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Pirate Adventure

The Hedgenator said:
I have heard Pirate Adventure had a fire many years ago. How bad was this fire and what was damaged? I presume the fire wasn’t as severe as the one Piraten In Batavia at Europa Park had in 2018.
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Yes the fire happened in 2006 and it took out the final ghost pirates scene. It also took out the audio which is the reason in videos it’s so quiet at the end.
 
Yeah it was the peppers ghost effect, the pirates heads appeared to detach from the body and then spin 360 degrees. The fire was relatively small but damaged the final scene.

In the photo I posted above the scene was where on the final bend, to the left of the number 7.

A few props were removed in the early years too and placed into The Crypt. Specifically a talking severed pirates head. Presumably to make Pirate Adventure more family friendly. This prop can be seen in very early promo videos for the ride.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
It’s good to see as I know pirate cove didn’t come to the area to 1992 but I didn’t know the restaurant outside bit wasn’t there neither.
After the theming was added on the frontage of the crypt and the dodgems they must have decided to remove part of that theming off the right side of the pirate adventure building as if you ever look in the door way at the back of the dodgems the bottom half of the building is un themed.
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Themeparksandy1981 said:
It’s good to see as I know pirate cove didn’t come to the area to 1992 but I didn’t know the restaurant outside bit wasn’t there neither.
After the theming was added on the frontage of the crypt and the dodgems they must have decided to remove part of that theming off the right side of the pirate adventure building as if you ever look in the door way at the back of the dodgems the bottom half of the building is un themed.
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I never really looked closely at those pictures until I zoomed in on it on my phone. You can see the burger restaurant isn’t yet in use and the fidgets haven’t had the theming added like you mentioned. You can also see the ‘posed’ looks by t
Dan_R said:
Yeah it was the peppers ghost effect, the pirates heads appeared to detach from the body and then spin 360 degrees. The fire was relatively small but damaged the final scene.

In the photo I posted above the scene was where on the final bend, to the left of the number 7.

A few props were removed in the early years too and placed into The Crypt. Specifically a talking severed pirates head. Presumably to make Pirate Adventure more family friendly. This prop can be seen in very early promo videos for the ride.
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how did the fire start? I found some DV cam footage from back in 2003, but I didn’t film the whole ride as the low light capability was so poor back then.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
It’s good to see as I know pirate cove didn’t come to the area to 1992 but I didn’t know the restaurant outside bit wasn’t there neither.
After the theming was added on the frontage of the crypt and the dodgems they must have decided to remove part of that theming off the right side of the pirate adventure building as if you ever look in the door way at the back of the dodgems the bottom half of the building is un themed.
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I didn’t really study the pictures that closely until I could zoom in on them on my phone. Those pictures must have been taken before the ride even opened. You can also see the ‘posed’ look on the riders faces!
 
Martin Smith said:
I never really looked closely at those pictures until I zoomed in on it on my phone. You can see the burger restaurant isn’t yet in use and the fidgets haven’t had the theming added like you mentioned. You can also see the ‘posed’ looks by t

how did the fire start? I found some DV cam footage from back in 2003, but I didn’t film the whole ride as the low light capability was so poor back then.
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I believe it was just an electrical fault. It was very minor, lucky, but did some damage.

Footage from 2003 you say? That would have been the second year I had a season pass so I rode the attraction lots that year. I'm lucky to live within walking distance of Drayton Manor, so we used to go up after school and what not in 2003 to see the progress on what would become Excalibur. Those were the days, I would have been what, a year 8 and 9 student in 2003.

Changed my name by the way, I was ACMP. My real name is Dan with the R being a middle name, so changed it to that.
 
Martin Smith said:
I read somewhere in here that there are some construction pictures in the Drayton manor histor book? What are those pictures?
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I believe I have a copy of the book somewhere (or my mom does) I'll see if I can find it to share those unless someone else has a copy to closer hand than me.
 
Dan_R said:
Yeah it was the peppers ghost effect, the pirates heads appeared to detach from the body and then spin 360 degrees. The fire was relatively small but damaged the final scene.

In the photo I posted above the scene was where on the final bend, to the left of the number 7.

A few props were removed in the early years too and placed into The Crypt. Specifically a talking severed pirates head. Presumably to make Pirate Adventure more family friendly. This prop can be seen in very early promo videos for the ride.
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The prates in the pirates in the barrels replaced this? Loved how the fire exit was clearly visible next to them. Same throughout the ride, pirate scene, fire exit door clearly lit up!
 
Martin Smith said:
I read somewhere in here that there are some construction pictures in the Drayton manor histor book? What are those pictures?
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There is one photo. It's got one if the Pawley family in the photo and the Pirate Ship. I can't find the book anymore, brought it for £1 a while ago.

I think that scene was replaced with pirates in a barrel yes.
 
Martin Smith said:
The prates in the pirates in the barrels replaced this? Loved how the fire exit was clearly visible next to them. Same throughout the ride, pirate scene, fire exit door clearly lit up!
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Martin Smith its ironic that there was a fire exit next to the scene that caught fire. Do you know what caused the fire? Am I correct in thinking a factor in the closure of Pirate Adventure was that it failed its last safety inspection regarding fire. I hope The Looping Group can address these H&E concerns and refurbish the ride with modern technology. If Drayton gave Pirate Adventure the treatment Piraten In Batavia at Europa Park got following its fire it could become a 5* Dark Ride. Drayton Manor could do with a premier Dark Ride to compete with Alton Manor at Alton Towers. Alton Manor is easily the best Dark Ride in the U.K. I know it’s off topic but I would say Alton Manor is very similar to Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris.
 
The Hedgenator said:
Martin Smith its ironic that there was a fire exit next to the scene that caught fire. Do you know what caused the fire? Am I correct in thinking a factor in the closure of Pirate Adventure was that it failed its last safety inspection regarding fire. I hope The Looping Group can address these H&E concerns and refurbish the ride with modern technology. If Drayton gave Pirate Adventure the treatment Piraten In Batavia at Europa Park got following its fire it could become a 5* Dark Ride. Drayton Manor could do with a premier Dark Ride to compete with Alton Manor at Alton Towers. Alton Manor is easily the best Dark Ride in the U.K. I know it’s off topic but I would say Alton Manor is very similar to Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris.
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I think it was an electrical fault (But I could be wrong)
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Even back then they were keeping there rides a secret with no info on the walls.
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I thought that. It must have been a pretty big construction project just to keep everyone guessing I was also thinking they must have putvtje scenery in before they finished cladding the sides of the building. There aren’t any big loading doors apart from that sliding shutter around the back. always wondered what was in there!
 
Dan_R said:
I did this 4 or 5 years ago,...pretty much to how it was in the ride. I did this from memory having worked on the ride many years ago. You can see the scene placement. You can see the queue line layout too in a very pale brown, starting by the Burger Kitchen wording on the bottom left of the photo.

Directly before number 1 on the track, the light green bit of straight track. That is the lift hill, I forgot to add it to the key.
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Pirate Adventure had a sister ride called Los Piratas at a park called Bellewaerde, the rides were different, but they did share some props and audio. Los Piratas opened in 1991, it was removed a while ago, but ALOT of the rides shared ALOT of things as they were designed and built by Goldings Attraction Design (now Space Leisure) immediately after one another. The drop height was also identical between the two, about 3.7 meters in height from the top level until the bottom. The angle was shallow though, which made the boat travel less steep, for longer, combined with the dark it made the drop feel much bigger than it was.

I then found the actual track layout for Los Piratas, it is 95% identical to what I put above. I will trawl through old videos and work out if it is, based on looking at the roof beams on videos which can help you work out the direction of the track relative to the building.

There are just minor differences to the track layout between the two, at second part of the ride, in the battle and cave scenes to be specific, the rest of the rides shared an almost identical layout throughout, just totally different scenes. I do not think the rides could share a totally identical layout, due to the shape of the buildings not being able to accommodate the bits at the end, but they are both very, very similar.

For context, where you can see the bridge below in Los Piratas, that turn of the track under the bridge, is exactly where the bar scene would be on Pirate Adventure, with the bridge coming immediately after.
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I'll work on an updated version of the layout, based on information I now have....watch this space. I do have the layout in very basic 3d that I made in Blender. Might see if I can add some more details and basic scene layout to it, just have not had the time to do it recently with work.

Some photos here of Pirate Adventures sister ride. Some more photos here.

Some stats both rides shared though:
Height Difference between the top and bottom pools: 3.7m
Track Length: 250m7
Speed: 0.5 meters per second.
Capacity: 2 million litres of borine treated water.
Propulsion: 30x 1.2kw submerged trough pumps.

Misc: Most animatronics were pneumatically powered from a single large air compressor that ran compressed air pipes throughout the attractions to computer controlled valves to power the movements to the animatronics.
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Thank you for this, interesting to see the layout of what was where. I wonder if there is an actual schematic that shows all the extra bits the visitor never saw, like where all the electronics and Audi rooms where. No doubt there were locker rooms etc.. I only wonder as on you tube there is a video where John wardley goes ‘upstairs’ in the haunted house at Alton towers where there are walkways etc where the staff could keep an eye on people in the ride. The pirate adventure must have had something similar.
 
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