Gold Rush (New for 2024)

[RustyShackleford]

Posting from the queue, bit unfortunate for the press launch but a significant downtime for the ride which got stuck on the first lift hill.
Id been round once (third row on first full train) lots of fun.
good entertainment offering which kept the crowd going, but it’s hard to ignore the reason why folks are here while it’s going on.
a fair few folks are leaving as bedtimes approach. It’s a bit of a shame and hope that the focus remains on this very fun ride.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I was very impressed with how the park did the media day with the live music, cowboys/girls, horses, free food and drink and unlimited goes for 2 hours on gold rush.

 

[RustyShackleford]

 

[Trooper Looper]

View attachment 6456View attachment 6457View attachment 6458

Totally not ai....

 

[TjChapperz]

Doesn't look like they managed to finish the top of the station unless that is it but was hoping for more

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

Lift hills and thrills is the 1st to upload a video

Even they spoke about the unfinished station. Maybe they will add more tomorrow. Loving the theming around the station building

 

[RustyShackleford]

WERE U INVITED

I was lucky in the passholder draw .

 

[RustyShackleford]

Ok, just to concentrate on the ride rather than the associated event....

There has clearly been a lot of thought been put into this ride, in many ways despite the other significant investment in the park over the past few years this is the real statement piece of the Looping's Group flagship resort.

Now because I had an excited 8 year old wanting to be amongst the first on our trip through the queue line was conducted at pace, so I reserve the right to change my mind after conducting a trip during normal operations. The aesthetic of mines / western lodging etc was simple but very effective. Having indoor and murky sections and outdoor brightly coloured sections provided good contrast.

The queue line was long, and it is interesting that fast pass and easy access moves to a parallel line with the main queue. It's the first joined up and integrated queue line I can think of in the park.

Now again we moved through the loading stage quite quickly. You approach an external gate and then you are directed (measured if necessary) towards the loading gates.

WE were asked not to lower the lap restraints but we have been well trained this season by trips on the wave so this wasn't an issue for us. Other excited patrons found it more challenging!

The previous train departs the station and ours pulls in. Three rows of two seats in each car. When the train pulled in some restraints popped up, others didn't. A little downwards pressure caused them to spring up. We were on the back row of the first car, I'm pretty tall (6'3" on a good day) and as I sat I realised that I was a little large for the moulded seat, not enough to endanger my future use of the ride just that unless you are svelte its not a forgiving fit.

The ride ops came and pushed the bars in, but it took three attempts before they were all ok with letting us go. Again, the wave opening has trained us for this.

And then we left the station. (Spoilers following) ... I believe we were on cycle a. My logic to this is that someone who said they were on cycle b described different things.

We went round and into a building which had a lot of smoke and a narrative tape. We were then launched backwards. with significant force, and reversed course. We then were propelled back forward and went back through the building which was now without illumination so was more tunnell like than before. We then came back towards the station and waited for the other train to depart to allow us to ingress.

Lots of folks detailed how smooth they found the ride. Certainly the backwards acceleration was smooth but there were a couple of jolts along the way that did startle a little.

We didn't get to ride again for reasons that will probably be covered elsewhere which was a shame as I can see this ride being a big hit and with large queues for the summer season and so I am unsure how many rides we will undertake until then probably taking advantage of the queue space this ride will open up.

Its a good addition to the park that wants to be a great family venue. It's super fun.

 

[Elise]

Doesn't look like they managed to finish the top of the station unless that is it but was hoping for more

This is still being worked on

--

Safe to say me and Sam really enjoyed Gold Rush. Its a ride which a lot of people will enjoy and is quite lengthily with over 2 minutes of ride time. There are two cycles but both cycles use the whole track so you don't miss a second. Its fun, thrilling and really quite quick sending you here there and everywhere. I loved the shed scene (as I will call it) too - great use of effects and I think this ride will be a hit with a lot of people.

The Construction walls are down and the area feels so much more open. Its really lovely to see and compliments Vikings & Frontier Falls really well as a new addition. I just hope people look after this and don't mess up the beautiful theming & queueline. Even the station and lights are fully themed. Yes some parts aren't fully done yet, but its mostly complete and really comes together well.

The extra atmosphere of the cowboys really added to it too - but that may feel better on another post.

There is also a test seat available outside of the ride for guests to try before riding as they can be a bit tight for larger bodied guests.

Unfortunately, due to a delay, we only did one ride with a single cycle , but I can't wait to get back and give it a try for the second.

We have a range of videos & photos to come so look out for that when we can.

Added some photos by Sam below.

 

[manwithstick]

I know people get invited to the PR event so probably don’t want to burn bridges with the park - but it’s surprising people aren’t calling out the reliability of the ride, breaking down on the lift hill within the first 30 mins of operations!

Doesn’t bode well for the opening!

 

[Elise]

Our GoldRush Vlog is here - it says everything I want to say so much better:

Enjoy cowboys!

 

[RustyShackleford]

I know people get invited to the PR event so probably don’t want to burn bridges with the park - but it’s surprising people aren’t calling out the reliability of the ride, breaking down on the lift hill within the first 30 mins of operations!

Doesn’t bode well for the opening!

Yeah, I'm sort of waiting for the mods to decide on opening a separate thread on the PR event to pass some thoughts on there.
I don't think its a matter of not wanting to be critical, although I do get the impression the park can be a little bit thin skinned to criticism, but as ever there are things that could be improved or things considered in a different way. DRayton is becoming a different kind of theme park, which means some of the standard conventions need to be reconsidered.

On the reliability aspect. I am fortunate that I was on the first full train of the wave when it opened to the public. I don't think there was another train out in the following 30 minutes then.

The whisper last night is that it was the ride controller that "pulled" the train as it was going up the lift hill after a signal about one of the restraints. How true this is I don't know but Ithink that an ultra cautious approach is understood by everyone.

 

[Elise]

I'm not sure how much benefit there is to making an event specific thread - its all relevant to the ride so I reckon it can stay here (else itll be a thread which goes dead pretty fast)

 

[manwithstick]

The whisper last night is that it was the ride controller that "pulled" the train as it was going up the lift hill after a signal about one of the restraints. How true this is I don't know but Ithink that an ultra cautious approach is understood by everyone.

All for a cautious approach. Just seemed to take a long time to recover once it stopped.

Did it open back up? A lot of the live streams ended at this point - I assumed you all had to sign documents that you would t talk about it as coverage I’ve seen so far don’t talk about a significant outage (all the PR attendees anyway - not necessarily the competition winners!)

 

[RustyShackleford]

I'm not sure how much benefit there is to making an event specific thread - its all relevant to the ride so I reckon it can stay here (else itll be a thread which goes dead pretty fast)

Fair enough.

So a few thoughts on the press event - bearing in mind I'm not press!

The entertainment standard was good, but there wasn't any info as to what the schedule was. I'll be honest, if we knew that the ride wasn;t going to be open until after 7 we wouldn't have turned up for the start at 5.30. The reason why everyone, well passholders, is there is for the ride; so to have such a long time where it isn't accessible is difficult.

Indeed folks started to drift away from the stage and moved towards the barriers wanting to get to the frint of the queue. Fair play to the entertainers they tried to get everyone back and managed it. There then was a narrative which involved the entertainers and a speech from Victoria Lynn.

She also had a part to play in the storyline of the evening. However - and I know that I may be at risk at stepping on some powerful toes here - why? Wouldn't it have been far better to have the fat controllers american cousin Sheriff "Ten Gallon" Hatt playing the part of the mayor?.

You really felt though for all concerned when the ride went down. But it was really frustrating to hear the standard messages that the maintenance team were on their way....where else would they be? Why aren't they there?

And it was pretty clear that they were going to need to evacuate as everytime I have seen an outage at the park it needs to have a run through. And yet it was a really long time before operatives with the harnesses etc appeared.

There are sometimes circumstances that are beyond your control, and this is bad luck...but these other details are in your gift and should just be done.

Messages from previous events like this are that folks got multiple rides, and that was the hope here. Indeed staff memebrs who seemed to have got access the day before reported the same. However you would have done well to get three rides even if there weren't an outtage which seems fine, but when one of the biggest selling points is the different configurations of the ride I don't know why there wasn't the time allocated to see that this would have been expereinced by everyone who wanted to.

Might remember more later.

But lets not take anything away, these are things that can be done better. There was so much which was done very well indeed.

 

[RustyShackleford]

All for a cautious approach. Just seemed to take a long time to recover once it stopped.

Did it open back up? A lot of the live streams ended at this point - I assumed you all had to sign documents that you would t talk about it as coverage I’ve seen so far don’t talk about a significant outage (all the PR attendees anyway - not necessarily the competition winners!)

I didn't have to sign anything as I wasn't press. Just a lucky passholder.

It did take a long time to reopen...see above post. It was noticeable the number of folks that left the queue at 8.30 which was the scheduled event end time. You sensed that was bed time or an extended bed time.

The numbers leaving the queue sort of kept us in it as it allowed us to be closer to a ride when it restarted. But little lad had had enough come 8.50 and the report came through they hoped to be back open in 20 minutes.

We were lucky as we'd went round once, but almost all ahead of us hadn't - the only delay in us rejoingin the queue was to get an ice cream.

 

[Ollie]

This is still being worked on

--

Safe to say me and Sam really enjoyed Gold Rush. Its a ride which a lot of people will enjoy and is quite lengthily with over 2 minutes of ride time. There are two cycles but both cycles use the whole track so you don't miss a second. Its fun, thrilling and really quite quick sending you here there and everywhere. I loved the shed scene (as I will call it) too - great use of effects and I think this ride will be a hit with a lot of people.

The Construction walls are down and the area feels so much more open. Its really lovely to see and compliments Vikings & Frontier Falls really well as a new addition. I just hope people look after this and don't mess up the beautiful theming & queueline. Even the station and lights are fully themed. Yes some parts aren't fully done yet, but its mostly complete and really comes together well.

The extra atmosphere of the cowboys really added to it too - but that may feel better on another post.

There is also a test seat available outside of the ride for guests to try before riding as they can be a bit tight for larger bodied guests.

Unfortunately, due to a delay, we only did one ride with a single cycle , but I can't wait to get back and give it a try for the second.

We have a range of videos & photos to come so look out for that when we can.

Added some photos by Sam below.

Do you think the cowboys and horses will be there tomorrow, aswell as the singers and maybe victoria lynn doing a speech? I sure hope so

 

[Elise]

All for a cautious approach. Just seemed to take a long time to recover once it stopped.

Did it open back up? A lot of the live streams ended at this point - I assumed you all had to sign documents that you would t talk about it as coverage I’ve seen so far don’t talk about a significant outage (all the PR attendees anyway - not necessarily the competition winners!)

The ride did reopen yes (it also stayed open later so all waiting got their rides in). I won't dwell on it for too long but I was at the air gates when the ride had its delay. Managed one ride on it which was nice but would have been great to get a second to try for that other cycle.

The entertainment was a nice touch - I didn't expect any of it but it was a really nice addition. The ride opened for the later half of the evening with the first half allowing guests to enjoy the entertainment and food on offer.

Do you think the cowboys and horses will be there tomorrow, aswell as the singers and maybe victoria lynn doing a speech? I sure hope so

I don't know unfortunately - It would be nice if they are thats for sure (Though with them live streaming the event, I wouldn't be able to guarentee)

All in, I had a really good night, despite the ride's unfortunate delay. I do recommend it to anyone who is considering riding.
Another thing to add - the ride has got a test seat before you ride as the experience may not be comfortable or suitable for all bodies.
There is also a max height restriction of 1.96m

 

[Elise]

Ride signage and test seat -

 

[Ollie]

The ride did reopen yes (it also stayed open later so all waiting got their rides in). I won't dwell on it for too long but I was at the air gates when the ride had its delay. Managed one ride on it which was nice but would have been great to get a second to try for that other cycle.

The entertainment was a nice touch - I didn't expect any of it but it was a really nice addition. The ride opened for the later half of the evening with the first half allowing guests to enjoy the entertainment and food on offer.


I don't know unfortunately - It would be nice if they are thats for sure (Though with them live streaming the event, I wouldn't be able to guarentee)

All in, I had a really good night, despite the ride's unfortunate delay. I do recommend it to anyone who is considering riding.
Another thing to add - the ride has got a test seat before you ride as the experience may not be comfortable or suitable for all bodies.
There is also a max height restriction of 1.96m

I really hope so, if they don’t I know there will be a lot of backlash like people saying about having to pay for the hotel to get in stuff etc. I really hope its like it tomorrow, i’d be really disappointed otherwise.