Oakwood Theme Park

Oakwood Theme Park

Previously known as Oakwood Leisure Park And Oakwood Coaster Country
File:Oakwoodlogo.jpg
Location	Narberth, Pembrokeshire, Wales
Opened	1987
Owner	McNamara Family
Operating season	March to September
Attractions
Total	30 attractions in
Roller coasters	3
Water rides	4
Other rides	17
Website	www.oakwoodthemepark.co.uk

Oakwood Theme Park (formerly Oakwood Leisure Park or Oakwood Coaster Country) is a theme park in Pembrokeshire, Wales which attracts 400,000 visitors each year.

Oakwood opened in the late 1980s as a very small family park with BMXs, a wooden fort, a 3D-style cinema experience show, go-karts and a water chute ride. The park has done well to reach its current position, consistently rated in the top 10 UK theme parks, given that it is in a quiet, rural part of southwest Wales. The park is well-suited to both thrill-seekers and families; it now incorporates 5 large thrill rides: Megafobia (1996), Vertigo (1997), The Bounce (1999), Hydro (2002) and Speed (2006). A new family ride can be expected in 2007/2008, with a major ride probably being installed in 2009/2010.

Oakwood has opened its latest ride to the public: "Speed", a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter roller coaster with a 97-degree drop. This ride has the steepest drop in the UK and is the tallest of its type in the world.

The 85ft-tall CCI-built wooden roller coaster "Megafobia" is consistently rated among the best in Europe by enthusiasts.

The Early Beginnings

Oakwood Leisure Ltd. is owned by the McNamara family, Pembrokeshire farmland owners who took the brave move to diversify into the leisure industry in 1987 after the introduction of Milk Quota. The park took twelve months to research and great care was taken when the work began to integrate all its facilities into the existing valley and to complement the natural vegetation. Not a single mature tree was disturbed and many have been used to enhance, screen and provide natural avenues to various rides. The first stage, completed in 1987, cost approximately £1 Million to build and invest in new rides, infrastructure and staff training has continued each season. As a result, Oakwood is now classed as one of Wales' top tourist attractions and one of the Top Ten Theme Park in the UK.

The Removal of Previous Attractions

Since the park's beginnings a number of its original attractions have been closed and removed, frequently to make way for larger and more impressive rides. The need to renew and sustain public interest as well as the aged and primitive nature of some of the original attractions has been the main rationale behind this.

Oakwood has been accused by some of depleting its own unique character by removing some of its more individual and authentic attractions to make way for the park's development into a white-knuckle theme park. As Oakwood's current day success owes a great deal to this legacy critics argue that the park has failed to show sufficient respect to this inheritance.

Whilst the park's development has been welcomed it is sometimes argued that original attractions should have remained in place so as not to forsake Oakwood's heritage as a family leisure park. A particularly regrettable move for some was the scrapping of Jake's Town, with its unique narrative theming based around the gold mine character of Nutty Jake. Critics point to the alleged inferiority of the poorly themed "New Orleans" as evidence to substantiate this viewpoint.

An alternative viewpoint is to say that the park's removal of previous attractions is standard practice in the theme park industry particularly with respect to developing parks who will naturally seek to gradually upgrade their portfolio of attractions.

List of Previous Attractions

• • Nutty Jake's Gold mine: Riders were taken through a gold-mine themed tunnel in the then themed area of the park "Jake's Town". Since then the ride has become "Brer Rabbit's Burrow".
  • Jake's Music Hall: an animatronic puppet show which opened in Jake's Town in the early 1990s.
  • Also self-operated Go Karts ("The senior go-karts) were removed for the 2002 season. A rumour at the time alleged that this was originally planned to make way for Hydro which was then moved to its current location for reasons unknown. One theory for this change of location is that the park deliberately sought to build Hydro in an imposing and exposed position at the front of the park to test the waters with regard to planning regulations and what the park would be "allowed to get away with". If this was indeed the reason then it would appear the policy has been successful as Hydro has received no complaints despite dominating the skyline at the entrance to the park and in the surrounding countryside. There has been some indication that the go-karts were becoming problematic for the park with fraudulent claims of personal injury from guests and also from individuals abusing the timing restraints on the ride. Since then the go-kart area has been used to house the Gerstlauer Euro-fighter Speed (2006).
  • A smaller junior go-kart track was also removed for the 2002 season. The land vacated was used to house the Plane-crazy family ride which opened at the start of the 2004 season.
  • An assault course originally existed in the mini-valley which is now the site of the Bounce shot'n'drop tower. The assault course was cleared to make way for the Bounce in 1999.
  • A somewhat primitive 3D Cinema experience, the "Cinema 180" was one of the original park attractions which eventually faced the axe after an unsucceful attempt at moving the attraction from the front of the park (where Hydro currently sits) to a green space between the Pirate Ship and Snake River Falls water ride.

The Recent Development of Oakwood (1996 - )

Since the introduction of Megafobia in 1996 Oakwood has pursued an obvious and deliberate policy of extending the range of thrill rides available to its visitors in an attempt to increase its popularity and appeal. This policy has been hugely successful and the park has increased in fame and notability, particularly amongst theme park enthusiasts who generally rate it highly. Since its inception (1987) Oakwood has gradually developed from a small family leisure park to a prototype theme park in the early 1990s to a small but conventional theme park today. Due to its location and comparatively limited financial resources the park is unlikely to develop into a major competitor on the same level as such parks as Alton Towers and Thorpe Park. However, by retaining its authentic character whilst adding unique (comparatively inexpensive) signature rides (such as Megafobia, Hydro and Speed) the park is favoured amongst connoisseurs of the industry and the public alike. It is a matter of much interest as to how the park will now develop in the future and whether it will be able to sustain its until now rapid rise to prominence in the UK theme park industry (see future development).

Park Development since 1988

File:Megafobia.jpg

Megaphobia

1988: Nutty Jake's Gold Mine (Family Dark Ride).

1989: Treetops Family Roller Coaster.

1991: Jake's Music Hall animatronic stage show (Jake's Town).

1994: Snake River Falls Family Water Ride. At a time this was a rather substantial addition to the small leisure park. Arguably, the addition of Snake River Falls in 1994 marked the real beginning of the park's current expansion into a major attraction. Of some amusement is the fact that at the time of the ride's opening it was billed as "Europe's largest water coaster", a title which was subsequently also used to publicise Hydro. The difference in both the type and scale of the two rides could hardly be greater.

1995: Play Town Farm for children including tractor ride.

1996: Megafobia, at the time this was Europe's largest Wooden Roller Coaster and transformed the park's status as well as its fortunes. It remains the park's foremost attraction.

1997: Vertigo Sky Coaster. Kiddie Coaster (now Clown Coaster) in Play Town. General park face-lift.

1999: Assault Course is first of Oakwood's original attractions to face the axe as part of the park's expansion. This makes way for the Bounce Tower Coaster, the park's third white-knucle attraction.

2000: Jake's Town is axed. Voodoo Mansion now occupies the site of Jake's Music Hall. Play Town is revamped with the launch of Kidz World and the addition of a number of new children's attractions such as the Wacky Factory.

2001: Jake's Gold Mine, already closed since 2000, is now transformed into Brer Rabbit's Burrow.

2002: Hydro becomes the biggest ride to arrive since Megafobia 6 years earlier. Both Senior and Junior go-karts are axed.

2003: Voodoo Mansion is revamped into "Spooky 3D" for Whitsun.

2004: Plane Crazy, the most substantial new family attraction for several years, is opened on the site of the old Junior go-karts.

2005: Speed does not arrive as intended due to the Hydro tragedy of the previous Easter. Hydro itself is re-opened following closure through almost all of the 2004 season. It re-opens with a new boat interior with improved restraints and some degree of re-branding (primarily a new colour: red). The Magic Factory is the new children's attraction for this year. Oakwoods after-dark show loses its famous laser-water screen; it is replaced by "dancing" fountains, a series of illuminated water-jets choreographed to music.

2006: Speed Euro-fighter is opened on the site of the old Senior Go-Karts.

2007: NO DEVELOPMENT OR RIDE ADDITIONS

Future Development

Though Oakwood tends to refrain from disclosing future development information until the future attractions are nearing construction there is some speculation as to what lies in Oakwood's future.

2007: Despite rumours that Oakwood would seek to enhance its family attractions and possibly add a new family orientated ride in 2007 this speculation has proved to be false with Oakwood not opening any new attractions this year. Whilst it is unusual for the park to have no new attractions in any given year it is likely that a decision has been made to take stock of what lies ahead in what is the year of Oakwood's 20th anniversary.

The usual pattern adopted by the park is to introduce a new white knuckle ride every third year: Megafobia (1996), The Bounce (1999), Hydro (2002). Speed broke this pattern when its opening was postponed to 2006. However it was originally planned to open a year earlier in 2005 which would have conformed to the usual pattern for park development. Vertigo (1997) can also be considered a white knuckle ride but entrance to this ride requires an additional payment due to low throughput so this ride is not as 'standard' as the other rides.

Based on the pattern adopted for park development in the past it is safe to expect a new thrill ride addition in 2009, although there is no indication that the park will necessarily conform to its traditional rate of expansion in the future. There is rumoured talk of another Wooden Roller Coaster being installed in the park, but so far this has not been confirmed by the park and is only a rumour.

Theming

Although the park claims to be a "theme park" the only themed area is the small section of the park which now houses "Brer Rabbit's Burrow" and "Spooky 3D". (It is arguable that the park's section for young children, Kidz World, formerly known as Play Town, is also themed.) This section of the park was formerly known as "Jake's Town" and featured a "wild-west" type theme. After the closure of "Nutty Jake's Goldmine", the areas main attraction, and the closure of an animatronic stage-show also set to the "wild-west" theme, the area became known as "New Orleans". New Orleans featured a "ghost train" called Voodoo Mansion (2000) set in the original showbuilding for the animatronic stage show, and a children's "dark ride" known as "Brer Rabbit's Burrow" (2001). Both the voodoo religion and the children's character Brer Rabbit are associated with the deep south of America, the locality of the actual real life New Orleans. However, it is likely that the themed connection (particularly that of Brer Rabbit) would have been lost on most members of the public due to its obscure nature.

Shortly after the construction of voodoo mansion the ride was unexpectedly rebranded as "Spooky 3D" (2003). While some argue that the ride was closed due to lack of interest from the public this is unlikely as the ride essentially remains in place under the re-branding of Spooky 3D. Others argue that the ride was closed for ulterior reasons; namely the ride's politically incorrect portrayal of the voodoo religion. It is to be noted that even aside from political correctness the voodoo religion remains a controversial subject-matter. Since the ride's rebranding New Orleans seems to have lost its own distinctive deep south theme. The area in general now arguably suffers from a miss-match of theming with only a few western and New Orleans style buildings left.

Information about the main rides

Megafobia

Megafobia is a wooden roller coaster ride. It has a 55 degree drop, and it's also a fast ride. A CCI (Custom Coasters International) built ride, Megafobia has celebrated its 10th year of existance and has been voted one of the best wooden roller coasters in the word. If you dismantled Megafobia and laid planks of wood end to end, it would reach from oakwood theme park to London and back again!

Hydro

Hydro is one of the biggest water coasters in the world and the currently the tallest water ride in Europe, with a 100ft drop almost vertical into a pool of a million gallons of water creating a 45ft wave of water. Following an incident in 2004, Hydro was fitted with new over the shoulder safety restraints replacing the old lap bars (see "Hydro Death").

Bounce

Bounce Is a 'Shot n Drop' tower manufactured by HUSS a German thrill ride manufacturer. Bounce is one of the tallest ride in the park at 160ft. This is the height you get shot up to in just over 2 seconds. You then freefall down to earth with a bounce.

Vertigo

Vertigo is a a free fall ride.the machine takes you to the top then a person at the top removes a clip sending you on a freefall which goes in a u shape. this also gives you the feeling of flying. Then you go to the bottom

Plane crazy

Plane crazy is also popular, but it's not a roller-coaster. In fact it is a ride which goes around and takes to the side slowly.

Tree tops

Tree tops is a modern roller-coaster which is covered over with trees. It is also a fast ride.

Waterfall

Waterfall, like Plane crazy, is not a roller-coaster. Instead it is a ride that goes right down.

Snake Rivers

Snake Rivers is not a roller-coaster like Plane crazy or Waterfall. It is just a normal ride.

Pirate Ship

Pirate Ship is just a normal ride that takes right to the top, and right to the bottom. It is coveted with water beneath.

Speed

Speed is the latest roller-coaster. It is a Geslauerer Eurofighter and has a 97 degree drop including vertical loop, a sharp turnaround, barrel roll.

Seasonal and holiday operation

The face and atmosphere of Oakwood changes throughout the year marking holidays and summer operation.

• • Summer: In 1996, the same year as Megafobia was opened, Oakwood also launched its "after-dark" late summer openings. The tradition has continued ever since with slight modification. "After-dark" involves Oakwood remaining open until 10pm during peak season (the school summer holidays) and features indoor entertainment in the "Premier Theatre", an outdoor dancing fountains display and nightly musical entertainment with a fireworks finale.
  • Halloween: Oakwood launched annual Halloween celebrations (or “eerie evenings) subsequent to the opening of Voodoo mansion but has since decided to discontinue this.
  • Christmas: Since 1995 Oakwood made a practice of opening the small children's area of the park known as Play Town (now Kid’s World) themed in the style of a Winter Wonderland. The park held an annual Christmas pantomime in conjunction with this in which minor celebrities would often undertake parts. Despite the relative popularity and success of Christmas opening the park decided to discontinue with this venture and has now not held a Christmas opening season for several years.

Hydro Death

In April 2004, 16-year-old Hayley Williams (above) was killed after falling approximately 100 ft from the top of the Hydro ride. The accident was attributed to Intamin AG's lap bar system. The ride was closed until the next season, when it reopened with more secure over-the-shoulder restraints instead of lap bars. The incident was similar to an accident in 2001 involving the death of a guest on another Intamin River Plunge ride, Perilous Plunge at Knotts Berry Farm in California. A 10-year-old boy was also injured after being hit by Hayley as she fell, he was treated for head injuries.]

Some pictures of the scene after the accident

File:Hydroaccident.jpg File:Hydroaccident2.jpg

At the time of the accident Oakwood attracted media criticism after controversially deciding to open the park for business the next day as usual. This was despite the Hydro ride being sealed off and there being a highly visible police presence in the park. Some felt Oakwood showed insufficient remorse in taking this decision and in also refusing to comment at the time of the event, even to express condolence.

A 2006 coroner's tribunal into the accident returned a narrative verdict on the death with some indication that the accident was more the result of the restraints being improperly secured by staff as opposed to fundamentally inadequate in and of themselves. The inquest reported that CCTV footage taken at the ride before the boat left clearly showed that Hayley's lap bar was in an "open and unsafe position". Other CCTV footage showed both operators had failed to properly check that passengers were secure. Despite Oakwood previously having a good reputation and record for safety, concern was nevertheless expressed about the quality of staff training at the park. The Hydro operators raised the alleged inadequacy of their training as a defence at the inquest. Concern has also been raised regarding the young and inexperienced nature of the staff employed to operate the larger (and potentially more dangerous) attractions at the park.

In August 2005 it was reported that the parents of Hayley Williams received an anonymous letter following the conclusion of the inquest (with which they were reported to be dissatisfied). The letter, purporting to be from an ex-employee of Oakwood alleged that the park had decided against installing over-the-shoulder restraints at the time of the ride's opening in 2002 on grounds of cost (despite the installation of new restraints on the perilous plunge ride in California). The letter has been delivered to the police and Oakwood have said they will themselves respond to the letter following the conclusion of the still ongoing investigation by the Health and safety executive.

The death was followed by a significant drop in visitor numbers and presented a major PR disaster for Oakwood from which it has yet to fully recover.

On 18th May 2007 the Health and Safety executive reported that Oakwood will now be prosecuted for the death of Hayley Williams. At this time the Health and Safety Executive has not made it clear when formal charges will be laid and the summons will be served, or when the matter will be brought to court. Oakwood has stated that it continues to cooperate with this process.

• UPDATE* - The ride has now been fitted with extra restraints and a new audio system which clearly says:

Please fasten your seatbelts and WAIT for a ride operative to lower your shoulder restraint.

The Bluestone Project

In 2002 William McNamara, the then Managing Director of Oakwood resigned in order to take control of the bluestone project, a plan for a a new generation coastal holiday village which will be sittuated very close to Oakwood.

Bluestone will be a high quality holiday village of 335 log cabins and 30 cottages, 30 studios in a woodland environment surrounding a holiday village providing leisure, retail, catering and other support services; the creation of an all-weather water park attraction, an indoor sports club, and snow centre.

Whilst Bluestone has no official connection with Oakwood (allegedly due to a frision in the management team's vision for the park's future development) the ties are obvious and it is likely the park will benefit greatly from this new development considering its close proximity.

Park Pictures

• Megafobia
  Megafobia
• 
  Speed
• Hydro
  Hydro
• New Oakwood Logo
  New Oakwood Logo
• Old Oakwood Logo Used Until 2005
  Old Oakwood Logo Used Until 2005

Opening Times

Oakwood opens from between 31st March and 30th September opening times from 10am to 5pm the after dark program means the park opens till 10pm between 1st August to 31st August. This is the system for 2007.

Ride Statistics

Speed - Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter (Custom) roller coaster

• • Height (Total): 36 m (115 ft)
  • Height (Drop): 35 m (110 ft)
  • Drop Angle: 97 degrees
  • Speed: 95 km/h (60 mph)
  • Track length: 600 m (1970 ft)
  • Ride time: 90 s
  • Acceleration: −1.3 to +4.5 g (−13 to 44 m/s²)
  • Elements: 97-degree drop, −1.3g camelback hill, 110-degree overbanked turn, vertical loop, heartline roll, helix
  • Restraints: OTSR (Over-the-Shoulder Restraints)
  • Trains: 4 x 2-section roll-articulated trains, 2 rows of 4 riders each
  • Capacity: 800 riders per hour
  • Opened: 13 April 2006

• Megafobia - CCI wooden roller coaster
  • Height (Total): 26 m (85 ft)
  • Height (Drop): 25 m (82 ft)
  • Drop Angle: 55 degrees
  • Speed: quotes vary from 75 km/h (46 mph) to 88 km/h (55 mph); faster in wet weather
  • Track length: 901 m (2956 ft)
  • Ride time: 100 s
  • Acceleration (max): +2.75g (27 m/s²)
  • Trains: 2 x 6-car trains, Philadelphia Toboggan Co., 4 riders per car, total 24 riders per train
  • Restraints: Lap bar and lap belt. NB: A little known fact is that Lap belts were retro-fitted around 1997/ 1998 and were not installed at the time of Megafobia's initial opening in 1996.
  • Opened: 1996

• The Bounce - HUSS shot-and-drop tower
  • Height: 47 m (154 ft)
  • Speed: 70 km/h (44 mph)
  • Acceleration (max): +4g (39 m/s²)
  • Restraints: OTSR
  • Seats: 24
  • Opened: 1999

• Vertigo - skycoaster
  • Height: 50 m (164 ft)
  • Speed: 128 km/h (80 mph)
  • Acceleration: 3g (30 m/s²)
  • Opened: 1997
  • Due to low throughput, Vertigo is the only ride in Oakwood to charge an additional admission fee, which is on top of the entrance fee to the park. As of April 2007, the charge for up to a maximum of three persons is £33.

• Hydro - Intamin River Plunge
  • Height (total): 37 m (121 ft)
  • Height (drop): 36 m (118 ft)
  • Wave Height: 14 m (45 ft)
  • Ride Length: 175 m (581 ft)
  • Speed: 88 km/h (55 mph)
  • Acceleration (max): 4g (40 m/s²)
  • Restraints: OTSR (retrofitted; formerly lap-bar)
  • Boats: 1
  • Opened: 2002

• Bobsleigh - toboggan ride
• Treetops Roller coaster - Zierer Tivoli (Large) family roller coaster
  • Height (total): 8 m (26 ft)
  • Height (drop): 8 m (26 ft)
  • Track length: 360 m (1181 ft)
  • Speed: 35 km/h (22 mph)
  • Ride time: 60 s
  • Opened: 1989

• Spooky 3-D - ghost-train
• Brer Rabbit's Burrow
• Plane Crazy
• Pirate Ship
• Snake River Falls
• Waterfall
• Boating Lake
• Clown Coaster - children's roller coaster

External links

• Oakwood Theme Park Official Website
• Oakwood Theme Park at Theme Park Junkies
• Oaktowers.com (Unoffical Website)
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/3589555.stm (BBC News- announcement of Speed)
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3629943.stm (Hydro Death)