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Excalibur: A Dragon's Tale

Harry

Harry

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Opened in 2003 and closed in 2011. It was a tow boat ride system manufactured by BEAR GmbH that traveled around . The ride suffered many technical issues which later resulted in the unfortunate permanent closure of the ride.

Excalibur was situated next Dodgems across from the Drayton Manor zoo and used a cable pulley system to tow boats around a man made lake which was dug in 1989.
 
I did love the complex and well thought out story Excalibur had, it was a great ride. What could they do with the area now, is it suitable for another similar ride installation?
 
I think it will just be used for the seasonal Christmas event as it’s a big money earner for the park.
I not been to the event yet but most days all the slots have been taken.
The theming on the lake is still in quite a good state.
 
Here's the Excalibur boats seen from the zoo before they were replaced by Splash Canyon boats

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10/04/18
 
They’ll you want, this just shows how they don’t get rid of stuff! Somethings good sometimes bad, really hope they can reuse it one day or use the land for a new attraction! Yes the castle of dreams at Christmas is very popular but surely it could move to another venue to accomadate new year roundattractions!
 
It’s shocking how much stuff Drayton Manor still keep on site. The instructions that was on top of the entertainment building which was removed to build the Ben 10 coaster are still in storage outside by the pirate adventure.
 
Does anyone remember or have any photos of the scene with the wizard on the chair? Did the boats run through this and what is now the shop for magical Christmas?
 
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A true fact during the opening year. The ride had to be closed as the boats kept coming loose from the cable so they added the Cyclone ride In the summer of 2003 to cover for the lost of the Excalibur ride.
 
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Cyclone was already planned before Excalibur opened. I remember getting shown around the construction site of Excalibur from the operations director at the time, Edward Pawley. He mentioned then, that there was a new flat ride coming.
 
Indeed, that would seem a rather short time in terms of planning permission and the like.
I remember there being a lot of issues with Excalibur back in 03, and we all know the issues that it sadly faced right from the get go regarding the lake water/IR beams, and lack of maintenance on the animatronics. I still sorely miss the ride as it was straight out of my childhood. I ended up going nearly every week to try and catch it open and remember there being those sorry closed for maintenance signs ... I believe I did end up going on one of the first days that it finally did open, if my memory serves me well, but it was a bloody while back! I remember it having a huge queue, going back way past the animatronic owl right out to the pathway near the stone sword entrance, which clearly demonstrates that it was marketed well, and had a great family theme. It makes me think it is given a lot of unnecessary hate, or at least hate for the wrong reasons and not the right reasons.

A flawed ride, but still created with immense talent from many disciplines within many creative fields back in the days of Farmer Studios. For a ride of that scale and size, it should of been given much more money, not only to provide more theming elements, but also set aside for maintaining the ride in general.
 
It's great to see that the park have placed some props from Excalibur around the park! These little props help add an atmosphere to the park and are great as a testimony to Excalibur.

An old well from Excalibur outside of Thomas Land, note the Wind Dial with the dragon:

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A wheelbarrow at the main entrance:

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They were the first pieces of the ride to be seen by the public back in 2002. As the area they are situated was open to the public in 2002, so I assume these were laid over a year before the ride opened and before the 2002 season. Quite fitting they are also one of the last remaining pieces now.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
This will be the 1st time I been to Drayton for there Christmas event so I’m looking forward to going into the castle of dreams to see what else is left of the former ride.
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There is a lot of theming still there and even more once you go through to the shop. I’ll try and get some photos this year and post them next to how it was when it was Excalibur.
 
Here's an image of the globe which used to feature on the top of the Excalibur building, we noticed it during a walk through the zoo recently!

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