Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, despite the rain...
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, despite the rain...
Drayton Manor's Fireworks Spectacular 2019 celebrated July's 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing with fireworks and a giant moon disc suspended by crane, set to a soundtrack which included space themed hits and the obligatory Also Sprach Zarathustra, Star Wars theme tune and Katy Perry's Firework. The Saturday was rather wet, but we still had fun dodging the rain and taking the last rides of the season, before the skies cleared just long enough for the display itself.
More: Fireworks Spectacular 2019 Event Page and Video
A rainy start to the day as we arrived at the park gates
In an attempt to stay out of the rain we decided to hit the indoor rides, starting with Sheriff's Showdown
A very spinny ride on Drunken Barrels!
Surely the vicarage will provide a welcome refuge from the storm?
At least Accelerator's indoor queueline was dry, even if there was a lady behind us who decided to stink out the building eating a very pungent tuna sandwich
I wonder what they use this for?
You can always rely on Accelerator to give a good ride, even in the wet
Just your standard DMP security guard
Ssccchh-wing!
A classic era
Winston's monorail gave us a sheltered view over Thomasland
Smiling through the rain
An astronaut climbing steps ... nothing unusual to see here then
Drying out over lunch and a beer at The Grill Inn
After lunch we took a look around the zoo
What are you looking at, punk?
Tom met Thomas
Somebody else was sitting on the "James" seat in the tea shop, but this ghostly biscuit just about made up for the disappointment
Is this Stormzy in disguise?
Time for Shockwave, Drayton's biggest and best rollercoaster
The ride ops announced that due to the "severe" weather, the trains were only being partially loaded so the queuetime would be longer
In reality it meant they closed off the back row, which made our wait for the front row proportionally shorter!
Night had fallen by the time we were done with Shockwave. There was a break in the rain, so we took a night time flight on Air Race.
There was just time for a ride on Maelstrom
Finally it was time for the fireworks to begin!
The lake provided the usual stunning setting
The display celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Moon Landing
A "moon" had been hung from a crane, and lit up in different colours during the show
Another fantastic display from the park
This might have been my last opportunity to get a photograph of the SBNO G Force at night
Minutes after the display finished, the rain started again ... great timing just as we were leaving the park