Megafobia was a wooden roller coaster at Oakwood Theme Park in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It opened in April 1996, built by Custom Coasters International with trains supplied by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, and designed with input from John Wardley, Dennis McNulty, and Larry Bill. It was the UK’s most recently built wooden coaster for over two decades, holding that title until Wicker Man opened at Alton Towers in 2018.
Standing 85 feet tall with a twisting 2,956-foot layout carved into a Welsh hillside, Megafobia reached a top speed of 48 mph without a single inversion, relying on relentless airtime and tight direction changes for its thrills. In 2023, Oakwood invested £1.5 million to have The Gravity Group rebuild roughly 40% of the track, but the ride’s final day came on November 3, 2024, and Oakwood Theme Park itself closed permanently on March 4, 2025.
Stats at a Glance
- Park: Oakwood Theme Park, Narberth, Pembrokeshire, Wales
- Manufacturer: Custom Coasters International
- Opened: April 1996
- Closed: November 3, 2024
- Height: 85 ft
- Top speed: 48 mph
- Length: 2,956 ft
- Inversions: 0
The Ride Experience
Megafobia followed a twister-style layout that wound through the wooded terrain of Oakwood’s Pembrokeshire hillside, packing a 2,956-foot circuit into a compact footprint. Its ride time of about a minute and forty seconds was dense with airtime hills and banked turns rather than inversions, a hallmark of Custom Coasters International’s out-and-back and twister designs from the 1990s.
Enthusiasts frequently praised Megafobia’s pacing and terrain-hugging drops, and it built a reputation as one of Europe’s better wooden coasters throughout its near 30-year run. The 2023 Gravity Group retracking, which replaced about 40% of the structure and re-profiled sections including the first drop, was intended to extend that reputation for years to come.
History and Legacy
When it opened in 1996, Megafobia was Custom Coasters International’s flagship European project and Oakwood’s first major attraction, helping establish the park as a serious UK destination. It went on to hold the distinction of being the newest wooden coaster built in Britain for more than twenty years.
Despite the significant 2023 investment in new track, declining visitor numbers and rising operating costs led Oakwood’s owners to close the park entirely on March 4, 2025, just months after Megafobia’s own final operating day. The closure brought an abrupt end to a ride many British enthusiasts considered a bucket-list wooden coaster.
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Megafobia FAQs
Is Megafobia still operating?
No. Megafobia ran its last circuits on November 3, 2024, and Oakwood Theme Park, its home, closed permanently on March 4, 2025.
How tall and fast was Megafobia?
The wooden coaster stood 85 feet tall and reached a top speed of about 48 mph over a 2,956-foot track.
Who built Megafobia?
It was built by Custom Coasters International with trains from Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, opening at Oakwood Theme Park in April 1996.
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Photo: Stefan Scheer / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.