WHEN YOU SPEND over €12 million on something, it would be easy to rest on your laurels and let the money roll in.
That’s not quite what Tayto Park founder Raymond Coyle is thinking.
After the opening of the Cú Chulainn rollercoaster this week, the Meath man is already planning what’s next.
He spoke to TheJournal.ie as he got to ride the rollercoaster which he hopes will take the park into the next level of tourist attraction.
We’re a year building this and three years planning it. It’s a wonderful asset to the park and hopefully it will bring a lot of people.
Having spent €26 million this year, the park has grown from 220,000 visitors a year to a projected 700,000 in 2015.
But it’s the jobs that the park has created in the east Meath area that Coyle emphasises.
“A park like this will go on for 60, 70, 80 years, so no matter who owns it, it will be an employer and will be extending.”
The park has grown from 32 acres to 120 acres and the plan is to keep growing, Coyle says.
“We hope to put in more rides, more animals and more facilities like restaurants.
“We’d like to put in a flume ride and an aviary and some smaller rides, then maybe a dark ride in 2017.
We’d like to build, depending on the numbers and the financials, we would like to build a hotel inside the park.
“If we can get to the 900,000 visitor mark, we should be well able to support that.”
Taking a bite
One question that Coyle hears about the amusement park, which faces the Largo Foods factory which produces Tayto and Hunky Dorys, is “why?”.
For him, the answer is easy.
“There are a lot of great parks in the world – Hershey Park, Cadbury Park, Cape Cod Park – so I felt that if we could do this right we could entertain a family for a day at good value and support the brand.
“So it’s a balance of both.”
And how does he feel that the entertainment part is going?
“Well, people are coming back.”
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