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Drayton Manor PTR

Martyn B

CF Legend
I hadn’t been to Drayton since 2006, and it was a bit of a dump back then, so I was kind of expecting the same, but I was very wrong. We actually had a fab day. I enjoyed myself a lot more than I did at Flamingoland, but that could down to the weather and lack of guests/atmosphere at Mingo.

One thing I was surprised at was how amazing Thomas Land was, I LOVED it! I have never seen so many kids running round, going mental, having orgasms, passing out etc, just because of that little blue train! The rest of the park was relatively quiet with basically none existing queues, however I troubled to find the air to breath in Thomas Land!

Anywho, straight on with the pics!

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Shockwave looking fab, shame it still rides so badly! Loading/unloading times on it were a joke too, which was a running theme that day!

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I had forgotten how totally freakin awesome Apocalypse is! And with no queues all day, whoring was a godsend!

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Random duck asleep in the middle of a pathway!

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Now then, onto G-Force, has a red coaster ever looked so pink after just 4 years?! I actually like it though (the coaster, not the pink). I don’t think it deserves half the stick it gets. Great airtime on the drop out of the station!

It’s a ‘fun’ coaster, I’d MUCH rather ride that repeatedly than Shockwave. Also I was never quite able to work out the correct way around the cattle pen queue, and nor could anyone else!

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The biggest problem for me was how short it was! Was over in a matter of seconds!

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Maelstrom was still awesome too. Just a shame that they’ve not really looked after the themeing since the ride was built, looking very shabby in places now. This is another running theme throughout the park.

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Standing up though a zero g roll is quite an odd experience, especially in the front left seat. Kinda painful too!

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Maelstrom was of the only rides that did have a queue, about 30 mins too! Again due to poor loading/unloading.

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Thomas Land was very surreal!

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Ka-ka-ka CHING!

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We enjoys getting a +1!

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I get the impression the idea for this coaster was the last thing they thought of for the area, as it felt very ‘crammed in’. Still, bit of fun was had, with a pop of air too!

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The ride is basically a helix, with a small twisty hill after.

Zoo time....

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Ba-a-a-ack off mister :evil:

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On my last visit, many years ago, I remember seeing 3 white albino cats that were very sweet, so I was quite pleased when I that one of them (I presume) was still here. Sharing home with the Rabbit run. Its weirdly addictive watching a rabbit and cat play fight.

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Baby LEEMUR! So sweet....

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We need more of these in the UK!

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Meerkats are odd creatures. They are SO ugly, yet so sweet at the same time!

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The Zoo was just as good as I remember, I really enjoyed it. Having a Zoo to wander around is such a good break to have from all the rides. Drayton’s Zoo is officially 79 times, better than Flamingo Land’s, which was just a massive disappointment.

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Excalibur, hmm. This is an odd one. It’s one of them ‘meh’ rides, just kind of pointless really. The whole ride seems to be some kind of build up for some spectacular finale, but where it is? It has the potential to be fantastic, but as it stands, its crap. Make into a Splash Battle I say!

Again, this ‘potential’ theme runs through the park; take the Pirate Adventure as an example. It has some really good themeing in some of the scenes, but its let down majorly by rubbish animatronics, and no music/atmosphere. Most of the time you’re floating around a scene, in complete silence, looking at nothing. Opportunity missed in my opinion.

New for 2010 at Drayton was Happy Feet 4D. I hadn’t seen the film, so didn’t no much about what was coming. But in a word, it was crap. This dancing penguin done my head after about 5 mins, so how people can watch a whole feature length film about it is beyond me. And what the hell is the point in the glasses, absolutely nothing happened with the screen! The whole thing just seemed to be the same 2 effects over and over again; rocking chair and water sprays, which after the second time of both, I was getting annoyed.

I’m not normally a negative person, but this was utter, utter ****e, in every way possible.

Food has also improved. This was one thing that had scarred me about Drayton, their food USED to be the worst I had ever tried in a theme park. However, since my last visit, they have done up all their restaurants, changed menu’s etc etc, and it has worked. It’s a massive improvement to the park really, helps me walk away with a smile knowing I’m not going to get food poisoning.

So all in all, we actually had a really good day. Chloe had never been before, and I was telling here it wasn’t very good etc, but she came away loving it, as did I. We had a fab day. Chloe’s not into rides like I am, so days at parks aren’t the same for me anymore; re-riding all the coasters all the while etc. But at Drayton, I think you benefit from that. We went with a relaxed attitude, and we had a fab time.

Still don’t think its worth £28 though ;)

And I leave you with a generic pic of G-Force, the surprise of the day!

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Nemesis Inferno

Strata Poster
Meerkats are odd creatures. They are SO ugly, yet so sweet at the same time!

How dare you! Take that back!

But yes, Drayton does look very poor around the entire place bar Thomas Land... They need to put some money into working on the rest of park since Thomas brought a very high level of theming to it that the rest just doesn't reach...
 

Harry Rawding

Roller Poster
Happy (I think) to say that Excalibur is still there! The operator booth has been removed as well as the guide rope. The ride may be off the operation ride list but everything else is still there!
 
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