Paultons Park: General Discussion

[The Big Mack]

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.

I definitely like that they're going for a more balanced tone with this ride, Paultons like to break the longstanding mould that every new ride in this country has to be overly dark and gloomy. There's probably a good argument to make that The Curse at Alton Manor leans too heavily into creepiness and morbidity for a park that generally has a lot of that already, but that seems to be the Alton Towers vibe these days. Whereas Paultons generally has more light-hearted themes across the board and a far younger audience in general.

So far it's certainly feeling very much like a mixed classic adventure/supernatural theme. It's definitely not going to be the most disturbing dark ride in the world, but it probably will incorporate feelings suspense and mystery if we're to go by the teasers released by the park so far.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Paultons like to break the longstanding mould that everything has to be overly dark and gloomy.

Selling sausage rolls, and ham and cheese pizzas, in Daddy Pig's cafe is easily the most dark, gloomy and disturbing thing in any UK theme park.

 

[owenstreet7]

I definitely like that they're going for a more balanced tone with this ride, Paultons like to break the longstanding mould that everything has to be overly dark and gloomy. There's probably a good argument to make that The Curse at Alton Manor leans too heavily into creepiness and morbidity for a park that generally has a lot of that already, but that seems to be the Alton Towers vibe these days. Whereas Paultons generally has more light-hearted themes across the board and a far younger audience in general.

So far it's certainly feeling very much like a mixed classic adventure/supernatural theme. It's definitely not going to be the most disturbing dark ride in the world.

It's fantastic, there's too many dark themes at UK theme parks with Towers being the main culprit.

Even Thorpe Park are trying to balance the light and darkness a bit with Hyperia being a lighter theme.

I find Towers to be unnecessarily too dark for it's themes.

I like how Paultons Park have focused more on the adventure and ghost busting aspects than it being a pure horror ride.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

Alton Towers (in particular with Nick Varney involved) had a huge success with Nemesis in 1994 and have never been able to move on from that. The only brief break from it we got from the dark themes was during the early to mid 2000s when Vanrey was absent (Spinball, Rita, Driving School). As soon as Varney returned in 2007, the dark themes returned. Let’s see what happens now he’s gone.

 

[Bowser]

Interesting little fact somebody mentioned on another forum:

"Paultons have the most costers on earth in a park without having an "extreme" (RCDB definition) "

 

[Skyscraper]

Another fun fact...

When Ghostly Manor opens on May 17th 2025, it will be nine years to the day that both Flight of the Pterosaur and Velociraptor opened, on May 17th 2016!

 

[Zeock]

That's really interesting, although if Paultons truly wants to be a family park, then they probably should install an 'extreme' coaster, as the family doesn't just consist of children under the age of 8.

Interesting little fact somebody mentioned on another forum:

"Paultons have the most costers on earth in a park without having an "extreme" (RCDB definition) "

 

[owenstreet7]

That's really interesting, although if Paultons truly wants to be a family park, then they probably should install an 'extreme' coaster, as the family doesn't just consist of children under the age of 8.

That seems to be the intention with the 2026 installation

 

[pluk]

Another fun fact...

When Ghostly Manor opens on May 17th 2025, it will be nine years to the day that both Flight of the Pterosaur and Velociraptor opened, on May 17th 2016!

And that area could still be mistaken for brand new in how it is presented.

Elsewhere in 2016 we had Galactica, which now has lost its VR and looks worse than plenty of urban explorer abandoned park footage you'll see, a bit of a refurbishment to Terror Tomb that despite needing another referb since is still very much knackered, and Derren Brown's Ghost Train opened and, well, nothing more really needs saying about that. What a crazy waste of opportunity in comparison.