It wasn’t so long I was writing a post about Shockwave, how it was an under appreciated gem of the UK coaster line up and how I adore it, even with its faults.
Now Drayton Manor have announced that Shockwave, in its current stand up form will be no more starting next season and I thought I’d like to say my part on this.
As I mentioned in my other blog, I really do like Shockwave. I like the sensation of riding standing up, I like the noise and the thrills. I think it fit nicely into Adventure Cove, the area they built around it and it looked great with the station refresh.
But converting it to sit-down only will kill it for me! I know the park is going down a family friendly route but top level thrills are part of a family line up, at least in my opinion! The best parks are those that cater to everyone and Drayton Manor had plenty of variety back when Pandemonium was still there.
You had Apocalypse, Shockwave and Pandemonium right at the top of thrills, then Air Race and Maelstrom the next level down. Then there’s Accelerator, The Bounty Pirate Ship, The Rapids, Drunken Barrels, Sherrif Showdown and The Haunting next. Then you have Thomas Land for younger kids (and adults alike).
Now there’s only Shockwave left at the top of the pile and taking away it’s stand-up train will be a big loss to it. I’d be more than happy if it ran two trains, so they can use the same layout but allow younger audiences to ride it, and still offer a top level thrill for those who want that too.
I don’t feel like this is the best decision, but it is decided and we’ll just have to move on without the stand up trains. What I’d love to see though is either Floorless trains, so it remains a unique ride in the UK, or even better, spinning trains.
I’m not entirely sure whether putting spinning trains onto Shockwave will keep it at the 1.2m height restriction the park is going for, but it would definitely be a worthy replacement for the stand up trains in my opinion!
I’ll keep an open mind about what Drayton Manor does with Shockwave but it’s a real shame that it’s going and I hope they can capture at least a small amount of what made the original so special when they change it.
For now at least, Shockwave still stands and will do so until season’s end, so we’ve got until October 27th to enjoy what we’ve got before it is no more!
I’ll be riding the life out of it when we go for the Vikings event later this year and that will be the final farewell from me. Expect a lot of posts about it on that day!
This is also my 100th post and I think it’s somewhat fitting making such a special milestone a blog about such a special coaster!
This is going to be a very quick blog just to outline our first ever European Road Trip!
As I’m writing this I’m sat in Tracy’s front room eager to get on the road, but can’t as I’ll be far too early for our Euro Tunnel connection to Calais tomorrow! This will be our first step of course and something I’ve never done before but I’m looking forward to it!
After a good night sleep (hopefully) we’ll drive from Calais into Belgium for the very first park on our little trip, Plopsaland! I cannot wait to have a go on Ride to Happiness and see what my first foreign park will be like!
On Sunday we’ll be at Bobbejaanland and we’ve accidentally hit a home run here as their new attraction Terra Magna opens for its first day after an extensive retheme. There’s also Typhoon to look forward to which was the very first Euro fighter model and Fury, which is the one I’m after most from this park!
On Monday we’ll be at the majestic Efteling for 2 days, stopping on site in their Loonsche Land Hotel which is very exciting! We have seen that unfortunately Baron 1898 won’t be operating while we’re there which is quite a blow but we’ve still got a plethora of excellent attractions to look forward to, such as Python and Symbolica.
Wednesday is a day off and we’re looking at visiting Eindhoven for the day. We’re not sure exactly what’s planned, though Tracy really wants to do their IKEA!
Thursday will be Toverland, a park I don’t see talked about much but well received when it is! Fenix, Dwervel Wind and Troy stand out for me here but there’s probably even more that I haven’t seen yet!
Friday and Saturday will be at the mighty Phantasia Land with a stop in their Hotel Charles Lindbergh. There’s so much to look forward to here, Chapas, Taron, F.L.Y, and Talocan just to name a few!
Finally we’ll be stopping back at Walibi Belgium on the way back around. Kondaa, Pulsar and Psyke Underground are what I’ve picked out but as with the other parks, there will be so much more that I’ve overlooked!
The fun doesn’t stop there though as we’ll be getting back on the Euro Tunnel and heading to Legoland Windsor to stop on site and do a day in the park and a the final Wednesday we’ll be at Thorpe Park to try their Mardi Gras event this year. 2 days to cool down before the finale at Drayton Manor for an Attraction Source event which I can’t wait for either! If Your Experience Guides event is anything to go on, then this should be great too! Extended ride times on Shockwave and Maelstrom, Loki, Thor and Accelerator!
It’s going to be a long one, it’s going to fill hard rives with videos and photos and it’s going to hopefully make some bloody good memories!
Another visit to Drayton Manor? So soon after the last? Yep, this year we’re season pass holders and with Drayton Manor doing a good job of turning the park around, I’ve decided to try and visit as many of their events as possible to see how they’re getting on. This time its a 3 day event for the Coronation of King Charles III culminating in a fireworks finale for each day!
We visited on Saturday, the day of the actual coronation and because of this we did actually miss seeing the event on the TV, which I would have thought might have been shown somewhere at the park, maybe it was and I missed it, but besides the 4D cinema, the park doesn’t really have anywhere it could show it.
Anyway onto the event, things didn’t really kick off until quite late on in the day when there was a live DJ playing a set from 5-6pm. Then there was a tribute act on from 6-8pm, another DJ set between 8-8:55pm and finally the fireworks at 9pm. This marks the first time we’ve ever stayed in the park beyond 5pm too!
The lake was so still I had a go at a reflection shot!
The DJs were good but nothing overly special. They did mix the tracks quite well and played a good range of music so you didn’t have to listen to too much of something you didn’t like! The tribute acts were for Queen on Friday, Ed Sheeran on Saturday and Elton John on Sunday. As we visited Saturday, we got Ed Sheeran and I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of his music! This didn’t much matter though as he played a lot of different songs and did a good job keeping us entertained.
There was also a very small stage show where Rory, the parks mascot, was doing a bit of a singalong with the kids too, but this wasn’t very long, but it was followed by a photo opportunity if anyone wanted photos!
To finish the day, the park had put on a fireworks display and it was great to see fireworks again, especially in warmer weather! The show lasted about 8 minutes and it was good. It won’t challenge Alton Towers or Legoland’s displays, but they were also up charged events so I really can’t find any faults with the display at all! It was also lovely to hear voice clips of King Charles played during the show too, so it felt properly linked to his coronation too, so another good job there!
Besides a few photo opportunities around there park, there was also a stall selling afternoon tea and alcoholic drinks to those who wanted them, and the Castle Bar was renamed to The Windsor Castle Bar for the event too.
I mentioned in my Alton Towers Festival of Thrills blog that it would have been nice to see some event specific merchandise and the same can be said here. They did offer some coronation flags and a couple of other bits and pieces, but no pin badges or anything park specific, but that’s only a minor thing here.
Outside the event, we had a leisurely stroll around the zoo, rode Sherriff Showdown, Accelerator, Sleipnir, Shockwave, Winstons Whistle Stop Tours, Troublesome Trucks Runaway Rollercoaster and the new for 2023 Thomas and Percy Submarine Splash, which I’ll go into in a minute.
Sherriff Showdown was having issues with its scoring system which meant you couldn’t see how much you’d scored, but the guns and targets still worked so it was nice to go through the attraction and see more of it rather than concentrating too much on winning!
Shockwave was riding great today too, both rides were relatively smooth and very forceful too. The more I ride Shockwave, the more I love it and the more I wish we could get another stand-up coaster in the UK. I hope next year they celebrate its birthday properly!
Finally there’s Thomas and Percy’s Submarine Splash. This is an incredibly cute Soquet S.A. babyflume with submarine shaped cars. The cars are very pretty but also quite uncomfortable as the backrest doesn’t have much padding in it! The ride is a very simple layout, but it’s well presented and has 2 small drops. The subs have a weight limit to them of 18.5 stone/120kg and you can ride as a single adult, as we did! We were hoping for this as some of the rides in Thomas Land don’t allow single adults but the information board didn’t say anything so we had a go. It’s very relaxed, nice and slow and the drops don’t get you wet too which we both liked!
So that was The Coronation Street Party. A nice little event, long park hours and plenty of opportunity to ride many of the ride and see the zoo before things got going. We won’t see another event like this for a while now so this will probably be a completely unique event for many years, unless they decide to do it again next year as just a street party event which would work too!
Next up will be a breakdown of our big holiday this year, so look out for that one!
Shockwave. Poor old Shockwave. It lives in a park that has gone through a lot of trouble in the past, had troubles of its own and was even over shadowed (until recently) by another roller coaster in the same area, that being G-Force.
The problems Shockwave has faced didn’t start here though, they started right when the attraction was built!
The beginning
Drayton Manor bought this Intamin Stand Up roller coaster from a booth at the 1992 Internation Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions show (IAAPA) and proceeded to build the coaster over the next year. Issues were found when testing started though as the test car couldn’t navigate the zero G roll so another price of track was needed.
Once the ride finally opened in March 1994, it was another uphill struggle as it was competing against Nemesis at Alton Towers.
So we’ve finally gotten the ride installed and opened and all is well, there’s a bit of competition from Nemesis but Shockwave can still shine though. Until Blackpool Pleasure Beach opens the world tallest and fastest roller coaster in May 1994, 2 months after Shockwave opens!
I don’t know at the time what ride attendance was but it can be assumed that Shockwave will have had a smaller number than it was entitled to because of the record breaking Pepsi Max Big One.
Nemesis didn’t really have too many issues as the ride was in a well respected park, had had plenty of investment and advertising done and the ride itself was unique to Europe with it being the first inverted roller coaster outside of North America.
Yeah sure Shockwave was a stand-up coaster and featured a unique zero G roll, a feat it still retains to this day, but would Joe public be as interested in a stand up coaster over an inverted coaster and the world’s tallest? I’m not so sure!
Shockwave today
If I could go back and look at all 3 on paper and decide which I’d prefer to give the most attention to, it would certainly be The Big One, then probably Nemesis, leaving Shockwave last to go and see.
Knowing what I know now though, I rate Nemesis the best of the 3, then Shockwave and finally Big One. A lot has changed since 1994, Big One isn’t the tallest or fastest in the world, Nemesis has got direct competition from Nemesis Inferno, as well as a plethora of other great European inverted coasters. Which just leaves Shockwave.
Things have gotten better for the old Intamin as stand up coasters have fallen out of favour, with many being converted to a much more appealing floorless coaster, a sentiment I’m not sure I mirror! As more and more stand-up coasters are converted, Shockwave gets rarer and rarer and hopefully, more sought after as a ride!
Shockwave still remains today as a stand up coaster and the only one in the UK, one of 2 in Europe and one of roughly 10 still operating worldwide. They are a rare breed of coaster, but Shockwave is the single last remaining to be built by Intamin. It might not look like much to most, but it is actually unique!
So what do I think of Shockwave?
I adore this coaster. Though it’s quite short and has some weird design choices such as the straight piece of track out of the station and dip before the lift hill, the rest is thoroughly enjoyable. It’s not without its faults though as you can get a bit of head banging from the restraints and the final brake run into the station is very harsh.
The very first time I rode it, I found the restrains a little confusing despite watching the videos that play in the queue line, but 1 ride was all it took to understand how they work. There is a saddle that you can ‘sit’ on so when the restraints are locked, make sure your legs are straight and your feet flat so you don’t get any discomfort from this bumping into you.
The first drop is pleasant and smooth, heading into the vertical loop that feels very unusual when navigated whilst standing. You can sometimes get a bit of a knock here as well as the zero G roll following the loop. Next is a small flat piece of track before two corkscrews that also feel really unusual but have great force and are very thrilling before the train turns around and heads into the final brake run. Once again be prepared for this as it is very abrupt and it will remove glasses and other loose articles if not strapped down!
No one ever seems to talk about Shockwave. Nemesis is always lauded, and rightly so, and Big One still gets attention as the UKs tallest but I’d rather ride Shockwave over Big One if I had to choose between the two. Big One has gotten a lot of retracking but is still quite rough, both Nemesis and Shockwave are still running on their original rails and I’d personally say they ride as well as each other in terms of roughness.
Since writing that, Nemesis has now been taken apart ready for its retrack which might make it ride differently, but I don’t think it’ll change enough to make it a bad ride or anything. Big One has had retracking done, and if I’m being brutally honest, it hasn’t made the slightest difference in ride quality.
Nemesis is still better themed, has better operations and is superior a ride to the other two, but Shockwave comfortable takes second for me. It’s shorter layout means its single train still gets sent out as fast as they can, and Big One runs multiple trains but their operations are dreadful in my opinion!
Call it my own ignorance of how the ride works, but there are plenty of block sections on Big One. Surely they can run 3 trains, load one, have one on the layout and another approaching the final brakes, if not waiting there already! I should stand and watch both rides for a bit and see which one is actually faster for dispatches as it would be interesting to see!
I don’t think there is anything they could do to make Shockwave better than Nemesis and if I’m being honest, I don’t think I’d want them to. It could do with a second train for capacity sake and if they could smooth it out to be like Icon then it would make the decision even harder.
So Shockwave then, a ride overshadowed by two bigger rides that I think deserves its time in the sun, at least a little! Not the UKs tallest, not the UKs fastest, but a unique ride that will certainly divide its ridership, some love it, some hate it but for me, I love it!
Our most recent theme park outing was to Drayton Manor! A slightly impromptu visit but since the park is offering 2 visits for the price of one, it makes a lot of sense, especially with their new area, Vikings!
Vikings
The new area is nicely themed and very pleasant on the eye. Though lacking in a real big centrepiece bit of theming, the rides sort of make up for this.
Walking through the new archway built under the old Buffalo Coasters track, you are greeted with a lot of nicely laid stone pathways and wood everywhere. There is a very small pond with a water feature to the right too, but the main draw is Loki, the parks Zamperla Nebulaz.
Loki
I feel like Loki is the areas signature attraction, as it takes centre stage and has had the most advertising, at least that I’ve seen!
The ride is a Zamperla Nebulaz, which is a first for the UK. The ride features 4 arms with 2 gondalas at each end for a seating capacity of 32 riders. The arms rotate around a 360 degree arc and the tower turns too. As each arm rotates, it’s meshes with the others giving a lot of near miss effects as you ride. Offride it looks excellent and on ride it’s even more fun.
There isn’t a great deal of force but it does give you plenty of pull as the arms get up to full speed. The easiest way to describe the feeling is if you’ve ever driven over a hump back bridge with a little speed. It turns your stomach, and so does Loki. A great new ride for Drayton and hopefully, we’ll see a few more of these in the coming years. I’d love to see ones where the gondalas rotate too…
Sleipnir
Sleipnir (Slay-p-neer) is another brand new attraction and is themed around the mythic horse of Odin. The ride sees you going on an adventure through a training school. The ride features audio on board each horse shaped vehicle, but it was a little too quiet to hear it.
There’s an on ride camera which is a nice thing to see as I’m a sucker for on ride digital photos! Other than that, the ride takes you on a small tour around a few themed elements before taking you back to the station.
This one really is designed for the younger audiences out there, and there is fun to be had on this, such as posing for daft photos, or watching other adults being silly together.
We did see a lot of smaller children riding the ride which is good, but there wasn’t as many excited faces amongst the kids as there was among their parents!
It’ll be nice to see how this ride matures over the years as I’d like to see more greenery around the track, and the audio turning up a notch too!
Jormungandr
Jormungandr (Your-mung-und-r) is the only returning ride rethemed for the area. In it’s old guise it was the Buffalo Mountain Coaster, and besides a good clean up of the station and the train having a new front and rear theming element, not much has changed for this classic ride.
This is both good and bad in my opinion! On the one hand, the train look so much better than it did before and the station is really pleasing on the eye, and I believe I also noticed some nice music being played too. On the other hand the coaster is still incredibly dull, even for a family coaster!
I don’t mean to upset anyone with my opinion on Jormungandr, but it still remains as the worst coaster I’ve ridden so far! I could do with a serious power upgrade around some of the helixes. It’s a shame as it takes up such a large amount of space and has a great section over the lake that I feel is wasted on this coaster.
Thor
Thor is another Disk’O Coaster for the UK, seating 40 guests around a nicely themed central hub. If you’ve ridden Kobra at Chessington or Edge at Paultons Park, then you’ve got some idea what to expect with Thor.
During our visit we didn’t have a go on Thor as the queue was very long and we intended to come back later but ended up getting side tracked.
I feel they missed a chance to make this one stand out by theming the end ramps with stone effect Viking statues, similarly to how Chessington themed up Kobra.
I would imagine the ride is still good fun, but we now have 11 different Disk’O attractions of various capacity in the UK, it would have been nice to see something else new, like Loki!
Overall thoughts
I might have sounded quite negative about Thor and Sleipnir, but Drayton Manor certainly needed them to help to boost their offerings. Though I haven’t ridden Thor, I can imagine it’ll be great fun, and Sleipnir can also be enjoyed by all ages too. Jormungandr could do to be replaced in my opinion, but I’ll go into that in a future blog!
Loki was certainly the standout attraction for the new area and it rides great too! I hope they expand the area a little in future and do something with that pond!
The rest of the park
The rest of our time in the park was spent having rerides on many of the other great attractions, such as Sherriff’s Showdown, Apocalypse and Shockwave.
Shockwave was certainly my highlight of the day. The more I ride this Intamin Stand up coaster, the more I enjoy it. I’ll have to go into detail about why I like the coaster so much at some point!
We had also had a wander around the zoo and still failed to see the tigers! We’ve seen them in the back room on the monitors in the past but we didn’t see anything this time!
Bryan’s Works Museum
One thing we did finally manage to see was Bryan’s Works, the parks display of working penny slot machines. Since our first visit in 2021 we’ve wanted to have a look around this and the Thomas Exhibition, but both were closed due to Covid-19 measures. While the Thomas Exhibition has since reopened and we’ve been around it, Bryan’s Workshop always remained closed.
Though the building is small, it holds a good collection of penny machines, most of which only accept the older and larger 1d penny. Many of the machines are well before my time, but a few of the more modern ones I remember playing on when we went to Mablethorpe on holiday!
There is a small charge of 10p per 1d Penny, and they do ask that you don’t take the old coins home, but Tracy got a quid’s worth and we had a good time playing some of the machines on offer!
It’s fascinating to see machines that do quite a lot really and yet are completely mechanical and don’t use any outside power sources. This is a must for anyone wanting to go down memory lane, get away from the rides, or simply have a bit of cheap fun!
Conclusion
To conclude our day at Drayton, I’d say we had a great time! Vikings is another good step for the park, and though Apocalypse is leaving the park at the end of this season, I’ve heard rumours that a new rollercoaster is in the works, so hopefully we hear something of this soon!
Looping Group seems to be putting investment into the park and saving it from what was once a grim looking future, so hopefully investment will continue, the park will grow and with it new attractions and experiences!
We’ll be heading back in a month or two to try out Thor and reride Apocalypse to death before its removal too. I didn’t get the chance to do the same for Pandemonium before that was removed, so I’d like to make up for that! Looking forward to our next visit!
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!
New camera for this trip too!
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.
This will be my first full resort review of Drayton Manor, my thoughts of the park and what I’d like to see moving forward.
Drayton Manor is a large theme park located near Drayton Bassett, Staffordshire, UK. The park has a hotel, zoo and a theme park with over 40 different attractions to enjoy.
I’ll do a separate review of the hotel and zoo as they warrant their own blog post, so for now, this will be all about the park.
I like Drayton Manor. It doesn’t have the thrills of Thorpe Park, or the beauty of Alton Towers, but it has its own identity and is definitely worth a visit to collect some credits!
The parks signature attraction is Shockwave, the UK’s only stand up rollercoaster, and also the only one in the world to feature a zero-G roll. It opened the same year as Nemesis at Alton Towers and Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and yet I rarely hear anyone talk about it!
It’s a shame, and I will go into more detail in another blog about Shockwave, but for now, I like it. It’s unique, it’s fun, it’s a bit rattly and rough in places, but it’s a good classic coaster.
Shockwave is now located in the brand new for 2021 area, Adventure Cove. This new area saw a refresh and reopening of Splash Canyon, now called Adventure Cove River Rapids. Without being too dramatic, but I’d go as far as saying that this is the best river rapids ride the UK has. It’s bright and fun, the soundtrack is funky and the ride incorporates a few special effects here and there which is rare to see on UK rapid’s rides these days.
Also new to the area is Wave Swinger, a Zierer Waveswinger offering both single and double seats. If you’ve been on a Waveswinger before then this doesn’t really do anything new, but it does give a nice view of the new area and its a pleasant little sit down after riding Shockwave or Air Race.
Speaking of Air Race, I’ve yet to get on it, so I can’t talk much about it, but it does look like fun! The same can be said for Maelstrom, the parks Intamin gyro swing. Maybe next time!
The final ride in Adventure Cove is Storm Force 10, a 500m long, 3 drop flume ride. I’ve ridden it once on the very back of one of the boats and you will be thoroughly soaked on this one.
I’d argue that this is the best water ride in the UK as it’s the only one I’ve been on that I had to get changed after riding! The first and last drops are fine, giving you a light spraying but nothing major, it’s the second drop that does the work.
The thing about the second drop is that it’s taken backwards and the back of the boats is flat and not very tall, so when the boat splashes down, it flops into the water rather than gliding over the top, causing a large wave to engulf the boat. Those at the back will get soaked through so bring a change of clothes, just incase (and I’d advice everything from socks and shoes, to underwear). Great ride though!
Next there’s Thomas land, a themed area dedicated to everyone’s favourite, number 1 engine! There are loads of rides here for the the whole family and all are themed around Thomas and Sodor. All in, there are currently 20 different rides and attractions within Thomas land, including a rollercoaster, a fully themed train ride, and plenty of Zamperla junior rides.
Highlights for me are the Troublesome Trucks Runaway Rollercoaster, Cranky’s Drop Tower, Captain’s Sea Adventure and the Thomas and Friends Exhibition.
You could easily lose a day just doing Thomas Land attractions, as most have good throughput, with only Troublesome Trucks and Engine Tours (the themed train ride) having really long queues throughout the day.
Once you’re done in Thomas Land, you would then start heading towards the back of the park. On you way you’ll pass the Carousel and guest services, before coming to a small pirate themed area.
The pirate themed area has a little theming here and there but not quite as much as other themed areas and includes 3 rides. The rides here are a Pirate ship called Bounty, a Seastorm ride called Jolly Buccaneer and a dodgems ride.
I’ve not ridden Bounty or Jolly Buccaneer, but I’ve been on similar at Chessington World of Adventures. As for the Dodgems, I’m not entirely sure why they decided to theme a dodgems around pirates, but it’s something at least!
After the pirate area, you’ll reach Accelerator, a Vekoma Junior boomerang with a racing theme. This is the original prototype Vekoma built, which eventually led to Velociraptor at Paultons Park being built, which I found interesting to know!
The theming is good as the queue line takes you through a garage testing performance cars, and there is plenty to look at here. Though I do think I prefer Velociraptor at Paultons Park to Accelerator, I do like the effort they put into theming the attraction, and the ride itself is good too.
You’ll also find the 4-D cinema adjacent to Accelerator, which for this year is showing Thomas & Friends 4-D Bubbling Boilers. When we went, the 3D effects weren’t working, but we got the same show as intended, just without the 3D glasses.
It was a decent time, not mind blowing or anything but still a pleasant show to experience.
Moving past the 4-D cinema you’ll find the Haunting, Sheriff’s Showdown and Drunken Barrels. All three of these have something good to offer, so I’ll start with The Haunting.
The Haunting is a walkthrough attraction and Vekoma Madhouse ride themed to a haunted vicarage. The queue was a bit long for this one, but when we did eventually get brought in, we were shown a video setting the scene. The story goes that the vicarage is supposed to be haunted and we’ve been brought in to see if we notice any paranormal activity.
There are two areas next, a corridor with lights and effects that leads into the second area, a square room. Here the attraction really shined for me as I really wasn’t expecting what happens in that room. I won’t spoil that part, but it’s not too scary or anything, just very interesting and really well done!
The room then leads into the ride section of the attraction, the lapbars come down and the ride begins. I’ve ridden both Hex at Towers and Haunted House Monster Party at Legoland, and personally, I feel The Hauntings Madhouse section is the weakest of the three.
It’s still good and give you the same feelings as the other two do, but there were a few synchronisation issues that I noticed that spoilt the illusion for me.
Next along is Sheriff’s Showdown, and interactive shooting ride themed to the wild west. I like this ride, and I think Merlin could do to take some notes from this for Duel and Tomb Blaster.
Unlike Duel and Tomb blaster, Sheriff’s Showdown is more than a pleasant drive through a themed shooting gallery as many of the targets cause things to happen when shot. Be it shooting out lights, or causing cans to fall which are really nice touches and gives the ride character and reridability. Sheriff’s Showdown is definitely a highlight of the visit!
Drunken Barrels is the last ride along and is a teacup style ride themed to Oktoberfest. Each rider sits in a barrel with up to 5 others, and as with other teacup rides, you can decide how much or how little you want to spin. The big difference here is that the entire platform tilts and raises you up to a 45 degree angle, which is both fun to ride and great to watch from off ride too.
The show building is themed excellently and the ride is also indoors so it’s great if the weather isn’t quite so good too!
After coming off Drunken Barrels, you’ll see a toilet block as well as Apocalypse, the parks thrilling drop tower. At the time of writing this I believe that Apocalypse will be leaving Drayton Manor at the end of the season, which is a real shame as the ride is excellent.
It consists of 5 drop towers all together, two are sit down and two are stand up and the final one is a stand up floorless tower, the first of its kind. I’ve managed to experience both the floorless and sit down drops this year, both are excellent, but the floorless one is in another league.
I used to really detest drop towers as they were a bit out of my comfort zone, but having tried a few this year, I can honestly say I see the appeal and I’d love to have a go on the really tall ones!
At the foot of Apocalypse is Pandemonium, a Fabbri swinging inverter. This was my first go on one of these and thought it was a great experience, I did suffer quite badly with my shoulders digging into the restraint when we were held upside down. I don’t recall this being an issue on Rameses’ Revenge when that was at Chessington, so I gather it’s Fabbri’s restraints.
Next is Flying Dutchman, another Wave swinger, this time manufactured by Intamin. The key difference between this and the other one in the park, is this one has you say in little boats, and it doesn’t tilt. It’s quite a relaxed ride, and really should be in the pirate themed area!
Finally there’s the Buffalo Rollercoaster off to the side. I don’t have much nice to say about this one I’m afraid! The theming is ok, but the ride itself is quite dull!
The coaster is powered by what looks to be two drive wheels and a hamster as it has little force at all and doesn’t really do much for me! I know it’s a junior ride, but I’ve been on plenty at Adventure Island, Chessington and Alton Towers, and all of theirs have a decent helix or something!
I’d love to see this themed up more, a few little airtime hills added and it sped up just a little. Still keep it as a junior coaster of course, but give it something for you to remember it by!
There is also a lovely train ride that takes you around Adventure Cove, the lake and behind Shockwave but I felt that this was criminally underused as more than half of the ride has you looking at nothing but behind the scenes parts. Shame really!
I’d love to see Drayton add a new modern thrill coaster to its lineup, maybe next to Buffalo Rollercoaster or to replace it entirely. I never got to ride G-Force when that was at the park, but something along those lines would be great!
Since Apocalypse is up for sale, maybe move the rides around at the back of the park and create a new themed area there. Incorporate Sheriff’s showdown and a few new junior and thrill flat rides, maybe even have a new version of the Buffalo Rollercoaster for this area!
There is plenty of potential at Drayton Manor, and with it being sold to Looping Group, hopefully they’ll invest money to make a good park, into a great one!
loopsandlapbars.com 