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Drayton Manor Park

What are DMP's hours like at the moment? The website is always a closed book, but have they been extending?
 
I think they’d struggle to fit a Disk’O in that space now with the play area behind and a queue line for the Wave Swinger.

If I’m thinking about the same bit of wall as Andy, and looking at the promotional art, that gap has probably been left for the operator cabin to be installed?

As as area, refreshed and with Shockwave, Air Race, Maelstrom, Rapids, Stormforce, Wave Swinger and the play area, I think they’ve done a great job.

I wonder which area of the park will be next?!
 
Don’t think there is any further additions planned for this year.

The wave swinger looks great and it’s great they have gone with a custom theme and not just the standard manufacture wave swinger theme. The park have done a great job with the new area, premium manufactures for the rapids boats and the wave swinger and appears the retheme has been done to a high standard.

Hopefully this investment (and this quality) continues over the next few years as they improve other areas of the park.
 
Maelstrom said:
Don’t think there is any further additions planned for this year.

The wave swinger looks great and it’s great they have gone with a custom theme and not just the standard manufacture wave swinger theme. The park have done a great job with the new area, premium manufactures for the rapids boats and the wave swinger and appears the retheme has been done to a high standard.

Hopefully this investment (and this quality) continues over the next few years as they improve other areas of the park.
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I know it seems a bold statement, but I honestly think that Drayton is shaping up to become the Paultons of the Midlands if this investment continues!
 
Matt N said:
I know it seems a bold statement, but I honestly think that Drayton is shaping up to become the Paultons of the Midlands if this investment continues!
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I think it's too soon for that to be honest. My one and only trip to Paultons a few weeks ago blew me away so DMP still have a way to go before that.

However that's exactly what DMP need to aim for. No point trying to emulate Towers as that's a battle they simply can't win. Try and become to the Paultons of the North / Midlands would be a very wise move. They have Thomasland and Paultons have Peppa Pig so they do have that in common. Incredibly popular IP's for younger families that bring in the punters.

Wouldn't it be brilliant to see them try and build an area on the level of Tornado Springs over the next 3 to 4 years?
 
A standard wave swinger, flat-pack play area, new rapids boats and a re-paint of buildings in dire need of it aren't exactly giving me the optimism to believe Drayton will become the Paultons of the Midlands any time soon.
 
Danny said:
A standard wave swinger, flat-pack play area, new rapids boats and a re-paint of buildings in dire need of it aren't exactly giving me the optimism to believe Drayton will become the Paultons of the Midlands any time soon.
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Absolutely which is why I put the breaks on Matt's comments.

You have to remember though that they have done all that in year one, after the pandemic and also with the park going through a lot of trouble.

It's a more than decent start.
 
Matt N said:
I know it seems a bold statement, but I honestly think that Drayton is shaping up to become the Paultons of the Midlands if this investment continues!
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Calm down my friend. A bit to early to say that, this is literally the first decent yearly investment they have made in years. But, that said, what they have achieved, in the time frame they have had the park, in a pandemic is commendable, and points towards serious effort being put in by people. So that is a promising sign.

It made me laugh how he park are advertising the ride as "feel the ocean breeze in your hair". Despite Tamworth being located in a position that puts the sea further away than almost anywhere in the UK. It is literally one of the most inland places in the UK. The ocean is even further.
 
I think back in the 90s they were sort of competing with Alton Towers. Obviously AT was the bigger park and had the backing of the Tussauds group so had more money to spend, but Drayton felt almost at the same level and the investments sort of kept pace.
Pirates Adventure = Haunted House
Shockwave = Nemesis
Apocolypse = Obvlivion (well it was two years after Oblivion)

The parks were on slightly different scale and size but both were doing well.
Then they added G Force and it didn't do that well.
Thomas Land then really increased investment at Drayton Manor in the late 2000s and into the 2010s and as G Force didn't quite work for thrill Thomas Land pushed the park towards younger families compared to what they were doing in the 90s. Whereas Alton Towers added Air, Rita, Thirteen and then The Smiler and kept pushing in the thrill direction.

I do wonder what would have happened if they had gone with something more conventional compared to G Force. Even Spinball Whizzer is probably a better investment? Would Drayton have done better? Its not a good sign that on of their biggest investments of the 2000s didn't last 15 years.

The Drayon Manor of the 90s was a great park, but for me it felt like G Force was a gimmick that didn't work.

If they keep going in the right way again now Drayton could get as good as Paulton.
 
jon81uk said:
I think back in the 90s they were sort of competing with Alton Towers. Obviously AT was the bigger park and had the backing of the Tussauds group so had more money to spend, but Drayton felt almost at the same level and the investments sort of kept pace.
Pirates Adventure = Haunted House
Shockwave = Nemesis
Apocolypse = Obvlivion (well it was two years after Oblivion)

The parks were on slightly different scale and size but both were doing well.
Then they added G Force and it didn't do that well.
Thomas Land then really increased investment at Drayton Manor in the late 2000s and into the 2010s and as G Force didn't quite work for thrill Thomas Land pushed the park towards younger families compared to what they were doing in the 90s. Whereas Alton Towers added Air, Rita, Thirteen and then The Smiler and kept pushing in the thrill direction.

I do wonder what would have happened if they had gone with something more conventional compared to G Force. Even Spinball Whizzer is probably a better investment? Would Drayton have done better? Its not a good sign that on of their biggest investments of the 2000s didn't last 15 years.

The Drayon Manor of the 90s was a great park, but for me it felt like G Force was a gimmick that didn't work.

If they keep going in the right way again now Drayton could get as good as Paulton.
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Thomas Land did not increase investment at the park, it halted it almost. Before Thomas Land we had large attractions such as G-force, Excalibur, Maelstrom in the years preceding. After Thomas Land we had almost the entire back catalogue of small and cheap Zamperla rides being added. With the exception of Ben 10, but even that was pretty small by Draytons standards.

I can see why they did that though, as they were loosing visitors massively towards 2006. Thomas Land brought visitor numbers back up, but after the initial investment of the area, investment levels up until this year, have been a shadow of what they were pre Thomas Land. Remeber Excalibur too, that was a same investment level ride as G-Force, lasted even shorter than that.

The park was great in the 90's and early 200's though. Really good place with a massive variety of rides and highly themed rides.

On another note. Could it not be argued that Paultons decided to become the Drayton of the south? While their new investments are fantastic and have outshone anything Drayton have done in a long time. From what I can see, Drayton has always seemed to have the better ride stock and themed attractions. Obviously that is changing now, but it seems to me it is Paultons who have tried to emulate Drayton over the past decade or so. I have not directly been to Paultons so there may be something I am missing. Either way, it is great, great for the UK industry.
 
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DistortAMG said:
Thomas Land did not increase investment at the park, it halted it almost. Before Thomas Land we had large attractions such as G-force, Excalibur, Maelstrom in the years preceding. After Thomas Land we had almost the entire back catalogue of small and cheap Zamperla rides being added. With the exception of Ben 10, but even that was pretty small by Draytons standards.

I can see why they did that though, as they were loosing visitors massively towards 2006. Thomas Land brought visitor numbers back up, but after the initial investment of the area, investment levels up until this year, have been a shadow of what they were pre Thomas Land. Remeber Excalibur too, that was a same investment level ride as G-Force, lasted even shorter than that.

The park was great in the 90's and early 200's though. Really good place with a massive variety of rides and highly themed rides.

On another note. Could it not be argued that Paultons decided to become the Drayton of the south? While their new investments are fantastic and have outshone anything Drayton have done in a long time. From what I can see, Drayton has always seemed to have the better ride stock and themed attractions. Obviously that is changing now, but it seems to me it is Paultons who have tried to emulate Drayton over the past decade or so. I have not directly been to Paultons so there may be something I am missing. Either way, it is great, great for the UK industry.
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Okay Thomas Land maybe just increased visitors to the park and added quantity of attractions if not quality and the amount of investment.

and yes I think I had completely wiped Excalibur from memory as I cannot remember it at all, didn't they change from having the Jungle Cruise which has motors on each boat and then excaliber was cable driven but the cable kept coming off? Think I only rode Excaliber once.
Haven't been to Drayton since I moved to London 12 years ago, used to go regularly when we lived in Birmingham.

I've not been to Paulton, but from photos their recent efforts are slightly better than wat Drayton was doing in the 90s/2000s in terms of theming. But Drayton was pretty close to the same level as Alton Towers back then in terms of theming level in many areas.
 
jon81uk said:
Okay Thomas Land maybe just increased visitors to the park and added quantity of attractions if not quality and the amount of investment.

and yes I think I had completely wiped Excalibur from memory as I cannot remember it at all, didn't they change from having the Jungle Cruise which has motors on each boat and then excaliber was cable driven but the cable kept coming off? Think I only rode Excaliber once.
Haven't been to Drayton since I moved to London 12 years ago, used to go regularly when we lived in Birmingham.

I've not been to Paulton, but from photos their recent efforts are slightly better than wat Drayton was doing in the 90s/2000s in terms of theming. But Drayton was pretty close to the same level as Alton Towers back then in terms of theming level in many areas.
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Exclaibur was multitude of problems, it was cable driven but it was a completely new ride with alot of brand new highly themed scenes. Would have been expensive to build. Boats kept coming off, but I think the main issues were having complex themed scenes exposed to the elements all year round.

Interesting about Paultons, but the question goes, are Paultons slightly better at theming quality now because they have the advantage of 30 years worth of technological advancements. Compared to what Drayton were doing in the 90s.
 
They seemed to have had good intentions with Thomas Land when it first opened until it became a tarmac dumping ground with every possible variation ripped from the Zamperla catalogue. The quantity has very much trumped quality over recent years in that area.
 
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