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Why haven't the UK got one?

John_P

John_P

TS Member
Sort of spinning off from the thread about coasters were one exists and no one else bought one, but its been bouncing around my head for a while.

The UK whilst still having an enviable (if ageing) line up of coasters around the country. We do also seem to have missed the boat with numerous coaster concepts and even some coaster designers altogether.

So what coasters have people come off thinking that would be perfect for a UK park? But also why do we think parks haven't invested in them?
 
B&M Floorless/Sitdown Looper - I always thought it was a massive shame we never got one of these. Although they tended to be big, I think Thorpe could have got one, and Alton with enough landscaping.

B&M Hyper - More difficult than the Floorless, but Thorpe could still have got one. I always think even a 45m one could be a great, re-rideable coaster.

Other hypers/junior hypers - Separated these from B&M because of a (presumed) price difference, but it's a shame we never got something like Goliath at Walibi Holland. Seems to me like the type of ride most people would like. I think Flamingo Land or Fantasy Island could have something like this.
 
Not coasters, but the complete absense of good extravagant dark rides in th UK has always been utterly baffling to me. With our climate, and our height planning laws, they seem like such an obvious choice.

A trackless dark ride, a well themed omnimover (RIP Phantom Phantasia), a quality fixed simulator, a Spiderman type roving simulator. Where are they all?
 
pluk said:
Not coasters, but the complete absense of good extravagant dark rides in th UK has always been utterly baffling to me. With our climate, and our height planning laws, they seem like such an obvious choice.

A trackless dark ride, a well themed omnimover (RIP Phantom Phantasia), a quality fixed simulator, a Spiderman type roving simulator. Where are they all?
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Literally just comes down to the cost for example spiderman (opening 1999) cost $170 million to build, transformers 3D $100 million, well themed and technologically advanced dark rides often come to a much higher cost than your average coaster.

Think of how flight of the sky lion cost £2 million more than 'the world's only 14 looping rollercoaster' which is also the most compact coaster in the world.

towers actually has an impressive dark ride line up credit to them, curse is the best in the country, subterra is so unique and underrated, hex is the best of its kind, GG isn't good or bad but it's okay filler.
 
George W said:
Literally just comes down to the cost for example spiderman (opening 1999) cost $170 million to build, transformers 3D $100 million, well themed and technologically advanced dark rides often come to a much higher cost than your average coaster.

Think of how flight of the sky lion cost £2 million more than 'the world's only 14 looping rollercoaster' which is also the most compact coaster in the world.

towers actually has an impressive dark ride line up credit to them, curse is the best in the country, subterra is so unique and underrated, hex is the best of its kind, GG isn't good or bad but it's okay filler.
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There are parks across Europe and the world with these rides who have resources massively inferior to Merlin, so I simply don't buy it. We also have the cost of an area vs the cost of one of the cheapest types of coaster, Merlins tax efficient investment quotes amd marketing puff muddying the waters (that tin shed and contents did not cost £20m), and costs quoted of full development of new technologies that are now available off the shelf at a fraction of the cost.

Towers only genuinely impresive dark ride is Hex. The others are enjoyable enough but not high quality.

Choices have been made that leave us without things here, they are all viable options if the will is there.
 
pluk said:
Not coasters, but the complete absense of good extravagant dark rides in th UK has always been utterly baffling to me. With our climate, and our height planning laws, they seem like such an obvious choice.

A trackless dark ride, a well themed omnimover (RIP Phantom Phantasia), a quality fixed simulator, a Spiderman type roving simulator. Where are they all?
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That'll change greatly in 2031, thank god.
 
A RMC or B&M Hyper would've been far better options for Hyperia.


UK did build dark rides in the 90s boom. Unfortunately died down presumably because of the maintenance expenses. Even Efteling can't get all the effects on Symbolica to work 100% of the time. To have a decent one as well needs a good footprint, which comes down to whether a giant dark ride or other more visible ride is a "better" option for that space.

Doesn't help when Merlin splurge £30m on Derren Brown Ghost Train and then are confused why guests aren't big on dark rides.
 
Think for me its probably the complete lack of any parks being interested in the new generation vekoma thrill coasters.

Over the past few years I've ridden Lech Coaster, Formula, Abyssus, Hals Uber Kopf, Fianna Force, Flash Vertical Velocity, and watched Sirens Curse testing.

All smooth, exciting, and fun coasters that would be of a benefit to any UK parks.
 
A big one for me is not any specific ride type, but the UK’s general aversion to any kind of coaster focused primarily on good, straight airtime.

When good straight airtime machines became trendy in Europe and the USA, why did Britain never cotton on? Yes, we now have Hyperia, which is brilliant and does have a large quantity of negative g’s, but even it arguably doesn’t have loads of straight airtime in the traditional sense. When Europe and America were building hyper coasters, RMCs and airtime-filled woodies, Britain just didn’t engage in this trend at all, for some reason. And realistically, I think Hyperia was possibly our best shot at rectifying this; now we have a modern hyper, I doubt we’re overly likely to get a coaster with a large quantity of straight airtime.

While we have coasters with airtime, with some coasters having a fair bit, Britain does profoundly lack a coaster with a primary focus on straight airtime. I think that’s a crying shame; that type of coaster can very often be the best type of coaster, in my view!

I’m not even necessarily talking a hyper; anything with a significant airtime focus would be good. Why has the UK never embraced good, straight airtime like other countries?
 
Matt N said:
A big one for me is not any specific ride type, but the UK’s general aversion to any kind of coaster focused primarily on good, straight airtime.

When good straight airtime machines became trendy in Europe and the USA, why did Britain never cotton on? Yes, we now have Hyperia, which is brilliant and does have a large quantity of negative g’s, but even it arguably isn’t rammed full of straight airtime in the traditional sense. When Europe and America were building hyper coasters, RMCs and airtime-filled woodies, Britain just didn’t engage in this trend at all, for some reason. And realistically, I think Hyperia was possibly our best shot at rectifying this; now we have a modern hyper, I doubt we’re overly likely to get a coaster with a large quantity of straight airtime.

While we have coasters with airtime, with some coasters having a fair bit, Britain does profoundly lack a coaster with a primary focus on straight airtime. I think that’s a crying shame; that type of coaster can very often be the best type of coaster, in my view!

I’m not even necessarily talking a hyper; anything with a significant airtime focus would be good. Why has the UK never embraced good, straight airtime like other countries?
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Lack of space probably.
 
John_P said:
Think for me its probably the complete lack of any parks being interested in the new generation vekoma thrill coasters.

Over the past few years I've ridden Lech Coaster, Formula, Abyssus, Hals Uber Kopf, Fianna Force, Flash Vertical Velocity, and watched Sirens Curse testing.

All smooth, exciting, and fun coasters that would be of a benefit to any UK parks.
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A Lech Coaster clone instead of Mandrill Mayhem would've been pure perfection.

Could get them to redo Vampire again whilst at it.
 
Benzin said:
UK did build dark rides in the 90s boom. Unfortunately died down presumably because of the maintenance expenses. Even Efteling can't get all the effects on Symbolica to work 100% of the time. To have a decent one as well needs a good footprint, which comes down to whether a giant dark ride or other more visible ride is a "better" option for that space.
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Symbolica is just one of SIX, count em, SIX dark rides in the park, as well as an indoor coaster and two other coasters with notable indoor sections, all of which combine to make the park a 365 experience.

Yes many of these rides are quite old and whilst to some they are dated they illustrate what good maintenance can achieve. Alton Towers could have been in the same position.
 
Re: dark rides, we used to have some good ones, but I suppose they all wore out in one way or another. Bubbleworks, 5th Dimension, Toyland Tours, Voyage to Aladdin's Cave (I never rode Pirate Adventure). I think the secret to a great dark ride is charm, which we sometimes miss. Efteling's Dream Flight, Tivoli Gardens' The Flying Trunk and Mer de Sable's Le Bayou des Chikapas all show what's possible when you focus on charm.

It's funny to think we do actually have two trackless dark rides in the UK, but admittedly, they're not Symbolica.

Matt N said:
A big one for me is not any specific ride type, but the UK’s general aversion to any kind of coaster focused primarily on good, straight airtime.
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Yep. Megafobia was the best for that, I suppose.

Another thing that came to mind is the Mega-Lite, such as Piraten and Alpina Blitz. Maybe they're not big enough to have a long run of straight airtime hills, but I always thought they'd be perfect for medium-size parks. 100ft/30m tall - literally a half-sized hyper coaster. A good replacement for Smiler when it wears out, perhaps, or for Shockwave at Drayton Manor. I'm sure they would be the most popular ride at most parks if they got one.
 
RMC Raptors would go over well for a lot of UK parks, especially lower capacity parks like flamingo land, or even Blackpool pleasure beach, with it winding around other attractions - they're relatively cheap too right?
 
Dhev123 said:
RMC Raptors would go over well for a lot of UK parks, especially lower capacity parks like flamingo land, or even Blackpool pleasure beach, with it winding around other attractions - they're relatively cheap too right?
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Thought Flamingoland were getting an RMC Raptor for 2027?

To be fair it's been rumoured every year so it's probably hearsay.
 
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