Yesterday morning they put a post on social media stating a 9.30pm start
2025: General Discussion
- Thread starter Elise
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Elise
Administrator
they rescheduled to 9.30 - I believe that was based on feedback so theyd be visible as the previous were all complaints about being too light.
Was advertised on all boards in park
That would make sense. Who really wants to watch fireworks in the light. Shame it’s taken them over 2 years to decide this.
Really hope they do really big end of the season display on the 31st and 1st November.
Really hope they do really big end of the season display on the 31st and 1st November.
Well was dark the first night of the fireworks and was dark last years to just Time of year
Well I have hummed and harred on whether or not to post this but i thought it should be known, im not normally negative about the park but after what i experieced it was something else.
I visited the park on Tuesday for the first time in 6 YEARS!! so it was my first time visiting since looping took over at the park and to say i was left disapointed and underwhelmed is an understatement.
I got to the park at around 10 am which was all fine and it wasnt too busy ready for the attractions to open at 10:30 but what i wasnt expecting was all of the stagered openings on a lot of things such as the haunting, sherriff showdown and blasting barrels as well as the rapids which was to be expected, however i went to the wave first thing to give it a try as it will have been my first time experiencing it, was told it would open late and i was fine with that, so i went up to gold rush.
At gold rush there was about a 30 minute queue and the operations were so unbelivably slow i joined the queue at 10:50 and didnt get on to the station until around 11:40, so after that i decided to have a little nosey around the park to see what has changed since 2019 and by this time everything was open. I joined the queue for the haunting then we were all told it had a temporary delay so i thought i would come back later and try something else then i joined the queue for accelerator then that had a small delay as that had gone down and it closed for about an hour.
I had a go on Sherrifs showdown however the screen wasnt working and neither was one of the guns, i then tried the haunting again as i wanted to try it out to get a real hit of nostalgia from the old video in the begining in the trailer. I joined the queue at 1250 and didn't get in the building till about 1340 i know that these attractions have technical issues but you would have thought this would get sorted out with it having a late opening.
So then i eventually cavedfor the other attractions and made the massive mistake of buying a fast pass so i got my fast pass and used it on some of the rides, however it had ZERO benefit what so ever, i know that the fast pass queues are integrated with the ride access passes but i thought the whole thing could be managed better and it would have been worth it just to wait in the normal queue line.
By this point majority of attractions had a estimated queue time of 45ish minutes so i thought i would just have a look at some things down in adventure cove, i got on the rapids straight away and to be fair it was ok but everything is starting to look tired in that area and its only been open for what 4 years this year? I then managed to get on the wave which was a 20 minute wait with the fast pass, they werent loading a whole row and some seats so it made this queue time even longer and more frustrating.
The food prices are quite expensive now aswell £10.50 for chicken strips in chicken diner!
I honestly dont know what i was expecting for the summer holidays but i had such a great day at another well know UK theme park for the same price and i got more done!
I explained to guest services about what the day had been like and i was offered a free food or drink voucher and it was explained that i couldnt carry the platinum fast pass over to another day unless it was the same week that i came back which is no good for me because i live in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne! I said that the park seems to have gone slightly backwards compared to what it was like previously and the lady said "oh we have new owners so its all different now" i explained to her that that wasnt an excuse for the slow operations and the extortionate pricing. Aswell as this Loki and the Bounty were closed making queues even longer.
Will be a while before i go back i think, i had such happy memories at the park when i was younger and it has lost its sparkle with me i am afraid.
EDIT- I was also sat in the car park for just under an hour trying to get out of the park
I visited the park on Tuesday for the first time in 6 YEARS!! so it was my first time visiting since looping took over at the park and to say i was left disapointed and underwhelmed is an understatement.
I got to the park at around 10 am which was all fine and it wasnt too busy ready for the attractions to open at 10:30 but what i wasnt expecting was all of the stagered openings on a lot of things such as the haunting, sherriff showdown and blasting barrels as well as the rapids which was to be expected, however i went to the wave first thing to give it a try as it will have been my first time experiencing it, was told it would open late and i was fine with that, so i went up to gold rush.
At gold rush there was about a 30 minute queue and the operations were so unbelivably slow i joined the queue at 10:50 and didnt get on to the station until around 11:40, so after that i decided to have a little nosey around the park to see what has changed since 2019 and by this time everything was open. I joined the queue for the haunting then we were all told it had a temporary delay so i thought i would come back later and try something else then i joined the queue for accelerator then that had a small delay as that had gone down and it closed for about an hour.
I had a go on Sherrifs showdown however the screen wasnt working and neither was one of the guns, i then tried the haunting again as i wanted to try it out to get a real hit of nostalgia from the old video in the begining in the trailer. I joined the queue at 1250 and didn't get in the building till about 1340 i know that these attractions have technical issues but you would have thought this would get sorted out with it having a late opening.
So then i eventually cavedfor the other attractions and made the massive mistake of buying a fast pass so i got my fast pass and used it on some of the rides, however it had ZERO benefit what so ever, i know that the fast pass queues are integrated with the ride access passes but i thought the whole thing could be managed better and it would have been worth it just to wait in the normal queue line.
By this point majority of attractions had a estimated queue time of 45ish minutes so i thought i would just have a look at some things down in adventure cove, i got on the rapids straight away and to be fair it was ok but everything is starting to look tired in that area and its only been open for what 4 years this year? I then managed to get on the wave which was a 20 minute wait with the fast pass, they werent loading a whole row and some seats so it made this queue time even longer and more frustrating.
The food prices are quite expensive now aswell £10.50 for chicken strips in chicken diner!
I honestly dont know what i was expecting for the summer holidays but i had such a great day at another well know UK theme park for the same price and i got more done!
I explained to guest services about what the day had been like and i was offered a free food or drink voucher and it was explained that i couldnt carry the platinum fast pass over to another day unless it was the same week that i came back which is no good for me because i live in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne! I said that the park seems to have gone slightly backwards compared to what it was like previously and the lady said "oh we have new owners so its all different now" i explained to her that that wasnt an excuse for the slow operations and the extortionate pricing. Aswell as this Loki and the Bounty were closed making queues even longer.
Will be a while before i go back i think, i had such happy memories at the park when i was younger and it has lost its sparkle with me i am afraid.
EDIT- I was also sat in the car park for just under an hour trying to get out of the park
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Totally agree with that.
I also have to agree we not been as much as we use to.
Think the amount of guests they allow into the park they not got enough high capacity rides to cater when it is busy.
Think the amount of guests they allow into the park they not got enough high capacity rides to cater when it is busy.
Today has been awful! Managed three rides since 11:30 and Loki, Accelerator and Sub Splash have been shut all day and Jorgumundud (or whatever it’s called!) and Stormforce have been on and off all day. Fast track has been ridiculous aswell, on Thor they let on so many there were six people from the main queue on one cycle! This was the same on Captain and Dodgems, the only other rides we have managed. In the queue for Gold Rush currently, running one train and only doing cycle 1 for some reason. Queue times are all inaccurate, it said Stormforce was 15, was nearly at the entrance. Really disappointing so far, normally love it here. And with an impatient seven year old it has been really poor. Hopefully tomorrow will be better…
Ah, is a bit unfair on the main queue though…
I seriously dont know what is going on at the park at the minute, i know it is the school holidays however they used to managed everything like that so much better in the past when the park was busy. It is a real shame that so many people have been having a similar experience to what i had last week
Ticket price Drayton is the best in the world with a Gold annual pass renewal pass been £89.10 but there ride thou put and ride available is been awful this year.
They are clever with prices. I have noticed that the add on are increasing, now with no discounts for passholders and the food and drink prices are increasing across the board. It is clever pricing strategy as they know passholders will spend money in the park through the year and it would be quiet if they didn't have passholders. If they are going to fill the park, they need more high through put rides with two trains where possible (The Wave and Goldrush) and the next coaster or ride with high throughput. They really need something like pirate adventure now. Hopefully things will improve for 2026, they clearly have staff shortages given the recent recruitment drive
More bins been installed around the park
A young girl died there just a few days ago, a few days after looping took ownership. I had a nose at the accounts, it makes a lot of money so suspect Looping want to expand in the UK. Whilst some are scaling back, are Looping looking to capitalise if it is within their fit
Elise
Administrator
They've got a lot of work ahead of them to restore public faith after that regardless
New thread available for Waterworld - https://www.draytontalk.co.uk/threads/water-world-looping-group.558/#post-18348
Please direct comments there
New thread available for Waterworld - https://www.draytontalk.co.uk/threads/water-world-looping-group.558/#post-18348
Please direct comments there