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Paultons Park: General Discussion

We went on Sunday, having not been for a few years.
I cannot believe how good the new area is. The SFC is a stonkingly fun ride, with the final helix having some genuine G force. The Jnr Boomerang is much more fun than Ben 10. Even the rethemed Tivoli Small coaster looks great. Infact, we counted four animatronic dinosaurs just around that ride... And remarked that this one tiny kiddy coaster has more animatronics than all UK Merlin parks put together. :p

The park looks to be going from strength to strength. All they need now is a junior woody of some kind and a rapids - Toverland's being a good example of the right thrill level to aim for. Naturally, the traveling flume has to go.

Only thing that infuriated us was the blummin' seatbelts on Edge. Not only are they pointless, but they are so short that they are obviously not intended to be used by adults. However, the host insisted we all had to wear them... which meant he had to get out special extentions for us. Needless to say, loading took some time.
 
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I thought it was just Merlin parks that had long lines...
 
Its somewhere i shall be visiting in the future, better take some £20 with me
 
A junior woodie similar to White Lightening at Funspot (or now Heidi at Plopsa) would be ideal for this park. Everything they do now will be heavily themed and a clear departure from the old style off the shelf rides which Paultons used to install. According to staff at the park, the area around the log flume and diggers ride is next on the hit list for a re-theme, which is totally understandable really. Paultons deserves every success it gets right now.
 
I visited Paultons for the first time ever last Monday. I took my 6 and 7 year old sons and my 2 year old daughter. As a family we have been to Chessington and lego once and towers twice this season and this park is by far their favourite.

The entrance plaza and water feature looks great and and everything is well organised as you enter. Once inside, I was very impressed with how much thought has gone into the place. Little toilet seats for the kids to sit on, everything so clean, grass, hedges, flowers and gardens beautifully kept. So refreshing to see.

Almost everything in the brilliantly themed Peppa Pig world was suitable for my daughter. She loved it. Not much for her at Chessington and Lego, but just being in that area was a great experience for her.

As for the boys, they had more to do for their age group here than any other Park in the country. Loads of sensible height restrictions meant my 6 year old could go on almost anything, including the excellent new vekomas. Both coasters are of high quality and strongly themed. The boomerang is smooth yet thrilling, especially backwards. Flight of the pterosaur is stunning. A family coaster that's mildly thrilling for such a low height restriction (my kids laughed all the way round with enjoyment) and a surprisingly forceful in the last turn.

Lost Kingdom is, put simply, the best themed area to open in a UK Park for a very long time. Loads of excellently themed rides, the rock work and planting is stunning. Really atmospheric and hearing and seeing moving dinosaurs amongst the foliage.

Other highlights would include the fun Magma with its impressive looking queue line, the surprisingly enjoyable Cobra and the water splash area.

It's clearly a park of 2 halves that seems to be going through a massive change. With the standard of the new areas and rides installed being so high, I can see this park having a very bright future. No one is creating new experiences like this in the UK at the moment and it puts Chessington and towers to shame. Just ask my kids!
 
I've been on the slc at fun spot Orlando and loved it, yes the last helix is great, nice ending to the ride.

Paultons seems to be going from strength to strength at the mo. It's refreshing to see, they are grasping onto a massive gap in the market. Fun themed family fun.

Come on Merlin.........look at what the independent parks are doing. They will overtake you soon.
 
Having visited Paultons recently, I can safely say this is easily one of the UK's leading parks in current times.

What it may lack in ride hard ware is made up for in clean and tidy presentation, it's innocent atmosphere and the amazing quality of their new investments (especially Lost Kingdom).

There was no excessive upselling, rundown areas, mothballed rides and the park as a whole seemed to be run very well.
 
I can't wait to see what Paultons will be like in 5-10 years time. I have no doubt in my mind that this type of high quality investment will continue. And that it will continue to be a big success.
 
I've been reccomending Paulton's over the obvious Merlin parks to friends with young kids for a while now. None of them have ever heard of it. But I only have to mention "Peppa Pig", or now "dinosaurs", and their faces light up, saying "my girl / boy will love that! Where is this place?"
This is usually followed by them looking the park up on their phones, and expressing their disbelief that a theme park exists that charges less than fifty quid entry.

Not one of them has had a bad word to say about the place. Compare this to the endless moaning I hear when people have taken young kids to LLW or Chessie....
 
I was really impressed by the park on my visit earlier this year; it's everything that a family park should be. The park itself was spotless, well maintained and very pretty with plenty of greenery. Ride hardware was good quality and perfect for their family market! Although a fair drive from my home, I'd have no hesitation in recommending the park to people in this area.

My only gripe was that the food offering could do with some improvement, though this tends to be the case with smaller parks who don't benefit from big brand offerings. Not a problem for families taking picnics!
 
The food in the new dino area (think the place is called Base Camp?) was pretty good quality I thought. Nothing special, but certainly acceptable.
 
Yes, the food at Base Camp is definitely acceptable. Nothing amazing, but still acceptable.

When you consider the food quality of parks like Oakwood (which is generally vile), the quality here is alright.
 
Having visited Paultons for the first time in June, I must say I was really impressed with the place and think it's definitely the top family park in the UK. Lost Kingdom is excellent, the detail of the themeing is fantastic and the actual coasters themselves in the area are awesome. Flight of the Pterosaur is a fun SFC and the first drop has got a little bit of intensity at the back. I like Velociraptor as well but I think Ben 10 is a better Junior Boomerang due to it's layout. Critter Creek is very nice as well. It's weird, but it's that good kind of weird where just admire the imagination and thoughts put into the theme rather than being freaked out by it. Peppa Pig is a great kid's area and despite not being familiar with the show, it does feel like they've done a good job repilcating it with the amounts of references to different characters.

I feel though the park is going through a of transaction. The difference of immersion between the areas like Lost Kingdom and Critter Creek and those areas around Cobra and Edge and the log flume is almost night and day. I reckon next will be a retheme of the Cobra and Edge area, and there was some construction works behind Edge, what they're there for I have no idea. The park though needs a proper log flume though, it's embarrassing when you look at that after seeing the newest stuff in the park.

I didn't eat much at the park whilst I was there, but I tried some chicken from the base camp, and it was alright. However the ice cream is beautiful.

My only gripe I have with the park is that public transport can be a bit of a pain. It's obviously not Paultons' fault but I discovered the last bus back to Southampton directly from the entrance left before the park closed. Luckily another forum gave me a lift back to Southampton so I wasn't stuck :p The train bit is easy however, Southampton Central is a major intercity station and has plenty of trains back to London (at least 5 an hour IIRC) and you can also use Salisbury or Romsey (the latter is geographically closest to the park).

Overall though Paultons is a great park with a lot of charm that continues to grow by doing its own thing and it's worked wonders for them. The redevelopment of the place is exciting and I can't wait to see what they have in store for the future!
 
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:banghead:

Guys guys guys... It is not a Suspended Looping Coaster. It is an SFC: Suspended Family coaster. Totally different track design, totally different wheel arangement, totally different trains, totally different restraints, totally different coaster full stop!

Come on guys, we're supposed to be the geeks who know better! :p
 
DiogoJ42 said:
:banghead:

Guys guys guys... It is not a Suspended Looping Coaster. It is an SFC: Suspended Family coaster. Totally different track design, totally different wheel arangement, totally different trains, totally different restraints, totally different coaster full stop!

Come on guys, we're supposed to be the geeks who know better! :p
Click to expand...

:oops: Oh dear, I'm embarassed. I blame force of habit of me writing SLC more often. :p
 
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