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Drayton Manor Park

zeock said:

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNGLwHHd5kA

This is a Squadding Quads video showing Stormforce 10. It is very interesting to see that ride from the air, and makes me reminisce about the wettest ride I have ever been on. (only been to Drayton once, in 2017)
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Great seeing it like that. Storm Force 10 me and my son rode it so many times this summer just gone, in the massive heatwave we had. Loved it. Water was a bit green mind you and your shoes literally deteriorate before your very eyes, but all good fun non the less.
 
I must ask one question about StormForce 10; has the second drop (the backwards drop) always been such a surprising drencher?

I only ask because early reviews of the ride (such as the one from Coaster Kingdom) never suggested that it was that wet unless you sat at the back, but on my one ride in June 2022, the second drop got me absolutely drenched despite the fact I was sat in the second row from the front… I was also in the boat alone, so if anything, I’d have expected the splash to be smaller due to there being far less mass in the boat in the usual.

The sheer wetness of that second drop seemed particularly strange given that the first and third drops both gave a perfectly comfortable level of spray…
 
Re SF10 - 2 quotes from DistortAMG from earlier in this topic relevant to the backwards drop:

Storm Force 10 is much wetter now than it used to be. You only ever used to get a soaking on the back row on the backwards drop. The other rows and especially the front used to get off relatively well.

You now get almost as wet on the front as you do on the back. It never used to throw water on the front of the boat like it does now in the backwards drop. I've rode the ride since 1999, just this year was the first year since the refurb I've rode it.

It is not like you get a small bit wetter now than you used to, you get much wetter, especially on the front.

I have noticed the configuration of the water level control holes have been re configured from what they used to be. Which are basically multiple circle holes in the concrete trough near drops. The first two drops have them and the configuration of how many are open is now changed from what it used to be pre refurb. This will directly impact the water levels. The whole ride had new sensors fitted throughout, so more than likely they had to re conffigure the levels to ensure the new sensors were triggering properly. The level has only changed slightly, but it is enough to make the ride even wetter on that backwards drop
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While on the subject of the log flume, an excellent set of images appeared online the other day.

The pictures show all aspects of Storm Force 10 in construction. While not all of the annotations for the images are correct. The pictures are excellent.

[...]

One interesting thing that I saw from the photos was the fact they managed to flood the ride site under the top reverse turntable. Going off the pictures this was because the water return trough wasnt made high enough at the end, causing the site to flood. You can see in later photos they shured up the trough at the end to make sure this doesn't happen.

https://officialcoasterrev.wixsite.com/coasterreview/post/stormforce-10-construction-1998-1999
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So yes, it's possible the backwards drop has changed. I can't vouch for it personally though, I've not been on in years - it's far too wet and on the rare occasion I'm there in good weather the queue is always excessive due to dreadful capacity.
 
Maybe people have got heavier I do not know. But from riding it back in the day, we always used to try and not get the back seats, as I am sure it never used to get you as wet, just a soaking on the seats close to the rear. It appears now to absolutely drench you whenever you sit, rather than a drenching on just the back.

The change in wetness seemed to coincide with when the ride had a massive refurbishment that included updates to the ride control system and sensors along the ride. This change also appeared to change the water levels somewhat, which you can see visually via different overflow holes at various points in the canals that are covered / uncovered, when they never used to be.
 
I have no idea where I was sitting, but I went on SF10 only once probably around 7-8 years ago. I would liken the soaking I received to someone standing above the boat with a boat sized bucket of water and just turning it upside down on us riders in the boat. Absolutely drenched. Didn't expect it either.
 
When I visited in October 2020 I went on it twice, first time I came off relatively dry, 2nd time absolutely soaked. Same conditions both times, 2nd row and the only person on the boat.

In 2022 went on a fully loaded boat on the front row and got so wet I had to immediately buy a t shirt in the shop.
 
Skyscraper said:
I will genuinely be disappointed if the potential new Shockwave train is sit-down. The layout isn't that interesting, but the standing position makes it more so. It would be boring as a sit-down in my opinion.
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Yep, one of the only reasons I like Drayton Manor. Shockwave is an experience you can’t get anywhere else.

Removing Apocalypse is one thing, changing Shockwave to sit down seems like they’ve lost the plot.

Video is pointless but his content is usually decent.
 
Rick said:
Have you been on Icon and consider it a top tier ride ?
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Unfortunately I haven’t been on icon but it looked good. I made the mistake of doing the big one for the first time before it and landed back row however the ride threw my back out and I couldn’t walk for the week. My last big rollercoaster was at Busch gardens for shrieka. Have yo uprise icon ?
 
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