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Drayton Manor Park

Rob said:
I know what I'd prefer, keeping the discussion to Drayton Manor! ;)
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If you say so! As I said above, I'm so glad to see Drayton getting crowds again after the rough period following the Splash Canyon incident; even though it certainly isn't my favourite theme park I've ever visited, I very much enjoyed my day there last year! I found it a perfectly pleasant park with some good attractions and a nice atmosphere!

However, one thing I would say about Drayton Manor in comparison to other mid-size UK theme parks is that it seems to lack a true standout attraction, if you get what I mean. Whereas other independent UK theme parks seem to have a standout attraction of sorts (for example, Oakwood has Megafobia, to name just one example), Drayton Manor doesn't really have anything that stands out as such. Admittedly, the park has multiple good attractions, and Thomas Land is arguably a standout area to some extent, but there was nothing there that really blew me away, if you get what I mean. This isn't necessarily a bad thing at all, as I'd say that Drayton Manor arguably has a greater abundance of things to do than the likes of Oakwood, but I definitely think a real standout attraction (within the park's financial capabilities, of course!) would be a very beneficial addition to Drayton Manor in the future. I could see something along the lines of Mine Blower at Fun Spot Kissimmee or Formula at Energylandia working well at Drayton Manor, personally.
 
Matt N said:
However, one thing I would say about Drayton Manor in comparison to other mid-size UK theme parks is that it seems to lack a true standout attraction, if you get what I mean. Whereas other independent UK theme parks seem to have a standout attraction of sorts (for example, Oakwood has Megafobia, to name just one example), Drayton Manor doesn't really have anything that stands out as such.
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Shockwave, the only stand-up coaster in the world to feature a zero-g roll? Apocalypse, the first drop tower in the world to feature a stand-up element? Maelstrom?
 
Ciaran said:
Shockwave, the only stand-up coaster in the world to feature a zero-g roll? Apocalypse, the first drop tower in the world to feature a stand-up element? Maelstrom?
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And having a zero-g roll is meant to make it special is it? Shockwave is utter balls.

I don't do drop towers, but even then, a park that has only two standout attractions which are flat rides is pretty saddening.
 
Ciaran said:
Shockwave, the only stand-up coaster in the world to feature a zero-g roll? Apocalypse, the first drop tower in the world to feature a stand-up element? Maelstrom?
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Oh yes, they definitely have some unique attractions in terms of having unique elements, but when I say "standout attraction", I more mean in terms of quality.

Now I'm certainly not saying that Drayton Manor has a bad lineup of attractions at all; they have many good attractions! However, from what I rode there, I wouldn't say there was an attraction that I really loved, if you get what I mean. There were a fair few I liked and enjoyed, but nothing there that really wowed me. For fear of being misinterpreted, I'm not trying to say that they should have a similar quality of attractions to the likes of Alton Towers because that is probably unattainable with the park's financial state and guest figures. I'm more comparing it to other theme parks I've been to on a similar (or arguably smaller) operational scale to Drayton Manor. For example, when I went to Oakwood, I found Megafobia to be a brilliant wooden coaster with some excellent airtime; I found it to be a standout attraction. When I went to Fun Spot Kissimmee, which is probably a smaller theme park than Drayton Manor, I found Mine Blower to be brilliant fun and my new favourite wooden coaster; I found it to be a standout attraction. Before I ramble on for too long, what I'm trying to say is that I personally felt that Drayton Manor, despite having quite a few attractions I liked, lacked an attraction that I really loved.

I apologise if I'm being too harsh on Drayton there, which to be fair, I probably am! I really did enjoy my time there; it's a lovely park with some real charm, and I did like the attractions I rode there. My favourite was probably Apocalypse, which was a good drop tower! My favourite coaster there was Shockwave; even though it's nowhere near being my overall favourite coaster, it did exceed my expectations somewhat (although my expectations were admittedly quite low)! The main thing holding it back for me was the standup trains; I actually quite liked the layout! I found it to have some good forces in places and quite good pacing, with a few fun inversions in there too, despite the fact it became a bit rattly towards the end!
 
Danny said:
And having a zero-g roll is meant to make it special is it? Shockwave is utter balls.

I don't do drop towers, but even then, a park that has only two standout attractions which are flat rides is pretty saddening.
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I'm not suggesting that it makes it any better, I'm just saying that it makes the ride stand out, which is what @Matt N said Drayton Manor doesn't have any of.

You have to think about the budget that Drayton has compared to larger theme parks such as Alton Towers. They can't afford to build a new, worlds first, thrilling attraction every other year, especially after recent events.
 
Ciaran said:
I'm not suggesting that it makes it any better, I'm just saying that it makes the ride stand out, which is what @Matt N said Drayton Manor doesn't have any of.

You have to think about the budget that Drayton has compared to larger theme parks such as Alton Towers. They can't afford to build a new, worlds first, thrilling attraction every other year, especially after recent events.
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As I said in my post above, I completely agree that Drayton has some unique attractions that stand out in terms of uniqueness. I also completely understand that Drayton can't build rides on the scale of the likes of Alton Towers; I was just comparing it to some other similarly sized theme parks I've visited.
 
Ciaran said:
They can't afford to build a new, worlds first, thrilling attraction every other year, especially after recent events.
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Nobody is expecting them to and quite honestly, nor have they ever done that. But they've now permanently closed one of their major roller coasters and continue to neglect the main theme park over additions to Thomas Land. Even then, the overall quality of the latter is beginning to diminish; the awful tarmac job in the newer area near the airport is vile.

It's honestly a crying shame to watch Drayton go down the pan, but their direction is evident.
 
Danny said:
Nobody is expecting them to and quite honestly, nor have they ever done that. But they've now permanently closed one of their major roller coasters and continue to neglect the main theme park over additions to Thomas Land. Even then, the overall quality of the latter is beginning to diminish; the awful tarmac job in the newer area near the airport is vile.

It's honestly a crying shame to watch Drayton go down the pan, but their direction is evident.
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Despite what I said above about the park lacking a standout attraction in terms of quality, I personally disagree that Drayton Manor is "going down the pan". As with Alton Towers in 2015, Drayton Manor suffered a major incident in May 2017 that really hit their reputation and guest figures hard. They don't have the budget that they used to. Despite this, I personally think that the park lives within its means very well. From what I saw of it last year, Thomas Land is a lovely area with real charm; I know I would certainly have loved it if I was within its target demographic! Also, I know it might sound strange, but I genuinely think that Troublesome Trucks might be my favourite kiddie coaster I've done! I know it's only small, but I thought it was very smooth with good pacing and forces for a kiddie coaster! The park also has many other nice areas and is a perfectly fun park to spend a day at, in my opinion!

Also, with regards to @skyscraper's comment above about the flat ride selection, I must confess that I only rode Apocalypse and Air Race out of the park's flats.
 
It is going down the pan and it's plain to see.

Rewind the clock 10 years (coincidentally when I was your age and had the same amount of optimism for everything) and Drayton had some zest about it. Thomas Land was staggering at the time; a really bold statement in terms of themed family attractions in the UK. Ben 10/Accelerator was the last solid investment not long after that Drayton made without scraping the barrel and even then; the whole notion of a fully fledged Cartoon Network area simply dried up.

Thomas Land was fine until they started pulling every single piece of tat from the Zamperla catalogue. The area is a complete shadow of what it used to be. The older rides in there actually look newer and better than the newer ones because of the quality being maintained back then. As I said, the tarmac expansion past the station up towards the airport is vile.

I'll agree Troublesome Trucks is good fun but it's hardly the best family coaster in the kingdom. If it wasn't for the themed trains, it'd be mistaken for a fancy travelling coaster.

The closure of G-Force is significant. Yes the ride was garbage, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't even that old. Yes, Towers made cuts following The Smiler accident, but they didn't close an entire bloody roller coaster!

With regards to the flat ride line up, there is only Maelstrom that appeals to me. I know people rave about 'Poccy, but that's literally all the park has going for it. The headline coaster is abysmal. Why is The Bounty even being mentioned? It's no different to any other pirate ship. Pandemonium is far from anything grand either.

Then Air Race? Again, scraping the Zamperla catalogue. It's doesn't even come close to sitting amongst the best flat rides in the country.

Even Stormforce is a shadow of its former self; very much a testament to the park's current identity. The over-investment of Thomas Land has dried up the investment in the actual main park. Even now the investments being made in Thomas Land have lost the fizz that existed 10 years ago.

When we visited on a meet in 2015 we had a relatively fun day, including a great meal at the Grill Inn that we were raving about. Last year? We were bored stiff. It was evident that the park has lost its mojo and we were all left bitterly disappointed with the Grill Inn compared to our previous visit.

I shan't be visiting Drayton again until standards are raised or a decent investment is made. A shame because neither of these seem to be feasible outcomes.
 
Isn't Marauder's Mayhem at Alton Towers? Or does Drayton have an attraction with the same name?
 
I will admit that Drayton has a number of flat rides, and I admittedly only got to ride 2 of them. That is definitely one of Drayton's stronger areas, in my opinion.

As for the ones I rode, Apocalypse was a very solid drop tower with good forces; probably my personal favourite attraction on park! I must admit that I personally found Air Race a bit too intense to really enjoy, but it is still a solid flat for a park of Drayton's scale. The only reason I wasn't a fan of it was because I just found all of the flips a little too much to handle in such a short space of time; it's probably the only attraction I've ever come off feeling a bit nauseous. If you have a stronger tolerance to intensity than myself, then I'd imagine it's a great ride!
 
Been a season pass holder at Drayton and been to Alton Towers. I feel like there’s more at Drayton than at Alton Towers. My daughter who is now 7 loves Drayton Manor as none of there rides feel like it’s for babies like CBeebies land is now. Troublesome trucks and Accelerator is way better than Alton’s 2 kids coasters.
 
Lest we forget quality over quantity. You could fill a park with countless flat rides, but if they're crap what's the point? If I was told to go to Drayton and ride nothing but their flat rides, or Phantasialand and ride nothing but Talocan, I'd take the latter.
 
@Danny Interesting thoughts. I sadly think Drayton is not in a good place at the moment either, and the issues do go way way beyond Splash in 2017. I think losing Pirate Adventure was a brutal, hard hitting blow. Losing the chairlift wasn't particularly good either. Remember that at the start of the 2017 season (before the accident), hardly any of the major rides were even open, and SF10 remained closed for the whole year. Not good. That's not to say the future is certain to be terrible, and 'going down the pan' is a pretty absolutist kinda statement. There is fantastic ambition at the place, but financing rides since the Hotel has been extremely difficult, which is why you notice that Accelerator was one of the last major investments outside of Thomas Land. Funnily enough, I believe the best year for Drayton in terms of guest figures was actually 2015, during the year of the expansion of Thomas Land, which should surely indicate it was a decent investment and appealed well to the target market. I don't think how its tarmacced, or even the quality of zamperla flats particularly matters to most of the people there. No offence! But I do get your wider point.
-Bear in mind that the park has started major refurbishments on all rides. Golden Nuggets is now Sheriffs Showdown. I'll be brutally honest. I preferred Golden Nuggets mainly because of the originality, targets, music, and effects, but the refurb job was pretty extensive, with the whole queueline darkened, covered in faux rockwork, and the ride itself split in to scenes. The original design team were intending to do this all the way back in 1999, but ran out of cash, so its nice in a way to 'complete' the ride. It's bad that this should of happened a decade ago really.
-Pandemonium was not only repainted but underwent an entire part by part refurb, which was not cheap in any way especially given some of the parts replaced had to be fabricated from scratch.
-Apocalypse is being seen to now. It's station is being revamped completely and the drop tower itself will follow.
-SF10 is a brilliant ride 20 years on, and it actually reached the end of its life a couple of years ago, but is now receiving a complete overhaul and also needs a repaint as some parts of it haven't been painted since it opened.

There are clearly major problems across the park but , I'm convinced that with the continual success of the hotel, the positive attitude of park management, and as the years go by beyond the terrible accident back in 2017, the park itself will receive the major investment it so desperately needs.
 
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