silenthillXD
Hyper Poster
After tiring of all the Merlin Parks I decided it would be worth visiting another park in the UK. Seeing as
the only half decent parks that aren't Merlin are all up north, or in the deepest depths of Wales, I thought perhaps Drayton might be a good idea, especially as Apocalypse and Shockwave look absolutely amazing! So me and a group of mates headed up to the midlands to try out the park.
Whilst may mates were queuing for tickets, I headed straight over to G-Force as everyone had suggested, and was greeted with a queue that came out the door. Considering all the things I had heard of the ride I walked straight past and headed for my first stand up coaster, Shockwave. Now I am not going to lie, I was shocked by how small the park was, I was under the impression it was LEGOLAND size, but Drayton was absolutely mini, it was rather quaint how small the park is.
Shockwave - 9/10
The first thing I will say about the ride is how bad the ride looks with a half assed attempt at theming,
whilst the station looks great on the outside, the inside is completely empty and grim. Anyway onto the
actual ride experience, seeing as it was my first stand up, I was apprehensive as to what it would be like
but I thought the stand up position was brilliant, the layout was brilliantly forceful and had some great
0 G moments where my feet left the floor. The only complaint I have about the ride is it is rather short,
and it was relatively rough. I enjoyed the ride so much it's now took place as my 5th favourite coaster.
Once my friends were inside the park we decided to ride Storm force as the weather was warmish. After being ridiculously disappointed by how dull/tedious Tidal Wave was, I was pessimistic as to how the ride would be.
Storm Force 10 - 9/10
Thankfully, the ride didn't disappoint at all, in fact it shocked me by how great it was. Each of the drops
were nice and steep and gave some reasonable floater airtime. I must admit I was shocked by the lack of lap bars, but thank full for their absence none the less! The backwards drop and the double down drop were fantastic and really do make it the best water ride in the country and by far the wettest in the back rows. Valhalla is going to have to blow me out of the water to beat it. Whilst I loved the ride, there were two things I was disappointed by. First the theming is verging on amazing but Drayton have let it fall into disrepair and it now looks shabby. The second is how disgusting the rides water is, and considering how you soon get absolutely drowned in it, that's not a great thing. I don't want to have to worry about coming off with cholera or other waterborne diseases when I ride a water ride.
After we got off Storm Force one of my mates decided after hearing me rave about Shockwave he wanted to ride it too, so I did lap two. Afterwards I finally decided it was time to ride what I came for, Apocalypse, but not before one final ride with one of my mates on the way to the tower.
Pandemonium - 7/10
I wasn't expecting much from this ride admittedly and whilst it wasn't anything amazing, it was better that I expected. It had some decent forces and the hang time was surprisingly enjoyable, but overall it was rather generic and dull. It was fun, but only worth the walk on queue it had, and certainly not worth a reride.
After Pandemonium it was time for Apocalypse. At this point I am not going to lie I was petrified, whilst it doesn't look massive, the gondola's were
dropping at some pace. But nevertheless I headed to the queue as my mates sat and waited for me at the exit. I must admit I am very thankful that the ride never seems to have a queue so I got on very promptly.
Apocalypse Sit Down - 8/10
Seeing as I have heard the other two sides are the worst I decided to ride the sit down first. I must admit I was rather disappointed by this side, as much as the added height made it impressive, it didn't really live up to the intensity of Detonator. Thankfully it does work rather well as a warm up to the other sides.
After riding the sit down side I put my fate in my mates hands and got them to choose which side I rode next, despite my personal choice being Stand Up, I followed their suggestion to ride the stand up floorless.
Apocalypse Stand Up Floorless - 10/10
As much as I enjoyed the sit down side I was expecting more, and lowered my expectations for the stand up sides... How foolish of me. To start off both stand up sides are not just gimmicks, they are drastically different experiences. Now despite my love for coasters, I have terrible vertigo. Whilst I can normally ignore it on rides, the position you are in makes you feel ridiculously exposed and I was petrified on the way up. (Not helped by the tilting gondola) Once at the top the view beneath your feet is ridiculous, and before you know it you are plummeting down. Now I know it can't be faster, but the drop on this side just seemed ridiculously more intense than on the sit down or stand up. I absolutely loved it! I would even say it beats Detonator, by quite a mile!
Apocalypse Stand Up - 10/10
After the stand up floorless side I was intrigued by the normal stand up side. Again the tilt at the start was a great addition to the ride and I must say, whilst I personally found this side tamer than the floorless side, it was much more reridable. Again, I would say this side easily beats Detonator for me. One thing I must say is the second time I rode it, my restraint must not have been down properly as likewise with Shockwave I flew up with my feet leaving the platform, which was absolutely terrifying, but also amusing.
Apocalypse overall - 10/10
I absolutely loved the ride overall, whilst certain sides are better than others, all are great fun to ride and the stand up sides are genuinely petrifying (In a good way) One thing that I really loved that was present on each side, were the sirens that went off as you started your ascent, they really pumped up the tension to the max. Despite my love for the ride I do find that again Drayton's attempts at theming let it down, as much as I love the outside appearance of the bunker and the tower, the inside looks cheap and tacky, they have obviously tried hard to theme it, but by doing so they have overstretched their budget from the looks of things. Another major flaw is the lack of organisation for the stand up side, it's ridiculous to not split the queue for the floorless and the stand up.
Once I had ridden each side I thought it was time for a calmer ride and went on the Drunken Barrels with my mates. I won't bother rating this as it is basically a simple tea cup ride, but with impressive theming.
We managed to get a great spin going and it was rather hilarious, even if we were petrified of breaking the ride.
The Haunting - 2/10
Seeing as I enjoy Hex so much at Alton I was fairly excited for The Haunting. Unfortunately it disappointed
on all levels. I guess I should have known how bad the theming would have been but wow, it's pure cheese. I guess some people may enjoy it, but I found the whole thing dull and lacking in atmosphere. Though it did have some unique ideas in having the shaking floor and the air sprayers in your seats. The biggest problem I had though was the programme on the ride, it was awful, you hardly swung and it was no way near as convincing as Hex's programme. Also why on earth put the full spin of the room at the bleeding start?! You're meant to build up to that, not reveal the big surprise at the start.
Seeing as there was one last "major coaster" left to do we decided to head over to G-Force and seeing as the queue wasn't out the door this time I thought it was wise to join.
G-Force - 3/10
First off the capacity for this thing is awful, the queue was the longest of the day and I am sure they were only running one train. It doesn't help the queue is a cattle pen in an awful tin shed with horrendous music. As if it could get any worse you actually have to ride the thing at the end of it... First thing I noticed was how unpleasant the restraints were, they are ridiculously uncomfortable, both tight and heavy, they completely ruined the ride, which was dull, forceless (oh the irony) and just painful anyway. A complete waste of space, even on the front row.
At this point we managed to persuade my other mate to ride Shockwave with us so I did lap 3. Now I have heard bad things about the operators, but they were great with my nervous mate, comforting her and congratulating her when we were dispatched. Anyway she loved the ride so her and my other friend rode it again whilst I headed over to Maelstrom.
Maelstrom - 9/10
I had heard great things about this ride and it did not disappoint, it is one of the best flats I have ever been on, it has the speed/intensity of rush but with a ride similar to Vortex. The theming was also rather brilliant and worked really well, even if it was a rip off of Tidal Wave.
Time was running out so I ran back over to Apocalypse to ride the sit down once more. Once I got off we went for round two on the drunken barrels, this time with 50% more spinning. Obviously I couldn't leave without some more rides on Apocalypse so I chose to do the stand up once more and the stand up floorless twice more. After that it was time to leave, and I must say I was surprised we managed to fill our day. Overall Drayton is a good, even great park, it's just a bit run down all over, but the great
rides really are fantastic experiences that beat some of the rides at Thorpe and Alton! Unfortunately I didn't manage to get all of the creds, which was rather annoying (especially with Ben 10) but ultimately, the Apocalypse rerides were worth it.
I'll update this post with onride photo's of Shockwave, G-Force and Apocalypse Stand up floorless once I have uploaded them!
the only half decent parks that aren't Merlin are all up north, or in the deepest depths of Wales, I thought perhaps Drayton might be a good idea, especially as Apocalypse and Shockwave look absolutely amazing! So me and a group of mates headed up to the midlands to try out the park.
Whilst may mates were queuing for tickets, I headed straight over to G-Force as everyone had suggested, and was greeted with a queue that came out the door. Considering all the things I had heard of the ride I walked straight past and headed for my first stand up coaster, Shockwave. Now I am not going to lie, I was shocked by how small the park was, I was under the impression it was LEGOLAND size, but Drayton was absolutely mini, it was rather quaint how small the park is.
Shockwave - 9/10
The first thing I will say about the ride is how bad the ride looks with a half assed attempt at theming,
whilst the station looks great on the outside, the inside is completely empty and grim. Anyway onto the
actual ride experience, seeing as it was my first stand up, I was apprehensive as to what it would be like
but I thought the stand up position was brilliant, the layout was brilliantly forceful and had some great
0 G moments where my feet left the floor. The only complaint I have about the ride is it is rather short,
and it was relatively rough. I enjoyed the ride so much it's now took place as my 5th favourite coaster.
Once my friends were inside the park we decided to ride Storm force as the weather was warmish. After being ridiculously disappointed by how dull/tedious Tidal Wave was, I was pessimistic as to how the ride would be.
Storm Force 10 - 9/10
Thankfully, the ride didn't disappoint at all, in fact it shocked me by how great it was. Each of the drops
were nice and steep and gave some reasonable floater airtime. I must admit I was shocked by the lack of lap bars, but thank full for their absence none the less! The backwards drop and the double down drop were fantastic and really do make it the best water ride in the country and by far the wettest in the back rows. Valhalla is going to have to blow me out of the water to beat it. Whilst I loved the ride, there were two things I was disappointed by. First the theming is verging on amazing but Drayton have let it fall into disrepair and it now looks shabby. The second is how disgusting the rides water is, and considering how you soon get absolutely drowned in it, that's not a great thing. I don't want to have to worry about coming off with cholera or other waterborne diseases when I ride a water ride.
After we got off Storm Force one of my mates decided after hearing me rave about Shockwave he wanted to ride it too, so I did lap two. Afterwards I finally decided it was time to ride what I came for, Apocalypse, but not before one final ride with one of my mates on the way to the tower.
Pandemonium - 7/10
I wasn't expecting much from this ride admittedly and whilst it wasn't anything amazing, it was better that I expected. It had some decent forces and the hang time was surprisingly enjoyable, but overall it was rather generic and dull. It was fun, but only worth the walk on queue it had, and certainly not worth a reride.
After Pandemonium it was time for Apocalypse. At this point I am not going to lie I was petrified, whilst it doesn't look massive, the gondola's were
dropping at some pace. But nevertheless I headed to the queue as my mates sat and waited for me at the exit. I must admit I am very thankful that the ride never seems to have a queue so I got on very promptly.
Apocalypse Sit Down - 8/10
Seeing as I have heard the other two sides are the worst I decided to ride the sit down first. I must admit I was rather disappointed by this side, as much as the added height made it impressive, it didn't really live up to the intensity of Detonator. Thankfully it does work rather well as a warm up to the other sides.
After riding the sit down side I put my fate in my mates hands and got them to choose which side I rode next, despite my personal choice being Stand Up, I followed their suggestion to ride the stand up floorless.
Apocalypse Stand Up Floorless - 10/10
As much as I enjoyed the sit down side I was expecting more, and lowered my expectations for the stand up sides... How foolish of me. To start off both stand up sides are not just gimmicks, they are drastically different experiences. Now despite my love for coasters, I have terrible vertigo. Whilst I can normally ignore it on rides, the position you are in makes you feel ridiculously exposed and I was petrified on the way up. (Not helped by the tilting gondola) Once at the top the view beneath your feet is ridiculous, and before you know it you are plummeting down. Now I know it can't be faster, but the drop on this side just seemed ridiculously more intense than on the sit down or stand up. I absolutely loved it! I would even say it beats Detonator, by quite a mile!
Apocalypse Stand Up - 10/10
After the stand up floorless side I was intrigued by the normal stand up side. Again the tilt at the start was a great addition to the ride and I must say, whilst I personally found this side tamer than the floorless side, it was much more reridable. Again, I would say this side easily beats Detonator for me. One thing I must say is the second time I rode it, my restraint must not have been down properly as likewise with Shockwave I flew up with my feet leaving the platform, which was absolutely terrifying, but also amusing.
Apocalypse overall - 10/10
I absolutely loved the ride overall, whilst certain sides are better than others, all are great fun to ride and the stand up sides are genuinely petrifying (In a good way) One thing that I really loved that was present on each side, were the sirens that went off as you started your ascent, they really pumped up the tension to the max. Despite my love for the ride I do find that again Drayton's attempts at theming let it down, as much as I love the outside appearance of the bunker and the tower, the inside looks cheap and tacky, they have obviously tried hard to theme it, but by doing so they have overstretched their budget from the looks of things. Another major flaw is the lack of organisation for the stand up side, it's ridiculous to not split the queue for the floorless and the stand up.
Once I had ridden each side I thought it was time for a calmer ride and went on the Drunken Barrels with my mates. I won't bother rating this as it is basically a simple tea cup ride, but with impressive theming.
We managed to get a great spin going and it was rather hilarious, even if we were petrified of breaking the ride.
The Haunting - 2/10
Seeing as I enjoy Hex so much at Alton I was fairly excited for The Haunting. Unfortunately it disappointed
on all levels. I guess I should have known how bad the theming would have been but wow, it's pure cheese. I guess some people may enjoy it, but I found the whole thing dull and lacking in atmosphere. Though it did have some unique ideas in having the shaking floor and the air sprayers in your seats. The biggest problem I had though was the programme on the ride, it was awful, you hardly swung and it was no way near as convincing as Hex's programme. Also why on earth put the full spin of the room at the bleeding start?! You're meant to build up to that, not reveal the big surprise at the start.
Seeing as there was one last "major coaster" left to do we decided to head over to G-Force and seeing as the queue wasn't out the door this time I thought it was wise to join.
G-Force - 3/10
First off the capacity for this thing is awful, the queue was the longest of the day and I am sure they were only running one train. It doesn't help the queue is a cattle pen in an awful tin shed with horrendous music. As if it could get any worse you actually have to ride the thing at the end of it... First thing I noticed was how unpleasant the restraints were, they are ridiculously uncomfortable, both tight and heavy, they completely ruined the ride, which was dull, forceless (oh the irony) and just painful anyway. A complete waste of space, even on the front row.
At this point we managed to persuade my other mate to ride Shockwave with us so I did lap 3. Now I have heard bad things about the operators, but they were great with my nervous mate, comforting her and congratulating her when we were dispatched. Anyway she loved the ride so her and my other friend rode it again whilst I headed over to Maelstrom.
Maelstrom - 9/10
I had heard great things about this ride and it did not disappoint, it is one of the best flats I have ever been on, it has the speed/intensity of rush but with a ride similar to Vortex. The theming was also rather brilliant and worked really well, even if it was a rip off of Tidal Wave.
Time was running out so I ran back over to Apocalypse to ride the sit down once more. Once I got off we went for round two on the drunken barrels, this time with 50% more spinning. Obviously I couldn't leave without some more rides on Apocalypse so I chose to do the stand up once more and the stand up floorless twice more. After that it was time to leave, and I must say I was surprised we managed to fill our day. Overall Drayton is a good, even great park, it's just a bit run down all over, but the great
rides really are fantastic experiences that beat some of the rides at Thorpe and Alton! Unfortunately I didn't manage to get all of the creds, which was rather annoying (especially with Ben 10) but ultimately, the Apocalypse rerides were worth it.
I'll update this post with onride photo's of Shockwave, G-Force and Apocalypse Stand up floorless once I have uploaded them!
. Ben 10 is definitely Draytons best coaster IMO.
