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Drayton Manor Park

DistortAMG said:
I am glad you like the photos. Again these are not mine, just from the collection. But should be shown as clearly have not been seen.

Jungle Palladium was a themed entertainment complete animatronic show. The attraction closed in 1999 and the showbuilding was used to build Golden Nuggets shootout.

Like most of the theming in the park, Jungle Palladium was built by Space Leisure. Once the attraction closed the animatronics were re purposed and placed into new smaller shows inside the Cedar fish and chip shop and the teashop. The teashop show animatronics were re dressed by Space Leisure in 2003 to give the show a medieval theme. Along with Space Leisure also giving the Teashop a medieval theme to correspond with what Farmer Studios were doing next door (Excalibur).

Space Leisure certainly did alot of work for the park in the 1990's and 2000's. Including the scenery for the following rides.

  • Pirates Adventure.
  • The Jungle Cruise.
  • Jungle Palladium.
  • The Haunting (Including replacing the animatronic head in the floor shaking room from a hydraulic to servo based animatronic in 2003)
  • The big clock (where Accelerator now sits)
  • Parts of the zoo, including the zoo entrance sign and including Rainforest Pizza.
  • Splash Canyon / Shockwave / Action Park
  • Gforce
  • New park entrance
  • Apocolypse
  • Drunken Barrels
  • Golden Nuggets (vehicles made by Le Parc)
  • The teashop and chip ship animated shows (repurposing their earlier Jungle Palladium creations)
Farmer Studios were behind Storm Force 10, Maelstrom and Excalibur.

Space Leisure were even part of the team behind Doom and Sons at Alton Towers, to name one.

Check out this neat piece of concept art I have found on Space Leisures website that looks supiciously like Golden Nuggets. Maybe this was the final concept before they got a Nestle sponsor for the ride. Their website has been modified in recent years and has removed alot of attractions they did at Drayton for some bizzare reason.

Click to expand...

With regards to the modified webpage you can still view old snapshots of the website using archive.org

Wayback Snapshot

If you remember the URL for the fans forum the collection was taken from, you may be able to look for snapshots on there as well.
 
  • Shockwave/Splash Canyon/Action Park
  • Fishermans wharf and all of its theming (bar Stormforce and Maelstrom which was Farmer)
  • Pirate Cove and Pirate Adventure,
  • Park entrance,
  • Pandemonium theming and clock tower,
  • Drunken Barrels,
  • Golden Nuggets,
  • Apocalypse,
  • G-force,
  • Rainforest Pizza and Zoo Entrance,
  • Jungle Cruise theming added later on,
  • The Jungle Palladium,
  • the lakeside Cafe for Excalibur (but not Excalibur itself which was Farmer). Going by the design style on that, I'd bet they did the 50s area too with the gift shop, Cinema theming and diner.
Now, Thomas Land, I'm aware of one company that designed parts of the area as I had the pleasure of speaking to the managing director on the day Sheriffs Showdown opened. It was previously a number of companies that specialized in shows, scare mazes, escape rooms and themed attraction design in museums and theme parks; they'd merged in to one a couple of years ago, shortly after he'd dealt with the 2015 Thomas Land expansion and Haunting refurb. Drayton was apparently becoming a main client. When it comes to the rest of Thomas Land, I'm not sure who designed that. An educated guess would say... *ahem*.. Space leisure.. maybe?
But still....jesus...looking at that list pretty much confirms Space Leisure have pretty much designed all of Drayton Manor, or at least had heavy involvement in it!
 
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Sauron97 said:
When it comes to the rest of Thomas Land, I'm not sure who designed that. An educated guess would say... *ahem*.. Space leisure.. maybe?
Click to expand...

I think Zamperla designed the custom theming on all of the rides they supplied, which is a lot of Thomas Land. I remember reading a case study for it, or a web article.
 
I don't get to go very often due to circumstances but I found an excuse to go this weekend as my niece is 5 and I'm taking here to Drayton for her first time. I know it will mainly be Thomas Land but I'm playing the long game with her and hope as she gets older the more she'll be interested in theme parks in general.

Drayton does need to over the next couple of years invest in 1 or 2 thrill rides while still maintaining and reinvesting in Thomas Land. 1 coaster and 1 flat ride perhaps.
 
Visited today! Got some great insight in to Pirate Adventure and the wider park! Guy I spoke to first joined the park as an operator in 1990, when PA opened. He told me of how amazing the ride in its glory days was, and that it was definitely the signature ride of the park. According to him, there were indeed multiple reasons for its closure.
Firstly, as has been mentioned here, the new health and safety folk were concerned about the battle scene towards the end, as the evac route involved wading through the water to the exit! The chainlift on the drop was also rusting, and the wood on the ship models was really starting to rot, so they were forced to close. He reassured me that it could open in the future but to do that requires above all else having an easy to access escape route in that battle section.
(I can't speak on the money going missing, and didn't ask about that, but I'm sure you know your stuff and are also correct on this @Themeparksandy1981 ! :) )
Had some great chats with him about the Jungle Cruise; one year he took the animatronic animals in lorries to Nuneaton to get repainted and reworked, and he spent ages painting one of the green boats at the end of the ride , only to learn that a year later it closed down for good! You've got to feel sorry for the guy! He also was in the advert for G-force,(he'd volunteered for it and they didn't tell him what it was until the day of shooting) and they had to reride it over 40 times, and were stopped half way through by one of the actors at the front vomiting everywhere!
Also, the archemedes screw section of Stormforce 10 has been closed for a few years due to rotting wood on the staircase, it's been replaced very recently and will reopen very soon.
He also had comments on the rumored new coaster; they are still looking for a launched coaster where Vertigo and Buffalo is, but because it is near greenbelt, it can't go over 100 foot, and they specifically want it to go over the lake just like Buffalo, but after the rejected S&S concept originally scheduled for this year, they are unsure of what manufacturer to choose from at this stage!
Also, don't know if any of you are aware, but the snake train still exists, it's stored around the area round the back of the haunting. It hasn't ran for over 2 decades though.
Great guy, I don't know if any of you know who I'm talking about but had a truly excellent chat.
 
Sauron97 said:
He also had comments on the rumored new coaster; they are still looking for a launched coaster where Vertigo and Buffalo is, but because it is near greenbelt, it can't go over 100 foot, and they specifically want it to go over the lake just like Buffalo, but after the rejected S&S concept originally scheduled for this year, they are unsure of what manufacturer to choose from at this stage!
Click to expand...
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Just saying that they could always fit a Juvelen clone there. ;)
 
Got to go to Drayton today with my niece - she is 5 and very easily pleased. Thomas Land is a huge hit with children at her age and long may Drayton and other theme parks keep up accommodating the next generation of thrill seekers.
She was worn out and slept all the way home, bless her.

Had a small opportunity look around the rest of the park. Stormforce 10 was running slow with only a few boats in operation and a long turn around at the station - although I don't know if it was true (I did see someone in a harness so it maybe true) or not but there were talk some idiot thought it was a good idea to get out the boat and have a little wonder. Hope it isn't true but would someone be that dumb?

The day was about Thomas Land and my niece so didn't get much chance to go on many of my favourites (did manage a go on the dodgems and drunken barrels though).

For a really Hot summer's day the park I feel could have been busier (the main park anyway - Thomas Land had plenty throughput). With the exception of Storm Force 10 the rides I did get on no longer than a 10 minute wait.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Unfortunately, I can well believe someone would be that dumb. Don't forget the time someone thought it would be funny to climb the fence and jump in to Oblivion's hole...
Click to expand...
Indeed, people really don't understand how irresponsible their actions are sometimes!

It wouldn't be the first time - plus, it's not only the actions of the guests sometimes - the ride control engineer has questions to answer in this clip, too!

 
I took my 4 year old on the 29th of June (his birthday) for our annual Drayton birthday trip.

I will address some comments with the trip but first I would like to point out that my son loved it, he had a great day around the park and in Thomas Land. I have seen people throw comments towards Drayton for only investing in the Zamperla back catalog for Thomas Land before. More than likely, people without children themselves. My son quite frankly, could not have cared less who made the rides. He cares about Thomas and the ride manufactures are irrelevant through the eyes of a 4 year old, you know, the lands target market.

Anyway, we had a great day. It was a Friday, it was busy but not heaving. We managed to do everything he wanted and then some.

I think it is disgraceful (and I hope Drayton are reading this) that they deem it acceptable to run their top end water ride with 4 boats. On the Friday, by my observations and calculations it was probably getting 300pph at best. This is at a time we are experiencing exceptional hot weather here in the UK so water rides are more popular. Yet Drayton think it is acceptable to run their flagship water ride and one of the UK's best water rides on 4 boats. Not only that, you expect people (in this heat) to stand in the rides quite claustrophobic (at times) que line, in this heat for extended periods with no refreshments available to purchase. The que would be fine and more bearable if you put more than 4 boats on! It can run 20+.

I understand they might be being cautious in light of recent events. But they have took the cheap and easy method, where the paying customer pays in reduced guest experience and frustration. They need to pay for a few extra members of staff, physically posted around the ride to deter people from getting out of boats. Like they do in the states. Not castrate one of the best water rides in the UK, also in this weather when it will be at its most popular. Then due to that, expect people to stand for extended periods in a hot sweaty claustrophobic que. Totally, totally unacceptable behavior.

Back to the positives though, the food as always was great, slightly pricey but always great quality. The park is lovely and always provides a great atmosphere. We both greatly enjoyed our visit. The park do seem to really struggling with maintenance though. I could be wrong but from the impression I get it appears that they might not have enough staff as multiple rides were closed or running at a reduced capacity.

Overall, great day. You know what you get with Drayton. They really need to sort out Storm Force 10 though. The UK's number one water ride should not be running on 4 boats on the hottest weather we have had in years. That is not the only solution to ensure safe operations. Although it is the cheapest and lazy one.
 
@DistortAMG I share your sentiments really. My niece like your son didn't care about who made the rides etc, she just enjoyed going on them and on that point Thomas Land is achieving what it set out to do.

My experience with Stormforce 10 was very simular too. 5 members of staff running the station with only 4 boats in operation on a really hot summers day. Throughput was really slow and just doesn't work effectively. It was the longest wait time of the day (about an 1hr - 1.5hrs I think easily).
 
For some reason i think we're visiting drayton manor on saturday...reading through reviews on tripadvisor i saw a good few people mentioning big 1.5 hour queue's to get to the car park in a morning

Can anybody tell me if this is right or can it be avoided?
 
Seen it before, we parked up in Fazely on a side road for the day on our last camping trip, then walked back to the excellent chippy for lunch and drove in no problem.
About 15 minute walk, but nice canal views and fun chatting to the car queue drivers.
 
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