Facilities and Services Available for Disabled Guests
Before Your Visit
Before visiting Drayton Manor there are a few steps you must take in order to ensure you have the correct access available to you so you can enjoy your day.
booking tickets
For Drayton Manor you can Easily book tickets by clicking here Drayton Manor book now. In terms of prices, Drayton Manor use Dynamic Pricing this means that prices Differ depending on when you Visit. You do not pre book Essential companion tickets. For the Halloween event day tickets for guests aged 4+ start from £29.50. After dark tickers giving entry from 4pm start from £18 for guests aged 4+.
The event is free for gold and platinum annual pass holders. Annual pass holders can book the upcharge experiences by clicking here book Halloween add on
Upcharge experiences: Trick or Treat Monster Castle
When booking your tickets you will also be given the option to purchase a trick or treat bucket. This includes a trick or treating bucket to get sweets during the monster castle as well as entry to the Trick or Treat Monster Castle. trick or treat buckets can be pre booked when you purchase your tickets for £5 or bought on the day of your visit for £5. A trick or treat bucket is required per child in order to access the Trick or Treat Monster Castle. Parents/carers do not need to purchase a trick or treat bucket in order to accompany their child/Younge person in the activities. Full information on the Trick or Treat Monster Castle can be found in the ‘entertainment’ section of this blog post.
Upcharge experiences: The Haunted Express
When booking your tickets another of the add on you will be given the option to purchase is the haunted express. The haunted express is a family friendly spooky version of the train ride Polperro Express. The haunted express costs £5 per person and is open from sunset meaning tickets are very limited and our date were all sold out. Full information on The Haunted Express can be found in the ‘entertainment’ section of this blog post.
Essential Companion Ticket
Essential companion tickets can be obtained at the ticket office on the day if your visit.
Booking with an access card: If you already have an access card with the +1 or +2 symbol on then all you need to do is book the rest of your party tickets online. Please not: you can not pre book essential companion tickets all information in the ‘arrivals’ section of this blog post.
Booking without an access card: If you do not already have an Access Card the I have a full blog post all about the access card that you can find by clicking here what is the access card and is it worth it. If you do not wish to purchase the access card and only want your access needs registered for Drayton Manor then you can get a free Nimbus ID by clicking here Drayton Manor access register. Please note: on the day of your visit you will need show proof of either your Drayton Manor Nimbus ID or your access card with the +1 or +2 symbol.
Easy Access Pass
Have an Access Card: If you already have an access card with the standing and queueing symbol then there isn’t anything you need to do before your visit. Please proceed to the ‘Arrivals’ section of this blog post.
Don’t Have an Access Card: If you do not already have have an Access Card the I have a full blog post all about the access card that you can find by clicking here what is the access card and is it worth it. If you do not wish to purchase the access card and only want your access needs registered for Drayton Manor then you can get a free Nimbus ID by clicking here Drayton Manor access register. Please note: In order to use the easy access pass you must be awarded the standing and queuing symbol.
Arrivals
In this section of the blog we detail what will happen when you arrive at Drayton Manor so you know what to expect and can get on the rides as quickly as possible.
blue badge parking
Drayton Manor has a range of blue badge parking located at both entrances to their theme park. For a hardstanding blue badge parking space go to the the main car park and over the bridge. If you are unsure where to go like we were then their is staff directing people where to park so just show them your badge and they will direct you on where to go. Car park cost £9 online or £12 on the day and is free with an Annual pass there is no discount available for blue badge holders. Parking can be pre booked online by adding it on when buying tickets or clicking here pre book car parking. Which is helpful as it means the barrier Automatically open for you.
The blue badge parking near the entrance is hardstanding and nice and close to the entrance. there is plenty of hard standing blue badge parking spaces.
Essential companion ticket
in order to get your Essential companion ticket you need to go to one of the ticket kiosk located at both entrances and show your access card or Nimbus ID with +1 or +2 Symbol on. You will then be given a paper ticket for the Essential companion to enter the park.
entering the park
In order to enter the park your tickets will be Scanned so make sure you have your tickets ready on your phone. On our visit, there was a short wait to get in but the queue moved quickly. There is female, male and accessible toilets located at both entrances. At the end of the day there is normally an ice cream van here as well.
collecting easy access wristband
To use the easy access pass you need to go and get your wristband from gust services. Guest services is located opposite the pirate ship and is in a visible red building as seen in the images bellow.
Once in guest services I showed the staff Member my access card with the standing and queueing symbol on and she gave me a blue Wristband that said easy access and Stated the number of people in our group. you can have up to 3 Accompanying people with you when using the easy access pass. If you have limited mobility then when collecting your easy access wristband ask for an attraction accessibility guide. Please note: during extremely busy periods you may only be allowed one accompanying person on the easy access pass.
Sensory wise, it can be loud thought the full park due to the music playing all throughout the park.
How Easy Access Works
Drayton Manor allow the easy access pass users and a maximum of 3 accompanying guests unlimited access to enter the ride via the ride exit on the day of there visit. Please see my step by step by guide to using easy access pass at rides bellow:
Please note: There is still an element of queueing and the easy access is not available on the Haunting or 4D cinema. During extremely busy periods you may only be allowed one accompanying person on the easy access pass this will be indicated by the number on your wristband.
Step 1: Check ride restrictions
Before going through the ride easy access pass entrance for the ride of your chose it’s important to make sure you have checked the ride restriction to make sure this ride or attraction accessible for you. The ride restriction board are clearly located at the entrance for each ride and attraction. You can find the ride easy access guide with restriction for disabled guests by clicking here Drayton Manor easy access guide 2024. You can also collect an attraction accessibility guide from guest services this features all restrictions for guests with limited mobility or limb differences as seen in the images. So you can check the ride requirements before getting to the ride.
step 2: find the easy access pass entrance
Now you have found out the ride is accessible for you it’s time to locate the ride easy access pass entrance for the ride you would like to enjoy. The easy access pass entrance at Drayton Manor are clearly signposted as seen in the image to the left. For the majority of rides you use the exit but please look for a easy access pass entrance before going up the exit as some rides have a separate easy access pass queue.
Step 3: show your easy access wristband
Once reaching the front of the ride easy access pass queue line for your chosen ride a ride host will come and ask to see your blue wristband As seen the image to the left.
If you have limited mobility the ride host will ask you to show them your risk assessment.
Step 4: Enjoy the ride
It’s now time to experience your chosen ride! weather your riding Gold Rush or taking a more genital ride on Thomas, Rosie and Percy engine tours. I hope you enjoy being able to access the ride thanks to the ride easy access pass system.
Monsters & Magic Halloween Event Overview
There is so much do this Halloween so here is a list of all there is to explore at the Monsters & Magic Halloween Event. Please note:
- Trick or Treat Monster Castle: Grab your trick and treat bucket and go tricker treating through the Monster Castle. Tickets cost £5 per child. Full information can be found in the ‘entertainment’ section of this blog post.
- The Haunted Express: The haunted express is a family friendly spooky version of the train ride Polperro Express. The haunted express costs £5 per person and opens at sun set. Full information can be found in the ‘entertainment’ section of this blog post.
- Monsters and Magic Spectacular: Drayton Manor have got a brand new end of the day show on the lakes. This Halloween show is the UK first water, fire and multimedia show. Full information can be found in the ‘entertainment’ section of this blog post.
- Spooky Twilight Zoo Trail: There is a brand new Halloween themed trail starting at 4pm through the Drayton Manor zoo where you can see the animals. Full information can be found in the ‘entertainment’ section of this blog post.
- Hay Bale Trail: A number of animal themed hay bales are around the park with letter on for the mystery word. Complete the trail to get a prize. Full information can be found in the ‘entertainment’ section of this blog post.
- Thomas Land Spooky show: Join Sir Topham Hat, Rusty and Dusty on the Thomas Land Balcony for a spooky Halloween show! Full information can be found in the ‘entertainment’ section of this blog post.
- Rory’s Halloween Show: Join Rory the Lion on the main stage for a Halloween show completed with party dances of course.
- Lory’ meet and greet: Lory has got her Halloween costume on and is ready to meet everyone.
- Trick or Treat with Sir Topham Hat : This Halloween Sir Topham Hat is doing trick or treating and meet and greets at the yellow house in Thomas Land. Full information can be found in the ‘entertainment’ section of this blog post.
- Fireworks (selected dates): During our visit the 75th anniversary fireworks were on! Full information can be found in the ‘fireworks’ section of this blog post. Full information can be found in the ‘entertainment’ section of this blog post.
- Rides and Attractions: There is a full ride offering for the Halloween event subject to availability. Rides are closing at different times throughout the evening at this years Halloween event. In order to see ride opening and closing times for each ride during your visit by clicking here ride ride times and availability. For more information about the access and how I found the rides at Drayton Manor please have a read of my other Drayton Manor blog posts by clicking here Drayton Manor disabled access review. Click here Drayton Manor: Big Blue Birthday Bash Disabled Access Review.
Our Day At Drayton Manor
Now we’re in the park and have sorted all of our access out it’s time to enjoy the park and get on some rides. In this section you will find a write up of our day at Drayton Manor Christmas including all the accessibility information of course. So come and enjoy the day with us!
Entertainment
Trick or Treat Monster Castle
We started our day by heading to the trick or treat monster castle as last year it got very busy latter in the day. Before going into the attraction we needed to collect our trick or treat buckets from Rory’s shop as shown in the image bellow. I had pre booked the experience online so just showed our tickets at the till and we were given our trick or trat buckets. They had four different style of buckets to choose from a pumpkin, cat, trick or treat design and spider webs.
Now we have got our buckets we headed trick or treating it was located in the castle near Safari Pizza and Pasta and it was very well signposted. Upon entry we met the professor who welcomed us into the castle and checked we were ok with flashing lights. The castle was split into 3 zones Frankenstein, witches and disco.
In terms of access, the full castle is wheelchair assessable and you can stay in your wheelchair. there is flashing lights in one corridor they are very intense. Through the castle especially in the witch zone there is UV lights and it is dark during the experience. I would recommend ear defenders as their is music throughout. My biggest tip is to do this attraction first thing as it gets incredibly busy later in the day with lots of queueing we went in about 11:15am just after we have sorted out our easy access and there was no queueing.
Upon entering the first room we were greeted with 2 characters one of them was Frankenstein. We played a game of basket ball with a twist where we had a number of Halloween objects to get into a basket ball net like pretend hands. We were given a time to get them in a Frankenstein helped us. Once the game had finished we were given 2 little chocolates or some sweets.
We walked through into the witch area where a photographer took our photo in front of backdrop. You were then given a card with a QR code on you could scan and purches the image it was included in the day unlimited digital download photo pass and annual photo pass. We then entered the witches area where we got to pick a magic wand to decorate there was a number of different choices on the calk board and they were seeing which wand was most popular. There was 2 decorating stations where we decorated our wands including glow in the dark pens, gems, ridden and lots of different things to stick on with glue. Once we had finished decorating our wands we said a magic spell with the witch to open the chest and get some sweets where we were could pick 2 from a selection of sweets and chocolates.
After the witch area there is a corridor with flashing lights there is no actors in it and its not very long just something to be aware of sensory wise.
The castle corridors led us into a party room with a DJ playing music! This room had rave style music and UV lights the FJ was on a stage and send a chocolate down a shoot into our trick or treat buckets. There was two shoots and it was a more fun way then the traditional do a dance and get a sweet.
Thomas Land Show and Trick or Treat with Sir Topham Hat
On the Thomas Land balcony Dusty, Rusty and Sir Topham Hat are doing a brand new spooky show. The show was around 10 minutes and starts with Rusty and Dusty jokes before Sir Topham Hat comes out and does some Halloween songs and dances with everyone there was even a game of musical statues. The showtimes are 11am, 1pm, 2pm and 4pm. Showtimes are displayed on the digital screens in Thomas Land.
There is trick or treating with Sir Topham Hat at his yellow house this takes place at 11:15am, 1:15pm and 2:15pm that’s straight after the first 3 show times in Thomas Land. Sir Topham yellow hat is located at the front of Thomas Land to the left side as seen in the images below. The queue for trick or treating was long however, moved very quicky I recommend getting their exactly a couple minutes before the trick or treating time as when the queue gets long Rusty comes out and closes the queue as well as handing sweets out to people waiting which was a very nice touch. Once at the front of the line Dusty called us over to knock on Sir Topham Hat door and say trick or treat. Sir Topham Hat has 2 trick or treating buckets one with sweets and the other with chocolate Once you could pick 3 sweets or 1 chocolate. This experience was also like a meet and great with Sir Topham hat so there was also a quick photo. The experience did not feel rushed but they were very good and getting people through quickly so everyone not waiting to long.
Hay Bale Trail
The hay bale trail is a fun trail with a prize and toddler friendly maze at the end. You can collect your trail sheet from guest services the red building located near the pirate ship. There is 4 hay bales located around the park one by Thomas Land, one near Gold Rush, one in Vikings and one opposite guest services. Each of the hay bales has a letter that smells out a mystery word. In the Vikings area there is also a little maze made out of hay bales as seen in the images below perfect for the little once. Once figuring out the mystery word headed back to guest services where we got a sticker and sweet.
Spooky Twilight Zoo Trail
The spooky zoo trail was a new addition for this years Halloween event so we went to check it out we went to the zoo via the engine tour train located in Thomas Land. The engine tour train come every 20 minutes and you either get Percy, Rosie or Thomas. Unlike all the other attraction in Thomas Land engine tours stays open till 7:30pm however, it is only one way trips allowing you enough time to get to the Spooky Twilight Zoo Trail.
In terms of access for engine tours, You enter via the exit at both stations for the engine tours. There is a wheelchair accessible carriage on the train allowing you to stay in your wheelchair during the ride. They let all easy access users on as long as you arrive before they start boarding the train.
The Spooky Zoo trail was a set route throughout the zoo area. It was very easy to figure the route out as there was plenty of barriers blocking off the rest of the zoo area. The trail had lots of Halloween decorations and some red lights throughout. Despite walking past a few enclosures we only saw one animal that was a Lynx but I’m guessing the other animals were inside asleep. There was an inside little walkthrough almost ice age style with a statue of a mammoth inside it was dark so dark in this area so didn’t manage to get best pictures. The trail finished at the zoo entrance if you were to not get the train near Safari Pizza and Pasta. I can’t lie I wouldn’t bother with The Spooky Zoo Trail as there was really not much to see even in the way of Halloween decorations it would be nice addition for next year if they added an actual trail like the Hey Bale Trail with a little prize at the end as just like us many of the children around were not bothered either.
In terms of access, The trail was all level and wheelchair accessible it was not around the full zoo either so not to long a walk for little legs. There was some red lights in the tress as seen in the images below and a few Halloween decorations so a good low sensory alternative if you or someone in your party finds the other Halloween attractions to overwhelming sensory wise.
The Haunted Express
The haunted express is a family friendly spooky version of the train ride Polperro Express. The haunted express costs £5 per person and opens at sun set. I did not manage to get tickets for the spooky express as they sold out quickly online however, I have all the access information and I have included an on ride video of the train ride below. In order to get on the spooky express you enter to the left of the carousel where a member of staff will check your tickets and let you through. For the spooky express ride everyone gets given a pair of headphone to ware like in a silent disco so you can hear the music and audio effects during the train ride an added spooky atmosphere. The Haunted Express is the most spooky of the Halloween attractions so may be to scary for little once
In terms of access the Spooky Express has a wheelchair accessible carriage at the back of the train so wheelchair users can stay in their wheelchairs. Unlike the normal train ride the Haunted Express uses strobes lights, live actors, dark, smell effects and lots of other sensory so could easily cause sensory overload.
Monsters and Magic Spectacular
The main event of Drayton’s Halloween event is the Monsters and Magic Spectacular show the UK first water, fire and multimedia show. Basically, it is a water show on the lakes with projections it was very cool. There is 4 sneak peak day time water shows that happen at 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 6pm. The daytime show future the water fountains and music. The main show happens at the end of the day and the last ride close 30 minutes before so everyone is gathered around the lake waiting. The show was quite long around 15 minutes and featured lots of different Halloween songs with the fountains changing different colours, video projections and even some fire effects. As well as some photos bellow of the show I have also linked a full show video so you know exactly what to expect from a better view then we had.
In terms of access, there was a designated roped off wheelchair and mobility scooter area by the lakes as shown in the images below. The roped of area was for wheelchairs and mobility scooters only and you were allowed 1 carer with you in the area. However, in our experience one adult 2 children families were not being split up. The images below were all taken from the wheelchair viewing platform and we were at the back. The show was loud and some very big crowds meaning it was very overstimulating and they have added some extra speakers making it loud so I would recommend ear defenders. There was no access in place for any other needs then wheelchair and mobility scooter users. If you need extra space or have any need that makes this situation challenging like sensory issues or autism needs I recommend standing by guest services as altough you won’t get the best view it stays open all the way through the show so you have got an escape place with chairs to go as the park is so busy you can’t just get out the park and go to the car. Due to my wheelchair we were able to go in the wheelchair area otherwise we would have gone by guest services or found an area as far away from crowd as possible even if couldn’t see.
Fireworks
During our visit was one of Drayton Manor firework show for the parks 75th anniversary the fireworks started straight after the Monsters and Magic Spectacular. The firework show is exactly what you would expect banging fireworks in the sky giving you a better view if not in a crowded area near the front. The fireworks are all sequenced which really did add the magic. Fireworks finally is running on the 2 November 2025 with extend version of the fireworks.
In terms of access, there was a designated roped off wheelchair and mobility scooter area by the lakes as shown in the images below. The roped of area was for wheelchairs and mobility scooters only and you were allowed 1 carer with you in the area. However, in our experience one adult 2 children families were not being split up. The images below were all taken from the wheelchair viewing platform and we were at the back. Like most firework shows there were big bands and with the music added on top I find it loud with my ear defenders on so I definitely recommend taking some ear defenders. There was no access in place for any other needs then wheelchair and mobility scooter users. However, due to the fireworks being in the sky it is easier to see away from the big crowd outside Thomas Land and Adventure Cove we have found to be a lot quieter with plenty of space to move.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, the Drayton Manor monsters and magic Halloween event is a great family Halloween event with nothing the children can’t join in with. I really like the addition of the Monsters and Magic Spectacular however, with a starting time of 8pm it was quite late for families with children or that had travelled a long way. The full event seemed very well organised for the crowd from additional parking and exit open to plenty of signage to the Halloween activities. I like the trick or treat Castel and despite last year having to leave mid way through due to the crowd I feel like we cracked it by going as soon as park opened. The park was very busy during in our visit and despite some of the easy access queue lines looking very big for rides like Thor they were letting lots of easy access pass users on at once making it move very quickly however, I did hear it was very long for Gold Rush and the Wave. Thomas Land was quiet with the longest easy access queue being 15 minutes for Troublesome Trucks some main queue in Thomas Land were even walkthrough. Anyway that’s all from this years Drayton Manor Halloween event I can’t wait to see what is added to the event next years is shaping up to be a really great Halloween event for families and scared people like me. Bye for now, see you on my next adventure.