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Paultons Park: General Discussion

PhalanaxOperativeA1127 said:
I wonder where the Edge is being relocated to ...

My guess would either be the Raging River site & adjacent area, or the area where Jumping Bean & Jumping Jack used to sit (along the edge of the lake, behind the pirate ship and penguins)
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I was thinking in Tornado Springs either behind the diner or Farmyard Flyer (I think that's got something there already).

Could they potentially soft retheme the area by Pirate Ship and make Edge the headline ride? I think it could easily be rethemed into pirates quietly.
 
owenstreet7 said:
I was thinking in Tornado Springs either behind the diner or Farmyard Flyer (I think that's got something there already).

Could they potentially soft retheme the area by Pirate Ship and make Edge the headline ride? I think it could easily be rethemed into pirates quietly.
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The need to redo the area in between Creepy Critters and Peppa Pig World.

I feel to Peppa Pig World could do with its own rollercoaster imagine a Daddy Pig's Rollercoaster there like the one in Florida
 
IDB said:
Is either the Euro-Fighter or Water Ride relocating from South Wales?
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The Euro-Fighter definitely isn’t, seeing as it’s got a completely different layout to Speed. I guess we can’t rule out the water ride being a relocated Drenched, but I’d be surprised if Paultons went for a relocated 20 year old water ride myself, particularly given its chequered history.

So, we finally have this thing revealed!

First things first, I’m really happy to see Paultons taking that next step into something more thrilling coaster-wise. It will really widen the park’s appeal and ensure that they can appeal to demographics beyond their bread and butter young family demographic!

The area looks and sounds really nice, and given the high quality of Tornado Springs and Lost Kingdom, I’m sure it will be a real hit thematically! The flat ride looks like an interesting choice; while I haven’t ridden one of those before, it looks like good fun and looks like it will have good all-round appeal! It’s also great to see this blander area of the park getting rethemed; Cobra and the surrounding area finally receiving a proper theme is brilliant news!

If I’m being picky, however, I’ll admit that I’m slightly disappointed in the choice of a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter as the main attraction. I’m trying to put aside the fact that I’m not personally a massive fan of Euro-Fighters… but I’ll admit I’m struggling to and will also admit that my excitement for the coaster aspect of this has definitely fallen with today’s announcement.

Even putting aside my own personal preferences, however, I’m, rightly or wrongly, a bit disappointed that they haven’t taken the opportunity to go for something a bit more unique and/or ambitious. This will be the 4th Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter installed in the UK, and while the layout looks fun enough, it doesn’t look to majorly reinvent the wheel or do anything new with the model compared to the existing three, and it does look like a more conservative layout. Perhaps irrationally, I’ll admit that I had hopes that this might be the ride that was a real statement piece to truly show the public that Paultons Park is more than just Peppa Pig and means business, and from what I can see of it, I’m not sure Drakon is that statement headline attraction. This very much looks like a continuation of the park’s prior strategy of “well-themed, but conservative”, and while that strategy has clearly worked for the park and is not necessarily a bad one, I do feel that it’s maybe a missed opportunity to go for something that will really grab the headlines and get people flocking. As much as I’m sure Drakon will be a hit with Paultons visitors and be very well-themed, I think something slightly more ambitious and unique that was more of a statement piece could have really propelled Paultons into that very top tier of UK parks and gotten people talking in the way that the ambitious installs at the likes of Alton Towers did back in the day. As much as people can talk about the high quality experience of Alton Towers back in the day, the thing that really earned the park its name was those ambitious and unique statement attraction installations that came flying in throughout the 90s. If I’m being hypercritical, I feel like Paultons’ installs maybe miss some of that statement factor, and I feel that that is maybe the thing holding them back.

I don’t know; maybe I’m being far too picky and evaluating Paultons through an unfairly critical lens here. I’m sure this will go down very well with park guests, and I’m really happy to see Paultons going down the more thrilling coaster route! The news of another major addition in 2027 is also really exciting; if it is some form of large water ride, I think that would be brilliant!
 
mech258 said:
Maybe it's time for a poll on where Magma will be located to, my vote is Drayton manor in vikings there
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Blackpool have checked the bank account again and are going for this instead of the giant frisbee.

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A Eurofighter with OTSRs was a long way from the top of my wish list to be honest, I was hoping they'd push a little bit further into thrill and go for something that would be more of a natural draw by being less common. There can't be many out there with even a passing interest in rides who wouldn't look at the vertical lift hill and recognise it as 'one of those' that they'll doubtless have done before. I have absolute faith in Paultons to pull this off though, and make a fun well themed area.

Not something that's really an issue at Paultons, other than that damn helicopter ride, but I wonder if that swing is going to struggle capacity wise? It looks like fun for everyone so with no other kiddie support rides in the area it's going to be hit hard by everyone that can't ride the coasters as well as a lot of those who can.
 
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PhalanaxOperativeA1127 said:
I wonder where the Edge is being relocated to ...

My guess would either be the Raging River site & adjacent area, or the area where Jumping Bean & Jumping Jack used to sit (along the edge of the lake, behind the pirate ship and penguins)
Click to expand...

I queried this in the Q&A, and The Edge isn't going anywhere anytime soon. It just happens to not be within Valgard's area. I will find it hilarious if they keep it unthemed.
 
I think it's a great looking area and regardless of what I think of euro fighters I think it will go down with the general public really well. I think for £12 million they are getting a lot, especially when pleasure beach appear to be spending over 8 million on just a gyro swing!
 
Matt N said:
Even putting aside my own personal preferences, however, I’m, rightly or wrongly, a bit disappointed that they haven’t taken the opportunity to go for something a bit more unique and/or ambitious. This will be the 4th Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter installed in the UK, and while the layout looks fun enough, it doesn’t look to majorly reinvent the wheel or do anything new with the model compared to the existing three, and it does look like a more conservative layout. Perhaps irrationally, I’ll admit that I had hopes that this might be the ride that was a real statement piece to truly show the public that Paultons Park is more than just Peppa Pig and means business, and from what I can see of it, I’m not sure Drakon is that statement headline attraction. This very much looks like a continuation of the park’s prior strategy of “well-themed, but conservative”, and while that strategy has clearly worked for the park and is not necessarily a bad one, I do feel that it’s maybe a missed opportunity to go for something that will really grab the headlines and get people flocking. As much as I’m sure Drakon will be a hit with Paultons visitors and be very well-themed, I think something slightly more ambitious and unique that was more of a statement piece could have really propelled Paultons into that very top tier of UK parks and gotten people talking in the way that the ambitious installs at the likes of Alton Towers did back in the day. As much as people can talk about the high quality experience of Alton Towers back in the day, the thing that really earned the park its name was those ambitious and unique statement attraction installations that came flying in throughout the 90s. If I’m being hypercritical, I feel like Paultons’ installs maybe miss some of that statement factor, and I feel that that is maybe the thing holding them back.
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I would say that Drakon is like Paultons following Plopsaland's steps with Anubis rather than a signature rollercoaster.

It is likely going to be the park's signature coaster initially however I think they will take it a step further eventually like Plopsa did for RTH or Efteling with Baron.

They didn't go for a launch which actually leaves them open to go for something using a launch whether this is similar to something like Taron or it being more like Juvelen or Big Bear Mountain.

I also think they've got quite a few family thrill coasters they could go for such as a Vekoma Mine Train, Mack Water Coaster, Mack Powered Coaster, a wooden rollercoaster from GCI or Gravity Group or a Gerstlauer Airtime Coaster.

The other thing they could do is that Drakon is the most thrilling they'll go and focus on family thrill like Chessington appear to be doing after Mandrill.

I do think they'll likely keep stepping the thrills up further.
 
mech258 said:
I think it's a great looking area and regardless of what I think of euro fighters I think it will go down with the general public really well. I think for £12 million they are getting a lot, especially when pleasure beach appear to be spending over 8 million on just a gyro swing!
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But also that Gyro Swing will be high quality ride in of itself and will be massive.

This a big win for Paultons perfect first thrill coaster
 
Personally speaking, I think a eurofighter is a very logical and safe next step for the park.

They were never going to go too big, too risky or too ambitious with this - it's the style of ride that is the next logical step for them as a park, I think.

Whilst I personally would've preferred a launch of some kind, I'm more than happy with a euro fighter. It'll do wonders for the park, and open the gates for an even bigger style of ride for the next expansion I expect.
 
PhalanaxOperativeA1127 said:
It's being relocated within the park, but not leaving the park.
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Another year without a Large Zamperla Disko. With Kobra out of action and Edge soon to follow leaves only Thor.

owenstreet7 said:
I would say that Drakon is like Paultons following Plopsaland's steps with Anubis rather than a signature rollercoaster.

It is likely going to be the park's signature coaster initially however I think they will take it a step further eventually like Plopsa did for RTH or Efteling with Baron.

They didn't go for a launch which actually leaves them open to go for something using a launch whether this is similar to something like Taron or it being more like Juvelen or Big Bear Mountain.

I also think they've got quite a few family thrill coasters they could go for such as a Vekoma Mine Train, Mack Water Coaster, Mack Powered Coaster, a wooden rollercoaster from GCI or Gravity Group or a Gerstlauer Airtime Coaster.

The other thing they could do is that Drakon is the most thrilling they'll go and focus on family thrill like Chessington appear to be doing after Mandrill.

I do think they'll likely keep stepping the thrills up further.
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I wish Chessington tapped back into that thrill market it was a thrill park at one point And Thorpe Park was the family park. Paultons may taken small steps to get something big
 
I think the real interesting time will come in 10-15 years time when all the areas of the park are complete including the inevitable retheme of critter corner and teacups area. At that point they will either need to buy more land or replace existing rides with bigger and better, but that's long way off. Vikings looks great but a Euro fighter wouldn't have been my preference.
 
I know that someone will inevitably come along with something much better within the next couple of days, but I've had a quick bash at trying to recreate Drakon based on the fleeting glimpses and stats we have at present. Here's what I came out with:

Planet Coaster 2 seems to think that the ride is 1,799ft long and will reach 47mph (albeit I admittedly built to 82ft rather than 75ft due to the station height necessitating either 69ft or 82ft as a lift hill height). The positive g-force peak is also 3.9G, with the negative g-force peak being -1.2G over the initial drop, and the ride has an estimated 2 airtime moments, with the first hill providing around -0.1G to -0.2G of airtime.

In absence of any more accurate NoLimits renderings, I thought this was interesting! I hope you all like it!

If you'd like to download and play with my creation, the Frontier Workshop share code is 1N0RS9JTZ.
 
I think this looks great and perfect for Paultons. Another very well themed area to add to a park who clearly pride themselves on theming.

Points that stick out:
  • Not theming Edge into the Viking land seems a bit strange as this ride could easily be Vikings themed looking at what Drayton manor have done
  • Losing Magma from the park is a shame as this was a more thrilling ride. Bets on where it could go would be Drayton manor in frontier falls replacing the relocated flying dutchman as some sort of explosive ride like how Thorpe park have detonator. Or maybe it could go to Funland Hayling island like some of their other rides although this might be too big.
  • The water ride shares the same branding as the Viking land so presumably this is an expansion. I wonder if there could be another flat ride accompanying it or if this will be the finished Viking land with 2 coasters a water ride and a flat.
  • It's interesting they are adding another play area. Paultons already have many great play areas and they seem to be very popular with families looking to take a rest from rides so I'm happy to see this included.
Last point as I know there will be some on here who where hoping for something more thrilling. I think Paultons know their market and know that they would probably need at least 4 thrill coasters to even start to compete in that market, so starting with the biggest coaster would be bad business sense. If they do get there it will be through baby steps as to not isolate it from the rest of the demographic they pitch themselves at. With the announcement of accommodation on the other big empty site though this really does start to look like they won't have the space in the future to add anything too big. Maybe there is room for something on the old log flume site / kiddy corner / the sky swinger to add another thrill coaster in the future.
 
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