Thrills at Drayton Manor (Drayton Manor)

Member Name: mrsksg

Product:	Drayton Manor
Date:	12/09/08 (125 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Rides

Disadvantages: Service, price

You have never known stress until you take half a dozen 11 year olds around a theme park for a day in the rain. This happened to me before the summer when our school took the kids for a day there. I was in charge of six pretty rowdy kids who wanted to do nothing but go on the scary, upside rides which I absolutely get terrified of!

Drayton Manor was the destination in which we took the kids as it is the closest theme park to the school. It is located not that far from Tamworth and only a few miles from junction 9 of the M42. It is open from March till the beginning of November and the rides are open from 10:30am till 6pm. It isn't the largest of theme parks but it is fun to visit. There are quite a few good rides; some for kids, adults and they have a small area dedicated for toddlers and small children whom I think is nice.

The rides they have at Drayton Manor are the classics, the mining cart which goes upside down; I was told it didn't by the kids! Stormforce 10 which gets you extremely wet, however when we went it was tipping it down of rain anyway so we thought it made it all the more fun. The Maelstrom scared me to death but I found it fun after the kids dragged me onto it 10 times. They have the haunted house, Ferris wheel, ones that drop you from heights and many others. The rides are good and I enjoyed myself after awhile although I'm still scared of the upside down ones.

Unfortunately the kids I took round weren't too interested in the zoo so we had a quick half hour around there. There are tigers, owls, monkeys, snakes; in fact there are over 100 species there. What I didn't like was that the animals looked as if they didn't have enough room; the areas were quite small which got me a bit upset.

The shops and cafes are very expensive as you would expect from theme parks really. A small hamburger, chips and drink cost the kids £10 each which is pretty steep for an unhealthy quick lunch. The staffs weren't the friendliest bunch I have ever met and some seemed downright surly which annoyed me at times. The admission price was also quite steep at £23 for an adult and £19 for a child. I think for the quality of the park and service given by the staff I thought this price a bit high for my liking. The park I also thought was a little dirty and I couldn't help but notice that there was a bit of litter around.

Overall I think Drayton Manor is an average theme park that has some good rides which are enjoyable. However the zoo wasn't very impressive and the service and overall cleanliness of the park was something to be vastly improved. The price of the food was high but this was completely expected but I would have liked to pay a lower admission price. However I would recommend Drayton Park to people who wish to have a family day out as long as they don't mind these negative aspects of the Park.

Summary: An average park