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Drayton Manor Park

Fundamentally, we are still in the honeymoon period with Drayton. There’s no denying what Looping have done so far in their tenure has generally been positive and much needed investment. They are clearly addressing the issues that they went into the purchase being fully aware of, which is good to see.

However, the key question will be if this is sustained. We need to see where the park is in 6 years time or so.

A possible outcome is that they throw several million in now to get their new product up to spec, but then rest on their laurels and leave it be. Looking quickly at PWH’s history it seems like it was a similar situation there; a flurry of investment initially happened and then slowed over time. The only thing I can really note from the PWH that may differ it from Drayton is that the acquisition came at a time where they were also bringing a number of parks/attractions into the group simultaneously. This could well have stretched finances and slowed things down a bit whilst they worked through addressing each park’s immediate needs.

Let’s not forget when Merlin first came on the scene at Towers and we saw projects like Mutiny Bay and Cloud Cuckoo Land which both addressed two tired and outdated areas and bough a breath of fresh air to the park. Things looked pretty positive. Then we began to see the crack show over the following decade and progress plateau.

Whilst I’m not writing it off by any means, and I can see good in what they’re doing so far, I’m still viewing things with an element of caution. I can’t help feel that we might see something done with the Pirates and Excalibur plots (probably the two biggest outliers in the park now) and then enter a period of reduced investment where things are left to tick over. But I will be happy to be proven wrong here, especially given Looping, by their own admission, consider Drayton to be one of their flagship properties.
 
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I'm speculating here, but maybe Loopings had intended to invest in Pleasurewood Hills more until the acquired Drayton. Drayton needed investment but not on the scale Pleasurewood would require to bring it upto a decent standard.

It will be interesting to see the next five year plan after this one runs out. There is still another potential area around pirate adventure that could bring together the Mish mash of rides and theme them consistently.
 
Relife said:
I'm speculating here, but maybe Loopings had intended to invest in Pleasurewood Hills more until the acquired Drayton. Drayton needed investment but not on the scale Pleasurewood would require to bring it upto a decent standard.
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This is how I see it as well. The opportunity presented itself for them to acquire Drayton Manor and it was perhaps seen as a park with more potential than Pleasurewood Hills and also one that could be more easily brought up to level of what they were wanting to achieve. It already had the Thomas world which was pretty good as it was and very popular, and the park as a whole had a lot of things going for it, it had just had some very bad luck in recent years. It also might be worth considering the location of Drayton Manor in terms of both its catchment area and also its closeness to West Midlands Safari Park making it the more attractive park for Loopings to invest heavily in. But if course its worth pointing out that Loopings owned Pleasurewood Hills for a period of nine years before they adding Drayton to their portfolio and they don’t seem to have invested very much at all in to the park in that time (unless I’ve missed something).

However I think it’s fascinating to think though what could have been in an alternative timeline for Pleasurewood Hills if Compagnie des Alpes had held on to ownership of the park (rather than selling it to Loopings in 2011) given the incredible investments they’ve made to Walibi Belgium, Walibi Holland, and Park Asterix. But of course, the fantastic additions to those parks was perhaps made possible in part by ditching the parks that they didn’t see so much potential or return in, of which Pleasurewood Hills was one.
 
MattyH said:
Pleasurewood Hills is being monitored closely by loopings.

The new safari and ponies are brilliant along with new theming in places.

Loopings are investing in other parks but that doesn't fit the negative narrative on here.
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At risk of this going of topic which it is the new safari and ponies are not new, literally some plastic models thrown in and paint chucked around... basic maintenance...not investment

They are not significantly Investing in Suffolk and nor do they have any plans anytime soon.

Drayton was a good park now being made better thanks to its injection of cash, all Suffolk has had is removal after removal and endless SBNO. It's reputation locally is laughable which is its key market due to location.

Drayton have a bigger area and a bigger competitor a short drive away... yet it doesn't excuse neglect to want to make something better.. they ( Suffolk) want too yet simply not being allowed too.
 
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The looping group really have tried this year to pull the extra guests into the park with all the events, late night openings and fireworks but they lost a lot of staff and it’s got that bad now they got to open the rapids in the morning with the staff taking there lunch break then going to work on stormforce 10 in the afternoon to closing. Many were happy to work the 10am to 5pm shift But I know a couple of staff who run the Haunting and by the time they close the gates at 9pm and cleared the queue line and powered everything down it’s been past 10pm they been leaving the park.
 
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Anyone who’s took advantage of the free return trip know how hot they are on checking the ID of returning ticket holders?
 
Well unless you sell them I don’t think the park care if someone else visits the park on your free ticket as they got the money from the original visit.
As the park mainly use the tap app to book your return visit you have to use the original booking barcode number.
Anyway I booked up for the Haunted Manor yesterday and no discount for the 2 paid events but excellent value at £3 each with the other scare zones and rides overlay included in the ticket price.
The day event starts at 10.30am to 5pm with the Haunted Manor from 5pm to 8pm ending the evening with a 7 min firework display.
Will check today but the Haunting has been closed for the past 2 weeks think they been working on it ready for the Halloween event.
As for the staff they will just got a standard hourly wage with no overtime rate.
 
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Themeparksandy1981 said:
Well unless you sell them I don’t think the park care if someone else visits the park on your free ticket as they got the money from the original visit.
As the park mainly use the tap app to book your return visit you have to use the original booking barcode number.
Anyway I booked up for the Haunted Manor yesterday and no discount for the 2 paid events but excellent value at £3 each with the other scare zones and rides overlay included in the ticket price.
The day event starts at 10.30am to 5pm with the Haunted Manor from 5pm to 8pm ending the evening with a 7 min firework display.
Will check today but the Haunting has been closed for the past 2 weeks think they been working on it ready for the Halloween event.
As for the staff they will just got a standard hourly wage with no overtime rate.
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Of course they do. The offer is an encouragement for you to return, which they know you probably won't and thus it's a bit of a loss leader. It does however encourage the sale of tickets as people think they're getting a really good offer. They are, of course, if they take them up on it. If you come back on your ticket, the park won't make anything unless you spend on F&B and parking, which is why the offer window is so small. A few people will take them up on the offer, lots of people won't.

You giving your ticket to someone else, because you probably won't go again, or can't make it, means that they're not getting an additional full price ticket sale.

If you're prepared to give your ticket to someone else, you know that you're not going to go again. You've already made the cost judgement in your head and whilst it might be nice to take them up on the offer, you don't really value spending your time there for another day (this is how the assesment is made in economic terms, essentially). Giving your ticket away to someone who wants to go, and is likely to pay for a ticket of their own, is actually stealing a sale from the park. So yes, they do care.
 
Agree I'd consider it stealing from the Park if you give your free return to someone else as its taking that ticket sale away from the park. Ultimately if we want our parks to be successful and invest in good new attractions and attract enough staff to run all the attractions on a given day they need those ticket sales.
 
IDB said:
There was no intention to sell my tickets onto someone else, just possible take one different adult instead of someone who went originally out of our group on our first visit. We’d still have to purchase additional tickets to cover their kid.
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On a human level of course that makes total sense! I totally understand why, from a customer's perspective, it makes economic sense to give the other ticket to someone who's going to get some use out it. It's like buying an all day bus pass and giving it to someone waiting to join a bus, after your final journey. Morally there's nothing questionable about that at all, I'm all for it.

I was merely explaining, from a economics perspective, why Drayton WOULD care if the person using your free ticket wasn't the person it was originally intended for. It's basic capitalism; I don't necessarily agree with it, but I begrudgingly understand it. Didn't mean to come across as sanctimonious or making anyone feel bad.

I hope you have a great day, regardless!
 
I see social media is not happy with this news, then again when is anyone happy? Though likely the loss of Apocalypse and the loss of the thrill market still stings many it seems with this news being the nail in the coffin.

If this make this a lap bar type ride then I'd be ok with this and TBH, the ride would work perfectly as someone's first inverted coaster rather than a big thrill machine which honestly it never really was despite what you might say.

That said though, does feel a bit of a risk to lose the thrill market unless they know what they are doing.
 
Like I said when it was announced a couple of months back, I’m actually pretty happy about this news.

Personally, I think that the removal of the standup trains could vastly improve Shockwave and make it fit better with the modern day vision of Drayton Manor. Yes, the standup trains going does remove the ride’s main USP, but I never found the standup position terribly comfortable, and I think that reverting the ride to a regular sit-down coaster will convert it into a brilliant “first inversion” coaster for Drayton Manor’s target demographic.

Yes, Shockwave has not got the most interesting or intense layout, but I think that if given sit-down trains, it would actually be very well suited to be a “first big coaster”. It’s not the most intense coaster, it has relatively few inversions, and it’s relatively short if kids don’t like it, but at the same time, it’s quite an impressive ride in terms of scale, which really elevates it above the rest of the park in terms of perceived intensity and gives young kids the impression that it’s a properly “big” coaster compared to everything else in the park.
 
Relife said:
Nothing lasts forever and the current Shockwave has had a good 30 year run. Would people prefer it removed? Intamin don't even make stand up trains anymore so the options were limited what they could do with it.
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They don't, but B&M do and the track is essentially B&M box track etc and everything else I've suggested previously.

So, Shockwave as the Drayton Manor "Spinning Coaster" anyone?
 
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