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Drayton Manor Park

May there be some kind of new family coaster or major new family ride replacing Vertigo, by any chance?

It’s a pretty big area, and @Ciaran sounds surprisingly optimistic. I have reason to believe him and share in his optimism; Drayton Talk seems to be pretty well linked with the park, and since Looping Group purchased the business in August, I’d imagine that their financial difficulties should have subsided to a degree, even in spite of the pandemic.

Looping Group were very keen to emphasise that Drayton was becoming their flagship park in their press releases in August, and they seem to have a pretty good record at the properties they own; WMSP seems really well maintained, and is investing a decent amount into new accommodation and exhibits on the safari route, for example. Pleasurewood Hills has also had a nice couple of years, with investments into things like Egg-spress, Sheriff’s Showdown and Water Fun Factory. Some of their European parks are also getting promising levels of investment.

For this reason, I feel much more optimistic about the next couple of years at Drayton than I was previously!
 
Ciaran said:
Towers may have better rides, but at least Drayton know how to look after theirs :cool:
Click to expand...

*Looks at where G Force used to stand*.

Erm.

*Looks at Buffalo*

Err...

*Looks at Splash Canyon prior to the accident*

Hmm...

*Looks at Stormforce*

Eww?

*Looks at Pand...*
Oh. Is for sale.

*Looks at Verti...*
Ah. Sold.

I suppose the good thing about the vast majority of Thomas Land originating from the Zamperla catalog is that given how cheap the rides are, they're also fairly cheap to maintain...
 
Danny said:
*Looks at where G Force used to stand*.

Erm.

*Looks at Buffalo*

Err...

*Looks at Splash Canyon prior to the accident*

Hmm...

*Looks at Stormforce*

Eww?

*Looks at Pand...*
Oh. Is for sale.

*Looks at Verti...*
Ah. Sold.

I suppose the good thing about the vast majority of Thomas Land originating from the Zamperla catalog is that given how cheap the rides are, they're also fairly cheap to maintain...
Click to expand...
Look at the Towers Monorail.. first attraction you use upon entry and it looks like it hasn’t seen a workshop in 30 years! And that’s just the start, next up think of Duel, the years and years of patchwork and guesswork of whether Blade will ever return...

Anyway, getting this thread back on topic... on how great of a park Drayton is... ;)
 
Ciaran said:
Look at the Towers Monorail.. first attraction you use upon entry and it looks like it hasn’t seen a workshop in 30 years! And that’s just the start, next up think of Duel, the years and years of patchwork and guesswork of whether Blade will ever return...

Anyway, getting this thread back on topic... ;)
Click to expand...

Well, you picked the comparisons against Towers in the first place, I am merely pointing out observations of the park at the centre of this topic.

Drayton is no better or worse than Towers when it comes to SBNO/closed attractions. Leaving a major coaster standing for over a season before dismantling it with very little communication is relatively poor taste, but we'll skip over that. As for patch and guesswork, well that seems to be what drives the rider experience on any given visit for Apocalypse or Drunken Barrels.

The brutal honesty is you're expecting us to be surprised with what you believe Pandemonium, a ride which was only refurbished three years ago, is set to be replaced by. The last investment with any form of substance Drayton made (minus the pay-per-ride attraction introduced last year) was a rather shoddy touch up to Sheriff's Showdown. Whilst you might see this through rose-tinted glasses, to be blunt it's an appalling effort. Even Merlin's awful cookie-cutter LDC dark rides seem like a Disney effort over it.

The park's escape route of plugging a new, cheap as chips Zamperla model into Thomas Land whenever they get an updated version of the manufacturer's marketing brochure, isn't going to hold its weight forever. More to the point, this is the only track record the park seemingly have to show for themselves in recent years. Thomas Land was once the pinnacle of theming, care and attention when it came to family areas in the UK, but even this is now being done as lazily as possible. It's quite damning to see really.

The only aspect Drayton actually seem to be great with at the moment is looking like a park on life support.
 
Danny said:
Well, you picked the comparisons against Towers in the first place, I am merely pointing out observations of the park at the centre of this topic.

Drayton is no better or worse than Towers when it comes to SBNO/closed attractions. Leaving a major coaster standing for over a season before dismantling it with very little communication is relatively poor taste, but we'll skip over that. As for patch and guesswork, well that seems to be what drives the rider experience on any given visit for Apocalypse or Drunken Barrels.

The brutal honesty is you're expecting us to be surprised with what you believe Pandemonium, a ride which was only refurbished three years ago, is set to be replaced by. The last investment with any form of substance Drayton made (minus the pay-per-ride attraction introduced last year) was a rather shoddy touch up to Sheriff's Showdown. Whilst you might see this through rose-tinted glasses, to be blunt it's an appalling effort. Even Merlin's awful cookie-cutter LDC dark rides seem like a Disney effort over it.

The park's escape route of plugging a new, cheap as chips Zamperla model into Thomas Land whenever they get an updated version of the manufacturer's marketing brochure, isn't going to hold its weight forever. More to the point, this is the only track record the park seemingly have to show for themselves in recent years. Thomas Land was once the pinnacle of theming, care and attention when it came to family areas in the UK, but even this is now being done as lazily as possible. It's quite damning to see really.

The only aspect Drayton actually seem to be great with at the moment is looking like a park on life support.
Click to expand...

I can't help but totally agree. Drayton is a shadow of its formerself. I grew up next to the park, the park is pesonally entwined with the life's of myself and many others around here, so if anyone was entitled to have rose tinted glasses it would be me. But even I have taken them off.

The park was a pretty formidable force in the UK back in the 90s and early 2000's. When it came to thrill and highly themed attractions, they did some of the best work in the UK.

We are now at a point where a ride receives what is basically a bit of really cheap looking fake rock and a star curtain and those with rose tinted glasses are praising it as an amazing revamp, best thing ever...erm, no. If that is your level of standard for British theme parks, then it is pretty low.

It always makes you laugh when people are 'in the know'. I've seen it for the 17 years I have been browsing theme park forums. Quite clearly its self entitlement from the poster, else what else would it be. Quite clearly a person feels superior because they hold information others do not, if they did not feel superior they would give the information, they do not, which says it all. It also gives you a very good idea of the persons age bracket and naivety. They are naive to the point that say if a theme park did actually give them information, a theme park enthusiast, that it would not leak. Or the park would not expect it to not leak.

This is not aimed at anyone, but in 17 years I've seen it time and time again, exactly the same every time. Cant help but but laugh.
 
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Lots of enthusiasts have fond memories of Drayton and therefore do view it with rose tinted glasses as mentioned.

The reality is a Park with little investment for a number of years. People hope the sale to Looping Group will be the start of a recovery but they don't have limitless cash and the starting point will be securing the future of the Park and turning an operational profit. Unfortunately, with Thomas Land their cash cow, this will be the market they go for. Thrill rides are expensive to purchase and expensive to maintain - therefore the Zamperla catalogue will be their go to.

Looping Group may well turn their fortunes, but it will be a monumental effort. I can't wait to see how they balance the Drayton Vs WMSP thing. Do they move rides to Drayton, or move animals to west midlands? Who knows. Will there get Splash Canyon back open? Surely it can't sit SBNO for another season. Will they invest into Shockwave as it *allegedly* is hard to get parts for or will it just slip into extended down time.

EDIT:
And another thing, how do they hope to be viable competition in 2021 when every other Park has something 'big' investment wise and probably with the advertising budget to match? They haven't released dates for 2021 or day tickets. Again, it comes down to Thomas as the only thing they can talk about. They have to compete in 2021 with Gangsta Granny, Crop Drop, Legoland Theatre and Tornado Springs.
 
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