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Drayton Manor


rollerross11

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Went to Drayton for the first time today on a whim and had some fun

Arrived at 10ish and parked at the hotel by accident so went in the Zoo for the first half hour.

Will outline my thoughts on a few rides, but important to note that mostly everything was running fine from what I saw all day - A ride in Thomas Land which was supposedly closed all day opened up anyway, Pirate ship was closed all day, and StormForce10 closed early but that may have been advertised, I'm not sure.  No queues because who goes to Drayton on a tuesday in May?!

Shockwave - I expected it to be very rough based on the lack of Intamin Stand-Up models around the world, but was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't too bad, except a jolt just before the loop and the zero-G in general.  It wasn't a stand out (pun intended) coaster, but a bit of fun and the stand-up gimmick a bit pointless but harmless.

G Force - Just a 'wtf' kind of ride.  I enjoyed the airtime hill but the rest of it just seemed poorly thought out.  The lift hill is the worst too.

Ben10 - Really enjoyed this and I'm glad more are popping up as they are a perfect family coaster.  Nice that the queue is themed with a backstory but I feel as though the station could've benefitted with being inside too, maybe with 'launch tubes' either end?  I don't know it just seemed like this incredible queue was wasted by walking onto an unthemed plain station outside.

Apocalypse - I hope on busy days they have more than one attendant doing both sides otherwise it would be horrendous.  I did stand up and enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting.  Weirdly preferred it to a bigger brother Hurakan Condor at PortAventura just because the novelty of the drop didn't wear off before reaching the brakes

Thomas Land - I just find it hilarious that there were manufacturers out there having to make plastic faces for ride cars.  Whilst it seemed a bit like 15 flat rides just plonked next to each other, I can see the massive appeal for families and it's no wonder Drayton have expanded on it to much and hopefully continue to do so!

Enjoyed pretty much everything I went on to be honest, and just chilled because it was so quiet and left by 4.

 

Would I go back?  Not in a hurry, maybe a few years time or when they get their next big coaster/ride.

 

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38 minutes ago, Tom said:

Enjoyed pretty much everything I went on to be honest, and just chilled because it was so quiet and left by 4.

By pretty much everything, I hope the ones you didn't enjoy included Buffalo coaster of foreverness and Wild West Shoot Out of eurgh... :)

 

Agree with you on Ben 10; great little ride which is so much fun, but yeah, the station is a bit of a let down.

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36 minutes ago, BaronC. said:

By pretty much everything, I hope the ones you didn't enjoy included Buffalo coaster of foreverness and Wild West Shoot Out of eurgh... :)

The buffalo coaster I enjoyed as a banter attraction and being fairly unique (Only one still operating?!) - The section across the path when the tracks are so close is hilarious for example.  This attractions' days seemed numbered as it really stood out as an aged attraction with no real cohesion or sense of place, and so much more could be done with that area of the park

Wild West Shoot Out I really enjoyed LOL, probably only because I won.  I wasn't a fan of the fact you couldn't see where you were aiming, but much like Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters I like that the props responded to being shot unlike Tomb or Duel where nothing actually comes from shooting things.  But yes I'll agree it was a bit naff.

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15 hours ago, Matt Creek said:

Finally going here next month to check out the park and get the Creds.

 

If they'd built something major and exciting  a while back that wasn't Thomas Land I might've visited sooner as the park does seem to lack a signature ride ATM.

 

Fingers crossed for 2018.

No Signature Ride?

It's on there logo! UK's only Stand up coaster ;)

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  • 4 weeks later...

I tried for 45 minutes.  Started refreshing, and all the time the connection timed out.  I fully appreciate that the chances of actually getting a ticket for 50p would be slim, at best.  What is very frustrating is that they haven't learnt from the Thorpe Park problems, if a company wants to do a great offer, and it is a great one, then they should at least make sure they can provide the chance of getting a ticket to most of people who try.

 

Never mind, life goes on and more important things to worry about.

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It is very hard for servers to deal with so many requests at the same time. You need very large bandwidths and very powerful servers. Both of which theme parks don't have as they don't need them. These sorts of promotions would work far better if it was enter details over the course of a week and then it randomly selects people. They should not be done so everyone turns up at the same time.

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1 hour ago, Benin said:

People on here must HATE trying to get gig tickets... That's even more upsetting a situation to suffer large numbers of traffic...

 

Ticket sale sites have the bandwidth and processing to deal with large amounts of traffic. Regardless of how good the tec, it will be slow but normally they stay up. 

When they don't have the gear they should try other promotions or variations on them. Otherwise they will crash and you get a load of people who don't understand how the internet works moaning because they missed out on 50p tickets. 

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  • 3 months later...

Heard a couple of rumours that both Flying Dutchman and Pandamonium are currently closed and in the process of being deconstructed.  Can't back this up with any solid proof mind. 

 

With rumours knocking about for years that Drayton are looking at a new coaster, could this area be a potential site for one?  Or could this just be unfortunately timed essential maintenance? 

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  • 2 months later...

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