Picsolve Enter Administration

[AvalancheAttractionsUK]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1258398951205752833

Drayton Manor’s on-ride photo company (Picsolve) have entered administration. Whilst the administrators are looking for a buyer, this could have a massive effect on the income of not only Drayton Manor, but all theme parks that work with Picsolve. Not to forget all those who may loose their jobs too, which will be very sad for all involved.

Let’s say an on-ride photo in a paper frame costs £10 (like my Shockwave one did last year), you have 10 people on a train, and they all buy that. That’s £100 per ride just from the framed photos. Then some could buy more than one option (e.g. a magnet) so that’s an additional £5. I’d imagine these on-ride photos make thousands of pounds a day, and I’d imagine a good percentage of a park’s income comes from on-ride photos.

I’d imagine the parks effected could do it by themselves, but it’s probably much simpler getting a large company with experience to do it. I do also wonder what the future of The Buffalo’s new photo booth is.

To conclude, I do hope that Picsolve can be saved, considering it’s a massive money maker at all theme parks that use it. But with the pandemic changing the way everyone uses their money, would it be a worthy investment now?

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I have never brought a ride photo from Drayton Manor but I brought a ride photo from Nemesis in 1996 and the final ride of corkscrew in 2008. I think digital downloads is where the money is now and they would sell lots more if they sold them for £5 each and can be send straight to your email or phone. Or pay a yearly fee and get unlimited photos for a year.

 

[Theme Park Musician]

I have never brought a ride photo from Drayton Manor but I brought a ride photo from Nemesis in 1996 and the final ride of corkscrew in 2008. I think digital downloads is where the money is now and they would sell lots more if they sold them for £5 each and can be send straight to your email or phone. Or pay a yearly fee and get unlimited photos for a year.

I don't do that much photo buying either. Usually only if it's an anniversary or closing or opening of a ride.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I liked the memory maker Disney offer where all photos are linked to your account and you can download them all for free Disney took over 100 pics over the 2 weeks.

 

[remlap]

I liked the memory maker Disney offer where all photos are linked to your account and you can download them all for free Disney took over 100 pics over the 2 weeks.

Yeah the Disney offer is good, but that's only for people from the UK buying tickets that get it free, ordinarily you have to pay $199 for photo pass for 2 weeks. It would be nice if Drayton allowed something similar (but much cheaper given the limited ride photos), digital is the way forward, although they have massively improved instant prints, they're still prone to fading quite quickly.

Saying that I've bought a fair few over the years from Drayton. We always buy the Santa photos and I've bought the odd accelerator and troublesome trucks one where my son's doing something amusing.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I wonder if they got to fit the camera up on the buffalo.

 

[Anth0ny]

Terrible news about Picsolve, my thoughts with all of the Picsolve Staff at parks across the UK. I must say I am shocked given how prominent the company is at most UK Theme Parks, but it shows how changing times and customer trends has an impact.

It does make me wonder what will happen with the photo booths at Drayton Manor, the rides with photo booths as far as I am aware are:

• Shockwave
• Stormforce 10
• Splash Canyon
• Troublesome Trucks
• Winston's Tours
• Accelerator
• Buffalo
• Apocalypse

I wonder if there is another third party provider who could take over the staffing and booths themselves, and whether the staff are employees of Drayton Manor or Picsolve? They wear the same uniform and they wear the same at other parks so maybe they are employed by the parks rather than Picsolve, and Picsolve are just a provider?

I think maybe Drayton Manor own the cameras, printers and screens given that I think the employees are employed by the parks, also because the camera infrastructure and photo booths look like integral parts of the rides. Maybe they could operate this in house, but if this is unprofitable like the demise of Picsolve suggests, could this be the end of on-ride photos at Drayton Manor?

Personally I'd love to see some sort of photopass and digital photpasses like seen at the Merlin Parks (maybe included with the Ultimate Pass?) - I feel like this would be popular, especially if bundled with photos taken around the park with the roaming photographers?

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I have never brought a Drayton Manor photo but that’s down to the price and how often we go on the rides. Like Buffalo I got selfies on that ride just from my own phone and the Santa photo last year was awful and 2 far away. It was worth the price.