• 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

Even putting the point about dark ride maintenance capability aside; how much of Pirate Adventure actually still stands and is usable at this point?

The ride has been closed for over 10 years, and I seem to remember hearing that some of it if not all of it had been removed; the state of repair of what remains, if anything, must be pretty poor.

At that point, you’re almost building a wholly new pirate-themed dark ride with the same name and a similar ride system rather than reviving Pirate Adventure, so it becomes a revival in name only and you might as well just build a wholly different ride.

If everything was still standing in there, then it might be doable to bring it back; Sub-Terra was shut for 8 years, so things can return after a long time (albeit 8 years still is not as long as over 10 years). But from what I ascertain, large parts of Pirate Adventure have been removed, so you’re effectively just trying to synthetically recreate the past at that point if you try and “bring it back”.

I think it’s more feasible to just do something new at this point.
 
Matt N said:
Even putting the point about dark ride maintenance capability aside; how much of Pirate Adventure actually still stands and is usable at this point?

The ride has been closed for over 10 years, and I seem to remember hearing that some of it if not all of it had been removed; the state of repair of what remains, if anything, must be pretty poor.

At that point, you’re almost building a wholly new pirate-themed dark ride with the same name and a similar ride system rather than reviving Pirate Adventure, so it becomes a revival in name only and you might as well just build a wholly different ride.

If everything was still standing in there, then it might be doable to bring it back; Sub-Terra was shut for 8 years, so things can return after a long time (albeit 8 years still is not as long as over 10 years). But from what I ascertain, large parts of Pirate Adventure have been removed, so you’re effectively just trying to synthetically recreate the past at that point if you try and “bring it back”.

I think it’s more feasible to just do something new at this point.
Click to expand...

In honesty, the whole ride and all scenery was shot when it was open, it all needs to go, all ripping out and starting again.

Even sceney such as the queue line is mostly VERY dated looking now, it was the early 1990's after all. The whole thing would need re modeling from top to bottom, queue line too.
 
DistortAMG said:
In honesty, the whole ride and all scenery was shot when it was open, it all needs to go, all ripping out and starting again.

Even sceney such as the queue line is mostly VERY dated looking now, it was the early 1990's after all. The whole thing would need re modeling from top to bottom, queue line too.
Click to expand...
That’s interesting to know; thank you! I never did Pirate Adventure, so I’ll admit I don’t know a whole lot about it beyond that it was one of many Pirates of the Caribbean knockoffs in the 80s and 90s.

Does Looping Group have the capability to do what would effectively be a ground-up major dark ride on that sort of scale? I’ll admit that I’m hesitant based on their current record. They’ve done some nice theming and nice sprucing up at Drayton, but I wouldn’t call any of their current theming jobs at Drayton, WMSP or Pleasurewood Hills particularly high end or elaborate. Areas like Adventure Cove and Vikings are nicely presented and very cleanly finished, but I wouldn’t say they were especially elaborate beyond some paint and planting.

Frontier Falls is arguably a bit more elaborate, with some nice building facades and some nice thematic touches on Gold Rush in particular, including the effects sequence, but as you say, there are swathes of it that feel unfinished, including Accelerator, Flying Dutchman and the random derelict gift shop/cafe (?) that you walk through on exiting The Haunting, not to mention that The Haunting itself remained completely unaltered despite not being Western-themed. That to me would imply that the budget was stretched quite thin in terms of theming Frontier Falls. In my opinion, Looping Group have not yet produced anything on the thematic level of, say, Tornado Springs or Lost Kingdom at Paultons.

A project like a proper Pirate Adventure replacement would be a huge, huge undertaking if Looping Group were to do it properly. The biggest I can maybe see Looping pulling off is something along the lines of Ghostly Manor at Paultons, but that would be a considerable underutilisation of the very large Pirate Adventure building given that Ghostly Manor replaced a 4D cinema.
 
Hid said:
I think this year yeah does justify it, the park has been busy this year in a park that needs more capacity and could be a star ride.
Click to expand...
How busy is “busy”, though?

Are we simply talking busy compared to last year? Or busy on a level comparable to Drayton’s golden years?

The two are quite different, and the fact is that energy costs to run a water ride have increased two-fold since Drayton used to run Stormforce, Pirate Adventure and the Rapids simultaneously. Water rides are some of the most expensive theme park rides to run (which is probably at least a partial factor in their recent decline), so three major water rides running simultaneously would be a big drain on resources for a second-tier UK park like Drayton.

I also wouldn’t mind betting that attendance is somewhat lower than it was in Drayton’s golden era.
 
Matt N said:
How busy is “busy”, though?

Are we simply talking busy compared to last year? Or busy on a level comparable to Drayton’s golden years?

The two are quite different, and the fact is that energy costs to run a water ride have increased two-fold since Drayton used to run Stormforce, Pirate Adventure and the Rapids simultaneously. Water rides are some of the most expensive theme park rides to run (which is probably at least a partial factor in their recent decline), so three major water rides running simultaneously would be a big drain on resources for a second-tier UK park like Drayton.

I also wouldn’t mind betting that attendance is somewhat lower than it was in Drayton’s golden era.
Click to expand...
OK place the bet see what happens.

I am remaining optimistic with Pirate Adventure if it happens great if doesn't doesn't impact the enjoyment of the park its a wait and see
 
Matt N said:
How busy is “busy”, though?

Are we simply talking busy compared to last year? Or busy on a level comparable to Drayton’s golden years?

The two are quite different, and the fact is that energy costs to run a water ride have increased two-fold since Drayton used to run Stormforce, Pirate Adventure and the Rapids simultaneously. Water rides are some of the most expensive theme park rides to run (which is probably at least a partial factor in their recent decline), so three major water rides running simultaneously would be a big drain on resources for a second-tier UK park like Drayton.

I also wouldn’t mind betting that attendance is somewhat lower than it was in Drayton’s golden era.
Click to expand...

The energy cost is an interesting one. I would still bet that a ride like Pirate Adventure is far cheaper to run than say River Rapids.

For comparison, Pirate Adventure and Mack free flow rides use pumps submerged to push the water in the channel and lake, approximately 30 pumps in Pirate Adventure at 1.2KW per pump, for a total of 36KW required for the pumps, obviously you need to factor in lighting, compressors and lifts and everything else into the equation, but they would probably be less than or equal to the pumps combined. Under 100KW for the whole ride I would imagine.

Splash Canyon, with it's axial flow pumps use a whopping 92KW per pump, meaning 276KW just in power for the 3 pumps when in operstion. thats a quarter of a megawatt, huge amounts of power. Then you have everything else to add on top too.

It is not that River Rapids is more inefficient, just how it moves water is very different, meaning much more power is needed.
 
DistortAMG said:
The thing is, so many people are banging this Pirate Adventure drum, every single piece of "evidence" is circumstantial at best.
Click to expand...

It’s the endless cycle of British enthusiast speculation:

Unrealistic hype>>>> disappointment>>>repeat

Just look at how virtually everyone here guessed the Paulton's coaster would be more than it is.

Time to temper expectations. In this country, only Merlin and Universal are in a position to deliver the kind of big projects many of us dream about and the former haven't really delivered on that front for a long time now. Drayton Manor are certainly not going to build an elaborate dark ride this decade.
 
Bowser said:
It’s the endless cycle of British enthusiast speculation:

Unrealistic hype>>>> disappointment>>>repeat

Just look at how virtually everyone here guessed the Paulton's coaster would be more than it is.

Time to temper expectations. In this country, only Merlin and Universal are in a position to deliver the kind of big projects many of us dream about and the former haven't really delivered on that front for a long time now. Drayton Manor are certainly not going to build an elaborate dark ride this decade.
Click to expand...
No one can know what they are doing but I am certain it will be the next area to be redeveloped
 
To be fair (and possibly counteracting what I said previously to an extent), Drayton Manor did recently deliver a fairly unique and technically complicated Intamin coaster in Gold Rush, so I wouldn’t necessarily put some degree of major ride past them. Gold Rush can’t have been a cheap project!

I do have my hesitations that they could deliver something as major thematically as the old Pirate Adventure ride, but I wouldn’t put some form of smaller dark ride past them.
 
Matt N said:
To be fair (and possibly counteracting what I said previously to an extent), Drayton Manor did recently deliver a fairly unique and technically complicated Intamin coaster in Gold Rush, so I wouldn’t necessarily put some degree of major ride past them. Gold Rush can’t have been a cheap project!

I do have my hesitations that they could deliver something as major thematically as the old Pirate Adventure ride, but I wouldn’t put some form of smaller dark ride past them.
Click to expand...

I like Gold Rush, i think it's a fun ride and a good addition to the park. I'd look towards the "show scene" for an indication of what would be feasible for a dark ride.

Times and technology have moved on so much now that it's hard for the smaller parks to produce anything of a standard that wouldn't risk becoming a joke. As a result they are also very much reliant on IP (eg Gruffalo and Wallace and Gromit) to create something acceptable. I suppose Drayton could make something with Thomas...

Really the UK hasn't had a proper major dark ride in 25 years that i can think of unless you count SkyLion?
 
Bowser said:
I like Gold Rush, i think it's a fun ride and a good addition to the park. I'd look towards the "show scene" for an indication of what would be feasible for a dark ride.

Times and technology have moved on so much now that it's hard for the smaller parks to produce anything of a standard that wouldn't risk becoming a joke. As a result they are also very much reliant on IP (eg Gruffalo and Wallace and Gromit) to create something acceptable. I suppose Drayton could make something with Thomas...

Really the UK hasn't had a proper major dark ride in 25 years that i can think of unless you count SkyLion?
Click to expand...
There has Fantasy Island made Harrington Flints quite a good Dark Ride

I am sure Drayton can do something quality
 
Bowser said:
Times and technology have moved on so much now that it's hard for the smaller parks to produce anything of a standard that wouldn't risk becoming a joke. As a result they are also very much reliant on IP (eg Gruffalo and Wallace and Gromit) to create something acceptable. I suppose Drayton could make something with Thomas...

Really the UK hasn't had a proper major dark ride in 25 years that i can think of unless you count SkyLion?
Click to expand...
I admittedly haven’t ridden it yet (I’m going to on 5th June), but I would look to Ghostly Manor as an example of what a second-tier UK park could pull off dark ride-wise. It’s not breaking the bank, but sounds as though it’s been executed well!

To be fair, it is an easy one to forget given its lack of success, but it’s worth remembering that the UK had Derren Brown’s Ghost Train at Thorpe Park in 2016, which was (and probably still is) the most expensive theme park attraction ever built in the UK!
 
Hid said:
No one can know what they are doing but I am certain it will be the next area to be redeveloped
Click to expand...
Citation very much needed.
People have been certain of the bloody ride being redone, and reopened, soon, for the last decade or so.
Go back over the last few hundred pages and read about them all.
As a regular rider from start to finish...
It was great when new and all the bits worked.
Then the props failed.
Then it went slower, with poor effects.
Then it smelt really bad, with nothing much working at all at times.
Then crazy thoosies insist it is going to come back in the next year or so.
For a decade.
 
rob666 said:
Citation very much needed.
People have been certain of the bloody ride being redone, and reopened, soon, for the last decade or so.
Go back over the last few hundred pages and read about them all.
As a regular rider from start to finish...
It was great when new and all the bits worked.
Then the props failed.
Then it went slower, with poor effects.
Then it smelt really bad, with nothing much working at all at times.
Then crazy thoosies insist it is going to come back in the next year or so.
For a decade.
Click to expand...
Its a large plot of land to not do something with I am either talking whole land redeveloped or maybe an indoor coaster could be a good idea
 
Basing on the POV, it is roughly 2 minutes a cycle. If they can dispatch trains maybe every 1:40 (not sure if the ride system needs the other train in the final block) They'd get 864pph on 2 trains. If they were lucky and could sustain 3:20 dispatches on 1 train, they'd get 432pph, but with usual ops it'd probably slump below 400pph.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top