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Drayton Manor Park

Drauton Manor has updated the night at the manor part of the website to include apocaplyse and from what they said looks like it will have actors

Zombie Apocalypse​

Escape a real-life Zombie Apocalypse as you hurtle 50mph down our 54-metre drop tower, with rotten zombies surrounding.

This is your last chance to brave this iconic ride in the dark – don’t miss it!zombie apoc.png
 
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The big difference with Drayton Manor removing Apocalypse and Pandemonium is that they got plans to built a new big project for 2024 season which I do think it will be a thrill coaster.
Blackpool and even Alton Towers have closed attractions over the last 10 years and still not replaced them.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
The big difference with Drayton Manor removing Apocalypse and Pandemonium is that they got plans to built a new big project for 2024 season which I do think it will be a thrill coaster.
Blackpool and even Alton Towers have closed attractions over the last 10 years and still not replaced them.
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I don't think either park has closed a headline attraction though? Probably the Wild Mouse or Ripsaw would be closer. But in terms of the status in the park Apocolypse is more like if AT were closing Oblivion.

I don't think they will build anything as scary as Apocolypse at DM though.
 
I agree its a headline ride and I still think this is a bad mistake by Drayton. Yes they need a new coaster but I'm sure they could fit one in wrapping around the tower (especially if they remove the building) referbish the tower make it mostly sitdown and retheme it) I agree whatever replaces it won't be as thrilling as Apocalyse. I was wasn't excited when Thor opened as there are loads of Disk-o-coasters around the country, its nothing special whereas the Worlds First Stand-Up tower drop is a special attraction IMO and despite being 22 years old it has aged well (from a ride experience POV). I suspect we will get some bog standard coaster and another Zamperla flat replacing this but nothing special like we are losing.
 
pjanvil said:
I agree its a headline ride and I still think this is a bad mistake by Drayton. Yes they need a new coaster but I'm sure they could fit one in wrapping around the tower (especially if they remove the building) referbish the tower make it mostly sitdown and retheme it)
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I’m not so sure that removing it is a “bad mistake”. It’s clear that the ride has been just hanging in there this season in terms of how few of the towers are operating compared to how it was previously back when all sides were running. And it’s a fact that the park have been actively trying to get rid of the ride and sell it for some time.

But you have to look at it in terms of how much it would cost to restore it to its former glory and maintain it, or whether it’s better to put the money to better use. For example Shockwave is nearly 30 years old and the two other big ‘94 coasters have had extensive plans for retracking work and you have to think that a decision will have to be made soon about the future of that ride. The park may well not have enough funds for a new coaster, refurbishing and maintaining Apocalypse, and potentially future work on Shockwave, something would have to give, and if it means losing Apocalypse then that’s what might need to happen.

Also if the park are planning a new coaster you’d really want them to try and have the best space possible to work with and plan it for rather than trying to wrap it around an existing ride that the park no longer really want anyway. To be honest, none of us here know what the plans are for the park in both the short term and medium term.

Imagine for example that Apocalypse was removed and then in a a few years time we had a Mack Xtreme Spinning Coaster in its place and a new drop tower somewhere else in the park, would too many really be saying that removing Apocalypse was a bad mistake? I’m not so sure they would. Parks need to evolve, just look at Blackpool and how they are lumbered with some older rides that must cost a fortune to maintain each year.
 
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Johnny_5 said:
I’m just here for the comments when this 2024 project turns out to be Drayton picking up Alton’s enterprise at a bargain price…
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That would be funny since Thorpe bought Drayton’s enterprise from them a few years back.

Whilst I’m gutted apocalypse is going, I don’t think it’s a mistake for the park to get rid. It all depends on what they replace it with. It won’t be anything as thrilling, but it can still be good. I trust that looping group know what they’re doing, so far so good.
 
Johnny_5 said:
I’m just here for the comments when this 2024 project turns out to be Drayton picking up Alton’s enterprise at a bargain price…
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It's just Merlin who do that. They didn't even bother repainting Draytons old enterprise from the colours it was at Drayton to the colours it carries to this day at Thorpe.

Jokes aside, it may have been Tussauds.
 
On Sunday even with just 1 tower open it didn’t have a queue all afternoon. I remember back in September I went up 3 times before anyone joined the queue and that was on a Sunday.
You only got to look what the looping group have done to the park over the past 18 months compared to what the Bryan’s did in the last 10 years they ran the place and they had there busiest season since 2005 when G-Force opened.
Drayton have brought back there Zoo only days which ran to Winter 07/08 and was replaced with the Thomas land events so happy they looking at promoting the zoo more

Tickets | Zoo Only

Explore Drayton Manor Zoo on selected dates until May, with our brand-new Zoo Only Tickets!
www.draytonmanor.co.uk www.draytonmanor.co.uk
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
On Sunday even with just 1 tower open it didn’t have a queue all afternoon. I remember back in September I went up 3 times before anyone joined the queue and that was on a Sunday.
You only got to look what the looping group have done to the park over the past 18 months compared to what the Bryan’s did in the last 10 years they ran the place and they had there busiest season since 2005 when G-Force opened.
Drayton have brought back there Zoo only days which ran to Winter 07/08 and was replaced with the Thomas land events so happy they looking at promoting the zoo more

Tickets | Zoo Only

Explore Drayton Manor Zoo on selected dates until May, with our brand-new Zoo Only Tickets!
www.draytonmanor.co.uk www.draytonmanor.co.uk
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I wonder if they are going to allow annual pass owners in for zoo only tickets.

Not fussed either way, just curious.
 
DistortAMG said:
I wonder if they are going to allow annual pass owners in for zoo only tickets.

Not fussed either way, just curious.
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I think they should at least give Annual pass holders at least 1 visit free or at least discounted ticket.
I use to go when it was £4 entry and I did closed season updates for Drayton Manor Plus.
The Bryan’s loved our site and we got exclusive look at future projects, behind the scenes construction pics and vip tickets for the openings.
 
I liked Apocalypse a lot; I love a good drop tower, and it was indeed a great one! I admittedly couldn't quite get on board with some of the obscene hype surrounding it, but I did still really like it, it was easily my favourite ride at Drayton, and I'll be sad to see it go.

However, I don't see its removal as a mistake by any means, and that is for a multitude of reasons.

Firstly; as others have said, the ride did seem to be limping to the finish line a tad in recent months. When I last rode in June 2022, only one sit down tower was operating, and the others were all covered in tarpaulin and looked like they hadn't operated in some time. With that in mind, Drayton do seem to have gotten a good operating life out of it, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the cost to renovate and maintain it was simply too high to be financially viable.

Secondly; Apocalypse may be loved by enthusiasts, but I don't think it really gelled with the park's new direction. The park seems to be heavily pursuing the Chessington/Paultons-style family market over trying to appeal to thrillseekers, and while a bit of light thrill wouldn't necessarily be counterproductive in a family park, I think there's quite a considerable chasm between "light thrill" and "near 200ft drop tower with dark theming and scary seating configurations". For that reason, I don't agree that it is/was the park's headline attraction; it may well have been when it first opened and in the 2000s when DMP were a bit more thrill-focused, but I don't think that's the case now that the park has taken on a considerably more family-friendly image and refocused itself to become more of a family park.

Also, I'd challenge the point that Apocalypse was unique and that whatever replaces it will be "bog standard" by comparison. I'd actually argue that its replacement has the scope to be a far more unique ride than Apocalypse was.

Yes, Apocalypse was admittedly a unique ride when it opened back in 2000, and it will always hold the bragging rights of being the first stand-up drop tower, but Intamin drop towers, even ones with the same unique seating configurations as Apocalypse, are not exactly a rare breed these days. Not in the UK, admittedly, but Intamin drop towers, including stand-up models, are not exactly hard to come by nowadays if you look a little more globally. The sit-down experience of Apocalypse is pretty two-a-penny these days, with a vast number of sit-down Intamin drop towers now existing at parks around the world, and even when you look at Apocalypse's unique seating configurations, I can think of a good few others that operate with these. For instance, Hurakan Condor operates happily at PortAventura with all 3 of Apocalypse's seating configurations on offer (and all 5 towers operating, from what I can tell), Golden Driller also opened fairly recently at Fraispertuis City with all 3 of Apocalypse's seating configrations on offer, and I can think of quite a number of stand-up Intamin drop towers in operation.

By comparison, a new coaster could offer quite a bit of scope for something really good and unique. Admittedly, it likely wouldn't be nearly as intense as Apocalypse, but I'd argue that it could deliver in other ways and suit the modern day park far better. It's arguably easier than ever to build a quality family or family thrill coaster, and it's arguably easier than ever for small to mid tier parks to build a quality coaster, so I have high faith that whatever Drayton builds will be truly brilliant in its own way, and be a really good family or family thrill coaster for the park!
 
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