Of course 2020 marks the 70th birthday of Drayton Manor Park. A park which is very close to both of our hearts and somewhere we adore. So today we’ve teamed up with Drayton Talk to provide you guys with some of the reasons those guys love the park! I just wanna say a big thank you to them for been apart of this blog it’s truly been a pleasure. I hope you guys enjoy this blog post as much as we have putting it together. Plus come and join us across our socials sharing your favourite photos of the park across our social media accounts.
Drayton Manor is a Theme Park in Tamworth, Staffordshire which opened in 1949, and has the privilege of celebrating 70 years of creating fun family memories for the 2020 season, a massive achievement in itself.
Drayton Manor remains one of the few family run parks in the UK following 70 years of operation, with the park remaining to this day in the hands of the Bryan and Pawley family, who evidently have an abundance of passion for the park, which is a testament to them. After being opened by husband and wife George and Vera Bryan in 1949, the park has since passed through many generations of the family. Before the Bryan’s, the land was once home to the Peel Family, the remains of which can be seen from the top of the park near Apocalypse, the land was then used by the British Army as a training post for World War II.
As well as being a theme park, Drayton Manor is home to a large zoo which is home to over 100 species and places its goals in education and conservation. Drayton Manor Zoo was opened later than the then amusement park, opening in 1954 as a joint enterprise between the Bryan’s and Mrs Molly Badham, later of Twycross Zoo. The Zoo has been home to some incredible animals such as the infamous Toto and Penguins, and is now home to the incredible Tamarin Trail and Dino Trail. With new investments including an African Aviary, Lemur House and Penguin Area, the zoo certainly has an exciting future! Upon opening, the zoo opened with a garden in centre which occupied the area adjacent to the bird area on the right hand side of the zoo!
Being our local park, Drayton Manor has always held a special place in our hearts, having visited here throughout our childhoods and creating thousands of cherished memories. Over the years, the park has been home to some incredible rides and has seen some incredibly pioneering additions, including:
● Shockwave – Europe’s first Intamin Stand-Up Coaster
● G Force – First Maurer Söhne X-Car Coaster in the UK
● Pirate Adventure – One of the largest scale UK dark rides
● Apocalypse – World’s first stand-up drop tower
● The Haunting – First Vekoma Madhouse in the UK and 2nd in the world
● Accelerator – World’s first Vekoma Junior Boomerang Coaster
Although most enthusiasts don’t think of Drayton Manor as a pioneering park, they most certainly have installed some groundbreaking developments over the past 70 years. Not only on “first” titles, but also some incredible theming seen in attractions in the UK, with some incredible immersive environments being created, such as:
● Pirate Adventure – one of the largest scale dark rides in the UK, immersively themed to a journey through an 18th century prison, a town being ransacked by pirates, a fort fighting off a pirate galleon, treasure caves and a ghostly conclusion
● The Crypt – a ghost train with notably gorey and grotesque theming, located next to Pirate Adventure before being replaced by Emily’s Play Adventure
● Stormforce 10 – the first ride to be sponsored by a charity, the RNLI, and being home to some incredibly realistic cornish seaside theming
● Sheriff’s Showdown / Golden Nuggets – an incredibly interactive dark ride, themed to a wild western town being attacked by bandits
● Drunken Barrels – an Intamin flat ride themed to a German Oktoberfest, with some incredible theming and audio
● The Haunting – a ride which has seen many different versions. This includes the original Blockbuster slash Horror style story centered around finding intel on missing paranormal agents at the home of an undead Vicar; then a Vampire, followed by RIPA unearthing the “Lady of the House”
● Jungle Palladium – a disney-style animatronic show featuring many animatronics such as toucans, parrots, bears, monkeys and many more
● Cedar Tex Mex – a repurposed Jungle Palladium show in the Fish & Chip Shop, which ran periodically with most animatronics from Jungle Palladium starring in the show
● Rainforest Pizza & Pasta – a densely themed rainforest scene with an animatronic show and lighting effects
● Dinosaur Land / Dino Trail – home to some incredible dinosaur models and landscaping, formerly located at the left of the Zoo Entrance with an indoor section
● Jungle Cruise – a river raft ride which took its riders on a journey through the Jungle to see animals, meet fellow explorers, venture around temple ruins and
● Excalibur – one of the most ambitious story centred rides, set around the Arthurian legend; but with a twist! This time the story is told from the dragons perspective and portrays Arthur and his knights of the round table as greedy property developers trying to build castles on the dragons homeland! It includes knight and dragon animatronics, and pyrotechnic effects!
As well as the few past rides mentioned above, Drayton Manor has also been home to some incredible children’s areas such as Kidz Corner, which later became Robinsons Fruit Shoot Land, and now Thomas Land, Europe’s only Thomas Land! Both of these have been a roaring success, with Thomas Land attracting thousands of young families to the park each year, as well as avid fans of the Thomas & Friends brand. The park has one of the best entertainment offerings in the UK, with frequent shows both inside and outside of Thomas Land, as well as roaming actors at peak times.
Always branding itself as a family park, Drayton Manor has always had something on offer for the whole family, with the Zoo for those not fond of rides, Thomas Land for the younger guests, as well as tonnes of family rides for older children and thrill rides for the daredevils amongst the families! In our opinion, Drayton Manor has the best family offering of any UK park, considering the diversity of attractions on offer.
Drayton Manor, in our opinion, is one of the most picturesque parks in the UK, being centred around the main lake, with rides such as Shockwave and Stormforce 10 creating an amazing skyline when looking across the lake, as well as Apocalypse providing an unrivalled view across Tamworth and surrounding areas. The park also has some of the best landscaping in our opinion, with flowers always being in bloom!
Amongst our fondest memories of the park would be visiting and repeatedly riding Pirate Adventure and Excalibur, our two favourite past rides, visiting Rainforest Pizza & Pasta for lunch, taking a walk through the zoo and heading back to Pirate Adventure for an afternoon of repeat riding! Another of our fond memories is first braving Apocalypse, and the sheer fear and adrenaline of experiencing the UK’s Scariest Ride, as rated by Channel 5’s “The Gadget Show” in 2005. Another more recent memory being the parks 70th Anniversary Auction, which kicked off the celebrations back in January, and being able to purchase (and send for restoration) some items of the past.
We’ve had some incredible memories at Drayton Manor over the years, both way back in our childhoods and also recently, the park means an incredible amount to us, not only being a theme park, but a hub of memories we have created over our years of visiting the park. Drayton Talk was founded with this in mind, to allow others who are equally as passionate about Drayton Manor to unite on our website (www.draytontalk.co.uk) to discuss the past, present and future of the park, and to showcase some of our favourite media from the park on social media!
We have nothing but passion for Drayton Manor, and are excited for what the future holds for this 70 year old park. We hope to see many of you at the park to support them later this year, after an incredibly rough start to 2020!
Big thank you to the Drayton Talk lads for all their help in putting this post together. Be sure to check out their site & social media accounts too. We hope you’ve enjoyed this fab piece written by them! Be sure to keep an eye out for our own post talking all about our love for Drayton Manor coming soon!
Thank you for reading..
