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Drayton Manor Park

The problem they have is before Thomas land was built just the restaurant was built in the same building as Pirate adventure but now so much has been built and Connected on to the building it would cost more to remove the building. With Thorpe building the tallest coaster. Drayton can’t afford to built a new coaster but I’m sure if pirate adventure did come back in projectors, scenes and pirates They would have a attraction that wouldn’t be available to ride anywhere else in the uk.
 
I was just saying where Merlin can afford to spend £20 million+ on a new coaster Drayton ball park for this new area and theming with be around £5-£6 million with the rumoured 3 flat rides joining Buffalo in this new area. Then a rumoured family thrill coaster going on the site of Pandemonium, Test track and Apocalypse in 2023.
So that leaves 2 years on the looping group plan for the park.
 
We're going round in circles here which is making me dizzy. :p
The chance of PA coming back in it's original form is zero, due to the reasons already discussed in this thread. I know that's going to be hard to digest for those who have fond memories of the ride, but we need to focus on the future and realistic replacements. :)
 
Rides that could theoretically replace pirates adventure?
  • An indoor coaster
  • A walk through
  • A indoor flat ride with special effects
  • A kids play area (probably Thomas themed)
  • A few small kiddie rides (also probably Thomas themed)
 
Regarding the Buffalo site, a interview with Colin a while back stated how much inspiration he had for Big Thunder Mountain and how he would love a similar ride like that at the park going over the lake.

With this in mind, and at the time Drayton being wishful thinking and not having the budget maybe this is a similar plan that Looping are resurrecting? A Wild West/Indian theme would make a nice area I think.

And with budget now not becoming a issue it seems at Drayton maybe this is something they’re looking into?
 
Excalibur said:
Regarding the Buffalo site, a interview with Colin a while back stated how much inspiration he had for Big Thunder Mountain and how he would love a similar ride like that at the park going over the lake.

With this in mind, and at the time Drayton being wishful thinking and not having the budget maybe this is a similar plan that Looping are resurrecting? A Wild West/Indian theme would make a nice area I think.

And with budget now not becoming a issue it seems at Drayton maybe this is something they’re looking into?
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I wouldn't say something like that is out of the question. In fact I think it's likely to be wild west themed. We may well see a roller coaster within the next few years although I don't think it will be next year.
 
JAperson said:
Unlikely as has already been discussed. Why replace something with the same thing. It would be an awful marketing move.
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doesnt have to be a pirate boat ride. Chessington replaced Bubbleworks with Bubbleworks and then with Gruffalo.
Alton Towers replaced Around the World in 80 days with Toyland Tours and then Charlie and then a Dungeon.

indoor boat ride is a theme park classic.
 
jon81uk said:
doesnt have to be a pirate boat ride. Chessington replaced Bubbleworks with Bubbleworks and then with Gruffalo.
Alton Towers replaced Around the World in 80 days with Toyland Tours and then Charlie and then a Dungeon.

indoor boat ride is a theme park classic.
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What you're forgetting is that the examples you've given are re-themes using the existing ride system. PA's ride system is redundant and beyond repair. Any new attraction in that building will be just that; a new attraction entirely, not using PA's old system. :)
 
Skyscraper said:
What you're forgetting is that the examples you've given are re-themes using the existing ride system. PA's ride system is redundant and beyond repair. Any new attraction in that building will be just that; a new attraction entirely, not using PA's old system. :)
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The ride system on the rapids was made redundant and replaced with the new system. The looping group could have just build the wave swinger and the play area and left the rapids closed but every ride is the area been re-themed and painted to match the new area.
What does replace the pirate adventure will be still themed to pirates as the building still themed to suit and the surrounding rides and themes they could also include the arcades and the Bounty. Then it’s just the top end of the park which needs a theme as it’s currently a mis-match of everything.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
The ride system on the rapids was made redundant and replaced with the new system. The looping group could have just build the wave swinger and the play area and left the rapids closed but every ride is the area been re-themed and painted to match the new area.
What does replace the pirate adventure will be still themed to pirates as the building still themed to suit and the surrounding rides and themes they could also include the arcades and the Bounty. Then it’s just the top end of the park which needs a theme as it’s currently a mis-match of everything.
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As has already been mentioned the rapids were left for just a few years with lots of the major components being taken off the ride and put in storage. undoubtedly the rapids were not cheap to bring back but it's nothing in comparisson to what Looping would have to spend to get PA's ride system back in action. Never mind the cost to actually put scenes in the show building.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
The ride system on the rapids was made redundant and replaced with the new system. The looping group could have just build the wave swinger and the play area and left the rapids closed but every ride is the area been re-themed and painted to match the new area.
What does replace the pirate adventure will be still themed to pirates as the building still themed to suit and the surrounding rides and themes they could also include the arcades and the Bounty. Then it’s just the top end of the park which needs a theme as it’s currently a mis-match of everything.
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Do you mean the control system? As the ride system is exactly the same, same trough, same pumps, same lift system etc.

If you mean the control system, because they replaced the control cabin it made sense to put a new control system in place. The control system on a rapids ride is very very simple compared to the control system on say a coaster, there really is not too much too them in comparison. So in the grand scheme of things, it would not have been such a big job I do not think. The amount of logic around the ride is almost no existent, so the amount of cabling coming into the ops cab would mainly be from the few powered things around the station such as the pumps, lift, turntable and the automatic boat orientation motor. The ride needed new CCTV so that would have not of been much extra work routing the signal to the new box either, in the grand scheme of things.

At the end of the day, the rapids was a fairly straightforward and relatively cheap win for Looping Group, for a reasonable sum, they were able to bring a pretty major ride back.
 
For anyone that is interested, while on the subject of the rapids, here are some photos from the ECC AGM at the park in 2003. Faces blurred for privacy. You can see the rapids pumps in the second photo. Same ones used to this day.

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I think there are two issues here, which are semi-separate. If we’re not careful people can end up talking at cross purposes.

The first issue is whether The Looping Group are willing to invest in a ‘major’ ride for Drayton Manor. The second, is whether a new dark ride in the Pirate Adventure building is a good use of that money.

If the answer to that first question is ‘no’, then the second question is perhaps redundant.

In terms of the second question, there are perhaps three answers you could give:

a. Yes, they should bring back a scenic boat ride, possibly with a different theme, or at least with a new story, characters and effects.
b. They should build a new dark ride in the Pirate Adventure building, but not a boat ride.
c. They should do something completely different. Perhaps a roller coaster in a different area of the park (maybe around Aerial Park). Or maybe turning Aerial Park into a cohesively themed area would in itself be the 'major' project.

The fact that Thorpe Park are already doing a consultation for a new roller coaster in 2024 does tell us something about the timescale for these things. What we don't know is what's going on behind the scenes, and whether Drayton Manor are working on projects that we don't know about.
 
You also got to look at the looping groups other parks and many have been re-themed attractions, 2nd hand coasters bought with a new paint job and theme and bringing attractions back thats been SNBO.
Like at Drayton they removed 1 1.4m attraction with another supposedly been removed at the end of next season (1.4m stand up sides) with just Shockwave, Dodgems and Maelstrom left for guests over the height of 1.3 can enjoy.
 
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