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Drayton Manor Theme Park celebrates one millionth Visitor

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UK park reaches key milestone in memorable year of successes

In a year which has turned out to be a phenomenal success, the UK’s Drayton Manor Theme Park passed a major milestone in mid-October when the one millionth visitor in 2008 was welcomed to the Staffordshire venue.

Guest Mark Dodsworth visited the park from Nottingham with his family, wife Kaley and children Laura and Nathan, as a half term treat and was delighted to find he was the millionth visitor this season. To celebrate, the family was presented with a season pass for 2009, allowing them unlimited access to the park for the whole year.“We are delighted to have welcomed our millionth visitor during October, ” commented Drayton Manor’s general manager park operations Edward Pawley.
 
“This is a tremendous achievement at a time when everyone is suffering so much from the poor economic climate and is a great reflection on what we have to offer the public here at Drayton.

“Our major new area for 2008, Thomas Land, has obviously played a huge part in increasing our visitor numbers this year and has also been largely responsible for attracting guests from literally throughout the UK. But it is a combination of all the attractions, live shows, special events and other facilities we offer that has also helped us achieve this milestone. And of course we still have our winter opening to look forward to which we are confident will add significantly more to this year’s overall visitor numbers.”

In addition to the impressive increase in attendance figures for 2008, which are up by a staggering 40 per cent on 2007, Drayton Manor is also celebrating an equally impressive increase in secondary spend on the park, which covers retail, catering and ride photography sales. This figure is up by 37 per cent which, coupled with the increase in visitors, caps off one of the most successful season’s in the park’s history.

Having begun its winter season with the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party during the latter half of October and into November, which included the Halloween Spooky Spectacular live show, Drayton Manor also held its annual Fireworks Spectacular over the first weekend of November. This will be followed on November 22nd. by the start of Drayton’s Magical Christmas which will see the opening of a transformed, festive themed Thomas Land and the commencement of a brand new live show, Santa’s Magical Adventure, in the Big Top Theatre.

All the rides and attractions within Thomas Land, carefully created in partnership with rights owner HIT Entertainment, will be available during this period in addition to some festive ‘extras’ such as reindeer, Santa and his helpers and real snow, to create a very special atmosphere in what has been a massively popular area of the park throughout 2008. Singers will perform to the crowds too and the Fat Controller will of course be meeting and greeting guests as usual. All visitors nine years old and under will also receive a Christmas present to round off their visit.

Santa’s Magical Adventure, produced by Hamagination’s Paul Hammond, will feature the story of a young girl who has written a very long Christmas list for Santa, but who ends up being taken on a journey to discover the real meaning of Christmas. An ice rink will be centre stage in the show which will also feature white miniature Shetland ponies accompanied by performers, professional ice skaters and dancers. The show lasts for 30 minutes and culminates in all children nine years old and under receiving a present from Santa.

“It is a real Christmas pageant, ” commented Paul Hammond, “with an ice rink in the centre of the Big Top Theatre and lots of features to make it a true Christmas spectacular. There will be a snow machine to add a further magical touch and we’ll be using special heaters to keep the audience warm!”

For further information please contact:

Helen Pawley-Tuft, General Manager Central Services, Drayton Manor Theme Park
Tel. +44 (0) 1827 252400. Email helenpawley@draytonmanor.co.uk

Andrew Mellor, leisure industry media and PR, Drayton Manor Theme Park
Tel. +44 (0) 1743 872200. Email andrewfmellor@aol.com

See also:
A ‘magical Christmas’ in store for Drayton Manor guests during 2008 winter opening – New live show and Thomas Land ‘in the snow’ are Xmas highlights
Red Star to debut The Curse of Skull Rock at Drayton Manor Theme Park
UK based 4D effects theatre and simulation attraction specialist Simworx has announced the sale of a 4D effects theatre to Drayton Manor Theme Park, one of the largest parks in the UK.

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