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Drayton Manor Park
- Thread starter Matty
- Start date
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
I guess it depends... I mean Merlin invest far more in larger rides than Drayton Manor.
Wild Asia and CBeebies Land are fairly off-the-shelf but well themed. Air Race at DMP is entirely off the shelf in both ride and theme, too.
As much as DMP is doing well, with over 1,200,000 guests a year - I do expect more.
Wild Asia and CBeebies Land are fairly off-the-shelf but well themed. Air Race at DMP is entirely off the shelf in both ride and theme, too.
As much as DMP is doing well, with over 1,200,000 guests a year - I do expect more.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
This. I know it has been and continies to be very successful for them but all they ever seem to add is in Thomas Land. Yes it makes sense from a business point of view and they are safe additions. Yes additons to Thomas Land help to entice families back to the park. But it is almost as if Drayton have completely forgotten that there is a thrill market out there, or even a family thrill market. It is like they have accepted that they cannot compete with the likes of Alton Towers and Thorpe Park in this field and have just given up (I know they got Air Race last year but that was cheap and off the shelf, bored barnes).
I do hope they take a 'risk' in the next few years and splash some cash on an exciting coaster of some sorts.
I agree they should be doing more, the Thomas land expansion is perfectly fine but they should be doing more outside Thomas Land. They have only really added the 4d cinema, Ben 10, Air Race and 2 additions to Thomas land since they opened Thomas land in 2008.
I get though the £20m hotel will have meant less money to spend for a few years as that's massive money to spend for family run park but other parks around the world with alot less visitors seem to be investing more into their parks.
The park have recently received planning permission for an 84 room expansion of the hotel with a new restaurant, this will apparently be classed as a separate 3 star hotel with a Spanish theme. The original hotel has been a massive success so am sure wouldn't be adding the second if it wasn't needed but hope that doesn't mean more years with not much spent on new additions.
They desperately need to add a new major thrill coaster, update the dark rides (pirates & the haunting) do something with the Excalibur site. Plus would also like to see them add a family thrill sized wooden coaster once above has all been added.
I get though the £20m hotel will have meant less money to spend for a few years as that's massive money to spend for family run park but other parks around the world with alot less visitors seem to be investing more into their parks.
The park have recently received planning permission for an 84 room expansion of the hotel with a new restaurant, this will apparently be classed as a separate 3 star hotel with a Spanish theme. The original hotel has been a massive success so am sure wouldn't be adding the second if it wasn't needed but hope that doesn't mean more years with not much spent on new additions.
They desperately need to add a new major thrill coaster, update the dark rides (pirates & the haunting) do something with the Excalibur site. Plus would also like to see them add a family thrill sized wooden coaster once above has all been added.
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
To offer some comparisons:
Toverland
Achieve 670,000 guests a year. Latest investments include a Hafema Rapids Ride, new 'Magic Valley' themed area and Mack spinning coaster.
Heide-Park
Similar guest figures to DMP (1.4m). Yes they are backed by a global firm but they have added 2 B&M coasters in the past 5 years...!
Phantasialand
Achieve a fair few more guests than DMP - but still only 1.8m. Yet look at what they do! Chiapas... Black Mamba... Talocan... Taron... incredible additions for the size of park and the guests in tow.
Djurs Sommerland
600,000 guests a year and the latest additions include an Intamin launch coaster, Mack water coaster and Intamin Mega-Lite...
Now don't get me wrong, I know DMP may not have endless money but 1.2m guests a year is a fair few and in my eyes it is poor that the only non-kiddie ride added in the past TEN seasons is Air Race... a standard off the shelf design...
Toverland
Achieve 670,000 guests a year. Latest investments include a Hafema Rapids Ride, new 'Magic Valley' themed area and Mack spinning coaster.
Heide-Park
Similar guest figures to DMP (1.4m). Yes they are backed by a global firm but they have added 2 B&M coasters in the past 5 years...!
Phantasialand
Achieve a fair few more guests than DMP - but still only 1.8m. Yet look at what they do! Chiapas... Black Mamba... Talocan... Taron... incredible additions for the size of park and the guests in tow.
Djurs Sommerland
600,000 guests a year and the latest additions include an Intamin launch coaster, Mack water coaster and Intamin Mega-Lite...
Now don't get me wrong, I know DMP may not have endless money but 1.2m guests a year is a fair few and in my eyes it is poor that the only non-kiddie ride added in the past TEN seasons is Air Race... a standard off the shelf design...
What I don't get is the park over the years talk about big plans/future rides they have planned but they never seem to happen, unsure why! Such as the planned 2013 vekoma launch coaster and retheme of the haunting to name two projects. Air race was originally planned for 2012.
Plus apparently the orginal version of g-force was a dueling x-car ride called barnstormer over in arial park but was changed due to cost of the ride.
Plus apparently the orginal version of g-force was a dueling x-car ride called barnstormer over in arial park but was changed due to cost of the ride.
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
Yes. Yes it could, given that almost all of Alton Towers has been re themed /themed and they have added 7 rollercoasters.
It does feel like the last decade was light on rides compared to the decade before, or even the decade before that. Here’s a timeline for the park from the mid-nineties to the mid noughties.
1995: Klondike Gold Mine
1996: The Haunting
1998: Mini Balloons. Crazy Bus, Whirly Copter Wheel, Flying Jumbos, Frog Hopper (All in Robinsons Land), Sombero
1999: Storm Force 10
2000: Wild West Shoot Out, Apocalypse
2002: Maelstrom
2003: Excalibur, Cyclone
2004: Pandemonium
There’s probably various reasons for the decline, but I think the hotel’s a big part of it. You could get a lot of ride hardware for £20 million. The big corporations have sometimes used alternative ways of financing these kinds of developments. For example, when Merlin built the hotel at Legoland Windor they sold off the land it sits on and started leasing it back. They then used the profit from selling the land to cover the construction costs. Drayton Manor have tended to stick to a more straightforward organic growth, although they did take out some kind of loan for the hotel. I’m not sure how much.
I think the other issue is that the number of attractions increased when their visitor numbers haven’t, so their cost base may have got out of sync with their revenue. For example Drayton Manor has about 37 rides (including things like the cable car and miniature railways) which is quite a large number relative to the number of visitors. Although admittedly quite a few of these are fairly cheap to run. They’ve also got the zoo, and having built up their Christmas and Half term events, their visitors are spread over a relatively long season (compared to what they’ve done in the past. Not necessarily compared to some European parks). Then the park haven’t got any Fast Track system, although it’s a poor show if theme parks need to take bungs from queue jumpers to justify major rides.
Then again, as much as I personally love Drayton Manor, I can see why people are feeling disappointed. Like a lot of British parks, Drayton Manor haven’t tended to do much in the way of plussing. Pirate Adventure is ready for something drastic, and Splash Canyon could do with some work on its theming. The western figures are looking dated. The water on Storm Force 10 is very dirty, so it’d be great if they could have some kind of ‘hidden’ partition to separate it from the main lake. G Force still needs that second train, and something doing to the restraints so they don’t tighten on the way round. The Haunting could do with a refurb. When I went there last the skeleton wasn’t working, and the bats in the coffin are underwhelming.
Then there’s the zoo, which normally has something ‘new’ each year, but all together feels very ‘traditional’. Live entertainments are pretty much non-existent, although in fairness they did try. First with the Popeye and Circus shows at the Sound Stage Theatre which became the 4D cinema, and then with the temporary circus show in a big top. British parks seem to struggle making live shows pay, but I’d still love them to have another shot. The park could also introduce some more ‘special events’, or maybe step up their Halloween. Oh, and did someone say the words ‘new roller coaster’? There’s a lot that Drayton Manor could do, but I’m not sure it’s necessarily that they don’t care about thrill seekers, or that they’ve given up. It sounds like 2016 will be another expansion to Thomas Land. Here’s hoping for the year after that.
1995: Klondike Gold Mine
1996: The Haunting
1998: Mini Balloons. Crazy Bus, Whirly Copter Wheel, Flying Jumbos, Frog Hopper (All in Robinsons Land), Sombero
1999: Storm Force 10
2000: Wild West Shoot Out, Apocalypse
2002: Maelstrom
2003: Excalibur, Cyclone
2004: Pandemonium
There’s probably various reasons for the decline, but I think the hotel’s a big part of it. You could get a lot of ride hardware for £20 million. The big corporations have sometimes used alternative ways of financing these kinds of developments. For example, when Merlin built the hotel at Legoland Windor they sold off the land it sits on and started leasing it back. They then used the profit from selling the land to cover the construction costs. Drayton Manor have tended to stick to a more straightforward organic growth, although they did take out some kind of loan for the hotel. I’m not sure how much.
I think the other issue is that the number of attractions increased when their visitor numbers haven’t, so their cost base may have got out of sync with their revenue. For example Drayton Manor has about 37 rides (including things like the cable car and miniature railways) which is quite a large number relative to the number of visitors. Although admittedly quite a few of these are fairly cheap to run. They’ve also got the zoo, and having built up their Christmas and Half term events, their visitors are spread over a relatively long season (compared to what they’ve done in the past. Not necessarily compared to some European parks). Then the park haven’t got any Fast Track system, although it’s a poor show if theme parks need to take bungs from queue jumpers to justify major rides.
Then again, as much as I personally love Drayton Manor, I can see why people are feeling disappointed. Like a lot of British parks, Drayton Manor haven’t tended to do much in the way of plussing. Pirate Adventure is ready for something drastic, and Splash Canyon could do with some work on its theming. The western figures are looking dated. The water on Storm Force 10 is very dirty, so it’d be great if they could have some kind of ‘hidden’ partition to separate it from the main lake. G Force still needs that second train, and something doing to the restraints so they don’t tighten on the way round. The Haunting could do with a refurb. When I went there last the skeleton wasn’t working, and the bats in the coffin are underwhelming.
Then there’s the zoo, which normally has something ‘new’ each year, but all together feels very ‘traditional’. Live entertainments are pretty much non-existent, although in fairness they did try. First with the Popeye and Circus shows at the Sound Stage Theatre which became the 4D cinema, and then with the temporary circus show in a big top. British parks seem to struggle making live shows pay, but I’d still love them to have another shot. The park could also introduce some more ‘special events’, or maybe step up their Halloween. Oh, and did someone say the words ‘new roller coaster’? There’s a lot that Drayton Manor could do, but I’m not sure it’s necessarily that they don’t care about thrill seekers, or that they’ve given up. It sounds like 2016 will be another expansion to Thomas Land. Here’s hoping for the year after that.
mobius91
TS Member
They are going to need to start investing in more thrill rides soon, as all the kids that have gone to Thomas land and had a good time, will have grown up and will want to go back as they have good memories, but they will want to go on some more thrilling rides, but if they don't invest they might lose the opportunity to get a new batch of returning customers.
BigT
TS Member
I was one of the first to ride Pirates when it opened so that's when I'm basing my opinion on.
Virtually every piece of hardware had been replaced when I visited again in 2011.
jon81uk
TS Member
I don't want to sound picky but Pirates opened in 1990, 25 years ago, not 20. The few years following pirates was when Drayton Manor really changed with the Jolly Buccaneer added outside Pirate Adventure, then Splash Canyon, then Shockwave in 1994. All of these rides are still operating. A lot of rides closed in the 2000s, particularly with the opening of Thomas Land changing things.
The park do have a 10 year plan which will see the gradual replacement of older, lower capacity rides. In a recent planning application (for modifications to the junction at the entrance) they mentioned this plan and it states that with approximately 40 rides already at the park, they have an average riding capacity of 12,000 riders per hour, which under the development plan is aiming to increase this to 15,000 riders per hour. This replacement of older attractions with new higher capacity rides will boost visitor numbers and create an expected 50 additional jobs over the next 5 years.