The new owners of Lightwater Valley theme park have described the ‘wrong direction’ the park took under previous owners.
James Mellors, head of the Mellors Group, told the BBC that the park had suffered from under investment.
The Mellors family business took over Lightwater Valley from the Brighton Pier Group in December last year.
The North Yorkshire theme park subsequently removed most of its thrill rides, including the highly-customised Ultimate and Raptor Attack (formerly the Sewer Rat) rollercoasters.
“It’s changed massively and, unfortunately, I don’t think it’s seen the investment it needed,” James Mellors told the BBC.
“When I think back to the days of the Ultimate or the Rat [the world’s first and only subterranean rollercoaster built in 1987], they were things that people hadn’t really done before.
“In my opinion, the previous owners really went in the wrong direction and went down to more of a younger age group.”
Changes
The park has added a spinning rollercoaster Spinning Racer, which opened last last month.
Mellors operates Fantasy island in Lincolnshire, and is well established in providing travelling rides to major travelling fairs and events.
Under their ownership, Lightwater Valley can expect to see a rotating number of thrill rides in periods outside of major events such as Hyde Park Winter Wonderland and Nottingham Goose Fair.
The family business has been in the attractions industry since the late 19th century, and also own Skegness Pier.
Lightwater Valley was founded by Robert Staveley in 1969 as a self-pick fruit farm.
He later oversaw many in-house designed rides that included unique theming. The Ultimate was the longest rollercoaster in the world when it opened in 1991.