Digs & Discoveries

[Dan]

Exciting news!

Drayton Manor are hosting the world premier of the new Thomas & Friends film, Digs & Dinosaurs. The park will be showing exclusive specials before they air, including where Thomas discovers a new world of wonder as he explores the buried history of Italy!

The parks website states that this will be held in the 4D Cinema, so we presume Ice Age 4D will be leaving the park, and it could be rethemed to a construction theme as hinted at on the website. New characters will be added including Stefano the Super Cruiser™, Brenda the Bulldozer, and engines Gina, Lorenzo and Beppe.

The park have confirmed that there will be numerous shows throughout the day, times of which will be shown at the 4D Cinema and also on the Drayton Manor App. It's very exciting to see that the 4D Cinema could be being rethemed with an exciting new show, and it's great to see Drayton Manor showing something exclusive.

The premier is on Saturday 6th July, with guests being able to see shorter snippets on Sunday 7th July until Sunday 14th July before they air, you can read more here.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I was wondering why the 4D cinema was listed as closed on the 6th July.
The 4D cinema did work well when the movie was changed every year.
It won’t be much of a retheme as it’s not listed as closed on the website

 

[Dan]

Indeed! I liked it better when it changed every season, it was something new and exciting to look forward to. I'd like to think (hope) they'd swap Ice Age as it doesn't seem all that popular any more (not sure if they still make the films?) but who knows as Digs & Discoveries is only a temporary show. Very true about the retheme, it looks like the graphics are printed onto fabric in the pre-show rooms so they must be easily swappable and there is no theming to remove in the Cinema itself.

 

[AvalancheAttractionsUK]

Personally, I hope that this Thomas show is only a temporary thing, as I believe that anything related to Thomas needs to stay in Thomas Land, and not take over the rest of the park.

I agree there should be a new film each year, however if that was the case, they could eventually run out of films, meaning older films would be brought back after so many years since their first debut (meaning shows that last multiple seasons is better in the long run, in my opinion).

 

[Dan]

I believe Digs & Discoveries is only a temporary overlay to celebrate the release of the film. The park are doing the World Premiere for Press on Saturday 6th July, with snippets and highlights being shown in the 4D Cinema between 7th and 14th July. I think that this being temporary will provide some needed variance for the 4D Cinema.

Personally, I would love to see a film each year however I am not sure how feasible this would be, as you say, the availability of such films is limited and a custom film would cost far too much. I completely understand why Ice Age has been kept for a few seasons now, but I feel that this season should most definitely be its last.

Here are some construction images for the Digs & Discoveries overlay.

The above shows the wooden framework being added hooked onto the top of the 4D Cinema facade, this is for the overlay graphics to be fixed to; this essentially confirms that Ice Age will be returning as the graphics behind this are untouched, such care wouldn't be taken if they weren't to be used again.

This is with the graphics added over the Ice Age graphics, with the Ice Age Wall and Floor sign remaining intact. It's great how the blue of the 4D Cinema fits in with the water in these graphics, looks very cohesive and professional.

This is with the Digs & Discoveries Wall sign in place, the sign looks great - as you can see the framing has been kept in place for the Ice Age sign to be added after the temporary overlay. It all looks great! The Floor sign is still intact however I believe this could have been covered since these images were taken.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

Went in to see this at half 10 this morning.
Outside

In the pre show area and the area in where the tv are the walls have been covered over.

In the theatre it self there was 2 model balloons either side of the screen and the lighting on the sides were left on during the whole show.
At the beginning of the show a member of staff warned this was the world premiere of the latest Thomas movie and if u wanted to leave now or during the performance just leave quietly as the film lasted for 45 mins and there was to be no photos or videoing.
The movie was ok as I not really watched a Thomas since the 80s and the movie only had Thomas in it with him making new friends in Italy. My daughter and my Niece enjoyed it but think I was most gutted it wasn’t in 3D.