StealthFan

I'm not a fan of the whole psychological angle that Merlin use with their rides either. I guess/hope it will work better on a dark ride though. Its not just the fact that I'm not a fan of the physiological angle they use but its also the similarity between all the recent Merlin investments. Its seems to be a running theme that everything must be apocalyptic/phsycological/dark. With Swarm, Saw, Stealth/Amity Cove, Lost City etc, Thorpe Park pretty much looks like a wasteland now.

Great another mind altering theme like the Smiler. Way to use all your creativity and imagination there Merlin.......

^Well to me this is in the same category of water sides where you sit in a dinghy, but instead of it being a rubber dinghy its a metal enclosed one.

I always think the fact a lot of parks don't theme rides to this extent because they can't see the financial gain from the ride to be enough to justify doing it, which I can understand personally. Your right though it would be nice to see.

So I am assuming that the path is opening soon way before the ride is finished or are they just doing that well with construction?

But if the queue line has a water feature of some sort I'm sure that got finished ahead of schedule

Oh you can't deny just how popular Thomas Land is at all but I do agree something big or major is needed in the main park sooner rather than later.

That photo almost looks photoshopped. Still it is impressive piloting thats for sure. Its interesting that the pumps were still running and water flowing. I would have thought the emergency stop would have been pressed to shut everything down.

So after a pretty abysmal trip to Thorpe Park it was on to Drayton Manor! Ever since my last trip to Drayton Manor a couple of years ago I have said to myself I will always stay at the hotel on park and this time was no exception. The parks hotel is very nice and reminds me a lot of the Big Blue Hotel in Blackpool. It has a very modern look and feel, great breakfast, free wifi, comfy beds and air conditioning all for a very reasonable price including tickets to the park. Plus for those of you with young families there are Thomas the Tank Engine themed rooms for an extra fee which from what I have seen look fantastic. Onto the park not a whole lot has changed since my last visit with the exception of an installation of the Air Race plus a Thomas Land expansion. That being said the park is still very nice, clean, has friendly staff and reasonable operations. It did seem to me that a program of some sorts to upgrade various things through out the park has begun with such things as new TV screen inside the Haunting and a refurbishment of Pirate Adventure which is great to see. I would like to see something like Shockwaves station be next on the list with a full re paint but maybe that is something we will see in the future. As with Thorpe Park the park was full of school kids but they seemed to handle it a hell of a lot better than Thorpe Park. Staff members were stationed inside the queue line to remove anyone who was queue jumping which is something I don't think I've ever seen. Also they put a rule in place for Thomas Land that said if you are under 17 and were not accompanied by an adult you could enter which made life so much easier for the young families on park and also made it a great place to go to get away from the kids. Anyway before I keep going on and on lets get to the pictures and video! The hotel still looks brand new even though its been open since 2011 The rooms were very clean and comfortable plus they had blackout curtains which allowed for a great nights sleep. This is the breakfast of champions! Did you know Drayton Manor used to have a Pinfari? For those of you who have ever wanted to make your own Intamin box track now you can! The park doesn't have turnstiles at the entrance just staff members with handheld scanners. This seems a bit odd to me but they make it work really well. First stop is Intamin goodness! It doesn't matter what side you ride on its a great ride. After Intamin awesomeness it was time to visit Thomas Land! If this area was around when I was a child I would have exploded with excitement. Of course here is the main train himself its Thomas! Naturally he is joined by the Fat Controller! Yes that is his name, not "Sir Topman Hat"! Stupid political correctness. You know you have made it in life when you have your own bronze statue. The new expansion to Thomas Land feature Sodor Airport and multiple new rides. Including this Toby ride which made no sense to me what so ever but everyone seems to love it. Winston is a character I don't remember from my childhood is he a more modern character or is my knowledge of Thomas the Tank Engine not what it once was. The expansion doesn't seem to stop with Thomas Land as there is another addition opening next year! This proves the popularity the show still has to this day and prove what a success it has been for the park. The one hope I do have though is that all this constant addition doesn't stop work being done on the rest of the park with new rides and attractions in the future. I wouldn't want to see the park put all their eggs in one basket. If you take a ride with Thomas, Rosie or Percy you can go and visit the original TV set from the show. This to me is without a doubt the best thing about Thomas Land its just a shame its so far away from the main land itself so is sometimes missed by guests. The fact these models still work is amazing and it all looks so good. It bring back so many memories from my childhood and I could have spent ages in here. It does disappoint me that a lot of kids walking around were shouting things like "This isn't the proper Thomas" because they only know the CGI version of the show. CGI is all good and fine but for me it can never replace the charm models like this have. If you visit the park don't forget about the Zoo. Much like Chessington the zoo and park fit very nicely together and they have a great variety of animals. Whos impressed by the size of my snake? All the enclosures have these sings which teach you the sign language interpretation of the animals. This is a great touch by the park that I can honestly say I don't think I have seen anywhere else. The next stop for rides was "The Haunting" which is the parks Mad House. For those of you who have been on the Haunting you know how messed up/awesome it is! I can't put into words what I think of this attraction but I do love it. It has seen some recent upgrades with these new screen in one of the pre shows but the ride is showing its age. The audio in the library pre show was just terrible, the speakers crackled, I couldn't understand any of the words being said and the music was deafening. Still it is a great ride but it needs a small amount of TLC to bring it back to its true glory. Oh no terrible Pepsi! Pirate Adventure was closed during my visit as it is getting some refurb work on the models inside. Im so glad they are looking after this attraction as it is a classic. If you haven't been on this before check out this POV below from my last trip. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] Pirate Adventure is not the only dark ride at Drayton Manor they also have a shooting dark ride in the form of Wild West Shoot Out! I love this ride so much and if you don't believe me check out this POV! [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] G-Force was down all day which was a shame due to the fact that it pushed all the kids into other ride queues. While its a shame the ride was down I do still enjoy the ride and I don't know what it gets the reputation that it has. Its not the most amazing ride and the lift is screwed up but it is a lot of fun and I always try to ride it when I'm at the park. Is there a more screwed up lift that this? Rides have to be kept in enclosures as they are dangerous animals! Would you rather visit the "Super Loo" or "Tangled Toilets"? Comment below and let me know! Any park with jugs is a winner in my book! Shockwave is I believe the only Intamin stand up coaster in existence but I'm sure if I'm wrong someone will tell me. The operations on this ride were horrible though so I didn't ride. I was lucky if I saw a train run with any less than 10 minute intervals between dispatches. Its a shame because the rest of the park had pretty decent operations and this let them all down. Do you #DareToRide all the attractions and Drayton Manor? It would be wrong not to take a ride on the Cable Cars as it offers some great views of the park. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] A pirate ship thats actually on water! Why is this not done more often it makes 100% total sense! Ben 10 is a great coaster! These Junior Boomerangs are great fun and I'm so glad that Paultons Park is getting one. "Not our Dino!" I missed out on riding Stormforce again so I have still yet to ride this but it looks like a lot of fun and I will one day get on this ride! 65 years of Drayton Manor and it seems the park is doing fantastic. It doesn't seem like people have been put of visiting other parks due to the Smiler incident which is good and it seems the park has a promising future. Sadly this it from Drayton Manor as we had to continue on with our journey. But before getting back to the car I noticed this image on the path. Now is it telling me to walk this way or to scratch my bum while doing it? Your thoughts? Over all though it was a great visit to Drayton Manor and I will definitely try to get back there when school kids aren't about. I hope there will be a few new additions in the park other than Thomas Land in the future as they seem to have a lot of land to expand so could do a lot if they really put their minds to it. Next stop on the trip was my first trip to Alton Towers in 2 years. How awesome was it? Stay tuned and find out! -Craig

I don't think I would have an issue with any of the suggestions being installed at the park. If I had to narrow it down to one I would like to see an El Loco. I really enjoyed Mumbo Jumbo and think it would suit the park really well.

Thats a lot of rain! If anything I just hope the animals are okay and safe.

I would love to give this a go. I don't think there is enough rides these days that put fear inside me like this would. This plus that insane water launch seat contraption I would definitely have a go on.

^And going on Balder don't forget. That is something that can NEVER get boring.

Merlins PR team are some of the most creative and insane people there is. The ideas they have come up with to advertise stuff over the years is nothing short of unique. The park will recover in the end I'm sure peoples attention span these days is a lot less than it was 10 years ago thanks to the internet so I'm sure when the next major news story breaks people will forget.

Something similar to this happened at Thorpe Park on StormSurge when someones foot got crushed. I find it interesting that a boat was dispatched with a staff member near/next to it because that really shouldn't happen. Still I hope they can save his leg as there has been too many leg amputations recently.

My biggest pet peeve at any park is that since pooping in Tangled Toilets now no other theme park toilet anywhere comes close to that experience. This makes me very sad

I started up this game for the first time in months again a few days ago and I'm well behind now. I have something like 10 tasks waiting to be done right now. I still personally prefer the Family Guy game but this has definitely helped kill a bit more time recently.

Sadly I think it will run out before we know it.

I never understood why more parks didn't buy launched x-cars because Formule X was a really great ride. Great trip report though, I would really like to try and get back to the park some day.

That is what Intamin do best! This park really does have a good solid selection of coasters and I'm sure this will add quite nicely to it. I still will always make time for Winjas however good this may end up being though.

Can someone please explain to me the point of the turns being like that with the giant flat unused area? Seems pretty pointless to me.

Ahh I remember when Oblivions pit used to look like that! Does the mist/smoke fill the entire tunnel or just the entrance?

This is true but it makes it a hell of a lot easier to spot them!

^I don't think the fact the coaster is a woodie is what attracted people to ride in the first place. I feel that was more due to the fact its the first major coaster in Ireland. Still even though the ride has received great reviews I can't imagine Merlin or other British parks will take note. As long as Blackpool keep Wild Mouse operating I have all the awesome woodies in the UK I need

News have come out today of an accident on the Ghost Train at Bottons Pleasure Beach in Skegness involving a 6 year old boy getting trapped underneath a ride car. Taken from Sky News Another article by BBC News Given that they are saying they are unsure of how the boy came to get out of the car I can only think he climbed out himself as there is no real restraint in a ghost train car. I hope the boy recovers for the families sake but I can't see this being anything other than the child trying to get out of the car, especially since it seems the ride is already back open. What are your thoughts on this accident? Do you think modifications should be made to ghost train cars to prevent this? Post below with your thoughts!