Oakwood

[Mark9]

13 hours ago, Inferno said:

It feels to me like the publics expectations of a theme park has changed. It seems that, aside from family parks, the appeal of a small regional park is fading away. The idea of a smaller day out now is less attractive, whereas the likes of Disneyland Paris etc are thriving.

I think a lot of people would rather save up and go on a bigger trip, rather than have lots of smaller days out like we all used to. It’s certainly true of me at least.

 

Interesting times.

 

I think this is definitely the problem for most parks. Unless you are a big name like Efteling, Cedar Point or Europa Park, the last five years have been especially tough.

 

I don't find it that unexpected that Oakwood is permanently closed though. The writing has been on the wall probably since the Hydro death in 2004. It's been on a downward spiral ever since and hasn't really ever recovered. It's turned into a dive over the last decade and the only bright spot really has been the megafobia retrack. What a shame for that ride and Speed though. Hopefully something can be done to save Megafobia in particular but it's going to be a difficult one. 

[Benin]

I'd imagine the incidents on Bounce & Treetops also didn't help. Towers just about clung onto its reputation after Smiler, Oakwood having more incidents after Hydro was never going to help.