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Safari Pizza & Pasta

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Dan

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Safari Pizza & Pasta is an indoor food outlet at Drayton Manor, unique with its coverage with foliage, and the mass of animatronics inside - including Giraffe's, Elephants, Gorillas, Snakes and Parrots. The restaurant used to have a storm scene play after a set amount of time which introduced rain sound and strobe lighting, to give the illusion of being in a rainforest.

Food selection here is Pizza, Pasta and Potato Wedges as well as the usual range of drinks. The restaurant has implemented a ticketing system whereby order numbers are announced over the PA system, I feel this ruins the environment.

More recently animatronics have stopped being used frequently - I have not seen them in operation for over two years, although I am informed they still operate. When the outlet opened, elephants were outside of the building, although these were replaced with talking Totem Poles at a later date. I have been informed that animatronics were installed by Space Leisure, and many were recycled from the Jungle Palladium and potentially River Cruise.

What is your opinion on this catering outlet?
 
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My wife ate here about 10 years ago but think it looked so overpriced for a big slice of pizza,few chips and a drink . The restaurant itself is very well themed but is let down by the serving area as this still looks like it was build in the 70/80’s.
I think this will be the next catering area to be updated.
 
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It really sucks how brightly lit it is now. I hope they get an AV expert in to try and return the cafe to its older, more theatrical appearance that it used to have. Bit of ultraviolet blacklighting, and the place could look incredible.
 
I completely agree Kam! It was such an effective atmosphere in there, those UV lights spoiled it, I hope they do return it back to its original glory, that place was debatably one of the best Theme Park F&B Outlets in the UK in my opinion!

I always loved the storm effect, and the animatronics, well they were amazing! Do they still operate? Last few times I went they were static.
 
From 20/02/19 - the animatronics remain in place within Safari Pizza & Pasta, although they remain out of operation. I would love to see these return, but either way these make great props for a well themed restaurant.
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Visited pizza and pasta today. Food was good, they will also playing ambient music and the animal sounds and lightning were working. The effect was quite good today.

They also appear to have new food packaging for this year with the eat drink enjoy slogan. Over Christmas they were using plain white boxes for burgees and generic children’s food boxes, it looked like a cost cutting excercise but at least they’ve gone back to branded now

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remlap said:
Visited pizza and pasta today. Food was good, they will also playing ambient music and the animal sounds and lightning were working. The effect was quite good today.

They also appear to have new food packaging for this year with the eat drink enjoy slogan. Over Christmas they were using plain white boxes for burgees and generic children’s food boxes, it looked like a cost cutting excercise but at least they’ve gone back to branded now

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This is great to see! Little additions like this help to make a more concrete and full experience - very good move from the park in my opinion.

Also great to hear the sound was working as well as the animal sound effects. I know there was a mode of operation for the animatronics where the giraffe's in the corners and parrots would still function - although this was not in use on my last visit. It has been a long time since all the animatronics were on, I'd be very interested to hear when the last time other people saw these in action?

Safari Pizza & Pasta is a solid addition and is fitting with the zoo environment, I anticipate we may see some work around this area (specifically externally) in the coming years, and I'd love to see the animatronics reintroduced. They were always very popular amongst children and this was a firm favourite for families around the park, saying this, there always seems to be customers here.

What are your opinions on Safari Pizza & Pasta?
 
Work continues on Safari Pizza & Pasta, the venue appears to be having work done on the exterior - which is great to see.

Work concluded on the seating area during the past week, with this now being open. Interestingly, signage has been removed from the ice cream hut and advertisements for the Ice Cream Parlous opposite Accelerator have been added. Could this mean the ice cream area here has closed?

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Safari Pizza & Pasta is currently closed whilst it has an exterior repaint! This sure is welcomed and is looking great, as well as the new seating area outside the main entrance. Personally, I'm really hoping the park will turn back on the animatronic show, this made the venue so much more atmospheric and popular - when was the last time people saw the animatronic show in action! Photos taken 11/04/19.

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It was starting to look really smart when I saw it on Sunday. I wonder if they’ll put any of the graphics back on or if it will remain a neutral colour. I think either way it will look great with a new coat of paint.
 
A closer look at the Safari Pizza & Pasta Animatronics, none of the animatronics are in action but it does seem as though the giraffes could have been in action as their positions moved throughout the day? I would really love to see these restored, they are unique to Drayton Manor and could be even more popular.

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shame that this show doesnt run any more, was the last of their moving shows left after jungle palladium, tex mex and knight cafe shows have shut and had history with the parrots from jungle palladium and the elephant from jungle cruise so i read online. hope drahton do look at fixing this one day
 
Anth0ny said:
shame that this show doesnt run any more, was the last of their moving shows left after jungle palladium, tex mex and knight cafe shows have shut and had history with the parrots from jungle palladium and the elephant from jungle cruise so i read online. hope drahton do look at fixing this one day
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A lot of the Jungle Cruise stuff not only went in to the Rainforest pizza interior in 2002 when Space Leisure redeveloped the area, but also in the area outside, where the JC elephants were placed around a pond and the hippo was by the bridge (now closed off). You're right to point out the former animatronic shows were great and that it's a shame they are now more of a rarity in the wider industry. Once the Jungle Palladium had gone, it was game over for the successor shows really, as the Tex Mex and the Medieval show were both shorter and had far less to work with despite the high running cost of the animatronics as I'm sure you'll remember.
Drayton definitely need to see to these animatronics, and to the lighting though. It used to be a lot better, especially during the thunderstorm effect. Would love it to be darker!
 
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This is excellent news, I hadn't seen that in years!. lets hope its the start of more work. I'm still hopeful if they can get this working they will restore what they can from Pirates Adventure (thay they didn't auction) and create a new dark ride with loads of animatronics there too.
 
It’s a shame it only would let me upload a 15 sec video as every animal moved with just the 2 giraffes missing but they hope to get them working.
I don’t usually go in here but I was waiting for my daughter as she went the toilet but heard the animal noises and went in and saw them all working.
 
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