Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Warning in advance: This post ended up far longer than I’d anticipated when I started writing, so I apologise in advance for the sheer length of it, as I know that it’s a lot to take in.
Hi guys. One of the many things that the United Kingdom is arguably infamous for is its weather; here in Britain, it’s quite often either cold, wet or both. So naturally, that would be the sort of climate that would really lend itself to indoor attractions, right? Well, interestingly, I’d argue that Britain has never really embraced indoor theme parks, or even indoor attractions within its outdoor theme parks, to the extent that you might expect, and I’ll admit that that does surprise me a little.
Now, I’m not saying that indoor attractions have never been embraced in Britain by any means. At one time, outdoor theme parks were installing indoor rides in big numbers; enclosed coasters were all the rage in the 80s and 90s, to offer that “British answer to Space Mountain”, and dark rides were also very popular, with numerous parks, even including some smaller names, choosing to install some pretty large-scale ones.
However, this popularity seems to have wavered in more recent years, and many indoor attractions have faced the chopping block as of late; enclosed coasters in particular seem to have suffered a massive fall in prevalence within the UK, with the only ones currently remaining being The Walking Dead at Thorpe Park, Crazy Mouse at Gulliver’s Milton Keynes and Astro Storm at Brean Theme Park. Once popular names such as Raptor Attack, The Black Hole and Space Invader 2 have since been removed (although SI2 did stay within the UK and become the aforementioned Astro Storm), as well as Thunder Mountain at Flamingo Land (a ride I’ll admit I’d never heard of until just now). In terms of dark rides, major attractions like Pirate Adventure at Drayton Manor have also faced the chop in recent years, and one of the more recent dark rides built in the UK, Nemesis Sub-Terra at Alton Towers, only lasted for 3 years. New indoor rides also aren’t being installed at anywhere near the frequency they once were, and not as much as you might expect; the newest major one I can think of is Derren Brown’s Ghost Train at Thorpe Park, which is now 5 years old, and that only came after quite a substantial drought.
An area in which this country has had far less action, however, is in fully indoor theme parks. I’ll admit that this surprises me, for numerous reasons. We have had some, but they either seem to have not been very successful, or been removed in favour of alternative things. I can think of two notable examples of indoor theme parks (well, indoor places with rides) in Britain, both of which are now unfortunately defunct or have been repurposed for alternative uses.
The most notable example I can think of is MetroLand, located within the MetroCentre in Gateshead. If you don’t know much about it and how it was conceived, here’s a really informative documentary courtesy of Expedition Theme Park:
MetroLand is an interesting one, because I arguably think that it shows that indoor theme parks most definitely can work in the UK; despite arguably not having the most groundbreaking attraction lineup, the park still managed to get 1.2 million paying riders each year on its attractions. This made it one of the country’s most visited theme parks, and it maintained this success right through to its closure in 2008. The park was very popular, although it sadly eventually closed in favour of a new cinema as the new owners of the MetroCentre thought that expanding retail would be more viable, and the park had for some reason gained quite a poor reputation by the end of its run. As I say, this park was successful in spite of not having the most ground-breaking of attraction lineups.
The second attraction I’m talking about is the Trocadero Centre in London. In the late 90s, this park added numerous amusement rides and attractions, the most notable of which was the Pepsi Max Drop, an Intamin drop tower which operated from 1997 through to around 2000. In spite of having some rather impressive attractions, the Trocadero Centre never really took off visitor numbers-wise, and as such the rides were removed only a few years after they opened.
In spite of some of the previous indoor successes (MetroLand and the various dark rides and enclosed coasters built in the 80s and 90s), and the factor of climate that indoor attractions in Britain really have going for them, the potential of indoor attractions never seems to have been fully explored in Britain, and I’m not really sure why. Through the lens of indoor theme parks in particular, the only ones that have explored the prospect seem to have met their untimely demise for various different reasons; either because the public did not respond well to them or because the owners of the wider space simply didn’t want a theme park. Nobody really capitalised on MetroLand’s huge success, or at least capitalised on it successfully or fully, which I think is quite sad, as I think an indoor theme park like the Nick Universe parks or Galaxyland that they have stateside could be a tremendous success in Britain, for various reasons. Rather perplexingly, indoor theme parks do not seem to have caught on here in Britain like they did over in the States.
In terms of what the future holds for indoor attractions in Britain; I’m not really 100% sure, although numerous developments are making me cautiously optimistic. Firstly, the Blackpool Central development opening in 2023 looks like one to watch; rides-wise, it only looks to contain the flying theatre, but I think it could potentially represent an exciting foundation for a brilliant indoor theme park if all goes well. The London Resort is also saying that 70% of their attractions will be undercover, which is an incredibly substantial percentage compared with the UK’s other existing theme parks.
So my question to you is; why do you think that the potential of indoor attractions in Britain arguably hasn’t been fully explored, especially in recent years? Why do you think that the ones that have been built have failed, sometimes in spite of their huge success? Why have the big outdoor parks in the country not been expanding their indoor lineup, or why has nobody built Britain’s answer to Nickelodeon Universe? I’d be really keen to hear your thoughts; do you agree with me?
Hi guys. One of the many things that the United Kingdom is arguably infamous for is its weather; here in Britain, it’s quite often either cold, wet or both. So naturally, that would be the sort of climate that would really lend itself to indoor attractions, right? Well, interestingly, I’d argue that Britain has never really embraced indoor theme parks, or even indoor attractions within its outdoor theme parks, to the extent that you might expect, and I’ll admit that that does surprise me a little.
Now, I’m not saying that indoor attractions have never been embraced in Britain by any means. At one time, outdoor theme parks were installing indoor rides in big numbers; enclosed coasters were all the rage in the 80s and 90s, to offer that “British answer to Space Mountain”, and dark rides were also very popular, with numerous parks, even including some smaller names, choosing to install some pretty large-scale ones.
However, this popularity seems to have wavered in more recent years, and many indoor attractions have faced the chopping block as of late; enclosed coasters in particular seem to have suffered a massive fall in prevalence within the UK, with the only ones currently remaining being The Walking Dead at Thorpe Park, Crazy Mouse at Gulliver’s Milton Keynes and Astro Storm at Brean Theme Park. Once popular names such as Raptor Attack, The Black Hole and Space Invader 2 have since been removed (although SI2 did stay within the UK and become the aforementioned Astro Storm), as well as Thunder Mountain at Flamingo Land (a ride I’ll admit I’d never heard of until just now). In terms of dark rides, major attractions like Pirate Adventure at Drayton Manor have also faced the chop in recent years, and one of the more recent dark rides built in the UK, Nemesis Sub-Terra at Alton Towers, only lasted for 3 years. New indoor rides also aren’t being installed at anywhere near the frequency they once were, and not as much as you might expect; the newest major one I can think of is Derren Brown’s Ghost Train at Thorpe Park, which is now 5 years old, and that only came after quite a substantial drought.
An area in which this country has had far less action, however, is in fully indoor theme parks. I’ll admit that this surprises me, for numerous reasons. We have had some, but they either seem to have not been very successful, or been removed in favour of alternative things. I can think of two notable examples of indoor theme parks (well, indoor places with rides) in Britain, both of which are now unfortunately defunct or have been repurposed for alternative uses.
The most notable example I can think of is MetroLand, located within the MetroCentre in Gateshead. If you don’t know much about it and how it was conceived, here’s a really informative documentary courtesy of Expedition Theme Park:
MetroLand is an interesting one, because I arguably think that it shows that indoor theme parks most definitely can work in the UK; despite arguably not having the most groundbreaking attraction lineup, the park still managed to get 1.2 million paying riders each year on its attractions. This made it one of the country’s most visited theme parks, and it maintained this success right through to its closure in 2008. The park was very popular, although it sadly eventually closed in favour of a new cinema as the new owners of the MetroCentre thought that expanding retail would be more viable, and the park had for some reason gained quite a poor reputation by the end of its run. As I say, this park was successful in spite of not having the most ground-breaking of attraction lineups.
The second attraction I’m talking about is the Trocadero Centre in London. In the late 90s, this park added numerous amusement rides and attractions, the most notable of which was the Pepsi Max Drop, an Intamin drop tower which operated from 1997 through to around 2000. In spite of having some rather impressive attractions, the Trocadero Centre never really took off visitor numbers-wise, and as such the rides were removed only a few years after they opened.
In spite of some of the previous indoor successes (MetroLand and the various dark rides and enclosed coasters built in the 80s and 90s), and the factor of climate that indoor attractions in Britain really have going for them, the potential of indoor attractions never seems to have been fully explored in Britain, and I’m not really sure why. Through the lens of indoor theme parks in particular, the only ones that have explored the prospect seem to have met their untimely demise for various different reasons; either because the public did not respond well to them or because the owners of the wider space simply didn’t want a theme park. Nobody really capitalised on MetroLand’s huge success, or at least capitalised on it successfully or fully, which I think is quite sad, as I think an indoor theme park like the Nick Universe parks or Galaxyland that they have stateside could be a tremendous success in Britain, for various reasons. Rather perplexingly, indoor theme parks do not seem to have caught on here in Britain like they did over in the States.
In terms of what the future holds for indoor attractions in Britain; I’m not really 100% sure, although numerous developments are making me cautiously optimistic. Firstly, the Blackpool Central development opening in 2023 looks like one to watch; rides-wise, it only looks to contain the flying theatre, but I think it could potentially represent an exciting foundation for a brilliant indoor theme park if all goes well. The London Resort is also saying that 70% of their attractions will be undercover, which is an incredibly substantial percentage compared with the UK’s other existing theme parks.
So my question to you is; why do you think that the potential of indoor attractions in Britain arguably hasn’t been fully explored, especially in recent years? Why do you think that the ones that have been built have failed, sometimes in spite of their huge success? Why have the big outdoor parks in the country not been expanding their indoor lineup, or why has nobody built Britain’s answer to Nickelodeon Universe? I’d be really keen to hear your thoughts; do you agree with me?
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