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Drayton Manor Park

IanSR said:
What more could have been done to avoid it? Well the School following the Government guidelines for such trips with that age group of kids would have prevented it totally from happening.

Two weeks before this happened I went on a school trip to a theme park, as park of their risk assessment we were all given strict instructions on what was allowed, one adult to every six students, and students were not allowed on specific rides (such as Rapids and large rollercoasters) unless accompanied by an adult in that ratio, I spent most of the day riding the Rollercoaster while another parent spent the day on the Rapids, at the time we scoffed at the reasoning behind it, as nerds it made no sense to us, it made sense a few week later.

There is plenty of blame to go around, but if you'd read any of the numerous articles on the subject, you'd be forgiven for thinking the park was considered to be 100% at fault.
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If a teacher was on the boat would they have been expected to jump in after her? The ultimate responsibility for someone on a ride is with the operator, so again, until everything is established it's normal to look more at them. It's the same as everything else. I don't think the park are to blame but there's no agenda.
 
Martin said:
If a teacher was on the boat would they have been expected to jump in after her? The ultimate responsibility for someone on a ride is with the operator, so again, until everything is established it's normal to look more at them. It's the same as everything else. I don't think the park are to blame but there's no agenda.
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No the teacher would have told her to stay in her seat when she attempted to move. I'm sorry but I disagree, "the ultimate responsibility for someone on the ride" lays with the person on the ride themselves, not the operator, the operator is responsible for the correct operation of the ride, not each individual person on it, they can't foresee if someone decides to brake the rules etc. it's this kind of proxy responsibility "but it wasn't my faulty, nobody told me not to put my arm in the shredder" mentality that really gets on my tit.
 
I think this is going round in circles.

It's right and proper that after any accident it is thoroughly investigated to see if there were any failings. That doesn't mean the investigation is a witch-hunt or it's a foregone conclusion.

It's the right thing to do to see if (a) there were genuine failings that should have not occurred, and (b) to see if there are any learning points that could prevent it from happening again. The culpability of the deceased (or lack of) is not relevant to these objectives.
 
Now you said that it could be 50/50 as the operator who put the kids on the ride should have checked there was a adult with them and the school should have sorted out before the group entered the queueline which teacher or helper would go with which group.
I remember going to Drayton Manor in 1992 with the junior school and every group was put with a teacher and a helper. My teacher hated the python rollercoaster then 4 years later we had a school trip to Alton Towers in Senior school and we were going around the park on our own. The only rule we was given was not to be late for the bus.
 
Not to keep beating the poor horse but the rules have changed a lot since 1992 and I don't see that it is the ride operators responsibility to ensure the school are following the law for schools because invariably the ride operator wouldn't know the difference between a family on a day out and a school trip and their only concern would be enforcing the height rule, it's the schools responsibility to ensure they themselves follow the procedures set down by the Government for an off-site trip.

Once you hit secondary you're considered self aware enough to venture round the park on your own and not leave.
 
I can see why it’s so cheap. We only got here for the fireworks at 5 and they hadn’t even filled the main car park yet. Last year we arrived at the same time and ended up parking in the car park opposite the high ropes course at the back.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I can see why it’s so cheap. We only got here for the fireworks at 5 and they hadn’t even filled the main car park yet. Last year we arrived at the same time and ended up parking in the car park opposite the high ropes course at the back.
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For a fireworks evening it was very quiet last night. We’re going again tonight I’ll see how busy it is.

It will be interesting to see how bad queues get once they have the parking barriers in operation as it can queue pretty badly on exiting already during the fireworks event and summer.
 
The biggest queues were In Thomasland yesterday. We started waiting for the fireworks at half 6 and we were near the front. The fireworks and lasers were very good and was a great tribute to be British.
Afterwards while guests were rushing to the exits we went for dinner and afterwards the park looked a ghost town. In just over a hour we got on the sodar Classic cars,Jeremy Jet's,James and the red balloon then went on Accelerator twice,Drunken Barrels then went round 3 times without getting off the Sheriff Showdown(Shawn and Alex Theme park worldwide were onto shouting we got a bonus as they filmed for there vlog) then got in before to see Ice age 4D before they closed the doors.
I couldn’t believe how empty the car park was at 20 past 9.
 
Come on Drayton, seriously? You've been pumping out family rides for 10 solid years whilst the thrill ride line-up continues to evaporate. I think it's about time you spoke to Vekoma about their rather good Bermuda Blitz model....
 
I doubt we'll see much thrill investment, if any! The park see Thomas Land as a winner and therefore will follow family through and through. That survey will he for solid evidence to prove this, which to me is biased anyway as I'm sure they'll only have families on their database!

When I worked there last year it was evident that family is now their core market. They were looking at further expanding Thomas Land onto the land on the car park and more investment in the zoo. I'd be highly Suprised to see a thrill ride constructed in the next few years which is a huge shame.

Figures are down and the car park charges next year aren't going to help. It has also been rumoured that park ticket prices will go up next year. Whilst the fireworks were a brilliant theme (IMO), the numbers were clearly lower than usual. I remember a couple of years ago not being able to move around the park with large queues!
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I did mention that they should find the money to bring the pirate adventure back as it’s the most missed ride at the park.
I did also say they need more attractions for families with teenagers.
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I put a very similar comment on the survey.

There has been a lot of activity around pirate adventure. The lights were on and doors open around the back again last weekend. Does anyone know what’s going on in there?
 
So, none of us here would like to see Pirate Adventure removed.

However, lets just hypothetically (and sadly) say they did remove it. What would you like to see in its place? The space is quite large, they could obviously re use the ride system and create a new ride, maybe a Thomas themed boat ride.They could remove the ride system and use the building, or just totally remove the building put something in its place.

I think a dark ride would be a must, but I think a Thomas one, on that scale would be a huge mistake. The park needs diversity! Even if they are going to insist on just catering to the family market! They are halfway there, they have a park with rides, a zoo and obviously Thomas Land. I think a dark ride that wouldn't be Thomas themed would add to this greatly as it is such a large dark ride, if they insisted on removing Pirates that is.

Personally, I think removing it would be a huge mistake, A Pirate theme is the PERFECT family theme, having that ride back open would really add and help the diversity of their offering a lot. They can't be that blind surely, even if they had to re theme the whole thing from scratch, the building, ride system and infrastructure is already in place so that automatically brings the cost down!
 
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