Drayton Manor Theme Park - UK

GPS: 52.60859N 1.71469W

After feeling stuck in the rain for 2-days stuck in Birmingham, we needed a fun outing. Browsing the tourist stuff, I found Drayton Manor Theme Park, just outside of Birmingham. Best of all, they allow camping - even have an offical campsite for just £11 per night. As we are so big, we were placed in the coach parking lot so we wouldn't sink in the grass.

We arrived just after 2:30 and as there was no 1/2 day price or 2nd day discount for us (they discount camper's tickets by about £8 each and thus, don't offer a compelling 2nd day pass), we decided to just hang out for the afternoon and spend Friday in the park. Let's just say if you aren't playing in the amusement park, there's nothing else to do.

Drayton Manor Theme Park - entrance as seen from inside the RV.

I took the kids out for a walk - we found a cute little forest path that runs along the river. A little spooky with the high humidity and a bit of fog rising off the river. We were in the middle of a small forest when a massive downpour started. By the time we walked back around the outskirts of the park, we were thoroughly drenched! There was at least a half inch of water running down the hill as we were walking up it. Not the best way to discover that only Megan's jacket is waterproof.

Around 10pm, we noticed a really big rig pulling in. I said to Dan, "Do you think that could be Robert and Diane?"

"Well, is there a jeep behind it?" Dan asked.

Sure enough, at just that moment, a jeep pulled in as well. Suddenly, we were meeting up with fellow Americans who are travelling Europe in a 45' rig. We met on RV.Net, just prior to our leaving the States and have been trying to meet in person ever since. We had been in email and phone correspondance with Robert and Diane, but they totally surprised us by showing up at Drayton Manor. It was great to meet the people we've been sharing information with for the past year and see the difference that an additional 10' make!

American RV's dominating the coach parking lot (there was a small German-made motorhome between us, poor guy!)

On to the themepark review...

My recommendation to this park is to differentiate from Disney. Go back to being the family fun park. I know you all will say that we've been spoiled with Disney Anaheim and Disney Paris. In all honesty, the rides where Drayton Manor didn't try to imitate Disney were fine. The Disney clones were awful. The "Pirates" ride was a cheap rip off of "Pirates of the Caribbean" - soft music, animatronic characters that were falling apart, and just plain no energy (we won't talk about the grime and dirt). It would be nice if the amusement games were free - we would be happy to give up the prizes just to let the kids play games without doling out an additional £1+ per attempt).

I was able to coerce Megan with a "Quadruple Dog Dare" and a promise of ice cream to go on the "Apocolypse" with me. This is the grown up version of "Cranky the Crane" (see below) where they take up up high and it feels like a free fall. It was more fun that she thought, though for the wait, they should have raised and dropped a few more times.

On the flip side, the new area, Thomas the Tank Engine as fun - the kids loved it and the rides were just right for them. Sophia went on the Cranky the Crane drop (mini version of the full scale Apocolypse) and giggled uncontrollably the whole time. She didn't want to leave!

Photo opp with Thomas!

Cranky the Crane ride

Cranky the Crane - going up!

The park runs on a much smaller scale than other big theme parks with no hurrying to load rides, so waits can be quite long for short experiences. Gates opened at 9:30 am but rides didn't operate until 10:30 or after (annoying mostly in that there was no signage to let you know - so we spent 45-minutes wandering around, wondering why there were no rides running). Gates closed at 5:00 pm, but then in the middle of the day, signs were updated that rides would operate until 6:30 - so I guess some days, the park closes at 7:00 pm.


Dan & Megan on Drayton Manor's version of "Splash Mountain"

We didn't use it, but apparently this "human drier" can fit up to 4!

There was a zoo on premises, which was fun for the kids. Sadly, many of the cages were quite small and smelled badly (most notably the monkeys and reptiles). I think it's a shame to see tigers in enclosures where they can be taunted by and chased by the kids outside the pen, (Yes, it's true. The cage was a double chain link fence, leading into the glass walled enclosure. As we were walking out, a group of kids were chasing the tigers back and forth, yelling and waving their arms...)

Best bet for downtime was the huge playground in the middle of the zoo area. Filled with tons of kids, it has plenty of activities to keep the multitude of ages busy. We loved the sand play area, complete with chutes, buckets and a conveyer belt to move sand around.

Huge playground with sand feature.

All in all, we had a good day and the kids were quite simply exhausted by the end. The weather was fantastic - warm and the rain held itself in check. A round of Chinese food from up the road (thanks to Robert and Diane having the jeep on premises) and we were ready to call it an adventure and head out the next day.

Ciao!