• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Paultons Park: General Discussion

owenstreet7 said:
That is very true although even if it's not the primary aim, they could appeal to the teens and young adult market anyway through their offering.

I'd say that it could be an attractive alternative to Alton Towers or Thorpe Park if done right.

I know we've had the debate before about whether Paultons will be what topples Alton Towers off it's perch with the view that it won't due to the geography although the potential is absolutely huge for it to do so.
Click to expand...
I don't think there will be a situation where Paultons is a true alternative to Thorpe Park, they will always aim for different things as Thorpe predominately has high-thrill. But Paultons will be another major option for families compared to Alton Towers and Chessington.
 
jon81uk said:
I don't think there will be a situation where Paultons is a true alternative to Thorpe Park, they will always aim for different things as Thorpe predominately has high-thrill. But Paultons will be another major option for families compared to Alton Towers and Chessington.
Click to expand...
That would be very unlikely that they'd go the complete thrill route

Thorpe Park is a unique one that no other park worldwide accommodates for thrills to the near exclusion of families.

More likely it'll be an alternative to Chessington, Drayton Manor, Flamingo Land, Blackpool and Alton Towers nationally.

Although what it could do it bring people away from Thorpe Park for something different as Thorpe Park doesn't have the rides for the less adventurous/wimps so that might be what shoots Thorpe in the foot.

Bowser said:
I think there are plenty of great coaster types they can add without being visually intimidating and still having a 1.2m height restriction or less.

Wooden coasters, launched coasters etc. They don’t need something that looks scarier than Drakon for a long time.

I’m glad Ride to Happiness exists but i wonder if Plopsa think they got a good return on investment. It rarely seems to have a queue. Heidi the wooden coaster is far more popular.
Click to expand...
That is exactly what I am thinking, you could have a fantastic launched or wooden coaster which would be a hit for the families.

There's definitely the potential for something thrilling next.

It seems that Plopsaland appear to have because they're replicating it in Germany. At the same time, Heidi's capacity isn't great...
 
owenstreet7 said:
Thorpe Park is a unique one that no other park worldwide accommodates for thrills to the near exclusion of families.
Click to expand...
Some of the Six Flags parks are close to this, not to the extent of Thorpe but it certainly felt like Magic Mountain was very thrill coaster heavy and most family rides were seperated off into the Loony Tunes area.

But I don't think any family is going to be debating between Thorpe and Paulton, they either know their kids are tall/old enough and want to do thrill rides, or they are deciding between Chessington, Paulton, Drayton or maybe Alton.
 
jon81uk said:
I don't think there will be a situation where Paultons is a true alternative to Thorpe Park, they will always aim for different things as Thorpe predominately has high-thrill. But Paultons will be another major option for families compared to Alton Towers and Chessington.
Click to expand...

Paultons only becomes the UK’s destination theme park if you assume the UK stops north of the Watford gap.
 
Valgard looks to have really excellent theming and I think Drakon will be a good addition to the park, going for a cheaper ride model and prioritizing theming is a much better decision imo.

I think for their next large scale coaster I'd love to see an airtime filled ride to counter Drakon, either a Mack mega coaster (if they have a larger budget), a Chance Rides Hyper GTX (like lightning run at Kentucky Kingdom), or a woodie which I think is the most likely (I could see them go for a Gravity Group family coaster).

My only real problem with Paultons Park is that their choices of theming are uninspired and they don't seem to build on any of the themes that they are taking from Universal or Disney that could make them interesting. I hope they make some more creative choices theming wise in the future and build on what is really well themed areas, that are just lacking any soul.
 
Lewis232 said:
Another Valguard construction update and the theming here looks fantastic, the level of detail is really impressive. Glad they chose not to go with the tarmac flooring used in Lost Kingdom.


From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SdZ3HdhT0o
Click to expand...


Another excellent update.

I’m arguably more looking forward to this than the DLP expansion. I can’t wait to handover my money and would encourage everyone else to do the same.

Given what they’ve built in around 12 months, it embarrasses most other parks, certainly in the UK.

The quality of their finishes, the execution, the fencing, the taste with which things are done, the in house vs external skill sets, the want to improve and add to what’s already there, the maintenance levels. They just continue to make excellent choices.

Their ability to understand a quality built environment should be studied. Instead of just slapping signs, stickers or stencils on everything and call it theming.

I saw coastertogs video from Alton today and the Nemesis station floor looked filthy. It’s not even the bare minimum.
 
postglaceon said:
Valgard looks to have really excellent theming and I think Drakon will be a good addition to the park, going for a cheaper ride model and prioritizing theming is a much better decision imo.

I think for their next large scale coaster I'd love to see an airtime filled ride to counter Drakon, either a Mack mega coaster (if they have a larger budget), a Chance Rides Hyper GTX (like lightning run at Kentucky Kingdom), or a woodie which I think is the most likely (I could see them go for a Gravity Group family coaster).

My only real problem with Paultons Park is that their choices of theming are uninspired and they don't seem to build on any of the themes that they are taking from Universal or Disney that could make them interesting. I hope they make some more creative choices theming wise in the future and build on what is really well themed areas, that are just lacking any soul.
Click to expand...
They build generic themes but excel at using those generic themes
 
I think the interior theming they've shown makes the difference.

How many times does the ride station just have the old unthemed metal ceiling?

Not sure how this and Tornado Springs lack soul. Parks can't win sometimes; generic themes are bad, but so are IPs.

That electrical board though was gorgeous.
 
Those of us on the Super Fans list will have received an email update from Paultons' Super Fans Team this afternoon:
Over the last few months since revealing the opening date for Valgard, we have seen unprecedented demand from those wishing to attend the Theme Park Super Fans evening on Saturday 16th May. We have received an overwhelming amount of interest, including from creators and coaster club members who haven’t been able to attend our previous events.

More people than ever are keen to support and celebrate this monumental milestone in Paultons Park history, and it’s important to us that we are fair and considered in how we manage capacity.

At present, demand to attend the Theme Park Super Fans evening far exceeds the capacity we can safely accommodate within the internal event space. After careful consideration, we have decided to operate a random ballot process to ensure the opportunity to attend the Super Fans evening is fairly distributed across our fan base.

As you have already expressed interest in attending the event, your email address will automatically be added to the ballot.

Those who are successfully allocated a space through the ballot process will be notified by email tomorrow morning (Tuesday 10th March 2026) with an attendance confirmation form to complete. As part of the ticket allocation process, you’ll be able to submit guest information for yourself and your plus one (who must be aged 16 or over). Please note that you will need to submit the name of your plus one to provide them with entry on the day.

We understand that this update to our ticketing process will cause disappointment for some, but we hope that you will understand why it is necessary. We wish we could accommodate everyone, however it is simply impossible from an operational and safety perspective.

We are incredibly grateful to our loyal and committed fan base and want to ensure that everyone has equal opportunity to experience something special at Paultons Park.
Click to expand...
The overwhelming demand is completely understandable for this year's investment, and it's good they've made this a random ballot so everyone has a fair chance. Fingers crossed at least one of us TST lot will receive the attendance confirmation form tomorrow morning.
 
Rowe said:
Those of us on the Super Fans list will have received an email update from Paultons' Super Fans Team this afternoon:
Click to expand...

I've received the same. I'd be going solo, so if I get the email in the morning i'd be happy to put someones name down as my +1 :)
 
Rowe said:
Those of us on the Super Fans list will have received an email update from Paultons' Super Fans Team this afternoon:

The overwhelming demand is completely understandable for this year's investment, and it's good they've made this a random ballot so everyone has a fair chance. Fingers crossed at least one of us TST lot will receive the attendance confirmation form tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...
I admire your optimism, @Rowe, but I can't quite share the sentiment that this is a good thing.

Whilst I completely understand that Paultons Park is facing unprecedented demand for what is undeniably a monumental investment, the fundamental issue here is the timeline and the communication.

The park sent out an explicit "Save the Date" communication to this mailing list several months ago. Based on that assurance, many will have proactively booked travel and secured non-refundable accommodation in the New Forest to lock in reasonable rates. Suddenly pulling the rug out and introduce a ballot system at the eleventh hour is, frankly, rather poor form. It leaves dedicated fans staring down the barrel of being significantly out of pocket for a weekend away they might no longer have a reason to take.

I find the specific mention of "creators" in the email to be rather telling. One suspects that "The Relevant Media" and high profile vloggers will not be leaving their attendance to the whims of a random number generator. The ballot will simply be to distribute the remaining spaces to the actual "Super Fans" the event was originally named for.

It's a shame to see an event that felt genuinely positioned to reward the community's excited fans pivot into what feels like a standard PR and influencer exercise, where the very people who supported the park before the massive coaster investments might now be locked out.

I do empathise with the park's capacity constraints, and I appreciate that managing crowd safety around a highly anticipated launch is difficult. However, the administrative execution of this leaves a slightly sour taste in the beak.

Wings firmly crossed for everyone waiting on an email tomorrow morning. I hope those who have already paid for hotels are the lucky ones.
 
Rowe said:
Those of us on the Super Fans list will have received an email update from Paultons' Super Fans Team this afternoon:

The overwhelming demand is completely understandable for this year's investment, and it's good they've made this a random ballot so everyone has a fair chance. Fingers crossed at least one of us TST lot will receive the attendance confirmation form tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...
Can understand why they've done that, but I'll be so upset if I don't get in. It just feels like a punch in the stomach, given they sent out save-the-dates last year, plus as @GooseOnTheLoose says, some people have already booked hotels and transport. And even if I get in, I'd still be disappointed if friends like @BooMT (who was awesome company for the two previous events!) missed out, as it's such a good social event.
 
Skyscraper said:
Can understand why they've done that, but I'll be so upset if I don't get in. It just feels like a punch in the stomach, given they sent out save-the-dates last year, plus as @GooseOnTheLoose says, some people have already booked hotels and transport. And even if I get in, I'd still be disappointed if friends like @BooMT missed out, as it's such a good social event.
Click to expand...
Just for clarification, I'm all for giving people who have never been before an opportunity to attend (events like this shouldn't be gatekept), but it would have been nice if they'd explained in December that this year was switching to a ballot.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Just for clarification, I'm all for giving people who have never been before an opportunity to attend (events like this shouldn't be gatekept), but it would have been nice if they'd explained in December that this year was switching to a ballot.
Click to expand...
Yeah of course, that's what I meant when I mentioned the save-the-dates. More notice would have been appreciated.
 
Rowe said:
Those of us on the Super Fans list will have received an email update from Paultons' Super Fans Team this afternoon:

The overwhelming demand is completely understandable for this year's investment, and it's good they've made this a random ballot so everyone has a fair chance. Fingers crossed at least one of us TST lot will receive the attendance confirmation form tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...
To follow up on my brief quote 'n' post, because I hadn't read that deeply into it as certain others at the time of posting, I've since re-read it and read all the following posts and Discord chatter surrounding the email.

Now, whilst the random ballot process is all well and good, I do agree that emailing with this update after attendance confirmation was made a few months back is not a good look. Existing Super Fans who have already booked hotels and transport are right to be upset by this decision. The explicit mention of 'creators' and 'coaster club members' does not help matters either. They could have just left it at 'we've had unprecedented demand and interest from other members of the theme park community who haven't had a chance to attend the event' or something to that effect. However, I'm not joining in the speculation over big influencer names and coaster clubs having guaranteed priority, and everyone else has been chucked in the random ballot.

Anyway, I've sent the Super Fans team an email with the feedback I've seen here and asking for clarity on if everyone expressing interest is on that random ballot and if they will at least offer an additional apology and something to those who have already paid a lot to be there but didn't make the list.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top