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Excalibur: A Dragon's Tale

Inside the castle of dreams
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Interesting to see that so many of the original Excalibur props are in place! I watched a vlog and the internal structure of the turntable is very much still intact. Does Cantata or any other animatronics (like the Wizard) move at all?
 
The chests from the Excalibur boats can be seen used as decoration by the flagpoles next to fun foods.

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Would love to see the space used again with a new and improved water ride - its a dead space most of the year.
I'm sure they could put the Christmas event somewhere else, such as in the zoo or near Thomas Land

But with The Dodgems being the only thing between Excalibur and Pirate Adventure, could the spaces be used for one big attraction in future?
 
I wouldn’t be surprised if when the time does come, Drayton’s next major ride will go in the space of Pirate Adventure, the Dodgems (current space) and Excalibur. The Dodgems are probably very easy to move, and I could see them go where G-Force is/ was potentially. They could even use the ‘Castle of Dreams’ as it’s an impressive themed building!

I also wouldn’t be shocked if it was part of a Thomas Land expansion. After all, I doubt the park would have operated past 2011-2013 without it!
 
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It'd be great to see the space used again, I think the major issue with the space is that the environment around the lake is very challenging - this is a natural lake and is not man made like so many others we see at parks nowadays. Excalibur itself did very well to function in these conditions - from images I've seen of the lake drained, it looks to be more of a swamp than anything!

They could absolutely put the Christmas event elsewhere, but at the minute that event makes them money - and they could make even more money by adding temporary Halloween attractions, is the cost of moving the already successful Christmas event worth it? I assume the park think not.

I think eventually Excalibur and Pirate Adventure's time will come, but for the moment they need to focus on getting a replacement for the much more obvious hole in the park for an average guest - G Force.
 
I feel like Excalibur is a low priority sort of site, the Castle of Dreams earns them money over Christmas, and it's unique, and the Excalibur is pretty well hidden to the average guest on a normal park day. More prominent areas need addressing first like the G Force site, Pirate Adventure, etc.
 
Sophisticoasters said:
With that water? I hope not.
The swamplike condition of that water wouldn't have been too great.

Splash battle rides are pretty popular but the amount of work to get that area suitable for something like that would be a task and a half.
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As Drayton would have been aware. New legislation introducted in the early 2000's stated that all new water rides built in this country need to use treated, clean water, when said water comes into contact with guests.

This is why all new water attractions have used treated water since then. This could also explain the lack of major water rides in this country since then. Higher cost.

As large rides such as Storm Force 10, or a rapids ride, would need to be situated in a closed off resevoir of water, with water cleaning and filtration systems. Not only does this make the ride more expensive to build, but more expensive to operate, especially with the big water rides. The only major water ride being built since this legislation is the Viking Rapids at Legoland Windsor. Which is in a closed reservoir with water treatment systems in place.

It would have used a system similar to Battle Galleons at Alton Towers. As that ride is also situatiated in unclean water, although no where near as bad as Draytons, the same legislation still applies. The boats have tanks onboard which are refilled with tap water when the boats go through the station. This tank then feeds the water guns with fresh clean water. Thus any water coming into contact with guests, is clean.
 
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I think it was to hit interactive targets around the site and not yourselves. It was just Blue sky ideas that went around to update rides in the park even Pirate Adventure was talked about maybe having a interactive scenes that moved when been hit with water or lasers.
 
Theme Park Musician said:
If I remember correctly, Farmer Studios were involved in the construction of this ride
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Yes, theming was done by Farmer Studios for Excalibur, I'm pretty sure they also did Maelstrom, Stormforce 10 and Ben 10. Great design company, Excalibur's theming really was done quite well, I imagine should they have had some more budget they'd have been able to add even more, but even with what they had, they managed to turn a boring old lake into a Knight's Village, with some pretty special animatronics too. I can't say I'm a massive fan of Excalibur's theming, because it doesn't take it seriously like Pirate Adventure did, but I do think it's very impressive, and made itself a great family attraction at the park.
 
Anth0ny said:
Yes, theming was done by Farmer Studios for Excalibur, I'm pretty sure they also did Maelstrom, Stormforce 10 and Ben 10. Great design company, Excalibur's theming really was done quite well, I imagine should they have had some more budget they'd have been able to add even more, but even with what they had, they managed to turn a boring old lake into a Knight's Village, with some pretty special animatronics too. I can't say I'm a massive fan of Excalibur's theming, because it doesn't take it seriously like Pirate Adventure did, but I do think it's very impressive, and made itself a great family attraction at the park.
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I agree - the theming was pretty well done.
It was quirky and fun, a nice change of pace in comparison to the serious ride theming to rides like Pirate adventure, The Haunting and Sheriff's shootout
 
Theme Park Musician said:
I loved the Excalibur theming. It's a shame what happened to the ride. How much of it has been removed
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If you go onto Tamarin Trail and look over towards Excalibur, you can see most of the theming still there (or alternatively from the castle of dreams). Dragon Manor still exists as well as multiple scenery items around there. Also the splash boats are on that site too. I have a video talking about the park on my YouTube if you want to go check it out
 
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