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Drayton Manor Park

Sauron97 said:
Went to DM today, and did last week too. Today, however, rather than just sitting in the park Stormforce 10 was testing. Waterfalls turned on, entire ride fully operating with boats being sent down all 3 drops. Photo booths opened briefly and lights turned on in the queue line. It's a little late, but I'll be so happy if my fav ride is open by the end of the season :)
Also overheard DM executive staff mention something about being able to get pandemonium open right at the end of the season on the fireworks nights, saying it 'might be possible'.
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I was there last Wednesday (4th Oct). All the rides were walks on's and they didn't waste any time setting the rides off, even if I was just the only rider.

With so many rides SBNO (Rapids, Pirate adventure, Stormforce 10 etc..) It didn't take long to get around the park and I soon got board.

I like the revamp of the haunting

In the Zoo I liked the new small monkey area which was nice addition.

I also paid £2 to go on vertigo which was a nice addition, but the zip wires was very slow.

They also no longer charge for parking, its now free (Take note Merlin!)

Bump into a few Alton Staff members who was also having a day out their. Also nice to see Dan who used to work at Alton on Nemesis and other rides in the area, is now working at DMP as a ride operator on G-Force

I had a lovely day though.
 
Hey Guys!

Looks like Drayton are all ready for their magical Christmas again with this year being the 10th Anniversary

In other news, the big wheel has been removed from the park as it was seen leaving. Possible refurbishment or completely sold? Also rumours that the chairlift will be removed

Not looking to be a great season for the park next year!
 
I know this might be in the wrong topic, but did anything ever come out of the Splash Canyon court case?
 
If the chairlift, Buffalo and whatever the ferris wheel was called get removed, There's all of a sudden a lot of land open.

I don't think it will be the that S&S launched family coaster as it would of taken over the area of just Buffalo. And it's certainly not happening in 2018 to say the least.

I think something like a Gravity Group, Much like Oscar's Wackh Taxi or Wooden Warrior would be a nice fit for Drayton. Or even a couple of new flats.

But I'm probably being too optistic here, At least it's not as optimistic as me last year(I look back on them posts with embrassesment).
 
Can't see Drayton getting anything new for a little while, unless it's 'yet' another Thomas Land attraction.

Is there confirmation of the Chair Lift and Buffalo leaving? I know the latter has been on it's last leg for years now.

The park desperately needs new investments that aren't Thomas Land as a lot of the older rides look old and dated. I'd like to see a family thrill coaster built and maybe flattening the old Pirate Adventure to build a brand new dark ride from the ground up.

Drayton are stagnating unfortunately, and whilst last May's events are tragic, they need to invest to keep afloat.
 
Where is the evidence that they are stagnating? Where is the evidence the Big Wheel is going for good? Where is the evidence that Buffalo is being taken down? (I think this one is to be expected to be fair). I'm not saying you guys are wrong about any of this, but you have to give evidence, as some of the claims are pretty significant.
The delays to the opening of Pandemonium and SF10 were present before the accident and down to large scale maintenance, and whilst I have no statistics on Visitor numbers so can't give proper objective data on this, I went numerous times last season throughout the year and noticed no significant drop in numbers compared to what had happened to AT after its accident. School trips were plentiful even in October.
 
You only have to see photos from the park in the latter half of 2017 to see how stagnant things were.

Even if you forget about the incident, it was still a poor year maintenance wise with so many main rides down for lengthy periods. And Apocalypse only operated 2 towers all year.

I don't think there's anything left in Zamperlas catalogue for them to purchase, so Thomas land probably won't change for next year.

2017 was a shit year for Drayton, and 2018 won't be much better with SW8 opening down the road. They will need something to compete (marketing wise, not ride), replacing the wheel with a flat probably won't help them at all.

A rethemed or reopened and refreshed Pirates Adventure would do them well IMO. As well as another year of healthy discounts easily available.
 
Lordy said:
You only have to see photos from the park in the latter half of 2017 to see how stagnant things were.

Even if you forget about the incident, it was still a poor year maintenance wise with so many main rides down for lengthy periods. And Apocalypse only operated 2 towers all year.

I don't think there's anything left in Zamperlas catalogue for them to purchase, so Thomas land probably won't change for next year.

2017 was a **** year for Drayton, and 2018 won't be much better with SW8 opening down the road. They will need something to compete (marketing wise, not ride), replacing the wheel with a flat probably won't help them at all.

A rethemed or reopened and refreshed Pirates Adventure would do them well IMO. As well as another year of healthy discounts easily available.
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I actually went to the park about 4 times in September and October, some of which were weekdays, and the park guest numbers seemed no different from when I went in April and March, before the incident.
Having said that, you're right about Pirate Adventure, and I like your idea about a retheme. It's a chance to make it more original rather than Disney-lite. The maintenance issue is also true, and should of been sorted in the closed season, but as I previously said, I don't feel this had a massive effect on visitor numbers.
 
I haven't been this year at all so I really can't say anything with regards to attendance, I'm just going by what others have said, plus the crazy amount of special offers to draw people. That plus people saying the place is empty... I just put 2 and 2 together really.
 
Drayton Manor have been pushing to be the Poundland of UK theme parks recently, Don't believe me? Look at their social media. See here.

skyscraper said:
Source, Please?
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Source: Theme Park Worldwide Instagram.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
Drayton Manor have been pushing to be the Poundland of UK theme parks recently, Don't believe me? Look at their social media. See here.


4bb.PNG

Source: Theme Park Worldwide Instagram.
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That makes me sad; I had a photo in front of it with a friend i may not see again the last time we went :(.
 
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I reckon something will happen in the space of pirates adventure with them decorating the doors for Halloween and the pirate sitting outside receiving little bit of TLC and new map perhaps it will reopen I wouldn’t hold my breath though... I wonder what could potentially replace Ferris wheel personally depending on what other departures if any at all maybe a coaster but I reckon a flat ride potentially?
 
Lordy said:
I haven't been this year at all so I really can't say anything with regards to attendance, I'm just going by what others have said, plus the crazy amount of special offers to draw people. That plus people saying the place is empty... I just put 2 and 2 together really.
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Well, I've told you that the place isn't empty based on my own physical experience so perhaps you need to be a little more open minded about it.
 
Well I had a season pass at Drayton Manor last season and ended up going double figures with my little girl. Anyway the Zoo had a lot of work done to it over the season and they started work on the new penguin home at the end of the season. All the cages and buildings are getting updated with new animals. Onto the theme park on the final day of my pass I was talking to some senior staff and asked him about the future of the park.
Pandemonium Is all fixed now but they didn't have a chance to get it passed off to use at the end of the season.
Storm force 10 had a lot of safety things added around the track with escape routes added just in case it brakes down at the bottom of each lift. They added speakers all around the site and more signs saying remain seated.
Splash Canyon has been kepted closed for the reminding of the season in respect of the girls friends and family.
The cable car isn't going anywhere as it's the 1st permanent ride added to park.
The Drayton Queen won't be used again also as it's all rotting and will cost to much to repair.
There's no plans in place at the moment for a replacement of the pirate adventure.
The Buffalo coaster could be removed as the Park are looking at a major new ride for the parks 70th birthday in 2019/20.
 
Great stuff Sandy! That last bit seems to confirm where the new coaster/family coaster will be! And I knew that bit about Pandemonium was true as I overheard staff talking about it.
I'm actually feeling optimistic now that you've said all of that! :)
 
One way or another the park does seem to have stagnated. Although Thomasland seems to have done very well, it doesn't appear to have given the park the same boost that Peppa Pig gave Paultons. In 11 years they added Splash Canyon, Shockwave, Klondike Gold Mine, The Haunting, Sombreros, Storm Force 10, Wild West Shoot Out, Apocalypse, Maelstrom and Excalibur. In the 14 years since then it doesn't really feel like we've come that far forwards. I think it's a bit harder to see why.

It's unfortunate that Excalibur didn't work out for them. I actually thought it was a decent ride and it was certainly different to anything else in the UK. I can't imagine that they let it go lightly so perhaps they spent quite a bit trying to resolve the problems with it, before writing it off. It's also a shame that they had noise issues with the Enterprise they bought. They probably burned their fingers twice in quick succession with Excalibur and the Cyclone. They also tried a Christmas event in the early 2000s that only ran for one year, so presumably that didn't work out financially.

Ben 10 didn't seem to work out as well as they hoped either, as they didn't develop the Cartoon Network Street and Ben 10 lost its IP after 5 years, which wasn't very long. Realistically Ben 10 wasn't a massive investment by modern standards (about £2.5 million I believe) so there's a limit to how successful they could have expected it to be. I don't know whether the issue was that Ben 10 was the wrong IP, or whether they expected too much from a coaster that all said and done wasn't that big, and where the theming was patchy. If they could have spent another half million to properly enclose and theme the station it would have felt like a more complete experience. Perhaps Ben 10 was a big enough investment to leave a hole in their pocket, but not big enough to bring in many people.

It's also a shame that Pirate Adventure was allowed to decline to the point where it was closed, as it was one of the UK's biggest dark rides. Having Pirate Adventure and Excalibur both closed does leave a big hole down that side of the park.

I don't think any of this really explains it though. Did they borrow in the 90s to expand, and has their debt caught up with them? Or did building the hotel stretch their finances and not bring in as much income as they anticipated? Did the Smiler accident hurt DMP's visitor numbers? Did competing with Merlin push them into a discounting model that hurt their bottom line? With Drayton Manor I don't think there's anything really significant that went wrong for them, aside from the Splash Canyon accident. But things had stagnated before that. It does feel like there might have been a series of events that slowed their growth.

Things do need to be put into perspective though. Losing Excalibur and Pirate Adventure does leave a big gap. If Splash Canyon doesn't open next season that's another major ride closed, and losing the big wheel, chairlift and buffalo really do take out another chunk. Three out of five sides on Apocalypse not working is also worrying considering it's one of their top rides. The park's starting to feel a bit empty in places. At the same time Thomasland has genuinely been a big development for the park, Ben 10 isn't a bad little coaster with a nicely themed queueline, the park has a bigger entrance area compared to 2003, Pandemonium is a nice step up from the Sky Flyer and hopefully a hotel will in the long term be a catalyst for growth. I still like Drayton Manor. I still think it has some creative rides, and I can still have fun there. It just needs bringing back up to the boil.
 
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