Drayton Manor Park

[Wilko]

Out of curiosity, if the final rumoured ride is similar to the George ride at Paultons, but we also know it’s a Zamperla, are we going to see a brand new ride from them as can’t see anything similar in their portfolio. Unless of course the final ride turns out to be from another manufacturer.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

Been the park today with more work going on all around the park.
Flying Dutchman is all been put back together and all the boats have been repainted so that won’t be going anywhere soon.

They were testing it all afternoon.
Adventure Cove is also still getting finished off with Stormforce having more work done to it.

I didn’t take a picture but the Dodgems have been cleared out and it’s all ready for the new season. Also on the carousel they started to repaint the horses.
A couple more of the Former Buffalo building and the new ride.

A few things I found out today for starters the 2023 project will be on the Apocalypse, Pandemonium and Test track site.
The pirate Adventure building is currently been made watertight but there’s no plans in place for a new attraction to go in the building but it is currently been used as a storage and maintenance area. It’s also got big sections still in place.
The current project is 2-3 weeks behind schedule so it could open at the end of April ready for the May Day weekend.
The shop in Adventure Cove has been refitted out and will be selling a lot more stuff from old rides including signage and props.

 

[Excalibur]

Has it been confirmed what model it is yet? It doesn’t look like the coaster version to me.

 

[Matt N]

Has it been confirmed what model it is yet? It doesn’t look like the coaster version to me.

I think it is the coaster one, as I’ve seen photos of humped track (like the coaster model’s airtime hill has), and I also seem to remember seeing another piece of track wrapped up with “Disk’O Coaster” on the wrapper.

Although I could be wrong there…

 

[Wilko]

Definitely has the hump as half of it is up

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

That’s only half built so it will be the version at Paulton’s.
Driving out cause I was in traffic I notice that in the corner where you entered the park from the hotel they digging a big hole. I wonder if they building a pond/lake as part of the plans?

 

[Wilko]

I noticed the big hole, it looks to be in the path of the final tracked ride, so may be for a good bit of theming, fingers crossed!

 

[Skyscraper]

I noticed the big hole, it looks to be in the path of the final tracked ride, so may be for a good bit of theming, fingers crossed!

Maybe it's for the foundations for a building that the track will go through? Time will tell though.

 

[Benjsh]

Will definitely be making a visit this summer. Really excited to see what they have done with it all.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

They doing work on the former Vertigo site I wonder if that will be the Dining area? Staff also told me there 4 or 5 of the excalibur boats been used in the new area for theming.
I also found out Colin Bryan now lives in Torquay and William and his family moved out there house last month so none of the Bryan’s family live on the estate now.
Also there 2 houses in the grounds of the zoo. 1 behind the haunting and 1 near the farm area and zoo staff live in there as the animals need care 24/7.

 

[Themeparkplanet]

Drayton usually does summer openings though, don’t they? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but haven’t a lot of Drayton’s rides opened in May/June or later?

Adventure Cove opened in August, and G Force opened in July. I think some others, such as Maelstrom and Air Race, might also have had fairly late openings, but I could be wrong there.

Yes all rides are open by then the new area might not be

 

[Themeparkplanet]

Has it been confirmed what model it is yet? It doesn’t look like the coaster version to me.

It’s the coaster it’s a long track

 

[D4n]

From someone who has only half been paying attention to this thread.

Do we have confirmation yet whether Apocalypse will be operational this season or not?

Frankly I care much more about that than a couple of flats from the Zamperla catalogue being installed, themed or otherwise.

 

[Wilko]

Yes, final year for Apocalypse. How many towers they can get working is another thing. Max would be sit down and floorless standing based on the end of last season.

 

[Skyscraper]

Yes, final year for Apocalypse. How many towers they can get working is another thing. Max would be sit down and floorless standing based on the end of last season.

I've not tried the stand-up floorless yet actually. Got the choice between that and regular stand-up on my last visit and chose the latter. Will definitely brave stand-up floorless this season if it's available, possibly for my last ever ride on Apocalypse.

 

[Wilko]

I've not tried the stand-up floorless yet actually. Got the choice between that and regular stand-up on my last visit and chose the latter. Will definitely brave stand-up floorless this season if it's available, possibly for my last ever ride on Apocalypse.

Stand up floorless has always been my favourite, although I feel more force on the sit down side, not sure if that’s just me though. I’m an annual pass holder so will try and get on as much as possible this year, will be sorely missed!

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

Was talking to a member of staff yesterday about Apocalypse and it will operate but only with 1 sit down and 1 floorless (tower 2 and tower 5) They think tower 5 may not last the whole season as it’s down to the minimum in parts from the other 2 stand up towers.

 

[pjanvil]

Was talking to a member of staff yesterday about Apocalypse and it will operate but only with 1 sit down and 1 floorless (tower 2 and tower 5) They think tower 5 may not last the whole season as it’s down to the minimum in parts from the other 2 stand up towers.

So no more Standup with Floor already. This makes me really sad. Apocalypse is a special ride, unique in the UK, a Disk-o is nothing special. There are at least 6 in the country already. This will be the 3rd disk-o-coaster in the country.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

At the start of last season they decided it was not worth investing in a 20 year ride so it opened with just 1 sit down, 1 stand up and 1 floorless then half way though the season there was a major problem with the lift and think it would have needed a crane to repair so they just decided to run tower 2&5. Even at times last year only sit down was available

Like I took theses pictures in mid August and as you can see with only having 1 side open the queue was over a hour long.

 

[jon81uk]

So no more Standup with Floor already. This makes me really sad. Apocalypse is a special ride, unique in the UK, a Disk-o is nothing special. There are at least 6 in the country already. This will be the 3rd disk-o-coaster in the country.

This is a very good point, there aren’t that many drop tower rides in the UK anyway, and even fewer of this sort of height.