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Paultons Park: General Discussion

Cobra when I went in July that was the 1st time I been on that since my 1st visit in 2014 and in that time the coaster has become very rough. Hopefully with its re-theme for the 2026 season this can be sorted out.
 
We were at Paultons yesterday and I think it was the busiest we have ever seen it. Generally Peppa Pig World takes the brunt but it seemed busy all over. Cobra was 40-50 minutes for most of the day, and at points Pterosaur, Storm Chaser and Magma were all 50 minutes, and a lot of the other rides were 20-30 minutes. Compared to a Merlin park on a busy day those queue times are good, but just goes to show the reputation Paultons has when you actually think those are very long queues. They were making people share the cars on Cobra which is unusual, and they also had signs out saying queue assist was sold out, which we have never seen before either.

Still a good day as ever, and staff were great as they always are.

Oh, one thing to mention, they had Splash Lagoon advertised to close at 5pm but they actually closed the queue at around 4:30 to make sure the queue had gone and they could actually close it at 5pm. We got to the ride about 5 minutes before closing and they wouldn't let us on.
 
Interesting. I just had a look on the app (13:15 on half term Thursday) and the longest queue is 15 mins. Cobra is only 10.

Very surprising considering how busy it sounds to have been yesterday. Is something special about Wednesdays? The weather has been the same both days.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Interesting. I just had a look on the app (13:15 on half term Thursday) and the longest queue is 15 mins. Cobra is only 10.

Very surprising considering how busy it sounds to have been yesterday. Is something special about Wednesdays? The weather has been the same both days.
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All the parks are noticeably quieter today, guessing people have other plans for Halloween itself.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Interesting. I just had a look on the app (13:15 on half term Thursday) and the longest queue is 15 mins. Cobra is only 10.

Very surprising considering how busy it sounds to have been yesterday. Is something special about Wednesdays? The weather has been the same both days.
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Yeah, just had a look myself at the app and it seems back to normal for Paultons today. Member of staff we spoke to yesterday said they were sold out today, but not sure about that looking at the queues. We chose the wrong day to visit by the looks of it 🙂.
 
The Big Mack said:
The art style for this dark ride is delightfully whimsical.
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Everything is whimsical now, it's come out of nowhere to be enthuasiasts word of choice in 2024. I'm hoping that this wave of whimsicalness sticks around long enough until whenever it will be that Thorpe get a new attraction so we have something with a whimsical apocalypse or whimsical serial killer theme.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
Everything is whimsical now, it's come out of nowhere to be enthuasiasts word of choice in 2024. I'm hoping that this wave of whimsicalness sticks around long enough until whenever it will be that Thorpe get a new attraction so we have something with a whimsical apocalypse or whimsical serial killer theme.
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But it is the definition whimsical. :p Just look at the character design of Doctor Kinley. :laughing:
It's not a bad thing of course, Paultons needed a theme like this. Having said that there are a fair few themes at parks that people might call whimsical but barely scratch the surface of what whimsicalness is... usually it's the kind of corporate soullnessness found at a Merlin park (other than Alton Towers, they could do with such a positive theme).
 
The Big Mack said:
But it is the definition whimsical. :p Just look at the character design of Doctor Kinley. :laughing:
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"playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way."

His render looks like a pretty stereotypical colonial explorer to me.

I don't think there's many who would describe imperial colonialism as "playfully quaint" or "appealing".
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
"playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way."

His render looks like a pretty stereotypical colonial explorer to me.

I don't think there's many who would describe imperial colonialism as "playfully quaint" or "appealing".
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It's a tad cartoony, that's where the playfulness is coming from. In other teasers and artwork of this character, he doesn't look stern or menacing, rather he has a very friendly face, a playful moustache (it is colonial but there are many playful depictions of men from that era including in Disney animated films and dark rides) and is holding a very steampunk looking blaster. It's a fantastical, spooky blaster attraction set during the colonial era like many classic adventure films and a number of past attractions are.
 
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I think after all this I’ve set my expectations, rightfully, low. To be frank, it’s going to be a little shooting dark ride, and it’ll be cute but not much more than that.

I just think the theme is a bit generic. It doesn’t grab me, and I feel like it should but it doesn’t. I really want to like Paultons more than I do, but as of the moment it doesn’t have much that appeals to me. It’s all nice and landscaped, but it didn’t have that theatre and that drama. And to be fair, I’m not the target audience, so fair play, they’re doing good.

What I’m saying is it isn’t going to be my favourite recent spinning ghost themed ride…
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
"playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way."

His render looks like a pretty stereotypical colonial explorer to me.

I don't think there's many who would describe imperial colonialism as "playfully quaint" or "appealing".
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I’m praying this is some sarcasm/in joke that’s gone straight over my head.
 
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That's a pretty lighthearted depiction of a British adventurer. It is fairly whimsical.
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Source:
From: https://youtu.be/UCR4o9IvMhU

Disney have also explored similar artstyles. Just take Joe Rohde as Harrison Hightower at Tokyo DisneySea as an example.
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Source:
From: https://youtu.be/ndn2BR4m-Ws

And then there's Mystic Manor also
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From: https://youtu.be/rY0NYgwMMLU

I don't think Paultons are setting out to create a depressing political commentary on a past era, they're very clearly gleaning from Disney's portfolio of dark rides to make something playful and magical while still lacing it with creepiness. Just have a look at the minigame on the ride's minisite, the artstyle isn't exact uninviting, yes the ride has a horror aesthetic but it's being playful with horror, because it is at the end of the day an attraction for children and families.

Play – Ghostly Manor

ghostlymanor.co.uk ghostlymanor.co.uk
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It's too early to say if it'll be good or not, but this is Paultons we're talking about, they're giving a fairly small new dark ride a lot of effort to make it presentable and enjoyable without cutting too many corners.
 

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Clearer looks at the concept art/minigame wallpaper.
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Judging by the scene's shaping and central plant-monster, this is one of the practical scenes, and it looks like it'll feature an animatronic. Not many UK parks invest in particularly good quality animatronics, but knowing that Paultons like to spend their money on finishing their new installations to as high a standards as they can, I reckon these could easily end up being some of the more advanced animatronics in the UK and that they would be well looked after by the park. I'm not expecting anything in quite the same league as what Garner Holt deliver, but still, I see no reason why we should expect anything mediocre like what we're accustomed to seeing in the UK generally. Hopefully the end result does turn out to look similar to what we're seeing in this artwork.
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I think the Ghostly Manor theme and the Dr Kinley character is right for the aesthetic they're looking for.

It does give me more of a Maus Au Chocolat vibe than Curse at Alton Manor however that is the intention. It's more Ghostbusters or Luigi's Mansion than a traditional Ghost Train ride.

*For some reason VIBES keeps auto capitalising on this forum.
 
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