After Festival of Thrills, we headed over to Fazeley to stop for the night in Fazeley Inn as it’s right on the doorstep of Drayton Manor!
The pub itself was fine, standard UK pub, with very well priced breakfast options! The room however, did leave a lot to be desired. This was arguably the worst room we’ve ever stopped in. Not that it was a health hazard or dangerous, but it was in a serious state of disrepair.
The staff were nice and very friendly too so it wasn’t all that bad of a stay! We paid £44.65 for the night which was about a quarter of what Drayton Manor’s hotel were charging!
The next day we arrived at Drayton Manor for our first visit of the season!
First stop was Shockwave, the UK’s only stand up coaster. We managed two rides through the day and the first was excellent. It rode so well, taking each element smoothly and really showing how fun stand up coasters can be. The second ride was a bit rougher, but not terrible by any stretch! I’ll have to do a dedicated blog to this seemingly forgotten beast in the future as I love this ride more and more each time I ride it!
Next we had our first go on Air Race, the parks’ Zamperla Super Air Race model. I was pleasantly surprised with how fun this ride is. I was expecting to feel a bit ill with all the upside down spinning going on but it was fine. Tracy didn’t like it so much but she really doesn’t like being suspended upside down for too long and Air Race does hold you inverted for a good amount of time!
After Air Race, we headed up to Apocalypse for a go on the sit down tower, Tracy’s first go on a proper drop tower. The photo says it all!
Though this thrill ride has been listed as being for sale on Interlink, I can’t find anything on their site to suggest it’s still up for sale, so hopefully it’ll end up staying as it is a really good ride for the park.
After Apocalypse, we went on Sherriff Showdown, The Haunting and the Accelerator before having a wander around the park for some photos and such.
Speaking of The Haunting, I will be doing a comparison between the Vekoma Madhouses’ in future, but in brief, this one has one of the best preshow sections I’ve seen so far. Hex and Monster Party are great and I think Hex is still the best but this one is a close second. The actual Madhouse ride section is definitely the worst though as it doesn’t synch up very well or give you the weird sensation of movement like Hex and Monster party do to begin with. More in a future blog!
We had a wander around Thomas Land, rode Troublesome Trucks a couple of times and were disappointed to find out that adults can’t ride Sodor Cars alone, you have to have a child to be able to ride which could be advertised a little clearer!
Shoutouts to the gentlemen who plays Sir Topham Hat in Thomas Land. He’s such a nice and friendly guy, and seems like such a perfect fit for the role, same for Rusty and Dusty who are also excellent!
After Thomas Land we just wandered about, checking in on the shops and have a few re-rides on the attractions. Overall a great day for riding as the park wasn’t too busy and the queues were moving nicely.
I’ve now been to Drayton Manor on 3 separate occasions and it seems to get better with every visit. Looping group, the current owners, seem to be investing in areas the park needs most. Their last effort went into Adventure Cove, and though it isn’t the absolute best themed area in the UK, it does show a deal of care and attention has been undertaken here.
With the new Vikings themed area coming later this year, I will be returning and hope the same levels of attention are prevalent there too! Hopefully it’ll be nothing but good news for Drayton going forward as the park has some stellar attractions and is set on a lovely plot of land too.
loopsandlapbars.com 