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Drayton Manor Park

Let’s go back to 2017 when things started to go down hill fast for the park. They added James and the red balloon then the rapids accident happened and to cover the books sold the big wheel to aquadrome and scrapped the chairlifts with the Rapids SBNO.
The following year they added Ice age 4D and re-themed the Golden Nuggets but tried to repair G-Force but scrapped it before the end of 2018 with it SNBO to Jan 2020. The 2019 season so Zoo replacements and more work done to the Haunting.
Then in 2020 they were gonna add a tea cup ride in Thomas land and ground work did start and Thomas taking over the 4D cinema but the lockdown happened and the Drayton Manor Park limited went into a administration.
The looping group brought everything off the administrates for a bargain 15 million.
G force was replaced by the wave swinger and play ground with the Rapids brought back from the dead.
Then we may have lost Pandemonium and Apocalypse but got Loki and Thor and with the Thomas land ride coming this year and with the amount of rides and building been removed this new coaster and flat ride could push Drayton Manor back into the top 5.
With the rumoured Flying Dutchman moving could easily go into the Vikings area and themed with a thrill ride in its place for 2025 they can then look at the Pirate Cove area of the park and Pirate Adventure replacement for the 2026 season.
Maybe a new coaster on the Jormungandr site as it be 40 years old.
With a Thomas Land Expansion at the farm end for its 20th birthday in 2028.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Let’s go back to 2017 when things started to go down hill fast for the park. They added James and the red balloon then the rapids accident happened and to cover the books sold the big wheel to aquadrome and scrapped the chairlifts with the Rapids SBNO.
The following year they added Ice age 4D and re-themed the Golden Nuggets but tried to repair G-Force but scrapped it before the end of 2018 with it SNBO to Jan 2020. The 2019 season so Zoo replacements and more work done to the Haunting.
Then in 2020 they were gonna add a tea cup ride in Thomas land and ground work did start and Thomas taking over the 4D cinema but the lockdown happened and the Drayton Manor Park limited went into a administration.
The looping group brought everything off the administrates for a bargain 15 million.
G force was replaced by the wave swinger and play ground with the Rapids brought back from the dead.
Then we may have lost Pandemonium and Apocalypse but got Loki and Thor and with the Thomas land ride coming this year and with the amount of rides and building been removed this new coaster and flat ride could push Drayton Manor back into the top 5.
With the rumoured Flying Dutchman moving could easily go into the Vikings area and themed with a thrill ride in its place for 2025 they can then look at the Pirate Cove area of the park and Pirate Adventure replacement for the 2026 season.
Maybe a new coaster on the Jormungandr site as it be 40 years old.
With a Thomas Land Expansion at the farm end for its 20th birthday in 2028.
Click to expand...
Never realized the Tea Party ride started groundwork before getting pulled!
I suppose going from that plan to the massive and densely themed Submarine Flume we're getting now shows how much things have changed with this new management
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Let’s go back to 2017 when things started to go down hill fast for the park. They added James and the red balloon then the rapids accident happened and to cover the books sold the big wheel to aquadrome and scrapped the chairlifts with the Rapids SBNO.
Click to expand...
Let's not forget the beginning of the 2017 season either. It was a very unfortunate year for the park all round, I agree.

The chairlift closed at the end of the season though, good observation.... A lot here have cited general maintenance/cable issues/staff cutbacks as a reason for its closure. And while they may have a point, I think it would be worth pointing out that an old injury claim (most likely) needs to be factored in too. The injury claim was officially put forward in March 2017. And as keen eyes will notice, this was only about 7 months before the closure of the ride at the end of the 2017 operational season. While no legal demands for the rides closure were made at any point, make of that timing what you will, folks. And also take in to account the later verdict after evidence was assesssed (chairlift had sadly already closed at that point).

There were a number of manstream media headlines surrounding the incident, which were published when his appeal verdict was thrown out in 2021. Not sure if any of these have already been posted here. A little silly with the 'crash' sensationalism, but it's to be expected.
338722840-610170463978044-3905525500160725717-n.jpg


I've rummaged through public court records and found his appeal against the verdict. It gives a pretty good chronological overview of the wider case and the county court trial when Drayton (rightfully) challenged his claims.

They can be viewed here: https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2021/2056.html&query


The claims made by the man were found to be so spurious and "fundamentally dishonest", that the entitled damages identified by the court were not awarded (£17000 in injury and suffering related damages, a lot less than the 1.5 million and also bear in mind that no loss of earnings damages were cited....) . He was in fact ordered to pay the DMPs 100k legal fees because of this, given his level of dishonesty. And as you can see here, his appeal was dismissed by the high court.


Let's have no doubt that while we can admit that the man was mildly injured by a poor dispatching of the chairlift, and perhaps some safety adjustments and training exercises for staff could of been made; the whole thing was nothing more than example of American style sue culture. And as already said before, make what you will of the timing of the chairlifts closure in October 2017, and the timing of the case launched in March , earlier that same year.

In my opinion Drayton Manor were absolutely shafted by this man. It's a shame that the Chairlift was not given grade 2 listed before its closure, as it was built by Breco ropeways in the 1960s and was a big part of the parks history.
 
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Bert2theSpark said:
If my memory serves me correctly, that's where the Thomas Land Driving School originally from when it first opened...
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That is indeed correct! It eventually became the spot for Blue Mountain Engines when that first opened before moving to the "quarry" it resides at today.

If the rumours of Terence returning are correct, could see this coming back with some much needed TLC for both the cleanup and theming.

Also looking forward to seeing the Sub Flume construction this weekend and hearing how the Thomas Land birthday celebrations go!
 
DistortAMG said:
Out of interest. What was there before it became this and what were all those buildings shown in the pictures used for.
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Even before Thomas land was built that was the original train station for the Zoo train.
Then it was reused as Terence’s driving school queue and storage/charger area from 2008 to 2010 with Blue Mountain engines from 2010 to 2014 with it opening in its current home in 2015.
There was signage up for a new ride in that area for 2016 but was cancelled.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Even before Thomas land was built that was the original train station for the Zoo train.
Then it was reused as Terence’s driving school queue and storage/charger area from 2008 to 2010 with Blue Mountain engines from 2010 to 2014 with it opening in its current home in 2015.
There was signage up for a new ride in that area for 2016 but was cancelled.
Click to expand...

I think you may be right, I thought it looked familiure. Wow that is amazing.

Although it looks shortened from what is was when it was the zoo train station.

Trying to find a photo. This one was built in 2003ish as the one before was destroyed by a fire. I remember that well. The HUSS pirate ship was just the other side, as the building is seen on the photo.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Even before Thomas land was built that was the original train station for the Zoo train.
Then it was reused as Terence’s driving school queue and storage/charger area from 2008 to 2010 with Blue Mountain engines from 2010 to 2014 with it opening in its current home in 2015.
There was signage up for a new ride in that area for 2016 but was cancelled.
Click to expand...
Hold on...there was another cancelled ride in 2016? 0_0 (unless we're still thinking of the Tea Party ride)
Makes me curious if Terence truly is heading back there if two rides for it got canned not long after each other.
 
TheMilanTooner said:
Hold on...there was another cancelled ride in 2016? 0_0 (unless we're still thinking of the Tea Party ride)
Makes me curious if Terence truly is heading back there if two rides for it got canned not long after each other.
Click to expand...
There was no info about the new ride but lucky street view not been in the park since 2015
71681AD5-2F7A-47B7-969A-8C4D132A3027.png72983D45-9EBE-4117-BDBB-E9F3392E767B.png
That’s why it’s got Sodor works under construction on the gate.
Also the 2020 attractions even made it onto the 2020 tourist leaflet/map

NEW Thomas Land Ride & 4D Cinema Film For 2021

A few days ago I stopped at a service station (not sure which one) and (as I always do) looked at the leaflet stand. Whilst looking I did see a 2020 one for Drayton Manor, which tells us that we could’ve seen a new ride in Thomas Land, and a new 4D Cinema film this year - had the lockdown not...
www.draytontalk.co.uk www.draytontalk.co.uk
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
There was no info about the new ride but lucky street view not been in the park since 2015
71681AD5-2F7A-47B7-969A-8C4D132A3027.png72983D45-9EBE-4117-BDBB-E9F3392E767B.png
That’s why it’s got Sodor works under construction on the gate.
Also the 2020 attractions even made it onto the 2020 tourist leaflet/map

NEW Thomas Land Ride & 4D Cinema Film For 2021

A few days ago I stopped at a service station (not sure which one) and (as I always do) looked at the leaflet stand. Whilst looking I did see a 2020 one for Drayton Manor, which tells us that we could’ve seen a new ride in Thomas Land, and a new 4D Cinema film this year - had the lockdown not...
www.draytontalk.co.uk www.draytontalk.co.uk
Click to expand...
WOW, I’d nearly forgotten that! Seems like it was going to be a ride or area themed after Butch the Breakdown Vehicle.
 
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