Valentine’s Evening at Drayton Manor
UK Park News was lucky enough to attend Drayton Manor’s 2011 Valentine’s Dinner & Disco last night, Saturday February 12th. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the Keys for Shockwave or Apocalypse, but in the end, we settled for the 3 course meal and a few drinks instead…
The evening began at around 7pm when the doors opened, and we were greeted with a RosĂ© Champagne Reception within the Park’s Hamilton Suite. As the room was filling with people (approx 80 altogether) we decided to take a look around the venue, paying particular attention to the various large posters the park had showcased around the walls of the
Maelstrom Poster
Hamilton Suite; pictures & photos of various attractions within the park. We spotted G-Force, Shockwave, Maelstrom, Apocalypse, and some concept art for the new 2011 Drayton Manor Hotel.
We then took our seats at our table, and waited for the team of service staff to bring our 3 course meal, which we had pre-ordered at the time of booking. Our menu choice was:
Starter: Duck & Orange Paté served with Cumberland sauce & crispbread.
Main: Medallions of beef & pork served with a stilton, port & cream sauce.
Dessert: Individual Cheese & Biscuits.
Tea & Coffee with chocolates.
G-Force Poster
Overall the quality of the meal was good – especially our main; the beef & pork was cooked excellently and the accompanying sauce was heavenly! Unfortunately however, the service was not to the standard expected of a quality restaurant, with some of us waiting 25 minutes for our starters to arrive, when other tables had finished, and were
Drayton Manor Chocolate
being served their main courses. One of us also found a surprise we hadn’t expected in the form of a hair in our meal (no not one of our own), which was a shame – especially when we’d notified the service staff who made no apology or offer of exchanging the dish.
After our cheese board dessert, we were offered tea and coffee, with chocolates, and it was nice to see that Drayton had supplied their very own bespoke “Drayton Manor Family Theme Park” chocolates – which we thought was a nice touch.
Following the meal, the park had lined up a Disco session with the bar open until midnight; the Hamilton suite has ample space, with its own fully functional bar and dedicated dance floor.
Valentine's Dinner
At first, we were uncertain if the Disco session was likely to be quite cheesy, however we had an excellent evening and stayed until the bar closed, dancing to most of the songs from the DJ’s repertoire. In fact, the room remained full with most people hitting the dance floor and making multiple visits to the bar!
Overall, we had a superb evening with some good food, and a great atmosphere – we’ve no doubt the event was a resounding success. We were disappointed however that the service was sub-standard, not something you’d expect from an establishment with a lot of experience in hosting such events.
