Suspect they’ll flatten what they can of it and use the entire site, plus the rotting Excalibur site for a new attraction(s) / expansion. For now, it works for the park for storage especially with the roof repairs. It’s too bigger a site for it to be left for long. Guessing a lot will be down to the 2024 project and what that does for attendances before any future expansion is proposed, but I just can’t see that building and the plot it occupies being left alone.
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Drayton Manor Park
- Thread starter Matty
- Start date
It’s amazing what losing £20M of debt can do for profitability!
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
The castle of dreams building is here to stay as it’s the parks main money maker for Halloween and Christmas.
But I do wonder if they can drain that lake and fill it in to add another new area to the park.
They could move the bumper cars to the new area and that will open up that walk way.
When the Bryan’s original wanted a hotel it was gonna be a lot smaller but after the money Thomas land brought they went for the 150 room design and even back then it wasn’t enough rooms so they had plans in place to build another hotel.
Second hotel planned for Drayton Manor Park
New centre to be named in honour of site founder George Herbert Hamilton Bryan
www.business-live.co.uk
Now for a family run business to take out loans for a 19 million hotel and to only invest in Thomas land and only removing attractions from the main park it’s no surprise they went bankrupt and the looping group got a bargain of a resort for 15 million.
In the future they could easily build a new location for their Christmas event if they want to use the lake again. Am sure they could add a small building in the farm area to function as this for events. While I don’t know much about their water management onsite but I am unsure they would fill in the lake due to previous flooding issues, so might not be a viable option.The castle of dreams building is here to stay as it’s the parks main money maker for Halloween and Christmas.
But I do wonder if they can drain that lake and fill it in to add another new area to the park.
They could move the bumper cars to the new area and that will open up that walk way.
When the Bryan’s original wanted a hotel it was gonna be a lot smaller but after the money Thomas land brought they went for the 150 room design and even back then it wasn’t enough rooms so they had plans in place to build another hotel.
Second hotel planned for Drayton Manor Park
New centre to be named in honour of site founder George Herbert Hamilton Bryanwww.business-live.co.uk
Now for a family run business to take out loans for a 19 million hotel and to only invest in Thomas land and only removing attractions from the main park it’s no surprise they went bankrupt and the looping group got a bargain of a resort for 15 million.
The 5 year plan focuses on other areas of the park, so suspect depending on how the remaining few seasons go the pirates area and lake could feature in any future plans beyond 2026. But lots could happen in that time.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
The former home of the Thomas land Exhibition could be used for night of the manor and for the Christmas event.
They won’t built another water ride on that lake as even when it was the jungle cruise maintenance was a major issue on the lake.
If you remember that lake was empty for over 18 months and even the main lake is drained during the winter months.
Bert2theSpark
TS Member
They could always just slap a marquee and/or shipping containers on the car park by Vikings during Halloween/Christmas and still offer those experiences. They'd even have more flexibility with the attractions meaning potential more throughput with the space as they won't be constrained around the remains of a former attraction.
The Pirates Adventure and Excalibur sites are just too value areas for development at the centre of the park for the space not to be developed when the capital for it becomes available...
The Pirates Adventure and Excalibur sites are just too value areas for development at the centre of the park for the space not to be developed when the capital for it becomes available...
DistortAMG
TS Member
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Like I said. Loopings are more experienced. They re structured the buisness and turned it around.
Taking away thrill rides may not have been everyone's cup of tea but that is sort if irrelevant to the points being made.
The two key takeaway points are these:
The park is busy, quite alot. (Last year was very busy for a good potion of the season)
They are making money. (The reasons as to why are almost irrelevant to the point I'm making. Debt restructing, new rides, whatever. The point is, the park is making lots of money and have a good trajectory.)
Judging by the levels of visitors last year, I would bet the next accounts will show a tidy profit too.
Covid is over. People can go abroad and elsewhere. The park is still busy - a direct result of the investments and changes made. They may have used covid to their advantage at the time. But that does not account for decent attendance last year and this year.
We are also seeing traffic through Fazely and Tamworth this year, directly related to Drayton Manor, at levels not seen in well over a decade.
The end of the Bryan's ownership also saw the end of a decade of huge under investment in the main park and the end of inexperienced management. The sons did not have the business acument that their father had. It showed. The park was struggling before.
2016, saw a profit of just £300,000. Before the accident and before covid. Other parks did well that year. Drayton did not. Why? Mismanagement and underinvestment over a long period.
There was only so much Thomas Land could do on its own. It saved the park from visitor numbers dropping off a cliff in 2006. But that only did so much, for so long on its own. Again, there was no covid or accident to account for that drop In 2006, not even a recession. But it happened, when other parks were doing well. The reasons are the same again.
Edit: Colin Bryan is actually on the record here speaking about the 2006 drop in visitors and boost they gained from Thomas Land. Which led to little investment in the main park and ultimatly shot them in the foot.
Taking away thrill rides may not have been everyone's cup of tea but that is sort if irrelevant to the points being made.
The two key takeaway points are these:
The park is busy, quite alot. (Last year was very busy for a good potion of the season)
They are making money. (The reasons as to why are almost irrelevant to the point I'm making. Debt restructing, new rides, whatever. The point is, the park is making lots of money and have a good trajectory.)
Judging by the levels of visitors last year, I would bet the next accounts will show a tidy profit too.
Covid is over. People can go abroad and elsewhere. The park is still busy - a direct result of the investments and changes made. They may have used covid to their advantage at the time. But that does not account for decent attendance last year and this year.
We are also seeing traffic through Fazely and Tamworth this year, directly related to Drayton Manor, at levels not seen in well over a decade.
The end of the Bryan's ownership also saw the end of a decade of huge under investment in the main park and the end of inexperienced management. The sons did not have the business acument that their father had. It showed. The park was struggling before.
2016, saw a profit of just £300,000. Before the accident and before covid. Other parks did well that year. Drayton did not. Why? Mismanagement and underinvestment over a long period.
There was only so much Thomas Land could do on its own. It saved the park from visitor numbers dropping off a cliff in 2006. But that only did so much, for so long on its own. Again, there was no covid or accident to account for that drop In 2006, not even a recession. But it happened, when other parks were doing well. The reasons are the same again.
Edit: Colin Bryan is actually on the record here speaking about the 2006 drop in visitors and boost they gained from Thomas Land. Which led to little investment in the main park and ultimatly shot them in the foot.
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Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
This was a quote from Victoria Lynn in November last year:
We have some more land and water at the back of the park, where Excalibur was shut down many years ago. That gives us further expansion opportunities. There is so much land here when you start looking.
So they already thinking of 2027 and beyond and that May include removing the back of the pirate adventure building to add a whole new area
The highlighted area could be a reused as an indoor entertainment venue for shows or another smaller dark ride attraction.
This area could be a new staff room
The food kiosks except fun foods haven’t been used since the end of last season so they could have plans to open up a kiosk in the new area so all this could removed and used for future expansion.
We have some more land and water at the back of the park, where Excalibur was shut down many years ago. That gives us further expansion opportunities. There is so much land here when you start looking.
So they already thinking of 2027 and beyond and that May include removing the back of the pirate adventure building to add a whole new area
The highlighted area could be a reused as an indoor entertainment venue for shows or another smaller dark ride attraction.
This area could be a new staff room
The food kiosks except fun foods haven’t been used since the end of last season so they could have plans to open up a kiosk in the new area so all this could removed and used for future expansion.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
The problem with that is the pirate adventure queue line building is connected to the restaurant next door and the 1st and final section of the ride is connected to the Thomas land shop and staff areas. So much has been built onto the pirate adventure building since Thomas land opened but I give they didn’t think a 17 year old ride was gonna close 7 years later.
DistortAMG
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- POTC Disneyland Paris
The old queue line is only in the area circled below. The building is a steel framed building as are all the connected buildings. This makes it the easiest type of building to split up and remove the sections needed. While keeping the Thomas Land parts and the parts connected to the restaurant.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
I always thought that part of the building was the ramp area of the queue and it turned left into the other part of the building then turned right into station area as seen in the 1st 1 min in this video.
The old queue line is only in the area circled below. The building is a steel framed building as are all the connected buildings. This makes it the easiest type of building to split up and remove the sections needed. While keeping the Thomas Land parts and the parts connected to the restaurant.
From: https://youtu.be/brElY2sE8SA
Trooper Looper
TS Member
I'd personally be against them tearing down the show building. The space has a lot of potential for one big attraction, and with the country lacking a large scale dark ride, that area is just begging at this point to be reused. That with the ride system still in there, they could easily reuse the pirate theme or a new theme inside to create a real contender to the UK other parks, especially with how dire the countries dark ride situation is. If they could get another dark ride in there, Drayton would probably have the best Dark Ride/Indoor attraction lineup in the country
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DistortAMG
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- POTC Disneyland Paris
Let me re post this photo I posted a while ago of a project I was working on. You can see the lift; station, first turnaround and drop over layed in the building.
See how the white part of the building on the bottom left is triangular in shape? As seen above and circled in red on the photo below;
That triangle bit is the very last bit of the queue line. The bit in the photo below. The direction the photo is taken below, is the exact same orientation as the photo above. Rare for a dark ride, but you can clearly see the triangle shape of that room, which matches up exactly to the building shape above.
The bit circled in red. Is exactly what you see in the image immediately above. The first turnaround is behind the angled wall to the right.
I've walked inside, outside, on the roof, in the scenes, round the fire exits, under the drop and inside and outside every nook and cranny of that building over the years. It is quite a maze! Or was.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
Thanks for that I always wondered after the got to the top of the ramp from it went to next.Let me re post this photo I posted a while ago of a project I was working on. You can see the lift; station, first turnaround and drop over layed in the building.
See how the white part of the building on the bottom left is triangular in shape? As seen above and circled in red on the photo below;
That triangle bit is the very last bit of the queue line. The bit in the photo below. The direction the photo is taken below, is the exact same orientation as the photo above. Rare for a dark ride, but you can clearly see the triangle shape of that room, which matches up exactly to the building shape above.
The bit circled in red. Is exactly what you see in the image immediately above. The first turnaround is behind the angled wall to the right.
I've walked inside, outside, on the roof, in the scenes, round the fire exits, under the drop and inside and outside every nook and cranny of that building over the years. It is quite a maze! Or was.
Do u remember the old Indoor play area? I never went in but you could see part of it from Pirate adventure queue line in the 90’s?
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
If they use Orkanen for inspiration, they wouldn't go far wrong.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
I do think with theses planned walk ways from Thomas land to the zoo area I wonder if they plan on removing the farm area and building a new area based on the all engine go series as the new ride has been very popular.
