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Drayton Manor Park

Secret Weapon said:
Fair enough to the first point (I think Merlin passes are the same), but the second seems unfair, as it may catch people out who buy it as a gift etc.
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You do not have to prebook a passholder visit to a Merlin park, though it is strongly advised. You can still rock up at the gates with just your pass and try your luck. The mandatory prebook was removed shortly after Covid.
 
Looks like some rides aren't even close to being ready.

If a theme park cannot get everything ready for the start of their season then they really should look at opening later into the year. It's just not good enough. I wonder what won't be ready at Europa-Park when their season starts tomorrow? Hint: nothing. (Aware EP and Drayton are totally different propositions).
 
PhalanaxOperativeA1127 said:
Think its time parks start looking at year-round maintenance, similar to what Paultons do, rather than trying to cram all maintenance during the winter months.

Ride X closed between dd/mm/yyyy & dd/mm/yyyy
Ride Y closed between dd/mm/yyyy & dd/mm/yyyy

Better to have 1 ride closed than 11. Obviously no planned closures during school holidays and summer season.
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I agree, and it should be fairly easy as Drayton Manor only has a handful of 'major' rides left (e.g. Goldrush, The Wave, Maelstrom, and - perhaps - Air Race), and so these could easily be prioritised to be done during the Christmas break, with the rest being during the open season.
 
I mean, I don’t want too much to be defending the park when I’m not there, but Drayton have reduced ticket prices to the ridiculously low £24.90. I would think of this weekend as more of a Feb half term type event, with pricing to reflect that.

The bigger question however is why UK parks are no longer capable of opening in March with all rides available. They always used to. I’m talking about Drayton, Blackpool and Merlin. 10-15 years ago I visited all of the parks on opening day and, apart from the odd closed or late ride here and there, we basically had full operation. This is no longer the case, and questions have to be asked why. Budget cuts is the obvious one, but if these Christmas events are impacting getting rides open for the main season, they have to ask what’s more important to them- running a Christmas event, or opening in time for Easter? I’d say it should be the latter.
 
I can understand Christmas affecting Drayton Manor, because most of their rides were open in December - but I think most of the rides at Alton Towers closed in November (with only a handful opening in December and February), and so I'm not sure why so many of them are having problems come March!
 
Given the hysterical reaction of British enthusiasts, you'd think we'd hate our parks more than just like that. Honestly with the exception of Paultons, is there any UK park that's doing alright?
 
Dobba said:
Merlin's budget cuts are so severe they're now affecting parks they don't even own.
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There may be some truth to this; if the biggest theme park in the country (Alton Towers) is perceived badly, then it can lead people to assume that the other parks will be as bad or worse, and the parks may also begin to think that they can get away with staggered openings etc as expectations have been set low by the market leader.

(It's not exactly the same thing, but one of the consequences of the 2023 Titan disaster is that it caused many to - mistakenly - think that all submersibles were inherently unsafe)

Then again: Drayton Manor enjoyed good attendance in 2015 even though attendance at AT dipped, and so it doesn't necessarily always hold true.
QTXAdsy said:
Given the hysterical reaction of British enthusiasts, you'd think we'd hate our parks more than just like that. Honestly with the exception of Paultons, is there any UK park that's doing alright?
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I haven't heard too much negative about Blackpool this year? (for a change)

In fact, their opening day presentation seemed to be praised in the TPWW YouTube comments section, and Shawn himself agreed that Merlin could learn from their example!

EDIT: Disregard what I said, as Coaster Dad just posted a video 20 minutes ago in which he criticised the state of British theme parks, including Blackpool (but surprisingly not Drayton Manor).
 
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Secret Weapon said:
There may be some truth to this;
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There's no truth to it, it was a joke.
Secret Weapon said:
In fact, their opening day presentation seemed to be praised in the TPWW YouTube comments section, and Shawn himself agreed that Merlin could learn from their example!
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Vlogger gives park, who gives them preferential access and treatment, a good review? Quelle surprise.
 
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Poisson said:
Trained engineers are in demand. Theme parks do not offer the best conditions and don't offer enough wages to cover the gap.
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Been saying this for a few years now. Why would you work in a theme park when you could earn 30% more elsewhere and probably not have to work as many weekends and bank holidays either.

They need to start getting realistic with the wage and package they offer. Clearly people are just walking away constantly and leaving them in a hole.
 
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