Plans for a themepark to be built in Co.Clare.

jonnyfingers

Naomi00 wrote: »

Actually Disneyland is probably one of the cheaper parks I've been to and the best value.
I've been to a few theme parks in Germany which cost way more. Obviously they didn't have the characters that Disney have and so didn't really have a strong theme at all, and even though the park was bigger it was pointless as the whole place closed at 6pm, whereas Disneyland closes at midnight.


I think a proper theme park in Ireland would be class. I think Clare is a really good place for one, as long as it doesn't look awful or out of place.

One thing I do like about Disney is the free Fast Passes you can get. In the Merlin parks in the UK these are an up-charge. I live 15 minutes from Thorpe Park and have an annual pass so went there quite a lot this year, but the queues were massive at times. You'd need multiple fast passes just to get on the rides and that could double the cost of your entry.

But I've been to Disneyworld in Florida and Disneyland Paris and the food an accommodation onsite is very expensive. The entrance prices are also very high. For example a two day ticket for Disneyland Paris is £105. A two day ticket at Alton Towers is £40.

But Disney does open for longer, I'll give you that.

I'm going to most of the parks in Germany next summer as part of a European Theme Park tour, can't wait to see them. Europa Park looks amazing.

But back onto to topic of and Irish Theme Park, I think Drayton Manor would be a good model to emulate. It's a family owned park, has grown steadily from humble beginnings and has a nice mixture of thrill rides and family rides. The recent edition of Thomas Land and a Ben 10 themed roller coaster has been hugely successful. I was there a few months ago and the amount of families in the park was great.

In fact getting a TV show franchise would be a great idea. Drayton have Thomas the Tank Engine and Ben 10, Blackpool have Nickelodeon Land and Paulton's Park has Peppa Pig world. If a new Irish park got something similar it could really get some international visitors as well as Irish ones.

CptSternn

I would love to see one in Clare, but sure, after witnessing the ongoing battle to get a simple Tesco built shows there is no chance they will ever have a theme park in Clare.

Nevermind_

sensibleken wrote: »

because clare has already ruinned the cliffs of moher and the ailiwee caves so giving them this to fúck up might save the burren from being tarmaced

FYI Ailwee caves is privately owned and operated nothing to do with the council or the general population of clare

Nevermind_

bb1234567 wrote: »

I'd really like to open a small vintage funfair type themepark somewhere in dublin when im older. im sure thatd be a huge success and would surely run a hole like funderland out of house and home.and it wouldnt be all too expenisve to build either. im sure you could keep costs somehwere in the hundred thousand fugures rather than the millions,then when it gets popular spend big oney on better rides. itd be easy to do,just buy some cheap second hand carnival rides some thrills and family/kids rides,maybe a good rollercoaster or two,dress them up nice,repaint, make them look vintage and traditional,nice greenery and flowers,some cafes and nice traditional food stalls selling candy apples,popcorn,cotton candy,sweets,icecreams,nice kids areas,nice theatre or music venue,water fountains,famiyl music not that techno funderland music,some clowns and performers,maybe an ice skating rink, a farmers market,wine tasting for adults,made into winter wonderland type scene in xmas time..and i think thatd be a really cool,fun popular little themepark and would fit in great in a middle class south dublin area maybe somehwere like dundrum

Thats a lovely idea and would have a good chance of working but the bit I highlighted there above and I hate to burst your bubble here but... you couldnt get the land required for it somewhere near dundrum for the figures youre talking about let alone build it.
A planning application alone would cost in excess of a hundred thousand

Tea 1000

bb1234567 wrote: »

great post thanks :)ye on the cons- the weather is defo a con youre right, but i dont think itll deter people from going ,so weather wont affeact the park imo.
ye the population of the republic is about 5 million,but you forgot about about northern ireland which has a population of about 2million! so of the around 7 million on this island i'd say easily 5 million on the island would vsit regularly or atleast yearly.and then add in about 4/500,00 tourists yearly who visit ireland or the west im sure would go to the park as part of their holiday(if the park is good mid you!). Oh and i read somewhere that a full scale all the works disney park only needs about 8 million guests annually to pay off for all ride maintenance,employee pay,electricity and all other overheads and still make profit. so if a whole disney park can surive on 8 m guests surely a much smaller scale park in ireland could survive on around 5.5/6m guests annually and make lots of profit!
then the recession as the last con, ye im sure thatll have some effect, but not too big i wouldnt think, as long as the park is good and food,tickets inside and accomodation arent even1/4 of what disney charge then i think the park will be a massive success.:)

I welcome the idea of a theme park so long as it's a good one, but nowhere in this country would get a sniff of 5 or 6 million visitors annually. You think 5 million people on this island would visit yearly? I'd say a max of around 2 million will visit it once and of those less than 500,000 regularly.

Brendog

"The happiest place in the bog"

sensibleken

maiden wrote: »

Im from Clare and I say bring it on!!!!! And why not Clare???

I've spend a fortune in the capital city every time a major concert in on, and ive spent a few bob over the years at Fota Wildlife.

So come on, time to get out of the cities and see the countryside!! I promise the fresh air wont hurt!!

countryside = nice.

massive themepark is not the countryside

manlad

I think they will need to build a roof first or the theme park will only be able to open a handful of times per year

sensibleken

Nevermind_ wrote: »

FYI Ailwee caves is privately owned and operated nothing to do with the council or the general population of clare

nothing at all against the fine people of clare. most I know were quite rightly giving out shít about how the cliffs have been ruined.

who owns the ailiwee caves? is it the same people who own the bird prison you get to be depressed by for €18

Mal-Adjusted

I'm apprehensive as Clare co. council has a horrible track-record regarding planning and they love to interfere with the things that are running smoothly (see the god-awful amenity center at the cliffs that they now force you to pay for even when you don't want to)

otherwise, bring it on! I can't wait to try the tunnel of goats!

Aglomerado

telekon wrote: »

I keep picturing Funland from Father Ted.

'Freak Pointing', 'The Pond of Terror', 'Spinning Cat', the 'Crane of Death', and of course, 'The Ladder'....

"Keep your hands on the so-ides...."

Hen frightening!

And oul' fellas dancing in their wellies to Deliverance music!!

A Ted theme park would be excellent.

redzerologhlen

sensibleken wrote: »

nothing at all against the fine people of clare. most I know were quite rightly giving out shít about how the cliffs have been ruined.

who owns the ailiwee caves? is it the same people who own the bird prison you get to be depressed by for €18

Come off the high horse there now. There would never have been any development of the ailwee caves if it wasnt for the family who bought it years ago. Im not going to name them because i dont think its allowed on this. The provide a lot of local employment and they are always doing something to try and improve the place. The caves have been a massive boost for the area over the years, they drew a lot of people to the west and the place is fairly tasteful around it too. Not an eye sore in my opinion and I happen to be from the same parish they are in. Ballyvaughan would be a ghost town only for them. As for the cliffs, thats a different story.

bb1234567

itd be actually be kind of cool if they had a sort of small father ted land in the park!as tribute to the show and because its irish:D

Kidchameleon

I don't know what the OP is talking about, I was at Tayto park last week and allot of the mammy's I saw were rides.

sensibleken

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Come off the high horse there now. There would never have been any development of the ailwee caves if it wasnt for the family who bought it years ago. Im not going to name them because i dont think its allowed on this. The provide a lot of local employment and they are always doing something to try and improve the place. The caves have been a massive boost for the area over the years, they drew a lot of people to the west and the place is fairly tasteful around it too. Not an eye sore in my opinion and I happen to be from the same parish they are in. Ballyvaughan would be a ghost town only for them. As for the cliffs, thats a different story.

high horse? drop the ****ing defensive attitude. did i say anything about an eye sore? no. Ive been there and i felt totally ripped off by the price of the thing and the fact i was being charged to see birds of prey chainned to the floor.

Deus Ex Machina

Theme parks are brilliant in my opinion. I would be 100% in favour of constructing one in College Green if they could get the backing, but I suppose Clare will have to do for now.

jonnyfingers

sensibleken wrote: »

countryside = nice.

massive themepark is not the countryside

Not necessarily. Alton Towers is built in the countryside and has plenty of green areas within the. The gardens, while not as well kept as in previous years, are still beautiful.

http://www.gardenvisit.com/assets/madge/alton_towers_resort_garden/600x/alton_towers_resort_garden_600x.jpg

sensibleken

jonnyfingers wrote: »

Not necessarily. Alton Towers is built in the countryside and has plenty of green areas within the. The gardens, while not as well kept as in previous years, are still beautiful.

http://www.gardenvisit.com/assets/madge/alton_towers_resort_garden/600x/alton_towers_resort_garden_600x.jpg

I've been twice. It is built outside of a city but its hardly the countryside. the diesel fumes, noise pollution, concrete and steel take care of that.

Clare is one of the most beautiful places in Ireland if not the most beautiful. The landscape of the burren, doolin, the countless ring forts, castles, coastline, lahinch are all absolutely stunning. Theyre entitled to do as they wish but personally i dont think theyd be improved with bumper cars.

bb1234567

Wasnt butlins extremely popular and that wasnt even a full fledged themepark.surely that tells us a themepark in ireland would be popular and successful? also wales only has a population of 3million and it has plenty of themeparks washington dc capital of us only has a population of 600,000 and i bet you anything it has atleast 1 big themepark similar to alton towers.and dublin has over 2x that population! i think those 3 points put the ''irelands population is too small for a themepark''theory to shame:p

Mal-Adjusted

sensibleken wrote: »

I've been twice. It is built outside of a city but its hardly the countryside. the diesel fumes, noise pollution, concrete and steel take care of that.

Clare is one of the most beautiful places in Ireland if not the most beautiful. The landscape of the burren, doolin, the countless ring forts, castles, coastline, lahinch are all absolutely stunning. Theyre entitled to do as they wish but personally i dont think theyd be improved with bumper cars.

Shannon is nowhere near those things. Bunratty is beside a motorway half way between Ennis and Limerick, hardly in the middle of the burren

fryup

telekon wrote: »

I keep picturing Funland from Father Ted.

'Freak Pointing', 'The Pond of Terror', 'Spinning Cat', the 'Crane of Death', and of course, 'The Ladder'....

hope they have freak pointing, can't be a theme park without freak pointing:)

the groutch

if you want to create tourism from it, it needs to be within 1/2 an hour of the M50. it's a waste sticking it way down in Clare.

bb1234567

the groutch wrote: »

if you want to create tourism from it, it needs to be within 1/2 an hour of the M50. it's a waste sticking it way down in Clare.

i agree ,i know clare may be nice place for a themepark in theory because of its natural beauty etc but over 1 million people live in dublin city alone, then nearly another 1million people live in dublin county and then 500,00 more people live in the rest of leinster. itd also be colser to belfast and other northern cities too on east coast .also putting it on east coast wouldnt make it much harder for the population of munster to get, placing it in clare wouldnt even make it much easier for people of munster to get to. so i'd say if it were placed somewhere in dublin itd be closer to and much easier to get to for around 4.5 million people. putting it in clare would put the park at a starting disadvantage imo, and with the recession and all it hardly needs that disadvantage.

dr.fuzzenstein

That idea was obviously conceived when Ryanair still flew in force in and out of Shannon and all three car parks plus the overflow where jam packed.
So, the smart thing would be to go to Ryanair and hammer out a deal to bring those flights back, promote it heavily in the catchment area of Shannon Airport, through the internet and on Ryanairs website.
If that will be done it stands a chance, Clare will receive a tourism boost and this could be a good thing.
If they just build it and hope like hell it'll work out, it will be a gigantic flop and lots of money down the drain.