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Drayton Manor Park

A woodie could work around the Buffalo area field. As for Pirate Adventure's replacement, perhaps a medieval watercoaster, with track layout similar to Efteling's Flying Dutchman could work. I think Drayton can explore all areas, junior, family and thrill, but considering how well the Junior market has worked for them, I think they'll always hold on to that just in case other investments don't work
 
An ideal ride for Drayton would be a Gerstlauer Infinity or Euro Fighter.

Not too expensive but look visually impressive and arse fairly easy to market. When benchmarked they are also relatively cheap and can offer launches, inversions and vertical lifts (with a decent capacity).

One incorporating a launch and a V.Lift with some interaction with their lake would be a crowd puller I think.

:)
 
Last time we were at Paulton's I spoke to one of the management team in the office on an unrelated matter and floated the idea of bigger rides and he shot me down and said they had never, and did not plan to bring anything bigger in than they already had, their target market is under 10's and they've no plans to cater for an older audience. He also (I assume jokingly) said they fended off Merlin on a weekly basis, with more and more 'silly money' offers.

Perhaps this is Drayton's problem, they're trying to cater to a too bigger market, CBeebies land up the road can't help visitor numbers either.
 
The hotel is used all year round. Nearly every week they have at least 1 wedding on. So it's a big cash cow for the owners now with planning already in place to build another 1 on the back of the Hamilton Suite.
Been a season ticket holder we renewal for next year. We got it for £65 each.
Also been a season ticket holder I ended up going over 10 times and saw the park spend a lot of money on the Zoo last season.
The new Penguin's home should be open in March/April with a new cafe opening up opposite on the former home of the Tamarin monkeys.
As for rides the year they added Air Race the visiting numbers dropped. Drayton Manor there target audience is 1.2m tall and under as they know they can't spend 5 million on a ride/coaster. James and the red balloon cost less than half a million to fit and Theme to suit the area but last year Thomasland was packed every visit.
Seeing this from the eyes from a 5 year old who was 1.05m tall she couldn't get enough of Drayton Manor last year 85% of the rides now she's tall enough for now on the other hand we went to Alton Towers and she felt she was too old now for CBeebies land and thought the rides were for babies. The only ride she enjoyed was the go jetters ride and the outdoor play ground even the frog hopper wasn't as good as Cranky. The runaway coaster was closed and she was gutted the 4D cinema was gone.
So to she's at least 1.3m tall I think she would prefer Drayton over Alton.
 
Sorry for the double post but seen this closed season video on you tube:


It looks like the haunting having even more work done to it. The video also confirms the removal of the big wheel and the cable cars. What also looks like it won't be returning is the rapids as there,s a big fence with a gate getting installed across its entrance.
With the new season starting in 9 weeks time it looks like there no new attractions for this year but the budget could be getting used to update the current rides. The Zoo will look a lot better this year with the new animals and enclosures.
 
Considering the circumstances of the accident the ride should have already been reopened, the longer they leave it the harder it will become because thicko Joe will just assume the ride was at fault and the longer it's closed the more damage is done.

As sad of an accident it was, it was just that, an accident, wasn't even as bad as the Smiler liability-wise, we don't close Motorways or swimming pools for years if someone dies on/in one so why should the park have to because someone ignored the signs?
 
The reason they won't open the rapids is due to the possible media backlash.

Of course the ride is safe.

DMP needs their rapids. It might be a bit dated but it's one of their larger rides.
 
Yup, I'm not sure that delaying its reopening will reduce any bad publicity they get, and besides, they may just be surprised at the number of people who support them rather than condemn them like the vocal minority will.
 
Agree very much with @IanSR Keeping it closed for the rest of the season was fair, and respectful, but it would seem unnecessary at this stage to keep it closed, especially given the nature of the accident. Splash canyon is a great ride anyway, I have fond memories of going on it around 2001 where everything was painted a lot darker like a mine shaft, all of the animatronics in the pump section worked, and where when you left the shed that crane used to drop loads of water on you. And that giant pipe at the end that used to be controlled by the ride operators that could drench you as much as Storm force/Valhalla, shame it isn't used anymore.
It's good to see the park jet spraying its rides outside Thomas Land too. Just needs to open that 50s Diner again now, I loved that :D

Edit: Just wondering if any of you think they'll bump up the height restriction to 1.1 or even 1.2 after this. Was previously 0.9.
 
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AstroDan said:
The reason they won't open the rapids is due to the possible media backlash.

Of course the ride is safe.

DMP needs their rapids. It might be a bit dated but it's one of their larger rides.
Click to expand...

I totally agree - which is a shame as it wasn’t an accident in the same way the smiler was - it was just one of those tragic things.

It’s a good rapids to be fair shame to see it go
 
I haven't been on it in years and was hoping to when we visit in a few weeks. But it looks like Splash Canyon is out for quite some time yet.
 
I have heard it on good authority that for whatever reason the rapids still have not been cleared through by H&S. This could be because of ongoing court cases. However that said, the general consensus at the moment is that the ride will not open at all for the 2018 season. Which does also make you think other factors apart from H&S are at play, like AstroDan pointed out. The media. This could all change however.

Stormforce 10 is due to open this year, landscaping and general gardening work has been carried out in preparation for it's opening. I believe it has had a bit of a general refurb. Being 19 years old this season, the ride makes heavy use of electric motors and infrared sensors, along with the plethora of electrical wiring and systems to go along with them. So some of that could have needed work. Obviously the ride could have opened last season, but given the unfortunate events it was decided to keep the ride closed to save the likes of the daily fail posting fake and false news that could wrongfully harm the park.
 
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Oh if H&S haven't signed off the ride that's understandable, but at the same time laughable since a virtually identical ride is allowed to operate less than 30 miles away. If the ride is unsafe, all of them should be closed until whatever is deemed to be wrong is put right, not just one.

They could wait 5 years to re-open the ride and they're still going to get slaughtered in the press for it, best to get it over and done with.
 
@DistortAMG Very true. Explains why I saw everything testing at the end of last season, all sensors and the new lift hills working fine.
They can't keep Splash Canyon closed at this stage. It seems bizarre that H&S haven't given it the go ahead. Downright incompetence would seem to be the only explanation. It's perfectly safe; we can all take a decent guess at how the accident happened (as tragic as it was and must still be for the family), and how Drayton can TRY to prevent it in the future
-Audio warnings -Higher height restriction -Softening the bump at the end -Altering where the white water rapids are positioned on the concrete track. Simple
And yes, just get it over with, the GP have warmed to Drayton anyway, given how excellent their handling of the crisis initially was, so the media can't do much.
 
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