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Paultons Park: General Discussion

Paultons has always been great at advertising in the south west around Hampshire and Dorset in particular.

As the park has grown, this has gradually been pushed out further hence why we now see billboards at service stations and a much wider catchment area.

As I’ve always said with Paultons, a very sensible, carefully planned, family run park which expands everything gradually and grows organically. A park which favours quality growth over quick hype. Ultimately this approach always wins. Just look at Europa Park.
 
So much of what Paultons do is similar to (or perhaps inspired by) Holiday World in terms of how the park has been grown. They both been on a similar journey, with family ownership, grown in a quality way.

More power to them.
 
Visited Paultons on Friday, having visited last year I'd been looking forward to coming back to see Tornado Springs.

The new area is excellent with a great new coaster for the parks line up. However the star of the area is The Cyclonator which is for my money the best flat ride in the country. The food in the restaurant was really good as well.
Nice to see Farmyard Flyer under construction and the station building is seriously large and fits into the theme perfectly.

Enjoyed being able to take a train ride around the park as well.

The rest of the park and gardens continues to be well maintained and cared for. Can't wait to see what they do next!
 
John_P said:
Visited Paultons on Friday, having visited last year I'd been looking forward to coming back to see Tornado Springs.

The new area is excellent with a great new coaster for the parks line up. However the star of the area is The Cyclonator which is for my money the best flat ride in the country. The food in the restaurant was really good as well.
Nice to see Farmyard Flyer under construction and the station building is seriously large and fits into the theme perfectly.

Enjoyed being able to take a train ride around the park as well.

The rest of the park and gardens continues to be well maintained and cared for. Can't wait to see what they do next!
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It's a brilliant park. My first and only ever visit was 3 weeks ago. I'm just annoyed I didn't visit sooner.

We will be going back again next year. It's worth the 220m journey for sure.
 
Can anyone go through food options? It was frankly dreadful when I visited some years ago. Is there a table service restaurant (such as Woodcutters)?

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AstroDan said:
Can anyone go through food options? It was frankly dreadful when I visited some years ago. Is there a table service restaurant (such as Woodcutters)?

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Ok, food
Route 83 is a classic '50s diner doing burgers, hotdogs and chicken tenders (self service)
Wild Forest does Burgers, Wraps and Jacket Potatos (order at the counter)
Base Camp does Chicken on Flatbread and Salads
The Hay Barn does burritos (interesting choice for a hay barn)
The Railroad Diner is a chippy (not a lot special about that)
Cascades does Pasties and Ice Cream
Daddy Pig's Cafe does Pasties and Pizza and hot drinks
The Queen's kitchen has quite a similar menu (I cannot imagine the Queen having a Pasty for lunch)
The Station Restaurant does Toasties, Paninis and Kids lunch boxes (like you get at supermarket cafés)
And there are a few odd kiosks doing hotdogs and Ice creams
Make of that what you will
 
There's a new table service restaurant in Tornado Springs is there not? Anyone who's been this year experienced this? My last visit was 2019 and the food was the only part of the park I didn't like

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Used the restaurant in Tornado Springs, order on the screen, get a seat and wait for your order to be ready. Went for the chicken tenders, with Tornado fries and a drink which was less than £10 and was of a decent quality.

A friend had nachos later in the day which looked good.

Last year I went in the main restaurant next to the entrance and thought it was pretty good as well.

Seemed a pretty good offering around the park and unlike the merlin parks in the UK they actually seemed to be all open.
 
Matt.GC said:
There's a new table service restaurant in Tornado Springs is there not? Anyone who's been this year experienced this? My last visit was 2019 and the food was the only part of the park I didn't like

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That's Route 83 diner
You order on the machines, collect the order at the counter and eat at a table
Edit: beaten to it
 
Hi all,

Visited Paultons for the first time today and had a really good time.I hadn’t been to a park since Thorpe last October and it was great getting on some rides again.

I have to agree with what everyone else has said about the place.It’s really well kept and presented and the ride offerings and themed areas are spot on for the family market.Tornado Springs was the highlight for us and it definitely sparked our interest in visiting as until the area was built,I didn’t really have much interest in visiting.Storm Chaser and Cyclanator are two very enjoyable and well themed rides and I have to say I was quiet surprised at how intense they both are! Generally,I’m not a massive flat ride fan but Loke is my favourite flat ride and it was great to ride Cyclanator.The Chicken Tenders and curly Tornado fries at the Route 83 Diner were also very enjoyable.

Operations were spot on and it was definitely good to go on an off peak weekday as pretty much everything (apart from the Peppa Pig rides) was walk on.

Given the heat,we did find ourselves lapping the log flume a fair bit and although it did the job,I do hope that this area of the park is something that will receive a makeover in years to come as it does look a bit out of place along with Cobra and the rides around it. I would like to see the park add a permanent and well themed log flume and rapids ride along with a dark ride of some sort in the future. I think the coaster line up is fine as it is at the moment (for a family park) but wouldn’t say no to a woody of some kind in the future or failing that a 250 foot hyper will do!
 
We visited Paulton Park at the end of May, and had a fantastic day. The weather was sunny, and very hot (A little to hot for me). We paid £147 for a family of 4, where we are all over 1m. Even at this price, I would still recommend for a day out, and we plan to visit twice more this year. We stopped at the Premier Inn just next to the park, and while its not a brilliant hotel, and avoid the restaurant, for £35 a night, it is fine to sleep in.

The new area, Tornado Springs is brilliant. It would not feel out of place in Disney or Europa Park. It is well thought out, has lots of really cool little details. The viewing platform above the driving school gives you a great view of the area.

When you think that you have to pay for anyone over 1m, there is only one ride in the area which you have to be over 1m so there is plenty for everyone who has paid to get in to do and just as much for those who have not paid.

Storm Chaser is a great addition to Paulton Park, and is the most intensive coaster on park. The throughput is also great, although I did feel a little sad about the queue length, throughout the day, the ride had at most a 10 minute queue, but most of the time it was walk on. The spinning element is good, and depending on luck, can spin a lot or not much. When it does spin, it really does spin.

We made the most of it not having a long queue and got plenty of rides in, I must be getting old, as I could only manage 6 rides in a row. That was enough to put me off Ice Cream for the next hour. Annabelle managed a total ride count of 12.

I did not go on Cyclonator (Someone has to look after Daisy) but that did not stop Lisa and Annabelle going on it. It looks good, and Annabelle enjoyed it, putting both hands in the air at one point. While they were queueing for that, Me and Daisy managed to go on the Windmill Towers, which are fun little drop towers (She did start crying when I strapped her in, but the promise of ice cream calmed her down and once we were bouncing up and down she was smiling and laughing, and we ended up going on four times throughout the day, asking for an ice cream each time she want on, she only got one in the end, and the ice cream shop was great), and Trekking Tractors. It was great to see how well cared for the area in Trekking Tractors was, and all the real plants and vegetables growing in the area. We would go on both these rides again with Annabelle and Lisa.

Al's Auto Academy is also a really good driving school, with cars that have space for an adult to sit on the back, so younger children can go on it. This made Daisy's day as she got to drive a car. It also makes it quite funny to watch the older kids driving along, because they are lighter, they easily catch the parent cars, and can overtake them. As mention above, the viewing platform above the ride is brilliant, and gives a great view of the children going round, and the rest of the area. The queue for this ride is probably the best, lots of attention to detail inside the queue line.

What I really like about this area, is the two playground areas. When Annabelle and Lisa were going on Storm Chaser, I could let Daisy run and climb and slide in the play area, so she had something fun to do while waiting. When they got off, we could swap over, and Daisy could carry on playing.

The Route 83 Diner was self service, and once you ordered food it came fairly quickly. The burgers and hot dogs we have were decent quality, and the portions were generous. I would say its better than other parks in the UK, but not as good as what's available in European parks.

Farmyard Flyer looks to be another great addition and fits the pattern that Paulton Park have of putting bigger rides along side smaller rides. This works really well in Lost Kingdom, as when one parent takes the bigger child on the bigger coasters, the other parent can take the smaller child on the smaller coaster.

The rest of the park was also looking really well presented, the Gardens were looking really well maintained, and it was nice just to talk a walk through them and enjoy the shade.

Peppa Pig Land looked a tiny bit worse for wear since our last visit, and there were a few places were the paint had started to peel, but this is me being super picky with it as on the whole, the area looked great and the smiles on both kids faces made me smile.

We did purchase the Peppa Pig World Early Pass, which is expensive, but it did mean we managed to get most of the rides done before the park opened for everyone else, and the meet and greet experience with the games and characters is lots of fun. As a once a year treat for them it is fine. The queues tend to peak at 30-35 minutes so the wait times are not to bad and they tend to get shorter at the end of the day.

The only thing that I felt was a little over priced was the photo pass, but £40 for the 5 photos and digital copies is the going right, and again, the kids loved having their driving licences printed out.

Select rides got extended until 6pm, which was great, and meant we got a full 9 hours in the park.

The reason for posting this so late, is I wanted to have chance to visit Alton Towers before making the following statement, for me, Paulton's Park remains the best park in the UK, and my first choice to visit as a family. Annabelle might have a slightly different view, although I think she would be torn, but Alton Towers is just so lacking in things for Daisy to do, it loses out. The same feeling of excitement, magic and happiness I had when visiting Towers 10 years ago is what it feels like when I visit Paulton's Park these days. I miss riding Nemesis, Air, Oblivion but when it means the kids having to stand around and wait while your queuing to ride, its hard to justify.

The original plan for May half term was to visit Europa Park, but as a family, when that is not possible, Paultons Park is the next best thing.
 
I’m going to Paultons for my first ever visit in 27 days’ time, COVID permitting, and I was only wondering; is there anything you think I should know before visiting? Anything like rides with long queues I should get out of the way early, a particular way to navigate the park, or something you think I shouldn’t miss? Any tips would be much appreciated!

I’ll admit I’m really looking forward to it; it feels like ages since I’ve visited a new major theme park, and Paultons is probably the most prolific UK theme park I’m yet to visit (well, possibly other than Flamingo Land), as well as being very highly rated, so I’m excited!
 
Matt N said:
I’m going to Paultons for my first ever visit in 27 days’ time, COVID permitting, and I was only wondering; is there anything you think I should know before visiting? Anything like rides with long queues I should get out of the way early, a particular way to navigate the park, or something you think I shouldn’t miss? Any tips would be much appreciated!

I’ll admit I’m really looking forward to it; it feels like ages since I’ve visited a new major theme park, and Paultons is probably the most prolific UK theme park I’m yet to visit (well, possibly other than Flamingo Land), as well as being very highly rated, so I’m excited!
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Long queues: Peppa Pig World can get quite long queues but the rest of the park is usually fairly quiet in comparison.

Things not to miss other than the roller coasters:
Dinosaur Tour Co. is really good if you like animatronics
Magma and Edge are quite enjoyable flat rides (I prefer them to their Chessington equivalents)
 
Just avoid PPW. It's not a place for anybody without young kids and you will feel largely awkward in the area - especially if you try and do a ride.

Otherwise, from my experience, you'll have no problem doing the rides everywhere else.
 
To be honest, as I’m the youngest member of our group at nearly 18 (it’s only me and my parents going), we had no real intention of spending any extended period of time within Peppa Pig World. We might have a quick look just to see what it’s like, as I did used to watch Peppa Pig a fair bit as a small child, but I don’t think we’re planning to do anything within the land or stay in there too long.

From what I can gather from monitoring the queue times, would I be correct in saying that I would be avoiding the bulk of the crowds by not going in PPW?
 
Matt N said:
To be honest, as I’m the youngest member of our group at nearly 18 (it’s only me and my parents going), we had no real intention of spending any extended period of time within Peppa Pig World. We might have a quick look just to see what it’s like, as I did used to watch Peppa Pig a fair bit as a small child, but I don’t think we’re planning to do anything within the land or stay in there too long.

From what I can gather from monitoring the queue times, would I be correct in saying that I would be avoiding the bulk of the crowds by not going in PPW?
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Go nowhere near PPW until the last couple of hours of the day, it calms right down later on. But do do go in there and have no shame!
In PPW go on Windy Castle, it's genuinely excellent with or without kids, especially if you like spinning. Grampy Rabbits Boats and the monorail are both worth a go as relaxing distractions without kids.
Steal someons kid to get on Georges Dinosaur Adventure if you can. :laughing:

On quiet days the far left of the park (Magma, Cobra, etc) don't open until 12.

Have a slice of pie in the new Tornado Springs restaurant.

Cyclonator is INCREDIBLE. Go on it however scared you might be!
 
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