Merlin Entertainments chief executive Nick Varney has said that wooden rollercoasters do not make good investments because the general public does not ‘get’ them.
In an interview with the Chessington Buzz website, he said that he shared enthusiasts’ love of the timber rides and described the issue as “frustrating”.
He said: “The problem is that the general public doesn’t ‘get’ what is so special about them and they therefore don’t represent good investments because historically parks will not achieve the visitor uplift required to pay for them.”
Ride designer John Wardley once designed a wooden rollercoaster to cross the valley gardens at Alton Towers, but the plans were later dropped and negative feedback from market research was cited as an issue.