What's New

Buccaneer Burger Restaurant

Harry

Harry

Member
Located where the Burger Kitchen is, the Buccaneer Burger Restaurant was located across from Jolly Buccaneer and Pirate Adventure, being an indoor eating establishment with a second floor for patrons to relax and eat. The restaurant closed it's doors in 2008 as it undergone a refurbishment which both its kitchen and dining areas were done to now hold seats for 400 people. The refurbishment cost around £200,000, and at the same time the brand new £250,000 Chicken Diner and Coffee Shop were also being done and ready for the start of the 2009 season.

While the restaurant has been refurbished, the second floor is still there and can be easily seen as the large windows are still there.

DSC_0240.JPG
 
I miss the ship too, it's the sort of theming piece that unites a whole area by tying it all together with large props and cohesive buildings. Something like this would be welcomed, and I imagine it would be a very popular establishment! I can't remember, was the old Bucaneer Burger Bar two floors?
 
Anth0ny said:
I miss the ship too, it's the sort of theming piece that unites a whole area by tying it all together with large props and cohesive buildings. Something like this would be welcomed, and I imagine it would be a very popular establishment! I can't remember, was the old Bucaneer Burger Bar two floors?
Click to expand...
Yes pretty much as it is now but with the ship on the front. If you go upstairs in the current burger kitchen it has exactly the same seating it did back then and some of the ship theming still exists.
 
Years ago there use to be a play assault course upstairs in the restaurant. I never went in there as my parents always took sandwich’s to eat at the park but for a few seasons you could see it from the pirate adventure queue line at the top of the ramp on the left hand side. After a few seasons into was boxed In and a door put in the middle and they put props and things to buy in the shop in there.
It’s listed on the 1995 park map
4C19C823-2B95-427C-810D-8455E2191799.jpeg
 
Yeah, the Pirate burger stand has been around for a while and has changed a lot. Pirate Cove as an area launched in 1992, to celebrate the second anniversary of Pirate Adventure's opening; It involved the installation of the Burger Restaurant with the play area, and the Jolly Buccaneer ride, and the envelopment of the Pirate Adventure castle building over the dodgems and Crypt.

I think that the intention was to test the waters in Pirate Avdenture's early years to see if it made a success that could be capitalized on. When it was a success, they had the green light to use up the rest of the space.
 
Kam said:
Yeah, the Pirate burger stand has been around for a while and has changed a lot. Pirate Cove as an area launched in 1992, to celebrate the second anniversary of Pirate Adventure's opening; It involved the installation of the Burger Restaurant with the play area, and the Jolly Buccaneer ride, and the envelopment of the Pirate Adventure castle building over the dodgems and Crypt.

I think that the intention was to test the waters in Pirate Avdenture's early years to see if it made a success that could be capitalized on. When it was a success, they had the green light to use up the rest of the space.
Click to expand...

I would argue that it was always planned. It is quite obvious that building one of the biggest dark rides in the country and one of Draytons biggest investments at the time was not testing the waters.
 
Damg said:
I would argue that it was always planned. It is quite obvious that building one of the biggest dark rides in the country and one of Draytons biggest investments at the time was not testing the waters.
Click to expand...
I would respond to that by saying every business decision requires a testing of waters. Why did they wait 2 years before adding them if not to see how well Pirate Adventure performed! (And 5 years before adding the parrots and queue line animatronic) .
Had Pirate Adventure brought in decent but not substantial numbers, I would argue that further investment on the pirate area would not necessarily have been beneficial from an opportunity cost standpoint (would of been better spent on the wider park). That is the theory I have, although it is admittedly a theory.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Dan
Why did they wait 2 years before adding them? Thats quite a simple answer I am surprised you did not get.

Money.

The park, which at the time was on a much much lesser level than what it is now, had just built the UKs biggest dark ride and a dark ride that rivals the likes of what Tussuads were doing in terms of quality. The park would have had to be 210% certain that Pirate Adventure would bring in substantial numbers before they could even break ground on that.

You don't test the waters by making an extremely big investment. You just dont. They knew before hand it was going to pay off. The restaurant just represented phase 2. Which was relatively minor compared to what they built first.

Testing the waters like you claim would involve building a tiny themed pirate ride and a restaurant first. Relatively low cost so low risk. Had that proved a success you pull out the big guns and make the large investment. Thats how business works.

Drayton didnt. They built pirates first which proves they had already done their due diligence and knew it would be a success and most certainly was not testing the waters. Not to mention, no bank in their right mind would allow a park to test the waters with their money. They had to know it would pay off before building.
 
I think it was down to the park going from a amusement park to a theme park from 1990 to 2000 like it was the parks best years for investment.
1990 Pirate Adventure
1991 The ghost train and the bumper cars rethemed to suit the area
1992 Jolly Buccaneer
1993 Splash Canyon
1994 Shockwave
1995 Klondike gold mine
1996 The haunting
1997 Jungle Cruise retheme
1998 7 new rides rethemed children’s corner
1999 Stormforce 10
2000 Golden nuggets, Apocalypse and the Popeye show

So the extra income the park earned went on theming and extras on rides
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top