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Drayton Manor Park

Jb85 said:
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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In terms if expansion if Vikings, probably not in the section highlighted though. There is a spare plot of land outside of that area measurement above, that will more than likely be used for an expansion. There are alot less rides because the area is more spaced out, to cope with a larger amount of guests.
 
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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Does anyone know what is up with tower 5? It was working on my last visit around a month ago but heard it was down more recently?
 
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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I'm struggling to think of any non-tracked ride in ThomasLand that couldn't be placed on the Disk part of Thor.

And the disk part moves.

A lot.

Harold's helitours maybe.
 
I can see another ride coming to the Viking area for 2023 as they also still got the Vertigo building.
I wonder if the Excalibur boats were in such a back condition that’s why they decided against using them.
The only thing I find strange that the park are still showing the 2 old ads that were made when the Bryan’s were still in charge with just the end bit updated to show the new logo. You think for how much they spend on Adventure Cove and the Vikings area they would be featured in a ad or do Drayton focus more on social media and local radios for ads.
 
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Themeparksandy1981 said:
The only thing I find strange that the park are still showing the 2 old ads that were made when the Bryan’s were still in charge with just the end bit updated to show the new logo. You think for how much they spend on Adventure Cove and the Vikings area they would be featured in a ad or do Drayton focus more on social media and local radios for ads.
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Marketing campaigns aren't cheap but the Bryan's always maintained a strong marketing campaign to keep up with Paultons and Towers, even when things got financially tricky, there's only those 3 parks I consistently see advertised.

If Drayton Manor already have expensive marketing material, it makes sense for Loopings to cheaply and effectively update it with the modern branding without committing the budget for a brand-new campaign in the meantime, some businesses can run the same adverts for years after they've been took over by new owners.
 
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.
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Are those wider paths really needed? Just feels like they could have tightened up the layout slightly and added another small kiddie ride next year then still have space for another further larger ride in Vikings later on.
 
jon81uk said:
Are those wider paths really needed? Just feels like they could have tightened up the layout slightly and added another small kiddie ride next year then still have space for another further larger ride in Vikings later on.
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I would say yes, the place can get very crowded where the paths are thinner, especially as they are now aiming to attract larger numbers over the coming years, absolutely needed.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I can see another ride coming to the Viking area for 2023 as they also still got the Vertigo building.
I wonder if the Excalibur boats were in such a back condition that’s why they decided against using them.
The only thing I find strange that the park are still showing the 2 old ads that were made when the Bryan’s were still in charge with just the end bit updated to show the new logo. You think for how much they spend on Adventure Cove and the Vikings area they would be featured in a ad or do Drayton focus more on social media and local radios for ads
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Well, on the soft opening for Vikings some fairly major filming took place in Vikings, adventure cove, river rapids ride area, zoo, and a couple of other spots on the park map, so that may be for a new ad.
 
pjanvil said:
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?
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The High Fall at Movie Park DE is stand up floorless and rotates.

Mystery Castle is sit down floorless.
 
I've got a feeling High Fall used to tilt but I can't confirm it. I just remember it being great then a huge amount of pain when it hit the brakes.

I'd be very surprised if Drayton get a new tower that isn't from SBF Visa
 
immelmanloop said:
Well, on the soft opening for Vikings some fairly major filming took place in Vikings, adventure cove, river rapids ride area, zoo, and a couple of other spots on the park map, so that may be for a new ad.
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Paid a post school trips this week, it was noticeable there were announcements at the start of the rides about use of phones and go-pros. Also an admonishment was issued mid-ride on Loki. Don;t know if there is a desire to keep onride footage away ahead of a possible ad campaign?
 
RustyShackleford said:
Paid a post school trips this week, it was noticeable there were announcements at the start of the rides about use of phones and go-pros. Also an admonishment was issued mid-ride on Loki. Don;t know if there is a desire to keep onride footage away ahead of a possible ad campaign?
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More than likely the announcements for no on ride footage are to stop people potentially seriously injuring or (in worst case) even killing other guests.
 
RustyShackleford said:
Paid a post school trips this week, it was noticeable there were announcements at the start of the rides about use of phones and go-pros. Also an admonishment was issued mid-ride on Loki. Don;t know if there is a desire to keep onride footage away ahead of a possible ad campaign?
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Shawn from TPWW will be filming some official POVs on the Vikings rides soon, authorised by the park.
 
I don't think Drayton will be in a rush for a new drop tower, perhaps in the future however I don't think it's something they will look at any time soon. Removing one of there signature rides, which happens to be a drop tower should hopefully be worth it for a big new ride however I hardly think they are going to try and open something incredibly similar, seems like a bad marketing move to start off with.
 
Wilko said:
I don't think it was meant that they would replace Apocalypse with a smaller drop tower, more that they replace it with a coaster and then add a smaller drop tower somewhere in Vikings for example, which wouldn't be a bad move.
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Something like Ikaros at Grona Lund would look great in Vikings all themed up.
 
Intamin have a product called the Suspended Twin Hammer, this would look incredible done to a Viking theme (maybe though they might think it was too similar a ride to Pandemonium but it would look awesome).
18cf9c622333f695deb4757a55a4964b.jpg





There’s one of these called Doomsday Destroyer at Warner Bros Movie World in Australia.
https://youtu.be/mjdmUDL6BGg
 
The Zombieland S&S one I did in Dubai 2 weeks ago was awesome. That wasn't huge by any means but it had a shot AND drop to it and had plenty of kick on both which is the main thing. One of the best tower rides I have done actually. The queue is awesome too with clown scares and some decent theming etc.

I can't see them getting a new drop tower though which is a shame.
 
Benjsh said:
The Zombieland S&S one I did in Dubai 2 weeks ago was awesome. That wasn't huge by any means but it had a shot AND drop to it and had plenty of kick on both which is the main thing. One of the best tower rides I have done actually. The queue is awesome too with clown scares and some decent theming etc.

I can't see them getting a new drop tower though which is a shame.
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Cliffhanger at Mingo is a shot and drop, and apparently quite forceful. I rode it a few years ago but only got the shot part.
 
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