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Drayton Manor Park

Up to the mid 90’s the zoo was the main draw for the park as then before they started to install the pirate adventure it was really just a amusement park with just the jungle cruise, jungle palladium, Buffalo, Flying Dutchman and the log flume as the main rides with the rest traveling rides.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
I don't think I've ever set foot in Drayton's zoo.
I don't think I want to.
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I'm not sure if the animals want to, either! (unfortunately)

Also: I just visited Drayton Manor today (Saturday 13th December 2025), and - FYI - the staff abruptly closed Maelstrom around 7 p.m. (presumably due to low demand, I think), even though it had been advertised to run until 8 p.m., so please beware if you are planning on visiting that the park may not honour the promised closure time for each ride (fortunately, I was able to get a final ride shortly before it closed - along with a few others who had stayed on the ride!).

In my opinion, they should keep the ride open until 8 p.m. but warn potential riders that it cannot start until / unless it reaches an "adequate capacity" (similar to Thirteen at Alton Towers).

Parts of the park were also quite dark in the evening - e.g. some of the external Gold Rush queue.

Speaking of Gold Rush: it operated on Cycle 1 both times that I went on it (well after 2 p.m.), and not Cycle 2.

Also: it appears that the park has unintentionally (and uncharacteristically) added a new rave / strobe light effect to Thomas Land (see link below) !


From: https://streamable.com/88o89e
 
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Went on Rosie to the zoo today and the maintenance doors were open and the lights were on inside (wish I had my phone ready) you could see that the whole of the inside of the Building at that end had been completely stripped out and emptied. Was this the area where the pirates had taken over the area and the building looked like they were on fire?
 
So, as you might have gathered, I've had an impromptu trip to Drayton Manor today, including my first time at their Christmas event, and first time on Gold Rush.

Their Christmas event seems like a really good version of what a Christmas event at a UK theme park should look like, with a majority of rides available with a good selection of Christmas additions and overlays. The only up charge that seemed completely egregious was Elftoria, which simply didn't seem like a thing (and after an hour they seemed to stop treating it like an up charge, so folk could just wonder in).

The event is also slightly let down by just how complicated it all is, with so many price points and timetables to try and keep track of. It feels like you need a qualification in Drayton Manor to keep on top of it all, and has clearly been designed with business needs in mind, but without taking in a stage to make is customer friendly. They could really do with simplifying everything, combine all the up charges into a single "festive attractions" ticket, and standardise ride open/closes.

But all-in-all it seemed like a good event, and flies in the face of the thought that a range of coasters can't operate in the UK in December. The fountain show on the lake was a nice festive addition, and we were glad of the 6pm show, as I think hanging on until 8pm would have made the event drag (we did the show at 6, then one extra walk-on ride on Gold Rush and then departed).

I was also impressed with their Western area. For a park of the scale of Drayton Manor it seemed well done, and seemed like a perfect overlay for that section of the park. I would say that the only thing that lets it down the lack of a retheme for Accelerator - from the outside, even The Haunting blends in as you pass by. Gold Rush seemed like a reasonable addition for the park, it was a fun family coaster, nothing to write home about particularly, but certainly a good addition for a park like Drayton.

Overall, the park is looking in good shape, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they add next. You can certainly see there are a few sites that are primed for redevelopment - the one that really stood out to me (other than the obvious) is the huge footprint left by the removal of G-Force. I could entirely see that being the site for another coaster in the not too distant future.
 
Squiggs said:
But all-in-all it seemed like a good event, and flies in the face of the thought that a range of coasters can't operate in the UK in December.
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It’s been fairly warm this week, will be interesting to see how they fare with the predicted temperature drops which I believe are the main hindrance to UK coasters operating.
 
Bowser said:
It’s been fairly warm this week, will be interesting to see how they fare with the predicted temperature drops which I believe are the main hindrance to UK coasters operating.
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I think that's the point. December tends to be quite a mild month, particularly on the run up to Christmas, so it very much seems like a risk worth taking for parks to offer a line up with more rides.
 
Squiggs said:
I think that's the point. December tends to be quite a mild month, particularly on the run up to Christmas, so it very much seems like a risk worth taking for parks to offer a line up with more rides.
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Yes. It very much depends on what the coaster operating temperatures are. I’ve seen 6C mentioned at other places in the UK, which whilst cold seems quite high to not be running things, especially on a nice sunny day like today. I’d be quite miffed in those circumstances if I turned up and all the main attractions aren’t running despite being advertised.

It’s one thing if you have some indoor attractions that can operate regardless but otherwise I expect many people simply won’t come. Not to mention a general lack of indoor facilities.

Look at Phantasialand, winter is their busiest time of the year because they guarantee a good ride offering (on top of the seasonal features). Similar at other European parks. The UK parks are all dead in winter and I think lack of confidence plays a part in that.
 
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