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2024 Event: British Bank Holiday

Definitely one of the more random events… reminds me of the Coronation one from last year (which I’m guessing this is meant to be similar to) so we might see some bits of theming reused.
 
Will be fun - May be too light out for fireworks at the time they do them again but it'll be fun all the same.

Me and Sam are booked in for this
 
The fireworks were a good idea, but if it is not truly dark then it is a disappointment. I think they should save the cash and use it for a bigger end of season display like we used to have.
 
That must have been the worst event I ever seen at Drayton Manor.
Glad it was a warm day yesterday as that made the day and most people looked they were having fun except in the wave queue line but after how well the coronation event was put together this looked like it was all planned the night before.
The singer was ok but didn’t really get the crowds going or people watching when last year we saw an Elton John Tribute act which looked and sounded excellent with his piano.
Then the end of the night the fireworks with the DJ booth having technical problems not sure if he just picked a popular track in the end and the fireworks while they looked good they just looked rushed and they must have only lasted just over 5 minutes. Everyone just looked is that it. Then the DJ said thank you and come again for the next event at the end of May and powered the music down. All the shops/food retails closed bang on 9pm so everyone had no option but to head for the cars. As both car parks were open for a while no one was moving to staff stopped the traffic to let cars leave both car parks. Also none of the car parks were lit up with everyone honking there horns (I bet the neighbours loved that) and it was just gone 10pm by the time I got off the car park lucky I only live 25 mins away.
 
Can’t comment on the full day but:

We arrived at 4pm (myself, wife, 4 YO daughter)

Queues were pretty good considering how busy the park seemed.

Other half went to queue for the Wave and we lost her for almost 2 hours

After we did Sherriff’s showdown and the Haunting, and then my turn for The Wave. I got into the queue just before they closed the queue off. As I’ve said in the other thread - ride is ace, 10/10. But it’s a non starter on any peak day , and certainly not family friendly in such a crowded indoor environment for so long.

Despite this , daughter was happy - she got onto 11 rides between 4 and 7 which was a good return for her. Although we skipped accelerator which is her favourite as it was pretty much 60-70 mins .

DJ was decent. Daughter loved dancing between 8-9. Fireworks average but again she loved them so that’s all that matters.

Leaving the park… Jesus… we were on the grass by Vikings and we expected to be stuck for ages so didn’t rush. Daughter fell asleep so we stayed parked with engine off until the madness ended.

In 45 mins we witnessed everything that’s wrong with the human race.
From the expected bumper to bumper letting no one filter in.. we also saw:
1x fight between two drivers come to physical blows on the ground
1x lady get out of her car and smash a window with her shoe
2x cars deliberately drive into the side of other cars for not letting them out.
Pure madness
 
Have to agree with the above again

Fireworks looked like something went wrong - They started at 2 on the countdown, music sync was lost and it felt poor compared to last year

Dissapointed the food and drink outlets shut so quickly. I really wanted a drink on leaving but didn't get the opportunity

The carpark was a real nightmare -_- we were stuck til around 10pm ourselves.... (That drink would have been ideal..)

Our full day can be found in vlog form-
 
Stevie said:
Can’t comment on the full day but:

We arrived at 4pm (myself, wife, 4 YO daughter)

Queues were pretty good considering how busy the park seemed.

Other half went to queue for the Wave and we lost her for almost 2 hours

After we did Sherriff’s showdown and the Haunting, and then my turn for The Wave. I got into the queue just before they closed the queue off. As I’ve said in the other thread - ride is ace, 10/10. But it’s a non starter on any peak day , and certainly not family friendly in such a crowded indoor environment for so long.

Despite this , daughter was happy - she got onto 11 rides between 4 and 7 which was a good return for her. Although we skipped accelerator which is her favourite as it was pretty much 60-70 mins .

DJ was decent. Daughter loved dancing between 8-9. Fireworks average but again she loved them so that’s all that matters.

Leaving the park… Jesus… we were on the grass by Vikings and we expected to be stuck for ages so didn’t rush. Daughter fell asleep so we stayed parked with engine off until the madness ended.

In 45 mins we witnessed everything that’s wrong with the human race.
From the expected bumper to bumper letting no one filter in.. we also saw:
1x fight between two drivers come to physical blows on the ground
1x lady get out of her car and smash a window with her shoe
2x cars deliberately drive into the side of other cars for not letting them out.
Pure madness
Click to expand...
Was there any security?
 
Ollie said:
Was there any security?
Click to expand...
Nothing we saw anyway. Was seemingly free for all and the field had no lighting at all. Park really needs a managed exit strategy.

Having some street-food and entertainment afterwards in Vikings would’ve been a big help as those who wanna stay could’ve for a while instead of everyone turfing out together
 
Saw some security walking around in the day (unfortunately I heard they had to be called out a few times...)
At the car park? Absolutely nothing.

Maybe fireworks then having stuff open for 30-60 minutes after would have worked.
 
I know years ago on fireworks events or any late busy days, they used to have half the people exiting the main entrance way and then the other half was directed through the zoo to exit further into town to help ease congestion.
 
Charliie said:
I know years ago on fireworks events or any late busy days, they used to have half the people exiting the main entrance way and then the other half was directed through the zoo to exit further into town to help ease congestion.
Click to expand...
Half went to main carpark and half to by Vikings. Wasn’t enough. As I said can’t speak for the main parking but Vikings field was … yeah..
 
Charliie said:
I know years ago on fireworks events or any late busy days, they used to have half the people exiting the main entrance way and then the other half was directed through the zoo to exit further into town to help ease congestion.
Click to expand...
That was before they installed the barriers as back in the Wristband days they had pay booths at the entrance which included parking and the zoo then you had the option to buy wristbands or tickets.
 
We turned up after lunch, although we don't tend to visit the park on set event days preferring the quieter ability to get more rides in and not have to deal with the queues. The little lad does love night riding and fireworks so we made the trip/

We went straight to the Wave. My thinking is that it may be offline later in the day.

However we slightly overestimated potential to avoid fatigue and we went home jsut before 8. Reading the above I'm really glad I did.
 
Exiting the park on Sunday was an absolute :poop:show.

It took us the best part of an hour to get out, eventually it appeared they just set the barriers to open as soon as a car approached, but I'll seriously consider leaving early next event like this, not worth it for some garbled sound and 6 minutes of fireworks.
 
I also feel like these events need more security... Or the consideration of putting ride ops together with someone else, especially near the end of the day.
I really felt bad for the ride op on Wave Swinger. People kept skipping past the chair saying the ride had closed and then some guys somehow got in with their child via the exit and she looked so defeated. They were really not the nicest guys at all. Felt unfair for her.
I know that isn't the only case of rude/unkind members of the public on the day either :(

The ride ops & park staff (and guests of course) shouldn't have to face this kind of stuff, especially not by themselves...


And from what we heard above, definitely needed security on the exit car parks!
 
I agree with the above. We saw a few less then nice instances where guests were rude or confrontational to the (usually) young ride Op staff. Just no need
 
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