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Pirate Adventure
- Thread starter Harry
- Start date
Harry
Member
If they do make a Thomas Land expansion within the Pirate Adventure building. Many of the ride will benefit as they struggle with the outdoor temperatures and they're better functioning indoors. It'll have a bit of an Adventure Island or Fantasy Island vibe if they go along with this approach.
My feelings about Pirate Adventure are likely already known, but I do want to see it make a return.
I will be sharing some exclusive photos I have of Pirate Adventure from the day it opened. Stay tuned and I'll announce them soon.
- I feel it could be successful - most investment in the UK Theme Park Industry nowadays is mainly on Rollercoasters like Wickerman and Icon, but I feel the UK public would return to the park if they invested in something different - and Pirate Adventure is different.
- It's a perfect fit for the park - it would appeal to children who are at the upper bound of Thomas Land age, whilst it is still also appealing for the teen and adult markets, so a perfect fit for Drayton Manor - and no coaster can do that!
- It maintains the themed areas - it fits in so perfectly with the surrounding areas of Pirate Cove and Fishermans Wharf, themed areas is something Drayton Manor lacks on, and they should maintain the two strongest themed areas by keeping Pirate Adventure
- The ride system - the system was expensive, DMP would never purchase something on that scale again, the ride was also insanely reliable (until the 2013) and thus I don't think there would be a constant maintenance expenditure. Also, there was a great throughput provided by the ride
- The building / location, I don't see them taking down the building any time soon considering that there are two Thomas Rides inside of this, as well as the dodgems, the main maintenance area and staff facilities meaning taking that down would cost lots of money and would likely be very inconvenient. Also, the fact that they have the Excalibur site available for developments makes removing the building for a future development pointless
I will be sharing some exclusive photos I have of Pirate Adventure from the day it opened. Stay tuned and I'll announce them soon.
Themeparksandy1981
Member
Well when the jungle palladium closed the frontage was removed keeping the show building.
Monkeynips
Member
Get them pictures up! I've been waiting since the last time lol
Welcome back - we hope you like the changes we’ve made! The photos are all ready to go!
I look forward to sharing them - stay tuned for this and lots more exclusive content, announced both here and on our Twitter
Monkeynips
Member
Thank you, I look forward to it!
It is with great pleasure that we release these exclusive opening day photos of Pirate Adventure. These photos were taken from one of the first manned boats that travelled through the ride when complete, and was taken just before the public opening of the ride!
Below is the exterior of the ride, the ride is introduced by a band and a live pirate show, as well as Timmy Mallet - it is very unusual to see the impressive facade with no ivy growing over the front! Note the small ribbon on the front doors of the ride.
This is the headless Pirate Animatronic that was supplied with the ride, it was relocated twice within its existence in Pirate Adventure before being permanently moved to nearby attraction, The Crypt. Its current whereabouts are not known, this was operated with a three pin household plug.
This scene is just left of the drop section on the ride, it is assumed that this is a council official warning the villagers of the inbound attack from Pirates which will later be seen on the ride.
This scene is just after the drop section, in the village section of the ride, note the suspended houses, the one of the right containing a band playing music, this could be distinctly heard after the splashdown section.
This is at the end of the second scene, where the villagers are seen building their boat and adding supplies, there were many moving figures on this set piece - note the photographer in the bottom left corner of this image.
This is in the town invasion scene, the hand in the top left of the image is from an animatronic which would drop from the above bridge to scare riders, the pirate can be seen loading his boat with treasure before escaping, his head turns towards riders.
This image shows another set in the invaded town scene, this is where a pirate is throwing water over a villager, the animatronics must've been fully waterproof to withstand this! This is just before the entrance to the prison tunnel scenes and the circuit load / offload positions.
This is in the final battle scene after the prison tunnel section, here there is smoke from cannons, there would be water effects to splash riders and give the illusion that they are between a battle of villagers on land and Pirates on an impressive boat structure - this scene would include shouting and trumpet playing from an animatronic on the left side (which we have pictures of in archive). The entrance ahead is to the final tunnel section of the ride.
This scene is just on the entrance to the final section of the ride, it is an impressive scene with around 7 animatronics in action, including a pirate which would move in and out of the water, as well as a pirate which was lost in around 2006 who would bob up and down on the other end of the bench (see left-hand side). It is evident how impressive the rock-work is here, and also the detail in the set design, this is showing the pirates going into hiding with their treasure.
Finally, this is the Ghost Pirate Scene which was lost to a fire in the ride in 2006, since then the scene was boarded off and maintenance lights were visible, this showed a collection of three ghost-like pirates, this effect was very much ahead of time when the ride opened. The fire is often attributed to the downfall in maintenance of the ride. Not many, if any, photos exist of this scene.
This is just a small collection of our images of Pirate Adventure obtained from Opening Day, we also have good images of the ride in operation. We look forward to sharing these with you in the future - please stay tuned for more! Our next photos of Pirate Adventure will be for members only, so join today to be notified when these arrive! Read more about Pirate Adventure here.
What do you think the story of the ride was? Do you have any fond memories of the ride? What would you like to be done with the ride? What would you like to see photos of next? Let us know!
Below is the exterior of the ride, the ride is introduced by a band and a live pirate show, as well as Timmy Mallet - it is very unusual to see the impressive facade with no ivy growing over the front! Note the small ribbon on the front doors of the ride.
This is the headless Pirate Animatronic that was supplied with the ride, it was relocated twice within its existence in Pirate Adventure before being permanently moved to nearby attraction, The Crypt. Its current whereabouts are not known, this was operated with a three pin household plug.
This scene is just left of the drop section on the ride, it is assumed that this is a council official warning the villagers of the inbound attack from Pirates which will later be seen on the ride.
This scene is just after the drop section, in the village section of the ride, note the suspended houses, the one of the right containing a band playing music, this could be distinctly heard after the splashdown section.
This is at the end of the second scene, where the villagers are seen building their boat and adding supplies, there were many moving figures on this set piece - note the photographer in the bottom left corner of this image.
This is in the town invasion scene, the hand in the top left of the image is from an animatronic which would drop from the above bridge to scare riders, the pirate can be seen loading his boat with treasure before escaping, his head turns towards riders.
This image shows another set in the invaded town scene, this is where a pirate is throwing water over a villager, the animatronics must've been fully waterproof to withstand this! This is just before the entrance to the prison tunnel scenes and the circuit load / offload positions.
This is in the final battle scene after the prison tunnel section, here there is smoke from cannons, there would be water effects to splash riders and give the illusion that they are between a battle of villagers on land and Pirates on an impressive boat structure - this scene would include shouting and trumpet playing from an animatronic on the left side (which we have pictures of in archive). The entrance ahead is to the final tunnel section of the ride.
This scene is just on the entrance to the final section of the ride, it is an impressive scene with around 7 animatronics in action, including a pirate which would move in and out of the water, as well as a pirate which was lost in around 2006 who would bob up and down on the other end of the bench (see left-hand side). It is evident how impressive the rock-work is here, and also the detail in the set design, this is showing the pirates going into hiding with their treasure.
Finally, this is the Ghost Pirate Scene which was lost to a fire in the ride in 2006, since then the scene was boarded off and maintenance lights were visible, this showed a collection of three ghost-like pirates, this effect was very much ahead of time when the ride opened. The fire is often attributed to the downfall in maintenance of the ride. Not many, if any, photos exist of this scene.
This is just a small collection of our images of Pirate Adventure obtained from Opening Day, we also have good images of the ride in operation. We look forward to sharing these with you in the future - please stay tuned for more! Our next photos of Pirate Adventure will be for members only, so join today to be notified when these arrive! Read more about Pirate Adventure here.
What do you think the story of the ride was? Do you have any fond memories of the ride? What would you like to be done with the ride? What would you like to see photos of next? Let us know!
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AvalancheAttractionsUK
Member
Those pictures are phenomenal. I do hope it’s comes back. Yes it can be seen as a knock off Pirates of the Carribean at Disney. But it was something else and timeless. Sad to think that 25+ years later modern UK dark rides seem to only focus on tacky gimmicks that don’t last! Luckily Drayton haven’t/ I don’t expect them to go down that route!
ClickTechUK
Member
This was such a great ride, I'd say it's in my top 3 of drayton's rides of all time. I've been on 2 of the Disney Pirates rides (Orlando and Paris) and Drayton's take on it was just as good, not as polished maybe but the experience was fantastic .. hope it comes back one day.
I’m glad to see you’re a fan, and I hope the pictures were nice reminiscence. It really is a phenomenal ride to have in a UK Park, it’s so impressive. Perhaps it wasn’t as polished as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean but I’d say it puts up competition, and it’s great for families who perhaps can’t get out to Disney.
It’s also different for the UK Theme Park Industry, it’s not often investments like this are made. It’s such a large space at the park and it’s so important to many fans, as it should be to the park.
What was your favourite scene?
ClickTechUK
Member
That's a great scene! Did you know that the scene with the woman hitting the man with the brush used to be in the first section and not the prison tunnel section? The man was also positioned in the water rather than behind some obstacles - this was one of the most reliable scenes in the ride and was powered by a three-pin plug!
Also, lots of animatronics like Peg-Leg Polly (both versions), the fighting pirates, etc. were added in a remedial update later on in time? And many animatronics were moved to the nearby Haunted Crypt when it had a minor face-lift by Farmer Studios!
Also, lots of animatronics like Peg-Leg Polly (both versions), the fighting pirates, etc. were added in a remedial update later on in time? And many animatronics were moved to the nearby Haunted Crypt when it had a minor face-lift by Farmer Studios!
Themeparksandy1981
Member
Isn’t the last figure in the prison uniform just before you turn back into the station of Sheiff showdown from the pirate adventure?
Dom
Member
last time I went to Drayton I saw some Air conditioning fans spinning on the side of the Pirates adventure building, there was also lights on inside that you could see through a crack in the fire exit door, and I think there were people in there, though not sure, its definitely not "SBNO", something is going on inside! : )