What Would You Add To Your Home Park?

[Eggroll]

Nice and simple topic, if you were in charge of your home park what would be the first new thing you add? My home parks are Six Flags New England and Canobie Lake Park. For Six Flags New England, I think there's actually already a ton of variety in the coasters, and a good amount of them. I think what the park could really use is some kind of slow moving dark ride. If you don't do roller coasters, there's very little you can do here, and an indoor attraction that everyone can enjoy would be a wonderful addition. If I had to add a coaster of some kind I'd probably add some kind of eurofighter similar to Untamed at Canobie. I haven't been on that one yet but I think the small footprint and high intensity would be a good addition while adding a new type of coaster to the park.

For Canobie my answer is super simple. They need to add another steel inverting coaster similar to the Canobie Corkscrew that was removed. The only coasters the park has operating are an old woodie (Yankee Cannonball) that isn't intense at all, a kiddie coaster (dragon), and then the eurofighter (Untamed). I think the jump in intensity from the Yankee Cannonball to Untamed is just too much of a leap for people looking to work their way up. A steel inverting coaster that isn't crazy intense while still providing a couple inversions would be a perfect stepping stone while still being enjoyable for enthusiasts. Realistically this could even be a boomerang (I know many enthusiats wouldn't love this) but the general public would enjoy the addition I think and it would would work well in the limited space the park has.

 

[Rob Coasters]

I'd like to see Thorpe Park's entrance area have a permanent security queue with planters, trees and everything. Security queues have been a thing since the stabbing incident in 2020, and if it has no sign of disappearing anytime soon, the least they can do is neaten it up a little and make it not absolutely miserable to wait in. For something that is seemingly now a permanent fixture, it still feels incredibly temporary and rushed (well, because it was!) and the entrance experience is always bottom tier. I'd like to see them focus on that before any new rides.

 

[Hyde]

Give the people the steeplechase they deserve, Cedar Point.

 

[Burniel]

I cite both as home parks interchangeably, but as @Rob Coasters has already given a great suggestion for Thorpe, I'll have a go at Chessington:

I'd like to see a really good themed area that's not dependent on IP, and I'd like them to maintain it. I completely understand the reasons for the increase in IPs around the park, but I think Croc Drop proved they can still succeed with original themes and thrive off a mix of the two. With Wild Asia now gone, it feels like there's no standout, modern, original-theme areas left. The Trail of the Kings, Land of the Tiger*, and Rattlesnake plots are all prime locations for one.

*While not incredible, I truly believe Land of the Tiger could have been a solid non-IP land, had the park not seemingly issued an area-wide ban on all paintbrushes, pressure washers, and replacement scenery for 8 years after its installation.

 

[James F]

In a dream world I would have a ground up RMC in Blackpool, but closer to reality I think a little park history museum would be cool there.

 

[Matt N]

As I live in the barren spot for theme parks known as the South West of England, my home park in terms of location could probably be either Brean Theme Park or Barry Island Pleasure Park; both are about a 1 hour drive and just over 50 miles away!

As I’ve been to Brean once (and it took me until 2023) and I’ve never been to Barry, my simple answer for either would be; add something to make the visit worthwhile! It sounds bad given that I live only an hour from both, but they just don’t have ride lineups that compel me to visit…

My home park in terms of visit frequency, on the other hand, would be Alton Towers. After years in purgatory, I’d love for Alton Towers to finally pull the trigger on Project Horizon. The park lacks an indoor coaster, and it would be brilliant to have something big and interesting in that section of the park behind the Towers Ruins for the first time in absolutely years!

 

[Jarrett]

Old Home Park: Kings Island needs some way to go upside-down that isn't rough as the devil and delivers that standard looping coaster experience. I'd put some sort of Vekoma looping coaster in the Vortex plot, mimicking the batwing next to the midway that its predecessor had. I always loved standing up against it watching the train dive below my feet as a kid.

New Home Park: Knoebels should save Wild One! One of the best classic wooden coasters, Knoebels lacks that standard "whitewashed out and back wooden coaster" and Wild One is kind of the gold standard for that in my eyes. This is easily the biggest loss from Six Flags America, it was their best ride and one of the few wooden coasters I've felt was worth preserving.

 

[JoshC.]

Thorpe Park

I could write a whole thesis on what Thorpe needs and what its priorities should be. But it boils down to one key philosophy.

The big thing Thorpe needs is regular investment. It isn't a park that does well when it rests of what already is. I think that comes down to brand it has and how it's built itself up. It needs a regular buzz around it, with consistent new things coming in. I'm not saying we need a big new coaster every other year. I'm not even saying it needs a brand new ride every year. But the way it will survive best is with new experiences regularly.

Flat rides are the biggest win here.
Rip out Vortex, replace it with an Intamin GyroSwing or similar.
Rip out Zodiac, replace it with basically anything from Huss.
Rip out Samurai, replace it with basically anything from Huss.
Chuck in a new drop tower (if Grona Lund can have several, Thorpe can)

New major ride every few years. They've got space. But they can also rip out old stuff too.

Yes, it's expensive to add new stuff / rip out old stuff. But it can pay for itself with all the new attention it brings. And if they were to regularly remove rides, they could do closing events, merch, etc, which will garner plenty of attention.

No one attraction or thing will fix Thorpe. They need consistent new stuff otherwise it will fall flat.

 

[RcTmix]

I agree with the above statement that Kings Island could really use a vortex replacement that offers inversions (bonus if it has some ejector airtime, as the current lineup doesn’t really have any). They also have a ride lineup that looks better on paper than it actually is. Plenty of pretty good rides that I always enjoy, but they just don’t really have any elite coasters that can compete with other top tier parks.

I’d love to see an Intamin multi-launch or a Mack extreme spinner on that plot. Either of these could fill the holes in their lineup and become the standout coaster to bring the park up to the next level.

I wouldn’t be upset about a ground up RMC either, or ArieForce One modified to run 6-car trains with 3 train ops (I said what I said).

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Alton Towers

I'd add new owners...

I did type out a huge fantasy writeup of what the new owners would do after taking over, but got depressed halfway through and deleted it all...

 

[Niles]

Even though its not my closest Paultons is my home park for me.

Funnily enough there was a survey years ago and i think i ticked, thrilling water ride, dark ride and thrill coaster.

They have done all those now so ill go with a hotel.....humm. Well then as a eurofighter was not my favourite option i would go one of two ways.

While the old log flume site needs work i would redo Critter Creek, removing whats there and expanding the area along the river front. Put in a dark ride or indoor flat then.

- A Intamin family launch coaster with a single Inversion.

Or

- A GCI woodie with a single Inversion.

When you start to get a lot of coasters i like a park to have a woodie and launch, so either will be my pick, otherwise there doing pretty good.