Last Friday, my family and I took a trip to Drayton Manor. I hadn’t been since 2008 so wanted to get back to ride Ben 10. We arrived at about quarter to 11 and used Tesco Clubcard vouchers to get in, then went for a coffee. I’d had quite a busy week and was knackered, so didn’t really fancy lots of re-rides but still wanted to get on the main rides.
First up was Ben 10 Ultimate Mission. I was looking forward to this as it has a cool little layout and seems a pretty fun ride. The queue initially seemed quite long being virtually at the entrance, but it was well themed inside and it only lasted about 30 minutes.
We ended up somewhere in the middle of the train and it was a pretty nifty coaster. There was more force than I expected and it felt a lot faster – probably due to being so close to the building. Like everything at Drayton it’s quite short, but still a good ride.
Then we went to look around the zoo which I’ve always thought was good. Not much seemed to have changed since my last visit though. My favourite part is probably the reptile house. I had to laugh at the sign on the door though – “Meet the zoo keeper 15:30 (Thursdays only)”. Oh it’s not a Thursday…
We were hungry by now so went to have some lunch. We ended up in Rainforest Pizza or something along those lines. It looks very alike to Rainforest Café unsurprisingly, just not as extravagant. What we had was nice though – big slice of pizza, wedges and a drink as a meal deal. My dad said the people behind the counter didn’t seem to know what they were doing though…
After lunch we hit Shockwave and queued around 15 minutes or so. I quite like the new red trains; they go well with the track colour. Being a two, we managed to jump a few people near the end of the queue and ended up in row 5.
I enjoyed Shockwave on my previous few rides and nothing was different this time. Yes it’s a little rough and short, but what it does is good and that zero-g is still one of my favourite inversions.
Next my mum and I decided to go on the rapids. The queue wasn’t that long (~10 minutes) and we were soon on. I quite like these rapids, especially how they go straight under Shockwave. There’s a part which I’d remembered where some boats virtually stop – as ours did – and got overtaken by another, much to the amusement of the people in that boat.
After that was G-Force. I don’t really like its queue at all: the music is too loud; it’s too dark; there’s nothing to look at whatsoever and it moves really slowly when they only run one train, as all the big coasters were on that day. Nevertheless I was looking forward to riding it again.
This kind of leaves me with the same opinion as Shockwave. It’s a cool and unique ride, which only suffers from being a bit rough and short. I enjoyed it though and think the lift hill is really cool.
By now the sun had come out, so I decided to go on Stormforce 10. It’s probably my favourite water ride in the UK due to its theme, backwards drop and the larger double drop. I didn’t have to queue very long (the showers earlier in the day probably put people off) and was soon on.
I sat in the second row being very grateful I wasn’t at the back for the second drop. The boat was full of water and you can only really avoid getting your feet soaked by tactically lifting your feet when the water goes from one end of the boat to the other. Really enjoyed it still – the backwards drop really does give everyone a soaking!
It was mid/late afternoon by the time I’d ridden Stormforce 10, so we went to have another coffee afterwards. There wasn’t that long left after we’d finished with the rides closing at 5, but I wasn’t that bothered anyway. I grabbed another ride on Ben 10 after queuing a little less this time, which finished off the day well.
While I was walking through the initial part of the queue however, a small child came running full pelt from the other direction and smashed straight into me. The park seems to be doing well attracting younger guests with Thomas Land, but there were many who weren’t under control. In the same queue, some children climbed over the sides and started messing with the theming.
Overall it was a good day though – not a huge ride count, I’d have liked to have ridden a few others such as Maelstrom and Apocalypse but I’ve ridden them before and wasn’t really in the mood. Drayton’s a good little park, but it’s definitely not worth that very steep entrance fee!
First up was Ben 10 Ultimate Mission. I was looking forward to this as it has a cool little layout and seems a pretty fun ride. The queue initially seemed quite long being virtually at the entrance, but it was well themed inside and it only lasted about 30 minutes.
We ended up somewhere in the middle of the train and it was a pretty nifty coaster. There was more force than I expected and it felt a lot faster – probably due to being so close to the building. Like everything at Drayton it’s quite short, but still a good ride.
Then we went to look around the zoo which I’ve always thought was good. Not much seemed to have changed since my last visit though. My favourite part is probably the reptile house. I had to laugh at the sign on the door though – “Meet the zoo keeper 15:30 (Thursdays only)”. Oh it’s not a Thursday…
We were hungry by now so went to have some lunch. We ended up in Rainforest Pizza or something along those lines. It looks very alike to Rainforest Café unsurprisingly, just not as extravagant. What we had was nice though – big slice of pizza, wedges and a drink as a meal deal. My dad said the people behind the counter didn’t seem to know what they were doing though…
After lunch we hit Shockwave and queued around 15 minutes or so. I quite like the new red trains; they go well with the track colour. Being a two, we managed to jump a few people near the end of the queue and ended up in row 5.
I enjoyed Shockwave on my previous few rides and nothing was different this time. Yes it’s a little rough and short, but what it does is good and that zero-g is still one of my favourite inversions.
Next my mum and I decided to go on the rapids. The queue wasn’t that long (~10 minutes) and we were soon on. I quite like these rapids, especially how they go straight under Shockwave. There’s a part which I’d remembered where some boats virtually stop – as ours did – and got overtaken by another, much to the amusement of the people in that boat.
After that was G-Force. I don’t really like its queue at all: the music is too loud; it’s too dark; there’s nothing to look at whatsoever and it moves really slowly when they only run one train, as all the big coasters were on that day. Nevertheless I was looking forward to riding it again.
This kind of leaves me with the same opinion as Shockwave. It’s a cool and unique ride, which only suffers from being a bit rough and short. I enjoyed it though and think the lift hill is really cool.
By now the sun had come out, so I decided to go on Stormforce 10. It’s probably my favourite water ride in the UK due to its theme, backwards drop and the larger double drop. I didn’t have to queue very long (the showers earlier in the day probably put people off) and was soon on.
I sat in the second row being very grateful I wasn’t at the back for the second drop. The boat was full of water and you can only really avoid getting your feet soaked by tactically lifting your feet when the water goes from one end of the boat to the other. Really enjoyed it still – the backwards drop really does give everyone a soaking!
It was mid/late afternoon by the time I’d ridden Stormforce 10, so we went to have another coffee afterwards. There wasn’t that long left after we’d finished with the rides closing at 5, but I wasn’t that bothered anyway. I grabbed another ride on Ben 10 after queuing a little less this time, which finished off the day well.
While I was walking through the initial part of the queue however, a small child came running full pelt from the other direction and smashed straight into me. The park seems to be doing well attracting younger guests with Thomas Land, but there were many who weren’t under control. In the same queue, some children climbed over the sides and started messing with the theming.
Overall it was a good day though – not a huge ride count, I’d have liked to have ridden a few others such as Maelstrom and Apocalypse but I’ve ridden them before and wasn’t really in the mood. Drayton’s a good little park, but it’s definitely not worth that very steep entrance fee!
