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Drayton Manor Park

Hid said:
The atmospheric smell of old lumber the musty sort you typical associate with Pirates
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Like people have said, we’ve heard all sorts throughout the years since it’s closed and nothing has come of it. I hope this time that it is the case that something is being worked up, however I do have little faith in the re-theme as for the bodge job they have done on one of the turrets that got damaged. I understand this may have been a quick temporary fix, however I think it sticks out like a sore thumb and is awful.

Has looping group ever attempted a dark ride or a re-theme of an existing dark ride do we know? Or is this new for them?
 
It would be new for them, and I don't think their theming of all the new attractions since taking over the park fills me with much confidence that they could do it justice. Lots of painted wood and some off-the-shelf props anyone can buy seem to be the bulk of their theming for everything since taking over the park.

Sure, it is nice that many areas are looking fresh and nice, but this is just an observation more than anything.
 
Excalibur said:
Like people have said, we’ve heard all sorts throughout the years since it’s closed and nothing has come of it. I hope this time that it is the case that something is being worked up, however I do have little faith in the re-theme as for the bodge job they have done on one of the turrets that got damaged. I understand this may have been a quick temporary fix, however I think it sticks out like a sore thumb and is awful.

Has looping group ever attempted a dark ride or a re-theme of an existing dark ride do we know? Or is this new for them?
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This may be new to them but they did retheme and reopen the River Rapids so it wouldn't be too Farfetched.

Personally think the Turret looks alright as a temporary solution however I do agree it will need redoing.

To be honest Pirates Adventure and Excalibur are now the two blatant areas for development two of the largest plots in the park and they are literally some of the first things you see in Drayton Manor
 
Hid said:
This may be new to them but they did retheme and reopen the River Rapids so it wouldn't be too Farfetched.

Personally think the Turret looks alright as a temporary solution however I do agree it will need redoing.

To be honest Pirates Adventure and Excalibur are now the two blatant areas for development two of the largest plots in the park and they are literally some of the first things you see in Drayton Manor
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The re-theme of the river rapids consisted of lots of painted wood, some rope, and a few life rings—easily obtainable stuff. Yes, there were a few more 'bespoke' items, but not many. Plus, most of what is there with River Rapids was there before as Splash Canyon. Making the project even easier from a logistical point of view.

This is a very different beast, a major indoor-themed dark ride, which requires many, many more bespoke custom items, especially to make it convincing and decent, and where the theming literally IS the ride, as it is what makes up the bulk of the thrills and excitement. Very different from a coaster or rapids ride, where the transit system makes up the majority of the thrills, with scenery just complementing those thrills.

I struggle to see who could take on such a large project and have the manpower and skills to do it justice. All the big theming houses in the UK that were able to take on such a large project are either in-house (Merlin Magic Making), although even they might struggle these days. Or have long closed or are a shadow of their former selves (Sparks, Farmer Studios, Space Leisure, Rex Studios, etc.).

I am happy to be proven wrong in this case, however.
 
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DistortAMG said:
The re-theme of the river rapids consisted of lots of painted wood, some rope, and a few life rings—easily obtainable stuff. Yes, there were a few more 'bespoke' items, but not many. Plus, most of what is there with River Rapids was there before as Splash Canyon. Making the project even easier from a logistical point of view.

This is a very different beast, a major indoor-themed dark ride, which requires many, many more bespoke custom items, especially to make it convincing and decent, and where the theming literally IS the ride, as it is what makes up the bulk of the thrills and excitement. Very different from a coaster or rapids ride, where the transit system makes up the majority of the thrills, with scenery just complementing those thrills.

I struggle to see who could take on such a large project and have the manpower and skills to do it justice. All the big theming houses in the UK that were able to take on such a large project are either in-house (Merlin Magic Making), although even they might struggle these days. Or have long closed or are a shadow of their former selves (Sparks, Farmer Studios, Space Leisure, Rex Studios, etc.).

I am happy to be proven wrong in this case, however.
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Who do Paultons park outsource to do all of there theming out of interest?
 
Was at the park today. Was busy but not heaving.
Jesus the park needs to work on operations. The best PPH was on accelerator of all things! If your boomerang is getting the best throughput you know things are going wrong (shoutout Jake for mad Ops!)

We were stacked on gold rush for 7 mins and this was typical. And why the hell were they not even batching at the air gates until the train has emptied.
Train arrives - restraints up - last person leaves the station.
Air gates are filled.
At this point finally they load the train.
Madness.

Thor was 8-10 mins between cycles.

The Wave 15 mins between cycles (and two rows out)

We had a good day regardless (Maelstrom ops were good) doing smaller attractions but for a park with aspirations they need to get professional and fast.
 
Wow, those are some slow operations… how on Earth is The Wave taking 15 minutes per cycle?

I’ve never known the operations be that bad at Drayton, but I admittedly go on very quiet days; on the day I was there last year, Gold Rush, for example, was doing a solid 500pph or so, and certainly not stacking on the brake run for 7 minutes.

If it can do that on a deserted day in September, surely Drayton should be directing resources to make it do at least that during the Easter holidays?
 
Bowser said:
Gold Rush was good on my visit last week, only stacked for 30 seconds, air gates always filled, smashing them out to the point we had 3 rides without queuing.
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May I just ask, for clarification rather than being a prick, were you making use of Easy Access?

We visited on the same Saturday as you, and queued for around 15 - 20 mins for each of our three rides. I appreciate that this could have been at different points in the day to you.

There was some stacking, perhaps a minute or two. I wouldn't have called my experience "smashing them out". Though, I suppose, in the context of The Wave they were smashing them out.

I quite like Drayton Manor Park and Zoo, but their operations are notoriously appalling.
 
I just don't think Drayton Manor park has ever been designed to handle large crowds many of their rides are slow loaders and low capacity, Wave needs a second train and Gold Rush needs to remove the rule whereby you only start loading when train reaches the brakes.
 
I think it’s not a Drayton Manor problem but a Generation thing. Young adults now don’t want to work or do minimum of work.
During the fireworks event 2 weeks ago. I went into the Chicken Diner and there wasn’t a queue at the till but the member of staff was talking so didn’t notice. I waited patiently but they continued talking but as my kids were hungry I butted in and said rudely have you stopped serving today and got that look how rude and walked over and served me.
They took my order and was given a number 15 mins later I noticed they had gone way past my number and went back up to the till and asked if our food was nearly ready. They hadn’t even started it and cause I wanted a wrap it had to be made fresh. (they found my paper order on the floor) so took roughly 30 mins from entering to we got our food. They did give us curly fries for free for the time it took.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
May I just ask, for clarification rather than being a prick, were you making use of Easy Access?

We visited on the same Saturday as you, and queued for around 15 - 20 mins for each of our three rides. I appreciate that this could have been at different points in the day to you.

There was some stacking, perhaps a minute or two. I wouldn't have called my experience "smashing them out". Though, I suppose, in the context of The Wave they were smashing them out.

I quite like Drayton Manor Park and Zoo, but their operations are notoriously appalling.
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We were but there was almost no main queue either, some trains had empty seats, to the point I was surprised it was running on 2 trains if that was typical. This was about 1130am.

It was much busier in the afternoon when we went back for a ride before leaving but ops still seemed about as good as could be to me.

With the long hours that day I presume staff changed at some point so perhaps the first shift were a lot more on it! It was definitely the same host on the batching side for our afternoon ride though as I spoke to him about the cycle changeover.

Should probably promote/downgrade him to running The Wave.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I think it’s not a Drayton Manor problem but a Generation thing. Young adults now don’t want to work or do minimum of work.
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Clap trap.

Many industries reply on younger employees - it is a management and training issue at Drayton, not a generational one.

I wouldn’t be surprised if them ‘losing your order’ and you being rude before placing your order weren’t very much connected.
 
AT86 said:
Clap trap.

Many industries reply on younger employees - it is a management and training issue at Drayton, not a generational one.

I wouldn’t be surprised if them ‘losing your order’ and you being rude before placing your order weren’t very much connected.
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I’m a toolmaker and the youth we employed in the past 5 years have been awful with most unable to go a hour without been on there phones, not paying attention resulting in them have 1st Aid treatment or even some going to Hospital. We currently only got 2 members of staff under 30’s.
 
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