Camelot Theme Park

Camelot

File:Camelotthemepark.jpg Camelot's logo, 2006
Location	Charnock Richard, Chorley, Lancashire, England
Coordinates	53°38′07″N 2°41′51″W
Opened	1983
Closed	2012
Owner	The Story Group
Operated by	Knights Leisure Limited
General manager	Mark Leader
Slogan	The land of great knights, and amazing days
Operating season	May - September
Area	40 acres (160,000 m2)
Attractions
Total	26 attractions in
Roller coasters	5
Water rides	2
Website	www.camelotthemepark.co.uk

Camelot Theme Park was a resort and theme park located in the English county of Lancashire (the last operating season was in 2012, the park will not open for 2013). The park´s theme was based on the famous legend of Camelot. It was located on a 140-acre (0.57 km²; 0.22 sq mi) site near the village of Charnock Richard, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Chorley. The site is owned by The Story Group, and was operated by Knights Leisure. The park featured many rides, taking a target audience of families and younger children, however the park also boasted numerous thrill rides and roller coasters, including Whirlwind (a Maurer Söhne spinning coaster), Knightmare and Excalibur. The park was featured in an episode of Sooty & Co., in which presenter Matthew Corbett takes Sooty, Sweep and Soo there.

History

The park opened in 1983 and has been operating seasonally since then. The park is based on the story of 'Camelot, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table'. The local area was once covered by the largest lake in England Martin Mere, which was first drained in 1692 by Thomas Fleetwood of Bank Hall in Bretherton. (The story is that Sir Lancelot's parents King Ban of Benwick and his queen Elaine escaped to Lancashire from their enemies in France. Elaine went to help King Ban who had fallen and put Lancelot down on the shore of the lake, by where he was abducted by nymph Vivian who vanished into the waters of the lake with him. Vivian brought up Lancelot and when he went to King Arthur's court he was knighted as 'Sir Lancelot of the Lake'.) Martin Mere has been locally known as the 'Lost Lake of Sir Lancelot' following the myth.
In 1986 it was taken over by The Granada Group and operated by them alongside its now defunct sister parks American Adventure and Granada Studios Tour. In June 1998 the park was subject to a management buyout in which the park went to Prime Resorts Ltd.

Camelot has seen a downturn in attendance in recent years. In 1995, Camelot's attendance was 500,000 visitors throughout the season. In 2005 Camelot's attendance was only 336,204 visitors.

In a 2006 survey of healthy food available at leading tourist attractions in the UK, Camelot came joint bottom scoring only one point.

In February 2009, Prime Resorts announced that the park was in receivership and would not reopen for the 2009 season. The hotel was bought by Lavender Hotels in March 2009, and in April 2009, it was announced that a buyer had been found for the park and that it would reopen in May 2009.

The theme park was purchased by Story Group, a construction company based in Carlisle and leased to Knight's Leisure who run the park. The site's future remains uncertain as the new owner is planning to redevelop the site. Current indications are that this will be a housing development.

The closure of the park was announced by its operator, Knights Leisure, in November 2012, the managing director blaming poor summer weather and events such as London 2012 and the Queen's Jubilee for declining visitor numbers.

Rides and shows

Camelot Theme Park Entrance & Go Kart Track

Current rides and attractions

Colour	Target Audience
	Thrill ride
	Family ride
	Children's ride

Roller coasters

#	Name	Opened	Description
1	Caterpillar Capers	1991	A 'wacky worm' style big apple children's coaster.
2	Dragon Flyer	1987	The worlds only diesel powered roller coaster. Manufactured by S.C. Italy, this attraction loops the lower section of the park.
3	Junior Dragon Coaster	1992	A powered children's coaster
4	Knightmare	2006	A custom Schwarzkopf / Zierer roller coaster.
5	Whirlwind	2003	A Maurer Söhne Xtended SC 2000 spinning coaster.

Knightmare Ride, Camelot

Thrill rides

#	Name	Opened	Description
6	Excalibur 2		A Fabbri Evolution. Named after the park's original Excalibur ride. A boy fell from the ride on the 23rd August 2011.
7	The Galleon		A non-inverting pirate ship.

Family rides

#	Name	Opened	Description
8	Dungeons of Doom		Small ghost train-style dark ride
9	Falcon's Flight		Zamperla rotating balloon ride.
10	Formula-K Go Karts		Requires an extra charge.
11	Jousting Knights Dodgems		Bumper cars located in the park's family entertainment centre.
12	Kingdom in the Clouds		A Ferris Wheel overlooking the Knight's Valley area of the park.
13	Pendragon's Plunge		Set of three blue waterslides, taking riders from the entrance down to Knight's Valley.
14	Sir Lancelot's Chargers		An ornate two-tier carousel

Castle Entrance, Camelot

Children's rides

#	Name	Opened	Description
15	Bertie Bassett's Driving School		Extra charge required
16	Clown Around
17	Cup 'n' Sorcerer
18	Human Cannonball
19	Junior Galleon
20	Junior Jousting Horses
21	Kiddies' Indoor Playland		Soft indoor play area
22	Playland Express		Small circuit electric train
23	Sky Divers
24	Towers of Fun		Soft indoor play area

Shows

• Jousting Tournament A live joust performed by Camelot's own Knights, led by an actor playing King Arthur and performed in the Avalon Arena. The park hosts the UK's only full-time jousting arena.
• Merlin's Magic Show Performed in Merlin's castle, this show demonstrates 'Merlin's magical skills'.
• Merlin's School of Wizardry Performed in Merlin's castle, Merlin's School of Wizardry teaches some of Merlin's magic to the audience.
• Birds of Prey Show Performed daily in the Avalon Arena, featuring an African Fish Eagle.

Defunct attractions

Past rides

• Tower of Terror was a steel sit-down roller coaster manufactured by Schwarzkopf. It was removed in 2000 to make way for a Vekoma Invertigo, and also due to cost issues as the ride was leased along with the original Excalibur from the Bembom Brothers. However, planning permission was denied for this ride so the park was forced to replace the ride with a Pinfari ZL42, "The Gauntlet" (since closed). While the ride was being taken down, an expanding foam castle which was part of the rides theming was burned down when some sparks from a saw hit it. The ride itself was unscathed and after a brief period at Dreamland Margate it is now operating as Twist N' Shout at Henk Bembom's Loudoun Castle.
• The Rack a Vekoma Canyon Trip. the only split level ride in Europe, in 2010 it was removed due to serious mechanical failure that was not economical to repair.
• Excalibur Was a Weber Dreamboat (Traumboot) and was removed with the Tower of Terror. It stood originally on the site of the Whirlwind, however the space the Tower of Terror originally took up was more than enough space for the replacement Gauntlet Pinfari roller coaster and the Excalibur 2 (Fabbri Evolution). This left a site vacant, which was later used for the Whirlwind
• Venom(Previously known as The Beast) was a steel powered dark-roller coaster. It was removed in 2005 due to increasing safety regulations with indoor roller coasters. While operated, the ride was enclosed inside a building and kept in the dark. When first opened, the ride was originally called "The Knightmare" and was an outdoor coaster. In 1985, a mountain theme was placed over "The Knightmare" and its name was changed to "Space Mountain". In 1988, the indoor coaster was renamed/re-themed "The Beast" and featured the best audio for the ride, before the train moved from the station.

In the mid 1990s, "The Beast" was renamed "Venom". This building was removed in 2001 to make way for an extension to the Castle Camelot entertainment centre, which would have created an extended indoor entertainment centre including replacement ride. However, when it became apparent the park could close within the next few years the plans were largely scaled back, leaving room for the ride to stay. The building and ride were then rebuilt, but was themed as a snake, in a snakes lair. The ride is now owned by Williams Amusements and the castle was extended to include the new indoor entertainment centre and firstly a Rollerquest (Lasertag) attraction, and then Dodgems ride.

• The Sorcerer was a roller coaster manufactured by Pinfari. It was installed in 1995 however removed in 1997 to make way for The Quintain. The park also considered it too small a roller coaster and it was not as popular with guests as the park hoped. Its presence was faded by the ever popular Tower of Terror.
• The Quintain was a Huss Flipper and was removed before the 2006 season started and was replaced by a carousel. It was thought by many guests that the ride was not suitable for the target audience of the park.
• The Gauntlet, a Pinfari ZL42 Looping Rollercoaster. During 2002 and 2003 the ride experienced considerable downtime. After refurbishment of the trains and braking system the ride had 2 very good seasons. To further improve the ride a new train was purchased in 2005. The ride was then moved to make way for the Knightmare ride. The ride then operated at New Pleasureland in Southport for a short time. It has now been refurbished and rebuilt in the Marina Park, Varna, Bulgaria.
• Carousel, the smaller of the two Carousels in the park was removed after the 2006 season due to its age and being shaded by the much more extravagant carousel located close by. The Junior Galleon has been moved to the front of the Playland building to occupy the Carousel's central spot.
• Leverets, A small children's ride located at the side of the Rack (previous locations include: the side of the original Excalibur, and at the front of the park - under a different name). It was removed after the 2006 season due to the cars and track becoming unreliable. The ride was often closed when the park was open, and has been replaced by a gnome garden.
• Mad Monastery a dark funhouse ride, situated at the back of the Playland area.

Past shows

• Cats Of The Round Table A animatronic show that was near the front of the park.
• Sooty and the Dragon A puppet show to do with a popular puppet.

Accidents

• On 22 October 2001, a park employee was struck by The Gauntlet roller coaster and was killed. The park was fined £40,000 as it had no written safety procedures for its staff.
• On 18 April 2004, a boy was hit by a bus in the theme park's car park and was killed. The driver was charged with death by dangerous driving, the case was later dropped due to legal arguments.
• On 23 August 2011, a 12 year old boy fell from the Excalibur 2 ride.

See also

• Incidents at European parks

Links

• www.camelotthemepark.co.uk - Camelot Theme Park Official Website.