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Drayton Manor Park

Nemesis is a legend to the park which really put Alton Towers among the European great parks. Like it’s the 1st uk steel coaster to be re-tracked but Merlin know what it means to its fans but on the other hand Shockwave it was a good coaster when it 1st opened and is still the only stand up coaster ever built in the uk and it won’t be re-tracked as it wouldn’t bring any more guests to the park and the only ride which would bring back older visitors to the park would be a new version of the pirate adventure.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
Can someone fill me in here, what reason was given as to why Pirate Adventure was closed?


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1) It was in a bad ran down state, they didn't have the money to invest in it.

2) The new boats that were installed were too heavy.

The Ride system is actually in a really good state still, but have no boats on it, that and most of the theming in the ride segment is gone.

So in other words, Money.
 
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At the time, the water had slowed right down, and the whole ride looked clapped out, a real shadow of the original ride.
The tale was, the pumps were done, and very difficult to access without high cost.
 
rob666 said:
Get over yourself!
Very very few people give a damn about the long dead Pirate Adventure ride.
Why would "older visitors" want to go on a boat ride in the dark?
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Yeah when they announced the Viking area last year most of the replies were asking if they had plans to bring back the pirate adventure.
Like most things they can leave a area empty for a year (Pandemonium) and leave Excalibur’s theming for over 10 years as only select people see it but Pirate adventure can be seen from every area of the park and zoo so guests will still talk about it.
Many have their picture taken by the former entrance as their parents had good memories of the ride.
 
I think it’s probably fair to say it was knackered. The pumps, the scenery, the effects triggers, the animatronics, the fire prevention system, the show building… in short, the whole ride. And has been said before, it all came down to money they didn’t have. It’s got to the point that it’s now the stuff of legend. Then Drayton auctioning off the barely sellable bits of scenery and memorabilia, and there’s highly likely to be the best part of bugger all left. Due to it’s proximity and attachments to Thomas Land buildings on the left and parts of Excalibur on the right any work to that building, reopening or otherwise, is likely to be part of a whole project involving the Excalibur site and the Pirates show building as one complete project. And I’m guessing that’s a very long way off. Pirates was a fun meander when the weather was crap. Great when it opened, but dreadfully poor in its latter years. And I’m guessing we’ve now all forgotten the smell?! My last ride on it, close to its closure, was revolting. It did more damage to Drayton’s reputation open than it ever has done closed, IMHO.
 
If you gave people the option of

A - Shiny new roller coaster or
B - Splurging cash on a fairly average boat ride

I'm pretty sure you know what the response will be.

It's history, it can be looked back on fondly, but technology and standards far surpass what was there. I remember riding it many years ago and thinking it was very tired, so I am not sure it's an easy save - even if the ride system is still in place.
 
joelpagett said:
If you gave people the option of

A - Shiny new roller coaster or
B - Splurging cash on a fairly average boat ride

I'm pretty sure you know what the response will be.

It's history, it can be looked back on fondly, but technology and standards far surpass what was there. I remember riding it many years ago and thinking it was very tired, so I am not sure it's an easy save - even if the ride system is still in place.
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I'm not so sure. If you went on a Disney forum and asked the same question, most people would go with the dark ride.

Not sure why everyone in the UK just dismisses dark rides, when they should be an integral part of making a theme park suitable for all ages.
 
jon81uk said:
I'm not so sure. If you went on a Disney forum and asked the same question, most people would go with the dark ride.

Not sure why everyone in the UK just dismisses dark rides, when they should be an integral part of making a theme park suitable for all ages.
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I don’t think anyone is dismissing dark rides, but what we’ve had to put up with in the UK has been largely dire - certainly in terms of upkeep and care. I mean, Hex was (is) world class, but it’s upkeep over the years has been questionable. Likewise Valhalla. Likewise The Haunting. Likewise (until recently) the Haunted House at Towers. Poor retheme after retheme on things like Around The World, Bubbleworks etc diminished their original greatness to the point of being comedically bad. I’d welcome a truly world class dark ride to a UK park, as long as the park cared as much about it as enthusiasts seem to.
 
I’m sure Looping must have some ideas of what to do with the PA building at this point, whether they’ve made a decision yet is another matter. There’s three options really from what I can see, all of them will probably be very expensive undertakings:

1. Bring back pirate adventure, doesn’t have to be an exact copy of the original but I think a pirate dark ride still has a place on the park if they want it. Remove any theming that’s left if there is any and start from scratch with modern animatronics and effects.

2. Strip out the entire building to make way for a different ride whether that be an indoor coaster, a different dark ride etc.

3. Demolish the entire lot and build on top of the land.

They can’t just leave it in its current state forever. Well they can, but it sticks out like a sore thumb and the space is being totally wasted when the park is pretty small anyway. Another dark ride certainly wouldn’t hurt the parks ride line up, I’ll always hold out some hope for a new pirate adventure, but as time goes on I’m wondering if demolition is on the cards after all. Although this wouldn’t be a straightforward task either due to adjoining buildings still in use.

It’s one of those where due to years of neglect, how long it’s been since it was last in proper use, and what’s been built around the building over time, no matter what you try to do with it, it’s going to cost and it’s not going to be a straightforward job. It feels a bit like they are getting the rest of the park up to scratch before tackling this rather large elephant in the park which is understandable.
 
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Johnny_5 said:
I don’t think anyone is dismissing dark rides, but what we’ve had to put up with in the UK has been largely dire - certainly in terms of upkeep and care. I mean, Hex was (is) world class, but it’s upkeep over the years has been questionable. Likewise Valhalla. Likewise The Haunting. Likewise (until recently) the Haunted House at Towers. Poor retheme after retheme on things like Around The World, Bubbleworks etc diminished their original greatness to the point of being comedically bad. I’d welcome a truly world class dark ride to a UK park, as long as the park cared as much about it as enthusiasts seem to.
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Just because previous dark rides have suffered from poor maintenance because ongoing costs haven’t been budgeted for that doesn’t mean there is no reason to add more. It’s definitely something that parks like Drayton and Paulton need more of.
 
jon81uk said:
I'm not so sure. If you went on a Disney forum and asked the same question, most people would go with the dark ride.

Not sure why everyone in the UK just dismisses dark rides, when they should be an integral part of making a theme park suitable for all ages.
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For me it's nowt to do with preference, it's about setting my own expectations because they cost a comparable amount in terms of hardware/construction yet deliver a fraction of the marketing potential.

Valhalla and Alton Manor wouldn't be happening if they didn't already exist.
 
They will certainly keep the pirate adventure building for a future project. Drayton only really has one dark ride currently so it would make sense to use it for another even if it's not a pirate boat ride.

It's actually quite impressive that nothing has leaked out about thier new coaster especially given that construction will only be a few months off.
 
Personally I thing we will see something happen to the PA site once looping turn their attentions to the middle of the park. It’s clear that they plan on reintroducing themed sections to make an immersive experience for guests. We have seen that with adventure cove and Vikings both complementing Thomas land meaning there is quite literally something for everyone. Something Drayton haven’t had for a very long time once Ariel park was removed. I bet the site where the roller coaster is going to be will most likely be themed to bring together the drunken barrels and sheriff show down (both rides which can easily be rethemed). Once the top end of the park is sorted , it will either be the zoo or the middle park that will be focused on. We know that they plan on moving 1 even 2 rides due to the 5 year plan they realised. Looping have the ability to bring back rides that was sbno and granted the rapids wasn’t left for as long as pa , the rapids was exposed to the elements where as pa assuming all the water was drained has not been overly exposed to the elements. Looping certainly have ideas and a strong plan for the park and it wouldn’t surprise me if they haven’t been secretly stripping the building back to the bones to use for a future project weather that be a coaster or a boat ride or something we haven’t seen before. We just have to wait to see what the future holds. I personally like the fact that Victoria Lyn is constantly walking about the park , and gathering feed back and images.
 
Right let’s look at the Bryan’s last 9 years of operation.

2011
New
Ben 10
Blue Mountain engines
Hotel

Removed
Excalibur closed
Black Revolver closed season

2012
New
Castle of Dreams
2013
New
Winston’s ride

2014
New
Air Race

2015
New Thomas land Expansion with 3 new rides

Pirate Adventure closed

2016

Haunting re-theme

2017
New
James and the red balloon

Rapids SNBO
Big wheel removed
Chair lift removed

2018

Golden nuggets re-theme

G force SBNO

2019
New
Zoo work
G force removed during the closed season 2019/20

Rides opened up 8
Rides closed 7

Looping group

2021
New
River rapids
Wave swinger

Pandemonium

2022
Thor
Loki
Sleipnir

Apocalypse

2023
Kids new flume ride

2024
New coaster
Rumoured new flat ride

Rides new 6
Rides closed 2

With the new coaster next year and another flat ride the looping group added the same amount of rides in 4 years as the Bryan’s did in 9 years.

I’m not sure how much the looping group spent on the rapids but the only thing that was kept the same was the original queue line with everything else been replaced so I’m sure if they were willing to spend all that money on a ride at was SBNO for 4 years outside and with new boats and with there track record of bringing old rides back to life I’m sure they will reuse most of the ride system but replace all the worn/ broken parts and buy new boats.
Also with the high standard that’s going into this kids log flume im sure the rest of the scenes in the building will be stripped out and it be themed to a high standard of set pieces and maybe screens.
 
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