{"id":7597,"date":"2020-10-13T07:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T07:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/?p=7597"},"modified":"2025-06-12T19:34:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T19:34:23","slug":"drayton-manor-2020-trip-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/?p=7597","title":{"rendered":"Drayton Manor 2020 – Trip Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s something which I did not anticipate I\u2019d sit here & write about this season. Every year we\u2019ve been season passholders until COVID had other ideas. But we\u2019ve managed to squeeze in Drayton Manor last weekend. We\u2019ve been visiting yearly together for just over 5 years and separately for over 16 years! We couldn\u2019t miss the park this year. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unfortunately this is the new norm when talking about any trip to anywhere. Just like pretty much everywhere we\u2019ve visited it\u2019s almost the exact same so temperature checks upon entry, social distancing markers whenever queues may form & missed rows on rides to ensure the 2m rule. Also one way systems in areas like the zoo which worked extremely well. Face mask are required on selected rides & inside spaces. However we found Drayton Manor managed this well with staff dotted around to ensure everyone\u2019s safety. I also assume the opening hours reflected on the current COVID situation.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start off with where we began our day the zoo, of course. It was lovely to see all the familiar cute faces. The one way system worked really well as we expected it too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As always we are a sucker for a lot of the rides at the park. Some of our favourites within the UK. It was just nice to get back on some of our favourites. It\u2019s a shame that Maelstrom felt a tad shorter than usual although it was definitely short enough in the first place. Unfortunately during our visit Shockwave, The Haunting & Train was closed which was sad, of course. It was also nice to have a look at the current area where G Force once sat. In all honesty it felt so much bigger than we had expected. No doubt it\u2019s replacement whenever that may be will be fab anyway.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be honest I forgotten how much I loved & missed their hot chocolates that\u2019s always the best way to start the day. After visiting we\u2019ve definitely come to realise we can\u2019t go another year without passes. It was so lovely to be back it almost felt like we went home. The park is looking beautiful as ever and the staff are incredible\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The way they\u2019ve handled the current COVID rules & restrictions seem to work really well & was potentially the safest we\u2019ve felt at any park we\u2019ve been too so far. The opening hours could be better but with how quiet it was it didn\u2019t impact our day all that much. I\u2019d definitely recommend anyone who can visit to visit as it\u2019s such an underrated park. We can\u2019t wait to return some point during their Magical Christmas event later in the year!<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you for reading as always!x\"\"<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s something which I did not anticipate I\u2019d sit here & write about this season. Every year we\u2019ve been season passholders until COVID had other ideas. But we\u2019ve managed to squeeze in Drayton Manor last weekend. We\u2019ve been visiting yearly together for just over 5 years and separately for over 16 years! We couldn\u2019t miss the park this year. Unfortunately this is the new norm when talking about any trip to anywhere. Just like pretty much everywhere we\u2019ve visited it\u2019s almost the exact same so temperature checks upon entry, social distancing markers whenever queues may form & missed rows on rides to ensure the 2m rule. Also one way systems in areas like the zoo which worked extremely well. Face mask are required on selected rides & inside spaces. However we found Drayton Manor managed this well with staff dotted around to ensure everyone\u2019s safety. I also assume the opening hours reflected on the current COVID situation. Let\u2019s start off with where we began our day the zoo, of course. It was lovely to see all the familiar cute faces. The one way system worked really well as we expected it too. As always we are a sucker for a lot of the rides at the park. Some of our favourites within the UK. It was just nice to get back on some of our favourites. It\u2019s a shame that Maelstrom felt a tad shorter than usual although it was definitely short enough in the first place. Unfortunately during our visit Shockwave, The Haunting & Train was closed which was sad, of course. It was also nice to have a look at the current area where G Force once sat. In all honesty it felt so much bigger than we had expected. No doubt it\u2019s replacement whenever that may be will be fab anyway. I\u2019ll be honest I forgotten how much I loved & missed their hot chocolates that\u2019s always the best way to start the day. After visiting we\u2019ve definitely come to realise we can\u2019t go another year without passes. It was so lovely to be back it almost felt like we went home. The park is looking beautiful as ever and the staff are incredible The way they\u2019ve handled the current COVID rules & restrictions seem to work really well & was potentially the safest we\u2019ve felt at any park we\u2019ve been too so far. The opening hours could be better but with how quiet it was it didn\u2019t impact our day all that much. I\u2019d definitely recommend anyone who can visit to visit as it\u2019s such an underrated park. We can\u2019t wait to return some point during their Magical Christmas event later in the year! Thank you for reading as always!x<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5053,5054],"tags":[1507,1787,2118,2302,2280,2477,2578,119,744,139,1508,692,2392,833,388,746,1286,2579,448,2032,471,747],"class_list":["post-7597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theme-parks","category-themed-attractions","tag-70-years-of-drayton-manor","tag-adventures","tag-british","tag-british-blogger","tag-couple","tag-covid","tag-covid-safe","tag-days-out-in-west-midlands","tag-dmp","tag-drayton-manor","tag-drayton-manor-70","tag-drayton-manor-park","tag-family-friendly","tag-rides","tag-tamworth","tag-tamworth-theme-park","tag-travel","tag-uk-bloggers","tag-uk-theme-park","tag-uk-theme-park-blogger","tag-west-midlands","tag-west-midlands-days-out"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/399B3192-CC46-4A8D-AB10-B1635C922C57-scaled.jpeg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb4qDv-1Yx","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7597","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=7597"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7637,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7597\/revisions\/7637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}