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Paultons Park: General Discussion

Benzin said:
Given that the likes of a Chance Toboggan or Golden Horse knock-offs exist this is factually incorrect.
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Eurofighters aren't the worst coasters out there. Neither are Vekoma SLCs. But in both cases there are just so many of them they're impossible to avoid. Every mediocre regional park in England or France has one or the other. The others are ones you actually have to seek out.
 
MaxPower said:
Once you've done one Eurofighter, you've done them all.
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And this is the point... probably 90% of their visitors have never done one, and probably never seen one so it makes for a solid investment.

However. To us enthusiasts it might just be the UKs most underwhelming thrill coaster in the UKs most highly themed and immersive new land.

I'm personally still holding out for 2027 to be something really eye-catching.
 
Themepark-newbie said:
And this is the point... probably 90% of their visitors have never done one, and probably never seen one so it makes for a solid investment.

However. To us enthusiasts it might just be the UKs most underwhelming thrill coaster in the UKs most highly themed and immersive new land.

I'm personally still holding out for 2027 to be something really eye-catching.
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Really Maintaining Confidence that 2027 will bring something world class.
 
Themepark-newbie said:
And this is the point... probably 90% of their visitors have never done one, and probably never seen one so it makes for a solid investment.

However. To us enthusiasts it might just be the UKs most underwhelming thrill coaster in the UKs most highly themed and immersive new land.

I'm personally still holding out for 2027 to be something really eye-catching.
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I get the impression Drakon is a "B-lister" thrill coaster to play it safe with the budget, a more toned down SAW The Ride with Wicker Man grade theme dressing, and heavily complementing the already solid Cobra/Raven 'coaster, so no grievous sin. The 2027 project will hopefully be more memorable or unique and a bit bigger.
 
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I’ve got to admit, I definitely did lose personal excitement for the coaster once I found out it was a Euro-Fighter. I’m yet to ride a Gerstlauer coaster that I hugely rate, and I also think it’s a very conservative addition when a park 1 hour down the road already built a bigger one 16 years ago and a park in Southend already built one 18 years ago. The parks building them these days are mostly very small parks, smaller than Paultons; the bigger parks stopped building them about 10 years ago.

That’s not to say that it won’t be successful and fit the park well, but I must admit that I was hoping for something a bit more ambitious from Paultons and I must admit that Euro-Fighters are not a ride type I overly rate.

Having watched some of TPW’s vlogs from Austria recently, I can’t help but think that something like Helios at Fantasiana would have fitted Paultons brilliantly. It’s exactly the same height as Drakon, it’s a similar length to what Drakon will likely be, and it looks like an absolutely brilliant coaster! Fantasiana is also hardly a huge park itself, so I imagine it would have been within Paultons’ price range.
 
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Matt N said:
I’ve got to admit, I definitely did lose personal excitement for the coaster once I found out it was a Euro-Fighter. I’m yet to ride a Gerstlauer coaster that I hugely rate, and I also think it’s a very conservative addition when a park 1 hour down the road already built a bigger one 16 years ago and a park in Southend already built one 18 years ago. The parks building them these days are mostly very small parks, smaller than Paultons; the bigger parks stopped building them about 10 years ago.

That’s not to say that it won’t be successful and fit the park well, but I must admit that I was hoping for something a bit more ambitious from Paultons and I must admit that Euro-Fighters are not a ride type I overly rate.

Having watched some of TPW’s vlogs from Austria recently, I can’t help but think that something like Helios at Fantasiana would have fitted Paultons brilliantly. It’s exactly the same height as Drakon, it’s a similar length to what Drakon will likely be, and it looks like an absolutely brilliant coaster! Fantasiana is also hardly a huge park itself, so I imagine it would have been within Paultons’ price range.
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I think the main reason they went with Gerstlauer is because of them also redoing Cobra to take the rivalry out of other manufacturers, stick with Gerstlauer in an area with a Gerstlauer already makes sense.

Though kinda wish it was an Infinity Coaster imagine something like Junker or Schwur des Kärnan at Paultons
 
There is a podcast episode with Lawrence from Paultons here that covers the reason for going with a Eurofighter.

The fact they have a good relationship with the manufacturer is mentioned, but perhaps more telling is that the decision to build a more thrilling coaster was taken later in the planning process and so they needed a manufacturer that had availability to build the coaster in the time frame they wanted.

Edit: section starts at 40mins in.


From: https://youtu.be/7cjTuWdKVUs?si=4od-EcQY96A68_rI
 
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AT86 said:
There is a podcast episode with Lawrence from Paultons here that covers the reason for going with a Eurofighter.

The fact they have a good relationship with the manufacturer is mentioned, but perhaps more telling is that the decision to build a more thrilling coaster was taken later in the planning process and so they needed a manufacturer that had availability to build the coaster in the time frame they wanted.

Edit: section starts at 40mins in.


From: https://youtu.be/7cjTuWdKVUs?si=4od-EcQY96A68_rI
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Do you mind you've let logic and reasonable argument with evidence from the park into the Gerstlauer bashing topic.
 
Paultons have previously tended to go with quite unique models for their new coasters - unique for the UK at least. So this has come as a surprise.

I get what he’s saying about Gerstlauer being the manufacturer available at that time, but there are so many other Gerstlauer alternatives they could have chosen.

I’m old and was on these forums back in 2008 when Saw was under construction. Even back then, people were criticising Thorpe for playing it too safe by choosing a Eurofighter when two already existed in the UK. Now here we are 16 years later. To say that it was a conservative choice, would be an understatement.
 
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