Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
As far as I know, PA has been completely gutted inside. Not entirely sure about Excalibur though tbh.
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Drayton Manor Park
- Thread starter Matty
- Start date
As nice as it would be @Prof Burp both of these rides are near enough gutted. Parts of the physical ride systems remain in tact but not enough to run them. I think we had this discussion about 4-5 pages back if you wanted to have a look as there was some people with some experience who explained exactly what was left in there (pirates adventure particularly). I do believe they'll use the pirates adventure building for something eventually but it won't be a rival of the original ride.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
Been a pass holder I go with my kids on average 2-3 times a month and I can confirm Excalibur all the theming on the lake is still in place with the knights removed and put into the castle of dreams building which is currently getting finished for the Christmas event in 2 weeks time.
Pirate adventure nothing is going on around the front of the ride but I think they have been testing out the system as when I been on Thomas train the maintenance bay doors have been half open with the lights on and you can see some of the boats inside. I think it will come back as a pirate themed attraction as the building is half themed outside on 3 sides and with the Bounty, Dodgems and jolly buccaneer fitting the pirate cove theme it will be cheaper to get the ride up to H&S standard and put in new scenes as it may have not run since 2015 but been Indoors should be in a better state than the rapids were left outside for 4 years and they must have the mechanic bodies of the pirates as they wasn’t sold at the auction just there heads.
Pirate adventure nothing is going on around the front of the ride but I think they have been testing out the system as when I been on Thomas train the maintenance bay doors have been half open with the lights on and you can see some of the boats inside. I think it will come back as a pirate themed attraction as the building is half themed outside on 3 sides and with the Bounty, Dodgems and jolly buccaneer fitting the pirate cove theme it will be cheaper to get the ride up to H&S standard and put in new scenes as it may have not run since 2015 but been Indoors should be in a better state than the rapids were left outside for 4 years and they must have the mechanic bodies of the pirates as they wasn’t sold at the auction just there heads.
If your referencing my post I didn't say it was completely gutted I said it's likely not going to come back as effectively its too far gone. I just don't think it would be worth the cost to repair an old system that will probably have sky high maintenance costs.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
I know they were testing out the compressors in 2019 but they got rid of the stuff that was rotten and sold the stuff at the auction that didn’t work. If you had seen the catalogue from the auction you can see some of the scenes still in place and many just stripped back to the wooden frames.
Marshal-B33J
TS Member
I am surprised that there is no speculation of what is being built where the high ropes were. I personally have no idea but I expect some family attraction
Prof Burp
TS Member
@Themeparksandy1981 I am expecting Pirate Adventure to return next season. 85% of it is intact and is ship shape (pun intended). If the ride is currently testing and the lights are on,maybe behind the scenes they are planning on a surprise reopening. As for Execaliber I can also see this returning.
Quite the level of certainty given a few posts up you were asking if there was any chance of it...
djtruefitt
TS Team
I mean execaliber struggled to work when it was new, let alone 20 years later
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
Excalibur Will never ever come back. They spending big on this years Christmas event and to get into the castle of dreams its a extra charge of £8pp or £5 under 1
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As @djtruefitt said excalibur barely worked when it was open. I believe the rides pullies and ropes often got stuck in the rather smoggy lake (I may be wrong the the specifics of this but the fact remains it was very unreliable hence why it didn't last very long)
Now Pirates Adventure there is no way there is 85% of it intact. We did have a discussion in this thread here: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/drayton-manor-park.196/page-155
and I think the general concensus was that there really isn't enough left for it to just 'come back'. They maybes able to make a new ride in there but at this point why use a system that's going to cost a fortune to sort out but worse it's maintenance costs long term are going to be absolutely awful.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
With the looping group I not sure what there European parks are like but looking at the safari park and pleasure wood hills they really just installed 2nd hand coasters and re-themed rides that was already on site like snake in the grass but without going off topic with the looping group already bringing the rapids back and now improving the castle of dreams and reading the comments on Facebook and Twitter with guests asking about the pirate adventure you can’t write off the ride totally yet. Also with the hay bale hunt around the park there was 6:
1) Thomas in Thomas land
2) Adventure Cove,
3) Sheriff showdown
4) Dino land
5) Red Panda in the zoo
6) Pirate near the lake
Now is that a hint that the next big project could be Pirate Cove area.
1) Thomas in Thomas land
2) Adventure Cove,
3) Sheriff showdown
4) Dino land
5) Red Panda in the zoo
6) Pirate near the lake
Now is that a hint that the next big project could be Pirate Cove area.
Oh I think they'll do something in that building and area I just don't think it will be a return of pirates adventure in it's original form
Prof Burp
TS Member
@Themeparksandy1981 I think that next years big draw will be the reopening of an updated Pirate Adventure. If this does not happen, my next prediction would be the refurbishment/retheme of the area which contains The Buffalo Coaster.
This could realistically happen. They could simply buy some family rides (similar scale to wave swinger) and some nice theming and give it something like a western theme. They've got sherif shootout or whatever it's called not far away and I'm sure drunken barrels could be rethemed easy as a western saloon or something. Then with Buffalo area you've got a decent size themed area. I'd love a new coaster on that field where vertigo high ropes was within the next few years. It doesn't need to be anything massive but a small family thrill coaster really would help Drayton no end.
Prof Burp
TS Member
@JAperson I think this project will happen most likely in 2023. I would say that the Pirate Adventure will be refurbished next year,firstly because the hardware and a couple of scenes are still intact, secondly the ride is there so theming it should be relatively cheap and lastly the longer the ride is dormant the harder to restore it will become. With the success of Piraten In Batavia at Europa Park, I can see Pirate Adventure becoming England’s version. With the advances in technology I would love England to have our own Pirate Dark ride. As it would not be a clone of an burned down attraction Pirate Adventure could feature totally new scenes.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
I took pictures on Saturday and I think it’s work to lay cables
https://www.draytontalk.co.uk/threads/154/page-3
With there been the hotel entrance now and the other car park entrance in the past during the Christmas and Feb breaks they use this car park instead as they limit the number of guests coming into the park as it’s just Thomas land and select family attractions up to 1m tall open during theses event.
https://www.draytontalk.co.uk/threads/154/page-3
With there been the hotel entrance now and the other car park entrance in the past during the Christmas and Feb breaks they use this car park instead as they limit the number of guests coming into the park as it’s just Thomas land and select family attractions up to 1m tall open during theses event.
Just simply no.
Pirate Adventure was clapped out when it closed, which is why it closed.
There has been talk of removing the Buffalo Coaster for two whole decades.
No Pirate Adventure reopening, and Excalibur was absolutely massively overhyped crap from the very day it opened, and lasted but a few seasons.
I'm affraid I agree @rob666 (not trying to say that's a bad thing rob). I just don't think pirates adventure can come back. Surerly if they did test the ride the other year and then proceeded with an auction were they tried to sell the boats. If it was in partial working order they wouldn't have tried to flog the boats.
As for the buffalo and grass area. Rob is right that there has been rumours of buffalo going and I agree it will go eventually but I don't think Looping will remove it until the lineup can handle without it. They need another coaster of similar scale before the remove it. I do think we'll see something on that field in about 2023/24/25.
I think next year the most likely thing is 'wave 2' of adventure cove. Possibly the Zamperla Disco that was rumoured but didn't get built last year. If not that then I could just see one of the current rides get a retheme.