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Drayton Manor Park

Cheers, both!

I ended up getting the Rainy Day Guarantee alongside my ticket for an extra £2 on top, so I should hopefully be covered in the event of any day-ruining inclement weather. That still made it about £15 less than my train tickets to get there, so it was hardly a cost I couldn’t stomach!

I also downloaded Tap, which is some app that put my Drayton tickets into a virtual wallet for me to show to the staff (it was recommended by the park in the email), but I do also have the email on me that I can show if that fails.
 
Funcone said:
Judging from that photo, the theming on the new horse ride looks quite sparse.

In the past I popped out the Aerial Park entrance to eat at the Grill Inn. I think I'd be less likely to eat there now. Hopefully the food in the park will improve, as the last couple of times I've been there it's been very limited for vegans, and not particularly good quality.

In some ways it makes sense to bring people into the shiny new area, rather than past the old Super Loos and the potential construction site. It's a better first and last impression. At the same time, new areas tend to get busy anyway, and that effect will be compounded if people go straight into it. Particularly as the throughputs are quite low on the new rides.
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The Grill was renamed into a Italian restaurant but was only open a few weeks after the 1st lockdown in 2020 but when it went into administration the looping group decided not to reopen the restaurant as it had 1 in the hotel instead. Think it was the looping group decision to not use that entrance again as all the signing was removed at the start of last season.
 
Matt N said:
Cheers, both!

I ended up getting the Rainy Day Guarantee alongside my ticket for an extra £2 on top, so I should hopefully be covered in the event of any day-ruining inclement weather. That still made it about £15 less than my train tickets to get there, so it was hardly a cost I couldn’t stomach!

I also downloaded Tap, which is some app that put my Drayton tickets into a virtual wallet for me to show to the staff (it was recommended by the park in the email), but I do also have the email on me that I can show if that fails.
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I think it’s a bit cheeky how the park have that optional Rainy Day Guarantee for £2.

To qualify for a free return visit you have to have taken out the £2 Guarantee and for there to be “more the 30mm rainfall during park opening hours” but that seems like quite a high amount that doesn’t happen too often. They must make a hell of a lot of money from people buying that £2 Rainy Day Guarantee compared to how many times they end up having to honour it.
 
I am sure that resturant was open a few weeks ago, maybe not.

As for the horse ride, theming is sparse it looks as if they are waiting on a few more bits, possibly not though.

As for wind speed, you should be ok.

Apocolypse seems to now be limping on a single sit down chute, does not seem like the other chutes will ever open again. Hopefully they will get the floor less side open but it appears to me that if the single sit down side breaks, Apocolypse will shut for good.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
The Grill was renamed into a Italian restaurant but was only open a few weeks after the 1st lockdown in 2020 but when it went into administration the looping group decided not to reopen the restaurant as it had 1 in the hotel instead. Think it was the looping group decision to not use that entrance again as all the signing was removed at the start of last season.
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When I worked at the park a few seasons ago when the Bryan's still owned it there were plans then to close entrance 1 and build the path to entrance 2 which looks like the looping group have now done.
 
DistortAMG said:
I am sure that resturant was open a few weeks ago, maybe not.

As for the horse ride, theming is sparse it looks as if they are waiting on a few more bits, possibly not though.

As for wind speed, you should be ok.

Apocolypse seems to now be limping on a single sit down chute, does not seem like the other chutes will ever open again. Hopefully they will get the floor less side open but it appears to me that if the single sit down side breaks, Apocolypse will shut for good.
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I really hope they at least get chute 5 open again given this is the more unique element of this tower. Though it was closed at the beginning of the season and did reopen a while after. It does seem chute 2 is the most reliable though. I still think its a shame they didn't restore chute 4 to allow all ride experiences of this incredible ride. I still personally think it shouldn't be going, Especially since its only 1.2m on sit-down and is such an Iconic ride for the park. Yes it needs money spending on it but I'm sure they could have a coaster wrap around it without removing it. They could also prioritise other areas before removing more rides such as reopening Pirates Adventure (or a replacement dark ride) and Excalibur before removing such an Iconic ride. It could also be given a retheme into the new land to give it a less intimidating theme. Like Walibi Belgium's drop tower is Western themed.

Out of curiosity does anyone know if any other Intimin drop towers which offer the stand-up and/or stand-up floorless options? I think the one at Portaventura might but can't remember? Are there any others?
 
I've never known any rides to be closed specifically to wind. I'd guess those rides most likely to be affected are those which are most likely to be suffering maintenance issues anyway!

Paid a visit yesterday as there was a teacher training day, originally had planned it to take the little lad back to BPB but the opportunity to really have a good go on the Vikings area without the full half term queues was too attractive.

Didn't seem like a good idea though when we first pitched up. The queues back from Entrance 3 were extensive 20 minutes after the gates opened. Lots of murmurings about Tesco vouchers as we progressed, not really slowly but not particularly quickly, towards the entrance. Then when in the park was pretty empty. Certainly not to the level that was expected by the queues. I think that someone triaging the queue would probably aid this quite quickly and directing folk to the booths where necessary.

The only queues then were for YoMomma/Buffalo/Jormungandr (5 cycles) and the Accelerator (15 minutes). Thor was walk on (and Stay on (8,9,12,13). Did Loki again, and we both just howled with laughter the whole time. It's just really fun.
 
RustyShackleford said:
I've never known any rides to be closed specifically to wind. I'd guess those rides most likely to be affected are those which are most likely to be suffering maintenance issues anyway!

Paid a visit yesterday as there was a teacher training day, originally had planned it to take the little lad back to BPB but the opportunity to really have a good go on the Vikings area without the full half term queues was too attractive.

Didn't seem like a good idea though when we first pitched up. The queues back from Entrance 3 were extensive 20 minutes after the gates opened. Lots of murmurings about Tesco vouchers as we progressed, not really slowly but not particularly quickly, towards the entrance. Then when in the park was pretty empty. Certainly not to the level that was expected by the queues. I think that someone triaging the queue would probably aid this quite quickly and directing folk to the booths where necessary.

The only queues then were for YoMomma/Buffalo/Jormungandr (5 cycles) and the Accelerator (15 minutes). Thor was walk on (and Stay on (8,9,12,13). Did Loki again, and we both just howled with laughter the whole time. It's just really fun.
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I was on the park yesterday also with my young one in tow. Due to a teacher training day.


Here is a photo showing the sort of space behind Apocalpyse, where the old fish and chip shop is. I am certain this will be demolished if any developments happen in this area.

His area, with Apocalpyse and Pandemonium / Test track site equals out to quite a decent sized area.

20220606_114508.jpg
 
pjanvil said:
I still think its a shame they didn't restore chute 4 to allow all ride experiences of this incredible ride.
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Tower 4's lift hill is completely bust, according to the head of ops for s2, the area apoc is in. He said it was very unlikely looping will invest the cost to replace it, and it is beyond repair. Tower 3 has been mostly stripped for parts, but is perhaps more viable for a goodbye event or suchsimilar.
 
immelmanloop said:
Tower 4's lift hill is completely bust, according to the head of ops for s2, the area apoc is in. He said it was very unlikely looping will invest the cost to replace it, and it is beyond repair. Tower 3 has been mostly stripped for parts, but is perhaps more viable for a goodbye event or suchsimilar.
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So is Tower 5 (stand-up floorless) still likely to reopen?
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Well if u compare the Vikings area to the rumoured 2024 project area
9CE26B2C-7062-438F-B43E-199B17FC7537.png406FB208-065E-4743-9104-D6B97775CD09.png
Unless they gonna include the Flying Dutchman and Accelerator in the new theme then it won’t be as big.
Thomas land for example not including the train track and farm area
5F53E976-FD20-41FF-83C8-3C0E1CAF65A7.png
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The point though, it is still a big area for a ride. When you consider the highlighted area is only part of an existing and much larger area, it is quite a sizable space for a ride or two.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Well if u compare the Vikings area to the rumoured 2024 project area
9CE26B2C-7062-438F-B43E-199B17FC7537.png406FB208-065E-4743-9104-D6B97775CD09.png
Unless they gonna include the Flying Dutchman and Accelerator in the new theme then it won’t be as big.
Thomas land for example not including the train track and farm area
5F53E976-FD20-41FF-83C8-3C0E1CAF65A7.png
Click to expand...
That also shows Vikings should be more than four rides as it’s similar size to Thomas Land with many many more rides in a small space.
 
jon81uk said:
That also shows Vikings should be more than four rides as it’s similar size to Thomas Land with many many more rides in a small space.
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In fairness, the paths are a lot wider in Vikings. There are lots of narrow 'streets' and pathways in Thomas Land, which can be a bit congested when it is busy. Vikings makes much more liberal use of space.
 
DistortAMG said:
In fairness, the paths are a lot wider in Vikings. There are lots of narrow 'streets' and pathways in Thomas Land, which can be a bit congested when it is busy. Vikings makes much more liberal use of space.
Click to expand...

Vikings may well have further rides added in the future

That space highlighted above is a significant size for Drayton, meaning a fairly sizeable coaster could go in there
 
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