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Drayton Manor Park

Great videos. It has to be early 1994. Maybe March time. Vertical construction for Shockwave was done in the 1993 to 1994 closed season. There was nothing major in place for Shockwave in the 1993 main season.

This video also confirms they have calmed the rapids down on the corner where your photo was taken. I suspected they had the other week. But this video proves it. The water turbulence round that corner is now like a lazy river. Changed in the refurb I assume to attempt to calm it down for the end. Which failed. The boats still smack the side like they always have and always will.

But this video confirms they have calmed the ride down in atleast 1 place..I suspect other places too.
 
jon81uk said:
Theme parks have always been expensive days out. I went to Drayton Manor every year around 1991-1995 with my parents, Pirates and Splash Canyon were new. We only did Alton Towers once in that time by collecting vouchers at Safeway.
But what made Drayton more affordable was that they still used a wristband/ticket model, so we didn't need to buy a wristband for my Mum saving us around £10-15 I think.
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I think that’s the main difference as my mum would take me, my sister and sometimes my grandad. Like before Pirate adventure opened it was all about the zoo and my mum would buy a book of tickets for the rides ( always remember the bumper cars cost 4 tickets) then when we got tall enough for all the rides would buy us a wristband each where she got tickets for herself as she only went on Pirate adventure even though she hated the drop, Splash canyon, Jungle cruise and the jungle palladium. Think it was 25p or 50p per ticket. Like if it wasn’t for my £20 friends and family tickets she wouldn’t be going with me and my kids.
 
Photo taken earlier from a view you do not usually see. They are installing a new barrier system at the end of the ride to guide the boats and stop them bashing into the wall. Because the slowing of the river as mentioned earlier in the final but last bend hasn't changed a thing.

The work looks nearly complete, hopefully ready for the weekend. Due to the work all the water that collects at the end of the ride is also drained, as that is where they are working. Will not take long to re fill. Looks like they have been working on it for a few days atleast. Unfortunately the barrier system is outside the scope of the photo at the bottom of the lift. Nice view to see it all empty though.

20220513_144705.jpg
 
Sorry for the double post, I but can explain better now on my PC. This is roughly what the new barrier looks like. It does seem to come quite far out into the channel. Guiding the boats quite a lot. Will see if I can get any actual pics on the weekend if anyone is interested. Bad photo quality due to Google and Bing having rubbish map resolution over the area.

dmp.png
 
In fairness, the channel width has been halved in parts, the guides will stop the boats slamming into the channel edge at almost head on. They should be guided a bit better now and not have that sudden bang.
 
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It appears Drayton's new website is not running properly. This in theory means the website will be showing the park as open tomorrow, when it actually will be closed. Due to this error, it is also giving an incorrect opening time today, the park shut's at 16:30, not 17:00.

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Sorry, I am getting confused that it is a Monday as my working week started today. It will be showing the park as open Tuesday when it is not. What is the bet some people are not as vigilant and turn up.
 
DistortAMG said:
Sorry, I am getting confused that it is a Monday as my working week started today. It will be showing the park as open Tuesday when it is not. What is the bet some people are not as vigilant and turn up.
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Huh? It says the park is closed on Tuesday as well though and they're not selling tickets according to @Thameslink Rail's screenshot of the booking page.
 
What’s everyone thinking the 2024 porject will be, personally, i don’t think a wooden coaster will be a good option, i think these would be great options:

S&S El Loco
Vekoma Family Suspended Coaster
Mack Spinning Coaster
 
Burbs said:
Huh? It says the park is closed on Tuesday as well though and they're not selling tickets according to @Thameslink Rail's screenshot of the booking page.
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Sorry, I never explained myself properly. Judging by what I have seen over the past few weeks in person, a fair portion of people do still pay at the gate or not. My point was, if people just glance at that and they do. They will immediately see the park is open, when it is in fact referring to the day and opening times of the previous day. One thing I learnt from my days in retail and theme parks for that matter, is never assume people have sense.

People can and do sometimes see what they want to see, if they see 'Park Open from xyz' they will sometimes (not always!) roll with it, irrespective of any other information presented to them.

The assumption here being made is that everyone pre books, they do not, by more than you would think too. The one thing I have learnt when dealing with the general public from an entertainment and retail perspective, is always assume the worst, expect the best.
 
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