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Drayton Manor Park

Bowser said:
Yep, I’m here now, pretty devastated. Think I’m over UK theme parks after this year, one disaster after another.

It was testing for an hour when the park opened but nothing since.

Also they had no notification of it being closed on the board outside. The electronic signs said opening at 12.
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New rides ALWAYS have teething issues and closures during the first few months. This has been the normal since I've visited theme parks regularly since 2001. It would have been the normal before then too. In general, many people seem to have completely forgot this for one reason or another.

It is unfortunate that is is closed on your visit though. Shame it did not open at 12.
 
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DistortAMG said:
New rides ALWAYS have teething issues and closures during the first few months. This has been the normal since I've visited theme parks regularly since 2001. It would have been the normal before then too. In general, many people seem to have completely forgot this for one reason or another.

It is unfortunate that is is closed on your visit though. Shame it did not open at 12.
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It was testing again around 2pm for ages and had staff riding it at one point but then it got stuck on the hill again. Assuming it didn't open at all today.

You're right of course but it does seem particularly prevalent this season, though i accept i am both visiting more parks and accessing this forum so far more likely to be aware of it. We hadn't planned this trip either but certainly reiterates the point of not to go to a park solely for a new ride.

The Wave was down a lot of the day too, though when it was working they were sending the trains out pretty quickly, around 2 minute dispatch other than when customers were causing issues.

Honestly, after Plopsaland the other week it seemed like a seaside resort in comparison. We still managed to have a nice enough day but it felt decidedly second tier. When The Wave and Gold Rush are both absent it's a very basic park indeed.

I'm sure we'll go back as i still think my son will love Gold Rush. Fortunately he wasn't upset as he didn't know what he was missing (so it was just me sulking for both of us) but it won't be this year.
 
I can only comment on uk parks but since the Covid lockdown ride availability has been awful. Is it a parts problem, maintenance staff issues as Harold’s helicopters has been down for weeks and only reopened last week.
It needed a new motor and sensors
IMG_4485.jpegIMG_4484.jpeg
Even Loki been unavailable quite often this season.
Captains sea adventure had 2 boat’s unavailable last weekend as non of the guns worked on them.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Even Loki been unavailable quite often this season
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Loki was closed today. Was not advertised or on the website. Pirate Ship went down a lot too. Most rides weren’t open till 11am.

I don’t want to be overly negative as we had a nice day which is what counts and can actively see the park improving.

That said I do think you’re right, the UK theme parks in general other than Paultons seem to be in quite a poor state in terms of ride reliability.
 
Bowser said:
Loki was closed today. Was not advertised or on the website. Pirate Ship went down a lot too. Most rides weren’t open till 11am.

I don’t want to be overly negative as we had a nice day which is what counts and can actively see the park improving.

That said I do think you’re right, the UK theme parks in general other than Paultons seem to be in quite a poor state in terms of ride reliability.
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Even Paultons has been struggling. The old log flume has been closed since the start of June, and both the tea cups and peppas balloons have had lengthy unexpected closures.
 
Interestingly, it does seem as though some of the initial goodwill towards Drayton Manor following the Looping Group acquisition and early investments has dissipated a bit. While the investments have continued to gain good reviews and the future looks bright, it seems as though the general sense of people thinking that they could do no wrong and that they'd be the next Paultons has gone somewhat.

I wonder why this is?
 
Matt N said:
Interestingly, it does seem as though some of the initial goodwill towards Drayton Manor following the Looping Group acquisition and early investments has dissipated a bit. While the investments have continued to gain good reviews and the future looks bright, it seems as though the general sense of people thinking that they could do no wrong and that they'd be the next Paultons has gone somewhat.

I wonder why this is?
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I've always argued that Paultons have tried to be like Drayton Manor.

Drayton Manor brought the first children IP based land to the UK in the name of Thomas Land. All other parks, be it Paultons, Alton Towers, Pleasure Beach all followed suit.
 
Matt N said:
Interestingly, it does seem as though some of the initial goodwill towards Drayton Manor following the Looping Group acquisition and early investments has dissipated a bit. While the investments have continued to gain good reviews and the future looks bright, it seems as though the general sense of people thinking that they could do no wrong and that they'd be the next Paultons has gone somewhat.

I wonder why this is?
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This year at Drayton was revolving around 2 big attractions so there was understandably a lot of excitement.

One is essentially still a 30 year old coaster and much like with Nemesis ReBorn, the novelty of that quickly wears off for seasoned enthusiasts. On top of that it has been plagued by some of the poorest throughputs known.

The other has only just opened so most people have yet to ride it but does seem to have veered much further towards the "family" coaster aspect than perhaps some people were expecting.

I don't know if i would read too much into either of these at this stage though, it's more the ebb and flow of the enthusiast news cycle.
 
Bowser said:
It was testing again around 2pm for ages and had staff riding it at one point but then it got stuck on the hill again. Assuming it didn't open at all today.

You're right of course but it does seem particularly prevalent this season, though i accept i am both visiting more parks and accessing this forum so far more likely to be aware of it. We hadn't planned this trip either but certainly reiterates the point of not to go to a park solely for a new ride.

The Wave was down a lot of the day too, though when it was working they were sending the trains out pretty quickly, around 2 minute dispatch other than when customers were causing issues.

Honestly, after Plopsaland the other week it seemed like a seaside resort in comparison. We still managed to have a nice enough day but it felt decidedly second tier. When The Wave and Gold Rush are both absent it's a very basic park indeed.

I'm sure we'll go back as i still think my son will love Gold Rush. Fortunately he wasn't upset as he didn't know what he was missing (so it was just me sulking for both of us) but it won't be this year.
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I was there too today, the same happened again around 4pm with Gold Rush, lots of successful test cycles, staff riding, looked like it was about to open and then train comes to a halt on the lift again. Very frustrating but these teething problems happen with new rides. I wonder if they are regretting teasing Thorpe Park about Hyperia's problems now :laughing:

Managed to get on The Wave for the first time though. Thought it was decent, surprisingly smooth, and feel very free in those restraints, although was caught slightly off guard by the zero-g roll, was always very whippy, but with nothing restraining my upper body it had me leaning almost 90 degrees out the side of the train, not complaining though. I do like how the restraint is spread over a larger area than other lap-bar restraints. Sik at Flamingo Land could benefit from something like those, would solve the thigh pain problems (for me anyway) during those inline twists.
Operations aren't the quickest on it, but probably not as bad as some say they are. Queue moves slowly, although was around 40 minute queue from just after where you enter the building, which wasn't as long as I was expecting it to take, so not too bad. Gold Rush ride area looks great, and the ride looks fun so hoping to get back at some point to ride it once it's teething problems have been ironed out.
 
It’s just very frustrating for hard up families who kids have seen videos on YouTube and asking there parents can we go to Drayton we not been there in years.
Them visitors are usually the type who give the bad feedback on trip advisor and leave comments on social media which others will read and think im not paying over £200 on a family day out there if the main ride could be closed or wait 45-60 mins to ride the wave.
 
I would argue that leaving the EU is the main reason for supply issues at this point.

The hoops we have to jump through at work now to ship ANYTHING in and out the country is phenomenal. So much so we had to open a new department to handle it. It hasn't got any easier either.
 
One thing i just remembered, when we were waiting to board Accelerator we had the front row by the operating computer and there was a plaque on the side of it. It had lots of details like ride manufacturer, year, speed, capacity etc. Do most rides have this?
 
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