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Drayton Manor - new coaster for 2014

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The hopes for a Mack Megacoaster are too much for me to handle, particularly less than an hour down the road from me - so please, don't even hint towards that possibility :lol:
 
^Of course it won't be, we rarely get GOOD things in the UK. With the obvious exception of Swarm, the new coasters over the past couple of years have range from Ok to ****. I'm kind of used to it by now.
 
furie said:
Drayton still have planning regulations to overcome. They have limited places they can place a new coaster and Shockwave's structure is in the area the new coaster could go, so that gives the upper height limit I guess? Though with a wooden structure being considerably more dense, I'll bet it's even harder to get through planning.
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Nic said:
I can find all of their planning applications relating to the hotel and campsite (go to http://planning.lichfielddc.gov.uk/ and do a search for B78 3TW) but nothing for any attractions within the park itself.
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I did another set of searches this week, with the same results. I find it really odd that there's no trace of plans for any of the actual rides (I've tried different councils in the area in case they fall under a different jurisdiction) Unless they're in a zone where they don'e need to submit actual plans? Any ideas?
 
It won't be a Mack mega. Drayton love their gimmicks more than the rest of the UK. Just being awesome doesn't cut it.

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The next coaster is planned to be a launched dueling/racing coaster I'm guessing by one of the cheaper manufacturers wasmmeamt to be themed to a brand if I remember correctly.

I'm sure there is some kind of planning agreement where if it replaces a ride planning is less strict of it's similar height etc and also ive notice Drayton requests that alot of ita ride planning applications are not put on the website but they can be viewed at the planning office in Lichfield
 
Yeah, they definitely have issues with their neighbours. The Enterprise got a lot of flack which was why it was sold to Thorpe, at the same time they had all those "don't upset our neighbours by screaming" posters around the park.

I believe that you need planning for pretty much anything (toilets, zoo cages, etc), just in case you may upset a water table, or drainage, or whatever. Maybe G-force is right and they've asked for their previous planning applications to be held off the computer systems. Or maybe the local council just don't have the resources to add the entire back catalogue of planning apps on their site and have only made them public on the internet in the last couple of years?

I know in a conversation with Colin five years ago, he said the only place they could put a wooden coaster was on the car park land by the side of Shockwave, but it would mean the coaster running right by the family house and his father wouldn't be impressed :lol:
 
The back catalogue theory doesn't hold up because there's I old plans for other stuff around the park (entrance road, camp site etc) but nothing inside the park itself
 
It may be like Alton's then, where if it's an area with a specific "deal" then they don't need to apply for permission for some things, as long as it doesn't stray outside the rules covering it?

Like SW7 they can build a ride, as there was a ride there before, but they had to get planning for the building as there wasn't a building and it's not got a blanket cover for buildings, just "amusement rides".

Any planning officers in the house? :lol:
 
Maybe they have one of them Lawful Developement orders (or what ever they're called...) where they can built upto a certain height without the need for permission?
 
Yeah, I'd forgotten about those (which is stupid, because I know about them, it's what allows Blackpool to do what they want and why Southport is still a complete wreck but can have coasters put in there (they can't build anything other than rides without planning consent or a zone change).

They still have had formal complaints from neighbours though at Drayton, so they ARE limited (especially if one of the complainers is the owner of the park ;) )
 
The planning regulations at Drayton are strange. The neighbours are fussy about noise and certain rides being situated too near the boundary, yet they have no problem with a 177 ft drop tower in their back garden.
 
Isn't Apocalypse in a dip though? So it's actually much lower than the surrounding areas than 177ft?
 
furie said:
Isn't Apocalypse in a dip though? So it's actually much lower than the surrounding areas than 177ft?
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I'm not sure. I know Apocalypse is visible from a pub car park on the old A5, so the people on the housing estate behind must also be able to see the tower?
 
Nah, if anything Apocalypse is on higher ground (than the rest of the park anyway).

Think about it... When you turn off the main road to go up to the entrance, you go up quite a bit of a hill, then drop down a bit to get to Apocalypse. So, it's probably about the same as the street level.

You can see it from quite far away, and when you're on the ride you can see for miles, so it must be pretty visible.

I think they got away with it because the ride itself is fairly quiet. The locals HATED Cyclone (Zodiac) because the actual ride made that really loud mechanical humming noise.

I think it was around 2006 when the locals starting having a bitch fit about the noise, which then turned to moaning about screaming as well. The bitching only seemed to last a season or two (not long after Alton were getting loads of flack, so I can't help but think that the park management were just paranoid about a couple of people complaining and took drastic action)...

Either way, I doubt they'd get away with building something as tall as Apocalypse these days...
 
Yeah, maybe. I thought that the entrance road was flat, then the ground dropped away to Apocalypse, and then dropped away again to the main body of the park lower down. When you're at the fish and chip shop, you're quite a way up the ride level.

I just thought the surrounding land (to the right of the fish and chip shop as you look at Apocalypse, where Cyclone used to be) was all on that height level. I've never really studied it though :lol: [/goes off to look at OS maps :p ]
 
Yep, I'm completely wrong (see, I always research my arguments, even it if it proves I'm talking out of my arse and I have to admit it) :)

Here's a graph of the land ranges between the nearest neighbours (I say nearest, they're quite far away with a haulage depot in between) to where Cyclone was.
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You can see Apocalypse is clearly well within sight :)
 

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The reason I thought otherwise is because I always come in from the other way, off the A5 at the Mercedes Benz roundabout. I never see Apocalypse until I'm near the entrance/restaurant complex and it doesn't look too tall from there. I think that it's just obscured by trees or houses, or because I drive, I don't pay much attention :lol:
 
I've just seen this on Screamscape:

Future Coaster Plans - Rumor - (11/12/12) According to a member of the RCCGB who toured Drayton Manor the other day, the park revealed to the group that their long term plans are to add a LIM launched coaster to the park next, followed by a wooden coaster as well. No timeline was given however.
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I really hope this goes ahead. A wooden coaster might just put Drayton up there with the big players.
 
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