Heide Park Discussion Thread

[SharkTums]

Honestly. Not that strange.

 

Merlin didn't spend money on maintaining the ride as other parks with prefab woodies do.

When it was deemed no longer safe to run they didn't fix it immediately they've left it for a year to 'decide' what to do. Meaning it has been left to rot.

So the fact that it is now really costly to repair is no surprise.

 

Real shame.

 

This. Merlin is really starting to get to me. I'm just not happy with how they're running a lot of their "newer" acquired parks.

[cfc]

Terrible. Colossos was such a great coaster at one time.

[RyanTPM]

^^Yeah with Merlin they seem to do critical maintenance but forget about the upkeep of rides and they end up either in this situation here, or with rides just looking terrible. For example just look at the state Colossus is in at Thorpe, or Dragons Fury at Chessington.

[snapfordakids]

Wow this is so incredibly irresponsible of Merlin. smh.

[robbalvey]

This is so incredibly irresponsible of Merlin.

Surprising no one...

[robbalvey]

Honestly, I can't decide which is dumber...

 

Universal removing a perfectly good roller coaster that still ranks very high on guest satisfaction...

 

or

 

Merlin not seeming to care that one of the world's highest rated roller coasters needs regular maintenance.

 

I just feel like parks all over the world are making incredibly stupid decisions lately but this all just fits perfectly into society devolving into Idiocracy.

 

And as I said above... "surprising no one..."

 

Sad...

[Taron]

Speaking of good news I just realized that it hasn't been mentioned here that Lady Moon (Huss Flipper) and Aqua Spin (Huss Top Spin) have been shut down since the 1st of August and the park has confirmed, that the rides will be removed from the park. Time consuming repairs and lack of parts have been given as reasons.

 

German Source

 

You may now continue with your love declarations for Merlin

[RyanTPM]

^Removing flat rides is something Merlin do a lot as well, replacing them however, not so much

[Ed Farmer]

It would also be great if Merlin kindly stayed the f@ck away from the Busch parks.

[BlahBlahson]

^This. I am very very against them buying Seaworld and BGT after visiting Alton and Thorpe this month. Merlin's park policies and maintenance with how they run attractions is so all uneven and asinine. Like letting one of the best wooden coasters in Europe completely rot?

[MrSum1_55]

Honestly, I can't decide which is dumber...

 

Universal removing a perfectly good roller coaster that still ranks very high on guest satisfaction...

 

or

 

Merlin not seeming to care that one of the world's highest rated roller coasters needs regular maintenance.

 

I just feel like parks all over the world are making incredibly stupid decisions lately but this all just fits perfectly into society devolving into Idiocracy.

 

And as I said above... "surprising no one..."

 

Sad...

 

This may not have been a rhetorical question, but I think I can answer this.

 

At least Dragons has some logic to it from a financial standpoint. Harry Potter is Universal's main cash cow, so wanting to put a dark ride there makes some sense. However, Heide Park is trying to be a thrill park. It makes no sense for a thrill park to literally let their most iconic roller coaster rot.

 

Say what you will about Six Flags, but at least they know what they are. Six Flags seems to understand that they do need to maintain their best coasters (if minimally). Heck, even Six Flags America, the butt of every Six Flags joke, still keeps their wood coasters in descent shape.

 

Remember a few years ago when there was a scare that Six Flags would buy Busch Parks? Given Merlin's reputation, I am not sure which chain would be worse to end up in.

 

For the record, when I was in Germany, I spent two days in Phantasialand, two days in Europa Park, one day at Holiday Park, and one day in Hansa Park. I skipped Heide Park altogether. I could have easily gone too, but I had little interest in going to a park that would feel like another corporate park in America. (At least with its best coaster closed). Luckily for people in the area, Hansa Park still has plenty of charm, and it seems to be showing a promising future. (As long as Merlin does not touch that park).

[xVicesAndVirtues]

Wow, I knew it was down this year but I didn't realize that they'd closed it in July of last year.

 

I got really freaking lucky then, I rode it just a month earlier. I was super confused when I got off of it, because I prepared myself for another El Toro and was not at all prepared for how hellishly painful the ride was. Or maybe I was confused by how far my brain stem had just been pushed nearly out the top of my head.

 

I was also extremely shocked and confused by how badly run the park was, especially since it came at the end of a trip where I visited several other German and French parks, so you can imagine how obvious and glaring the contrast was going from a Plopsa Park to a this one. More than half the food eateries were closed and I typically eat pretty healthy, so fried-to-death American-style park food doesn't sit well with me, and that was all they had to offer. Everything was staggered opening with one train, even Krake.

 

I have no idea what the park or the company's financial situation is, but the fact that the article posted says they have to "go to the investors" (paraphrasing) or whatever, sounds to me like they really run the park on a minimal budget, which never makes sense to me. It causes such a downward spiral.

 

Please fix this, Merlin and Heide. Even while I was being savagely beaten, I could still tell it was El Toro good. Thank you, sir, now may I please have another ride?

[mr.sugar]

Heide Park was the first park where I realized how much I love Rollercoasters. It all happened after I took my first ride on Colossos. It has quite special meaning for me. I used to love that park. But then I visited it two more times and it was worse and worse each visit. Thorpe Park is the same, it could be quite nice park, but the way they run it is obnoxious. I mean, Thorpe Park is infamous for having problems with keeping rides up and running too.

 

Demolishing Colossos will very likely remove Heide Park from my list alltogether. Seeing how Merlin stands right now, I doubt they would be able to replace it with something as good and as big as Colossos. Without it, there is pretty much no reason to go there. Flug der daemonen is fine, but that´s it...

 

And yes, I do think this is Merlins fault, because they simply do not maintain their rides well. Their policy regarding maintaining rides is pretty much visible, especially in Thorpe Park (wondering, how long will the Colosuss last, it doesn´t look healthy too). I haven´t seen much coasters going this bad within only 15 years...

 

Anyway, planning my next trip to Phantasialand again, as that is the park where they clearly care about everything...

[cfc]

^^I rode it last year, too, and while it was noticeably bumpier than when I'd first ridden it (back in 2008), it was still great.

[mr.sugar]

^^I rode it last year, too, and while it was noticeably bumpier than when I'd first ridden it (back in 2008), it was still great.

 

That´s right. You could feel something is wrong with it. Even if you rode it in 2015, you would feel the difference (at least riding in the last row). A friend of mine who was with me last year rode it once and said "never more".

 

Anyway, I just have feeling that all Merlins park are going downhill. I just looked at the ride list of Heide Park and cannot get rid of that feeling that park is going to turn out into family park without real big and adrenaline attractions.

 

Anyway, yea I don´t think I will visit Merlin parks anytime soon and I hope they seriously re-consider this. Although as you can imagine, for them it´s about nothing, but money, so I wouldn´t be worried to say Colossos is gone already

[dchang11]

Call Rocky Mountain Construction. They helped build these Intamin woodies. Maybe they can help.

[mr.sugar]

Call Rocky Mountain Construction. They helped build these Intamin woodies. Maybe they can help.

 

How? Honestly, the only problem here is the money. And that they let it to get this far. Merlin is soulless corporation, so they rly don´t care about their rides as Phantasialand/Europapark or some other mostly family owned parks do.

[MrSum1_55]

If they remove the coaster, a large part of me hopes that this kicks them financially. I hope that at least Merlin learns their lesson from this. If not, then will they just keep removing iconic coasters? Are Colossus (Thorpe) or even Nemesis next?

[mr.sugar]

If they remove the coaster, a large part of me hopes that this kicks them financially. I hope that at least Merlin learns their lesson from this. If not, then will they just keep removing iconic coasters? Are Colossus (Thorpe) or even Nemesis next?

 

Honestly, looking at Colossos, It wouldn´t surprise me. I was there last year and when we came there, my friends were like "it´s shame, it must have been great coaster" thinking it´s actualy old and disfunctional.It rly does look that bad, I would think the same if I didn´t know a lot about the park from the internet .

 

I hope they keep nemessis (at this point, probably only one attraction worth mentioning from Merlin´s portfolio), they might do that, since it seems like the only ride they showed some love recently. Even though, they also re-themed colossos last year...

 

I cannot get rid of the feeling they want to kill Merlin slowly and surely. Btw, I heard Thorpe and Heide have quite low attendance this year. Not sure if true, but if so, it´s well deserved.

[robbalvey]

This may not have been a rhetorical question

It was.

[Canobie Coaster]

Call Rocky Mountain Construction. They helped build these Intamin woodies. Maybe they can help.

 

I really hope Colossos can retain the same layout since the ride when maintained sounds amazing.

 

It would just be wrong to me to RMC a freaking Intamin plug and play.

[cookiex]

Speaking of good news I just realized that it hasn't been mentioned here that Lady Moon (Huss Flipper) and Aqua Spin (Huss Top Spin) have been shut down since the 1st of August and the park has confirmed, that the rides will be removed from the park. Time consuming repairs and lack of parts have been given as reasons.

 

German Source

 

You may now continue with your love declarations for Merlin

I remember seeing Aqua Spin down a lot in the last two years (the park has an app that lets you see wait times and ride closures which I often check in on when I'm bored) and it was still closed for winter maintenance when I visited the park. Since Merlin killed Ripsaw at Alton last year I guess it was only a matter of time.

 

It's really a shame too since the area with all the flat rides is one of the nicer spots in the park. At least it's themed cohesively with a decent atmosphere.

[mr.sugar]

Speaking of good news I just realized that it hasn't been mentioned here that Lady Moon (Huss Flipper) and Aqua Spin (Huss Top Spin) have been shut down since the 1st of August and the park has confirmed, that the rides will be removed from the park. Time consuming repairs and lack of parts have been given as reasons.

 

German Source

 

You may now continue with your love declarations for Merlin

I remember seeing Aqua Spin down a lot in the last two years (the park has an app that lets you see wait times and ride closures which I often check in on when I'm bored) and it was still closed for winter maintenance when I visited the park. Since Merlin killed Ripsaw at Alton last year I guess it was only a matter of time.

 

It's really a shame too since the area with all the flat rides is one of the nicer spots in the park. At least it's themed cohesively with a decent atmosphere.

 

Its actually very interesting (and sad) to compare how many rides Merlin killed within lets say 4 years and how many they added (and what the additions were like).

[TheoB]

I cannot get rid of the feeling they want to kill Merlin slowly and surely. Btw, I heard Thorpe and Heide have quite low attendance this year. Not sure if true, but if so, it´s well deserved.

 

Not sure about Heide Park but Thorpe Park has noticeably lower attendance this year, although some days it has been packed unexpectedly generally it has been lower than average. I completely understand it with Heide Park losing their biggest coaster plus other rides - which is surprising with the major Ghostbusters dark ride opening.

 

Thorpe Park I understand why it happened because of Derren Brown's PR Disaster Train opening (well not opening mostly!) but they have tried to improve it and like its been much more reliable this year. At least Thorpe Park has got flat rides unlike every other park (I know slammer shut but it just wasn't worth keeping it never had a queue.)

 

If they remove the coaster, a large part of me hopes that this kicks them financially. I hope that at least Merlin learns their lesson from this. If not, then will they just keep removing iconic coasters? Are Colossus (Thorpe) or even Nemesis next?

I don't think ANYONE would mind if Colossus went but while a lack of maintenance is clear the whole coaster is a goner because its sinking into the lake slowly which is something they simply cannot do much about. Nemesis they are very clearly intending to keep however because of the investments over the last 2 closed seasons plus the uproar if they removed it would be massive.

 

I hope Merlin does decide to invest and fix Colossos but i really doubt it because it just isn't worth the 10mil+ pricetag. Its strange how Merlin run there parks and it seems to vary a lot, the only similarity i can see is that all the thrill parks have a major attraction shut with no real signs of it reopening in the near future, Loggers Leap at Thorpe, Colossos at Heide Park, Sequoia Adventure at Gardaland and Nemesis Sub Terra at Alton Towers. (+ Charlie and the chocolate factory at Alton as an added extra!)

 

Also with Aquaspin the lack of spare parts is quite ironic since Ripsaw was literally shipped over to the park last/this year to be used for parts after shutting at Alton Towers. Whats surprising is how Ramases Revenge still operates at the family park even after a high profile incident a couple of years ago plus barely attracting a crowd on the busiest of days.

[Jason Maier]

Is it less complicated to re-track a pre-fabricated coaster than a "built on the spot" coaster?

 

If so, I could see Colossos getting Topper Tracked by RMC . . . . .