Oakwood Theme Park - Wednesday 30th July & Monday 4th August 2014

[Coaster]

Wednesday 30th July

PARK OPEN: 10am - 10pm
RIDES CLOSED: Drenched, Bounce, Pirate Ship, Clown Coaster, Train
BREAKDOWNS: Megafobia (about 30 mins), Skull Rock (twice, 10 mins each time), Vertigo (about an hour).

Before visiting, I phoned up the park asking if there were any ride closures, and was told that the pirate ship was closed but that everything else is open.
On arrival, we saw that Bounce was also closed, which was a disappointment.
Naturally we went to Megafobia first after entering the park, which was running a one train service with an hour's worth of queue (which took 1hr 15mins), with the fast pass queue going down the exit. Once in the station we realised that several rows were blocked off. On some trains, 10 seats on a 24 seated train were fast pass which is frankly absurd. Also, fast pass holders get to choose their seats, so if you are there at the wrong time then wave bye bye to choosing a row.

After this we did spooky 3D. Most of the effects were broken (no car horn, no jumping down figure etc). Also, the ride was running on two cars. Two. Therefore the queue on this took forever as well.

After going on it, we headed over to Drenched which was stuck on the lifthill. This means that 3 major rides were now closed. We headed over to speed, which had a completely full queueline, full fast pass queueline going down the exit and yet it was running ONE CAR. We swiftly walked away from Speed in disgust and noticed that the Clown Coaster was closed, an Vertigo had also gone down.

We went to reception to make a complaint, and there were about 30 families heading the same direction. We spoke to some of them, who described the day as "a complete waste of money", "outrageous" and "I don't know how they get away with it".
The train to get out was also closed which was hilarious, as we heard someone say "the train is even closed, that just sums up this place!!"
We spent about half an hour in reception, with other people making a very serious complaint. I mean why on earth are so many rides closing in the summer on a packed day, and why are the remaining rides on one train?!!!
After highlighting the many issues, we were told that the park doesn't issue refunds. After much frustration we asked if we could have a return ticket, and, after explaining that we were on holiday in the local area, we were reluctantly given one.
They also added a second car onto speed, but that was it. It should be on three cars as standard in school holidays anyway!

At this point it was 6pm and most people had left the park in disgust. The only ride that reopened was Vertigo (what a surprise, they can fix the pay extra one!) and nobody was working on the other ones all day. However, we did manage six rides on Megafobia and five on Speed as most people had left. Although, even Megafobia got stuck on the lifthill (but was open again within half an hour).

RIDECOUNT:
Megafobia x6
Speed x5
Treetops x1
Skull Rock x1
Spooky 3D x1
Plane Crazy (or whatever stupid name it has now) x1
TOTAL: 15


Monday 4th July
PARK OPEN: 10am - 6pm
RIDES CLOSED: Drenched (all day), Pirate Ship (all day), Bounce (from 1pm onwards).
BREAKDOWNS: Megafobia, Vertigo

Overall a considerably better day, but only because the park was much quieter due to a very heavy downpour at exactly 10am!

RIDECOUNT:
Megafobia x10
Speed x5
Waterfall x4  Still terrifies me!
Bounce x2
Spooky 3D x2
Bobsleigh x1
Treetops x1
Snake River Falls x1 (Cobra)  This was hilarious as I nearly stopped, and my brother did stop halfway through the tunnel!
Moon Landing Drop Slide x1
 

I planned to take lots more photos, but forgot my camera on the second day! 

 

Drenched has been like this since Weds 30th July!

 

Speed;

 

Thanks for reading, comments welcome.

[Matt 236]

Thans for the trip report. It really sums up how Oakwood has seemingly gone downhill and backwards this year with its new fastrack system andpoor operations (I bet waitng for 1 train op on speed makes it 1 train Colossus seem pleasant). Having 5 rides down (4 unannounced) is totally unacceptable. I really hope operations and management improve soon, otherwise he park may not exist for much longer (especially when you give a dog a bad name).

Thorpe park in comparison is much better run. Rides will go on 2 trains when needed, ride reliability has improved compared to even 5 years ago with slammer and samurai really being the only rides that manage major downtime apart from Stealth's ocassional day, plus they would give extra tickets if they had 5 rides closed too.

I remember visitng once last year and I thoroughly enjoyed the park and managed to ride about everything except the pedaloes. Speed and Megaphobia were fantastic and the new Neverland place was decent, plus the after dark events were great fun and at night it's just an amazing place.

[Coaster]

Thans for the trip report. It really sums up how Oakwood has seemingly gone downhill and backwards this year with its new fastrack system andpoor operations (I bet waitng for 1 train op on speed makes it 1 train Colossus seem pleasant). Having 5 rides down (4 unannounced) is totally unacceptable. I really hope operations and management improve soon, otherwise he park may not exist for much longer (especially when you give a dog a bad name).Quote

Thorpe park in comparison is much better run. Rides will go on 2 trains when needed, ride reliability has improved compared to even 5 years ago with slammer and samurai really being the only rides that manage major downtime apart from Stealth's ocassional day, plus they would give extra tickets if they had 5 rides closed too.

I remember visitng once last year and I thoroughly enjoyed the park and managed to ride about everything except the pedaloes. Speed and Megaphobia were fantastic and the new Neverland place was decent, plus the after dark events were great fun and at night it's just an amazing place.

The most frustrating thing about the appalling operations is that Oakwood has some really great rides, and I have been visiting since I was about six whenever I went on holiday to Wales.  As such, I am very saddened to see it go so far downhill and I think Aspro are to blame.

 

I also forgot to mention, Brer Rabbit was also fenced off as a result of them giving up with their new investment, so technically that's another ride unavailable!

[Kerfuffle]

Brer Rabbit was also fenced off

Must've gone home to the Briar Patch where he truly belongs...IN SPLASH MOUNTAIN