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Paultons Park: General Discussion

@Themeparksandy1981 , rather than going for a second day, have you considered the Early Access package for Peppa Pig if you want to avoid the queues? It will cost more than a second day ticket but does add some birthday magic for the little one.

We did this last year instead of going for two days, and it does mean you get to be a lot closer to the characters than you can during the rest of the day (Covid restrictions may change this year), and we managed to get 4 other rides done before the area opened. When the area did open, we went to the other end of the park, did the bigger rides before going back to Peppa Land at the end of the day when the queues were a little quieter.

I think when I talk about the park being worth going for two days, it not just about getting the rides done for me, its about seeing my kids smile and laugh, and get excited and have fun. For me, seeing my kids having a good time is what makes it worthwhile, and if I get to enjoy the rides with them at the same time it is a bonus. This is why Paultons is currently my favourite park in the UK, it is perfect for a three and seven year old as their is plenty which makes them smile. As the kids got older, and hit 1.4m I am sure that will change.

We normally visit the Black Forest, Bournemouth and Swanage when we visit Paultons just to make it more of a holiday, but I think if we ever decided to just go to Paultons only, we would visit over two days. But we live fourish hours away, if you only lived one hour away you might just do it for the day.

Apologies if my previous post suggesting visiting over two days came across as criticising people who suggested it it just a one day park, that was not my intention (I was just trying to offer an alternative view), as I can totally see their point of view and accept that you can easily visit the park in half a day and do everything you need to do :)
 
I personally think it’s great that Paultons are expanding so heavily but they seriously need to sort out their food offering. The food they sell is either fast food/junk or simply just so disgusting that the whole room smells of sick. The main restaurant at the park entrance is the perfect example of what I’m talking about- smells awful, children running around and screaming and the food is like school dinners. The food quality around the rest of the park is pretty dire on the whole too.

I’m hoping tornado springs is a step away from that, however from the photos I’ve seen so far advertising the food in the diner, I’m not convinced. It looks like it’s going to be another fast food outlet with cheap/poor quality food.
 
Intriguingly, Paultons is now teasing a potential 2023 addition as well, with Lawrence Mancey suggesting that something may well be coming:

I wonder what it could be?
 
TPJames said:
I personally think it’s great that Paultons are expanding so heavily but they seriously need to sort out their food offering. The food they sell is either fast food/junk or simply just so disgusting that the whole room smells of sick. The main restaurant at the park entrance is the perfect example of what I’m talking about- smells awful, children running around and screaming and the food is like school dinners. The food quality around the rest of the park is pretty dire on the whole too.

I’m hoping tornado springs is a step away from that, however from the photos I’ve seen so far advertising the food in the diner, I’m not convinced. It looks like it’s going to be another fast food outlet with cheap/poor quality food.
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The attitude of the UK parks to food and drink is lightyears behind what you see across a lot of Europe and the US now. The UK high street might have seen a revolution in choice in the last 20 years but theme parks have remained stale with burgers, hotdogs and chips about it

Alton is dire, too - when it comes to choice.

I agree Paultons was awful on my last trip. The food was crap.
 
The food choices at the Orlando and California parks (may except six flags) are the excellent and the 14 years I have been visiting Orlando have really come on. The quick serve offerings at Disney and Universal are great and can easily spend a two week holiday visiting the parks and avoiding the usual burgers, fries and hot dogs etc. The food at Satuli canteen (Pandora area) is fantastic, in fact the quick serve food in general at Animal kingdom is excellent. Also had some fantastic salads in Disney and universal parks. I wish UK parks would take note!

They also make more of seasonal special food items etc, the local pass holders, visit just to get the special items. Epcot must be one of the only parks many people pay to enter ($120+ (£88)for a day at the park during one of the festivals such as food and wine, don’t do any of the attractions and just spend more money at the various food and wine booths!
 
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Thinking about the restaurants Paultons have, I guess their fast food outlet would be their 50s diner in Tornado Springs which is the sort of restaurant where I would expect Burgers and Hot Dogs. Their entrance restaurant then could do a reasonable variety of nutritious food perhaps as a buffet. I'm not sure what they should serve at Base Camp though.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Thinking about the restaurants Paultons have, I guess their fast food outlet would be their 50s diner in Tornado Springs which is the sort of restaurant where I would expect Burgers and Hot Dogs. Their entrance restaurant then could do a reasonable variety of nutritious food perhaps as a buffet. I'm not sure what they should serve at Base Camp though.
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The issue though is that they don’t actually have a proper restaurant. They’ve got base camp in lost kingdom, which is fast food and then over near the entrance to PPW and the railway they have a couple more fast food outlets. There’s the “restaurant” at the park entrance but it’s more canteen style and the food looks like school dinners. They could have taken the opportunity to build a really awesome sit-down restaurant in tornado springs, but it looks like they’ve copped out and gone with another fast food outlet. For me that’s a real shame as food is one of the key elements of a good quality theme park and the rest of the area looks absolutely fantastic.

In terms of the new rollercoaster being built for 2022 and now the rumour of a 2023 project, they are almost going a bit energylandia now in my opinion. I’d almost rather they went back and looked to improve elements of the park which really need it. On the one hand you’ve got tornado springs, ppw, lost kingdom and the gardens but these are really on another level compared to some of the other areas. The “main street” lacks character and proper architecture, the area over by cobra and edge is pretty bland and cobras queue-line is garish and not forgetting about the area by the log flume too. All of these are things which need to be addressed which id personally rather they fixed than looking to build more and more rollercoasters. They want to be the best theme park in the UK, so they need to make sure the whole park is well rounded rather than a story of two halves. That also starts with improving your food quality.

As @AstroDan said it’s not really an issue with paultons, however more with the food culture in uk theme parks in general. All of the UK parks rely on fast food and don’t really have proper restaurants, which really takes away the “resort” experience from the parks which have hotels. Of course AT built the rollercoaster restaurant, but the rest of the park relies on fast food outlets. Chessington have the hotel restaurant, but once again the rest of the park relies on fast food- similar with Thorpe park. The food in DMP is awful but the food at their hotel is really delicious- but these are almost two separate entities rather than a resort. There’s a massive issue with the food culture within uk parks- perhaps it’s also an issue that none of our parks really offer a “resort” experience. I mean compare chessington’s, Alton towers or Thorpe park’s hotel resorts to the likes of parc Asterix, Europa park, Phantasialand, hansa park etc. Even toverland sets up a summer camp in the summer which blows the uk’s offering out of the water. I think for UK parks to build back we need to shift the food culture to a more upmarket one with proper restaurants in our parks rather than junk food everywhere. It also doesn’t encourage healthy eating. I don’t want to be forced into eating burgers or Hot Dogs I want a balanced meal. At least paultons has lots of gardens so you can bring a picnic and enjoy the scenery.
 
TPJames said:
In terms of the new rollercoaster being built for 2022 and now the rumour of a 2023 project, they are almost going a bit energylandia now in my opinion. I’d almost rather they went back and looked to improve elements of the park which really need it. On the one hand you’ve got tornado springs, ppw, lost kingdom and the gardens but these are really on another level compared to some of the other areas. The “main street” lacks character and proper architecture, the area over by cobra and edge is pretty bland and cobras queue-line is garish and not forgetting about the area by the log flume too. All of these are things which need to be addressed which id personally rather they fixed than looking to build more and more rollercoasters. They want to be the best theme park in the UK, so they need to make sure the whole park is well rounded rather than a story of two halves. That also starts with improving your food quality.
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In fairness, I don’t think Paultons is just throwing up rollercoasters for the sake of it. From what I can tell, they are gradually revitalising older areas of the park while putting in new rides alongside this revitalisation.

Take Lost Kingdom, for example; while they did build two new Vekoma roller coasters, they also rethemed and revitalised a previously unthemed kiddie coaster, as well as adding thematic context to Magma.

Before Lost Kingdom, they also refurbished their Zierer Tivoli and the area surrounding that into Critter Creek.

Tornado Springs, as well as bringing all of the exciting new rides, is also revitalising older rides, such as the previously unthemed slide complex and the park’s railway.

I think Paultons will reach these more unthemed areas within time. The Manceys know what they’re doing.
 
Do we know when/if the Peppa Pig IP expires? Is all of this expansion and development so as to ready the park for losing the IP? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
 
AstroDan said:
Do we know when/if the Peppa Pig IP expires? Is all of this expansion and development so as to ready the park for losing the IP? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
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I’d assume it’s probably about a 5-10 year contract, based on usual IP contract lengths. If it’s still delivering for the park, I don’t see why they couldn’t/wouldn’t renew the contract if it expired, personally.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Do you have any particular sort in mind?
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A modern intamin rapids like infinity falls at Seaworld, although maybe not as wet (I don’t think I would have been any wetter if I had actually been in the water) not sure though they would build a rapids given the issues in the UK since the accident.

A Mack water coaster or modern Intamin/Mack flume would also be good options. Although would like to possibly see a Mack water coaster as Alton’s next big investment.
 
Maelstrom said:
A modern intamin rapids like infinity falls at Seaworld, although maybe not as wet (I don’t think I would have been any wetter if I had actually been in the water) not sure though they would build a rapids given the issues in the UK since the accident.

A Mack water coaster or modern Intamin/Mack flume would also be good options. Although would like to possibly see a Mack water coaster as Alton’s next big investment.
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I'm thinking some sort of plot-driven water ride with a few reasonably large drops and effects. I'm kind of thinking of Pirates of the Carribbean and it's many copycats but less of a blatent rip-off than Drayton Manor or Europa's.
 
If it's 10 years then that means the IP is due for expiration as it originally opened in 2011. However I think Paultons would renew it, it's a valuable asset to them and has helped the park grow as much as it has since it opened.

I look forward to what they have planned. I imagine it probably won't be anything *that* major, but if it's a major retheme of the area around Cobra and Edge, then that's an excellent move. If it's a new attraction, I'd like to see a proper log flume style water ride and that's something that's missing from their lineup, a darkride would be a good option too (and maybe even kill two birds with one stone!). If it's a coaster, a wooden one from the Gravity Group is the best choice. Not much else I can think of they could have unless that stepped into the proper thrill territory.
 
I just wasn't sure what the implications were with regards to Merlin's Peppa Pig IP acquisition for Paultons long term...

I agree a good rapids ride would be excellent for Paultons next. And getting the area of Magma/Cobra/Edge up to scratch.
 
AstroDan said:
I just wasn't sure what the implications were with regards to Merlin's Peppa Pig IP acquisition for Paultons long term...

I agree a good rapids ride would be excellent for Paultons next. And getting the area of Magma/Cobra/Edge up to scratch.
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I thought Merlin bought the Peppa pig IP for all territories other that the UK but I could be wrong.
 
TPJames said:
In terms of the new rollercoaster being built for 2022 and now the rumour of a 2023 project, they are almost going a bit energylandia now in my opinion.
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I'd say they're going down a more Toverland-esque route, with building new highly-themed areas and investing in quality manufacturers in Mack and Vekoma. And on a similar note, they're kind of leaving the main street and older areas like around Cobra kind of as they are, and you can see the progression of the park, just like Toverland have done with their indoor areas. :)
 
I'd imagine any sort of decently sized ride would be down towards Cobra, so as with before, new ride(s) and a spruce up of the rest of the area
 
In interest of the peppa pig ip is there still a small possibility that the ip could be up soon and even if paultons wants to extend the contact that the ip holders could say no and offer the license to other park owners.
 
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