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Excalibur: A Dragon's Tale
- Thread starter Harry
- Start date
It closed in about 2016ish and then got changed to the George and the dragon and then it got changed in to the castle bar and then it had a special name during the coronation event
Trooper Looper
Member
I never knew there used to be theming between Excali-bar and The old Animatronic show building. It shows the quality and theming consistency of Farmer Studios though! Credit goes to Drayton Talk on Twitter
i remember they used to have and still have the dragon foot prints in the concrete path surrounding the lake
DraytonEnthusiast
Member
When you think about it Excalibur was another Disney rip off, with Merlin and stuff. Surprised they weren’t sued with all the disney rides like Pirate Adventure
Haz
Member
not particularly as Excalibur's concept and story was written at farmer studios and none of the sets or theming resembles a copy, i don't see how it has anything to do with Disney?
DraytonEnthusiast
Member
Trooper Looper
Member
Well, a Member of Farmer Studios did all the concepts and Writing and Story for Excalibur. His name is Graham Edward, who is now an author and does lots of Medievil and Fantasy novels. He's also got his own website below. He even worked on Nemesis Sub-Terra as he says in his website, along with a page dedicated to Exalibur.
I wouldn't be against them filling more of this lake in and using it as ground for a ride. They have already filled part of the lake in, upto what was the waterfalls. So no attraction could ever follow the old Excalibur route now due to some of it being land.
Askong as they kept the stream running though, they could get away with filling some, but not all of this lake in.
Askong as they kept the stream running though, they could get away with filling some, but not all of this lake in.
Themeparksandy1981
Member
It’s still holding up well
Themeparksandy1981
Member
While I was checking out the monkey trail they cut back so you can see across the lake again
Kam
Member
Those stones were supposed to be shaped as gigantic dragon teeth. It's thanks to the robust steel framing underneath those theming pieces that they are still in place.
As anyone who has been on Excalibur will remember, those stones were supposed to be "the gateway to the Dragonlands". What a pity all of that stuff has been sitting there for 14 years without being put to any kind of use.
I'm not too sure on that https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b48871e40f0b6634bb509d3/S52_Notice.pdf
It would be interested to see what the outcomes of these proposals were, given that they were made in 2018, and involved 6000 and 20000 cubic metre abstraction licenses. Either way, it looks like it would be hard to fill up sections of the lakes along the park with any non-porous material without speeding up runoff and worsening the flood risk further along the Tame/Trent/Humber basin that Drayton manor is situated in.
Backing my point up further, it seems the EA designated the entire area covering the park as a flood risk area in 2021, following the floods the year before. With that in mind, and considering the fact that the EA also manage the abstraction and impounding licenses, it seems unlikely they would allow the lake to be filled up enough to fit an attraction or ride on it, unless it was extremely small like the abstraction job they did in 2018 by the side of the Pirate Adventure building.
Best bet is to bring back a tow boat system in some form, at some point in the future, IMO. That kind of ride also avoids the noise risk, and would avoid the risk of haggling with the EA.
EA designation below:
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Themeparksandy1981
Member
The castle of dreams will now always be an entertainment venue for the park for special events.
I can see the building been themed to fit into the area where pirate cove currently is.
I can see the building been themed to fit into the area where pirate cove currently is.
Id love for them to put some proper lighting in there. It was sooo dark for the cake decorating today
Those stones were supposed to be shaped as gigantic dragon teeth. It's thanks to the robust steel framing underneath those theming pieces that they are still in place.
As anyone who has been on Excalibur will remember, those stones were supposed to be "the gateway to the Dragonlands". What a pity all of that stuff has been sitting there for 14 years without being put to any kind of use.
I'm not too sure on that https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b48871e40f0b6634bb509d3/S52_Notice.pdf
It would be interested to see what the outcomes of these proposals were, given that they were made in 2018, and involved 6000 and 20000 cubic metre abstraction licenses. Either way, it looks like it would be hard to fill up sections of the lakes along the park with any non-porous material without speeding up runoff and worsening the flood risk further along the Tame/Trent/Humber basin that Drayton manor is situated in.
Backing my point up further, it seems the EA designated the entire area covering the park as a flood risk area in 2021, following the floods the year before. With that in mind, and considering the fact that the EA also manage the abstraction and impounding licenses, it seems unlikely they would allow the lake to be filled up enough to fit an attraction or ride on it, unless it was extremely small like the abstraction job they did in 2018 by the side of the Pirate Adventure building.
Best bet is to bring back a tow boat system in some form, at some point in the future, IMO. That kind of ride also avoids the noise risk, and would avoid the risk of haggling with the EA.
EA designation below:
The 'rocks were not supposed to be shaped as dragons teeth, they were supposed to be stones not to dis similar to stone henge. We were lucky enough to have a tour of the site during construction and I remember Dan from farmier studios giving us a run down of the rides story as we walked the lake and indoor section, I specifically remember him mentioning them as being inspired by rock structures such as stone henge, as they were half complete on this early spring afternoon. They were trying to get the same mystique as stone henge with its dark history.
I wasn't aware of the abstraction licence being revoked. Or if it even has, that would have an impact perhaps. These plans make no sense to me, not when Tamworth has built huge housing estates the last few years on flood plain land, thay directly impacts the areas outlined that you have linked to.
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Kam
Member
That would mainly be because property developers operate on a different playing field. They bypass greenbelt laws , and often manage to build on floodplains despite major objections (hey maybe one of the reasons for the increasing floods in the area) , but it is a privilege bought using silly amounts of money and influence on the government, that neither Drayton nor the Looping group have . I stand by what I said, I think the EA would cause big problems for the park if they tried to fill that lake in. Quicker runoff at Drayton, especially with such a large lake, could mean problems further along the entire basin. I can't see the Environment Agency allowing it after the 2020 floods.
Lucky you with your tour .Would be great to hear more about this tour and what you did on it, please do share photos or videos if you can
As for the rocks, Im Sure it’s possible that they imitated both stone circles and were also made to look teeth shaped. But I can confirm that a giant teeth shape was intended. Nonetheless, Dan of the former Farmer studios was absolutely right about the mystique of stone circles , as even now there is very little understood about their meaning or purpose, religious or otherwuse, I think because druids chose not to keep written records . The only written records about them in Britain come from the Romans, I believe
Farmer studios did a similar thing with stone circles and stone markings in Ballachulish Scotland (very close to the famous Glen Coe), for the Mysteryworld attraction they designed, which closed over 20 years ago, and was filled with animatronic fairytale creatures. I've visited the site many times, but sadly never saw it as Mysteryworld. It's now a watersports centre used to keep Kayaks and Canoes, and the area around it is used as a car park for the village and nearby tea rooms . But some of the 'rock' circles Farmer studios built are still in the car park, and the building itself still has the same exterior design. And, interestingly, I believe they used a similar mold design for the faces in the rocks as the Knight faces on the main Excalibur castle (the ones shown below).
Here is a Knight of Castleville helmet , made in 2002, which never ended up being used on Excalibur, and was never even used at Drayton Manor, or owned by the park. It was the first actual design for the Casleville Knight helmet (it is unwearable , due to the fact it has a nail keeping the different parts of it together in the centre) . This design then got used as part of a reference for the Knight animatronics that were built for the actual ride .
I need some suggestions on what to do with this old helmet prop, everyone.... I could create some armour (platebody, platelegs, gauntlets , platemail etc) using similar materials, maybe.
I'm all ears on this one...
,
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Unfortunately not many photos were taken by myself, it was 2003, I was in secondary school and digital cameras were expensive, let alone phone cameras which basically did not exist.
As for the teeth, they may have been intended to be teeth shaped, I don't think they look too much like them, but they could be. I am just going off what the designer told us to our faces.
There are photos though, they were taken by other members of the party and were put onto the UDMPs Excalibur mini site, which documented alot of photos throughout the rides construction.
If I had known we were having the tour I would have taken an old film camera but it was just by chance that it happened.
We used to visit the park daily after school to see what updates there were, it was by chance we got talking to Edward Pawley, he offered the tour there and then. I recall him also telling us a Huss Enterprise was coming that summer too.
I specifically remember the dragon animatronic in the lair and how it used multiple feet on actuators that would trigger as the dragon moved along a rail, to give the impression of the dragon shuffling along. Very cool stuff indeed. We did not get a demo of the fire as that was not ready yet.
Was lucky to have many tours in the park over the years, walking the rapids trough with Colin Bryan on a freezing Febuary morning and about 40 members of the ECC club in 2002 was a highlight. We were looking in and around all the themeing and animatronics there too, which by the way, shared the same faces as some pirates in Pirate Adventure. At the end of that tour, many people, including myself climbed up the lift on our hands and knees. Those were the days, health and safety was VERY different. We also had about 20 of us on the Klondike gold mine lift hill at the same time, with Colin in the middle.
Up until last year, the ECC website had excellent photos of that day on their website, they have since been removed with many other historic photos from other trips.
In some of those brochures you have in that photo, some of my school friends are featured. A specific friends mom worked quite high up in the park and he features in a few promo shots used around 2002 and 2003.
As for the teeth, they may have been intended to be teeth shaped, I don't think they look too much like them, but they could be. I am just going off what the designer told us to our faces.
There are photos though, they were taken by other members of the party and were put onto the UDMPs Excalibur mini site, which documented alot of photos throughout the rides construction.
If I had known we were having the tour I would have taken an old film camera but it was just by chance that it happened.
We used to visit the park daily after school to see what updates there were, it was by chance we got talking to Edward Pawley, he offered the tour there and then. I recall him also telling us a Huss Enterprise was coming that summer too.
I specifically remember the dragon animatronic in the lair and how it used multiple feet on actuators that would trigger as the dragon moved along a rail, to give the impression of the dragon shuffling along. Very cool stuff indeed. We did not get a demo of the fire as that was not ready yet.
Was lucky to have many tours in the park over the years, walking the rapids trough with Colin Bryan on a freezing Febuary morning and about 40 members of the ECC club in 2002 was a highlight. We were looking in and around all the themeing and animatronics there too, which by the way, shared the same faces as some pirates in Pirate Adventure. At the end of that tour, many people, including myself climbed up the lift on our hands and knees. Those were the days, health and safety was VERY different. We also had about 20 of us on the Klondike gold mine lift hill at the same time, with Colin in the middle.
Up until last year, the ECC website had excellent photos of that day on their website, they have since been removed with many other historic photos from other trips.
In some of those brochures you have in that photo, some of my school friends are featured. A specific friends mom worked quite high up in the park and he features in a few promo shots used around 2002 and 2003.
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