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Drayton Manor Park

Sorry if I wasn’t clear. If they didn’t have Thomas Land, we wouldn’t go there.

The zoo is pretty rubbish and the adult rides aren’t all that.
 
AGL said:
Sorry if I wasn’t clear. If they didn’t have Thomas Land, we wouldn’t go there.

The zoo is pretty rubbish and the adult rides aren’t all that.
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You mean to say that Apocalypse and Maelstrom aren't good rides?! :eek:
 
They're great, but DMP has nowhere near enough rides for anyone too old for Thomas Land to be able to fill a day.

Rubbish though G Force was, it's closure has left a big hole in the line up. Couple that with the long term closure of Pirate Adventure and the rapids, the park just doesn't appeal to me at the moment.
 
Benjsh said:
Pirates Adventure was what made me go back. Absolutely brilliant dark ride in its day.
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This!

I really do not know why they do not bring it back. It was the quintessential family dark ride when it was running as it should. Boarding a boat and going on a journey though the world of Pirates gives an amazing sense of Adventure, hence why this theme has been used the world over. Seeing as Drayton have been pushing family attractions, this is perfect to compliment that. It is the perfect family attraction to compliment Thomas land and diversify their lineup, not to mention, while it is a cliche theme, it is also timeless.

The main show building for the ride is also a good 25% larger in area than Alton Towers Haunted House / Duel. (Aprox 3000 sqm vs Duels 2200 Sqm) The building is also much taller than Altons massive dark ride, giving a larger volume. The scenes were certainly far far bigger than anything inside Duel ever was and is, by quite a larger margin. (seaside town, burning town and battle scenes specifically) The graveyard garden outdoor scene, trommel and dining rooms scenes are the closest Duel has in terms of large scenes, these though, were all dwarfed by the massive scene sizes in Pirate Adventure. Another reason why this ride should open again. It was the largest dark ride this country has ever seen, by quite a considerable amount.

The main ride is still in place, it is just not in use at the moment, getting left to rot.

On a side note, I do hope @BritishThemeParkArchive give this ride a good piece in their upcoming book. While not an original theme, neither is a haunted house no matter how you dress it up. The largest dark ride this country has ever seen deserves a good piece on it for that reason and that reason alone. As it marks a peak in themed entertainment in this country, with small parks taking massive risks (that paid off) Even the big players at the then Tussauds never managed to build a dark ride quite as large and grand as this small family owned park managed!
 
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Pirate Adventure was a great dark ride, and I could not agree more that it was indeed the best 'all rounder' attraction to ever exist at DMP.
My favorite scene from the ride by far was the ghost scene at the end of the ride, which was one of the more original effects of the ride that was not directly based on POTC. It featured a peppers ghost visual projection of a pirate who's head was entirely detached from his body; the head would actually spin upside down which was actually quite eerie and terrifying, and the organ music in the background added to the atmosphere brilliantly. This was done through the use of two different rooms and an (45 degree) angled piece of glass that riders in the boats were able to look in to. Behind the angled piece of glass was a dimly lit room styled to appear like a stone catacomb; to symbolize how by this stage the pirates you'd seen in the treasure caves before were now long dead. To the right of the angled piece of glass was a hidden room invisible to the riders with an identical catacomb background but with the addition of a pneumatic animatronic of the ghost pirate. A carefully placed UV fixture in the hidden room was used to make the animatronic fluoresce a ghostly green color, and create enough levels of light such that the reflection of the ghost in the glass ahead appeared somewhat invisible. This scene existed until a fire in 2006. It was not replaced.
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The main park is beginning to see overhauls and spruce ups that have been needed for a very very very long time (Sheriffs Showdown is seeing new effects added all the time and was much needed. The new Haunting storyline pays homage to the original 1996 Institute of Metaphysical Research Story, and other rides will be upgraded as time goes on as well), the park are definitely rebuilding their image and there is future development ahead of us.
 
Yeah it's great to see them spruce up exisiting attractions the way they have. Certainly needed it. Shame we won't see Pirates Adventure back open though.

Maybe they have been restricted on new attractions funds so have been forced to improve what they already have. Who knows.

They definitely need to add another thrilling coaster to replace G-FARCE though. It's a bit of a flat rides park right now.

Something like mine Blower at funspot in Florida would be brilliant for Drayton. Not overly expensive and very fun ride.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Is Drayton Manor a particularly busy park nowadays, would it be too busy to enjoy on a weekend like Alton Towers?
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You can enjoy a quality day out at Drayton Manor even on a weekend, the queues are generally no longer than 45 minutes at most (apart from Stormforce 10, especially on hot days). This also gives you enough time to explore the zoo, eat and rest as you don’t have to worry about not getting on every ride.
 
Something else I thought I'd share with regards to Pirate Adventure.
The facade used to look absolutely awesome, designed by Golding Leisure Design (now Space Leisure), who were responsible for the design of the attraction overall, excluding the Mack system. The colors on the fort used to be much paler, and painted markings made it look like the walls had been peppered by gunfire. The cannons each side used to actually have smoke machines inside them, to add to the atmospheric effect, although they were not used for long. Sadly, in recent years, the ivy which was supposed to be controlled has taken over and gives the whole facade a poor appearance.
I decided to sketch the facade without the ivy, although I got many of the dimensions wrong above the logo.
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Here's a closer up pic of the logo I did. Notice the 'peg leg polly' parrot to the left. The parrot here and the parrot in the station were not originally part of the ride. They were actually added by Farmer Studios in the mid 90s as part of one of the rides earlier upgrades. Really cool effects done with the usual quirky brilliance of Farmer.
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The facade integrated not only the dodgems to the right, but also the old Haunted Crypt ghost train to the left, which all formed the pirate cove area and had a castle/fort appearance.
 
Drayton Manor, as well as many other local theme parks, has been extremely busy the past few weeks. Many days have seen well over 5,000 guests in the park and queue extensions are in place on top of existing queue lines. Thomas Land has also been closed off to school children unless they are accompanied by a responsible adult. This has vastly improved the experience for families with young children as Thomas Land is extremely quiet compared to the rest of the park.

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