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One of the original low-tech Tayto Park attractions
shout about next year, but our goal will be to broaden our reach. A lot of the park attendance at the moment is in the immediate Dublin and Leinster area. We would love to get visitors from as far as possible, around the country and perhaps also the UK. In 2013 we had 423,000 guests, 450,00 last year, and now we are hoping to get 600,000 this season. Now that’s a big jump, I appreciate that, but we’ve done a lot of marketing and with what we now have here, I’m confident we can achieve that. Someone asked me if we have the facilities to cope for the bigger numbers, and I think we do. We’ve put in a new road, closer to the N2. We also have additional car parking spaces, additional toilets, food facilities, and of course the rides. We started out back in 2010 with 30 acres, we are now about 120. I would say around 45-50 acres of that is developed, the rest would be parkland, driveways and car parking.
This over-banked turn is one of Cú Chulainn’s signature features
Future plans We are already looking at some new rides and may start building again next summer ready for the following Easter. The banks are more confident in us now, but how do you benchmark a rollercoaster? We sold shares in the crisp company to fund a lot of the new investments this season because we don’t want to be burdened with big interest payments, however the two businesses function as separate companies.
Obviously we can help one another with contacts, logistical support, things like that, but we stand on our own two feet and have for a number of years now. We’ve upped the gate price this season from €12 to €14, or in €12 for students and old age pensioners. This includes the zoo, Dinosaurs Alive, playground attractions, and factory tour, but the rides are extra. People were saying it’s getting a bit expensive because there are now so many rides, so we’ve introduced a wristband for €15 which lets you go on all the rides as many times as you like. The most important thing is to give value to the guest, and that’s why we’ve still got tokens for those that only want to go on a few rides. Hopefully one day we will be able to move to an all-in-one price, but it will be a gradual process.
Around 60% of our visitors go over to the factory while they are here to see how Tayto crisps are made, and my father somehow manages to split his time between the crisp business and the park. My mother Ros is a director of the park, involved in the zoo and also human resources, while my sister Natalya, who is in the Irish Olympic pentathlon team, looks after all our social media. It’s a real family business, and it’s great to see other families here with a smile on their face. Maybe that’s because we give them free crisps when they leave! Charles Coyle was talking to Owen Ralph.
www.taytopark.ie
“I remember when Raymond Coyle came to visit us a few years ago on our booth at the IAAPA show in Orlando,” recalls wooden coaster designer Korey Kiepert from the Gravity Group. “He told us about his crisps factory and his bison, and it seemed like maybe the perfect place to have a small ride such as Gröna Lund’s Twister or Quassy’s Wooden Warrior. As we got to know the family and their plans, the scope of the project just grew and grew.”
Originally the coaster was going to be built in a field, but Kiepert says moving Cú Chulainn to an alternative site overlooking the car park presented some fresh opportunities. “First of all, it looks fantastic as you approach the park on the new access road. This site has a little bit more of a grade difference and so we were able to make the first drop a little bigger, just over 32-metres and 65º. That makes it one of the top 10 drops in Europe.” The 1,082m-long ride features two trains, providing a theoretical hourly capacity of 1,000. The top speed is 100km/h. Thrilling from start to finish, with 19 moments of airtime, it’s arguably somewhat fiercer than Charles Coyle would like his guests to think it is. Nevertheless, anyone over 1.2 metres in height is entitled to ride, thanks to the Gravity Group’s ergonomically-designed Timberliner trains.
“The trains really allow the cars to track well,” notes Kiepert. “Unlike other wooden coasters, Cú Chulainn follows the course very well and you don’t see it skidding around on the curves despite all that airtime.” To welcome guests to the attraction, Tayto Park commissioned
Northern Irish theming specialist The Deluxe Group, whose existing clients include Disneyland Paris and the nearby Funtasia waterpark, to create a dramatic entrance. A towering 6-metre statue of the mythical warrior that gives the ride its name stands in battle pose upon a rock formation that mirrors the carving detail of the ruins of the 5,000-year-
46
old Newgrange tomb in the Boyne Valley. At either side of the replica tomb stand statues of a female warrior and the Irish wolfhound that feature in the Cú Chulainn tales. Inside the torch lit passageway, park guests can be photographed sitting on a stone throne. “Tayto Park wanted something that stood out not just in Ireland but all of Europe,” concludes Kiepert. “I think they’ve achieved that. You know, years ago Larry Bill from our company worked on Megaphobia at Oakwood across the water in Wales. That park really blossomed after it opened, and I think the same will be true of Cú Chulanin. I’m excited to see how things develop at Tayto Park and think the Coyle family are in for a rude yet pleasant awakening!”
JULY 2015
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