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Future beyond 2024

Thomas

Thomas

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Just a thread to speculate about what's beyond,pirates, lodges,aeg land whatever could come to the resort
 
Personally I’d love to see a splash pad for the warmer months which would be accessible for children not tall enough for water rides.
 
Moved to the Future area for easier locating :)

I'd love to see the Pirates area get a little love after Frontier Falls as well as the Castle of Dreams. (Next major) These areas stand out a bit as you go between the pre existing park areas which have been developed more recently :) it'll really tie the park together well.

I'm a huge dark ride fan and think the park could use a good dark ride investment (in that area would be ideal) - hoping this is on the cards for the future.

A splash pad would be really nice! Could be a fun addition to Adventure Cove or even part of the hotel (ideally Adventure Cove so more can enjoy it)

More themed rooms would be popular too potentially at the hotel?
 
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I suspect that the pirates area is next as it is now the only area that has not been regenerated by Looping. The five year plan pencilled in some new lodges to complement the hotel, but that could move, as have other things on the plan. My suspicion is that there will be a relocation of dutchman to possibly vikings, and a new western ride on that site, new lodges and a proper retheme of accellerator and the Haunting, as well as the reopening of Eat Drink Enjoy under a new guise for the start of the season, finishing frontier falls. Then for later in the season, a refreshed pirate area, and at least some touch ups on the PA facade to deal with the temporary wooden panelling to replace the fallen tower. The park seem quite happy keeping excalibur as an event space, so perhaps that will see some more experiences? I can't see a big ride opening next year, as there has already been so much this year, and i suspect there is already some more pencilled in.
 
I do think its odd that you have a whacking great lake and nothing seems to be done with it.

I wonder about the possibilities for VR are. I've seen very effective use at Chester Zoo and WMSP.

Then maybe a decent app. One which allows for monitoring of queue times. Yes it may jigger the sales of fast passes but for overall customer satisifaction and the attractiveness of the park it will be worth a lot.

But I think that 2024/25 is going to be a time for consolidation. Get everything clean. Get everything staffed. Keep everything open. These are aspects that seem beyond so many attractions so DMP can steal a march on many if it can get a reputation for delivering on these.
 
2025 Big celebration in Thomas land as Thomas turns 80.
New flat ride a sit down drop tower
2026 new film in the 4D cinema, Zoo upgrade
2027 New area and dark ride in the pirate adventure building
2028 Thomas land 20th birthday with another expansion at the farm end and Jormungandr closes after its 40th birthday
2029 Construction starts on a new launch coaster over the lake and a new family flat ride
2030 New coaster opens with the Parks 80th celebration and 10 years since the looping group took over.
 
Personally if I was in charge. I'd be investing less and prioritising more on fixing current stuff at the Park. Someting like this would be nice.

2025:
More effects added to Rapids.

More themed rooms in the Hotel.

More permanent Car Parks.

Either give Accelerator some good TLC or Retheme it at the least Externally.

2026:

Restore Haunting for its 30th anniversary.

Fix and Restore Stormforce and give Neptune's Arcade a huge repaint.

2027:

Showdown given TLC, more reliable guns, better audio and lighting.

Reuse Excaliburs Space in Either an updated version of the ride or a new ride all together.

2028/2029:

Do something with Pirates (preferably bring it back).

Celebrate Thomas Lands 20th anniversary.

Zoo has a new Expansion at the former Tiger sanctuary. Safari Pizza and Pasta gets some TLC as well, both Internally and Externally.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Personally if I was in charge. I'd be investing less and prioritising more on fixing current stuff at the Park. Someting like this would be nice.

2025:
More effects added to Rapids.

More themed rooms in the Hotel.

More permanent Car Parks.

Either give Accelerator some good TLC or Retheme it at the least Externally.

2026:

Restore Haunting for its 30th anniversary.

Fix and Restore Stormforce and give Neptune's Arcade a huge repaint.

2027:

Showdown given TLC, more reliable guns, better audio and lighting.

Reuse Excaliburs Space in Either an updated version of the ride or a new ride all together.

2028/2029:

Do something with Pirates (preferably bring it back).

Celebrate Thomas Lands 20th anniversary.

Zoo has a new Expansion at the former Tiger sanctuary. Safari Pizza and Pasta gets some TLC as well, both Internally and Externally.
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Thats a very realistic 2025 plan there :) I like it a lot
 
The hotel could definetly do with some more themed rooms. If Excalibur was to return, I suspect the ride would be done quite differrently, especially in regard to the audio, as that had many issues.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
The problem is just ride improvements and re themes don’t keep the visitors coming.
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True, but it'd definitely keep the visitor numbers consistent. Though pirates would probably be the parks largest investment outside of the New Roller Coaster. Even after 9 years of its closure, outside of Apocalypse and Shockwave, its still one of Drayton Manors most well known rides. Whenever I visit I always hear other people talking about it. Bringing Pirate Adventure back is a pretty obvious no brainer as well.
 
Trooper Looper said:
True, but it'd definitely keep the visitor numbers consistent. Though pirates would probably be the parks largest investment outside of the New Roller Coaster. Even after 9 years of its closure, outside of Apocalypse and Shockwave, its still one of Drayton Manors most well known rides. Whenever I visit I always hear other people talking about it. Bringing Pirate Adventure back is a pretty obvious no brainer as well.
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It also sticks out like a sore thumb. Like Excalibur you can only see the back of the castle of dreams building if you go into the building or ride Thomas but the pirates building you can see from any area of the park and if they never wanted to use that building area they could have just covered over the entrance doorway.
 
I do think they will be a small aeg expansion for Thomas lands 20th anniversary, what if they made it up at Tidmouth halt where the old exhibition and Terences driving school was open up more of that and make aeg land up there as a thing for kids to go up to after Tidmouth halt like the exhibition and Terence, and yes they were brought down to the main park but if they made aeg land a separate land from Thomas land they could fit up there so you go on Thomas from Thomas land to Tidmouth halt in aeg land
 
James no5 said:
I do think they will be a small aeg expansion for Thomas lands 20th anniversary, what if they made it up at Tidmouth halt where the old exhibition and Terences driving school was open up more of that and make aeg land up there as a thing for kids to go up to after Tidmouth halt like the exhibition and Terence, and yes they were brought down to the main park but if they made aeg land a separate land from Thomas land they could fit up there so you go on Thomas from Thomas land to Tidmouth halt in aeg land
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Maybe they could be thinking of removing some of the rides that were installed in 2008 as they could be coming to an end of their life.
Unless it was built indoors I doubt they will be able to built a new ride area in that corner with how close the houses are

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Does Thomas Land really need another extension? My kids love it and there’s a vast amount of rides already. As the parks becoming fully ‘family friendly’ it would make sense to offer something completely new rather than more Thomas in my opinion. It’s a great area, but it doesn’t need to expand any more in to other areas of the park.

The only thing I would do would be to perhaps loop the line somehow so people don’t always have to get out of the train for a the zoo when they don’t really want to. If they could extend the track towards the old Terrance area it could easily loop back on itself through some ‘set pieces’ etc.
 
Wilko said:
Does Thomas Land really need another extension? My kids love it and there’s a vast amount of rides already. As the parks becoming fully ‘family friendly’ it would make sense to offer something completely new rather than more Thomas in my opinion. It’s a great area, but it doesn’t need to expand any more in to other areas of the park.

The only thing I would do would be to perhaps loop the line somehow so people don’t always have to get out of the train for a the zoo when they don’t really want to. If they could extend the track towards the old Terrance area it could easily loop back on itself through some ‘set pieces’ etc.
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The only thing is the age situation with the new aeg they would probably get told to expand and aeg area
 
There’s no way an IP should be dictating how big a parks area should be. They might say replace a few rides or refresh them, but you can’t have them dictating everything surely. I mean, what if they insisted on using the Pirates building for Thomas, that would be awful for the park PR wise from anyone who doesn’t like Thomas
 
I think Thomas Land is big enough :)
There are other ways to create family friendly experiences without the use of an IP (See Vikings as a great example)

Confirming the above too, an IP can dictate how you use their creations/content in your attraction as it must remain "on brand" to them - but they can't tell you to expand / do more with them :) At the start of an agreement they sign a contract which pretty much would say "We will use your stuff in our attraction, but will contact you to plan and put it in so you like it."
(Not exact wording)

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The park needs to take a year or so to work on smaller refreshes and micro-investments, after all - this year was marketed as their biggest year ever. They will need to do some smaller things after this to work funding back up
 
How busy the park been has proven going down the family market has been a good choice for the looping group. On Saturday the main car park was full and half of the Vikings and the new coaster ain’t even opened yet so the money the park can make this year will go towards the next big investment in 2026 and the park crying out for a big dark ride.
 
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