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Drayton Manor 8th August 2018

Matt N

CF Legend
Hi guys. Sorry to bore you with another of my trip reports, but I went to Drayton Manor today for my first visit in 10 years. Now, this trip was a birthday surprise given to me 8 days ago by my parents, so I was very excited to get to the park and see what it was like. We left at about 8:30am and we got to the park at about 10:15am, so we made brilliant time for ride opening at 10:30am. As we walked towards the entrance, my excitement was building as I could see rides such as Shockwave, G Force, Apocalypse and Accelerator peaking above the trees. We did unfortunately discover that G Force would be closed for the whole day, but I wasn’t too surprised, as I’d heard that the ride had had many extended periods of downtime so far this year. Besides, we still had a wonderful day!

Anyway, after we got through the turnstiles, we headed to our first ride...
Shockwave
Now, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Shockwave, as I’d never ridden a standup coaster before. I’d heard tales of how standup coasters were painful and uncomfortable, so I boarded Shockwave interested to see how it rode. And it was certainly an... interesting experience to say the least. The seating position felt strange as we were climbing the lift hill, but as we descended the first drop, some lovely speed and forces were built up going into the loop! Not Nemesis or Swarm level, but still great! The coaster was relatively smooth at this point, too! Then came the zero-g roll, where I could have sworn I came off of the bicycle seat briefly! This element had a nice floatiness to it, but the ride had unfortunately developed a bit of a rattle by this point. It was noticeable, but nothing too unbearable, in my opinion. Then, our train careened its way through a double corkscrew, which was actually quite an ear bashing series of elements, unfortunately! Then, the ride came round the final bend, still packing a decent amount of speed, and slammed into the final brakes. And when I say slammed, I mean slammed; the train quite literally jolted me forward into the restraint! You could even feel the force of the train hitting the brakes vibrating the station platform; it was quite funny, actually! Overall, while Shockwave definitely isn’t my favourite coaster, it has a great layout and some pretty good forces, in my opinion! It was even quite smooth during the first couple of elements, but I’d personally say that the final elements were quite rattly. Also, while it wasn’t quite as strange as I expected, I’m not sure if I like the standup riding position. It just felt a bit strange, and I think I would have liked Shockwave better if it were a sit-down coaster, in all honesty. My mum and my sister rode with me, and while they liked the ride, they also agreed that they preferred to sit down on a roller coaster. It was a good start to the day, though; while it isn’t my favourite coaster, it’s far from the worst coaster I’ve ridden! Our Drayton Manor day was off to a good start as we exited Shockwave and bought our photo. After that, we headed to our next ride:
Air Race
My family and I thought that Air Race looked like quite a fun ride, so we got in line for it. The line was not the quickest-moving line I’ve ever waited in, but it was perfectly OK, with a cool video to watch and some nice theming! I know this is only small, but I also liked how colourful Air Race was! Now, Air Race was again a new ride type for me; my first ever Zamperla Air Race. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Air Race, as it looked quite fun from off-ride, but it also looked like a lot of spinning in a short space of time. When I got on to the ride itself, I quite liked it to start off with; it had some nicely executed flips and was really good fun! However, I wasn’t a fan of when the ride hung upside down and when it went the other way. Overall, Air Race was OK and I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t say it was my favourite flat ride I’ve done. My mum, my dad and my sister, however, didn’t enjoy Air Race, saying that it made them feel sick.

We then went to have lunch. My dad and my sister decided to buy Humble Pies and me and my mum decided to buy from the Cafe next to it. My sausage roll I had was lovely, and the rest of my family seemed to enjoy their meals! My dad even said that his steak pie was the best theme park meal he’d ever had! Anyway, I’ll stop boring you guys with details about our lunch and go on to our next ride...
Accelerator
Our Drayton Manor day was full of new ride types, because Accelerator was yet another new ride type for me; my first ever Vekoma Family Boomerang (and my first ever Vekoma Boomerang full stop!)! Now, I went into Accelerator with quite low expectations, expecting it to be kind of like a Vekoma Rollerskater that went backwards. However, it was so much better than I was expecting! For starters, the queue line is absolutely fantastic, with loads to look at while you’re waiting; there were loads of cars and car blueprints and petrol tanks and car parts, to name just a few things! Definitely one of the better queue lines I’ve waited in! On to the ride itself, then; this was an absolutely fantastic family coaster; one of my personal favourites! The ride starts with a backwards climb up a surprisingly tall lift hill, which is good and builds up suspense for the ride well. Then, you are released, and you gain a surprising amount of speed as you plunge down the drop! Then, you get whipped quite sharply around a left turn, and then you get pulled through a lovely sharp helix before ascending and descending the spike. After that, you repeat the circuit you just negotiated, but in reverse! Overall, Accelerator was a real surprise to me; one of the biggest surprises of my day! It was a cracking little ride, and I think something similar would work wonders at a park like Legoland or Oakwood! The ride was also extremely smooth; much smoother than Hippogriff at IOA, the Vekoma Rollerskater I’ve done, in my opinion. I was extremely surprised by how good Accelerator was, and I think everyone else in my family was too, so we wandered in high spirits to our next ride...
Buffalo Rollercoaster
I personally wanted to ride Buffalo because as well as being a +1, it would also give me a new manufacturer credit in the form of Zamperla, and I do have a soft spot for a good powered coaster, so I was intrigued to see how Buffalo would ride! While I was queueing, I was wondering whether it would be a Runaway Mine Train or a Scorpion Express. Around 50 minutes later, me and my family got on the ride. It started off quite slowly, meandering over the path towards the lake. However, the coaster picked up some speed as it negotiated a helix over the lake! It reminded me of some of Runaway Mine Train’s elements with regards to speed and how the elements rode! The ride started to slow down a bit as we meandered back over the path, but it picked up some good speed as we ascended a helix through the trees and started to snake our way back towards the station! The ride then repeated the same circuit again, as is normal on powered coasters. Overall, Buffalo was another pleasant surprise! As far as powered coasters go, I’d personally put it just behind Runaway Mine Train, but definitely ahead of Scorpion Express, so probably about on par with or slightly above Flying Fish at Thorpe Park. The ride was a little bit rougher than a Mack powered coaster, and there were a couple of dead spots, but when viewed in isolation, Buffalo is a surprisingly fun family coaster, in my opinion! After exiting Buffalo, we headed to our next ride...
Apocalypse
I was very excited to do Apocalypse, as I’m quite a big fan of drop towers; I loved Detonator at Thorpe Park and Falcon’s Fury at Busch Gardens Tampa, and Doctor Doom at IOA was quite good too! Anyway, the queue was one of the shorter ones we waited in that day, at around 30 minutes. We opted for the sit-down ride experience, and it was outstanding! So much force down the drop, and so fast too! My sister, who came on with me, wasn’t as much of a fan, however, and she quickly determined that she wasn’t a huge drop tower fan. Drop towers clearly aren’t for everyone! I, however, absolutely loved Apocalypse, and as far as drop towers go, I would probably place it in a very close 2nd to Falcon’s Fury; it was amazing! As I left Apocalypse in high spirits, we met my parents to go and get the final +1 of the day...
Troublesome Trucks Runaway Coaster
Now, while I say that Troublesome Trucks was a +1, I had actually ridden it before on my visit 10 years ago, but I had never counted it as a credit until today, because I personally only count coasters that I’ve ridden after becoming an enthusiast in 2013. This is because I can’t really remember most of my pre-enthusiast experiences, and I feel that I rate things a bit differently and more in-depth as an enthusiast, if you get what I mean. Anyway, me and my dad got in the queue for Troublesome Trucks after taking a quick look around Thomas Land (which is lovely, by the way!). Thomas Land and Troublesome Trucks were quite nostalgic experiences for me, as I was a huge fan of Thomas and Friends when I was younger, and I spent most of my 2008 visit in Thomas Land. Anyway, Troublesome Trucks was surprisingly good, with some nice, snappy elements! It was also very smooth, in my opinion; and as sad as it sounds, it was probably the smoothest Gerstlauer I’ve ridden! Overall, it was very nice to reride it and finally be able to count it as part of my coaster count.

Unfortunately, when we got off Troublesome Trucks, it was quite overcast, and it started to rain heavily. We were going to ride Maelstrom, but the queue was a bit too long to wait in in the heavy rain, in my opinion.
So, in conclusion...
I had a wonderful day at Drayton Manor! It was great to experience the park from an enthusiast’s perspective, and I liked getting on some of Drayton Manor’s larger, more thrilling attractions! In terms of my favourite rides at Drayton, I would say that my favourite ride overall was Apocalypse and my favourite coaster was Accelerator! But every attraction here was good in its own special way, in my opinion! Overall, me and my family had a wonderful day at Drayton Manor, and I don’t think I’ll be waiting another 10 years to come back! G Force may have been closed, but I still had a brilliant day and enjoyed the rides I got on! I did take some photos, but I couldn’t upload them, unfortunately. So, in conclusion, I had an amazing day at Drayton Manor!
P.S. Sorry for long report. Also, sorry if it’s badly written or if I am a bit harsh on some of the rides.
 

Benenen

Hyper Poster
Never apologise for being too harsh on a ride! This site would be very boring if people only gushed praises onto things.

Sounds like a great day out. Shame you missed out on Maelstrom and The Haunting but at least it will give you something new to do when you're next there.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Thanks! As you said, I intend to do the likes of Maelstrom, Stormforce 10 and The Haunting on a future return visit to Drayton Manor (and don't forget G Force, if it's reopened by the time I go back!).
 
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