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Drayton Manor Park

Maelstrom said:
Interestingly the looping group are adding two new wooden family coasters to two of their parks - a GCI called wild Buffalo opens at Mer de Sable in 2025 and then in 2026 a wooden coaster at Isla Magica. So maybe they have done a multi ride deal and we do see a family wooden coaster in 2027/28 at Drayton.
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Interestingā€¦ perhaps that comment a few pages back about the park saying they were getting a woodie at the RCCGB event might not be that far fetched after all?
 
It is worth noting that the only source still, for the Drayton Manor Park and Zoo wooden coaster rumour / ride reveal, is the Reddit user u/Immediate-Tourist-25.

No other enthusiast who was present at the event has confirmed hearing the same thing, at least not publicly. The OP has deleted the post from the r/rollercoasters subreddit, is a participant in some rather questionable adult orientated subreddits, and keeps having other posts removed by moderators. I couldn't think of a better definition of a poor / awful / low quality source.

Not even Drayton Talk has a thread mentioning such a development.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
It is worth noting that the only source still, for the Drayton Manor Park and Zoo wooden coaster rumour / ride reveal, is the Reddit user u/Immediate-Tourist-25.

No other enthusiast who was present at the event has confirmed hearing the same thing, at least not publicly. The OP has deleted the post from the r/rollercoasters subreddit, is a participant in some rather questionable adult orientated subreddits, and keeps having other posts removed by moderators. I couldn't think of a better definition of a poor / awful / low quality source.

Not even Drayton Talk has a thread mentioning such a development.
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I am aware their is no valid source and also itā€™s been mentioned many times before I think it was at the same event for the club back in 2011/2012 they where apparently told a woodie was planned for around 2015! Much like the Buffallo replacement that was announced at such events as being replaced many times over the last 20 years. (Plans where actually drawn up for this inc a racing launched coaster for 2013, the concept they had on the Vekoma website was the layout designed for Drayton and an S&S suspended coaster for 2016 ish) But for what ever reason Drayton cancelled each project (I assume financial)

However I think itā€™s worth pointing out that the looping group are investing in wooden coasters at two of their other parks. If nothing else until recently at Dayton the looping group have not really invested in much new ride hardware for their parks. Following the recent investments at Drayton itā€™s good to see that they are adding new rides/coasters to some of their other parks and using some of the premium suppliers (ie Intamin, GCI etc). Which hopefully means they carry on with the investment they have done over the last few years at Drayton.
 
We had a interview with Colin Bryan in 2011 or 12 and the launch coaster that was gonna replace the Buffalo was a launched racing theme but they scrapped that idea after Colin watched a POV of the coaster and thought it wasnā€™t thrilling enough but back then I bet they were looking at only spending 2-3 million on the project.
With how popular the Wave has been this year I really think they need to look at installing another 1.2m height requirement coaster.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
With how popular the Wave has been this year I really think they need to look at installing another 1.2m height requirement coaster.
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I think these days itā€™s much easier to have a thrilling ride that is 1.2m compared to back in the day when OTSRā€™s were king. Thereā€™s some petty good stuff out there that can come in at 1.2m.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
With how popular the Wave has been this year I really think they need to look at installing another 1.2m height requirement coaster.
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Totally agree, I feel that the park has a massive gap between the 1m height requirement coasters and The Wave. It has been shortened slightly by Gold Rush but not as much as needed.

It doesn't help that the family/junior coasters are at the same height restrictions or slightly higher than Gold Rush and Accelerator.

Something in between is definitely needed and a medium sized wooden rollercoaster could achieve this. I.e. Twister at Grona Lund, Joris en de Draak at Efteling, Thunderbird at PowerPark etc.
 
I think thatā€™s why Drayton ticks a lot of boxes for families with kids upto 1.2m as currently my son is just over 1.1m so thereā€™s only the wave he canā€™t go on but if I take him to Alton Towers he can only go on 2 of the coasters.
Also value for money as his getting out of the CBEEBIES age bracket there isnā€™t much for him to go on when even now I got to pay full price for him.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I think thatā€™s why Drayton ticks a lot of boxes for families with kids upto 1.2m as currently my son is just over 1.1m so thereā€™s only the wave he canā€™t go on but if I take him to Alton Towers he can only go on 2 of the coasters.
Also value for money as his getting out of the CBEEBIES age bracket there isnā€™t much for him to go on when even now I got to pay full price for him.
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You are absolutely right šŸ‘šŸ» Drayton Manor ticks a lot of boxes for those who are 1.1m and below and has an arguably better family offering than Alton Towers. Especially for those too old for Cbeebies/Thomas but not quite at the height for bigger coasters.

I do think there needs to be something in between The Wave and the 1m coasters so families can build themselves up from Troublesome Trucks to The Wave without too big of a jump in between each step.

A rollercoaster with a 1.1m height requirement could work very well at the park.
 
owenstreet7 said:
You are absolutely right šŸ‘šŸ» Drayton Manor ticks a lot of boxes for those who are 1.1m and below and has an arguably better family offering than Alton Towers. Especially for those too old for Cbeebies/Thomas but not quite at the height for bigger coasters.

I do think there needs to be something in between The Wave and the 1m coasters so families can build themselves up from Troublesome Trucks to The Wave without too big of a jump in between each step.

A rollercoaster with a 1.1m height requirement could work very well at the park.
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The Wave for 30 years was a 1.4m coaster remember. By their own standard it is "the UK's most thrilling family coaster". Comparatively speaking to almost any other coaster with a 1.2m restriction it is a lot more intense so i think that accentuates the difference between it and the other rides in the park. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a proportion of either parents who rode the original version or children who meet the height requirement and still view it as too extreme.

Are there any 1.1m rollercoasters in the UK? I can only think of Runaway Mine Train but that's a very new modification and not reflective of its intensity imo.
 
Bowser said:
The Wave for 30 years was a 1.4m coaster remember. By their own standard it is "the UK's most thrilling family coaster". Comparatively speaking to almost any other coaster with a 1.2m restriction it is a lot more intense so i think that accentuates the difference between it and the other rides in the park. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a proportion of either parents who rode the original version or children who meet the height requirement and still view it as too extreme.

Are there any 1.1m rollercoasters in the UK? I can only think of Runaway Mine Train but that's a very new modification and not reflective of its intensity imo.
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Of course, that gap was bigger when it was Shockwave especially in it's last years as a stand up.

The closest most thrilling coasters in this country with the same height restriction would be Rage at Adventure Island.

That additionally highlight the point that there's a massive gap between Gold Rush/Accelerator and Wave and the need for a stepping stone between those coasters

Other 1.1m coasters (not counting RMT at Towers) include Vampire at Chessington, Cobra at Paultons, Joris en de Draak at Efteling, Objectif Mars at Futuroscope and technically by 2cm at 112cm, Avalanche at Blackpool. At 1.2m, we have Wickerman, Dragon's Fury, Thirteen, Spinball Whizzer which all could be fantastic for Drayton. Storm Chaser is a 1m coaster and arguably one of the most intense ones around.

A lot of coasters are becoming more accessible so more extreme coasters can be ridden by smaller riders. An example would be Lech Coaster at Legendia at 1.2m.
 
Funcone said:
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?
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This comment actually made me wonder: how different would things have been if Drayton Manor had somehow gotten B&M (the rollercoaster manufacturer - not the homeware store) to build Nemesis there instead of at Alton Towers in 1994?

I'd always assumed that Nemesis was the ride that somewhat put AT on the map, and so would Drayton Manor have become the premier theme park instead? Or did AT still have the advantage of Tussauds' financial backing, its larger footprint, and its headstart from the 1980s?

It also makes me wonder whether American Adventure might have held out for longer if they'd managed to secure a B&M inverted coaster as well...
 
Secret Weapon said:
This comment actually made me wonder: how different would things have been if Drayton Manor had somehow gotten B&M (the rollercoaster manufacturer - not the homeware store) to build Nemesis there instead of at Alton Towers in 1994?

I'd always assumed that Nemesis was the ride that somewhat put AT on the map, and so would Drayton Manor have become the premier theme park instead? Or did AT still have the advantage of Tussauds' financial backing, its larger footprint, and its headstart from the 1980s?

It also makes me wonder whether American Adventure might have held out for longer if they'd managed to secure a B&M inverted coaster as well...
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I think AT was well established before Nemesis. We were going every year (from the south) from about 1987 so it evidently had enough of a national reputation by that point.

As ever I think the John Wardley influence across the Tussauds parks was more instrumental in their success for those decades than one single ride.

Other parks did get their own exclusive coasters like Shockwave at Drayton and whatever the boomerang was called at American Adventure but they didnā€™t have the theming. So the question may have been would nemesis be as successful if it had been plonked on some tarmac?
 
Bowser said:
I think AT was well established before Nemesis. We were going every year (from the south) from about 1987 so it evidently had enough of a national reputation by that point.

As ever I think the John Wardley influence across the Tussauds parks was more instrumental in their success for those decades than one single ride.

Other parks did get their own exclusive coasters like Shockwave at Drayton and whatever the boomerang was called at American Adventure but they didnā€™t have the theming. So the question may have been would nemesis be as successful if it had been plonked on some tarmac?
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Absolutely. We were going to Towers once or twice a year from around the same time too (lucky us). Drayton is a much shorter drive for us, but Towers was always better already by that point and going forward.
 
Bowser said:
Other parks did get their own exclusive coasters like Shockwave at Drayton and whatever the boomerang was called at American Adventure but they didnā€™t have the theming. So the question may have been would nemesis be as successful if it had been plonked on some tarmac?
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I donā€™t think theming is necessarily the factor here, because youā€™re forgetting the other big success of 1994ā€¦ The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. That ride had no theming at all, but was a huge success and is still arguably Blackpoolā€™s most iconic attraction 30 years on.

I think the thing that made Nemesis and The Big One successful is that they were both highly impressive in some way. Nemesis because of it being Europeā€™s first inverted coaster and being well themed with all the landscaping, and The Big One because it was the worldā€™s tallest roller coaster. Rides like Missile and Shockwave just werenā€™t impressive in quite the same way.

I also dare say marketing may have played a role too. Nemesis and The Big One were both able to have massive nationwide marketing campaigns to spread their message wide, but did Drayton Manor have the resources to market Shockwave in the same manner?
 
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