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Drayton Manor Park

I think this shows though the park are now back with a righted ship, steering in the right direction.....finally.

Even when you look at it objectively, Drayton Manor have the best collection of themed attractions outside of the Merlin parks bar non. They set the standard for what were 'independent parks'. They were setting this standard well over 20 years ago. While a select few other non Merlin parks have started to catch up, they all still have a long way to go to reach the level of Drayton as park with a strong level of themed experience's and that more overall complete feeling. I am not saying their rides are themed the best. Just they have the best overall collection of attractions you would class as themed. An important distinction to make.

I suspect given they are still the market leader in that respect out side of Merlin, they will want to maintain that position. It certainly looks that way given the last two investments.

The new area looks good, theming seems slightly sparse in parts, but what is there is of good quality. Sometimes less is more. Nature plays such a big part in conveying a Viking theme, that I really think it will improve nicely when the foliage spreads out. Think of the evergreen trees they have planted with all the nicely detailed wood work, then you rocks and wooden station of Valhalla. Nature always plays a big part in pushing Norse and Viking themes across.

Less can be more, once the trees bush out, what is there, might look much better with more fuller foliage.
 
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Skyscraper said:
As expected now that Vikings is open, the park map has been updated;

Park-Map-2022-v2.jpg
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Have you noticed that Entrance 1 is no longer listed as an entrance on the map, but the new Vikings entrance is.

Possibly to start to get people used to using the Viking entrance as being the main entrance at that end of the park? I know there are markings on the floor up that area, the old Cedar Fish and chips building will also add a sizeable bit of space next to Apocalypse and Pandemonium sites.

Whatever the case may be, entrance 1 will not be in use for the Christmas events I bet, that portion of the park will be closed off due to the dismantling of Apocalypse I would have thought.
 
Is Entrance 1 still open at the moment? Or will I need to go in via the Vikings entrance when I visit next month?
 
I believe they have removed it because they want to start transitioning people over to using Vikings entrance before they eventually permantely close entrance 1. That is my theory anyway.

The area immediately the other side of entrance one is some very nice prime space for redevelopment. Which could potentially mean there is no room for the entrance.

I could however, be wrong.
 
Entrance 1 (& Exit) is the most convenient for Hotel guests too?

First time in the new area today. And I agree with both sides of the discussion with regards to some of the more environmental theming features. Yeah there is a need for a lot more. But I was amazed that the site was open at all given how it appeared to my eyes in previous visits.

So there is a complete absence of anything in Sleipnir but you can see where it all is planned. Similrly you are just as likely to see an item of plant machinery rather than a full sized fir when being swept around on Thor but how good will it eventually look? And just how amazing will it be when we get into the Christmas season too?

As always there are areas for improvement. Loki broke down and we were cleared from our seats before being able to go on for the first time. But when we did...what a fun ride. And how different to anything else there. But learning lesson 1. You may not know how long a ride is going to be off, but if you know it will be at least 10 or 15 minutes let folks know when they start queuing because you have just undertaken a full test. Especially when there are at least four people going out of there way not to make eye contact with the folks peering into the control hut.

Lots of outlets open today. Including kiosks in the zoo which I've not seen open for aeons. Strange that the barbecue pit type place in Vikings decided to apparently close for lunch! And no signs detailing what was on offer or when.

What signage there was however was somewhat disconcerting. Mentions of Fast Passes on both Thor and YoMomma. I apprecaite the need to monetise after the investment but there needs to be some thought around price and value.

Shout out to ride assistant of the day - some chap up on Terrance's driving school who really earned his money supporting the little ones and being so patient and friendly. Less so some of the folks in Vikings who seemed so engrossed and making sure they operated everything as efficently as possible seemed to forget the smile and hosting nature of the role.

I'm going to start a game of Thor Bingo. We've ticked off 6 seat numbers today (18-21, 25&26). Looking to see if we can complete all of them in short order.
 
In all seriousness though, I do think Vekoma would be quite likely for the new coaster, as they already have some relationship from haunting, accelerator and even older rides like the star flyer. A new manufacturer is not out the window though, as I know they've never worked with Zierer (Wave swinger) or Metabauer (Sleipnir) before. A Zamperla could be a possibility as well as part of a 3 ride deal (Loki, Thor, Coaster).
 
RustyShackleford said:
Entrance 1 (& Exit) is the most convenient for Hotel guests too?

First time in the new area today. And I agree with both sides of the discussion with regards to some of the more environmental theming features. Yeah there is a need for a lot more. But I was amazed that the site was open at all given how it appeared to my eyes in previous visits.

So there is a complete absence of anything in Sleipnir but you can see where it all is planned. Similrly you are just as likely to see an item of plant machinery rather than a full sized fir when being swept around on Thor but how good will it eventually look? And just how amazing will it be when we get into the Christmas season too?

As always there are areas for improvement. Loki broke down and we were cleared from our seats before being able to go on for the first time. But when we did...what a fun ride. And how different to anything else there. But learning lesson 1. You may not know how long a ride is going to be off, but if you know it will be at least 10 or 15 minutes let folks know when they start queuing because you have just undertaken a full test. Especially when there are at least four people going out of there way not to make eye contact with the folks peering into the control hut.

Lots of outlets open today. Including kiosks in the zoo which I've not seen open for aeons. Strange that the barbecue pit type place in Vikings decided to apparently close for lunch! And no signs detailing what was on offer or when.

What signage there was however was somewhat disconcerting. Mentions of Fast Passes on both Thor and YoMomma. I apprecaite the need to monetise after the investment but there needs to be some thought around price and value.

Shout out to ride assistant of the day - some chap up on Terrance's driving school who really earned his money supporting the little ones and being so patient and friendly. Less so some of the folks in Vikings who seemed so engrossed and making sure they operated everything as efficently as possible seemed to forget the smile and hosting nature of the role.

I'm going to start a game of Thor Bingo. We've ticked off 6 seat numbers today (18-21, 25&26). Looking to see if we can complete all of them in short order.
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How busy was it today? I’m visiting tomorrow so I’d be interested to hear how it was in regards to queues and if it was just Vikings that was busy or the whole of the park.
 
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Shaggy_Dog_ said:
How busy was it today? I’m visiting tomorrow so I’d be interested to hear how it was in regards to queues and if it was just Vikings that was busy or the whole of the park.
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I'm not the right person to ask. We often stick in an hour after school when its all walk on so to me it was horrendous!!

Nah, it wasn't too bad actually. Thor turns round quickly, 40 on and off at a time is pretty big numbers.

Loki actually seems a bit of a faff to get on and off as it is effectively on two levels. So needs loading and unloading twice per running. But that is 32 a cycle so again the queue cycles quite quickly. The ride itself though seems quite temperamental so you may want to prioritise when its running.

We didn't bother sticking out the queue for YoMomma. They were longer than was usual for the Buffalo and so we just gave it neck knowing we would be coming back at some point soon.

In terms of the rest of the park, well we didn't really bother. It didn't seem to be especially much busier than a normal summer weekend day around Thomas Land.

I think you'll be ok. I'd anticipate more folks planning visiting around the bank holidays at the end of the week.

We dropped a bit lucky as we were directed into the car park by Entrance 2. The first vehicles to be marshalled in there. It meant we were straight into the Viking Zone.

Enjoy your day.
 
I be going tomorrow and just taking my daughter so gonna enjoy Thor and Loki. Watching Shawn’s vlog I think Sleipnir been rushed as a month ago it was all completely removed so think they didn’t have the time to add any theming.
Also with the former Vertigo building been repainting will we see a new thrill ride or show area built for the 2023 season
 
Managed to visit on Saturday, there are some nice new foods at Walhalla and my son managed to get a hot dog from the fire pit which looked good.

Thor was enjoyable, although the spinning was almost at the limit of what I can tolerate these days.

I enjoyed Loki other than being stuck up in the air for about 10 minutes when it broke down!
 
Loki really needs to have two people working in it. Given the nature of the ride and how it has to load at the bottom, rotate around in to place to bring the ones at the top down, and then load up again at the bottom before a cycle can start it’s an incredibly long time between cycles with just one person operating it and having to do two lots of restraint checks.

It’s taking nearly 9 minutes between cycles which makes for a very long wait.
 
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