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Drayton Manor Park

U really got to look at Drayton Manor threw the eyes of kids under the height of 1.2 m tall. Like Drayton 2 coasters for kids are way more thrilling than the 2 kiddie coasters at Alton Towers so they know they mastered the primary school market. Like it’s well nice Alton Towers having 10 roller coasters but only 2 available for anyone under 1.2m tall. They still more to do at Drayton Manor for kids than at Alton Towers.
 
I agree with some of those points, and it's good that you explained them well. Throughput on the coasters is bad and should definitely be worked on, though in the case of Shockwave, the stand up element and short track length is a big cause of it. Taking down the Chairlift and the Big Wheel was not good, but I'm sure the big wheel site will be developed on. Whether we call it 'refurbishment' or 'upgrade' or whatever, I don't think it matters, the fact is, they've had a spree of improving their attractions over the last couple of years; Dodgem's Ahoy looked fantastic, Haunting had the biggest change since it was first constructed, and the interior (not the exterior :p) of Accelerator looks awesome.
Anyway, the point is, they will make large investments when they are able to do so because they do want to, and have openly considered adding a coaster on the old Buffalo site. The previous concept was terrible so good riddance to it, hopefully they can finally get a really good coaster at some point in the future once they've secured funds.
One point of advice I can give is, so long as your work allows for this, go during the mid-week. You end up staying longer at the park than you do when there are queue's in my experience . I had a fantastic day at the park on the opening day and this was one of the key reasons.
 
Over the past 5-10 years, the following rides have closed with no replacements:

- Big Wheel
- Cable Cars
- Pirate Adventure
- Drayton Queen
- Exhalibar

It’s concerning that, although the park has been run by the same family since Day One, they seem to be just giving up on so many of their rides and failing to replace them or even hide the fact that they’ve been removed.

I’m not sure what’s going on but Day-to-day ride availability has got a lot worse over the past five years. It’s now frequent to see three or four rides closed for the day (on top of the ones already removed).

I could kind of understand if new owners were running the park but this one has been family run for its entire life, yet ride reliability seems to have really deteriorated.

It’s still a really fun park and I always have a laugh when I visit, but those attractions being removed and replaced with nothing does raise concerns for the park’s future.
 
..that were all clapped out.
Pirate Adventure was great, loved it, but it was rumoured to be mechanically worn out.
Drayton Queen was the old cruise boat was it?
Rarely busy except at peak.
Excalibur was useless from the beginning, most of the effects packed in after the first season, and was not popular.
Big wheels have gone from most parks nowadays, and wasnt popular.
The cable cars looked like Butlins cast offs, problematic because they left the park boundary, and probably at the end of their useful lives.
Since then, they added Ben 10 and the whole of Thomas land...don't know how many rides in there because I haven't been in years...No kids, so no reason to go.
 
The chairlift was great, shame it's gone!

I think Drayton is a really nice park, but would definitely benefit from some investment in their coaster lineup. They have a great area in Thomas Land so it makes sense for them to keep investing there, but one or two quality coasters would really 'complete' the park IMO.

Also it is a shame they seem to be losing, rather than gaining, rides - but I think the same could be said of nearly every UK park at present.
 
I went today, had a great day, going on Stormforce in the rain was certainly an experience...
Good news by the way.
Sheriffs showdown is about to open, was testing with the new digital scoreboard and staff given briefings.
Pandemonium was testing today with all the restraints and new theming back in place.

Pirate Adventure/Excalibur/Big wheel areas need seeing to with the next major non roller coaster investment, that I agree with. I think the park has a bright future though :)
 
I used to take a group of kids in care to Drayton every year to visit an ex resident...it was a boys only group, so we needed special permission from Mr Bryan himself to camp there...No single sex groups permitted.
Always promised to take the whole group home at the first sign of problems...needless to say it never had to happen.
We always had a brilliant time, and back then you could wander the park in the middle of the night, security were happy as long as you were official campers.
Got extra brownie points for doing Shockwave no handed first ride on.
We ended up doing it no hands and no feet, bit sore on the bits!
Some of the best working days of my life were spent at Drayton.
Sadly, due to a lack of new coasters, I've not been back since g force, which kindly spited us on our last visit.
Cheap camping, fun rides, nice bar, and a stunning chippy just down the road.
If you have never been, get in there, less than an hours drive from the Towers.
Just needs a new coaster or two.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Over the past 5-10 years, the following rides have closed with no replacements:


- Big Wheel
- Cable Cars
- Pirate Adventure
- Drayton Queen
- Exhalibar

It’s concerning that, although the park has been run by the same family since Day One, they seem to be just giving up on so many of their rides and failing to replace them or even hide the fact that they’ve been removed.

I’m not sure what’s going on but Day-to-day ride availability has got a lot worse over the past five years. It’s now frequent to see three or four rides closed for the day (on top of the ones already removed).

I could kind of understand if new owners were running the park but this one has been family run for its entire life, yet ride reliability seems to have really deteriorated.

It’s still a really fun park and I always have a laugh when I visit, but those attractions being removed and replaced with nothing does raise concerns for the park’s future.
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1) The Big Wheel was on its last legs. It was over 30 years old and was a low output ride. It took ages to load the whole ride so they decided to try loading just 4 at a time which guests still moaned about so around September it was decided that it was getting removed at the end of the season.
2) The Cable Car’s it had a major fault at the end of last season and the costs didn’t add up to repairing a ride nearly 70 years old. I remember back in the waistband days this was a ticket only attraction and it was for 1 way only.
3) Pirate Adventure failed a H&S routine check and needed better exits if it brokedown. They did have the money to do the work but the money went missing and the ride been closed ever since. Last season I saw staff go in there and the queue line is used for storage. The boats since the start of the season have been parked up behind a fence by the storage area where the spare train is kept.
4) Drayton Queen like the chair lifts been in the park since the 50’s and is rotting away and management said it be cheaper to buy a newer boat then to repair the Drayton Queen.
5) Exhaliar had a major fault happen to it at the start of the 2012 season and it wasn’t worth repairing a ride which rarely had a queue with most of the effects not working and many not getting fixed to close season. The park decided to recycle the turntable and indoor section into a Christmas event and all the other features are still present on the lake. The former jungle cruise scenes are in a very bad state now.
 
You can see the Jungle cruise theming from the Tamarin trail.
Nimbyism is the parks greatest issue when building a new attraction in the Excalibur area. The locals are actually virtually on the back of the zoo at the top end and Thomas end, and have complained in the past about screaming.
Nonetheless, Drayton could well have a bright future. With the (sad as it is) removal of the Big Wheel and the Cable Car, the transition from Fairground/In land Pleasure resort to day out Theme park is pretty much complete. Ideally, they want to turn the day out Theme park to resort theme park eventually.
 
Currently at Drayton Manor and I don’t know who hired the park yesterday but they worked hard getting the rides working.
Sheriff showdown is open now and it’s been done to a high standard.
The carts have been updated to all have a led screen and it starts with the sheriff saying he needs your help to stop the bad guys.
The targets have been upgraded to led 1’s.
The load/unload point is the same point now.
The queue where the water wheel is all lit up now and skeletons added down there. There also a plastic cover to stop things falling down.
There’s a led screen now listing all the carts scores.
The barn scene is now gone and is replaced by a gold mine. The theming is good in here but most of the targets have been removed.
The main part of the ride is mainly the same but they blocked off sections so you can’t see the whole ride now. The whole roof has been covered in leds.
Only down fall is your got a bonus is gone.
The guys upgrading it were on site asking for feedback.
On other news the only 2 rides closed today is Toby express and G force.
 
Well the train not even in the station. So they must have had to send it away to be repaired.
Toby ride is still in pieces so they must be waiting on parts.
Been seeing rides go down today and within 5 mins maintenance werethere to repair it
 
Been on sheriffs showdown, a good upgrade on the original ride from 2000!
Also great to have Pandemonium back for the first time since 2016!
 
Yes :) Especially in the first area where you used to leave the barn. Is now an alley way with a wall to the left hand side where the mooing cow has been moved to :p
Also audio has been changed with some new music and even some renditions of a fistfull of dollars.
Now, they are still doing final tweaks when it comes to the target system and apparently more targets and tweaking with the lighting.
 
The queue is a hell of a lot darker compared to Golden Nuggets.
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The water wheel area underneath the queue line has skeletons which can be seen from directly above.
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Overall the queueline alone is awesome :)
The new guns and target system are good, but are still having a couple of teething issues which should be resolved soon.
 
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