Copyright thescarboroughnews
For a lover of rollercoasters, my exploration of the UK’s top theme parks is pretty poor. One of the parks that I’ve not yet had the pleasure of visiting is Staffordshire’s Drayton Manor so when they invited me to the launch of their brand new End of Day Show Spectacular I jumped at the chance. Friday night was the start of the Monsters and Magic event for Halloween, the first to have an end of show, but it does run until November 2 if you want to experience it for yourself. As I live a fair while away from Drayton Manor, I secured some park tickets for the day of the display’s premiere too. Due to horrendous delays on the M6, we didn’t enter until 1pm but we still managed to enjoy more rides than I thought before we left at 3:30pm for our Drayton Manor Hotel check in. The park was more compact than I imagined - I had Alton Towers in my head as a point of comparison. That’s not to say it was too small, there was still a great variety of rides and the park was therefore just much more manageable. Sometimes you feel like you spend half your time at Alton Towers walking around so Drayton Park is especially easier if you have kids- which the park does seem more geared towards. That’s not to mean there’s not enough for thrill seekers- Maelstrom was super unique and proper twisted your stomach whilst Wave was the most thrilling and two other rides delightfully went backwards. As fun as the day time was, going back to the park for the evening was better- I’ve never done that before and it felt really naughty. At night, two Halloween rides opened: the first was a treat or trick experience around the Monster Castle. The set up of the house and the activities put on by the dressed up staff members was just perfect for Halloween- we could appreciate it was a dream ride for children, even if we felt a bit out of place amongst the six year olds! We certainly weren’t too old for the Haunted Express though- this ride around the park in the dark was scarier than I thought and I really enjoyed it. At 8pm, the End of Show Day Spectacular then began on the lake and it was honestly one of the most visually unique spectacles I had ever seen. Over the fifteen minutes, the lake was transformed into a sea of colour: water jets, lit up in a variety of colours, danced to Halloween themed music, jets of flames burst into the sky and spooky animations were projected into the air, creating an all sensory experience that was just too brilliant for my phone camera to do it justice. After the delights of the evening, our stay at the hotel that night was then bliss- our room was huge, the bed was comfy and the hotel was nice and quiet. The next morning we were treated to a free tasty breakfast- as all guests at the hotel are. Luckily I was also able to spend the next day at the park too. I went on all the thrill rides again, some of the calmer ones I missed out on the day before, and finally braved the water ride Stormforce 10 - I have never got so wet before on a ride so that was some experience! I also enjoyed a peaceful hour at the Drayton Manor Zoo which was a surprising highlight of my trip. Overall, I had a wonderful stay at Drayton Manor, with the pièce de résistance of course being that new End of Day Show Spectacular which was just so high tech, it felt like I was in Disneyland. The important difference between Drayton Manor and Disneyland however was that I wasn’t huddled up with thousands of people around that lake, straining to get a glimpse of the display. Instead the whole time I was at Drayton Manor, it was never overcrowded- it felt so relaxing and easygoing- a much safer option for families. If you do have kids, I promise you they will have the best time at Drayton Manor during its Monsters & Magic event but hey if not, me and my partner still had a fabulous time because if there’s a time of year to most be a big kid, it’s Halloween! At a theme park like Drayton Manor however, childlike fun isn’t just reserved for Halloween, it’s an all year around mission so I was pleased to hear that the End of Day Show Spectacular is set to return when the next season presents itself- I might just have to go back to see what Christmas delights they have in store.
