• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Drayton Manor Park

Ah , apologies! @BritishThemeParkArchive just had a skim and it was you on another forum, very good observation!

Very cool video of the Jungle Cruise in its last Iteration. I remember Rorys Jungle Cruise as a very young kid too. Mostly remember being scared by it!

Was great to see you there, and best of luck with your Sparks book which will be great I’m sure!
 
It's interesting that auctioning old items is catching on with theme parks. I think a cozy event like that worked pretty well and was fun. So many parks have binned a whole lot more stuff over the years, whatta waste.
 
I was quite surprised how much some things were going for, particularly given how many duplicates there were. "Rum bottles for all!".

Was pretty well facilitated with some good humour and was helpful they were able to provide some information about where things had come from.

I think the Grand Prix car and Log Flume boat I have from the Pleasure Beach were 25 quid a pop ... certainly more people after this stuff, which is quite comforting if my storage location disappears.
 
EPEAQa0W4AY38EZ.jpg


EPEAQa9XUAA6viP.jpg


EPEAQa6X4Ag5Ujk.jpg
 
Just to give a background to the Haunting when the Headstone I bought existed within the Chapel/Madhouse. The 1996 Haunting had a cool sci fi/horror theme that worked really well and was very innovative for its time. As a kid, I remember the Haunting being hyped up big time, right up until the mid 2000s as the bit with the 'upside down room' (to your average member of the general public!). It had a strong appeal, although sadly Hex took away some of this as the years went on. Personally, I feel that what made it innovative was because despite fusing the obvious influence of Ghostbusters and the Alien films, the story for the ride itself was incredibly original in how it was told. The institute of metaphysical research were depicted in the old pre show film as if they were an agency out of a Hollywood blockbuster, and the Drayton Manor Marketing department themselves filmed, produced and directed the scene to be as cinematic as possible. Here's the clip which you used to watch inside the IMR truck which is now publicly available on youtube. As you can see, it was used for both the advert and pre show.

Queue Line:
The area where you entered the ride was the site of the old snake train site. There are two separate doorways; the first being in to a small area, which was used for the grand opening of the Haunting, where Andi Peters (who at the time was still doing Live and Kicking) and a number of Drayton Manor staff dressed up as agents in boiler suits with large proton packs did a photoshoot. The ride attendants used to wear these exact suits in the earlier years of the Haunting to fit in with the fact that the ride was an investigation that you were involved in. Drayton Manor showcased the opening in their blog https://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/blog...ger-new-improved-haunting-drayton-manor-park/
old_beefy-1024x683.jpg

The 1996 queue was mainly set up as exploring the grounds and front of house of the 'old Drayton Green Vicarage', where unusual activity had been detected. The queueline gave a gothic feel as you approached the house with old style lanterns, passing the old doors and an authentic headless statue (with the head hidden in a nearby tree), all the time whilst hearing an old organ soundtrack playing. Just as you do now, you'd wait for the ride attendant who came out of the parked Mobile Containment Unit truck parked beside the vicarage. You'd quickly notice that the logo of the institute was remarkably similar to the Ghostbusters logo too.
Here's a picture supplied from the designers showing the exterior and facade as it was in 1996 shortly before the ride first opened. You can make out the statue I mentioned below.
Rare photo taken 1996 by Space Leisure:
Haunting-FOH-Drayton-Talk.png

Pre show and Corridor
Inside the large grey truck which you entered and still enter on a ramp, there was a cool sci fi ambiance, with a number of cool lighting fixtures that gave off a blue fluorescence and the impression that you were in a lab. You'd be briefed on TV screens inside by the slightly stoic Dr X of the IMR about the missing agents sent to investigate the vicarage and be told that you had been sent in to find out what happened. This is now the RIPA truck although some of the original set pieces and old computers remain.
You'd then follow the ride attendant in to the basement corridor and whilst walking through, the bulb lighting on the walls would flicker and dim, and you'd witness a UV lit skeleton on a large swing come down from the ceiling above. The way the ride works now involves this as an individual scene rather than a walk through. The scene was cool, and originally had its own background ambiance music to accompany it.
Library:
You'd then enter the library. Originally, an animatronic vicar existed behind the portrait at the front of the room, and lighting from behind would reveal him transparently through the portrait. He spoke in sync with the library audio, and revealed who he was, and the fate of the IMR agents who had died and were floating in the ceiling (where they still exist and feature in the current story!). He would introduce himself and explain who he was and what would happen to you.
In fact, here's a copy from the designers script of his original dialogue: It's quite a daring story given the religious undertones I always thought!
"I am the spirit of reverend Nicholas Beales, Vicar of this Parish, until one day in 1902, my soul was liberated. Since that day, I serve only the true master. The lord of darkness. This house is now a temple to his power. A gateway to his kingdom. No one leaves as they came in. <evil laugh>. So prepare to give up your souls in to the depths of darkness, for the lord of the collectors of souls is coming. Satan. Beelzebub. The Devil. The master has many names and faces. Soon, you will know all of them better than you know yourself. Once you have been possessed by his power, you can never escape. To know him, is to fear him. That fear will enter your soul and never leave. His power is inescapable, all embracing, perfect. Feel his power approaching. Soon, you will be like me. Disciplines of darkness, acolytes of the un-dead. Servants of the serpent god. You cannot go back. You can only go on. Further, in to our lair, from where there is no escape <evil laugh>"
He was replaced by the Vampire only a couple of years in to the Haunting being open, for numerous reasons. Then, in 2016, he was replaced with a Fear FX stock projection, before finally being replaced with the Lady of the Manor who exists there now.
The Chapel
The finale involved entering a chapel which was the first 40 seater Vekoma Madhouse in the world, and the 2nd after Villa Volta in Efteling (which was a larger 80 model like Hex). The ride system is incredibly sensitive and adaptable, detecting even the slightest of weight imbalances on either side of the room. It also has an in built audio system too. Of course, this is the case with every following Vekoma Madhouse, but it's worth pointing out that this was revolutionary back in 1996.
The finale involved you finally meeting the evil spirit within the haunted chapel. The Vicar would reintroduce himself as the talking skull within the headstone at the center of the room, and you'd then hear repeated incantations from the shrieking heads in the corners of the room as the room began to spin.
Once again, here's the script for the madhouse scene with the vicar story in 1996:
"<evil laugh> I told you there was no escape. This is a one way trip to meet the master of the black universe! There is no way back <prolonged evil laugh>"
Here's another designer archive image kindly given to us showing the chapel just after it received its finish in 1996. The headstone I own sadly no longer has the talking skull within:
Rare photo taken 1996 by Space Leisure:
86276363_570705600455004_7942514614825123840_n.jpg


Finally, the IMR would commence a 'plasma wave distortion sequence', ridding the spirit from the chapel. The room would stop spinning, they'd thank you for your help and tell you that they hope you'd "never have to come back". Before the gift shop was built in 2009, the Haunting had its very own gift shop styled as an armory that the institute were using, featuring a 6 foot tall life size agent model in the corner of the room and a large weapons cabinet.
Sorry for the long post!
 
Last edited:
I have heard good news about Apocalypse from word of mouth, but as always, we're just enthusiasts so treat it lightly and let's not pretend that we are all 'in the know'. Just a rumor

RoyJess said:
Yes, as far as I can remember, the floor has always moved, even before the re-theme/refurbishment.
Click to expand...
^This! I believe it's a hydraulic cylinder underneath the floor but not 100%.
Hope everyone likes the description given. Took a while to write that, but I hope it makes people appreciate what went in to it originally for the sake of comparison and to show the talent from the team who designed it! If anyone else has material or can share memories of the old Haunting, please do! I first did it around 2004, so whilst I got the earlier story I never got to see the original vicar :( Just the vampire.
@Themeparksandy1981 Interesting! That clip from the British Park Archive has different dialogue for the Vicar to the copy I have which makes me think that clip whilst from 1996 surely can't of been the original version. Some of it has the same lines, but it's clearly been tweaked. The section I wrote was 100% his original dialogue.
 
The dialogue was tweaked at the start of opening. The dialogue you hear in the BTPA video was what was there until 2004.

The vicar animatronic head was swapped out for a vampire animatronic head for the 2004 season. The old head used hydraulics with the new one using electronic servos for movement, massively decreasing maintenance. I remember having a good chat to some of the guys at Space Leisure about this back around the time. It was just a better option to have an electronically powered head. I still think they should have retrofitted the old head though. The vicar head was much bigger in the picture frame and was alot more imposing and intimidating.

I always thought later iterations were no where near as good. The vicar was always the best with his dialogue. The vampire head was always missing something and just took away from the atmosphere massively, when compared to the vicar.

The old head used to be put outside the ride every Halloween. Haven't seen it in probably a decade.

When it re opened with the vampire revamp in 2004. It had the slogan, 'The Vampire Strikes Back'

Quite an obvious and lazy steal from Duel, 'The Haunted House Strikes Back', which opened the year before. Up the road.

Like Sauron97 said, the ride does use the 40 seater Vekoma Madhouse, rather than the 78 seater model. But the interesting thing is that the 40 seater model only gives a gondola swing if 7.5 degrees each way, for 15 degrees total. While the larger model such as Hex, swings 15 degrees each way, for a 30 degree total. So the effect is more pronounced on the larger models I would say.

Oh and as for the moving floor, which has indeed always been there. Uses pnematics and not hydraulics to move the floor. You can hear them.
 
Last edited:
Ahh, great explanation @DistortAMG
I knew the headstone was outside for a while as I remember seeing it by one of the old cafes and gift shops back when the circus was still there. I always found the showmaster guy in that circus to be completely up himself, and I remember there being a hoop dancer called Tatiana. Strange how you remember these things as a kid. Doesn't seem to be any videos of the circus out there sadly.

I guess the Vicar being hydraulic makes sense as I know it is the case that pneumatic animatronics have more problems with delayed movements which is a pain for configuring speech at a precise time (through Vox control switches I believe with the programme that sets off the switch having to be changed/delayed to align with the sound level/frequency), which I think is mainly due to air leakages.

Where was the air compressor for the pneumatics in the haunting located? Did it supply both the animatronics and the floor movements ?
 
Last edited:
The vicar was hydraulicly powered which is the best way to power animatronics but is the most complex. Drayton switched to an electronically controlled head. Not pneumatic. I guess the fact the ride was only really having this one animatronic made sense to replace it with one that was the most maintenance free. Hence the electronics. The compressor is at the back of the ride.

Yeah you could use vox control but there are many many ways you could control an animatronic. Any logic board with IO would do it. Even a £30 Rasberry Pi could control an animatronic to be fair.
 
This is one of the reasons Towers don’t bother with Feb half term openings these days - the risk of crap weather is too high. You get complaints, have to give refunds, still have staff to pay etc.

I hope this doesn’t cost them too much in damage, I suspect the finances of the park aren’t great as it is.
 
Oh dear, that isn't good at all!

I sincerely hope the park can pull through and get everything repaired and sorted out for the new season.
 
Jesus......this park can't get any luck can they? Already felt like the writing was on the wall for them as it is. This is surely going to be very difficult to recover from.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top