Tarndem Park [RCT3] (Season 3 and new rides 8.8.09)

[89James89]

(OOC: Hey guys and girls and welcome to my newest park. I havent played the game for ages so thoguht I'd just make a new start. Like my last few this one will be NO CS. Hope you like it.)

 

 

 

Hi and welcome all to Handon Park Groups LTD premier park, Tarndem Park. This park is the hopefully successful initial park developed by the company and I’ll tell you more about it in a minute as well as show you some pictures but first here’s a bit about the company.

 

Newly formed a year ago Handon Park Groups LTD consists of two business partners and myself. The idea to form the company came after one of the partners; Michael Sunders was made redundant by recent cuts to the Thorpe Park design team by the large entertainment company Merlin. Now having loved his job Michael got together with Harry Goodfrey partner number two and wealthy businessman as well as good friend to Michael and asked if he was interested in expanding his business to include amusement parks. Harry who was always a rather open minded bloke suggested that rather than have the parks bundled in with his already existing company that they’d start a new one funded by him and a large loan from the bank. This they agreed on and after a month or so I joined the team as an advertising manager.

 

Now things went downhill at first and with the first six months seeing no development at all as we were unable to buy a plot of land with the small starting capital we had and Harry’s other company wasn’t doing brilliant and so couldn’t spare anymore for us. It was as we were about to disband the company that I noticed a small plot of land for sale that would be affordable. Only problem was that it was a large park area in a development area on the outskirts of Bristol which the city council had decided it had had enough of paying the upkeep for. We discussed the idea and after many meetings with the council and outbidding of our rivals (wanting to build everything from a swimming pool to storage sheds) we settled on a sum for this land.

 

(Taken from on top of the local multi-storey carpark overlooking the park.)

 

Now we were overjoyed that the company may finally get somewhere and we had the perfect area, not to small but small enough to be manageable for our new company and the cities population for the visitor count. The only small downside was the height limit of 70ft due to being in a built up area and the promise that we’d mask the park with trees and but they were small prices to pay for our venture to become reality and so Tarndem Park was born.

 

Fast forward six months and it’s the opening day for the park. For the time we had we reckon we did well and have a small selection of rides to entertain both the young and the adult age groups. We also had the needed amenities as well and the opening day was more of a success and surprise to us than we’d expected but anyway onto some photos of the park.

 

This shows the entrance form across the road. The park is a once pay off despite its small size with only an upcharge for hiring the tennis courts (see below).

 

Into the entry plaza and you can see the parks first ride the classic Merry Go Round. It was very popular with the younger audience on the opening day.

 

These are the Tennis Courts that were left intact from the original park grounds and are available to hire at as an upcharge attraction.

 

This Enterprise (simply named that as well) was purchased from a local fair and seems to be in good condition. A very popular ride amongst the thrill seekers it would seem.

 

Now for the rather strangely coloured blue and yellow Dodgems. These were also bought form the same fair as the Enterprise (you would think it was going out of business but apparently not) and were a favourite with the kids and adults alike.

 

And lastly for now, the parks Ferris Wheel which overlooks the small Tarndem Park Lake. A nice and relaxing ride for everyone to enjoy.

 

 

Well that is all I have time to show you now of opening day. Hope it wets your appetite as I have a few more pictures to show you next time form opening day.

 

Cheers

 

Craig Henly (Marketing Director of Handon Parks Group LTD)

 

 

(OOC: hope you all like this new park form me. Comments and Criticism’s appreciated.)

[netdvn]

Park looks good, but you posted the same pic four times...

 

Architecture and scenery look great though. I'm interested in the orange coaster.

[89James89]

Yer corrected that small problem lol.

 

Glad you like it.

 

Cheers

 

89James89

[DBru]

Looks like a nice start.

 

Are the supports on that looping coaster not custom?

[KPWoCkAxX]

Looks nice. I like the looks of the coaster and the park is a nice touch too!

[89James89]

Replies:

 

DBru: Thanks and no there not. Its the splitting coaster supports as I used that combined with the looping rollercoaster for the car types to get the coaster looking like the real life track and trains.

 

KPWoCkAxX: Thanks and see below fro more of the coaster.

 

 

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Right this is the second part of the opening day trip. This will mostly showcase the parks biggest ride Fireball! and the services available in the park. We’ll get onto the photos in a minute but firstly a bit about the rollercoaster.

 

Not actually ours, Fireball! is currently rented on a 3 year lease from the same local fair that sold us the Enterprise and Dodgems. The reasoning behind this is it was cheaper than buying our own rollercoaster and seeing as we didn’t know how popular the park would be and how much of a successful venture we would have renting the ride was the best value for money. This coupled with the main reason why the fair allowed us to rent the ride (the maintenance was too much for a travelling fair to cope with, though wouldn’t be such a problem if the ride was stationery) means that we saw this as the best option.

 

The actual ride itself is a slightly smaller clone of the Soquet companies Quantum Loop model. The ride itself features 2 inversions and will hopefully provide the company with a large people magnet for the first few years of operations until we can afford to invest in our own rollercoaster or maybe extend the lease on this one depending on its popularity. Anyway enough of the rides background lets get onto some of the photos.

 

Firstly a photo of the rides biggest feature, the loops, complete with a train.

 

Secondly, a photo from the queue showing the second half of the ride (well trying).

 

 

Now next on the list of things in the park are the amenities. Perhaps not the most thrilling things here, but still necessary for the successful running of the park. Entering the park you come upon a little square where you can find most of the services available in the park. These are shown in the two pictures below.

 

The left side of the entrance area taken from the Merry Go Round end. This shows form the background to the foreground: entrance toilets (the brown building right at the back), the guest relations building and the entrance fast food outlet.

 

The right side showing from background to foreground the first aid building and the lockers.

 

Now that’s the entrance area covered the only other amenities in the park is a large foodcourt and the main place for food in the park and another toilet block. Shown here is the foodcourt.

 

Now finally here’s a random photo of the large Pegasus statue which resides in the centre of Tarndem Lake and acts a focal point for the park. As why the council added a Pegasus statue to the centre of the lake I have no idea but oh well it looks quite nice and like I said acts as a focal point in the park.

 

Right well that’s all the photos I have from opening day. Next time I hope to get some night photo’s for you all though so I hope you enjoy these till then.

 

Till next time.

 

Craig Henly (Marketing Director of Handon Parks Group LTD)

[Coaster Cow]

Yes! Something told me that the coaster looked like Quantum Loop.

This park looks great! Keep it up!

[89James89]

Replies:

 

Coaster Cow: Lol thanks and it looks like the clone job went pretty well then.

 

 

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Well the years half gone and believe me it’s flown by. The park has also done as well as we’d predicted (with exception to the first month or so which went a lot better than we’d planned). Were hoping this good run holds out till the end of the year though as Michael has several (or so he says) crazy ideas to improve the park based on what our statistics say the largest market is. What these are though he won’t tell anyone (with exception to the design team but their all ordered to keep quiet about it) so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

Anyway I’ve got some night photos to show you now to keep you happy until next time (which may well be next year).

 

This shows the entrance area all lit up. Looks like some guests are having some late night fun.

 

Next we have Fireball! at night.

 

Looking down at the Dodgems and food court from the top of the Ferris Wheel.

 

Lastly here’s a rather picturesque shot looking at the Ferris Wheel and fountain from across the lake.

 

Well that’s it for now. Hope you like these night shots and I’ll probably see you next season.

 

Till next time.

 

Craig Henly (Marketing Director of Handon Parks Group LTD)

[89James89]

Well our initial year is now finished and a great success it was as well. This in itself was great news to everyone but no one was as excited as Michael and his team who after reviewing the statistics for the year and seeing that although the park was a hit with both teenagers and families it would appear that there were more visits by families than teenager groups, set about with one of their many plans in hand.

 

Now what this new development is I’m not allowed to tell you (though of course I do know myself). I am however allowed to show you this teaser photo for it. Enjoy.

 

Well that’s all I’m allowed to show till the next season officially starts. Hope you’ll visit us when it does to find out what the addition actually is.

 

Till next time.

 

Craig Henly (Marketing Director of Handon Parks Group LTD)

[89James89]

Welcome back to our park blog. I can now finally reveal to you what the new additions to the park are. Obviously family based due to what I said earlier about the market being made up mostly of families. With this in mind Michael decided to go with one of several low budget plans we had which was part of the whole three year project we were going for. This project is named Horror Hotel. Pretty cheesy naming but it sums up the ride completely. This ‘in company’ designed dark ride will hopefully give further entertainment for our younger guests and together with our leased rollercoaster means there’s something for everyone here.

 

There were also a few other changes to the park and additions but I’ll address these in a minute when I show you the photos of them but firstly the introductive back story for the Horror Hotel.

 

‘You’ve booked yourself into what seems to be a nice hotel for a peaceful beachside holiday. On arrival though you notice its slightly different to what the brochure stated and it would appear the pristine landscaped garden has seen better days with plants dying all over the place. Still you’ve paid good money already to stay here, you’ve been travelling all day and its getting dark so searching for another place to stay is out of the question.

 

It’s as your walking up the drive you hear noises behind you. You turn to face them and think you see a face leering at you. Shaking your head in disbelief you ignore it until your friend says they’ve seen it. You both hurry to the door thinking the nightmare will be over once your inside. Truth is its just begun….’

 

There is more but as I only have an exterior photo to show you now if I tell you the rest of the story then it’ll ruin it for you when I take some interior photos. Talking of photos lets get onto them now. These are all from the first day of the second season.

 

Firstly a shot taken after the park had been open for a couple of minutes showing the crowds pouring in.

 

Now a photo of the actual new darkrides exterior. As you can see the area immediately around it was also themed slightly. Looks nice if you ask me though it wasn’t that busy during the day.

 

Also new this season are these fair games which we’ve added to help generate some extra profit and provide more fun for our guests. They include a ladder climb as well as a hoop the frog and several ring toss games.

 

Lastly for new things and changes for this season is the base around the Ferris Wheel. During the off season it became apparent that the mortar holding the bricks together had not stood up to the stresses and had leaked in places. Now rather than repairing the bricks and risking it happening again we replaced the walls with a themed concrete face which I reckon looks a lot nicer than the old bricks anyway.

 

Well that’s all for now. Join me next time when I reveal the rest of Horror Hotels dark secrets.

 

Till next time.

 

Craig Henly (Marketing Director of Handon Parks Group LTD)

[89James89]

(OOC: Sorry for the long wait for the update I've been a bit busy.)

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Well I’m back now with the rest of the back story behind the Hotel Horror.

 

‘As your hurrying to the door you hear the noises again and this time are sure you can see leering faces in the dark and even moving trees. Running up the front steps you reach the hotel and rush in without a second thought…’

 

‘Big mistake, the hotel doors slam shut behind you and you see the same horrible leering faces again. Turning for the door you realise its locked and make your way towards the only other door in the room before the faces get you. This hotel needs better mannered receptionist’s that’s for sure.’

 

‘Well with that rather frightening surprise over you head the only way you can and go up the old staircase in front of you. Upon reaching the top landing you notice something isn’t right and the walls begin to go red and… are they spinning?! Whatever their doing it’s a bit sickening and noticing the moonlight shining through the door at the end of the corridor you run towards it.’

 

‘Only to find to your horror that it leads to a balcony high above the leering faces that you thought you saw outside. Looks likes it’s onwards and back into the frightening building.’

 

‘Now by this time you well and truly wanted to leave and would like to find the owners (if there really are any) to complain and get your money back. Unfortunately when you finally do find the owners it becomes clear why the hotel is ran the way it is. The owners appear to be vampires and seem all too happy to see you when you awake them from their slumber inside their coffins. Quick out the window we’ll worry about getting the money back later. That was too close.’

 

‘Dropping down you land in a soft hedge (finally a bit of luck) and run back around the side of the house towards where hopefully the car still is and right into a graveyard. Spooky noises can be heard as you realise spectral shapes can be seen behind the gravestones and realising the garden come graveyard is wall off you head back into the house through a side door.

 

‘It would appear that you’re in the groundkeeper’s store room but it would appear that somebody has taken he grounds keeping too seriously as sets of hands burst through the ground clawing at you. Luckily though there’s an unlocked door leading out onto the front lawn and safety and you burst through and quickly reach your car before leaving this dreaded place. This time your safe but will you be so lucky next time when you visit Hotel Horror?’

 

 

 

Well now you’ve survived Tamdem parks newest horrors nothing could faze you and so the rest of the park should be a breeze. Hope you enjoyed the back story and photos.

 

Till next time.

 

Craig Henly (Marketing Director of Handon Parks Group LTD)

[89James89]

Well I’m back with some bad news. About midway through the second season Enterprise started experiencing problems with its drive and would frequently break down causing no end of problems. Now although the drive would probably be fixable we decided with the direction the park was taking we’d remove it and place it in storage. Of course being one of the two thrill rides in the park it did have a few fans and we have this picture of the day it closed down complete with our resident entertainer paying his respects.

 

Fast forward a month or so and it’s nearly the end of the season but more importantly it would seem that the Enterprise had been replaced with a overly bright construction office, a crane, a bunch of workers and a load of fencing. As for what were doing with the area were not entirely sure yet (and I wouldn’t tell you what we were doing if I was) so we’ll have to wait till next season.

 

Here’s a shot of the improvements to the land side of the Ferris wheel just so this photo report isn’t all doom and gloom. Looks much nicer than the plain old boring path.

 

Well that’s all for the bad news. Hopefully next time I update you it’ll be on a more positive note.

 

Till next time.

 

Craig Henly (Marketing Director of Handon Parks Group LTD)

[89James89]

Well we’ve happily moved into season 3 and put the loss of Enterprise (though it is sat in storage at an industrial estate outside Bristol) behind us. Actually after the ride had been removed completely we could easily see how much potential the rather large (for the park size) plot of land it was taking up. That combined with the increased family target market meant the loss was not that bad after all and so we let Michael and his design team loose again only this time with a tighter budget.

 

Now Michael and his design team had already found one replacement for the area in the form of a set of electric go-karts which, with a small track installed would make a perfect addition to the park that would be enjoyable for the families that visited us but they wanted to use the space up well and so looked for another ride that would fill a hole in the park line up. The solution was a slightly shortened Herschell Little Dipper (yes it really is slightly shorter as you’ll see soon) which was being sold off cheap by a park up country.

 

Now you may be asking why another coaster but there is a good reason behind it. You see with the family orientation the park needed a kiddie coaster as Fireball was too intense and frankly frightened most of the younger guests. That coupled with the fact that the lease for Fireball ended this season meant that the park would be without a coaster at all after this season. So with a light racing theme introduced in both the naming of the rides and beautifying the kart track Pole Position (Little Dipper) and Chequered Flag (electric Karts) completed the park’s additions and now enough talking lets see some photos.

 

Firstly this was what the rush looked like when the gates opened. Definitely more than last season which is always good.

 

This is the look of the new area with our Entertainer dressed as Podium Panda who was giving out lollipops to the racers and a certificate for each of the winners (provided they were under 12). He was rather popular all day but I can’t possibly think why. In the background you can see the new karts which I’ll show more of next update.

 

For this update though I have a picture of Pole Position, the shortened Little Dipper. Not much of a rollercoaster but still a credit and the younger guests seem to love it so not a bad addition.

 

Finally a rather feeble attempt at a overview of the two new rides from the Ferris Wheel.

 

Hoped you liked the new coaster and next update I’ll concentrate on the karts.

 

Till next time.

 

Craig Henly (Marketing Director of Handon Parks Group LTD)