As mentioned in a previous blog, I’d like to break down the various Vekoma Madhouse attractions that the UK has, compare and contrast their ride mechanics and themes and finally rank them. It won’t be that hard though as there are only 3 currently in the UK.
Firstly I haven’t ridden Impossible at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and its not manufactured by Vekoma so I won’t be including this attraction here!
Like so many others, the first Madhouse I rode was Hex – The Legend of the Towers at Alton Towers. I went in knowing what was going to happen and spoiled it a little for myself (a feat I wouldn’t do when trying Derren Browns Ghost Train). Even though I knew how the ride worked, I was still impressed with the attraction and the feeling it gives you.
The walkthrough and show portion of Hex is brilliant, showcasing the Earl of Shrewsbury’s story and the chained oak legend. It could do with a little modernising as it does feel the oldest out of the 3 when directly compared, but it does its job perfectly well!
Next is Haunted House Monster Party at Legoland Windsor. This rides preshow is probably the weakest of the 3 attractions as it is just a video that plays in a large room with lights and sounds. It’s still good but not quite as good as The Haunting or Hex’s preshow.
The actual Madhouse portion itself is top notch. The room and seats sync up very well giving you that weird sensation of movement without it looking like you’re moving and the whole story of this being a party trick is very silly and bombastic and fun! Definitely memorable!
Finally there’s The Haunting at Drayton Manor. This ride features a well themed show building like the other two, and similar to Hex has different rooms leading up to the Madhouse.
The Haunting has probably the best preshow section of the 3, and features 3 rooms with screens and projections, as well as jump scares and motion to boot. However it is let down incredibly by its ride section. I’ve ridden it a couple of times and noticed the walls and seats aren’t quite in sync and the effects are nice, but lacking too. On our last visit the final section of the crypt opening didn’t actually do anything which is a shame as the preshow is so good!
It’s also worth noting that The Haunting is a smaller scale attraction than the other two, and though I can’t find figures, I would guess that The Haunting has roughly half the capacity of the other two, which can both manage 70+ guests each.
I think Hex is my favourite of the 3 as it’s consistent in its approach. The preshow is excellent and so is the ride element. I like the story behind it too and it uses the Towers really well.
Next I’d put Haunted House Monster Party as its ride element is really good fun, possibly the most fun of all 3, but its preshow does let it down a bit. The show building looks great too!
Finally there’s The Haunting. The ride section really does let The Haunting down massively and if it were given an overhaul and made into a larger capacity attraction with improved effects in the crypt, it would probably take the top spot!
I don’t know whether I’d put Vekoma Madhouses or Huss Top Spin rides at the top of my non rollercoaster attractions list, but the UKs Madhouses certainly make it a difficult decision! It doesn’t really help that we have no more Top Spins left in the UK, which is a shame! Maybe Talocan will make it easier to decide?
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 