Attraction Source Forum

Drayton Manor will continue to expand Thomas Land so long as it is profitable, the area has bought a huge amount of success to the park and so they want to capitalise on it. As Lakey said, it would be nice to have a thrill ride, but unfortunately that isn't going to happen in the foreseeable future due to it not being nearly as profitable for the park and personally I don't see Drayton Manor contributing to the great looking year that will be 2018.

Enthusiasts are very hard on Drayton Manor and unfairly so. They complain about corporations such as Merlin, but then moan about somewhere like Drayton Manor who's family owners spend the majority of the return on investment into the park itself.

The park itself is by no meas perfect; but had they not invested heavily in Thomasland and took that risk, the park itself would be highly unlikely to be making its way to a 2017 season. Thomasland was so successful that it spurred Alton Towers to create CBeebies land as a direct response to gate figures going to Drayton Manor. We will see a few UK parks expanding their zoo offering as slowly parks try and create a 50/50 split between rides and zoo attractions. This is the future of day trip parks and it is brilliant to see Drayton Manor already investigating ahead of the trend itself.

They absolutely need a new thrill ride, but realistically that is not their target market. A family thrill coaster (planned) is exactly what they need and will invest in. I believe that once we see that family thrill coaster perform well and hopefully bring further return, then the park itself will look towards expanding its teen and adult markets. The park has invested heavily over the last few years in infrastructure, park structure and both modernising and future-proofing itself. Now that this is starting to come together, we may just see Drayton Manor up itself on the UK map.

Keep in mind, it extended ride closures over the summer unlike Alton Towers. Their heart is in the right place.

Agree, with Blackpool I feel it is stuck out on a limb inbetween the Merlin monopoly. A large family park that is not owned by a big corporation.

This is almost a good thing as they will not be affected by incidents such as the Smiler.

They just need a great ride that people will keep coming back for. I had a fun visit this summer but had not been for a number of years.

Maybe replacing Shockwave with a similar (B&M Floorless or something) coaster would be a good idea. Not sure how that would go down with the Council though.

In the current climate in that area Drayton have to go all out for the thrill seekers or the children's area and the cheapest option being children's giving higher returns. AT has a good thrill line up so a new coaster would have to be large and probably well out of budget.

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Drayton has now put a teaser video out on facebook for their 2017 addition. " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's going to be a new flat ride made by zamperla going into Thomas Land.

James and the Red Balloon makes its way to The Island of Sodor, and you can meet him from April 2017.

With all the whistles & toots make sure you are one of the first to ride our amazing new ride.

This exciting new Balloon ride will take Thomas fans high up in the air above Thomas Land.

It looks like the same ride they had at the park before Thomas Land was built.

https://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/james-an ... 15_01_2016" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So it seems that Ben 10: Ultimate Mission has been rethemed to a Hot Wheels ride!

Photos by Andy Rumney

Arghhh no. Allways loved the Ben 10 theme and queuline. I suppose this was inevitable, the Cartoon Network deal was never gonna last forever...

That looks terrible, hope it's just those pictures!

I don't like it either. What were they thinking...

Looks like the new name for Ben 10 is Accelerator.

*Throws up

It looks awful and probably the worst thing is that it looked really good before. The name is average as well as the logo but it looks like the ride has only been half rethemed. The green and grey track looks completely out of place to the graffiti mess on the walls. Sorry to be negative but it looks very poor!

I agree it is very out of place

I never rode the attraction in it's original form, but I don't think this looks too awful. Out of place? Yes. But I think the graffiti looks pretty cool. The track really needs a repaint to red or something similar, it looks a really odd in green.

I enjoyed Ben10 and it's queue, so I'm quite curious to what's going to be replacing all the Ben10 theming inside.

OMG that's one of the ugliest building's I have seen in a long time.. And I live in Nottingham!
I dread to think what the queue themings like, if Drayton want this theme then they are gonna have to change the entire parks direction for it to even vaguely work...wow...

Anybody got any idea what exactly the problem is with Pirates Adventure and the likelihood of it ever reopening again?

Is there any evidence to say that they actually repairing it as they say on the website? I really did love that ride.

DW_0505 wrote:Anybody got any idea what exactly the problem is with Pirates Adventure and the likelihood of it ever reopening again?

Is there any evidence to say that they actually repairing it as they say on the website? I really did love that ride.

The last I had heard was that it was in need of some major parts replacements, and the original manufacturer wouldn't supply them. I'm not sure if they are looking into procuring these from an alternative supplier, but that seems like the only viable option.

I've always thought it may be possible that there was some form of IP/rights issue given the rides theme...

It was a good ride and Drayton is in dire need of another indoor attraction, so it would be good if this was reopened, I think it's unlikely though.

I may be wrong but I seem to remember that a person high up for Drayton Manor took the money for pirate adventure for themselves, instead of refurbishing+ reopening the attraction. That may be why it still hasn't opened

I see they've removed it from their website now, that's not a great sign at all. I heard something about the money going missing, and the major parts being needed. But then I also heard something about Health and Safety?