• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Drayton Manor Park

A coaster with universal appeal such as a spinning coaster or a family suspended coaster with a low height restriction and a family friendly IP link is what Drayton now need. A thrill coaster with a 1.4 metre height restriction would not do them any favours. They've clearly found their niche with the family market.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
But building a new one would cost double the amount of a family coaster and would bring in half the visitors. Drayton Manor's figures prove that aiming for the family market achieves better results for them.
Click to expand...

Drayton have aimed and advertised for the family market for years since the late 90s and even during that time, they still built Apocalypse, Malestorm, Pandemonium and G-Force. Granted yeah, I'd still be very much tempted back if they did built a good family-thrill coaster and even Blue Fire and Helix have a 1.3M height restriction. But they need a thrill coaster to headline their park.
 
They have a great family line up now. Expanding that is no bad thing.

Alton Towers have more visitors because they have BOTH.

I remember Shock Wave being built. Their lack of thrill investment of quality would have left them far behind, the family direction must be one to take with a view to also adding to their thrill line up.

I haven't been since BEFORE G-FARCE and it's far closer to me than Towers.
 
TedTheHuman said:
Drayton have aimed and advertised for the family market for years since the late 90s and even during that time, they still built Apocalypse, Malestorm, Pandemonium and G-Force. Granted yeah, I'd still be very much tempted back if they did built a good family-thrill coaster and even Blue Fire and Helix have a 1.3M height restriction. But they need a thrill coaster to headline their park.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a major thrill coaster open at the park but they don't have the space or resources to develop as a thrill and family park.

They spent their 2014 development budget on the air race flat ride and they made a loss, the two years either side involved pretty small investments in Thomas Land with pretty cheap flat rides and they were both very successful years. Much as I'd like a thrill coaster it's a real no-brainer, the results speak for themselves. If it was your park would you spend double or even three times the amount on a thrill ride which was only going to attract half the visitors that a family ride would attract? Of course you wouldn't no matter how much of a fan of thrill rides you are it makes no business sense.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a major thrill coaster open at the park but they don't have the space or resources to develop as a thrill and family park.

They spent their 2014 development budget on the air race flat ride and they made a loss, the two years either side involved pretty small investments in Thomas Land with pretty cheap flat rides and they were both very successful years. Much as I'd like a thrill coaster it's a real no-brainer, the results speak for themselves. If it was your park would you spend double or even three times the amount on a thrill ride which was only going to attract half the visitors that a family ride would attract? Of course you wouldn't no matter how much of a fan of thrill rides you are it makes no business sense.
Click to expand...

You can't compare that cruddy air race to a proper national attention grabbing thrill coaster.

The Smiler when it opened?

I'm not saying it's easy for them to invest in such a thing as a moderate independent outfit, and it's more important that they survive of course, but to a suggest a thrill coaster wont attract visitors is folly.

What's more a real good investment thrill coaster will last DECADES.

They still have the UKs only stand up coaster, which I always quite enjoyed, I don't have a snobbish attitude towards it at all.

New coaster riders will be coming through every year, still riding a kind of ride that's unique to the UK only at DMP - it's foolish to think that has no bearing on visitor numbers.

Air race was never going to be a huge draw. Not when Towers have installed The Smiler just up the road.

Big coasters are very long term investments, that's why it's so important to get them right.

They are risky, they are a big make or break, but when you DO get it right, the long term payoff is HUGE or parks simply wouldn't bother building them as their headline attractions - we'd just have lots of family parks everywhere.

DMP is in a better location than Towers for catchment and getting to.

The only thing it's really missing now IS a headline coaster.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a major thrill coaster open at the park but they don't have the space or resources to develop as a thrill and family park.

They spent their 2014 development budget on the air race flat ride and they made a loss, the two years either side involved pretty small investments in Thomas Land with pretty cheap flat rides and they were both very successful years. Much as I'd like a thrill coaster it's a real no-brainer, the results speak for themselves. If it was your park would you spend double or even three times the amount on a thrill ride which was only going to attract half the visitors that a family ride would attract? Of course you wouldn't no matter how much of a fan of thrill rides you are it makes no business sense.
Click to expand...

Oh I understand they financially can't, but really a new coaster would attract more people then a flat would. Drayton, despite being a family aimed park do have really good thrill rides, Malestrom and Apocalypse are two of my favourite flat rides in the country, but they need a good thrill coaster that can represent their park like Nemesis does for Towers. Maybe if they got rid of Shockwave and G-Force they might have a bit of cash to put towards that coaster?

Hey if Drayton don't built a new thrill coaster because of financial reasons, then I understand, it's nothing I'll lose sleep over. I'm just saying, it would be great for the park's image if they did built one, and maybe it could boost numbers. Let's just agree, it does need a new coaster, aye? ;P
 
I'm glad that both replies seem to be saying that building a thrill coaster would be a bigger risks, it's a gamble as its a lot more money and it's harder to get right, which kind of sums up my point.

Why put loads of money, time and investment into a new coaster when it's a gamble and harder to get right when they know that putting a cheapish family ride will get the gate figures up? It's lower risk and seems to be having great results for Drayton, if we think back to the late 90s/ early 00s Drayton were installing a lot more thrill rides and the park seemed to be struggling and was a bit of a dump. Thomas Land saved them and the new expansions and Ben 10 have been huge successes, far more successful than the likes of G Force. It's understandable that they aren't desperate to put a new thrill coaster in.
 
Jamie said:
I'd like to see Drayton install something thrilling, but that can be enjoyed by families.

Wooden coaster!
Click to expand...

Keep on dreaming! That's about as likely to happen as The Bigger One at Blackpool. I expect to see a spinning coaster or family suspended coaster similar to the new one at Paultons.
 
The thing is though, I think there's far LESS excuse not to install a thrill coaster now than before.

They're cheaper, there's huge variance in the market to create a thrill ride that's not SUCH a big risk and are proven already:

This cracking little Hyper GTX:


The new Mack Eurofighter style coaster.

The RMC smaller woody concepts. Potentially a coup in the UK market there as well.

Those are more low budget options, and pretty solid fail safes.

There's so MUCH choice out there now, it poses less of a risk to get wrong than it did with say G-Force when choice was still more limited outside of the huge coasters.

There's been a growing trend in compact, quick, tight, intense coasters - which are cracking rides. DMP could take advantage of it, to ensure long term visitors for thrill rides still.
 
Family parks need to appeal to everybody in a family. That includes guests that want, expect and enjoy thrill coasters. You don't need many; a lot of European parks of a similar size to Drayton only have one or two (Towers and Thorpe's lineups have spoilt UK guests rotten). The key is that they need to be good and preferably rerideable, and Shockwave and G-Force don't tick either box.

Comparing guest numbers or profits for years where Zamperla delivered Thomas Land kiddy things or Air Race is not a good indictor of whether thrill rides pull guests to Drayton. The latter is a family thrill ride, probably added as a filler ride expected to just pick up where Black Revolver left off rather than draw more visitors, and sadly doesn't do much of interest in its ride cycle. Zamperla kids' rides are of a totally acceptable standard for their target age range, and so is Ben 10 as a family coaster. Conversely, an early example of a Maurer Sohne X-Car coaster is not such a satisfactory thrill coaster.

The thing is, I can see why they went for G-Force when they did. At that time the choices for thrill coasters would have been B&M, Vekoma or little known German firms like Maurer and Gerstlauer. If money was tight the Maurer was worth a try. These days though as TheMan said there are a lot more options for decent thrill coasters on a budget, so there's considerably less risk of them being saddled with something so god awful for decades as long as they do their homework.
 
With regards Shockwave @Cheese I'd say over time it's more than paid back its investment (not that you're arguing against that, this is more for others).

It may not be re-rideable so much now, but when it opened it definitely was.

It's 22 years old.

1 thrill coaster in 22 years for DMP since isn't right for a park that size or location IMO.

But, if they don't have the funds, they don't have the funds!!

Plus I bet they have quite hellish restrictions.
 
One of these new Mack BigDippers would be brilliant for Drayton! I just can't see it happening any time soon though. Drayton are happy with continued Thomas Land investment which continues to work well for them.

The annoying thing is that Drayton is far more than just a kids park. I am sure that a decent thrill coaster would pull in the crowds. Do they have the money for something like this? It would seem not. If they did then surely they'd have taken the plunge by now.

:)
 
From what i understand they had a plan to add a family thrill coaster back in 2013, the ride was going to be a new product from Vekoma, and was a single car duelling launch coaster, that was taking the spot of the Buffalo. I assume money is why it never went ahead.

Vekoma are now offering this coaster to anybody following Drayton never going ahead with the order. The layout offered on Vekomas Website is the exact layout that was designed for Drayton. There was a documentary a few years ago online about Vekoma and in one of the offices you could see an overhead shot of drayton with the layout of this coaster visible in the Buffalo locate, plus the theme matched the rumours at the time of a car themed launch coaster. Link below to the planned ride.

https://www.vekoma.com/index.php/family-coasters/single-car-launch-coaster

layout_racingcoaster.jpg
 
I remember that floating around.

The only reason I can see as many are saying is they simply don't have the funds available.

It's quite possible they have a long term strategy none of us are aware of.

Fond memories of the place over all. The Snake Train I used to love!

Hope they build something big there soon!

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top