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Paultons Park: General Discussion

Visited the park last weekend for the first time; finally get time to write up my trip report and it seems @Rob has got there first with most of what I was going to say! :p Oh well, I'll say it anyway!

It's a very attractive park, helped enormously by the fine weather we had - perfect blue skies and a warm but fresh October day - and the really excellent Hallowe'en decorations that had only just been put in ahead of their Hallowe'en event. For that reason alone I'm glad we postponed our trip by a week - quite apart from the terrible weather of the weekend before! Seems they have gone for a Guinness World record on number of (real) pumpkins around the park but the effect worked really well, and the entrance plaza in particular was looking really splendid and autumnal. Though I wonder how many rotten pumpkins they'll end up replacing between now and 31st...

We headed to the left side of the park first and did The Edge, Magma and Cobra. There's some good theming around this area - we particularly liked the Topiary cobra - complete with fangs! But in general this area lacks a bit of cohesion and feels a bit sparse - and given the strength of the park's other themed areas I hope this is the area of the park they turn their attention to next for redevelopment.

Then it was over to Lost Kingdom, and really you can't go wrong with animatronic dinosaurs! The planting was great here as well, very subtropical, and the 'field notes' around the queue paths were a nice touch. We did all three coasters in this area; Velociraptor is the first boomerang I've done and it was fun but a bit short for my liking. Flight of the Pterosaur was fun but a bit tame for my liking - I was really hoping for some inversions, but quite understandably it's not that sort of ride being very much a family coaster.

We had lunch in the Japanese Garden; being a bit short of time (and unsure about gluten-free options) we didn't try any of the park eateries, though the coffee was good. I really liked this area, which has been landscaped beautifully and has some really nice details, including some really interesting metal-sculpted fountains. We then spent a leisurely hour wandering around the rest of the gardens and aviaries. This for me is what sets Paultons apart from other family theme parks in the UK; it's all been done so well and maintained so beautifully. Unfortunately some of the birds seemed to take issue with us and chased us off their patch with a great deal of squawking, straight into...

Tornado Springs. As many others have said, they have really outdone themselves here. Everything, literally everything, in the area fits perfectly with the chosen theme, which also fits perfectly with the ride offering. There are so many little details everywhere I must have missed a lot; it would be nice to go back and have a bit more time just to wander around taking everything in. I thought Cyclonator was excellent; I'm not usually bothered about flat rides but this is arguably the best ride in the park, especially for thrillseekers, and it was a lot more intense that I'd been expecting. Storm Chaser was a great spinning coaster, and it was good fun in the back car, which we ended up in both times we rode it - I've never looked down a lift-hill before, so that was a new experience. They've also done a really good job of re-theming the existing rides; I even dragged one of my party (to their embarrassment) onto Trekking Tractors, which was looking splendidly autumnal, and bursting with real grown produce such as corn, swiss chard and pear trees heavy with fruit.

Have to say, we made a quick beeline through Peppa Pig World, which really is a kids-only area and it feels awkward to be there as an adult-only group. But it was worth looking around the animal exhibits in Little Africa, although a couple of the mongooses were doing something very naughty and not family-friendly at all! We left them to it and did the little walk across the lake to a working watermill, which I think would be easy to miss but was a really nice find.

We spent the last hour rushing around to get some re-rides in. The park was pretty full at 5pm and could have easily stayed open for another hour I thought, but I guess the good weather had encouraged people to stick around. Leaving the site was pretty painful as three car parks converge to one exit; this probably needs a re-think if their popularity is set to continue. Anyway we had a great day and I'm really glad to have seen the place at its very best. Obviously it's a family park so I wasn't expecting a lot of thrill rides, nevertheless I think one high-thrill coaster with inversions would be a good addition to the current offering for the interest of adults and older children.

Keep doing what you're doing Paultons, because it's working - and hopefully the likes of Merlin will sit up and take notice!
 
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We went for our Third visit of the year during half term, and attended the late opening, where the park closed at 7.30. We arrived at 8.30 and both littles ones wanted to stay and do more rides when the park closed at 7.30, it was probably 8.15pm by the time we left the car park, and both little ones fell straight to sleep in the car.

As I have said before, it was another fantastic day. Wait for food was a little longer than normal, and the quality was not what it had been on previous visits, but did not ruin the day.

They did have special Halloween Ice Creams which came in a mini pumpkin, they were very expensive for what they were, but they looked great.

The Halloween theming was fantastic in the areas where they had deployed it. So this was Peppa Pig World, and Tornado Springs, with the other areas having minor Halloween theming.

Where they had made the effort, it felt like a mini Europa Park with Pumpkins in every direction. Peppa and George had their Halloween costumes on which the kids enjoyed, and made it a little different for previous visits.

Daisy did not want to go on Storm Chaser during the day, but when it got dark, she said "I was just tricking earlier when I said I dont want to go on, so I could ride it in the dark". It was fun doing the rides in the dark, and there was still 15-20 minutes queues to do the rides in the dark, so it was great to see the demand there.

With there only being two late night opening, there was a lack of additional lighting that you see at Towers, which I hope is something they would look to enhance next year, as well as increase the number of nights. Torando Springs looked great in the dark.

Strangest thing, and something Alton Towers might want to take notice of, is the 4D Cinema was originally scheduled to close at 5.30pm, which shows every hour, but when we arrived at 2pmish, they had changed it so the film was running constantly, and it was going to stay open until 6.30pm.
 
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I don’t know whether the park usually does this or not, but according to an email my dad received from them, Paultons is apparently doing a winter event this year with Tornado Springs being open!

Well, TS and Peppa Pig were both advertised, but it could well be a whole park event for all I know!

Isn’t this exciting? It’s certainly very novel for a UK park, anyway…
 
I don’t know whether the park usually does this or not, but according to an email my dad received from them, Paultons is apparently doing a winter event this year with Tornado Springs being open!

Well, TS and Peppa Pig were both advertised, but it could well be a whole park event for all I know!

Isn’t this exciting? It’s certainly very novel for a UK park, anyway…
Ok
November: Right hand side of map including Peppa Pig and Tornado Springs
Christmas: Add Lost Kingdom
January: Park Closed
Feb HT: Pretty much full park
 
When does Farmyard Flyer open? Might be tempted for a winter visit if it includes a new coaster credit.
 
Paultons do need to get better at this. I mean it's late November now and they've left one of their Halloween theming props out on one of their rides
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Paultons do need to get better at this. I mean it's late November now and they've left one of their Halloween theming props out on one of their rides
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What on earth is that hat about? Hahahahaha

I'm sure he does these kind of things on purpose. Similar to the rumours of him messing his hair up before he walks infront of camera. He's such a prat.
 
I wonder if he took all his other kids to Paultons as well? Because I'm in no way claiming this was kiss the baby/Farage + pint/happy families "I'm just a regular guy" publicity thing. I doubt it since he doesn't even to seem to know how many children he has.
 
Let’s hope this could function as an inadvertent boost in ticket sales for Paultons; I’ve already heard this mentioned in some news articles regarding Boris’ speech, and Peppa Pig World is now one of the most trending things on Google!

If nothing else, it will certainly make the park one of the more infamous places within political circles…
 
Let’s hope this could function as an inadvertent boost in ticket sales for Paultons; I’ve already heard this mentioned in some news articles regarding Boris’ speech, and Peppa Pig World is now one of the most trending things on Google!

If nothing else, it will certainly make the park one of the more infamous places within political circles…
Well I wouldn't go that far but if Borris has already visited, I suppose people could come the conclusion that they can book in confidence of knowing there's now a reduced likelihood of bumping into him there.
 
Well I wouldn't go that far but if Borris has already visited, I suppose people could come the conclusion that they can book in confidence of knowing there's now a reduced likelihood of bumping into him there.

Not sure, based on his glowing review he has probably got himself a season pass...

Would give us all a laugh if someone got a snap of him on George's Dinosaur Adventure actually.
 
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