Draytonmanor Reviews 

My daughter went with her friend and her family today, my daughter is a bigger girl. They went to go onto Loki and two workers called Connor and Mitch made fun of my daughter, over aggregating trying to pull the restraint/ bar down and then told her to get off jumping up and down to pull it! Even though bigger adults had been on the ride before them! It’s left my daughter feeling terrible and ruined her day!! She’s 15!!!! Picking on a child
Her friends mom rang to complain too as she wasn’t there and was furious when told what happened

Drayton Manor Resort

We recently booked a hotel stay with 2 days’ access to the theme park, and unfortunately the overall experience was extremely disappointing. The only positive throughout our stay was the friendliness and attitude of the hotel staff, who were genuinely welcoming and helpful.

Hotel Stay
The hotel itself fell well below expectations. Our room was dirty on arrival, and the bathroom was particularly unpleasant, with hair visible throughout. The room also had a strong smell of stale cigarette smoke, which made it uncomfortable to relax.
The dining experience was equally disappointing. Both dinner and breakfast were of poor quality, with food often served cold. The dining room itself was uncomfortably cold due to excessive air conditioning. We even asked for it to be adjusted while we were eating, but somehow it ended up feeling even colder.
While the staff were polite and did their best, the overall cleanliness and food quality need serious improvement.

Theme Park

Day 1

Day 1 started with high expectations as the weather was great, but it quickly became clear that the park was not prepared for the number of visitors. We overheard a staff member mention it was the busiest day of the year so far, which perhaps explains—but does not excuse—the issues we experienced.
A large number of rides were either not operational or suffered frequent technical malfunctions. On multiple occasions, we queued for over an hour only for the ride to break down, forcing us to leave and start again elsewhere.
We also purchased Fast Passes, which turned out to be a complete waste of money. Due to the ride closures and poor organisation, using Fast Pass often took just as long—or even longer—than the regular queue. There was no clear structure for how Fast Pass was managed. Sometimes it was split evenly with regular guests, while on one occasion, two full ride cycles were given entirely to non-Fast Pass customers.
The day ended in frustration, although we remained hopeful that Day 2 would be better, especially with the weather forecast being less busy.

Day 2

Unfortunately, Day 2 was even worse.
Even more rides were unavailable, and while queue times were slightly shorter in some cases, the overall experience was still poor. Many rides were running at reduced capacity, with seats left empty for no clear reason, which only increased waiting times unnecessarily.
We had also purchased a photo package (4 photos). We managed to get 2 photos on Day 1 and planned to use the remaining on Day 2. However, the photo system completely went down. Facial recognition didn’t work, and no photos could be printed—meaning we paid for something we ultimately didn’t receive.
To make matters worse, around lunchtime we queued for about 20 minutes at one restaurant, only to be told that card payments were not working. We tried another restaurant, queued again for another 20 minutes, and were told the same issue was affecting the entire site. At that point, with no way to get food or drinks and mounting frustration, we decided to leave the park early.

Overall
This was a very disappointing experience from start to finish. While the hotel staff were friendly and did their best, the poor cleanliness, low-quality food, and major operational failures in the park completely overshadowed any positives.
• Hotel: Dirty rooms, poor food, but great staff
• Day 1: Poor ride availability and queue management
• Day 2: Even worse – ride closures, system failures, and no food service
We would not return and would not recommend this experience to others.

We attended the opening weekend and all I can say everything felt unprepared. Only 2 of the thrill rides were open, even when their website said more was open. The rides that were open were experiencing tech issues. 2 occasions we got to the front of the queue for tech issues to happen. This in turn meant big queues on the rides that were open. Everything seemed outdated (other theme parks have apps with wait times or signs at the ride advising what the queue times were but Drayton Manor dont have this). The poor staff you could tell were getting a lot of backlash from unhappy guests due to the shambles that was caused by upper management. Testing wasnt conducted until open times (again very poor management). It was not worth the travelling or the cost of the tickets when major competitors tickets are roughly the same price.

Came to Drayton Manor today for my daughters birthday, as I have done many times over the years.
Today, no big rides are open, we have been on the gold rush after queuing 1.5 hrs, the pirate ship and the jolly bucccaneer.
I am so disappointed, looks as if Drayton Manor is struggling and will no doubt be closed down soon.

Very poor experience. Paid for a stay and play reservation. On entry we spent 4-5 hours queuing only to get on 2 rides all day. 3 of the rides we queued for broke down whilst we were queueing for them and resulted in us not being able to go on the rides. Feedback sent to guest relations over 2 weeks in an email and still no reply despite an email chasing a response. AVOID

This place likes to take your money even though you didn’t attend the park and the customer service is poor won’t ever be booking again

We were completely scammed by the misleading advertisement of this company. Arrived half term to enjoy the day with two teenagers only to find that no attractions were actually open apart from Thomas land and the Zoo. The website is deliberately misleading and i feel this has been a deliberate attempt by the company to scam individuals. Over 50 families were left in the same position as us, travelling miles to a park with no attractions open. The manager Ollie was rude, unhelpful and to be frank totally out of his depth as the role of manager. He advised me that if i wasnt happy then to just leave the park, totally unsympathetic and very ignorant. The park when we arrived also looked very run down and in need of some repair. I would avoid this theme park at all costs and spend your money elsewhere.

Do not bother ! Awful experience waste of time and money.
Rude staff
Razor blade found on floor outside
No clarity on booking

We have booked tickets for tomorrow (19th Feb), only to later see that the majority of the park is closed. Only Thomas land being open.

This was not made clear at all, at the time of booking online. There were no messages or warnings saying this.

I have also read reviews online and on Trust Pilot of people doing exactly the same, and queues of people at your guest services this week complaining, as they had driven for their visit only to find none of the rides open. With staff stating they have had the same issue all week. So this is clearly an issue on your part of not making this clear at time of booking.

This is unacceptable. I have also tried to move the date of our visit to another future date instead, with all dates other than this week, in red, meaning they are unavailable to move our booking to… why is this?

I have tried looking for a phone number to call and apparently you have absolutely no customer service team to speak to, with everything done online, with no guarantee of a reply for up to 10 days?!

Not sure how I am supposed to sort out issue out before tomorrow with no way of contacting you??

We drove about 3 hours including traffic to stay at a hotel
About 30 mins from Drayton manor. The next day we went and literally nothing was open. Only Thomas land and even some of those were under maintenance. Apparently during half term only Thomas land is open. The rest of the park is closed. When booking this it was not clear on the website. If I was the only one that got it wrong then that would be my mistake. However for at least 2 hours streams and streams of people went to the guest services to complain as they didn’t realise the whole park was going to be closed. Not only that but even staff were saying it was the same problem the day before. So surely this becomes a Drayton manor problem for not making it clear on the website that only Thomas land is open for half term. Taking to them is like talking to a brick wall. I feel like they scammed us as we paid to go but left an hour later to make the 2 hour drive home.

We drove two hours for my son's 2nd birthday to find the park closed. No email to warn that the park would be closed. We asked why this was the case and they claimed it was due to bad weather but it was a sunny day. Another 2 hour drive back for my two year old on his birthday.

I spoke to a lady named Karen from Drayton technical support and she couldn't of been more helpful, patient and polite. She spoke me through how to set the times for the heating to come on using my programmable RF 901 roomstat and I couldn't be more greatful. Thank you Karen

Visited a few weeks back with my work colleagues and was disappointed at the service. The rides felt a little dated and rundown. I did however enjoy wondering through the zoo.

I had an amazing day at Drayton manor. I was very fortunate to plan my day on the least busy day at the theme park all year, there were weather warnings out as well as it being a weekday in September so there were less than 600 individuals in the park. Due to this, I was able to go on every coaster 3 times, including the wave, I also went on Loki and Thor 3 times. I went on every single ride in the park and all of the staff were amazing, welcoming, friendly and funny!

Because of the amazing atmosphere between guests and the staff the day was great, I felt confident to go on many rides by myself and even at the front of every coaster (some rides I had entirely to myself!) due to the weather the only rides that were closed were slepnir, river rapids, air racers and bounty pirate ship, on the day the website didn’t detail that all these rides would be closed so I was a little disappointed however the day was so amazing regardless.

I went again and got to go on The Wave 10 times, Maelstorm like 20 times, Air racer 4 times, Pirate ship 4 times, Loki 2 times and the rest atleast once :3 Going in December seems to be the best time to go so you can do as many rides as possible, just wish I had friends ago with, as both times I’ve been to this park I’ve had to go on most rides alone haha. Staff at the park are always really friendly, honestly the best staff I’ve had the experience with at any theme park yet they’re always so bright and cheery!

Unfortunately, I had a bad experience with the staff online who refused to refund my friend’s ticket whom was beaten up just the day previously as the store he was working in got robbed so he obviously couldn’t come, even with the crime number they were firm no refunds under any circumstances. Which is just frankly, unfair, there’s things that happen in life and this wasn’t one that could’ve been prevented.

It has potential but very badly organised. Visited on a fairly quiet day but still massive que to get in, and big ques on all rides due to very poor organisation, broken seats limiting riders and far too many fast passes. Waited 20 mins in one que which didn't move at all because of the number of fast pass people waiting. Won't be returning.

I bought tickets on 31.7.25 to attend on 1.8.25 with my 2 children to make the most of our last day of summer holiday off together. Drayton manor were advertising free return tickets to re-attend in Sept / Oct. Blue light card were advertising a 7% discount PLUS free return tickets.

Once September came round and I hadn’t been sent my free return tickets, I queried this with Drayton Manor guest services. I was advised that due to using a discount code (which equated to £6.97 discount), I was not entitled to free return tickets. This was not at all obvious when booking and completely against Blue Lights clear advertisements that both discount and free return tickets were applicable. The guest services team sent generic AI style responses to my complaint and failed to address the Blue Light advert that I had a screenshot of. After some back and forth, as a “gesture of goodwill” I was eventually offered 25% discount on tickets to attend within the remainder of the main season.

After I have escalated my complaint to the managing director I have now received the free return codes.

Taking to Social Media in hope to get a response...

We visited on the 1st of August purchased tickets via official website, we also paid extra for the Rainy day return. I'm still waiting to receive all of our free return tickets as they have only sent me one when I purchased five & only have until the end of the month to use them....
I paid over £100 for tickets and also purchased the rainy day returns, but I never received all of them. I’ve sent numerous emails trying to resolve this and still haven’t had the issue properly addressed. To make matters worse, there is no phone number available to call and speak to someone directly, which makes the whole situation even more frustrating.

It feels unacceptable to pay for a service and not actually be provided with it.

I have also emailed a few times now but no response.

Drayton Manor

Travis was operating the rides in the pirate section. He engaged with everyone on the ride by singing and getting everyone making pirate sounds. It was really lovely to see someone so passionate about his job. He went above and beyond to make sure everyone had a great time.

We visited expecting to make the most of the free return ticket promotion, only to be told it was invalid because we used a Kids Pass discount – a discount of just £13.84, which is less than the price of the toddler ticket. We still paid well over £130, so to be denied the return ticket over such a minimal discount feels like a total rip-off.
Nowhere during the booking process was it made clear or obvious that using a Kids Pass would void the return ticket offer. The terms and conditions are buried in small print and are deliberately confusing – clearly designed to catch people out. For families like ours trying to make these kinds of attractions affordable, it's a disgrace.
To make matters worse, several of the rides were closed on the day of our visit. We accepted it at the time, thinking at least the return visit would make up for it – but no, that’s been taken from us too. It’s honestly insulting.
You’ve made it unnecessarily difficult for families – especially those with children like ours – to enjoy what should have been a special day. A huge disappointment and a complete joke of a promotion. We won’t be coming back, and we’ll be warning others too.

Went to Drayton Manor and rides kept breaking down, I spent 3 hours waiting for a ride which caused my husband to become unwell due to him being diabetic and it was a very hot day, so he had to miss going on the ride because he had to stabilise his blood sugars. When I purchased my tickets it stated they we would get free return tickets but there is no information on this, when do we get these tickets ?. Normally Drayton Manor is a fab place to go but I was very unimpressed with my latest visit.