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Drayton Manor Park

John said:
I would be surprised if it's from Intamin. Intamin doesn't (and has never) produced suitable sit-down trains for that ride system, so they'd have to be developed from scratch. To make it worse, Shockwave is the last Intamin stand up in operation so they'd be developing the train for a single customer, unless they started offering that track system again.

All told It's quite different to the B&M stand up to floorless conversions, where there were several potential future customers and they already had designs for the trains.
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This is a really good point I haven’t really considered.

Yes, Shockwave is an Intamin coaster, but the whole thing is running on essentially B&M track. There are only a few other coasters out there running on this track that aren’t B&M.

Currently, the only manufacturer making trains that run on this track style are… B&M.

So actually, despite us all laughing it off as impossible; it is actually not that absurd of an idea.
 
Steel Dragon 2000 has a B&M train despite it not being a beemer. The former Psyclone at Magic Mountain had them too and that was a wooden coaster! I'm not sure of the ins and outs of it but it is definitely possible to get a replacement train from them

It is a shame to see the stand up element be removed but I can totally understand why Drayton would do it. For a park going in the family direction like them, this could actually be a good coaster for kids wanting to make the jump to something more extreme. It should be a good year for them!
 
One concern I have for Shockwave is that it will still be rough with a sitdown train and I’m not sure that younger children will fare well riding it. Parts of it give a good bashing.
 
It’s surprising that Drayton didn’t go full family sooner. Thomas Land was a success but trying to compete in the thrill market seems to have always been difficult for them.

That said, they haven’t gone all out family. Their current marketing especially for the summer nights does feature older guests including an adult couple. Kind of seems like it’s mainly the groups of teenagers they don’t want.
 
DeLaTerreALaLune said:
One concern I have for Shockwave is that it will still be rough with a sitdown train and I’m not sure that younger children will fare well riding it. Parts of it give a good bashing.
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They will be the same kids who end up on Smiler and say it’s smooth as silk.

The adults are the ones that complain about rides, especially the roughness. I didn’t find Corkscrew bad when I was a kid but find Smiler and Saw beyond terrible.

Shockwave I haven’t found to be overly bad. It has got essentially b and m track so it has potential. Maybe they could retrack parts?
 
With the need coaster. Do we think part of it will be enclosed. Especially if there is some sort of trick track.
 
I think it’s great that this one has been kept largely under wraps. Although the “thoosie” in me is dying to see the layout and construction going vertical. Reminds me of the good old days of being genuinely hyped for a new coaster and making plans to visit and see it in the flesh. For all the fun of spoilers, part of me harks back to the good old days of Nemesis, Air and Oblivion of excitement and lack of spoilers. But that’s progress for you. You don’t have to look I suppose! But I’m far too nosey for that kind of restraint!
 
Jb85 said:
With the need coaster. Do we think part of it will be enclosed. Especially if there is some sort of trick track.
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I think we’ll be seeing something along the lines of Thirteen at AT, but probably without the drop track. For all the crap it gets from the community, I think Thirteen is a cracking coaster and a fantastic addition to any park’s lineup. That first drop and subsequent section is surprisingly forceful and enjoyable, even without the drop and backwards section.
 
Jb85 said:
@Johnny_5 I agree re Thirteen
A really good family coaster. If people accept it as that.

But it will always be tarnished due to its marketing.
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Final comment on thirteen before I get kicked for being off topic… yep, agree entirely. For all the good Wardley has done, he doesn’t half talk some ballcocks at times. His comments around 13, and the subsequent marketing were laughable compared against the ride type. Also, his comments re “solving the capacity issue” and other ludicrous statements over the last 10 years or so… I can’t believe anyone puts any weight against anything he’s said about AT and the amazing technology we should be expecting to see. He’s had an awful habit of hyping things up beyond all reasonable expectations, mainly because the enthusiast community hold his comments in such highly regard. He is rightly a legend, but it’s time to move on. Anyhow, back to Drayton!
 
Regarding the family theme that Drayton is going for, this honestly could be a blessing in disguise for them for seeing how Towers just up the road seem to have a thing for grim or dark themes with Alton Manor and Nemesis next year anything to go by and from the last few years of you ignore TWODW and Cbeebies Land, then this could work in Drayton's favour having a more brighter and happier theme that'll no doubt start eating into that family market which is arguably more profitable than the thrill market.

If Drayton get this right and start taking away that family market from Towers with not only an alternate and perhaps better value than what Towers have then it might force Towers to actually stop with some of the dark themes and force to have a more all ages themed area that we haven't had since Ug Land IMO. Could be a interesting battle of the Midlands here...
 
QTXAdsy said:
If Drayton get this right and start taking away that family market from Towers with not only an alternate and perhaps better value than what Towers have then it might force Towers to actually stop with some of the dark themes and force to have a more all ages themed area that we haven't had since Ug Land IMO. Could be a interesting battle of the Midlands here...
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That’s a great shout. I know the Towers themselves lend a darker theme to the park, but they always used to balance this well. Sadly, it also draws a particular clientele, similar to Thorpe. Drawing a whole family spend for a whole day / multi day, will ultimately be more profitable for the park if they get it right, than just teens on a horror jolly. Sorry for the “old man yells at cloud” VIBES. It’s in part why the magic kingdom is still ludicrously successful.
 
So I deemed it unlikely this would happen before due to the state the ride was in. I was wrong. Clearly they are doing it, I am pretty happy they are to be fair. But they must have works planned for the ride system too, breaks, transport wheels, lift, all seem knackered. I assume these will get some love..

As far as budgets go, Drayton are installing quite a major family coaster, re theming and re training their other major coaster and we assume building up a themed area for the new coaster. Clearly they have a high budget to be able to do all this in a single season. I would not think B&M trains would be out of Draytons reach. That said, Intamin trains are almost a given I would say, given the working relationship the park currently has with them.
 
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