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Lightwater Valley - Future?

davidm said:
Tangentially related, but the (previous) owners - Brighton Pier Group - seem to be in more trouble than just Lightwater, they have apparently put the pier up for sale too;

www.bbc.co.uk

Brighton Palace Pier up for sale, chief executive says

Brighton Palace Pier is now on the market after warnings of "difficult" trading in previous years.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
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I'd buy it for £1 with the intention of scrapping Turbo 😂

In all seriousness, it is a shame and I hope it can go into good hands
 
I really hope somebody can turn the pier around. As much as some people might scoff at it as more Brighton tourist schlock I don't wanna see any classic style pier parks close, or any more of them, rather. The state of the small park in the UK in general is tragic right now and losing a pier park at that would be really sad.
 
slappy mcguire said:
I'm not sure there is really a market for rides at the end of piers these days. The truth is they probably need to diversity into a more heritage offering to survive.
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I’m not familiar with the UK market since you guys have a more built-in funfair culture, but the lasting crop of seaside parks in the US tend to make bank. Parks like Morey’s, Santa Cruz, Castaway Cove, Casino Pier, etc are all extremely tight operations that regularly reinvest and are more appealing to draw people in and separate them from their hard-earned cash.

Nobody really talks about the Morey’s story enough. Wildwood, New Jersey in the 60’s/70’s was a collection of cheap-shot carnival piers and venues. Morey’s was a newer player who was willing to invest more to draw and win over guests, but they were also maxed out on debt with the bank. The other piers had a meeting and decided to band together in pushing Morey’s over the edge. Morey’s caught wind and responded by maxing out their debt at a second bank, travelled to Oktoberfest, and came back with the Schwarzkopf Jumbo Jet, which was a game changer for 1976 and tipped the scales in their favour. They spent the next twenty years systematically knocking out each competitor and today remain a stable family operation. Take from that what you will.
 
So, the previous owner removed the longest rollercoaster of Europe - and absolute icon - because it was cost-heavy and not part of their strategy, just to get rid of the park two years later... That's a sad thought.
 
To be honest, while I loved the Ultimate, it was rough as hell, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t have long left anyway. It was sad to lose it, but I hope losing the star attraction is an incentive for Mellor’s to invest in a permanent headliner to put this park back on the UK map…
 
jasone said:
To be honest, while I loved the Ultimate, it was rough as hell, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t have long left anyway. It was sad to lose it, but I hope losing the star attraction is an incentive for Mellor’s to invest in a permanent headliner to put this park back on the UK map…
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Might give them incentive to get in touch with a company like Vekoma or Gerstlauer to build a headliner or two for Lightwater Valley and also Fantasy Island too

If they could get RMC to build a modern equivalent of the Ultimate, that would be nuts but one can dream 💭
 
Call me cynical, but does anyone seriously think Mellors of all people are going to make LWV worth visiting again?

They were more hassle than they were worth at Towers and Skegness is hardly a desirable destination.

I've been wrong before, but I really can't see it...
 
Will said:
Call me cynical, but does anyone seriously think Mellors of all people are going to make LWV worth visiting again?

They were more hassle than they were worth at Towers and Skegness is hardly a desirable destination.

I've been wrong before, but I really can't see it...
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Actually, yes, possibly.

Lightwater was an exciting park in the 90s that could easily have become what paultons is now, but they bit off more than they could chew with the ultimate and it damn near bankrupted them.

And from that point, they were just keeping their head above water. No real investment, and certainly no rides to excite. They were stuck in a time warp.

What Mellors have done with Fantasy Island is stabilized them. What they could do to LWV with their huge ride portfolio is make it worth checking out again, and build off that.

I love the park. I have so many memories of happy times when I was young, but could not bring myself to visit for at least the last 10-15 years because there was nothing for me. The ultimate while it was there just hurt, and everything else was just stale.

Tell me that if they install that spinning coaster, and down the line their Runaway mine train and looper and a drop tower or star flyer, people wouldn't at least be curious.

I have a lot of time for the CEO of Mellors, think he's a realistic but ambitious guy, and I really hope he is rewarded. They aren't going to turn the park into the new Alton towers or anything, but worth visiting? Quite probably.
 
slappy mcguire said:
Actually, yes, possibly.

Lightwater was an exciting park in the 90s that could easily have become what paultons is now, but they bit off more than they could chew with the ultimate and it damn near bankrupted them.

And from that point, they were just keeping their head above water. No real investment, and certainly no rides to excite. They were stuck in a time warp.

What Mellors have done with Fantasy Island is stabilized them. What they could do to LWV with their huge ride portfolio is make it worth checking out again, and build off that.

I love the park. I have so many memories of happy times when I was young, but could not bring myself to visit for at least the last 10-15 years because there was nothing for me. The ultimate while it was there just hurt, and everything else was just stale.

Tell me that if they install that spinning coaster, and down the line their Runaway mine train and looper and a drop tower or star flyer, people wouldn't at least be curious.

I have a lot of time for the CEO of Mellors, think he's a realistic but ambitious guy, and I really hope he is rewarded. They aren't going to turn the park into the new Alton towers or anything, but worth visiting? Quite probably.
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I'd imagine this could be fantastic for both Fantasy Island and Lightwater Valley and could enable Mellors to go with more permanent coasters and rides for the parks to support the rotating line up of travelling rides every year that seems to be at Fantasy Island in recent years.
 
Thing people always forget about LWV is that it lacks the infrastructure for permanent rides, or certainly used to, with many rides essentially being powered by generators. Even if travelling rides are put in, that may not be a bad thing. It's how you present them.
 
For anybody that has negative views on Mellors , have you actually been to fantasy island and seen what they have done with the park ? it is a million times better than it was before they took over especially the pyramid hands down best inside themed space in the country well theme park wise anyway.

I can only see this as a good thing for my once favourite park all I wish was they did it years ago and saved the ultimate I loved that thing .
 
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