| Drayton Manor Theme Park | |
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 Drayton Manor logo |
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| Location | Near Tamworth, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom  |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: |
| Website | http://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/ |
| Owner | The Bryan family |
| Opened | October 16th 1949 |
| Operating season | Theme Park: March to October
Zoo: All year round |
| Area | 280 acres / 113 hectares |
| Rides | 36 total
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 Amusement Parks Portal |
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Drayton Manor Theme Park is a British theme park in the grounds of the former Drayton Manor, near Tamworth in Staffordshire, England. Drayton Manor is a family theme park with a mixture of scenic and white knuckle rides. It covers 280 acres of land, and is visited by over one million people annually. Drayton Manor opened to the public on October 16 1949 as an 'inland pleasure resort' and has since grown substantially in size. It is the UK's leading family run theme park and the fourth most popular theme park in Britain in terms of visitor numbers. In 2006, the park received two awards: 'Best UK Attraction' awarded by Group Leisure and 'UK Attraction of the Year' awarded by Coach Tourism.
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Rides
Rides in the park include StormForce 10 (the park's most popular ride), Shockwave, Europe's only stand-up roller coaster, Apocalypse, a Freefall Tower with a choice of sit-down, stand-up or floorless ride positions, Pirate Adventure, a dark ride loosely based on Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunting, a walkthrough attraction that incorporates a haunted swing, Excalibur, a boat ride attraction with medieval scenes, Splash Canyon, a river rapids, G-force, a steel roller coaster with three inversions, Pandemonium, a double inverted swing and Maelstrom, a gyro swing.
Stormforce 10
Stormforce 10 is a water ride that recreates the story of a lifeboat rescue, launched in association with the RNLI. It holds the title of world's first charitable ride and accepts donations on site. Opened in 1999 to replace the ageing log flume, the idea was said to have been thought up by the manager's nephew. Stormforce 10 is the most popular ride in the park. It starts with a small drop into water and is followed by a backwards drop and finally a large drop. For every ride photograph sold a donation is made to the RNLI through which Drayton Manor has raised £66,000 since the opening of the ride and have funded a lifeboat named the 'Drayton Manor' Atlantic 85 rescue boat.
Shockwave
Shockwave is a stand-up roller coaster that was built in 1994 by Intamin AG. The ride was created as part of a two year £4 million project in 1993/1994 to build Splash Canyon with Shockwave. The ride, which reaches 53mph and delivers up to 4 g, features a lift hill up to 120 ft, then into an 80 ft drop and a medium size loop followed by a Zero G roll and then finishes with two corkscrews and a bend around back to the station. Shockwave is located in the 'Action Park' area next to G Force. In 1994 after the completion of the ride, neighbours complained that the final bend was too close to the edge of the property. In fact it had been built as planned but local Councillors had not noticed the proximity to the boundary on the plans.[1]
Apocalypse
Apocalypse is a 54 m (180 ft) high freefall tower ride built by Intamin AG in 1999 and opened in 2000. The ride, which has been voted 'Britain’s scariest ride', has three different forms of seating. One is the normal sit down, another is stand-up position, the world's only stand-up tower drop until 2005 when the Hurakan Condor opened in Port Aventura and the last one is a stand-up floorless which was introduced in 2002 and is known as the 'Fifth Element'. Riders experience 4g as they decelerate after falling 54 m in 4 seconds.
G Force
G Force is a steel roller coaster designed by German company Maurer Söhne and opened in 2005. G Force is the second X-Car coaster to be built after the prototype in Skyline Park, in Germany, called Sky Wheel. The coaster train has a hip restraint (instead of the usual over the shoulder restraint) and 'Big Boy' seats that are capable of safely holding larger riders. After a short drop out of the station the train negotiates a 'Humpty Bump Lift' which is a 180 degree chain lift, where riders hang upside down as they are lifted to 23 m. The ride includes a camelback hill, a loop and a new inversion known as the 'Bent Cuban Eight' an element that is modelled on aerobatic manoeuvres. G Force riders experience 4.3g during its 385 m long ride with speeds of up to 70 km/h (or 43 mph).
Pandemonium
Pandemonium is a swinging inverter ride manufactured by Fabbri and opened in 2004 at a cost of £1,000,000. It is on the site of its similar predecessor, SkyFlyer which closed in 2003. The ride has two large swinging cars that feature over the shoulder restraints and a large lap bar. The two cars swing progressively higher, in opposite directions, until they swing right over 360 degrees at the height of 24.7 m.
Maelstrom
Maelstrom is a gyro swing ride from Intamin AG with 32 outward-facing seats on a circular gondola. The ride swings up to a maximum height of 22.5 m at an angle of 95 to 120 degrees while simultaneously revolving at 5 rpm. The coastal village theme surrounding the ride tells the story that a Maelstrom has struck Drayton Manor and various debris has been strewn about, including washed up surf boards, a submarine swept up with a shark pierced through it, and a hut that has been damaged. Maelstrom cost £1,000,000 and was opened in April 2002 by the pop band Hear'Say, later than was planned out of respect for the Queen Mothers' death.
Themed areas
The park is split up into five differently themed areas:
- Aerial Park: Apocalypse, The Haunting, Pandemonium, Big Wheel, Flying Dutchman, Drunken Barrels, Wild West Shoot Out, Buffalo Coaster, Sombrero, Drayton Queen Boat.
- Pirate Cove: Excalibur - A Dragon's Tale, Pirate Adventure, Jolly Roger, Dodgems, Jolly Buccaneer, Pirate Raft Ride.
- Robinson's Land: Flying Jumbos, Junior Carousel, Ladybirds, Vintage Cars, Mini Balloons, Arriva Crazy Bus, Super Dragon Roller Coaster, Frog Hopper, Whirly Wheel, Cadbury's Junior Pirate Ship.
- Fisherman's Wharf: Stormforce 10, Polperro Express Railway, Carousel, The Bounty (New for 2007)
- Action Park: Maelstrom, Shockwave, Splash Canyon, Black Revolver, G-Force, Chair Lift.
- Thomas Land: Opening 2008
Facts & Figures
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- Stormforce 10 was the first water ride in the UK to have a backwards drop.
- George Bryan and his wife Vera opened Drayton Manor as an inland pleasure resort in 1949, and originally it was just a normal park with tea rooms, boat rides and a pets corner.
- The Managing Director, Colin Bryan, is the son of George Bryan (MBE and OBE) and Vera Bryan. He has now been working for the park for 40 years.
- 1.1 million people visited the park in 2005.
- 1.2 million people visited the park in 2007.
- The owner and chairman, George Bryan went to Disneyland and went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and took an idea from it to create Pirate Adventure which opened on Pirate Cove in 1990.
Zoo
The park is also home to a 15 acre Zoo with over 100 species.
Future projects
The 2007 map indicates that "big news" will be released in 2008 regarding the Robinson's Land area which has been revealed to be a Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends Land. In 2005, Drayton Manor had an official press release[2] on their plans to build a water park to accompany their planned hotel to create a resort for the park, much like Alton Towers have done. The water park is called 'Stormalong Bay' and is to have attractions such as water slides. The hotel has been planned for over 4 years and has planning permission. According to the new 2007 map, the hotel will be completed by 2009[3]; while the water park will not be around until 2012.
Plans for expansion of the park have been submitted to Lichfield District Council. [4]
References
- ^ An Interview with Colin Bryan. Coaster Kingdom (2004). Retrieved on 2006-03-24.
- ^ Griffin, John (2005). Theme park splashes out on attraction. Birmingham Evening Mail. Retrieved on 2006-03-24.
- ^ 2007 Park Map (html) 1. Drayton Manor (2007). Retrieved on 2007-03-12.
- ^ Plans for Drayton Manor submitted to Lichfield District Council (PDF). Lichfield District Council (2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-29.
See also
External links
Drayton Manor Theme Park at the Open Directory Project -
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| G Force - Mountain Buffalo Coaster - Shockwave - Super Dragon |
| UK Theme Parks: |
| Merlin Theme Parks: |
| Other Selected Theme Parks: |
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Blackgang Chine | Blackpool Pleasure Beach | Drayton Manor | Dreamland Margate |
