Hands up if you thought putting a sit-down train on Shockwave was the worst idea you’d ever heard!
Yeah, me too.
Shockwave was not a long roller coaster. Its layout didn’t offer anything particularly unique. Its selling point was all in those trains, those stand-up trains. Whilst they may not have been comfortable, they were definitely unique. There are currently 8 stand-up coasters remaining in the world, and none of them are in Europe. Shockwave was the only one of its kind in our entire continent! But its days were numbered. An often headache-inducing, intimidating ride experience was never going to last too long at a park rapidly changing their focus to the family market.
Enter: The Wave.
After a transformation that was perhaps, not quite as quick and easy as hoped, with a stuck train, a delayed testing period and a rather sudden opening announcement, The Wave officially opened to guests on Friday 26th April. I tried my very best to get to the park as soon as possible after this, and managed to make an appearance for the park’s late-night bank holiday fireworks event! Alas, The Wave was, for me, a wipe-out. During this fireworks event, Drayton Manor was the busiest I’d ever seen it! With crowds filling the park, the attraction closed a whole two hours before park close to try and make sure all guests were able to catch the end-of-day fireworks display! And guess who showed up to the line 10 minutes later…
Okay, time for take two. With a free morning, glorious sunshine, and low crowds, surely I’d get on The Wave this time?
Honestly, as I stood outside the Viking’s entrance queueing behind an enormous group of international school children – more from them later – I was getting a little concerned that maybe no, I wouldn’t be riding it this time either. You see, one thing had become apparent from all the vlogs and Instagram posts I’d seen of The Wave since opening: that anti-rollback system is loud. And as I stood in this queue for a good ten minutes, not a single deafening click was heard. But still, on making my way into the park, I raced over to The Wave, expecting, with dread in my heart, to see the Sandwich Board of Doom outside the attraction. Instead, I was greeted by what must have been the first train of the day swooping above me! Hurrah!
I’ve seen many people say that The Wave sounds smooth, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know what that meant. But it really does! At it traverses the track, the hum of the train sounds, I don’t know how else to put it, smooth. It really does!
The corner of Adventure Cove that houses The Wave has seen a lot of theming added to mark the new attraction. Most eye-catching of this is, of course, the enormous head-chopper billboard placed over the straight portion of the track. Personally, I like this billboard a lot more in person than I did in photos! I do find billboards a slightly lazy way to provide a headchopper moment, but given the limited budget of the re-theme, this works really well! In front of this sits the massive portal for the ride. Featuring a massive surfboard, flag, and lifeguard cabin, this bright archway makes the ride entrance absolutely unmissable! I’d love to see a little more work on this portal in the future to bring the colours in line with the attraction’s station building – and also to amend that greyed out window, not a fan – but it’s certainly an eye-catching entrance!
My favourite signage for the ride was the one directly adjacent to the ride’s entrance, displayed across a backdrop of surfboards, the declaration that this is ‘The UK’s most thrilling family coaster’ looks great! I really appreciate the effort of adding sand alongside this, too – I hope it survives!
Heading into the queue line, all the usual essential information is up front and easy to read, including the ride’s headline stat: a height restriction of just 1.2m! (Or 1.32m, if you can’t convince anyone else to ride with you!) Looking at UK statistics, that means most kids will be able to ride this by the time they’re 7! I don’t know about you, but I cried in the queue for Big Thunder Mountain when I was 7 years old. But for kids that are way, way braver than I was, The Wave is ready and waiting!
Inside, the queue layout has remained the same, but with a lick of paint and new signage throughout. A lot of signage. All of it different, and referencing the park and Adventure Cove in different ways. It’s fresh and fun and brightens up a dark corridor as much as possible!
The station, too, has received new paint and theming elements throughout, including multiple surfboards along the ceiling. Thankfully, unlike another 1994 coaster just down the road, the front-row queue has survived the renovation! Also remaining are the old gas-style lamps along the wall. These guys are so pretty, and I was delighted to see that they’d remained in-situ!
As you can see above, I was very lucky this Friday morning as I walked into the station and was greeted by a train that was already loading! My original plan had been to wait for the front row for my first ride, but with the back row completely empty, I was ushered on immediately. When I say back row, I actually mean the 5th of 6 rows, as the 6th and final row has not operated since the ride opened, for reasons unknown.
Okay, we’re all thinking it, so I’ll just say it. These trains are not pretty. In fact, they resemble a prototype that someone’s thrown together from a few spare bits of metal in the scrapyard. Why there’s no zero car, no branding, no style choices whatsoever, who knows. Well, okay, it’s almost definitely budget. And the bizarre rail at the front? I can only guess that this is a safety feature given that it seems to line up nicely with the gates in the station, but jeez. Thankfully, looks aren’t everything, and these trains are comfy! Like many coaster fans, I’ve had my legs pinned down by the infamous RMC trains, so at first glance, those shin guards are a little… intimidating. I’m happy to say, however, that I didn’t feel them at all. In fact, that part of the restraint could not have been there for all I noticed. The lap bar, too, is nice and comfy, but prepare for it to be pushed down hard! Usually, I wouldn’t be a huge fan of this stapling, but with the way the restraint sits on my legs, I really, really was – but more on that later!
Securely stapled into place, it was time to brave The Wave! As mentioned previously, the anti-rollback system on this train is loud, almost deafening in fact, as you ascend that lift hill. But I kinda like it! Nothing screams ‘I’m on a roller coaster!’ more than a good clack clack clack. As soon as you crest that initial drop and start the curve round to the vertical loop, there’s a very sudden realisation of just how free you are. On me, the restraint did not touch my abdomen whatsoever, sitting happily on the top of my thighs. It almost felt too free. Surely this couldn’t be enough to hold me in?! Of course it is, but lord does it add to the thrill! This really truly hits as you enter the loop itself. The intensity of this element is variable across the rows, with the rear of the train being far milder, but on the front row? I was folded in half like a sheet! I can’t really remember being pushed so hard over a lap bar before. It was wild!
Next up is the real star of the show, the zero-g roll. When the ride was Shockwave, this was the greatest element in the layout, allowing riders a moment of suspension in mid-air – especially if you jumped! I’m happy to say that it remains the highlight, but for oh-so-different reasons. Whilst before this section felt free, it now feels as though you’re in the grip of a monster! You are yanked through this element like a ragdoll, with very little control over which way your body is flung. It’s thrilling, it’s aggressive, it’s… a family coaster?!
The train moves quickly into another completely transformed portion of the ride, the straight track. Whilst this offered, well, nothing, previously, the addition of the enormous head-chopper billboard works so well. You can bet I pulled my hands straight down each time! The instinctual fear works and adds a lot to this moment!
Finally, the ride flies through its double corkscrew, providing more of the body-flinging action from before but sadly (or thankfully, for the family audience) not quite to the same ridiculous level. Then with one final turnaround, its time to slam into the final brake run with the same aggression as ever, but thankfully with the comfort of the new train, this is no longer a BRACE BRACE situation!
Frankly, I cannot believe how much fun The Wave is. Those inversions are nothing less than silly, particularly on the front row. It’s glossy smooth – I didn’t notice any of the old jolt – and the restraints are comfy as anything!
I’d end up riding The Wave three times in a row, twice without leaving the station and once walking straight back around. It’s really just that addictive. Plus, if that isn’t a testament to how smooth it now is, I don’t know what is. (Trust me, I get headaches easily!)
Of course, the elephant in the room with The Wave is its operations. Well, on my visit, they weren’t noticeably bad. It was a relaxed weekday, and the ride never got beyond a station wait. The operations team themselves were fantastic, friendly, fast-moving, and helpful as they genuinely did everything they could to get the train out as quickly as possible. But the restraints are just… a bit of a menace. Whilst having one train would usually be a major issue too, the restraints are fiddly enough that I’m not sure having another train sat on the brake run for ages would actually improve things much. The flaw in this system is the way in which the restraints lock. They must lock in two stages. At first, the restraints are pushed down a little bit, but, crucially, not too far. After this initial push, the restraints are locked and can be pushed down again, this time clicking into place. Whilst this is time-consuming, the real issue is that ‘not too far’. It’s essential that after this initial placement, guests do not touch their restraint, as one push could result in the row having to have this process started from the beginning. (Thankfully, the whole train does not need to be reset.) On my visit, this was thankfully rare, with guests generally heeding the op’s requests not to touch. However, on the day of my visit, a large number of international school kids were in attendance. Of course, the language barrier prevented the message from getting across, and being teenagers, they pushed and pulled at their restraints. This isn’t their fault! A coaster shouldn’t need you to understand the local language. But alas, it didn’t half slow things down with repeated resets needed. Thankfully, I still didn’t see anything near the 8-10 minute dispatches I’ve heard rumour of, so hopefully, things will continue to improve in this department. As mentioned, off-peak this really wasn’t an issue, but I do worry about peak times.
But I can’t leave my thoughts on The Wave on a sour note. In my mind, this is a definite improvement on Shockwave. Smooth, thrilling, and open to more guests, The Wave has become a must-do on every visit to Drayton Manor, something that was certainly not the case for its predecessor! And it’s not just me that thinks as much! This may sound like hyperbole, but I promise I’m not making this up: across my four rides, every single person I sat next to cheered or clapped as the ride hit the brake run. One said ‘Wow!’ during every inversion, one said ‘That’s amazing! What a ride!’, one commented on what an improvement it was. Everyone was happy! The staff too helped with this, standing at the side of the station asking any younger riders if they had a good time as the train pulled back in. The atmosphere amongst riders was jubilant each and every time and made sure I left the station beaming.
With the park continuing work on their brand new roller coaster, The Wave was a filler project. Something that needed doing and needed doing as affordably as possible. For what it is, Drayton Manor have pulled it out of the bag. Creating an experience that genuinely pushes the boundaries of what can be considered a family coaster.
Thrill-seeking 7-year-olds – and 30-year-olds – rejoice!
Speak again soon,
Claire
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coasterclaire.co.uk 