Drayton Manor Meetup 11th October 2015

[mkingy]

Park: Alton Towers
Date: 9th August 2015
Attendees:

Mkingy
Gouldy
JAMMYD778
Holly
Holly's Friend Dani

Gallery: http://imgur.com/a/Ug7wZ

So in what will likely be the final meetup of this coaster seasons we headed over to the rather family orientated theme park of Drayton Manor. It has to be said since the switch away from the high thrill focus (air race being the only major thrill addition since G-Force in 2005 the park seems to be doing fairly well - it was clean and despite being end of season all rides bar Apocalypse floorless were running.

Being Nerds

We mostly all arrived at 09:30 which was in hindsight... rather early. We took a wander round the zoo to pass some time before queuing up for G-Force. We bagged a front (me and Holly)/back (Gouldy and Jammy) row ride which was a nice start to the day. G-force perhaps lacks the execution of what is almost a really fun layout - but is enjoyable nonethless. The hangtime in the front on the lifthill is great and the backseat gets a pop of airtime of the first hill. There's some suspect banking throughout the rest of the ride but the turnaround following the bent cuban eight element does prove some laterals in the front.

"Humpty Bump Lift!" - JAMMYD778

Following this we took back to back rides on Maelstrom - an Intamin gyroswing. Probably my personal favourite ride at the park because airtime is the best and this does a great job of delivering on that front! Drayton doesn't seem to attract too many silly GP comments but Gouldy did hear "OMG IT WENT UPSIDE DOWN I DIDN'T THINK IT DID THAT?!". No you didn't, because it doesn't.

This was followed with another flat ride - and one none of us had yet expereneced - a Zamperla Air Race. This was a quite frankly bizzare experience, and I'd suggest reriding a couple of times as it very much grew on me and Gouldy (Jammy disliked the restraints). The seats are however designed for someone about 5ft 4 in height as we found that the "headrest" digs into you're upper back. The fact that not everyone is the same height doesn't appear to be a concern for Zamperla here...

Next up was a rare breed of coaster - the Intamin Stand Up - Shockwave being one of the two operating rollercoasters of this type in the world (the other being Cobra in La Ronde). The layout is very un-B&M though, sweeping drop, fairly simplistic layout (loop, "0g" roll, corkscrew x2) followed by a gentle curve into brakes that are akin to hitting a brick wall. We got a front seat ride on this, felt reasonable smooth although the restraints are super restrictive and there's a little jolt at the base of the loop. This ride also features 3 different paint schemes. Grey & Brown, Light Blue and slightly less Light blue, and Light blue, slightly less light blue with dark blue. Because we like to be inconsistent in the UK.

Just the one colour scheme present here.

We then proceeded to round up the rest of the rides - starting with the must have credit - Troublesome Trucks in the ever popular Thomas the Tank Engine land (yay trains). This rollercoaster was actually pretty decent for a family / kiddie ride. The Gerstlauer ride consists of a short pre-lift segmenet before a sweeping drop out of the tire lift. The ride continues to curve to the right before navigating a snappy (for a kiddie coaster) S-hill into the station and proceeded to do a second lap. This is definitely a top 10 (kiddie) coaster.

Enthusiast Multitasking - experience the current element whilst endlessly searching for the next.

We rounded off the morning by cleaning up Apocalypse (Intamin Drop Tower), Drunken Barrels (Teacups), the Haunting (Vekoma Madhouse), Pandemonium (Fabbri hell machine) and finally the Vekoma family Junior ride Ben 10: ULTIMATE MISSION COASTER. Ultimately a little disappointing given the ride isn't propelled up the return spike (there's like 25 foot of useless track) means the return journey is lacking in anything. Frontwards is fun though. The restraints are also incredibly bizarre. They're sort of sit just above your knee and you only feel secure if you're sat about 3 inches forward from your seat. In addition to this as Jammy pointed out - it's bizarre how Vekoma just cba to line up the gates with the trains. The gates are lined up as if you were boarding a corkscrew coaster. Basically the entire ride feels like it was designed by someone on NL using 3DS for the first time ever.

This is the beacon of Drayton Manor - guides you to the park from far far away.

Lunch was followed by an another trip round the zoo to see the animals - they have a reasonable selection at Drayton Manor - and a tonne of cat based animals (fishing cats, scottish wild cat, lynx) plus meerkats. Like f&%$ing everywhere else.

The afternoon basically compromised of a couple more rides on Air Race and Maelstrom and another ride on both Shockwave and G-Force. With that I round off our final CC meet for the year - I hope you enjoyed the read and those who attended thanks for coming I hope you guys enjoyed yourself too!

Early shouts for next year are as follows:

Thorpe Park (New Attraction)
Northern England Mini Trip (Flamingo Land -> Lightwater Valley -> Blackpool Pleasure Beach)
Possible a European weekend (Phantasialand? Liseberg? Toverland/Efteling?)

They'll be on the website in due course - and feel free to drop me a pm if you'd like contacting via some other method to be kept in the loop! (lol pun)

Ride Count: 18
Most Ridden: Maelstrom (4)

A nice picture.

[gouldy]

I am amused by my "what in the hell is this ride?" pose, in this one:

http://i.imgur.com/DdGq1fl.jpg

[Coasterkidmwm]

Anyone have a pic of what you're talking about with the gates on Ben 10?

[mkingy]

http://www.daysoutdiary.co.uk/files/gal ... anor05.jpg

You can see the bays to the right hand side of the trains and compare that the style of train!

glad to hear that you had a great time at the park!

[JAMMY]

It was great! Don't get me wrong, Air Race was a fun ride for sure, but the restraints, ugh, my shoulders have bruises

With regards to the gates on Ben 10, just look at most vekoma coasters, they're the same. Come in pairs which for single car trains, do not line up. Kumali is another example haha

Liseberg weekend is a must! It's so simple to do! (Wink wink, hint hint) You know you want to ride HELIX

[gouldy]

JAMMYD778 wrote:

It was great! Don't get me wrong, Air Race was a fun ride for sure, but the restraints, ugh, my shoulders have bruises

With regards to the gates on Ben 10, just look at most vekoma coasters, they're the same. Come in pairs which for single car trains, do not line up. Kumali is another example haha

Liseberg weekend is a must! It's so simple to do! (Wink wink, hint hint) You know you want to ride HELIX

I want to ride Helix.

[mkingy]

Helix I'd want to ride.

JAMMYD778 wrote:

Air Race was a fun ride for sure, but the restraints, ugh, my shoulders have bruises

Seems like a combo of negative g's attacked you!

[Dirk_Ermen]

JAMMYD778 wrote:

Liseberg weekend is a must! It's so simple to do! (Wink wink, hint hint) You know you want to ride HELIX

Any excuse to go back to Liseberg is a valid excuse to me. I would be up for it.

[Mr. Freeze]

I wish, but I would have to get money and passport

[mkingy]

Dirk_Ermen wrote:

JAMMYD778 wrote:

Liseberg weekend is a must! It's so simple to do! (Wink wink, hint hint) You know you want to ride HELIX

Any excuse to go back to Liseberg is a valid excuse to me. I would be up for it.

Fantastic - I think we mentioned Easter as a prospective vauge date!