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Drayton Manor Park

Bowser said:
What are the ones called that do go 360 (eg Adventure Island Southend)? Seems like the same ride from the customer's perspective but assuming there's something different going on mechanically?
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If you're referring to Axis at Adventure Island, it's manufactured by SBF Visa and is a Maxi Dance Party 360. Unlike Maelstrom, it features a counterweight.
 
Excalibur said:
Just watched a video with Victoria Lynn MD of the park. She’s said the days of installing white knuckle thrills are defiantly over and they’re only installing family attractions now.

Best get visiting whilst we can before they remove all the thrill flat rides!
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I believe that was always the aim. The park are now focusing on family thrill and their installations since 2021 reflect that.

We're more likely to see rides that appeals to wider audiences like Gold Rush, Wave Swinger, Loki and Thor whilst maintaining the current thrill offering such as The Wave, Stormforce 10 and Maelstrom which also have wide appeals especially after Wave's upgrade.

It doesn't mean we won't ever see any new thrill rides installed again, it'll be more that they appeal to wider audiences and most likely have a 1.2m (or at a push 1.3m) height requirement at the most (like what they've been doing in the last few years)

It's that we won't see rides that are intimidating in it's nature like Apocalypse.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
Interestingly enough on their ride page for the Gyro Swings Intamin list Maelstrom as having a 360 degree maximum swing angle when all other installations are listed as having a 120 dregree max swing angle. I wonder why this is?
www.intamin.com

Gyro Swing - Intamin Amusement Rides

www.intamin.com www.intamin.com
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It's clearly a typo. The parent product page that covers ALL gyroswings states 120 degrees.

If anyone is good at proper maths. Do the maths. The maths do not support it doing a full 360. Not without it pulling a dangerous 7 to 8 negative G when at bottom of the swing, that is with it just about making it over the top too, without significant speed.

A counterweight is not there just to look pretty. It serves a very real purpose. Part of that is decreasing the speed and power required to get the ride to do 360 degrees, giving much less g force and much less strain on the hardware.
 
owenstreet7 said:
I believe that was always the aim. The park are now focusing on family thrill and their installations since 2021 reflect that.

We're more likely to see rides that appeals to wider audiences like Gold Rush, Wave Swinger, Loki and Thor whilst maintaining the current thrill offering such as The Wave, Stormforce 10 and Maelstrom which also have wide appeals especially after Wave's upgrade.

It doesn't mean we won't ever see any new thrill rides installed again, it'll be more that they appeal to wider audiences and most likely have a 1.2m (or at a push 1.3m) height requirement at the most (like what they've been doing in the last few years)

It's that we won't see rides that are intimidating in its nature like Apocalypse.
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It was in the 90s when I think thrill rides had their peak. Nearly all the UK parks were installing thrill rides, but most, especially Drayton, Flamingo Land have moved away from them in more recent years.

I think this is why Thorpe has had a tough past decade. They tried being a thrills only park and it didn’t work. All the (sensible) records have been broken and the public just aren’t as bothered by thrill rides as they used to be. Hyperia being the tallest and fastest in the country is an easy sell, but where do they go from here?

Where parks focus on family rides, it allows for creativity, great theming and lots of other things which are often harder to pull off with thrill rides. And at a fraction of the cost too.

Also, you don’t need to only go on white knuckle rides if you’re a teenager or young adult. There are plenty of ride types out there which have broad appeal. This is what Drayton, Paultons and Chessington will continue to put most one their investment into over the coming years.
 
RustyShackleford said:
Strange aspect to Apocalypse though is that it was quite family friendly in its own way.

So for example, if you are with a little one on Bounty and they decide they don't like it then that is a very, very long 3 minutes.

With Apolcalypse it was only actually 3 seconds.
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Took a bit longer than 3 seconds to rise to the top though! Climbing up to that height would have been just as terrifying as the drop for some kids (including mine). I've just watched an old POV and the ride experience from the start of the climb to coming back down again took about 50 seconds but it felt like longer though.
 
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Enter Valhalla said:
It was in the 90s when I think thrill rides had their peak. Nearly all the UK parks were installing thrill rides, but most, especially Drayton, Flamingo Land have moved away from them in more recent years.

I think this is why Thorpe has had a tough past decade. They tried being a thrills only park and it didn’t work. All the (sensible) records have been broken and the public just aren’t as bothered by thrill rides as they used to be. Hyperia being the tallest and fastest in the country is an easy sell, but where do they go from here?
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Thorpe Park ultimately got slowly sunk through the 2010s & 2020s by its generally scant themes throughout the park (making it resemble Weston Pier more than Alton Towers) and choosing naff IP (Derren Brown, Angry Birds, and The Walking Dead) that aged like milk by the early to mid 2020s.

Its roller coasters are not bad on principle, but they just had thrill rides and in the process stripped the park of much of its pre-Millennia quirky personality, with no truly successful dark rides or interestingly themed building facades/set dressing to balance things out (like at Alton Towers in its prime).
 
George and Vera Bryan took there Children to Disney land in the 1970’s and noticed something that was missing from the uk market so they added the Jungle cruise and the jungle palladium. They were the 1st attempt at themed ride and show at the park but it wasn’t to they decided to go big in 1990 when they spent £3 million on the pirate adventure and it was the start of the park becoming a theme park.
With Pirate Cove been created in 1992 with the dodgems and the crypt building themed to fit the area with Jolly Buccaneer been installed out the front.
Then they decided to go bigger and install Splash Canyon in 1993 then Shockwave with 1994.
Then the Klondike Gold mine joindd the in 1995 with the Waltzers been enclosed and themed to suit the area.
1996 the investment continued at the top of the park with the Haunting been installed.
1997/98 not sure which year theses were installed but the park spent money on updating the jungle cruise to Rory’s Jungle safari and added new flat rides across the site with the Sombreros and 6 rides added in children’s corner which was renamed Robinson’s. Now I know they needed to update the kids rides but you they ruined the theme the park was going for.
1999 They decided to replace the log flume with stormforce 10
2000 was the biggest in the park’s history when Apocalypse, Golden nuggets and a indoor entertainment space was installed.
I think them were Drayton’s best years under the Bryan’s.
Now I know Thomas land has been a great success for the park but they did waste money with Excalibur which never worked how it should have done and only lasted 8 years also G-Force which looked good to look at but was awful to ride.
Pandemonium did they really need to buy it when the Sky flyer before that did the same job.
The Cyclone was a great ride but in the wrong part of the park with the complaints from the locals.
But they did add some good flat rides with Maelstrom, Drunken barrels and the Bounty.
The final 10 years they owned it was tough with them as Thomas land was doing well for them with new rides installed in 2011,2013, Big expansion in 2015 and 2017 tBut the main park only saw the Ben 10 coaster and Air race installed with Pirate adventure, Splash Canyon and Excalibur all left SBNO with the removal of the big wheel, chair lift and G-force with after the looping group taking over theses were replaced.
In Victoria Lynn video with TPW she said they already looking at the next 5 years which I’m sure will include the pirate cove area and the zoo with also other areas been looked at.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
George and Vera Bryan took there Children to Disney land in the 1970’s and noticed something that was missing from the uk market so they added the Jungle cruise and the jungle palladium. They were the 1st attempt at themed ride and show at the park but it wasn’t to they decided to go big in 1990 when they spent £3 million on the pirate adventure and it was the start of the park becoming a theme park.
With Pirate Cove been created in 1992 with the dodgems and the crypt building themed to fit the area with Jolly Buccaneer been installed out the front.
Then they decided to go bigger and install Splash Canyon in 1993 then Shockwave with 1994.
Then the Klondike Gold mine joindd the in 1995 with the Waltzers been enclosed and themed to suit the area.
1996 the investment continued at the top of the park with the Haunting been installed.
1997/98 not sure which year theses were installed but the park spent money on updating the jungle cruise to Rory’s Jungle safari and added new flat rides across the site with the Sombreros and 6 rides added in children’s corner which was renamed Robinson’s. Now I know they needed to update the kids rides but you they ruined the theme the park was going for.
1999 They decided to replace the log flume with stormforce 10
2000 was the biggest in the park’s history when Apocalypse, Golden nuggets and a indoor entertainment space was installed.
I think them were Drayton’s best years under the Bryan’s.
Now I know Thomas land has been a great success for the park but they did waste money with Excalibur which never worked how it should have done and only lasted 8 years also G-Force which looked good to look at but was awful to ride.
Pandemonium did they really need to buy it when the Sky flyer before that did the same job.
The Cyclone was a great ride but in the wrong part of the park with the complaints from the locals.
But they did add some good flat rides with Maelstrom, Drunken barrels and the Bounty.
The final 10 years they owned it was tough with them as Thomas land was doing well for them with new rides installed in 2011,2013, Big expansion in 2015 and 2017 tBut the main park only saw the Ben 10 coaster and Air race installed with Pirate adventure, Splash Canyon and Excalibur all left SBNO with the removal of the big wheel, chair lift and G-force with after the looping group taking over theses were replaced.
In Victoria Lynn video with TPW she said they already looking at the next 5 years which I’m sure will include the pirate cove area and the zoo with also other areas been looked at.
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Great summary and exactly how I remember it. 1990-2000, it actually competed well with Alton Towers and made the best decisions. I wonder what the next five years will bring - the last few have certainly been positive. Hopefully the PA building and Excalibur lake are usable and can be developed well. Long rides like that are great breaks out the day.

I know Gold Rush isn't open yet, but I do think they would become a well-rounded park with a new dark ride/scenic ride and another coaster or two. I know it's not what they are going for but having ridden the STC at Tripsdrill recently, it was exhilarating, but not as intense as The Wave, and the train and queue was full of short under-10s!
 
It was strange just how far the park plummeted in the later years of the Bryans ownership. I remember visiting a couple of years before it was sold, and it was honestly so depressing to see how many rides had been ripped out.

But people forget just how many successful years the Bryans had. The stagnation of the park started long before the rapids incident, the floods and Covid, and it’s actually very difficult to place the point at which things started to go wrong.
 
dumbdumb said:
Great summary and exactly how I remember it. 1990-2000, it actually competed well with Alton Towers and made the best decisions. I wonder what the next five years will bring - the last few have certainly been positive. Hopefully the PA building and Excalibur lake are usable and can be developed well. Long rides like that are great breaks out the day.

I know Gold Rush isn't open yet, but I do think they would become a well-rounded park with a new dark ride/scenic ride and another coaster or two. I know it's not what they are going for but having ridden the STC at Tripsdrill recently, it was exhilarating, but not as intense as The Wave, and the train and queue was full of short under-10s!
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I think when The Wave reaches the end of it life something like the New Velkoma STC at Emerald park would be a perfect replacement. I still think think they could get a good 10 years out of the Wave though.

Once the Pirate area is done the park is in a good position where it only needs the odd ride every 2-3 years to stay fresh
 
Relife said:
I think when The Wave reaches the end of it life something like the New Velkoma STC at Emerald park would be a perfect replacement. I still think think they could get a good 10 years out of the Wave though.

Once the Pirate area is done the park is in a good position where it only needs the odd ride every 2-3 years to stay fresh
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I would love to see a Vekoma STC over one of the two lakes (Excalibur maybe)

It could be very well themed and presented if executed well.
 
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