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Drayton Manor Park

dazza4783 said:
Will be interesting to see how long Accelerator lasts at the park, given that the new coaster does pretty much what Accelerator does (forwards and backwards) plus a bit more.
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I don’t think that there’s any danger of Accelerator going any time soon, these Family Boomerang coasters are massively popular with parks around the world and we see new installations of them every year. They seem to be a very reliable model based on tried and tested technology and it’s not as if the track is subjected to high stresses like some other coaster models are. I don’t think that the park or guests would care in the least that will be two coasters at the park that go “forwards and backwards”. Accelerator isn’t going anywhere and there’s zero reason to think it would.
 
If Energylandia can have 2 junior Vekoma boomerangs 10 minutes walk from each other I think Drayton can cope with having 2 coasters that occasionally go backwards in the same park.

Speaking of coasters that go backwards and have switch tracks I rode FirleFranz at Bayern Park last week which features launches, switch tracks, and backwards and forward sections. So much fun and very confusing. That's a Gerstlauer but it's a very fun concept.
 
John_P said:
If Energylandia can have 2 junior Vekoma boomerangs 10 minutes walk from each other I think Drayton can cope with having 2 coasters that occasionally go backwards in the same park.

Speaking of coasters that go backwards and have switch tracks I rode FirleFranz at Bayern Park last week which features launches, switch tracks, and backwards and forward sections. So much fun and very confusing. That's a Gerstlauer but it's a very fun concept.
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Sounds like Wakala at Bellewaerde where they seemingly picked every single element and made them into a coaster. Also Gerst.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
The thing I never understood why they raised Buffalo’s minimum height requirement from 0.9m to 1.05m in 2017 when both there other family coasters are more thrilling.
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The reason is not too dissimilar to when X got rethemed to TWD, or RMT at Towers has seen recently, the height restriction increased because its seen as a maturity thing rather than something actually changing hardware or insurance wise.
 
Plus the restarints can be easily opened by a guest at any point in the ride. as Bert2theSpark says, the higher restriction aims to ensure maturity to not go diving into the lake mid ride.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
But when though, that’s the big question. Have the park made any official statement yet on any kind of window they are looking at to open this coaster? Seeing as we are halfway through June now you’d think that if they were intending on opening for the summer holidays (which start in about four weeks time) that they’d be revealing a name and expected date of opening very soon. Otherwise it’s a little concerning that they haven’t revealed these details yet.
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I spoke to some of the management team and the problems the wave and Hyperia having they not gonna announce an opening date to the ride been signed off to the parks operation team.
I also been told the trains haven’t moved yet since they did the original half test run and the 2nd train was put into the maintenance shed. With 10 days left of June that will give them enough time to install all the fencing around the coaster with testing fully starting on the 1st July with the ride hopefully been passed off by the 15th with then staff training 15th to 18th July with a annual pass/media day on the 19th. Then on the 20th and 21st annual pass morning event 10.30 to 12 then it opens to everyone.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I spoke to some of the management team and the problems the wave and Hyperia having they not gonna announce an opening date to the ride been signed off to the parks operation team.
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Whilst I understand that this narrative works for them retrospectively, this doesn't excuse the lack of a name announcement (unless it really is #NewCoaster), or even a seasonal window (Coming Spring / Summer / Autumn 2024).

I'm not sure how long ADIPS certification takes, but two weeks seems awfully quick. If the park are saying that they're holding off on announcements, because of the (incredibly recent) Hyperia issues and The Wave problems, you'd expect them to have a much longer testing period to ensure that these teething problems are avoided.

The teething issues they're referring to also only became apparent AFTER both rides had been signed off and handed over to the park, which just strengthens my belief that this isn't the reason they're holding back.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
I don’t think that there’s any danger of Accelerator going any time soon, these Family Boomerang coasters are massively popular with parks around the world and we see new installations of them every year. They seem to be a very reliable model based on tried and tested technology and it’s not as if the track is subjected to high stresses like some other coaster models are. I don’t think that the park or guests would care in the least that will be two coasters at the park that go “forwards and backwards”. Accelerator isn’t going anywhere and there’s zero reason to think it would.
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I don't know. As it will probably be seen as an older, less thrilling version of the new coaster I could see the Looping group moving it to Pleasurewood Hills at some point when they are ready to put something new in at Drayton.
I know they already have a Boomerang with Wipeout, but it could actually work as younger guests that would not ride Wipeout would ride the Family Boomerang model.
 
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GooseOnTheLoose said:
Whilst I understand that this narrative works for them retrospectively, this doesn't excuse the lack of a name announcement (unless it really is #NewCoaster), or even a seasonal window (Coming Spring / Summer / Autumn 2024).

I'm not sure how long ADIPS certification takes, but two weeks seems awfully quick. If the park are saying that they're holding off on announcements, because of the (incredibly recent) Hyperia issues and The Wave problems, you'd expect them to have a much longer testing period to ensure that these teething problems are avoided.

The teething issues they're referring to also only became apparent AFTER both rides had been signed off and handed over to the park, which just strengthens my belief that this isn't the reason they're holding back.
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The Wave wasn’t even named or announced to a week before it opened to the public.
I said it won’t be to long to it’s announced as from the photo I took on Sunday.

IMG_4211.jpeg
I think this will be the rides entrance signage
 
dazza4783 said:
I don't know. As it is will probably be seen as an older, less thrilling version of the new coaster I could see the Looping group moving it to Pleasurewood Hills at some point when they are ready to put something new in at Drayton.
I know they already have a Boomerang with Wipeout, but it could actually work as younger guests that would not ride Wipeout would ride the Family Boomerang model.
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Looping Group seem to have little to zero interest in adding to the ride lineup at Pleasurewood Hills. I’m not sure that there is much logic in removing a perfectly good coaster from the park that is their main focus. We often talk about things like how park owners could move this or that ride to another park in their portfolio but I don’t think it’s actually that attractive a proposition to lose a coaster from one park to add it to another compared to just getting a new attraction in. I don’t see what Drayton Manor would gain at all from losing Accelerator regardless of what other rides have opened there.
 
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