TheMan
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- NemiLerVion
I imagine its 99% made up
Does that mean there's a tiny little hose?
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- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
- Favourite Ride
- Dizz, Bobby’s Yarn Land
- Favourite Ride
- NemiLerVion
- Favourite Ride
- NemiLerVion
- Favourite Ride
- Dizz, Bobby’s Yarn Land
- Favourite Ride
- Eejanaika (Fuji-Q Highland)
- Favourite Ride
- NemiLerVion
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Drayton Manor Park
Does that mean there's a tiny little hose?
Scott
Former TS Team Member
djtruefitt
TS Team
I felt sorry for the poor person who had to carry a bucket of water up the middle of the tower
Ian
TS Team
According to their latest Facebook status Drayton has been awarded Best UK Attraction for Children in 2014 by Group Leisure.
A nice little touch, although given this is the same lot who voted Birmingham Top UK Destination and Disneyland Paris Best International Destination... Well, ya know
Even so, nice one Drayton
A nice little touch, although given this is the same lot who voted Birmingham Top UK Destination and Disneyland Paris Best International Destination... Well, ya know
Even so, nice one Drayton
Drayton Manor have a new a website, which while not perfect is better than the old one. The website also confirms the Thomas Land Expansion for 2015, although doesn't give any details.
The parks xmas event returns again this year, which is extremely popular and from what I have heard in the past contributes a massive amount to how much money the park makes each year. The opening times seem longer than previous years with the park open until 5pm and 6 pm at weekends. Their are also two price bands, one includes access to the Castle of dreams and to meet Santa (Kids get a present and a golden ticket allowing free access to the park when with a paying adult throughout the 2015 season), or a cheaper ticket which doesn't inc meeting Santa.
Attractions inc 4D Cinema (showing The Polar Express) , Jolly Bucaneer, Dodgems, The Carousel, The Big Wheel, Ben 10 Rollercoaster, The Zoo and Thomas Land. Shows in Thomas land, Visit Santa and see other events in the Castle of Dreams, Christmas tree light show throughout the day,family fireworks show behind the castle of dreams each day, ice skating (£2 extra), plus will snow in Thomas land 3 times a day.
This is the type of event that Alton should be running at Xmas especially as now have Cbeebies land.
Also Drayton have released a statement explaining how they are now sending Zero waste to landfill and talks about all the initiatives they do to ensure nothing is going to land fill. You can read it below
http://draytonmanor.co.uk/media/upload/files/DMTP0751.pdf
The parks xmas event returns again this year, which is extremely popular and from what I have heard in the past contributes a massive amount to how much money the park makes each year. The opening times seem longer than previous years with the park open until 5pm and 6 pm at weekends. Their are also two price bands, one includes access to the Castle of dreams and to meet Santa (Kids get a present and a golden ticket allowing free access to the park when with a paying adult throughout the 2015 season), or a cheaper ticket which doesn't inc meeting Santa.
Attractions inc 4D Cinema (showing The Polar Express) , Jolly Bucaneer, Dodgems, The Carousel, The Big Wheel, Ben 10 Rollercoaster, The Zoo and Thomas Land. Shows in Thomas land, Visit Santa and see other events in the Castle of Dreams, Christmas tree light show throughout the day,family fireworks show behind the castle of dreams each day, ice skating (£2 extra), plus will snow in Thomas land 3 times a day.
This is the type of event that Alton should be running at Xmas especially as now have Cbeebies land.
Also Drayton have released a statement explaining how they are now sending Zero waste to landfill and talks about all the initiatives they do to ensure nothing is going to land fill. You can read it below
http://draytonmanor.co.uk/media/upload/files/DMTP0751.pdf
TheMan
TS Member
They do seem to struggle to run rides in winter, in February the legendary alien only sometimes just makes it around the track. I don't like Apocalypse of flats in general so I'd REALLY welcome some coasters open in winter.
Sam
TS Member
Are you talking about Nemesis? Nemesis doesn't even get close to stalling ever, summer or winter.
TheMan
TS Member
I recall it really struggling in February last year, there was ice on the track, and she was definitely running slow. I never recall Nemesis getting close to stalling, but I do recall it struggling around the track in those conditions.
Maybe I am wrong, but in general, it seems that many of the coasters due struggle sub zero, which is understandable anyway.
I'd be happy to be proven categorically wrong to the degree there is no legitimate reason for Towers to be closed and not open their coasters during "closed" season.
Ian
TS Team
Any coaster will experience some form of change during colder weather (5℃ and under ). It's only natural.
In the UK we have such varied weather throughout the year, with minus temperatures common in winter, but temperatures occasionally going into high 20s/early 30s, and this can wreck havock with some coasters. I understand Oblivion can become very temperamental in heat, particularly if we have a sudden change such as a heatwave.
Our climate is something which should be taken into account when a ride is designed (I.E. the point of 'warming up'), but Nemesis is probably one of the most reliable coasters at Alton at any rate. Yes, it may limp around the track a little, but it manages it perfectly fine, and is fully capable of operating.
I've seen Air at February Half Term running a cold craft, to have it very nearly valley over the garage. Fortunately it just scraped around, but it was enough for the ride PLC to shut down the ride, as the craft took so long it assumed it was stuck.
Th13teen equally will struggle when it's cold. If I recall correctly it needs at least half a train to make a complete circuit first thing in the morning, which is why it caused so many issues when trying to run it for ERT.
At Drayton they only have Shockwave and G-Force. However, if I had to guess at one being able to make a successful circuit in the cold I'd guess Shockwave. G-Force can really crawl through the Cuban 8 first thing, so in very low temperatures I wouldn't be one bit surprised if it vallyed.
As I said above though, getting a train all the way around is only one half of the battle. It may well go around, but will it do it fast enough to keep running, or like Air will it shut down?
Then you have the extra staff to get in to run the ride, and with a lot of staff being seasonal it could be difficult to round up a whole team, at a time when people are wanting time off with family and friends. I can't imagine it being cost effective to train new staff for just a few weeks.
Also, as Benzin points out, there is the need to carry out maintenance work on the rides. This will need time to be done thoroughly, as well as outside contractors such as LTCI to perform their inspections. If something comes up here the ride could easily be put out of action for the duration of the event, which wouldn't make a lot of people happy (Both staff and guests).
One more thing to consider could be insurance. The rides will have a safe minimum operating temperature placed upon them, below which the ride can or should not be ran. If they were to operate below this point and an accident happened I expect it could all come down on Drayton for operating outside of their safe conditions, and I wouldn't be surprised if the insurers had some similar policy, which could make it a very costly experience for the park.
I can understand from Drayton's point of view why they'd sooner not, or cannot open one of the coasters during Winter. The event is very heavily targeted towards children, so I imagine the time, money, and effort of opening up one of the coasters would be far from justified for the amount of riders they get. Parents will be their regardless for their children, and a single coaster isn't going to bring the teenagers and adults flooding in. It would be nice to see perhaps Maelstrom added in, if they could, but as above, I doubt it would be financially viable or justified.
It would be nice to see the event grow, but for now at any rate I can't see there being much change.
In the UK we have such varied weather throughout the year, with minus temperatures common in winter, but temperatures occasionally going into high 20s/early 30s, and this can wreck havock with some coasters. I understand Oblivion can become very temperamental in heat, particularly if we have a sudden change such as a heatwave.
Our climate is something which should be taken into account when a ride is designed (I.E. the point of 'warming up'), but Nemesis is probably one of the most reliable coasters at Alton at any rate. Yes, it may limp around the track a little, but it manages it perfectly fine, and is fully capable of operating.
I've seen Air at February Half Term running a cold craft, to have it very nearly valley over the garage. Fortunately it just scraped around, but it was enough for the ride PLC to shut down the ride, as the craft took so long it assumed it was stuck.
Th13teen equally will struggle when it's cold. If I recall correctly it needs at least half a train to make a complete circuit first thing in the morning, which is why it caused so many issues when trying to run it for ERT.
At Drayton they only have Shockwave and G-Force. However, if I had to guess at one being able to make a successful circuit in the cold I'd guess Shockwave. G-Force can really crawl through the Cuban 8 first thing, so in very low temperatures I wouldn't be one bit surprised if it vallyed.
As I said above though, getting a train all the way around is only one half of the battle. It may well go around, but will it do it fast enough to keep running, or like Air will it shut down?
Then you have the extra staff to get in to run the ride, and with a lot of staff being seasonal it could be difficult to round up a whole team, at a time when people are wanting time off with family and friends. I can't imagine it being cost effective to train new staff for just a few weeks.
Also, as Benzin points out, there is the need to carry out maintenance work on the rides. This will need time to be done thoroughly, as well as outside contractors such as LTCI to perform their inspections. If something comes up here the ride could easily be put out of action for the duration of the event, which wouldn't make a lot of people happy (Both staff and guests).
One more thing to consider could be insurance. The rides will have a safe minimum operating temperature placed upon them, below which the ride can or should not be ran. If they were to operate below this point and an accident happened I expect it could all come down on Drayton for operating outside of their safe conditions, and I wouldn't be surprised if the insurers had some similar policy, which could make it a very costly experience for the park.
I can understand from Drayton's point of view why they'd sooner not, or cannot open one of the coasters during Winter. The event is very heavily targeted towards children, so I imagine the time, money, and effort of opening up one of the coasters would be far from justified for the amount of riders they get. Parents will be their regardless for their children, and a single coaster isn't going to bring the teenagers and adults flooding in. It would be nice to see perhaps Maelstrom added in, if they could, but as above, I doubt it would be financially viable or justified.
It would be nice to see the event grow, but for now at any rate I can't see there being much change.
Rose Of Dawn
TS Member
That they even have Ben 10 open is good enough, truth be told. The whole event sounds perfect for children, Towers should definitely look at doing something similar.
TheMan
TS Member
Thank you @Ian. As you say, Nemesis is an exceptionally reliable old girl and does make it round, but given she can struggle to get into her flow a bit I can understand how other less reliable or specifically dynamic coasters would struggle.
I still think it is a shame we can't move towards more time open in general, DMP are getting well practiced at this now though and it's great to see it a success.
Come on Alton, let's have some open winter weekends
(There is of course another slight issue, ease to get to in icy/frozen conditions etc, I'd imagine the Towers climate is a bit more susceptible than DMP)
I still think it is a shame we can't move towards more time open in general, DMP are getting well practiced at this now though and it's great to see it a success.
Come on Alton, let's have some open winter weekends
(There is of course another slight issue, ease to get to in icy/frozen conditions etc, I'd imagine the Towers climate is a bit more susceptible than DMP)
Rob
TS Team