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Drayton Manor Park

The judderimg was terrible at the end where the boats turned towards the turntable. If I remember correctly, they even put a metal gabion at the side there to stop the rocks the boats kept hitting from falling to pieces.
Nonetheless, I will come to my senses on this. Yes the infrared sensors weren’t thought through, the animatronic hydraulic systems weren’t maintained (there perhaps wasn’t enough of them either) , and the ride as a whole was incomplete. When everything WAS working, it was enjoyable but needed more work in the first scene and the rather bleak section in the middle of the ride.
The queue line for the ride, just like with Stormforce, is highly entertaining, very highly themed with an animatronic owl and medieval ‘housing’ posters, a marketplace and archways, it lacks zigzags and it enters a beautiful station. It puts the godawful queue lines of rides like the Smiler and Thirteen to shame
 
Gosh I remember riding Excalibur! I have such fond memories of that ride and I was devastated when I found it was closed. I remember the knight who's pants had fell down, That was the best bit!

I wish they had replaced the ride with something other than a Christmas season only shop. That lake is screaming for something to be added there. Whether it be another Tow Boat ride somehow linked in with the nearby zoo or a family coaster over the lake, It has so much potential and I hate to see it wasted.
 
Personally, I think Drayton Manor had all the right intentions with this ride - they allocated a suffice budget and did (initially) produce a great package. I rode the ride a couple months after opening, and I remember that it was really impressive; the theming was great and some scenes really have stuck with me (the dragon moving along the wall, the dragon turning in the water, etc.)

However, I think it was a lack of consideration for the future which led to the demise of this attraction. Most of the reasons for this have been pointed out; the IR System was great in theory, but not in practice; the theming was continually exposed to the elements; maintenance on any theming was very difficult and costly, as well as to the main ride system. I think the main shortfall of the ride was how reliant it was upon that audio to provide an experience which was smooth and engaging, and once that broke, then the ride itself no longer had the flow which created the experience; it changed from a pleasing, story-intense ride to an awkwardly silent and unengaging attraction.

I agree with @Plastic Person in the fact that this was a very unusual investment for the park, considering they had another, very similar and popular, water ride located just next door. Perhaps they wanted to maximise on the success they'd had with Pirate Adventure, who knows. Also a very strange investment as, when I think about it, I don't see what area this really fits into - it's definitely not in with the nearby Pirate Theme (not that DMP appear to follow area themes often, but they have stuck to the Pirate Themed area). I can't help but think this attraction was installed to maximise on previous success of other rides (thinking it was a safe investment), and may have been added in that awkward phase whereby Robinson's Land wasn't really working and management perhaps couldn't see which direction to take.

As for the future of the site - it does seem a waste that the Castle is used for Christmas - but I don't see that changing any time soon. Pirate Adventure has more of an impact upon the footprint of the park, it's more centralised (in a way) and has absolutely no use currently, at least Excalibur does have some use at the minute, even if I don't agree with it.
 
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Excalibur was my own personal realisation that internet hype and construction images can lead to overestimation of the actual ride experience.
Looked forward to it, enjoyed the hype, disappointed in the end result, even with all the effects working (very early on!).
Very similar to the Tom Sawyer ride at BPB back in the day, with a few sheds and boats.
 
That's a fair assessment Rob, I've just learnt nowadays when it comes new attractions anywhere to just expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised if it turns out well. It's a life philosophy too, interpret things how they are, and not how you want them to be or don't want them to be.
Answering previous posts, I don't believe, and this is solely a personal opinion, that it was a strange investment at all, especially considering it was designed to be the successor of the similar Jungle Cruise ride. It's more of a gentle, outdoor, humorous experience compared to Pirate Adventure, with a completely different theme, environment and style. Colin said that there had been a spree of major thrill rides added in the mid 90s onwards and by 2003, they were well due for a major family addition, so I can understand them fully in what they were looking for. Let's not forget that Drayton was starting to have graffiti problems and rowdiness around this period, given their market was now heavily appealing to teens. After Excalibur, the steady switch to the family and junior market which culminated in the form of Thomas Land has greatly improved the atmosphere and friendliness of the park.
I think all this negativity stems off the fact that the ride was maintained so poorly.It puts a confirmation bias in to our heads, and makes us assume that the fully functioning ride itself is poor, when that may not always be the case. I think Excalibur was a good ride, was admittedly a little bland in the middle, and it could of been a great ride, had it been luckier with the time in which it was built (although much later and we'd have probably got CG projections) and had a little more money been thrown at it.
 
Here is a few more pics :)

Flying Jumbos in the location Maelstrom now sits.


Did anyone ask to see a picture of Apocalypse without it's machine house or cables in place? No? Well here you go.


Action park from the top of Apocalypse, 2000.


Don't look down? Oh no that's the other Staffordshire park.


Apocalypse from the haunting entrance.


A few months later....


The finished article.


Looks naked.


Poccy station construction.


Jungle cruise prior to clearance for Excalibur.


Jungle cruise prior to clearance for Excalibur.


Jungle cruise prior to clearance for Excalibur.



The ghost train where it was always located pre Crypt and Pirate Adventure days.


Part of Maelstroms gearbox.


The log flume before the second drop was added.


The log flume near it's final days. The trees to the left of the photo stand to this day amongst Storm Force 10


The Crypt in it's final days.


Jungle Palladium before construction started.


Early stages of Golden Nuggets station construction.
 
DistortAMG said:
Here is a few more pics :)

Flying Jumbos in the location Maelstrom now sits.


Did anyone ask to see a picture of Apocalypse without it's machine house or cables in place? No? Well here you go.


Action park from the top of Apocalypse, 2000.


Don't look down? Oh no that's the other Staffordshire park.


Apocalypse from the haunting entrance.


A few months later....


The finished article.


Looks naked.


Poccy station construction.


Jungle cruise prior to clearance for Excalibur.


Jungle cruise prior to clearance for Excalibur.


Jungle cruise prior to clearance for Excalibur.



The ghost train where it was always located pre Crypt and Pirate Adventure days.


Part of Maelstroms gearbox.


The log flume before the second drop was added.


The log flume near it's final days. The trees to the left of the photo stand to this day amongst Storm Force 10


The Crypt in it's final days.


Jungle Palladium before construction started.


Early stages of Golden Nuggets station construction.
Click to expand...
Some great photos. Thank you.
 
DistortAMG said:
Here is a few more pics :)
Click to expand...

Woah! Some absolutely astonishing pictures shared here. How lucky we are to have people with an almost documented history of the park. So much heritage here.

Apocalypse looks so strange without the tracking and machinery housing on - and I can't believe how small the station actually looks before the housing was added around it!

Thank you for sharing these. It's absolutely amazing to see so many fans of the park collaborating here.
 
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.

 
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The Fairfields entrance was done by them in was 2004 wasn't it? I remember this was the year they got rid of the great looking park logo and replaced it with the current one.
And Splash Canyon in 94' is still on their gallery too, back when all the animatronics here worked and those levers moved up and down. Can you remember the last time they were working? God, it was a while back.
splashcanyon.jpg
 
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Yes, the entrance down by Thomas Land.

Gosh it was a while since those have worked. Not enough maintenance and being left out and the british weather has taken it's toll.

You can see on that picture algie has taken its toll, despite the theming being brand new. This is because when they built the ride for 1993. Intamin also had all the footers for shockwave installed at the same time. (Made sense seeing as the rapids trough and coaster footers were all concrete and shared the same space. Then once Shockwave was installed for 1994, the scenery and theming was also added around Splash Canyon and Shockwave for the 1994 season. So the rapids actually operated for a season with no scenery, until all large construction around the site was complete. As Shockwave is quite literally built on top of the rapids.

It does make logical sense to totally finish construction before you start to add relatively delicate scenery and theming. The station of Shockwave is quite literally over the rapids station. With the lift hill following the rapids down towards where that photo above is taken.
 
Ahhh, excellent observation with the algae there, you're absolutely right. I knew it was a joint 2 year Intamin project, and that the concrete was done in 93, but it all makes sense now, especially considering the timber there is remarkably similar to the timber in the Shockwave station and on the two other Splash Canyon buildings.

I quite enjoy Splash Canyon, it used to always be the first ride I went on when I wasn't big enough to do anything else, and I loved the uncertainty of it. What has let the ride down is just as you put it, a clear lack of maintenance, but also a lack of water effects and steam effects. Have gathered a few photos to explain.
Originally, and I'm sure you remember this; the canister here used to be positioned above the layout, and it sprayed water on you. As you can see in this screenshot of a more recent POV, it's now been turned around and does not work at all, which is a shame.
35901351_1844617428894850_5468264189883580416_n.jpg

In the shed, there used to be a smoke effect, and the pipes inside would spray at you. They no longer do so, although they have admittedly used other effects like hoses inside.
Also, the pipe in this photo on the side of this shack here(strangely turned the other way in this archive clip) used to spray varying amounts of water. The ride operators would be able to control the amount of water coming through, for weather purposes. A long time ago, I remember they turned it off to trick guests, and then put it on full blast on an unexpected boat beneath! Yet again, this hasn't been used for getting on for a decade. They used a hose in its place last season before the accident I believe.
35855855_1844869422202984_1112507988360298496_o.jpg

I think with the ongoing investigation giving them time to have a good hard look at the ride, they should restore and bring back all of these effects.
 
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I think the Park will have a good think about Splash Canyon once the investigation has concluded. Obviously, these thoughts will be impacted upon by the decision from the case.

Don't think Splash Canyon will be removed entirely, because as @Sauron97 said it is popular with many of the guests, plus it is so well integrated with Shockwave I think it'd be a pain to remove. But, I think they will completely renovate the rapids before they reopen it; I'm thinking along the lines of restoring all effects, refurbishing any theming and perhaps adding some additional effects to make this even better. They will want it to have a good reception upon opening to avoid a negative image being created of the ride.

I too remember these effects, it used to be so full of them, and the addition of animatronics made Splash Canyon so different from anything else in the UK - I'd go as far to say at one point they were the best in the UK by far.

I've just realised how many attractions are SBNO at Drayton Manor; Drayton Queen, Splash Canyon, Pirate Adventure, Excalibur and G-Force (for now). Which does make me think that next season will be a big one for DMP, they've overhauled their current portfolio of dark rides (minus PA which is a bit of a larger project) - I think they're going to be working tirelessly to get some more rides open before they can turn their attention to the next big attraction! The park has potential, and I think these recent renovations are perfect evidence that the Management know it too.
 
Right on the SBNO rides

Drayton Queen Won’t be back. The cost to bring it back would be cheaper to buy another boat.
Splash Canyon I think it would depend on what H&S Force Drayton Manor and other rapids theme parks to add to there rides to make them safer.
Pirate Adventure I can’t see it coming back as pirate themed but I know there been rumours that the management want to bring it back as a boat ride round Sodar this is roughly the idea they had http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Thomas_and_the_Boat_Ride! It would also see Thomas get his own ride.
Excalibur has gone for good and the back end of it I would like the Zoo have it to make it bigger.

Was gutted that my 1st camera/video phone wasn’t to 2004 as I now regret to not have any footage of the Jungle Palladium and Jungle Cruise.
Had hoped someone had recorded either ride or the updated shows in the tea shop and fish and chip shop.
 
Splash Canyon will come back, they just are not allowed to open it until the investigation has concluded as the incident took place on that ride.

Quoted from the HSE Minister Penny Mordaunt
''Immediately after the accident, the HSE contacted Merlin, which operates similar machines manufactured by Intamin at Alton Towers and Thorpe Park. Merlin had already closed its rides so that it could conduct an in-depth check to ensure that the machines were operating correctly. It agreed to keep the rides closed until the HSE could reassure it that there was nothing physically wrong with the Drayton Manor ride that would increase the risk to passengers. The HSE did that, and the rides were closed for three days.

Once it had completed its checks, Merlin confirmed to the HSE that it had reviewed all the operating procedures to ensure they were in line with the manufacturer’s instructions and that the operators were working in accordance with their training. It also confirmed that it had reviewed the arrangements for supervising the ride and the riders, ensuring that only those who could be safely accommodated were allowed on to the ride; providing clear instructions to riders to remain in their seats while the ride is in operation, and not to stand, swap seats, lean out of the boat and so on; and ensuring that riders knew that the ride is vigorous and that they need to hold on as the boat moves down the ride. Merlin also confirmed that it had reviewed its rescue and response measures to ensure that it would know immediately that a person had fallen into the water; and that, crucially, it could stop the water flow with an emergency stop and could swiftly get someone out of the water using appropriate techniques and equipment. On the information provided, the HSE was satisfied with Merlin’s review of those other rides. That is important to mention in the immediate aftermath of that tragic incident.''

It is known that the ride is watched by staff on screens and that no one came to her rescue for several minutes following the incident. Obviously is not always easy with this type of ride and the location to be able to get to a given point in a moments notice. It is also not possible just to stop the water, it has to drain down, the emergency stop doesn't suddenly drain the water like Merlin imply above. Someone in the water would still be subject to the same water flow regardless. However, it is also known in witness and HSE observations that a lot of the 'please remain seated' signs on boats were obscured or worn. However, these can and do have little effect hence why lots of attractions have to be accompanied by an adult under a certain age. But still, the HSE will be looking into all of this with a fine tooth comb.

The only reason it would close would be out of respect for the poor girl who died. There certainly wont be anything from HSE forcing it to close. The statement above pretty much states in black and white there was no mechanical or serious safety issue with the ride. It's ADIPS certificates were also up to date. The ride can't operate without an up to date ADIPS. As is the case with all amusement rides in the UK.
 
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