fantasy Island?

quite honestly just leave Wikipedia out of this. If you want a true number of rides not attractions then go to the each website individualy.
Even just a quick look shows flamingo land has only 25 rides.

 

[Tom]

Ah, the old “I know but I’m not telling” Tweet strategy.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

Makes me laugh when parks claim to have over 100 rides and attractions if u count all the HB stores,Arcade machines and other pay stuff yes it will add up to 100 things to do.

 

[Mr Pearse]

Makes me laugh when parks claim to have over 100 rides and attractions if u count all the HB stores,Arcade machines and other pay stuff yes it will add up to 100 things to do.

this is why I’d never trust Wikipedia. If you ever want a true number of rides then look at the park map or look on the ride list on the website. It just make my head boggle when people take what Wikipedia says seriously sometimes.

 

[jon81uk]

this is why I’d never trust Wikipedia. If you ever want a true number of rides then look at the park map or look on the ride list on the website. It just make my head boggle when people take what Wikipedia says seriously sometimes.

But the park isn't often any more truthful. As has been pointed out in this thread already Thorpe Park claims to have over 30 rides, attractions and experiances. Wilkipedia in this case showing 26-28 (depends if you count the escape room and the Black Mirror attraction that in SBNO) attractions seems pretty realistic to me. To get up to 30 the park must count the arcades and similar as well?

In most cases as Wikipedia is edited by the "public" it is pretty accurate as the same sort of people who would post on these forums are likely to edit the pages.


And back to the topic of the Tweet, it is possible Drayton Manor, Shockwave is one of the only stand-up coasters. Or maybe Lightwater, the Ulimate is still the second longest coaster in the world!

 

[speedy]

But the park isn't often any more truthful. As has been pointed out in this thread already Thorpe Park claims to have over 30 rides, attractions and experiances. Wilkipedia in this case showing 26-28 (depends if you count the escape room and the Black Mirror attraction that in SBNO) attractions seems pretty realistic to me. To get up to 30 the park must count the arcades and similar as well?

In most cases as Wikipedia is edited by the "public" it is pretty accurate as the same sort of people who would post on these forums are likely to edit the pages.


And back to the topic of the Tweet, it is possible Drayton Manor, Shockwave is one of the only stand-up coasters. Or maybe Lightwater, the Ulimate is still the second longest coaster in the world!

Indeed, personally I don't know why Wikipedia lists "attractions" when there is no clear definition of what an attraction actually is. It's a meaningless statistic.

 

[Matt N]

I’d assume that the tweet is referring to 30 physical pieces of ride hardware, so maybe that’s the metric to go by.

 

[jon81uk]

Indeed, personally I don't know why Wikipedia lists "attractions" when there is no clear definition of what an attraction actually is. It's a meaningless statistic.

That is true, but the attractions list is usually broken down to roller coaters, flat rides, childrens rides etc which are more meaningful and its quite possible to make a list of what you can do within a theme park.

A dictionary definition of attractions in this content would be "a place which draws visitors by providing something of interest or pleasure." This seems correct in these contexts (even if not every attraction is interesting to everyone). Each item on the listing of attractions on a theme park wikipedia page is a thing you would go to as it either is interesting to watch/do or you derive pleasure from riding or taking part.

Generally if a park deem something interesting enough to mention it on the park map then it probably counts as an attraction, but I would argue arcades and similar pay-extra activities shouldn't be counted in a count of attractions as they are additional cost, but they are usually either interesting or provide pleasure (I can usually spend 20 minutes just on the 2p falls machines in Mutiny Bay at AT and get significant pleasure from £1 worth of that low-stakes gambling).

 

[speedy]

I’d assume that the tweet is referring to 30 physical pieces of ride hardware, so maybe that’s the metric to go by.

This is what I would deem an "attraction"

Generally if a park deem something interesting enough to mention it on the park map then it probably counts as an attraction, but I would argue arcades and similar pay-extra activities shouldn't be counted in a count of attractions as they are additional cost, but they are usually either interesting or provide pleasure (I can usually spend 20 minutes just on the 2p falls machines in Mutiny Bay at AT and get significant pleasure from £1 worth of that low-stakes gambling).

This is probably how most parks count "rides and attractions"!

 

[jon81uk]

This is what I would deem an "attraction"

Although by counting only physical hardware, zoos have no attractions. I know a zoo is not a theme park but just to show that its not always the best metric either.
Places like West Midlands Safari Park, the main attraction is the safari and the ride hardware is an add-on. Similarly at Chessington I would say there are at least five zoo-based attractions that if they didn't exist the park would not be worth visiting.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I am quite worried that only Blackpool out of the non Merlin parks have put a plan of action in place ready to reopen if the government allow on the 4th July. With Dreamland announcing not opening this year and the Furlough 80% in place to end of July it may it cheaper to just pay part/full time staff the 30% wage with the government topping it up to 80% to the end of October when the theme parks close or partly open to March next year.

 

[Benjsh]

I imagine we will lose 2 or 3 decent sized parks this year sadly. They have missed out on a good chunk of the season already, they have missed the lucrative school trip season and if and when they do reopen there will be reduced capacity which means reduced income. And if open all rides they don't get to save any money on staff either.

Lightwater Valley, Drayton and Pleasure Wood Hills are likely to close I think.

 

[Mr Pearse]

Lightwater is definitely one that could go over night. Saying that Oakwood could be shut now for the rest of the year. Drayton will just be sold and reopened next year. But in hindsight what’s happening is many smaller Parks have realised that it’s not financially viable to reopen for short period of time. Obviously some will reopen but many won’t.

 

[speedy]

I hold out hope that the Conservative government (who are very much pro business) would step in to help parks who are struggling this year, and other businesses that rely on seasonal trade

 

[Mr Pearse]

The sort of money to save every park is out of the question for the government. Some parks you are looking at millions lost and the government won’t go throwing money about like that.

 

[Matt N]

Oakwood has said that it intends to open on 4th July if the government allows them to; it might also be worth noting that they are owned by Aspro, who are hardly an insignificant company.

As far as I’m aware, all of the parks that have announced they are shutting for the entire 2020 season have expressed intention to reopen in 2021; I think it’s more a cash-saving move to preserve the business’ longevity than anything else.

 

[Mr Pearse]

Oakwood has said that it intends to open on 4th July if the government allows them to; it might also be worth noting that they are owned by Aspro, who are hardly an insignificant company.

As far as I’m aware, all of the parks that have announced they are shutting for the entire 2020 season have expressed intention to reopen in 2021; I think it’s more a cash-saving move to preserve the business’ longevity than anything else.

oakwood is in wales and we are still locked down them sort of places can’t reopen unfortunately.

 

[speedy]

They've already spent billions on furlough costs. If it's too expensive for parks to reopen this year, hopefully an arrangement can be made where staff can remain furloughed until next year