I feel there’s always a sense of sadness and nervousness when you know a ride will be getting re-themed. It doesn’t matter if you enjoyed the original or not as a change for me at least is a time when you wonder if it’ll be a disappointment. However, that’s not always the case there are some re-theme which simply just made sense & worked. Let’s have a chat about them.
Duel to The Curse at Alton Manor:
This is my absolute favourite of the entire bunch. I always enjoyed Duel regardless of the fact it needed TLC & the amount of disappointment surrounding it that other people felt. It was always a staple for us. But I never knew the love & admiration I would have for the re-theme this time last year. The Curse at Alton Manor in my opinion is the UK’s strongest dark ride. You’d never guess what was once within the building with the likes of Duel as it feels utterly brand new. I know the layout is the same as the set-up of a majority of the animatronics but it’s such a breath of fresh air.
Dragon Falls to Tiger Rock:
Again Dragon Falls just felt iconic given its age. But when Tiger Rock took over it’s unavoidable how much it came on with regards to theming more significantly. The entire area is truly fab. It’s themed gorgeously with such a distinctive experience with the Tigers being in view from the ride layout itself as well as on foot, they virtually have the whole area to roam. It makes the experience feel quite intimate in my opinion. For the ride itself, the station was beautifully redone with the projection mapping show that happens every so often and the final drop is so photogenic and easy on the eye compared to the lack of theming that was prior. Even the indoor tunnel section has a themed section too. It’s great how it went from little to no theming prior to pretty well-covered now.
Ben 10 to Accelerator:
Ben 10 was a genuinely cool theme which was great for those with children as it was a real crowd-pleaser. Again, they lost the IP and I weren’t entirely sure what was going to happen or how it would be swiftly re-themed. Yet the park did a tremendous job and made it become an Accelerator fixing area, particularly of the queue line which I really disliked prior (the dark sections). The only thing I always feel should happen is the track needs a repaint in my opinion. That green we see now is very much the remains of Ben 10 a nice new colour to match the new theme would be ace. Perhaps there are reasons why this hasn’t been done yet given the length of time it’s been since the changeover.
Adventure Cove:
This entire area deserves a mention, especially the rapids. Drayton Manor subtly had themed areas or at least names for their areas before but it was definitely an if you know you know kind of vibe. Where now they are striving for big bold & exceptionally themed areas it’s grand, especially Adventure Cove. This area is one of them which is instantly uplifting and quite freeing. It’s nice to see the return of the classic Rapids with a brand-new theme & audio which I could yell about for days. It’s radiant and it’s cheerful. The whole area including those rides which haven’t seen a change feels fresher and more current than ever before. It’s just what the area of the park needed.
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What re-themes do you feel simply just worked? I’d love to hear all about them.
Thank you for reading & we will catch up again soon…
