{"id":10965,"date":"2023-09-30T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2023-09-30T08:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/?p=10965"},"modified":"2025-06-12T20:04:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T20:04:54","slug":"ride-area-re-themes-that-just-worked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/?p=10965","title":{"rendered":"Ride &#038; Area Re-Themes That Just Worked\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I feel there\u2019s always a sense of sadness and nervousness when you know a ride will be getting re-themed. It doesn\u2019t matter if you enjoyed the original or not as a change for me at least is a time when you wonder if it\u2019ll be a disappointment. However, that\u2019s not always the case there are some re-theme which simply just made sense &amp; worked. Let\u2019s have a chat about them. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\">Duel to The Curse at Alton Manor:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This is my absolute favourite of the entire bunch. I always enjoyed Duel regardless of the fact it needed TLC &amp; the amount of disappointment surrounding it that other people felt. It was always a staple for us. But I never knew the love &amp; admiration I would have for the re-theme this time last year. The Curse at Alton Manor in my opinion is the UK&#8217;s strongest dark ride. You\u2019d 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\u2019s such a breath of fresh air.<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10614\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/CB9DE64B-215F-4F0A-99A4-F9909F81317C.jpeg?resize=500%2C375&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/CB9DE64B-215F-4F0A-99A4-F9909F81317C-scaled.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/CB9DE64B-215F-4F0A-99A4-F9909F81317C-scaled.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/CB9DE64B-215F-4F0A-99A4-F9909F81317C-scaled.jpeg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/CB9DE64B-215F-4F0A-99A4-F9909F81317C-scaled.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/CB9DE64B-215F-4F0A-99A4-F9909F81317C-scaled.jpeg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/CB9DE64B-215F-4F0A-99A4-F9909F81317C-scaled.jpeg?resize=80%2C60&amp;ssl=1 80w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/CB9DE64B-215F-4F0A-99A4-F9909F81317C-scaled.jpeg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/> <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7518\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/8F0A2792-C76D-4299-9EC0-3E4D939E8686.jpeg?resize=500%2C375&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/8F0A2792-C76D-4299-9EC0-3E4D939E8686-scaled.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/8F0A2792-C76D-4299-9EC0-3E4D939E8686-scaled.jpeg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><br \/>\nDragon Falls to Tiger Rock: <\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Again Dragon Falls just felt iconic given its age. But when Tiger Rock took over it\u2019s unavoidable how much it came on with regards to theming more significantly. The entire area is truly fab. It\u2019s 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\u2019s great how it went from little to no theming prior to pretty well-covered now.<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-110\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_0599.jpg?resize=500%2C375&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_0599.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_0599.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_0599.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_0599.jpg?resize=1568%2C1176&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_0599.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_0599.jpg?w=2880&amp;ssl=1 2880w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/> <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\">Ben 10 to Accelerator:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">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\u2019t 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\u2019t been done yet given the length of time it\u2019s been since the changeover.<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-159\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_2019.jpg?resize=500%2C375&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_2019.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_2019.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_2019.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_2019.jpg?resize=1568%2C1176&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_2019.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_2019.jpg?w=2880&amp;ssl=1 2880w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/> <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\">Adventure Cove: <\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">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 &amp; exceptionally themed areas it\u2019s grand, especially Adventure Cove. This area is one of them which is instantly uplifting and quite freeing. It\u2019s nice to see the return of the classic Rapids with a brand-new theme &amp; audio which I could yell about for days. It\u2019s radiant and it\u2019s cheerful. The whole area including those rides which haven\u2019t seen a change feels fresher and more current than ever before. It\u2019s just what the area of the park needed.<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9030\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/D4A1D909-86BF-41EC-805F-A074F3923DA5.jpeg?resize=500%2C388&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/D4A1D909-86BF-41EC-805F-A074F3923DA5.jpeg?resize=300%2C233&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/D4A1D909-86BF-41EC-805F-A074F3923DA5.jpeg?resize=768%2C595&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/D4A1D909-86BF-41EC-805F-A074F3923DA5.jpeg?resize=77%2C60&amp;ssl=1 77w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/D4A1D909-86BF-41EC-805F-A074F3923DA5.jpeg?w=828&amp;ssl=1 828w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014-<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">What re-themes do you feel simply just worked? I\u2019d love to hear all about them. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><strong><span class=\"s1\">Thank you for reading &amp; we will catch up again soon\u2026<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8193 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/4C81DF8B-578C-4D16-89C8-F9DE86FFBDFC.png?resize=600%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/4C81DF8B-578C-4D16-89C8-F9DE86FFBDFC.png?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/4C81DF8B-578C-4D16-89C8-F9DE86FFBDFC.png?resize=300%2C100&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/> <\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I feel there\u2019s always a sense of sadness and nervousness when you know a ride will be getting re-themed. It doesn\u2019t matter if you enjoyed the original or not as a change for me at least is a time when you wonder if it\u2019ll be a disappointment. However, that\u2019s not always the case there are some re-theme which simply just made sense &amp; worked. Let\u2019s 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 &amp; the amount of disappointment surrounding it that other people felt. It was always a staple for us. But I never knew the love &amp; admiration I would have for the re-theme this time last year. The Curse at Alton Manor in my opinion is the UK&#8217;s strongest dark ride. You\u2019d 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\u2019s 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\u2019s unavoidable how much it came on with regards to theming more significantly. The entire area is truly fab. It\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u2019t been done yet given the length of time it\u2019s 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 &amp; exceptionally themed areas it\u2019s grand, especially Adventure Cove. This area is one of them which is instantly uplifting and quite freeing. It\u2019s nice to see the return of the classic Rapids with a brand-new theme &amp; audio which I could yell about for days. It\u2019s radiant and it\u2019s cheerful. The whole area including those rides which haven\u2019t seen a change feels fresher and more current than ever before. It\u2019s just what the area of the park needed. \u2014- What re-themes do you feel simply just worked? I\u2019d love to hear all about them. Thank you for reading &amp; we will catch up again soon\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5053,5054],"tags":[39,1050,97,139,4813,4811,4812,398,2210,1540],"class_list":["post-10965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theme-parks","category-themed-attractions","tag-alton-towers","tag-changes","tag-chessington-world-of-adventures","tag-drayton-manor","tag-modernising","tag-ride-re-themes","tag-rollercoaster-rethemes","tag-theme-park","tag-uk-rides","tag-uk-theme-parks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/img_0599.jpg?fit=5152%2C3864&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb4qDv-2QR","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10966,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10965\/revisions\/10966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}