Ride through the Wild West on an interactive shooting adventure...
| Theme Park | Drayton Manor |
|---|---|
| Park Area | Aerial Park |
| Type | Interactive Dark Ride |
| Audience | All Ages |
| Opened | 2000 (as "Golden Nuggets Wild West Shootout") 2018 ("Sheriff's Showdown" refurbishment) |
| Manufacturer | IE Park |
A scene inside the ride
Sheriff's Showdown is Drayton Manor's interactive dark ride, giving visitors the chance to ride into the wild west on a gun slinging adventure.
Visitors board four seater mine carts, which move past various animatronics and wild western town scenes. Each seat comes equipped with a laser gun, allowing riders to shoot at targets spread throughout the ride and score points which are displayed on a screen mounted within the mine cart.
While Drayton does not have the budget of Disney for creating fully immersive dark ride environments, they have done a nice job with Sheriff Showdown's theming. There are plenty of interactive elements, and many of the targets respond in some way when they are hit.
Some targets are worth more than others and offer bonus points. Whenever someone in the cart gets a bonus, audio of a cowboy saying "you've got a bonus!" is played ... although unfortunately for the more dirty minded amongst us it tends to sound more like "you've got a boner"!
The ride was originally known as "Golden Nuggets Wild West Shootout" when it opened in 2000. It got a superb refurbishment in 2018 when it was renamed "Sheriff's Showdown". A new gun and target system was added, many of the animatronics were replaced or enhanced and the previously bare warehouse ceiling was covered over by a very smart looking star cloth.
Sheriff's Showdown is superb, and given the queue it can often attract it is obviously a hit with visitors. The laser shooting and multiple interactive animatronics make it very reridable, and the perfect place to duck into during the inevitable Staffordshire showery weather.
Sheriff's Showdown
Undercover queue
A waterwheel sits underneath the queueline
Ride information
Riders about to set off
A Sheriff's Showdown mine cart
The opening scene
Watch out for bandits!
Caravan
You've got a bonus!
Hotel
Shooting targets
Explosive store ... let's get outta here!
The end of the ride
Scores are shown on screens inside the mine carts
Mine carts often queue at the end of the ride
High scores are displayed on the large scoreboard in the ride station
The original ride as "Golden Nuggets: Wild West Shootout".
Golden Nuggets ride building
Inside Wild West Shootout
Cows and chickens
Welcome to the Wild West
Banjo player
Windows
Shoot him!
The original scoreboard