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Drayton Manor Park

jon81uk said:
How do you know they are an employee?
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Because I do. Not really sure how you want me to explain myself.

jon81uk said:
Why do they need to set an example better than "please cite your sources"?
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That isn't what was said, what was said was 'How so certain?' - I explained how.

jon81uk said:
If what you are saying is such a fact then provide something to back it up. Even if it is just "I've heard from people working at the park that...".

Your first response including the "not hard to work that out" came across rude and dismissive. Also why should the person challenging be the one to provide evidence, when you made the statement of "fact"?

If you had first posted that "My friends who work at the park have told me they got given bits of the ride as souveners" reads a lot better than just "a lot of the parts of it were given to staff".
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Personally I don't think there was anything wrong with my first statement, "a lot of the parts of it were given to staff" is a fact, how does this read as rude?
 
Considering my last post seemed to be completely ignored, can I please remind everyone of our member expectations, which you agreed to upon signing up to the forum.

"Please treat others how you wish to be treated. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and although things can get heated, avoid getting into direct arguments with others and ensure you contribute in a mature and sensible manner. If your behaviour is brought to the team’s attention, we might need to contact you to discuss further and/or edit or remove the problem posts. Repeat offenders may risk changes being made to their posting rights – and we wouldn’t want to do that!"

To remind yourself of all of our member expectations, please do click here.

If anyone has any issues, please feel free to drop myself, or any other TS Team member a personal message. Now, if we could get back to sensible Drayton discussion, that would be great.

Tom.
 
Been a pass holder since 2017 I made some good friends over that time. Some have left the park but many still are there today and cause I go on average twice a month and I been told a couple of things what’s going on in the park not 1 staff member has said anything about the new area, what rides are going in or a theme but I did get that the buffalo will be part of this area and with the fence been removed down to the gate that confirms this.
 
Interesting that this brand event has taken place. Looping haven't really dealt with a park like Drayton manor before in terms of park size and scale, and I think it's clear they are looking outwardly before making big investment changes. This is a wise move. Does this mean Looping will make the right decisions? Not at all. If they don't listen to guests, or look at past trends in guest behavior, then they will be jumping in to the dark and risk making uninformed decisions. I think they should be looking at past developers, masterplanners and designers who have had decades of experience designing attractions at Drayton Manor/UK parks also. These figures understand the park well, and worked with the families that previously owned Drayton Manor to deliver most of the existing successful attractions that remain.

Drayton Manor is a park that heavily relied on the USPs of high quality and innovative rides in the past. Drayton also maintained a tradition of being based off an inland British resort. Ths involved having an old style "steamboat", a miniature railway, an arcade (Bryan's works being the historical example), live entertainment like the jubilee circus which was added for the queens jubilee in 2002, and also a tearoom. If Drayton lacks these traditional forms of entertainment, it will lose that edge, and loses any advantage that it would have over Alton Towers; Thomas Land put aside.
I think there are other avenues Looping could take here that aren't necessarily obvious which could appear alongside a brand change
  • An outdoor shopping village around the Hamilton suite area would quite possibly work . The heart of the country village is not too far away from Drayton which started out with a few small shops and has done exceptionally well with every area taken up by cafes, clothes shops, pet shops and furniture shops. Drayton used to have a garden centre which was situated next to the parrots in the zoo but its poor positioning and the fact that it was in part of the fenced up park area didn't do it any favours.
  • 4D cinema used for live performances or a new theatre built in an accessable location. The cinema has the size space and design for theatre performances and these are the kind of things people enjoy. It doesn't have to be West End. It could be a simple community organised local theatre owned by the park
  • Bring back the Drayton Queen. It's a good scenic boat ride and without the chairlift the classic image of Drayton Manor has definitely taken a hit
  • Yes the theme park itself needs investment and has needed major investment now for well over a decade; during which the park has effectively been left to rot. Drayton should replicate the successes of experience driven themed rides that cater to everyone like Stormforce 10; which has an authentic and original theme and was elaborately designed by a British design studio in the 1990s. So far, since Looping took over there hasn't been any sign of strong themed areas. Adventure cove isn't a strong or original theme; it's pretty generic and doesn't live up to the richness of the surrounding Cornwall theming from Stormforce, Maelstrom and Neptunes Amusements. Splash Canyon returning as the new rapids with a complete overhaul was a great move, and the Shockwave station looks quite good; but the area does not have a strong identity. It's clear that the appropriate budget was not given to the area.

Thoughts on a potential logo change:
Personally, I think the logo and name is fine. If anything, the best logo was the logo before the present logo. It was less sleek and modern looking but looked more 'magical' and memorable.

1991-1995 logo: Great for the times but probably too old fashioned for nowadays and obviously Pirate Adventure is no longer open.
dmpold-logo1.png

1996-2003 logo: By far the best logo, during some of the best years of development of Drayton Manor. It is still used for the large gates by the park entrance before entering the car park.
DMPlogoforts2.png

Current DMP logo (2004-now): Modernised version of the previous logo. definitely more gimicky and only really good for a few years. The current logo just doesn't have the punch that the 90s and early noughties logo had. If anything, the current logo is just the older logo with modern font in italics. Deep blue text doesn't make it stand out either.
currentdmplogo.png


I therefore (personal opinion!) think that Drayton should use this brand change as an opportunity to revert back to their older logo but with an ever so slight polish. It's less risky than developing something entirely new, and it's much more memorable.

Overall I'd say that Drayton definitely need to be careful with things like this. Right now, they need urgent investment across the park. The Excalibur site has sat empty for 10 years now. Pirate Adventure covers a huge indoor area and there's definitely spaces to develop elsewhere. Personally I think it's less about their image and brand and more about building high quality attractions as an incentive for guests to visit, or at least looking at ways of adapting to the times. We live in an age of conveniance (normatively not a good thing but hey that's the way things are) so if people can get everything out of a place it is far more likely to be popular. Be it eating, going on rides, etc Anyway those are my thoughts.
 
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Jb85 said:
Without wanting to go over three pages of bickering, can someone outline what’s been proposed with the brand change ?
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I'd like to know too. I was surprised when the Looping Group took over the park they didn't do a little rebrand. Making it clear that the park had moved on from the rapids incident and under new management.

For me I see no problem with the current Drayton logo although it might be worth starting to phase out shockwave as even though I believe it's future is safe for now it isn't going to last forever.
 
Just to go back. I will outline my sources. I live very very local to the park, so I know alot of people who work and have worked at the park as the workforce is predominantly from local. You grow to know alot of people over the years.

I have worked for the park in the past, a while ago now. Also, Drayton like to use local where possible, up until last year for 5 years previous, I worked for a local company who supply most of the raw construction materials to the park for projects big and small. This has led me to build good relationships with other key figures in the park who are in more influential roles. More credible than say Joe who works on Troublesome Trucks. Now I say that with ease because neither Drayton or said company are my employers any more.

Now what I am hearing is, Pandemonium was sold. I believe it is going to the middle east after a refurb..do not quote me on the location though. If parts given to staff is true. These could be parts that would be replaced in an overhaul. So could easily be given to staff as momentos.

At the end of the day, they are not going to put a ride up for sale on one of the leading used sale marketplaces if they had no intention of selling it.

In terms of logo. I agree that the 2003 one was the best. Through my rose tinted glasses.

The park need a new logo without shockwave in it. The new logo should reflect the park now, not where it was a few decades ago, which is what the current and previous logo do.
 
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Any terms of what they should do if they did go for a new logo. I wouldn't change too much although I would remove shockwave. I'd keep the yellow background and blue text. Not sure what else they could do though instead of having shockwave in it. I don't think they should put Thomas in the main parks logo. Particularly because the Drayton logo is often accompanied by the Thomas Land logo. A rebrand is something Drayton should do at the same time or just before a big new investment. I do hope we see a new major family thrill coaster at Drayton and a rebrand to suite that new ride and make it the signature ride of the park might be something they could look at. Of course a park should never focus there brand on one ride or area or the park. Unfortunately Drayton does currently do this to an extend with Shockwave and Thomas Land.

As for pandemonium I have absolutely no idea. I'd hedge bets that @DistortAMG 's sources about it going to the middle east are likely as that would explain why we have absolutely no idea currently.
 
The logo now on the ads say Drayton Manor Theme park home to Europe’s only Thomas Land which I can understand as the area is open nearly 11 months of the year.
I know the theming off the ride was left behind as I took pictures of it roughly 2 weeks after the ride left. They also giving away Pandemonium signage for the best social media photograph.
 
All the theming on Pandemonium and signage, were made by Space Leisure, unlike some flat rides from some manufactures, these were not part of the ride package from the manufactuer. They were bespokely made for Drayton Manor on behalf of Space Leisure.

So it makes sense the ride is being sold without all of these. Basically as it would come to you if you brought the ride from the manufactuer. Just with a colour scheme basically. So by the sounds of it, the signage and theming is either being given away, or scrapped.

By the way, I am by no means saying I am correct in my previous post. But I am just saying what I've heard personally.
 
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Certainly what I am hearing too.

The ride was in good condition, on the whole Drayton take good care of their flat rides. Take a look at Flying Dutchman, installed in 1983, it runs as well as the day it was installed.

Drayton have always took really good care of their flats. They have clearly prided themselves in it, you can see that by looking at the Bryan museum. Taking care of their mechanical machinery was part of Drayton from day one, deep seated in the company's culture. It is easier and cheaper to do the flats, so they have always saw the most TLC out the rides. I would doubt if Pandemonium is even halfway through it's life cycle at this point. Plenty of life left in her and she has been well looked after. I think that fact and the fact it was actually listed for sale on Interlink, are two pretty solid and compelling reasons it would not have been scrapped alone.

Maelstrom, an even older flat is arguably in even better condition. Having seen substantial TLC over it's life. Then we have the Merry go Round, the list goes on...

On a side note, incase anyone doesn't know (although I think it is common knowledge by now) Zodiac at Thorpe park was brought by Tussauds off Drayton at the end of either 2003 or 2004 to replace their knackered Enterpise, of which gondolas had come off the ride with people on at that point. I cant remember the year exact it left Drayton, but it opened at Drayton the same year Excalibur opened, 2003. It was there for a year or two, and was where Drunken Barrels is now, the old Cine 180 site.
 
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Cyclone opened in the summer of 2003 after the park was having bad press from Excalibur as it was listed as open but spent a lot of 2003 closed.
Cyclone was a nightmare from day 1 from the locals cause of the screams and the council forced them to remove the ride at the end of the 2005 season and they only got permission to build another ride if they enclosed it in a building.
Also in the summer of 2005 they did a guest survey on park asking what rides they missed the most in the park and the top 2 were the Pirate ship and tea cups which they replaced with better models in 06 and 07.
 
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