A friendly alternative to Alton Towers (Drayton Manor)

Member Name: monkeywarrior

Product:	Drayton Manor
Date:	30/05/04 (1385 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Apocalypse, Maelstrom, Shockwave

Disadvantages: Some long queues, Usual theme park gripes

We had a great day at Drayton Manor last Summer, here's my thoughts.

First of all, I was amazed at how busy it was! I know it was half-term and all but I had always thought of Drayton as quite a quiet little park... How wrong - we had to queue for over an hour just to get in! Pretty shoddy really, they could do with a better admissions system - please note I'm told by some friends on coaster discussion forums that a better admissions system HAS now been implemented with just one entrance as opposed to 3.

First stop was Maelstrom (Intamin Gyro Swing - nearest our entrance at Car Park 3). The queue looked quite short but was in fact about 45 minutes due to most of it being hidden away... Still capacity is good, 32 seats on the ride, a swift ride program and efficient ops rarely despatching at anything less than full capacity. The token themeing is decent enough, but nothing special - the main entertainment in the queue is watching the ride as it swings impossibly high impossibly fast. The seats are comfy and standard Intamin restraints very solid. The ride reaches maximum height very fast after beininng, taking only 3 or 4 swings to get up to speed. It is very forceful and disorientating without being sickening or painful, the top of the swing on either top or bottom is a wonderfully different experience. The only disappointment is the short ride program with about only 10 full swings. Another Intamin masterpiece, hope more parks pick up on this and get some of these great rides.
8.5/10

Next we headed over to Shockwave (everything seemed to have enormous queues by now) and inside the huge shed-like building. At first it appeared the queue would be quite short but the path meanders back and forth through this horrid stuffy shed many many times, climbing slowly up to the station. Queue
time turned out to be about 45 mins with nothing to look at but the drab interior of the shed... And prize for worst queue line goes to... You finally know youre getting to the station when the floor starts to shake when trains enter the brake run. The enormity of the trains and track soon becomes apparent as they come thundering into the brake run. Everyone seems pretty delighted with their ride (weird... I though this was supposed to be pretty poor as far as Intamin go? How wrong...). I then noticed why the queue seems to have been moving so slowly... The back two cars of each train (4 seats/row, 2 rows, 2 trains, = 16 seats/cycle) are not in operation - I'm assuming this has been sorted for 2004. They seemed to be missing their 'saddles'. Also, the remaining rows were rarely despatched full, often with one or even two seats available on 3 of the rows. This is a ride that would really benefit from a single rider queue. Having heard that the restraints were a real beggar to sort out, I was a bit nervous as we boarded the 4th car (closest to back). They didn't seem quite as bad as they'd been made out to be to me. Sure, it could be simpler, but ride-ops were plentiful and helpful and we were soon on our way...

The short lift is just slow enough to give a good feeling of anticipation (little bro was absolutely bricking it!) before you begin the gentle swooping drop round to the left. I was unsure what to expect of this ride, having never been on a stand-up before, but it certainly wasn't this. The ride seems B&M-smooth as it descends the drop, banking gracefully and feeling absolutely heavenly... This may be due to a re-tracking that I believe occurred before this season? Correct me if I'm wrong. The first loop is huge and taken at a reasonable speed, giving great hangtime at the top. The next element is pure craziness.
.. The only Zero-G/Camelback ever attempted on a stand-up - and its bloody brilliant. The train barrels through it in the most impossible of manners, quite simply one of the best elements I've ever experienced on a coaster. Quick breather and gentle curve into the large double corkscrew, very good again, and still silky smooth, then a long swoop round to the right and into the sharp brake run. An absolutely cracking ride, really exceeded all of my expectations. Sure, it could be longer, have more elements and be better themed but for what it is I think it deserves a
9/10

Incidentally, I notice its repaint has begun, the short straight before the lift hill is now sporting a rather spiffy red and blue paint job - certainly a lot better than the white and brown - hope they finish that job off soon - I hear that they've since repainted the last half of the ride in Sky Blue - so its now sporting 3 schemes! A bit weird...

Next, up to Apocalypse. Lil bro insisted on doing the sit-down drop first, the queue was not too bad for this thanks to very fast ride cycles and efficient ride-ops again - before we knew it we were rising out of the appropriately themed underground bunker into the daylight - then all of a sudden the cable lift takes a massive leap in speed and absolutely rockets up the tower. Within seconds, the extremely ominous camera at the top looms into view. There's a little click and then you're plummeting, and back in the station before you realise whats happened. Very forceful as far as drop towers go, but mediocre otherwise - I give the sitdown about
6/10

Now the stand-up drop is a different kettle of fish entirely... Queue was very short and we were on in no time. The restraints are excellent - this is how Shockwave should have been done. Again, you begin to rise out of the bunker - but then ev
erything goes a wee bit scarier... There's a little hiss and the car tilts forwards about 25 degrees - so you can see nothing but down. I can't stress how scary this is, especially once the fast lift kicks in and you know its only seconds before youre gonna be plummeting face first towards the ground. The horrid, horrid camera once again draws into view and then there's the click again... Somehow this is a very different experience standing up, even more intense and very very fast... The final side of the tower offers a stand-up floorless drop - but lil bro had had enough of Apocalypse by now so we pressed on. Scariest ride in Britain (as quoted from the park map)? Quite probably.
8/10

Getting very hot now, so we head to StormForce 10, an impressive looking log flume, the first by new company Bear and supposedly one of the best in the world. Queue time is about an hour, but queue is reasonably interesting and well themed, offering good views of the rest of the park near the top. It also moves quite quickly thanks to the fact that all the boats must despatch fully loaded (for balance purposes). Station is big and well-themed again, boats returning with cargoes of sodden passengers then despatching again behind a peculiar little curtain. We knew the back was the worst place to go for wetness - but unfortunately had no choice due to the loading policy... Restraints are pretty much non-existent, just a grab bar. The boat despatches behind the big curtain which then drops down to hide the coming suprise from people in the station - the platform you are on tilts up and launches you down a short first drop, effectively soaking everyone before the ride's even begun! The path meanders around slowly before reaching a lift up into a small tower. Inside this tower, the boat is turned around and you are pushed down the next drop backwards. This is why it is a ve
ry bad idea to sit at the back as water spills in from every direction saturating you very efficiently - then to make matter worse, a boat despatches from the station, and sends a massive wave over our boat which is near the splashdown... Absolutely freezing, we begin the climb up the final 70ft lift to a big doubledrop with decent airtime and another big splash before lift back to the station. Very very wet, but also great fun and probably well worthy of its title as best log flume.
8/10

Other rides worthy of mention are Klondike Gold Mine, a Pinfari ZL42 looper, nicely themed and intense and punchy for what it is, Excalibur, which seems to have been closed everyday of 2003 despite being the well-publicised new ride and Buffalo, a Zamperla powered coaster. The park also has an Intamin river rapids interlocking with Shockwave and an old Huss pirate ship amongst a few other small rides.

Overall, a really pleasant park, well worth a visit but try and avoid the crowds and go on an off-peak day if you can! Obviously it?s not up there in terms of attractions with the nearby Alton Towers but IMO its much friendlier. It?s good value for money (assuming the queues aren?t too big), staff are friendly and even the food ain?t that bad.

New for 2004 are Pandemonium (a Fabbri Cataclysim - think over-the-top inverted swinging ship) and Cyclone, an old Huss enterprise.

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