dubaidave Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Hi, I am planning a visit to Drayton Manor on Friday the 1st July. Does anyone know how busy it is likely to be? The main reason I am going is to ride Ben 1o but would like to do all the rides. I am sure last time I went they staggared the opening times of rides. Anyone any idea if this is still the case? thanks Dubaidave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandAyr Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 was a couple of years since last there - but was early July. start of day walk on and end of day had many rides to ourselves. the middle it was packed - school outings. the down side of Scottish Schools having holidays earlier than England are when we go to theme parks in the first couple of weeks of our school break, that tends to be when the schools in England have their outings to theme parks. having said Drayton was packed - was still not to bad. Busiest we have experienced was Light Water Valley - they did have signs outside in car park warning to expect thousands of school kids the day we chose to go there. Maybe drop Drayton an email and see if they can advise if they have an average or above average number of party bookings the day you want to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubaidave Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 Thats great. thanks for the advice. TBH as long as I get the Ban 10 credit anything else is a bonus. Sad I know. Dubaidave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPRWannabe Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 I went there with a couple of friends on May 27th -- it was so much fun! There were (definitely) one school there and maybe an other, but they're not there from start to finnish (like we were). It wasn't busy as theme parks get, hardly no queues for any of the rides and if there were, you only have to wait one go before you can get on really, not long at all. The max we waited was something like 10-20mins! July 1st is still school term, so not many kids will be there, but there might be some school trips and year 11s who have finished their exams, but not that much to make you wait ages in the queues! Some ride we went on and that I'd recommend: - G Force -- just AMAZING, it gave me adrenaline rush, its just amazing and no where near as 'scary' as it looks! - Shockwave -- Europe's only standing up rollercoaster. It's fairly short, but so cool. Oh and brace your self for the brakes at the end! It's sudden so keep the harness away from you as you go flying into it and it hurts a little - Maelstrom -- OMG, it's soooooooooooooooooooooo amazing! That's the one where you go on a lot. Me and my friend went on it something like 5 times xD - Apocalypse -- at least the sitting down one! Don't look up or down! The drop isn't far AT all. I don't really get too much out of it, but my friend got an adrenaline rush from it! - Ben 10 -- that has the longest queue, we found out that the queue is smaller nearer the end of the day and actually, even though 4yr olds can go on it, it's pretty cool!!! The drop first is actually quite fast, the backwards bit is quite slow though - Storm Force 10 -- if you want to get absolutely soaking wet! You just get drenched. If it's really hot then yeah, but it's just wet wet wet! and last but not least: Pandemoniun -- Well well well well well!!!! My friend and I were debating about going on it or not and we decided to go on it. We sat down, after eventually choosing our seat, and it took ages for the harnesses to come down and we were thinking "nahh, lets get off", but then they came down ... it's just fucking mental!!!!!!!!! We held on for dear life! My friend got a massive adrenaline rush and we didn't feel ill or anything! It's pretty good, I would go on it again! At one point, when it holds you up side down (take loose shoes off and change out of your pockets as sometimes you can hear money/other stuff falling), it made a clunking sound and we started to pray for it to not break down, but it came down! It's just a mental ride -- go on it once, at least!!!! You can YouTube them to see POVs (TPR has one of Shockwave + G Force) and to see what they do! Hope this was helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollerCoasterSmi Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Hey DubaiDave, Firstly, I am also planning on hitting the park on 1st July. It all really depends what you want. I mean have you been there before? Anyway I go there quite regularly and always hit the same route: work from the back of the park and come to the front (it is actually quite a linear park with the lake), do not get tempted to do Maelstrom/G Force first. I would do the park in this order: Ben 10 (new coaster + low capacity = long lines) Apocalypse (ride all sides: stand up, stand up floorless and sitting) Pandemonium (even if the queue looks long it has quite a high capacity so is only ever a one or two ride wait) Buffalo Mountain Coaster (CHACHING, well if you count powered coasters) Bounty (really awesome pirate ship, actually swings pretty high) Maelstrom (another awesome ride) G Force (don't pull lap bars all the way down, leave about one inch so it doesn't crush you) Storm Force 10 (really good for cooling off and good value) Shockwave (is quite rough, but the zero g is the best inversion of all time IMO and be cautious of the brakes) Troublesome Trucks (Thomas Town becomes quite quiet later on in the day) Once you have done this you are free to roam. As has been said before it really isn't busy during term time and most attractions are walk on. One final bit of advice is take your own food, for example one small slice of pizza is £5 and it isn't that great quality either. Hope this helps, RollerCoasterSmith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubaidave Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 Thanks for the info. I have emailed the park to ask about school groups but am comitted to going on the 1st anyway. Ii will be wearing a TPR T shirt so if you spot me feel free to say hi. Dubaidave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broomy Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 I was at the park less than 2 weeks ago and it was a saturday and everything other than ben10 was less than 15 minutes q time. There was no staggering of ride times, they were open 10.30am till 5pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skitt2010 Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 TPRWannabe got the ride expectations pretty much spot on... but unfortunately for you almost all of the schools in the area have let their high school leavers go already. You may have some competition for the bigger rides!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubaidave Posted June 25, 2011 Author Share Posted June 25, 2011 Ha HA. thanks. I intend to get there at opening and do Ben 10 first. then just do anything else I can with short lines. Dubaidave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubaidave Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 I have made it to the park and it doesn't seem too busy yet those were famous last words. It got really really busy with schools after i wrote this. got to ride ben 10 though so happy. took 300 photos so will get them up online soon dubaidave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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