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Drayton Manor Park

I suspect in terms of visitor numbers they will have had a good year. Despite ops being slow and poor opening hours the park still offers good value for money. We still had a great day out and got on plenty of rides

They have struggled when busy but it's not something that can't be fixed for next season.
 
I don’t see how it can be seen as good value for money in the busy summer period, when the park is only open for 6.5 hours, the queues are such that you only manage 4-6 rides, and they’re charging £9.50 for parking on top of what people already paid for entry.

Perhaps I’m out of touch, but that seems like pretty poor value to me.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I don’t see how it can be seen as good value for money in the busy summer period, when the park is only open for 6.5 hours, the queues are such that you only manage 4-6 rides, and they’re charging £9.50 for parking on top of what people already paid for entry.

Perhaps I’m out of touch, but that seems like pretty poor value to me.
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I think the annual pass prices are excellent value for money and from the original season pass costing £75 back in 2017 with inflation they only gone up to £99 in 7 years.
 
Relife said:
I suspect in terms of visitor numbers they will have had a good year. Despite ops being slow and poor opening hours the park still offers good value for money. We still had a great day out and got on plenty of rides
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Good visitor numbers and value for money doesn't always mean a good year.

If value for money = cheap tickets then it could be a bad year for them if they haven't made any money!
 
Themepark-newbie said:
Good visitor numbers and value for money doesn't always mean a good year.

If value for money = cheap tickets then it could be a bad year for them if they haven't made any money!
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I wouldn't say it's a cheap day out but compared to other park tickets it's good value. More people in the park the more people to spend on park. I seriously doubt they would price tickets at a loss, the park is in much better shape than it was just a few years ago
 
Drayton is a park you’re almost guaranteed to get on all the rides you want to in a day without paying extra to do so and still have time to visit the zoo too, so by virtue of that it’s better value than its peers imo.
 
I like that they still like to let Easy Access and fast pass holders get on 1st but only restricted them to 4-6 seats per train so they can still let a lot of the standard queue onto the ride.
 
Bowser said:
Drayton is a park you’re almost guaranteed to get on all the rides you want to in a day without paying extra to do so and still have time to visit the zoo too, so by virtue of that it’s better value than its peers imo.
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For some of us, that zoo is a negative experience, not a positive one.
It needs closing for the benefit of the animals, too cramped, too concrete.
 
We used to visit regularly, to stay in contact with a client with complex special needs at a boarding school.
He loves animals, but hated the Drayton zoo, "the animals looked sad".
Either ban em all, or at least send the drayton animals down the road to the safari park.
Which he liked much more...
 
One of the few zoos I've seen footage of one of the monkeys/apes chucking stuff out of the enclosure towards guests in the "western world".

Haven't visited for ages so can't imagine it's gotten any better.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Not wanting to be pedantic, but this is pretty much in line with Bank of England’s rate of inflation since 2017.

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But when you think under the last 3 full years under the Bryan’s we had 1 new ride James and the red balloon which cost £250000 and the re theme of Golden nuggets in 2018 and work in the zoo for 2019 with the removal of the chair lift, Big wheel, Splash Canyon SBNO and G force even at £75 didn’t feel like excellence value for money.
Now the level of investments the looping group has invested since 2021 the annual pass really gives excellent value for money and with the renewal price been £89.10 is even better.
 
rob666 said:
We used to visit regularly, to stay in contact with a client with complex special needs at a boarding school.
He loves animals, but hated the Drayton zoo, "the animals looked sad".
Either ban em all, or at least send the drayton animals down the road to the safari park.
Which he liked much more...
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I don't think it needs to be banned but I would like to see them relocate the animals to WMSP which has better facilities for them. It also opens up a sizable area for future development. Can't see this happening soon though, seems like Looping next for us is that central area of the park when the Pirate adventure building is.
 
The zoo at Drayton Manor Park and Zoo is an unacknowledged small profit centre. The zoo is in receipt of research and conservation grants, whilst also participating in breeding programmes. Zoos are also, very handily, exempt from VAT and have many other tax deductible benefits.

Looping could consolidate their conservation efforts at Drayton Manor Park and Zoo & West Midlands Safari Park, but bizarrely there isn't a business case for it. It's because of this that I can't see it going for a while.
 
In my head, I think it would be a good idea to do a bit of a swap at some point, and bring the rides from WMSP to Drayton and the zoo from Drayton to WMSP.

This would strengthen the core offering of both of the individual parks, and also allay any concerns about animal conservation at Drayton and the ethics of having animals and rides together.
 
Matt N said:
In my head, I think it would be a good idea to do a bit of a swap at some point, and bring the rides from WMSP to Drayton and the zoo from Drayton to WMSP.

This would strengthen the core offering of both of the individual parks, and also allay any concerns about animal conservation at Drayton and the ethics of having animals and rides together.
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The big difference would be the only ride which the park needs is Venom but cause it’s 1.4m height requirement and only has 8 seats isn’t in the parks new target audience and the queues for it would be a nightmare. This could easily fit on the Flying Dutchman site.
The spinning coaster could also be moved to the unused land in Vikings and themed to suit.
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Themeparksandy1981 said:
The big difference would be the only ride which the park needs is Venom but cause it’s 1.4m height requirement and only has 8 seats isn’t in the parks new target audience and the queues for it would be a nightmare. This could easily fit on the Flying Dutchman site.
The spinning coaster could also be moved to the unused land in Vikings and themed to suit.
IMG_4786.pngIMG_4787.png
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I really don't think it's going to happen. WMSP have recently invested in the Jungle Jeeps ride which means they are looking at keeping the rides there for the foreseeable.

It is more likely that Pleasurewood Hills would close and have their rides redistributed between their portfolio. I think that's a remote possibility and most likely will keep going as a going concern for the foreseeable or get sold off to someone else.

I think a spinning coaster would be a logical ride to add to Drayton Manor's coaster line up in the future. I thought a Spinning Wild Mouse would've fitted perfectly Adventure Cove area where G Force was back in 2021.
 
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