Drayton Manor Park has partially reopened after three months of lockdown, with safety measures in place to protect visitors during the coronavirus crisis.
The Staffordshire-based theme park opened its doors again over the weekend – putting into place social distancing and health precautions – but is far from its usual summer visitor numbers, remaining “cautiously optimistic”.
On Saturday (July 4), the park reopened its family-favourite Thomas Land, as well as the Carousel, Jolly Buccaneer, Accelerator, Flying Dutchman and 15-acre zoo.
The remainder of the park will not fully open until Saturday 18th July.
As part of its commitment to reopening safely, social distancing measures have been put into place, with hand sanitiser stations on display, and regular routine cleaning of rides.
Although closed to the public during the recent lockdown, Drayton Manor Park has continued to maintain and tend to its resident animals, all housed in the attraction’s zoo. Visitors are now once again able to visit an array of wildlife, including eight new baby arrivals.
The West Midlands attraction has also introduced an innovative virtual queuing system in certain areas of the park, which allows guests to queue digitally via the Drayton Manor Park app.
According to a spokesperson for the park, “Once they have joined a queue, riders can see how long they have left until their allocated ride time and receive a notification and boarding pass, which will be scanned before boarding the attraction when it’s their turn to ride.”
The park is also only allowing card payments, with no ATM machines operating, and takeaway food services only.
Staff members working with the public are required to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including face masks and shields; while acrylic screens have been installed at customer serving points throughout the park, including guest services, retail and catering outlets. Temperature checks are also being carried out to detect possible COVID-19 symptoms.
Following a long period of closure during a peak season, the venue has reported promising attendance figures so far, claiming many local families are keen to get back to the park. During warmer weather, visitor numbers may improve for the attraction.
However, it is yet to be seen if business will pick up for the leisure complex in the same way it has for some hospitality venues like bars and pubs which also reopened on Saturday.
For more details on all the new rules, restrictions for visiting Drayton Manor Park, click here.
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