What's new

Drayton Manor 2022 - New Vikings Area

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
I actually think a coaster is quite plausible here; Drayton often does summer openings as opposed to start of season openings (even in the Bryan era, rides frequently opened in June or July), construction work spans a wider area than Pandemonium only (also heading towards Buffalo) and if it were a family coaster, it wouldn’t take too long to build! I’m unsure if they’d even need planning permission, in fact… I don’t think Accelerator ever required it, from what I can tell.
Can they build up to 25M tall under those fabled amusement park PD rights maybe?
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Can they build up to 25M tall under those fabled amusement park PD rights maybe?
What are the “PD rights”, out of interest?

It wouldn’t surprise me if Drayton could build up to 25m, though; from memory, I don’t think any of their recent rides have required planning permission…
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
What are the “PD rights”, out of interest?

It wouldn’t surprise me if Drayton could build up to 25m, though; from memory, I don’t think any of their recent rides have required planning permission…
Permitted Development Rights


Permitted development​

B. Development on land used as an amusement park consisting of—

(a)the erection of booths or stalls or the installation of plant or machinery to be used for or in connection with the entertainment of the public within the amusement park; or

(b)the extension, alteration or replacement of any existing booths or stalls, plant or machinery so used.

Development not permitted​

B.1 Development is not permitted by Class B if—

(a)the plant or machinery would—

(i)if the land or pier is within 3 kilometres of the perimeter of an aerodrome, exceed a height of 25 metres or the height of the highest existing structure (whichever is the lesser), or

(ii)in any other case, exceed a height of 25 metres;

(b)in the case of an extension to an existing building or structure, that building or structure would as a result exceed 5 metres above ground level or the height of the roof of the existing building or structure, whichever is the greater; or

(c)in any other case, the height of the building or structure erected, extended, altered or replaced would exceed 5 metres above ground level.

Interpretation of Class B​

B.2 For the purposes of Class B—

“amusement park” means an enclosed area of open land, or any part of a seaside pier, which is principally used (other than by way of a temporary use) as a funfair or otherwise for the purposes of providing public entertainment by means of mechanical amusements and side-shows; but, where part only of an enclosed area is commonly so used as a funfair or for such public entertainment, only the part so used is to be regarded as an amusement park; and

“booths or stalls” includes buildings or structures similar to booths or stalls.


EDITED TO CLARIFY: I'm not suggesting, btw, that this is true, and that they are able to make use of the PDRs, I'm asking if anybody knows that to be the case or not for sure?
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Interesting… I wonder why no other park in the UK is seemingly entitled to this?

Also, I reckon this could very well be a coaster. Looking back through this thread, markings apparently covered “a large area between Accelerator and Apocalypse” last month… which would encompass Pandemonium’s former site!

I hope it’s a coaster… I’m doing a solo train trip to Drayton Manor next year, and a new cred would be a nice way to sweeten the deal!
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Interesting… I wonder why no other park in the UK is seemingly entitled to this?

Also, I reckon this could very well be a coaster. Looking back through this thread, markings apparently covered “a large area between Accelerator and Apocalypse” last month… which would encompass Pandemonium’s former site!

I hope it’s a coaster… I’m doing a solo train trip to Drayton Manor next year, and a new cred would be a nice way to sweeten the deal!
PDRs often don't apply due to several reasons. For example, I live in 'an area of outstanding beauty' so no permitted development rights apply, beyond the erection of 'temporary structures'

There's a list, as long as your arm, of other reasons why PDRs might not apply...
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Come to think of it, Drayton also might not be the only park in Britain to be entitled to PDRs; I seem to remember Thorpe recently being granted permission to not have to file for things below 25m in height, and none of Paultons’ recent rides have required planning permission, as far as I’m aware.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Come to think of it, Drayton also might not be the only park in Britain to be entitled to PDRs; I seem to remember Thorpe recently being granted permission to not have to file for things below 25m in height, and none of Paultons’ recent rides have required planning permission, as far as I’m aware.
Have just checked through the entirety of Lichfield District Council's planning documents relating to 'Drayton Manor' They go back to 1997... The only 'ride' that shows up was the drop tower!!!
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Have just checked through the entirety of Lichfield District Council's planning documents relating to 'Drayton Manor' They go back to 1997... The only 'ride' that shows up was the drop tower!!!
So Drayton could very well sneak a family coaster past the council, then!

If G Force got past, then I should think a family thrill coaster definitely would…
 

Thekingin64

Strata Poster
Come to think of it, Drayton also might not be the only park in Britain to be entitled to PDRs; I seem to remember Thorpe recently being granted permission to not have to file for things below 25m in height, and none of Paultons’ recent rides have required planning permission, as far as I’m aware.

I believe lightwater valley has something similar, but confined to within their mini railway only. Anything outside required planning permission, hence why most development was within the railway.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet, but Coaster Chall (@Coaster Chall YouTube on here) recently posted a very interesting video about what Drayton could be receiving in 2022, as well as what could be coming in 2023:
If you don't want to watch, Chall's inside source is suggesting that:
  • Drayton Manor's 2022 addition will be a Viking-themed area on the triangular plot of land near to where Vertigo and Buffalo are located named Viking Village. The addition is set to be fully revealed in March 2022, with an opening apparently set for 1st April.
  • The rides installed will be a Zamperla Disk'O Coaster, a Zamperla Nebulaz and a pony ride-style attraction (think George's Dinosaur Adventure at Paultons) themed to Viking battle horses.
  • As well as this, Vertigo will apparently be kept, rethemed into the area and included in park admission, and Buffalo is also being rethemed to the Loki Serpent Snake.
  • Away from Viking Village, markings are already being taken for a new roller coaster, and Looping Group are currently scouring for different manufacturers to build it. However, the ride is said to have 800m of track, forwards and backwards sections, and a swing launch somewhere within the ride. In terms of a location, the combined location of Apocalypse, Pandemonium and Test Track is apparently being eyed up for this coaster, and it's rumoured to be a 2023 addition, functioning as a phase 2 expansion to Viking Village.
Isn't this all very exciting? Take this with a pinch of salt, of course, but Chall's inside source within Drayton Manor has been incredibly reliable so far, correctly predicting nearly all of what happened with Adventure Cove in 2021. So for that reason, I'd say that what Chall is saying has a high chance of being true, personally!
P.S. I know you're a member on here, Chall, so if you don't want me promoting your content on your behalf, then I apologise, and I will happily remove my post.
 

VonRolland

Hyper Poster
I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet, but Coaster Chall (@Coaster Chall YouTube on here) recently posted a very interesting video about what Drayton could be receiving in 2022, as well as what could be coming in 2023:
If you don't want to watch, Chall's inside source is suggesting that:
  • Drayton Manor's 2022 addition will be a Viking-themed area on the triangular plot of land near to where Vertigo and Buffalo are located named Viking Village. The addition is set to be fully revealed in March 2022, with an opening apparently set for 1st April.
  • The rides installed will be a Zamperla Disk'O Coaster, a Zamperla Nebulaz and a pony ride-style attraction (think George's Dinosaur Adventure at Paultons) themed to Viking battle horses.
  • As well as this, Vertigo will apparently be kept, rethemed into the area and included in park admission, and Buffalo is also being rethemed to the Loki Serpent Snake.
  • Away from Viking Village, markings are already being taken for a new roller coaster, and Looping Group are currently scouring for different manufacturers to build it. However, the ride is said to have 800m of track, forwards and backwards sections, and a swing launch somewhere within the ride. In terms of a location, the combined location of Apocalypse, Pandemonium and Test Track is apparently being eyed up for this coaster, and it's rumoured to be a 2023 addition, functioning as a phase 2 expansion to Viking Village.
Isn't this all very exciting? Take this with a pinch of salt, of course, but Chall's inside source within Drayton Manor has been incredibly reliable so far, correctly predicting nearly all of what happened with Adventure Cove in 2021. So for that reason, I'd say that what Chall is saying has a high chance of being true, personally!
P.S. I know you're a member on here, Chall, so if you don't want me promoting your content on your behalf, then I apologise, and I will happily remove my post.
Watch his source be IntaminForever
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Watch his source be IntaminForever
As far as I can see, though, Intamin Forever hasn’t ever talked about Drayton on here, so I’m unsure whether it would be them.

Whoever Chall’s source is, they’ve been incredibly reliable thus far, so I trust what Chall says with a fair degree of certainty, personally!
 

Matt N

CF Legend
I've been scoping out the area that Drayton has to work with here if the rumours in the video are true on Google Earth, and it's a surprisingly small area on the face of it, but one that does carry a fair few options if Drayton think outside the box a little.

If my Google Earth snooping proves that I properly know Drayton, then I ascertain that the largest base area they could possibly have is this one:
Drayton-Manor-2023-Coaster-Site.png

(I apologise for my slightly crude drawing...)

I've calculated the site area of the highlighted plot to be around 4,000 square metres. For some idea, that's about 25% larger than the area inhabited by Spinball Whizzer at Alton Towers (a pretty compact ride that is half the track length that this is said to be), and it's a smaller area than both the Buffalo (~5,000) and Shockwave (~9,000) in terms of site area in square metres. At its extremities in each dimension, the site is approximately 65m wide and 73m long.

Chall's video says that this ride's track length will be approximately 800m. If that is true, then assuming the coaster kept to the highlighted area, this ride would have a track density (metres of track per square metre) of around 0.2 metres of track per square metre (800m of track within 4,000 square metres), which for some perspective is ever so slightly more dense than Smiler at Alton Towers, whose track density is 0.195 metres of track per square metre (1,170m of track within 6,000 square metres, according to Gerstlauer). That ride was said to be the most track-dense coaster on earth, so if Drayton is building a coaster in this area with the rumoured specifications, then it will either be very, very tightly packed in...

...or it could span to other surrounding areas. I could potentially see it going either behind Buffalo, towards the lake (if they removed Flying Dutchman), or both. For some idea, Wakala at Bellewaerde (a Gerstlauer like Chall cited, and also the type of ride I could imagine Drayton going for) is 87m wide and 84m long according to Gerstlauer (https://www.gerstlauer-rides.de/references/reference-list/europe/belgium/wakala-en-us/), which I calculate could fit if they stretched outside the given area. Assuming the ride's turning point was somewhere around the centre right of the plot I identified (so sparing the toilet block below), a ride with Wakala's dimensions (assuming a perfectly l-shaped layout, of course, although I know Wakala is quite long and thin, so it might fit) would come to around Buffalo's s-bend horizontally and around the tree between Flying Dutchman and the lake edge vertically:
Wakala-Footprint-within-Drayton-Manor.png

The only slight stumbling block is that this ride would be 800m long, while Wakala is 655m long as per Gerstlauer, so it would be a little longer, but I guess they could just make it a slightly twistier ride, to use up that empty surrounding space within the Apocalypse/Pandemonium/Test Track plot!

In terms of the Zamperla Family Launch Coaster; I could definitely see it! According to Zamperla's website (https://www.zamperla.com/products/family-thrill-launch-coaster/), the stock model is 112m wide and 52m long, which within Drayton's plot would look something like this:
Zamperla-Family-Launch-Coaster-within-Drayton-Manor-1.png

Or like this:
Zamperla-Family-Launch-Coaster-within-Drayton-Manor-2.png

(It would depend on which way they decided to orientate it)

However, the stock model is only 519m long (rumoured length is 800m), and I was unsure whether the footprint of the layout Zamperla are promoting would be thin enough to fit in the given areas, so it might have to be custom.

So to wrap this up; the base area is quite compact, but I think some kind of family launcher could certainly fit if Drayton thought outside the box a little!
 
Last edited:

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
I've been scoping out the area that Drayton has to work with here if the rumours in the video are true on Google Earth, and it's a surprisingly small area on the face of it, but one that does carry a fair few options if Drayton think outside the box a little.

If my Google Earth snooping proves that I properly know Drayton, then I ascertain that the largest base area they could possibly have is this one:
Drayton-Manor-2023-Coaster-Site.png

(I apologise for my slightly crude drawing...)

I've calculated the site area of the highlighted plot to be around 4,000 square metres. For some idea, that's about 25% larger than the area inhabited by Spinball Whizzer at Alton Towers (a pretty compact ride that is half the track length that this is said to be), and it's a smaller area than both the Buffalo (~5,000) and Shockwave (~9,000) in terms of site area in square metres. At its extremities in each dimension, the site is approximately 65m wide and 73m long.

Chall's video says that this ride's track length will be approximately 800m. If that is true, then assuming the coaster kept to the highlighted area, this ride would have a track density (metres of track per square metre) of around 0.2 metres of track per square metre (800m of track within 4,000 square metres), which for some perspective is ever so slightly more dense than Smiler at Alton Towers, whose track density is 0.195 metres of track per square metre (1,170m of track within 6,000 square metres, according to Gerstlauer). That ride was said to be the most track-dense coaster on earth, so if Drayton is building a coaster in this area with the rumoured specifications, then it will either be very, very tightly packed in...

...or it could span to other surrounding areas. I could potentially see it going either behind Buffalo, towards the lake (if they removed Flying Dutchman), or both. For some idea, Wakala at Bellewaerde (a Gerstlauer like Chall cited, and also the type of ride I could imagine Drayton going for) is 87m wide and 84m long according to Gerstlauer (https://www.gerstlauer-rides.de/references/reference-list/europe/belgium/wakala-en-us/), which I calculate could fit if they stretched outside the given area. Assuming the ride's turning point was somewhere around the centre right of the plot I identified (so sparing the toilet block below), a ride with Wakala's dimensions (assuming a perfectly l-shaped layout, of course, although I know Wakala is quite long and thin, so it might fit) would come to around Buffalo's s-bend horizontally and around the tree between Flying Dutchman and the lake edge vertically:
Wakala-Footprint-within-Drayton-Manor.png

The only slight stumbling block is that this ride would be 800m long, while Wakala is 655m long as per Gerstlauer, so it would be a little longer, but I guess they could just make it a slightly twistier ride, to use up that empty surrounding space within the Apocalypse/Pandemonium/Test Track plot!

In terms of the Zamperla Family Launch Coaster; I could definitely see it! According to Zamperla's website (https://www.zamperla.com/products/family-thrill-launch-coaster/), the stock model is 112m wide and 52m long, which within Drayton's plot would look something like this:
Zamperla-Family-Launch-Coaster-within-Drayton-Manor-1.png

Or like this:
Zamperla-Family-Launch-Coaster-within-Drayton-Manor-2.png

(It would depend on which way they decided to orientate it)

However, the stock model is only 519m long (rumoured length is 800m), and I was unsure whether the footprint of the layout Zamperla are promoting would be thin enough to fit in the given areas, so it might have to be custom.

So to wrap this up; the base area is quite compact, but I think some kind of family launcher could certainly fit if Drayton thought outside the box a little!
Doesn't that area have a reasonable amount of elevation change for such a small area too?
 

CineramaMax

Mega Poster
A new webpage has landed for the new area with a new teaser video. Definitely looks like Vikings!

 
Last edited:
Top