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Drayton Manor Park

Anecdotally, at least, that does seem young to me; I’d have guessed it was more like 10.

I hit 1.4m at 10, and I’m now 5’10”/1.78m as an adult male, so while not particularly tall, I’m not exactly short either.

My cousin hit 1.4m just before he turned 8, and seems very tall for his age. My other cousin was similar, and also seems very tall for her age.

With this in mind, I would be surprised if the average age of hitting 1.4m really was only 8 years old.
 
Just to clarify, 10-11 wasn't a guess, it was the answer based on data from the RCPCH:

www.rcpch.ac.uk

UK-WHO growth charts - 2-18 years

This chart is mainly intended to assess the growth of school age children and young people in primary or secondary care. It includes guidance on the onset and progression of puberty, a BMI centile lookup, an adult height predictor and a mid parental height comparator.
www.rcpch.ac.uk www.rcpch.ac.uk

We've spent a lot of time in hospitals discussing my sons lack of growth so i am very well acquainted with these graphs!
 
Bear in mind that you're wearing shoes at a theme park so you will pass the 1.4m line earlier than you do barefoot. I once took a class of Yr 5s to Chessington in October (so they were mostly 9), all were over 1.4m although two needed guest services wristbands.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Bear in mind that you're wearing shoes at a theme park so you will pass the 1.4m line earlier than you do barefoot. I once took a class of Yr 5s to Chessington in October (so they were mostly 9), all were over 1.4m although two needed guest services wristbands.
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For sure and equally worth remembering:

- Theme park height charts will not exactly mirror heights measured elsewhere, predominantly those located at ride entrances, they may be slightly lower or higher (anecdotally i've noticed several cm discrepancies between parks on these boards)
- Staff have final say and can request passengers remove footwear to be measured if they suspect they're adding excessive height
- I believe staff can also override guest service wristbands if they're not satisfied (rendering them somewhat redundant)

For these reasons i won't entertain taking my son on a ride unless he's comfortably over the requirement.
 
Height sticks were always a bit.... inaccurate. Especially as more often than not staff were stood on uneven pathing.

I always said to borderline ones to go to GS and get a proper measurement there. But then it was heaving with all and sundry.

Would be utterly daft to let ride staff overrule any GS wristbands. Unless MAP groups are pushing that idea as well as abusing RAP?
 
Benzin said:
Would be utterly daft to let ride staff overrule any GS wristbands. Unless MAP groups are pushing that idea as well as abusing RAP?
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How would MAP groups be able to abuse a height measurement exactly?

RAP is a grey area, but height is very concrete; you can’t identify as over 1.4m if you’re only 1.2m!
 
Matt N said:
How would MAP groups be able to abuse a height measurement exactly?

RAP is a grey area, but height is very concrete; you can’t identify as over 1.4m if you’re only 1.2m!
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For example, parents have been known to stuff paper in their kids shoes to increase their height.
 
Alphe86 said:
Ride staff overrule GS bands as people change in height through the day
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That could be a reason but ultimately it would be because the ride staff are the ones whom a directly responsible for the safety of the passengers, not guest services.

If there was an accidently, they would be the first to feel the heat. Therefor it is logical that they get the final say in the matter as the safety of the guests is directly more so than anyone else, including the park in general, their responsibility at that specific time of them riding the ride.

Guest services or the park in general cannot emergency stop a ride or conduct a whole host of safety related tasks based off the CCTV and visuals of a ride very, very quickly, where the ride hosts and operators can. Therefore it is logical they get the final say so to speak.
 
Guest Services can check your child’s height to just give the parent advice what rides there child/children can go on but they do say that staff may check there height at the front of the queue.
My daughter was 10 when she hit 1.4m and my son is currently just over 1.1m and his 5.
 
Matt N said:
Drayton is located smack bang in the middle of the country and right in the middle of the Birmingham metropolitan area
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1728340503918.png

Smack bang in the middle of the Birmingham metropolitan area is... uh, Birmingham! Drayton Manor is pretty far from the centre, out on a limb to the East.

This is actually an advantage because it means it's also a relatively short journey from the tri-city Nottingham/Derby/Leicester (population ~4m) area as well - if it was the other side of Birmingham (like WMSP is) it'd be too much of a schlep.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Went on Saturday and the Halloween event has really been cut back with the props been brought from B&M and the rest that the Bryan’s owned.
IMG_4817.jpegIMG_4814.jpegIMG_4813.jpegIMG_4812.jpegIMG_4798.jpeg
The Trick or Treat castle currently been worked on as that don’t open to the 26th

IMG_4816.jpegIMG_4815.jpeg
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So much for Drayton’s biggest year ever. Biggest year of cutbacks perhaps.. which admittedly is mostly because the offerings were so vastly improved in 2022-23 and they haven’t been able to sustain it. Real shame when you consider the mood of positivity surrounding Drayton in 2022-23.
 
rob666 said:
To be fair, I think the budget for the park may have been blown on a pretty decent new family coaster.
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In which case, why set up big events like last year’s summer nights and Halloween only to have to cut them back in 2024?

If they knew they’d have a smaller events budget this year, they were essentially setting up the 2023 events, knowing that they’d have to be cut back. That seems unlikely doesn’t it?
 
WillPS said:
1728340503918.png

Smack bang in the middle of the Birmingham metropolitan area is... uh, Birmingham! Drayton Manor is pretty far from the centre, out on a limb to the East.

This is actually an advantage because it means it's also a relatively short journey from the tri-city Nottingham/Derby/Leicester (population ~4m) area as well - if it was the other side of Birmingham (like WMSP is) it'd be too much of a schlep.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the tangent but that's a lovely map, where is it from?
 
Enter Valhalla said:
In which case, why set up big events like last year’s summer nights and Halloween only to have to cut them back in 2024?

If they knew they’d have a smaller events budget this year, they were essentially setting up the 2023 events, knowing that they’d have to be cut back. That seems unlikely doesn’t it?
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The events budget will be responding to realtime/seasonal booking trends, rather than being fixed years in advance. Hindsight is 20/20, forecasting is not. 2023's events were well thought out and a bit of a leap of faith, the park was being braver than normal and seeing what would work. Based on the feedback for the 2023 season (visitor given and data driven), they'll have made changes.

Last year's summer nights events were poorly attended in the evening hours, the park will have the data to demonstrate this and so scaling that back makes sense. Visitor numbers are down throughout the industry, and Drayton being a learner park, can respond to trends quicker than others. They'll also have data from last year for their Halloween events and so can better design this year's. Last year's "The Haunted Manor" event was designed to be scary, it hasn't seen a return. This suggests that the uptake was poor for Drayton Manor's target audience. They actually ended up making The Castle of Shadows scaremaze, initially a £3 up charge, free toward the end of thr seasonal run.

We attended the event for Shockwave's Last Stand, on the final day of operation. The park still had their Halloween event in full swing, extended opening hours until 8pm, but the park was dead. We managed 25+ cycles on Shockwave, along with the Castle of Shadows scaremaze (terrifying), The Haunting 1997, Stormforce 10, a zoo meander and some other flats. It was honestly the most empty I've seen a park.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Went on Saturday and the Halloween event has really been cut back with the props been brought from B&M and the rest that the Bryan’s owned.
IMG_4817.jpegIMG_4814.jpegIMG_4813.jpegIMG_4812.jpegIMG_4798.jpeg
The Trick or Treat castle currently been worked on as that don’t open to the 26th

IMG_4816.jpegIMG_4815.jpeg
Click to expand...
I think you're being quite harsh. If Alton Towers trusted B&M to build their roller coasters, why shouldn't Drayton Manor trust B&M to build their Halloween props?
 
Enter Valhalla said:
In which case, why set up big events like last year’s summer nights and Halloween only to have to cut them back in 2024?

If they knew they’d have a smaller events budget this year, they were essentially setting up the 2023 events, knowing that they’d have to be cut back. That seems unlikely doesn’t it?
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Goosey beat me to it, but a simple answer...perhaps they weren't as popular as hoped.
Lousy summers...we have had a few in a line.
 
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