Drayton Manor Park

[pjanvil]

I'd hope Mack could overhaul Pirates Adventure and Excalibur perhaps with a different theme. I guess 2011 was the parks best year all effects on Splash Canyon. Pirates, Excalibur, g force and Ben 10 all open so most rides too

 

[Squiggs]

I've just been at a few parks with similar tow boat rides to Excalibar, fun relaxing family rides, which got me thinking Excalibur only lasted 9 years before being abandoned and the station repurposed. Does anyone know what were the main problems with Excalibur resulting in its closure after quite a short time? Since similar ones operate at other parks decades without problem?

As I recall, one of the big issues was because of the lake it's built on. The lake sit on a flowing river, so regularly silts up, which meant that all the mechanics for the ride and theming required significant regular maintenance to keep them operational, to a far greater degree than a similar ride on a custom-made lake, or less active natural water body.

For example, The Swan Boats at Alton ran on a similar mechanism, but the upper lakes at Alton gather silt at a much slower rate, due to their design and location, so a pulley based ride was able to operate without too much issue.

This also hadn't been so much of a problem for the Jungle Cruise, which had operated on the lake before Excalibur because, as I recall, the boats were self-propelled on the water, rather than dragged by a cable under the water, and most of the theming was out of the water on the banks or platforms above the waterline.

 

[Willemgorman1]

I’m going to the park on sunday, last time i’ve been was when g-force had just closed so a long time ago. What’s the queues been like recently and do u need all day to get round everything apart from thomas land

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I’m going to the park on sunday, last time i’ve been was when g-force had just closed so a long time ago. What’s the queues been like recently and do u need all day to get round everything apart from thomas land

I went Sunday and it was dead. I didn’t even get into the park to 2:45pm with a 5pm close.
I got on Gold Rush 4 times
Accelerator
Jormungandr
Sheriff showdown
Jolly Buccaneer
Troublesome Trucks
Cranky Crane
I also took my son into the Emily’s soft play for around half hour.
I spoke to some lads who had been there all day and they had managed to do 40 rides.

 

[Willemgorman1]

Does the clocks going back tonight effect they opening hours tommorow?

 

[owenstreet7]

Does the clocks going back tonight effect they opening hours tommorow?

I understand it doesn't. The park opens at 10.30am tomorrow which is the same as today.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Does the clocks going back tonight effect they opening hours tommorow?

No. The opening hours tomorrow are stated in local time, which will be GMT. Presently we're in BST.

BST will end at 02:00 tomorrow, at which point it will be 01:00 GMT.

Drayton Manor Park and Zoo will be open from 10:30 until 17:00 tomorrow (GMT), because the time zone change / clock change has already happened several hours before. The opening hours remain unaffected.