Dan1989
Mega Poster
First park of the year so been a while since I have done one of these. Due to unforeseen circumstances which I'm sure you are well aware, We couldn't do our Alton Towers trip so decided to give Drayton Manor a try. It was my and my friends first time at the park (I kinda had that kid before Christmas feeling) I had an brilliant day but still trying to decide if it was worth the £50 on the train then the £25 park entry plus just over £7 each way on a taxi from Tamworth to Drayton Manor . (a trip on public Transport to Alton would cost me £35 to get there and back and I don't have to pay park entry). So it was a pretty pricey day.
First had to get on a train from Blackpool North train station at 05;25 to Crewe, then Crewe to Stoke (where I met my friend) we then had a 40 minute wait to get the train from Stoke to Tamworth at 08;18 (from Stoke). There is a taxi rank right outside Tamworth train stations main entrance, we got into Tamworth at 09;08. Skeptical about how much a taxi is going to cost we asked how much it would be to Drayton Manor and the nice woman behind the cab office desk informed us to our surprise that it's around £7 it actually worked out at £7;30 (each way) for both trips, and it's worth noting these were the two best taxi drivers I have ever had, they were very friendly and can only recommend you use them if you do use the train to get there.
After tipping the taxi driver we got to the hotel side entrance into the park. Got our tickets scanned and in (It's worth noting at this point I'm having major issues with my knee and using a crutch to get about as I cant physically walk without one). We hobbled into the Park, I knew of the rides there already, been an enthusiast and all! My friend(not the one with me on the day) had highly recommended the Pirate ride and The Haunting, as we are both dark ride fanatics. We got into the park an hour before the rides opened so we got ourselves a bacon barm and a brew, put it this way, I handed a tenner to the guy at the till and didn't get any notes back! As I said to my friend "I can understand why smaller parks like this need to charge a bit more for food and merchandise, as they don't get as many visitors as the bigger places" I stand by that but still is an inconvenience. During the whole day after that the only thing we both purchased was a slush each at £2;40.
onto the park and rides. I was a little gutted to find out the pirate ride was shut, not much you can do about it though really.We first took a walk around the zoo, I like my zoos and am a big fan of my local Zoo here in Blackpool.(I did a trip report on that a couple of years ago). Drayton Manors zoo was much bigger than I first thought it would be and to my surprise I was impressed with it. I wont go on about it as this is a coaster forum but my main highlights, the bird walk through, thought that was brilliant plus a very good reptile house.
First ride of the day Ben 10, really liked how well themed the queue was. The ride it'self was okay Pretty smooth for a Vekoma. The ride assistant asked me in the politest way her young mind could muster "I don't mean to be rude but is your leg broke"? I just said I'm okay it's my knee just having trouble walking she just let me pass. It's a pretty cool ride but I know it's more of a kiddie coaster.
Then headed over to that powered coaster, excuse my ignorance but I didn't catch the name of it. all I'm going to say is that ride is brutal!
We then walked over to The mine train ride with guns, again I didn't catch the name. It's not duel, but to be fair it's not trying to be either. Comes across to me like a very patchwork but cool little dark ride.
Sockwave seemed to take a while to open, but my eagle eye caught a test train in the distance so we made our way over. The next train dispatched had people on it. I have always wanted to try this coaster but never had chance before today. That queue line with a crutch and bad knee is an expedition, but I wanted my credit! I prevailed in the end. Restraints were a little strange but it is a pretty unique coaster. Got shoved right at the back on our first go round, in all honesty I cant make my mind up if I rate it or not. I loved that vertical loop standing up, but it was a nightmare getting off in my current condition and extremely painful!
Rapids, the staff were kind enough to stop the moving platform for me. Good rapids not much more I can say about them
The Haunting. Very good theme and atmosphere to the ride, I have done Hex 100's of times and kinda knew what to expect. I have watched no POV'S or knew much about the ride other than it was a Vekoma mad house. I predicted something was going to jump out right before it did in that first corridor, and for some reason was dreading that the floor in the second room would drop a few inches, but thankfully it didn't. As for the ride itself, the effects seemed to work a lot better than Hex, although I cant work out if the effects are better as there new to me, I have just done Hex to many times or the ride is actually better.
For some unknown reason we went on Shockwave again (Second back row this time)
We had a look round Thomas land for half an hour, didn't actually go on anything.
G-force was our next ride. I was a little anxious about going on this, the restraints seemed dodgy to me from a viewers prospective, but after another expedition of stairs and actually getting lost in the queue line We got to the top and had walk on, The front 2 seats of the back car. A friend warned not to pull the restraint to tight I'm glad I took his advice as my friend didn't. In a strange way you actually feel really safe in those restraints. Defiantly my favorite ride of the day and credit number 50 for me! I really liked it.
One last ride on the Wheel and decided to call it a day at around 3PM. I don;t know why we didn't do the inverting planes, I wanted to leave the dodgems alone with my knee bad. Storm Force we left as we both had a long way to travel back and did not want to be soaked, and I simply just don't do drop towers. We had a nice meal in a pub in Tamworth town center, then a short walk to the train station were we parted ways. I got a train from Tamworth to Preston at 18;06 had to hobble over to another platform and got a train back to Blackpool within five minuets. I ended up at Blackpool north at around 19;50.
It was a very good day out, but unlike Alton Towers I don't feel like need to return anytime soon. I got 4 new credits and that takes my count up to 50 I'm happy with that and now only have a few new parks I need to tick off my list. Hopefully Chessington next. Sorry about having no pictures, thanks for reading.
First had to get on a train from Blackpool North train station at 05;25 to Crewe, then Crewe to Stoke (where I met my friend) we then had a 40 minute wait to get the train from Stoke to Tamworth at 08;18 (from Stoke). There is a taxi rank right outside Tamworth train stations main entrance, we got into Tamworth at 09;08. Skeptical about how much a taxi is going to cost we asked how much it would be to Drayton Manor and the nice woman behind the cab office desk informed us to our surprise that it's around £7 it actually worked out at £7;30 (each way) for both trips, and it's worth noting these were the two best taxi drivers I have ever had, they were very friendly and can only recommend you use them if you do use the train to get there.
After tipping the taxi driver we got to the hotel side entrance into the park. Got our tickets scanned and in (It's worth noting at this point I'm having major issues with my knee and using a crutch to get about as I cant physically walk without one). We hobbled into the Park, I knew of the rides there already, been an enthusiast and all! My friend(not the one with me on the day) had highly recommended the Pirate ride and The Haunting, as we are both dark ride fanatics. We got into the park an hour before the rides opened so we got ourselves a bacon barm and a brew, put it this way, I handed a tenner to the guy at the till and didn't get any notes back! As I said to my friend "I can understand why smaller parks like this need to charge a bit more for food and merchandise, as they don't get as many visitors as the bigger places" I stand by that but still is an inconvenience. During the whole day after that the only thing we both purchased was a slush each at £2;40.
onto the park and rides. I was a little gutted to find out the pirate ride was shut, not much you can do about it though really.We first took a walk around the zoo, I like my zoos and am a big fan of my local Zoo here in Blackpool.(I did a trip report on that a couple of years ago). Drayton Manors zoo was much bigger than I first thought it would be and to my surprise I was impressed with it. I wont go on about it as this is a coaster forum but my main highlights, the bird walk through, thought that was brilliant plus a very good reptile house.
First ride of the day Ben 10, really liked how well themed the queue was. The ride it'self was okay Pretty smooth for a Vekoma. The ride assistant asked me in the politest way her young mind could muster "I don't mean to be rude but is your leg broke"? I just said I'm okay it's my knee just having trouble walking she just let me pass. It's a pretty cool ride but I know it's more of a kiddie coaster.
Then headed over to that powered coaster, excuse my ignorance but I didn't catch the name of it. all I'm going to say is that ride is brutal!
We then walked over to The mine train ride with guns, again I didn't catch the name. It's not duel, but to be fair it's not trying to be either. Comes across to me like a very patchwork but cool little dark ride.
Sockwave seemed to take a while to open, but my eagle eye caught a test train in the distance so we made our way over. The next train dispatched had people on it. I have always wanted to try this coaster but never had chance before today. That queue line with a crutch and bad knee is an expedition, but I wanted my credit! I prevailed in the end. Restraints were a little strange but it is a pretty unique coaster. Got shoved right at the back on our first go round, in all honesty I cant make my mind up if I rate it or not. I loved that vertical loop standing up, but it was a nightmare getting off in my current condition and extremely painful!
Rapids, the staff were kind enough to stop the moving platform for me. Good rapids not much more I can say about them
The Haunting. Very good theme and atmosphere to the ride, I have done Hex 100's of times and kinda knew what to expect. I have watched no POV'S or knew much about the ride other than it was a Vekoma mad house. I predicted something was going to jump out right before it did in that first corridor, and for some reason was dreading that the floor in the second room would drop a few inches, but thankfully it didn't. As for the ride itself, the effects seemed to work a lot better than Hex, although I cant work out if the effects are better as there new to me, I have just done Hex to many times or the ride is actually better.
For some unknown reason we went on Shockwave again (Second back row this time)
We had a look round Thomas land for half an hour, didn't actually go on anything.
G-force was our next ride. I was a little anxious about going on this, the restraints seemed dodgy to me from a viewers prospective, but after another expedition of stairs and actually getting lost in the queue line We got to the top and had walk on, The front 2 seats of the back car. A friend warned not to pull the restraint to tight I'm glad I took his advice as my friend didn't. In a strange way you actually feel really safe in those restraints. Defiantly my favorite ride of the day and credit number 50 for me! I really liked it.
One last ride on the Wheel and decided to call it a day at around 3PM. I don;t know why we didn't do the inverting planes, I wanted to leave the dodgems alone with my knee bad. Storm Force we left as we both had a long way to travel back and did not want to be soaked, and I simply just don't do drop towers. We had a nice meal in a pub in Tamworth town center, then a short walk to the train station were we parted ways. I got a train from Tamworth to Preston at 18;06 had to hobble over to another platform and got a train back to Blackpool within five minuets. I ended up at Blackpool north at around 19;50.
It was a very good day out, but unlike Alton Towers I don't feel like need to return anytime soon. I got 4 new credits and that takes my count up to 50 I'm happy with that and now only have a few new parks I need to tick off my list. Hopefully Chessington next. Sorry about having no pictures, thanks for reading.
