UK Parks 2014 - Update 4 - Drayton Manor

[Rachel]

For 2014 I’ve made it my goal to visit as many UK parks as I can. Foreign trips are off the radar for me this year and I’ve done all the Merlin parks countless times so over the season I intend to be visiting as many parks as possible. Instead of clogging up the boards with different threads I’ll keep it all to one and just update as I go along.

The season started for me on Sunday 13th April with a trip to sunny Southend. After deciding that it was way too nice of an evening to spend indoors we decided to make the 45 minute trip and make the most of the half price wristbands after 6pm deal. No new creds but I was itching to ride something after the off season. We arrived at just after 5, grabbed some dinner in the pizza/pasta diner restaurant (where the waitresses sing karaoke – pretty random!) got our wristbands at 6 and off we were.

There aren’t too many pictures as I only had my phone on me and it was all stuff I’ve seen before.

Barnstormer was first. Nothing special but we had to get our moneys worth.



Next up was Ramba Zamba the Disk’O ride. I really enjoy these and find them to be good fun.



I think next we headed to the Mini Mega but it was closed for some unknown reason. So we went to the Crooked House. Surprisingly I can’t ever recall going in a crooked house before. I didn’t like it, it made me feel disorientated which is probably the point but just not for me. No idea what the storyline was supposed to be about, if you can call it that.

Did the Kiddi Koasta, again just getting our moneys worth.



Went to the other side of the pier, and started off with Rage. Haven’t been on this for years, bit short and bumpy but I suppose it makes the most of the space it has.



Went on the little drop ride next which was terrible, I suppose younger kids might find it impressive.

Went and queued up for Over The Hill where some poor teenage ride op was being shouted at by some family because they had bought the wrong wrist band. Poor girl, got to love the general public </3. Anyway most of the ride is pretty average but I completely forgot about the ending and it scared the crap out of me ha! One of the better seaside ghost trains for this reason.

Did the swings which were okay. Decided we weren’t in the mood for any more spinning rides so headed to Green Scream. I’ve always had a little soft spot for this ride, definitely one of the better family coasters I’ve been on. Was right at the back for our first ride, picks up a nice little bit of speed being dragged around the track. Did a re-ride, was somewhere in the middle, not as good but still fun.



We considered doing the water slides but it was starting to get chilly so we did a re-ride on rage and then went back to try and do Mini Mega. Still closed </3. By now we were tired after a long day so we did one more ride on the Disk’O, bought some donuts (a MUST for any visit to the seaside) and headed home.



A decent start to the season and not bad for an unplanned evening.

Thanks for reading .

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Re: UK Parks 2014 - Part 1 Adventure Island

A lovely photo of Rage's loop there. Love this park towards sunset, it looks so traditional. I always think it's under-appreciated

 

[Serena]

Re: UK Parks 2014 - Part 1 Adventure Island

Went on the little drop ride next which was terrible, I suppose younger kids might find it impressive. .

Nooo, I love that drop ride! Me and Darren whored it to death when we went there last year.

You are right about Over The Hill and seaside Donuts though

 

[Rachel]

Re: UK Parks 2014 - Part 1 Adventure Island

So back on the Easter weekend me and the other half decided to pay a visit to a new park. After looking around at some of the parks we've never been to before we decided on Pleasurewood Hills. Not too far of a journey and Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach is just up the road so we could mop up some more creds.

After an early start and a disgusting Morrisons breakfast, we arrived at the park at 9.30 to find a small queue already at the gate. Its always strange being at a place where you are the oldest people without kids. Anyway the park opened promptly at 10 and we headed in and made our way over to our first cred of the day, Wipeout.

Wipeout is my first boomerang and so the anticipation and nerves were building as we got into our seats, which were 2nd from the front row. First impression was a good one as after being pulled up backwards you are dropped without any warning (I expected the train to stop and wait a bit first) and receive a nice bit of floater airtime as the train is released. Coming out of the cobra roll I experienced some slight head banging but that is to be expected from such an old coaster of that design. I'm not a fan of going backwards on any coaster but the forces going back over the loop were disgusting and not something I wish to experience too often. Not a bad ride overall though.

Next we did a bit of a walk round of the park to see what was where. I really loved the non corporate feel of the place and just how different it was to the parks i'm used to - I felt so relaxed just walking around and taking my time instead of feeling the need to rush from one ride to another.

The next ride we stopped at was Enigma as it had a pretty full queue and I wanted to get it out of the way. I don't see why this only has one train running when it could easily have 2 with the seperate loading and unloading stations. Pair this up with a ride op who was letting the ride go out with 2/3 spare seats and it ended up being nearly a 40 minute queue for a pretty average coaster with some horribly painful final brakes <//3.

After this we did some of the flat rides indcluding the pirate ship and the drop ride. The drop ride was pretty good and left you waiting for quite a while before you are dropped with no countdown or warning.

Normally i'm not really a fan of shows but on this occasion we decided to watch the Sea Lion show. We got a pretty good spot close to the front and found the show to be really good, a nice combination of facts and comedy and some impressive tricks from the Sea Lions.

Decided to try Hobs Pit, the parks dark ride next as it hadn't opened until 12. As a ride that markets itself as one of the "UK's scariest attractions" I was expecting quite a lot but unfortunately it didn't meet my expectations. Maybe for younger children this may be scary, considering you have to sign a disclaimer for anyone under 12 I would imagine it is, but for me the scares just weren't there. Nothing really made me jump and I feel like perhaps i've become immune to these sort of scare attractions. Perhaps if I visited during their halloween event and the atmosphere for the park was more appropriate to the ride then I may rate it higher, but on a sunny spring day it just didn't do it for me.

After this I had a bit of waiting around to do as my boyfriend wanted to try out the Go-Karts and there was quite a queue. I went on the carousel as i'd never been on a 2-storey one before and it was a bit of a novelty to me. Also did the pony rail ride which I felt a bit ridiculous on but oh well, it was alright. Managed to win a Mario on one of the game stalls and went back to watch the Go-Karts.

Once he was done we headed over to the far side of the park to get the last cred. Horrible thing vibrated all the way through but it was a +1. Did a couple more of the rides including the afterburner and the water dinghy ride before deciding we would head up to Great Yarmouth but not without one last go on Wipeout. This time we got on the back row and the head banging over the cobra roll was awful and induced a bit of a headache for the rest of the day. Not the best end to a park that we had really enjoyed but nevermind.

I'll put in a small note about Great Yarmouth. Basically the place was rammed and we just thought it was a bit of a dump. The spinning mouse was closed for some reason and the Apple coaster had a ridiculous queue so the only cred we even got was Roller Coaster. We managed to get on the back row and some of the drops had some decent air time but it wasn't anything special. We also did the ghost train which was crap and the fun house which I hated and wanted to get out of the minute I stepped in. We wish we'd spent a little bit more time at PWH but I suppose I got a +1 out of it.

Onto some pictures - I only took a few at Pleasurewood Hills as there wasn't really anything that I wanted to take photos of, here they are.

 

[Rachel]

Re: UK Parks 2014 - Update Part 2 Pleasurewood Hills

Back in May the other half and I decided to take a little trip up north to visit some of the parks we’ve never been to before. Blackpool has been on my list of places to go for a long, long time. Even before I became an enthusiast I was aware of the Big One and it was always a place I wanted to visit. It was finally time to tick if off my list.

It was an early start as we had previously been staying in Doncaster with family and had to make our way across the country during rush hour. There was some burdenous traffic close to Manchester but we finally got out of it and arrived in Blackpool at around 10.15. Parked up at the Travelodge and decided to walk the 20 minutes or so journey towards the Pleasure Beach. First impressions weren’t great – Blackpool as a city is pretty grim. Lots of dirty looking B&BS and boarded up shops but I suppose that’s just a sign of the times. Nevermind, the sun was shining and the Big One was getting closer upping my excitement levels.

We chose a great day – speaking to the woman at the entrance she told us that the park was only expecting around 500 visitors that day. Walk on coasters all day it is then. We got into the park for opening but most of the rides didn’t open until half 11 so we just walked around getting our bearings.



We started with Infusion, my first Vekoma SLC. A lot more intense than I expected it to be, it really feels quite fast when you are on it but is completely ruined by the amount of headbanging and overall I found it a rather unpleasant experience. Never a good idea to start the day with a ride that gives you such a headache.



We could see that the Big One had started running so we made our way in that direction. Got on the 2nd row and off we were. The height and the first drop is impressive, I give it that. Whilst I wouldn’t say this is a bad ride, unfortunately after the drop I found it kind of boring. There’s some mild airtime, but nothing to get excited about and I found that it loses pace and seems to drag on towards the end. I rode it a 2nd time during the day, this time closer to the back and it had developed this awful rattling and I spend most of that ride waiting for it to be over. A bit of a disappointment for a coaster I’d spend so long wanting to ride but never mind.





Onto our first Woodie of the day, the Big Dipper. I really enjoyed this, it feels like a really traditional wooden roller coaster and has a roughness which to me never became uncomfortable or distracted you from the ride. Definitely my favourite ride in the park.



I think we did Wild Mouse next. This ride literally tries to kill you. The airtime is insane, you are thrown all over the place and it hurts like hell. But I spent the whole ride laughing my head off. First wooden wild mouse ticked off the list.



Grand National was next. Managed to do both sides. Both enjoyable except there seemed to be a bit of a jolt at the bottom of the first drop which was slightly painful but other than that some nice airtime – I didn’t really prefer either one.

Couple of dark / flat rides we did in the morning as well.



Alice In Wonderland was ok, nothing more to say really.

I managed to persuade my boyfriend to go on Valhalla as normally he hates wet rides. Now I’ve heard this described as one of the best wet/dark rides in the world before. We bought ponchos as they were really cheap but we still somehow got drenched. I think the problem with such a wet ride is that you spend the whole thing anticipating when your next going to get soaked and so the storyline got a bit lost on us. The fire at the end was good though and it was a laugh, just not the best water ride I’ve ever been on.

Did Ice Blast next as it was right outside Valhalla. It could do a bit more that just shoot you up once, it was very meh.

Stopped off for lunch at this point. Hardly anywhere was open so we ended up in Burger King. After lunch we headed straight to Revolution. Not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to go on something that goes backwards after lunch but there you have it. It made me feel pretty sick.



Decided it was probably best to do something a bit more gentle so we did Steeplechase. At first only the green side was running but a bit later on they opened the yellow side as well so we did get to enjoy the racing side of it. I lost.



Headed over to Avalanche after this. This felt so much more out of control than I thought it was going to be, I actually found it quite scary. It really does pick up some speed towards the end.





After this we headed over to Nickelodeon Land to mop up the kiddie creds and do a couple of the flat rides. I think after this we went on Wallace & Gromits Thrill-O-Matic. I’ve never watched Wallace & Gromit so I didn’t really get what the ride was supposed to be about, seemed like a pointless filler ride.



We went on the ghost train, nothing set it apart from any other ghost train. After this we watched the fountain show and then decided to call it a day.



Overall thoughts on Blackpool - I think it’s a good park but its not somewhere I would go back to unless they added something spectacular, but I don’t see that happening as it would take away the retro seaside feel of the place. I love how so much is crammed into such a small space, a good mix of coasters/flat/dark and wet rides. But there was nothing that I came off thinking “Yea that was amazing” and by the end of the day a lot of the roughness and rattling you get from the rides had given me an awful headache. A park worth visiting if you’ve never been before but not worth re-visiting in my opinion.

I’ll leave you with a couple of random photos I took around the park.







Thanks for reading :lol: .

 

[Jordanovichy]

Re: UK Parks 2014 - Update 3 - Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Great report and I have to say you have excellent photography skills. I really liked the pleasure beach when I went last summer. When I went the green side of steeplechase was shut which is annoying as I have to go back for the cred. Haha.

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

Re: UK Parks 2014 - Update 3 - Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Good report! Great that someone agrees with me that Big Dipper is the best ride in the park!

 

[Smithy]

Re: UK Parks 2014 - Update 3 - Blackpool Pleasure Beach

I love reading peoples first time reviews of Blackpool, your report is pretty much 90% my thoughts on the place too; town is a dump, park is brilliant for it's nostalgia and how cramped it all is, filler rides are naff.

 

[Rachel]

Re: UK Parks 2014 - Update 3 - Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Great report and I have to say you have excellent photography skills. I really liked the pleasure beach when I went last summer. When I went the green side of steeplechase was shut which is annoying as I have to go back for the cred. Haha.

Thank you, you've actually made me feel better about my photos, I think they're pretty rubbish! I wish I had the patience to hang around and take good photos, but tend to take a picture and think "That will do"

Thanks for the comments ATTACKHAMMER & Smithy.

On to the next Park - Drayton Manor.

Following on from Blackpool we headed down to Tamworth the next day and after a nights stay in a local Travelodge we were on our way to another new park. We arrived at around 10 but the rides don’t open until 10.30 so again we walked around for a bit getting our bearings. The first ride that appeared to be testing was Shockwave so we headed in that direction and after a short wait the queue was opened.

It was my first stand up coaster so I was a bit nervous going up the lift hill. The restraints aren’t particular comfortable but not unbearable. It was definitely unnerving when your feet momentarily leave the floor going over the loop. I can’t remember much about the rest of the ride apart from it coming to an end and thinking “Is that it?”. Moving on…

Next we went on Maelstrom. Normally I hate anything that spins too much but this wasn’t too bad and I enjoyed it. Went on the pirate ship straight after and then saw Apocalypse running so headed over.

Easily the best drop tower I’ve ever been on. This was my first stand up drop tower (I did the floorless standing at Port Aventura but I felt that it was practically like sitting). I find drop towers terrifying anyway, but there was something about being able to feel my legs trembling as we went up that just added to the experience. The drop itself packs a real punch so even sitting down this was better than the rest for me.

I waited while my boyfriend did Pandemonium and then we did 2 of the dark rides, Wild West Shoot out and The Haunting. We spent about 15 minutes waiting outside the Haunting wondering if it was even open before someone came out and took us in, it looks like some abandoned old building from the outside. Didn’t realise it was a madhouse though, I only have Hex to compare it to and well it wasn’t worth the 15 minutes even on an empty day.

We had a wander round the zoo after this and then stopped for lunch in the Pizza / Pasta place. It was actually really nice and reasonably priced as well.

After this we did Ben 10. Not bad for a kids / family coaster, a nice pop of airtime as the train is released but again over way too quickly. Probably the best coaster in the park but that’s not saying much. It made me laugh seeing all the school trip kids racing round from the exit for re-rides. Headed over to Buffalo Coaster, rattles way too much but at least it goes round twice! +1 to the count anyway.

I think we did a couple more of the dark rides whilst we were waiting for G-Force to open (this had a limited opening time due to the construction of the new Air Race). We went in the 4D Cinema, the film they were showing was absolute crap, the 4d effects were decent enough though. Pirate Adventure next, wasn’t completely terrible but nothing to write home about.

G-Force had finally opened so that next. The restraints were horrible. The hang time was horrible. If you want to spend 40 seconds of your life having your internal organs crushed then go on this. If not then avoid at all costs. The 10 year old girls behind us were even crying, this is how bad the ride is.

We ventured into Thomas Land next to have a look about and get the credit. A well themed little area and the coaster was actually decent for a kids coaster.

By about 2.30 we had done everything we wanted to do so we had a ride on the cable cars to get some photos and then called it a day.

Overall thoughts – Drayton is a great park for a family day out – the location is good, you have Thomas Land for the younger kids and the rest of the rides seem to be targeted perfectly at 9-10 year old kids just starting to get a feel for the bigger thrill rides / coasters. I spent most of the time thinking how much my 9 year old niece would love it. For me though it just wasn’t exciting enough (bar Apocalypse) and because we went on an empty day I got bored quickly. Probably the best Family Park that I’ve been to in the UK but not somewhere I’d rush back to unless they added something new.
I thought I took more pictures that I did, never mind. Thanks for reading :--D

 

[peep]

Another interesting report! I think my opinions on their coasters is the same as mine (apart from Ben10 which I still haven't done). I'm really not surprised that some people would cry on G-Force.

 

[CookieCoasters]

Very good report! My overall thoughts on the park are basically the same as yours. However, my thoughts on Shockwave and G-Force are a bit different. Personally, I don't think G-Force is as vile like most say it is, but its not great either, whereas Shockwave IS VILE. Last time I rode it, there was so much painful ear bashing :cry: .

Apocalyse is amazing :--D . Rode it 20+ times last visit, rotating between the three different choices. I love the variation and the drop is pretty good as well. Easily the best ride in the park, with Stormforce probably being the second for me.