Draytonmanor Reviews 

My son was so excited about going here on a school trip but was disappointed as he didnt get to go on any of the rides that he wanted because it was too busy. He queued for 40.minutes for a ride only to be told by staff that there was delay and then he had to go. He got on 3 rides which weren't great. Total waste of money.

So this place was sooooo busy and the lines were huge for rides that weren’t too thrilling if I’m being completely honest also in the queue for some rides they had no order about them and it was just people barging their way through the line of huddled people and the staff were nice enough but on a big drink shop there was only one guy and tonnes of wasps in there which was awful and the rides kept breaking down as gold rush got closed and the accelerator had a few delays and storm force 10 was shut for a bit as it was “ too cold “ but it was over 25 degrees Celsius and in 6 hours I only got on two rides which were the wave and the swings in the water section so it was ridiculously busy and not worth 35 quid each person for a school trip and I only gave this 2 stars because the wave was brilliant and the toilets were decent but overall it was disappointing for me☹️.

our visit to Drayton Manor on 9 July 2026 to celebrate my son’s 8th birthday.

My son is autistic and very rarely leaves the house due to his additional needs. After months of saving, we chose Drayton Manor because it was somewhere he had been looking forward to visiting for a long time. Unfortunately, the entire experience was extremely disappointing and distressing for our family, 4 adults and 2, children all very disappointed.

Before our visit, we checked your policy regarding carers and were informed that my husband and I, as our son’s carers, would not need to pay for entry. However, upon arrival we were refused complimentary carer admission and were told we had to purchase full-price tickets. This was both unexpected and upsetting, particularly after we had travelled approximately four hours each way, making an eight-hour round trip.

Once inside the park, the situation only worsened. The queues for rides were around 45 minutes long. On two separate occasions we waited in the queue for approximately 45 minutes, only to be told that the ride had closed due to technical problems and everyone was asked to leave the queue. This was incredibly frustrating, especially for an autistic child who finds waiting and sudden changes to expectations extremely difficult to cope with.

The park also appeared to be far beyond a comfortable capacity, with a very large number of school groups visiting at the same time as members of the public. The volume of visitors made it almost impossible to access the attractions. We only managed to go on two children’s rides throughout the entire day despite paying full admission prices.

Our experience with the catering facilities was equally unacceptable. We ordered lunch, but the order was incorrect and the food was cold. We returned it three times, yet it was still not corrected. In the end, we left without eating because the food was not fit to eat.

The impact on our son was heartbreaking. He had been counting down to his birthday trip for weeks and was so excited to visit Drayton Manor. Instead, he became overwhelmed, upset and cried for the entire journey home. As parents, it was devastating to see what should have been a special birthday become such a distressing experience.

I do not recommend EVER!! I will never be coming back! The place is awful! I’d avoid at all costs!!!!

On arrival all Disable Parking was taken by Non Disabled Drivers. When I complained I was told it was first come and it wasn’t monitored.
The main toilet was out of order. So huge queues at the next toilet. Several children had accidents whilst waiting.
Many adults stood in the ride queues and waited for children to be passed over the barriers to the front of the queue. Then after that ride passed to the other adult on another ride. Many people complained to the ride operators who didn’t even engage in conversation. When I complained in a letter I was told that I should have complained to a security person. There is no notice about this in the park and I have no idea where the security office is located.
The response from my complaint was that I had to pay again and they would give me a small discount. My children had 3 rides in Thomas Land over the whole day and cost the family £180. I have no confidence that any of the problems would be addressed. So obviously I don’t intend to pay again for the same miserable day.

I visited in may bank holiday I have a nimbus card and was told by multiple staff members to use the ticket for me and +1 to enter and get a refund by emailing guest services I have been chasing this since may and multiple emails later no one has taken ownership and dealt with it I have been told many different things by different staff members in emails poor service and communication they take your money and refuse to give it back

the staff were rude and had disrespected us, especially the workers working in shops which were extremely unfair, and set unpleasant images of the park, for example this man who was working at the sweet shop next to the sovernear shop til shouted at these 3 12 year old girls trying to buy a drink, he creamed at them to get to the back of the que, even though they had been queuing for 20 minutes and proceeded to shout and point at them,resulting in him throwing their drinks at them and tell them to F off and dont come back lying. These girls were trumourtised from this experience, as a mother and a costumer I dont think this park is pleasant and they should choose their staff wisley and fire this man for making these girls feel uncomfortable and scared, when all they were trying to do was buy some sweets. Personally I also think the park was very dirty, the rides were not very good, so I think if you want to go to a theme park goes somewhere better, like Alton towers, chessington where the rides are good and the staff are nice.

Visited with my wife and two kids, and what should have been a great family day in very hot weather turned into one of the worst days out we've had.

The list feels endless, but to start with: There was no chilled water available anywhere we tried, and every outlet only had warm bottled water at the usual premium prices even in that heat.

The slush stand fobbed us off with "20 more minutes" three separate times across the day, and on the third return the same staff member was at the till drinking a slush herself. We also queued 40 minutes for an ice cream with only two staff serving.

Maelstrom ran at about 10 of its 32 seats all day with no explanation given, and two rides in Thomas Land both broke down when we got to near the front of the queue after 30 minute waits, one mechanical and the other when a staff member fell ill.

Then it reached a laughable point where the 4D Cinema, where we queued, were handed our glasses, were sat down and told to enjoy the show, then almost immediately (before the show started) told we'd have to leave instead because there was a technical fault, with the staff member's manner making it pretty clear this was a routine occurrence.

When I emailed the customer service team to complain afterwards I was told we should have raised everything on the day, across four different locations in a busy park, and the offer was clearly just a standard £20 per person discount on a future visit which felt insulting given what we actually paid for. Obviously, rejected it and we won't be returning so it's of no use to us.

If you've got young kids and you're planning to go on a busy day, just be aware that the rides break down often, the queues are long for everything, and when something goes wrong, there is no accountability and the recovery process is poor.

Won’t allow us to move our date one day earlier, can no longer attend. Would never give my money to them again and strongly recommend no one else does either. My Autistic child was really looking forward to coming and is now devastated. There are better theme parks and better customer services out there. Places like this will have to do better to compete with the likes of universal!

Very bad waited 1 hour 30 minutes to find out I need an adult, nothing said that on the sign of the ride I literally checked and I checked the app , oh wait did I forgot to mention they DONT have an app , bro it's 2026 and this is a ' major ' theme park ( well definitely was 6 years ago don't know about now) and there is absolutely no way to chekf queue times , the stupid billboards just say the rides are open don't mention anything about the wait time , Drayton also took down websites with queue times live , very very disappointed and the looping group are doing a terrible job at this , disappointed as this park is an hour away so I was thinking of buying passes , never mind as merlin do a better deal and I would rather wait an hour at Alton towers than wait 30 minutes at Drayton to find out I can't go 😂 I'm way over 1.5m height for reference and park is super run down , more than Alton towers 😂😂😂. They play k pop demon Hunter aswll which is just ragebaiting us. 0.5 stars from me mate

Went today to Thomas Land with my children and my youngest seemed to be very scared of some of the rides. We went over to the Bulstrode I think it’s called, and the girl on there was the loveliest person we encountered all day. Just brilliant with both kids and had a solution which completely got her over her fear of the rides throughout Thomas Land. Keep this girl!

I wrote an email complaining about the amount of ride closures and toilet facilities but yet still awaiting a reply 2 weeks later my son was very unhappy with his day there and I’m unhappy with the lack of reply also on Facebook I left a comment and was told they would look into it but didn’t soon quick enough taking the money though if you buy any complaint is ignored

Came here for my daughter’s birthday and the que times were awful! My sister is autistic so didn’t cope well with the noise and long ques. The toilets are absolutely disgusting!! Won’t be coming here again

Hayley in customer services today is a wonderful human being and an asset to the company! Andy on Storm Force 10, Alex on hook a duck and a wonderful young man with blonde hair on Thor at the end of the day. It was my god son's birthday and they were all so incredible and made his day the absolute best! Thank you so much and please pass on the thanks!

Poorly organised too long wait and making you buy fast track tickets by making you wait longer. Why no one ticket for all and no priority!!! Rubish just aavoid and waste of money

We visited Drayton Manor Resort on Saturday because children up to 9 get free entry during May, and we thought it would be a great opportunity for a family day out. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a huge disappointment.

To start with, the queues were absolutely massive. Most rides had at least a 30-minute wait, often longer. If you want to use the Fast Track system, you have to pay extra — which wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if it were reasonably priced. However, it starts at around £25 per person for only 3 rides, and if you want fast access to most attractions, it can cost up to £100 per person.

The prices inside the park are ridiculously expensive. A bottle of Smart Water was £3.50, and the food prices were similar to restaurant prices, despite the quality being far from good.

And then came the worst part of the day. My son and husband both became seriously ill that evening after eating the waffle ice creams . They both suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea — clear food poisoning symptoms.

Looking back, we should have trusted our instincts because the waffles clearly didn’t seem fresh, but we never imagined this could happen at a place like this. It’s shocking that standards like this are allowed.

We have reported the incident to the local authorities, and I truly hope no other family has to go through the same experience in the future.

Writing this review after speaking with the Guest Experience team, as I wanted to give Drayton Manor the opportunity to resolve our concerns. Unfortunately, their response and compensation offer did not come close to reflecting the experience we had.

We travelled a long distance as visiting for my sister’s birthday has been a yearly family tradition for us. Previous visits have always been enjoyable enough to return, but this year was incredibly disappointing.

Three times we queued for over an hour only for rides to close. Maelstrom was operating on severely reduced capacity, with much of that then taken up by Fast Pass guests, leading to a 90-minute wait. Queue jumping across the park was constant and, when reported, felt largely ignored.

The park itself feels run down and poorly managed, and the zoo was honestly upsetting to see.

We ended up leaving early out of frustration. After complaining, we were offered £15 off a future ticket, but after this experience I won’t be returning.

Drayton Manor needs to seriously improve standards and guest experience, because loyal returning visitors are being badly let down.

Great booking proces online. Awesome relevent teamed holiday events.
Onsite hotel and lots of parking available off-road and on road.
Lots of security walking around.
Food outlets pricey at face value but good food.
Fast passes are encouraged it's a smallish but very popular them park

We visited Thomas Land on 21st February 2026 for our child’s birthday and it was hugely disappointing.
The car park was a muddy mess, with cars getting stuck despite a £9 charge. We were then told most of Drayton Manor was closed, yet still paid full price. Inside, after two hours we managed just two rides due to long queues, with many rides shut or poorly maintained.
Facilities were unacceptable—toilets near the zoo were overflowing, key food outlets were closed, and no soft play was available despite being advertised.
Customer service was very poor. While staff were polite, there was no clear communication or support from management about the issues.
Overall, a frustrating experience that completely failed to deliver on what was promised.

Really disappointed with our visit to Drayton Manor. We were stuck at the top of Accelerator for around 10 minutes which was very distressing for my children.

A member of staff did apologise to us at the time, but customer services have since said no distress was reported, which doesn’t reflect our experience.

We left shortly afterwards and the resolution offered hasn’t been usable for us. Just feels like a very poor way to handle what was quite a frightening situation for a family.