Reflection upon The American Dream
During the summer of 2007, we traveled 5000 miles across North America stopping at a large amount of the theme parks that the USA had to offer.
We visited the big parks (and the little ones) to get a feel for the way an American theme park is run and the atmospheres it created in the hope of comparing it to the UK parks.
In total we rode around 150 coasters spanning across 18 states ranging from the oldest to the newest, the smallest to the tallest…you get the idea. The one thing that really stands out is the way the parks are run, especially those belonging to the Cedar Fair chain. The efficiency and customer service is remarkable, even in the smaller parks such as the now defunct Geauga Lake.
We in the UK assume that our parks are wonderful. Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and even Pleasure Beach Blackpool are world class attractions that the American’s would dream of having…NOT. Our parks seriously need to take a leaf out of the USA’s books.
I pay an extortionate £34.00 to get into Alton Towers and all I get is five coasters to ride (no denying they’re fun) whereas, if I visit Six Flags Magic Mountain, (which is said to be a rip off and a poor park) compared to British parks it wins hands down! I pay £30 once again (or there abouts depending on exchange rates) and get 15 world class coasters to choose from!
But it’s not just about the rides, the service and atmosphere is amazing! Cedar Point is another prime example. This park costs LESS than Flamingo Land…that’s right, LESS and is the Roller Coaster Capital of the World! Hello?! Is it just me who thinks something is wrong here?
At Cedar Point I get 17 roller coasters including 3 of the once tallest and fastest and I also get treated like royalty. At Flamingo Land I get 3 coasters to choose from and I get treated like a numpty!
I know this seems like a bit of a rant but sometimes parks in the UK really need look outside the box. The UK is cold 70% of the theme park season so why put water attractions in it? Cedar Point is cold 70% of the season so they only have 2 water attractions…well done, lesson learned.
I know some of you will be comparing Florida and Disney and thinking it rubbish compared to Alton Towers and Thorpe Park, but to be fair, Florida is about the most un-American place you will find, it reflects nothing on what the rest of the country has to offer.
In conclusion it would be really nice to see theme parks in the UK go back to the beginning and look at what a day out at a theme park really is about! There’s nothing more heart warming than standing on a ride platform with one of the ops hooked up to a wireless head piece building the tension of a ride, for example, Top Thrill Dragster. You stand on that platform for maybe 10 minutes while you queue in your gates waiting for your seats as they bombard you with nerve racking facts about the coaster. The only coaster I feel in the UK that does that is Oblivion at Alton Towers, but if there is no queue you miss all the monitors. This is actually live entertainment on the platform by a harness checker, not difficult but so effective! Things like this make the day more special and it’s the atmosphere that our parks mostly lack, and its things like that that make you forget the bank busting price you just paid to get in!
2 Responses to “Reflection upon The American Dream”
By Max Power on Apr 9, 2008
Right onnnn! I know ive never been to the USA, but i totally agree. we shouldnt have to travel thousands of miles to experience amazing coasters! And i know some nemesis fanboy out there would be wishing i would fall down a rather large hole onto a carelessly placed spike, but its true; in the USA good BMs and Intamins are the standard, not your bog standard Pinfaris and Vekomas, but proper coasters. We should expect better from one of the richest nations on earth. Theme parks that cant deliver the goods like standard parks (like Alton and Thorpe) are getting close to doing really need to pull their socks up and stop charging £30+ just so they can have a mediocre flat ride every year.
By lee on Apr 9, 2008
I’ve yet to take a trip to America, but even just from looking at photos of the US parks you can see a massive difference to parks over here!
Like you say, giving a ride op a headset hardly costs anything, and there are no recurring costs either. The only problem is, do we have enough ride ops confident enough over here? I know certain parks could never pull it off.
There’s no reason why Alton can’t though! The majority of their staff entertain on their own anyway without being asked.