I wouldn’t say DM have taken a big draw ride out compare to Lightwater who only lasted as long as have with the ultimate bringing in customers. It’s a well loved ride in the enthusiast community but shouldn’t be the only reason for it to stay. If a ride is only busy for a 1/2 months out of a 10month season then obviously its concerning in the long term. If you have a ride that you are paying to run all day with not riders that’s questionable in the long term so what do you do with the ride just leave it as pretty decoration and only open on peak days?.
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Drayton Manor Park
- Thread starter Matty
- Start date
D4n
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Zadra
It really is bizarre. Doesn't cost much to run, or to operate, has a tiny footprint too.
Perhaps if they can't find a buyer then they will go ahead at just keep it? Would have thought that Shockwave was much more likely to get the chop all things being equal, must cost more to operate and has a much higher height restriction.
Perhaps if they can't find a buyer then they will go ahead at just keep it? Would have thought that Shockwave was much more likely to get the chop all things being equal, must cost more to operate and has a much higher height restriction.
It’s probably quite a lot more expensive than you think to be honest. The fact it’s so high up makes it very expensive to repair when something goes wrong. It also has frequent dispatches due to its very short cycle time, and with there being 5 different towers this gives it a high amount of dispatches per hour. Imagine how much power is used on peak days to lift all those cars to the top of the tower throughout the day... quite a lot. Considering Drayton are on a metered power supply too.
It’s a ride that’s over 20 years old and even tho obviously people can disagree but realistic why would a park keep a ride going and keep getting new parts for something that’s only busy/popular for 1/2 months of year. Think of those staff and electric costs they would have To pay every off peak day when only a handful of people use it. I have no doubt the new owners have looked at the cost of running the ride and compared it to how many people actually use it and worked out it’s not financially viable for the long term.
Also, considering the ride is 21 years old now, the lift motors and cables will definitely need replacing soon as they’ll be at their end of life, excluding tower 5 as this had a new motor a few years ago. These are super expensive, especially when Drayton have to pay for 4 at once.
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
I'm glad Europa-Park don't remove their rides which get little to no wait.
Half the park's rides would be gone overnight.
Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk
Without Thomas land regardless of any other ride in the park there wouldn’t be a Drayton manor it’s just what it is. Thomas land is what is pushing DM to survival if you take that away then it’s all over and the park is gone. I honestly think the new park owners have looked at what’s financially viable going forward. Unlike places like europa park who can afford the costs going forward for closed rides or rides not having many guests places like DM don’t have the funds to do that.
Themepark-newbie
TS Member
The new owners have probably spent a lot of money to get DM. Not sure if they have had to clear the debts as well. Either way, their priority will be to see a ROI and focus on the money maker (Thomas). Looks like they will be happy to cut costs where they see necessary.
Two points from reading the last few days worth of posts:
1) DM clearly sees Thomas as it's only viable asset going forwards. What if they lose the IP / contract going? Hope it is there for a very long time.
2) People are saying that Drayton are 'doing a Paultons' and focussing on the family route. I can't see it in anyway comparable. Paultons started with the family route and are now actively building bigger rides; slowly pushing their offering upwards thrill wise. DM are actively removing bigger rides; and contracting their thrill offerings.
Two points from reading the last few days worth of posts:
1) DM clearly sees Thomas as it's only viable asset going forwards. What if they lose the IP / contract going? Hope it is there for a very long time.
2) People are saying that Drayton are 'doing a Paultons' and focussing on the family route. I can't see it in anyway comparable. Paultons started with the family route and are now actively building bigger rides; slowly pushing their offering upwards thrill wise. DM are actively removing bigger rides; and contracting their thrill offerings.
DistortAMG
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- POTC Disneyland Paris
The cables were replaced ever few years. You used to be able to see the replacements while riding Storm Force 10, sitting on their drums underneath Storm Force 10 station. With Intamin drop tower clearly labelled on the drum. I am sure I've seen photos of this online too at some point.
Prof Burp
TS Member
@Mr Pearse talking of Thomas Land has the damaged caused by the Fire in the toilet block been repaired? From news reports the Thomas Land shop was adjacent to the singed toilet block. Due to the proximity to the fire was the shop destroyed or just slightly smoke damaged? Iver way I hope after the terrible season Drayton Mannor endured last year, the damage caused can be rectified,and the park experience a positive season. The photographs that were publicised of the fire damaged showed that parts of the Jeremy’s Flying Academy were being stored beside the area affected by the blaze. This leads me on too ask if the ride parts being stored next to the fire zone were damaged to an extent that Jeremy’s Flying Academy is unusable?
Auf wiedersehen everybody’s favourite Fizzy Pop producer Professor Burp
As DistortAMG said, the cables need replacing reasonably often. Cables on this kind of ride generally do. The same thing happens with the launch cable on Intamin’s rocket coasters. On Rita the cable needs replacing every so many launches. I’m not sure what the rules are on the drop towers.
In 2007 the cable snapped on an Intamin tower ride at Kentucky Kingdom.
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2008/04/15/89148.htm
I remember reading somewhere that the cable hadn’t been replaced when they should have done, but the article I’ve just linked to lists the kind of lubrication used and insufficient inspection procedures as a possible cause. Maybe the thing I read about the cables being replaced wasn’t true. At the time Six Flags were having major financial problems and heading towards bankruptcy. There was a lot of cost cutting, and perhaps someone jumped to conclusions. Either way, everyone maintaining one of these rides would have the Kentucky Kingdom accident at the back of their minds. You wouldn’t want to use the same cable too many times.
I can imagine that Apocalypse isn’t a cheap ride to maintain and operate. However, it says something when Fraispertuis City can afford one and Drayton Manor can’t.
In 2007 the cable snapped on an Intamin tower ride at Kentucky Kingdom.
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2008/04/15/89148.htm
I remember reading somewhere that the cable hadn’t been replaced when they should have done, but the article I’ve just linked to lists the kind of lubrication used and insufficient inspection procedures as a possible cause. Maybe the thing I read about the cables being replaced wasn’t true. At the time Six Flags were having major financial problems and heading towards bankruptcy. There was a lot of cost cutting, and perhaps someone jumped to conclusions. Either way, everyone maintaining one of these rides would have the Kentucky Kingdom accident at the back of their minds. You wouldn’t want to use the same cable too many times.
I can imagine that Apocalypse isn’t a cheap ride to maintain and operate. However, it says something when Fraispertuis City can afford one and Drayton Manor can’t.
That incident was caused by a number of failures on Six Flags’ behalf. They replaced the cables but didn’t use Intamin’s cables, instead sourcing them from an outside supplier. They also didn’t use proper lubricant, they used something else but I can’t remember what it was. This and a number of operator errors is what caused the accident.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
I do wonder how many annual passes have been sold this year?
As guests with Season passes last year if it was brought before 9th July they will run to the 3rd July 2021 if they open at the end of March if not then it will be extended again.
I had the annual pass and cause it didn’t open for the Fireworks or Christmas event it was extended to the end of September and it be will extended again as it not opening for the Feb half term or Thomas and Friends weekenders so it could be extended to the end of the main season.
As guests with Season passes last year if it was brought before 9th July they will run to the 3rd July 2021 if they open at the end of March if not then it will be extended again.
I had the annual pass and cause it didn’t open for the Fireworks or Christmas event it was extended to the end of September and it be will extended again as it not opening for the Feb half term or Thomas and Friends weekenders so it could be extended to the end of the main season.
Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Predictions & wishlist video by TPWW 
An interesting thing to note is that Pandemonium has been for sale on Interlink for a while now. Another thing Shaun mentioned which is a good point is that as the sit-down section of Apocalypse is 1.2m, it wouldn't really make sense if that was removed and other 1.2m rides such as Maelstrom, Bounty etc were kept. Also, it appears the rides section of the website is under maintenance or something, as the "rides and attractions" button just brings up a 2020 list of open rides, not the individual ride pages.
https://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/rides-20201
An interesting thing to note is that Pandemonium has been for sale on Interlink for a while now. Another thing Shaun mentioned which is a good point is that as the sit-down section of Apocalypse is 1.2m, it wouldn't really make sense if that was removed and other 1.2m rides such as Maelstrom, Bounty etc were kept. Also, it appears the rides section of the website is under maintenance or something, as the "rides and attractions" button just brings up a 2020 list of open rides, not the individual ride pages.
https://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/rides-20201
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Themepark-newbie
TS Member
Ride list is here https://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/rides-and-attractions/rides
Apocalypse and Pandemonium still on it, however considering their website is still full of 2020 information, I can't imagine it being accurate!
Apocalypse and Pandemonium still on it, however considering their website is still full of 2020 information, I can't imagine it being accurate!
Interesting documentary about this ride - English subtitles (sorry for being slightly off-topic)
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing this!
Interesting to see that their model is actually 66m high in comparison to Drayton’s 54m model. I also didn’t expect them to base their ride off of Apocalypse.
The operator panel is also much cleaner on the newer Intamin drop towers, Apocalypse doesn’t even have a screen on it’s, I guess because it’s 21 years old now!
jon81uk
TS Member
I think its more what they should be doing, even if they aren't. Paulton got a big boost with Peppa Pig and are now establishing a family-thrill area to make sure they can attract families with kids of all ages.
Drayton has the Thomas Land audience but need a few more family thrill attractions to ensure they can attract all ages too. Getting rid of Shockwave would make sense, its not a "family" ride, they could then add some smaller coasters like Paultons have done. Not saying they are doing this, just that they should.
Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Thanks for sharing, that was indeed really interesting!
Funny how he mentions Drayton at one point too.
Does anyone know if Apoccaypse has that safety hook and remote they showed, or is that only a feature on the newer towers?
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