Drayton Manor Park
Reviewed by Natasha Kolb
I must admit… waking up to heavy snowfall and -2 degrees did not prompt me to be enthusiastic about our visit to Drayton Manor, but as it turned out, we are so glad that we persisted and went! As the morning progressed, the weather warmed up slightly and the snow turned to light rain.Turning up at Drayton Manor, we were pleased to get a car parking space right near the entrance. We arrived at 10:30, the time when the rides open, the park opens at 9:30. There was a car parking fee which is minimal at £3 but a shame to have to pay out for on top of ticket prices.
The staff were very efficient and quick to process visitors through the entrance. However, due to the weather, there weren’t many guests and no queues. There didn’t seem to be any toilets (that we could see) outside of the park so bear this in mind before arriving if travelling a distance with children and if likely to need to queue for entrance.
The park was very quiet and it was lovely to walk around deciding what to go on first. The main benefit to going in miserable weather was the complete lack of queues which meant we could all hop on exactly which ride we fancied! Throughout the entire day, we didn’t see one bit of litter and were very impressed at the general cleanliness of the park. There were plenty of toilets dotted around which were easy to find and had ramp access, these too were kept clean.
We started on the rides in the main park and used a trip on the big wheel to explore everywhere else. Our 6 year old daughter loved the wheel so much that we had to go on it twice! We headed towards Thomas Land and I was surprised to see even our 8 year old jumping up and down with excitement! We last visited Thomas Land nearly 3 years ago, but despite them now being older, our children were still desperate to try out each ride. Thomas land boasts a great range of beautifully designed Thomas themed rides, many of them suitable for very young children with the option of parents accompanying them. There are also rides perfect for slightly older children, our particular favourites were Cranky the Crane Drop Tower and the Troublesome Trucks Coaster, and these were just the right amount of scary for our little girl!
The highlight of Thomas Land for our children was meeting the Fat Controller and a couple of his friends; they were very friendly and offered to pose for photographs with them! We left Thomas Land from Knapford station and travelled by train on Thomas himself to another part of the park. This part of the park contains Terence’s Driving school which has been moved from Thomas Land and is well worth a visit to as the children can drive and steer motorised Terence’s themselves! For the model enthusiast amongst you, be sure to visit the Discover Thomas and Friends Exhibition, this is a scale layout running different Thomas the Tank Engine trains each day.
We walked onto the Dino trail which would delight children of a younger age; this consists of large model dinosaurswith factual signs explaining which dinosaurs they all are.
Drayton Manor also has a zoo with a small but impressive collection of animals including chimpanzees, gibbons and tigers amongst other animals. The zoo also boasts a wonderful collection of rather talkative birds, one of which even followed us down it’s enclosure greeting us with ‘hello’ and repeatedly squawking ‘bye bye’ at us as we walked away! We all thought this was absolutely fantastic!
Given the weather, we chose not to take a picnic as we would usually do but noted that there were plenty of outdoor areas and picnic benches to eat at. We opted for the first eatery we came across, simply named ‘Burger Bar’, which is situated just outside of Thomas Land. It offers the usual fast food type meals at prices you would expect to pay within a park. However we got a family meal deal which fully fed us all for £22 so it wasn’t extortionate. I have to say that the food wasn’t fantastic and the service was quite slow although we did eat early in the day and as we left, we noticed people were getting food quicker.
First on the list of bigger rides for us to try was this year’s new ride, ‘Ben 10 Ultimate Mission’ which also included a Ben 10 merchandise shop. Any Ben 10 fans will be delighted just to see this attraction, a roller coaster in Ben 10’s trademark green and bedecked with the logo. The roller coaster itself has obviously been designed with its target fan group in mind as it looked exciting and fast but didn’t actually throw you upside down! My husband took our son, Ethan, on as our daughter couldn’t be persuaded, however there were many children as young as 5 or 6 happily riding it! According to Ethan, the entrance to the ride was nearly as good as the coaster itself. The walk through to the ride, contained loads of Ben 10 themed paintings and computer screens and was obviously designed to keep young children amused whilst queuing (well done Drayton Manor)! We didn’t need to queue on this day and got straight onto the ride at which point Ethan proclaimed he felt sick!!! However the nerves didn’t get the better of him and he absolutely adored the roller coaster and felt extremely proud of himself for trying it out.
There is also a good selection of bigger roller coasters complete with the scary upside down bits to entertain the more daring visitors, or a lovely paddle boat for those that wish to take it a little slower!
Our last rides of the day were the two water rides, Storm Force 10 and Splash Canyon. We left them until last so that we didn’t have to walk around the park wet but there were full body driers which could be used for £2 which a family of 4 could easily fit into! These rides were fantastic and the kids (as well as Mummy) loved them!
Our day out, even in the awful weather, was a day to remember! Yes the sun would have made it better but would have also meant that the queues were much longer so don’t be afraid to visit on a bad weather day. However, in particularly bad or cold weather, check with the park prior to arrival as to which rides are open as some do close in adverse weather conditions.
Value for money, on the gate prices in my opinion aren’t great but deals can be found online and point reward schemes can be used at this attraction at the moment. Our overall rating would have to be 4 out of 5 just because of the cost to get in.
Rating: 4/5
Book tickets for Drayton Manor online for great discounts here.
