Drayton Manor tips?

[PlaymobilPirate]

Thinking about driving down to Drayton Manor on Thursday and staying in a hotel nearby.

Will 1 day in the park be enough?? Any top tips? Ds is 7

we did it in one day. the main thing i would say is to bring snacks and maybe a picnic (did it a few years ago and remember regretting not bringing snacks ) all the best x

Leave the wet roller coaster to the end. We did it first thing and froze for the rest of the day. Our clothes and shoes were soaked!

Buy your tickets online beforehand at a slightly cheaper price.

You can definitely do it all in a day, it's not a huge theme park. In all honesty though, I went last year and I was shocked at how run down the place looks. I'm sure the kids never notice so your DC will love it, but I was very unimpressed. Quite a few ride closures also.

If there’s just the two of you going, one day will be enough if you make the most of your time there.
Aim to enter the park when it opens at 9.30am. The park claims that the rides don’t open until 10.30am, but we’ve often seen Thomas Land open earlier than this – with no queues for the most popular rides. Even if this isn’t the case, the zoo is open, so you can have a quick look around before getting into line for some of the popular rides.
The most popular rides can build up large queues from mid-morning onwards. Don’t despair, though – the queues start to die down towards the end of the day, and you can spend the busy afternoon period riding higher-capacity rides such as Pirate Adventure or taking a look around the zoo.
A fact that is often overlooked by many visitors is that the stated closing time for each ride actually refers to its queue. So if a ride is due to close at 18.00, you can still join the queue at 17.59.
Even in Thomas Land, there are rides for all ages. For bigger kids, there’s the faster Troublesome Trucks and Toby’s Tram Express. Next to Terence’s Driving School is the Discover Thomas Exhibition which has the original set from the Thomas and Friends TV series. Thomas Land is much quieter in the late afternoon. Either a lot of the younger children have gone home or are having naps in their buggy.
The 4D cinema is well worth a visit, with regular mini movies on every half an hour or so, which is great for fidgety little ones and gives you a chance to put your feet up for a minute too.
Take a picnic, as there's benches around the lake and another spot where you can grab a bite to eat and save some pennies. If it’s raining there are a couple of under-cover picnic areas but they are hard to find - one area is located behind the pizza place, at the entrance of the zoo, turn slightly right and there are grass topped parasols with picnic tables under; the other place is behind the entrance to the Shockwave ride, behind the Chicken Diner.

If there’s just the two of you going, one day will be enough if you make the most of your time there.
Aim to enter the park when it opens at 9.30am. The park claims that the rides don’t open until 10.30am, but we’ve often seen Thomas Land open earlier than this – with no queues for the most popular rides. Even if this isn’t the case, the zoo is open, so you can have a quick look around before getting into line for some of the popular rides.
The most popular rides can build up large queues from mid-morning onwards. Don’t despair, though – the queues start to die down towards the end of the day, and you can spend the busy afternoon period riding higher-capacity rides such as Pirate Adventure or taking a look around the zoo.
A fact that is often overlooked by many visitors is that the stated closing time for each ride actually refers to its queue. So if a ride is due to close at 18.00, you can still join the queue at 17.59.
Even in Thomas Land, there are rides for all ages. For bigger kids, there’s the faster Troublesome Trucks and Toby’s Tram Express. Next to Terence’s Driving School is the Discover Thomas Exhibition which has the original set from the Thomas and Friends TV series. Thomas Land is much quieter in the late afternoon. Either a lot of the younger children have gone home or are having naps in their buggy.
The 4D cinema is well worth a visit, with regular mini movies on every half an hour or so, which is great for fidgety little ones and gives you a chance to put your feet up for a minute too.
Take a picnic, as there's benches around the lake and another spot where you can grab a bite to eat and save some pennies. If it’s raining there are a couple of under-cover picnic areas but they are hard to find - one area is located behind the pizza place, at the entrance of the zoo, turn slightly right and there are grass topped parasols with picnic tables under; the other place is behind the entrance to the Shockwave ride, behind the Chicken Diner.

1 day is plenty. We went when our kids were about the same age as yours, we went to Cadburyworld one day, stayed over and went to Drayton the following day. You get absolutely soaked on the log flume though so time your ride carefully.