We visited Paulton Park at the end of May, and had a fantastic day. The weather was sunny, and very hot (A little to hot for me). We paid £147 for a family of 4, where we are all over 1m. Even at this price, I would still recommend for a day out, and we plan to visit twice more this year. We stopped at the Premier Inn just next to the park, and while its not a brilliant hotel, and avoid the restaurant, for £35 a night, it is fine to sleep in.
The new area, Tornado Springs is brilliant. It would not feel out of place in Disney or Europa Park. It is well thought out, has lots of really cool little details. The viewing platform above the driving school gives you a great view of the area.
When you think that you have to pay for anyone over 1m, there is only one ride in the area which you have to be over 1m so there is plenty for everyone who has paid to get in to do and just as much for those who have not paid.
Storm Chaser is a great addition to Paulton Park, and is the most intensive coaster on park. The throughput is also great, although I did feel a little sad about the queue length, throughout the day, the ride had at most a 10 minute queue, but most of the time it was walk on. The spinning element is good, and depending on luck, can spin a lot or not much. When it does spin, it really does spin.
We made the most of it not having a long queue and got plenty of rides in, I must be getting old, as I could only manage 6 rides in a row. That was enough to put me off Ice Cream for the next hour. Annabelle managed a total ride count of 12.
I did not go on Cyclonator (Someone has to look after Daisy) but that did not stop Lisa and Annabelle going on it. It looks good, and Annabelle enjoyed it, putting both hands in the air at one point. While they were queueing for that, Me and Daisy managed to go on the Windmill Towers, which are fun little drop towers (She did start crying when I strapped her in, but the promise of ice cream calmed her down and once we were bouncing up and down she was smiling and laughing, and we ended up going on four times throughout the day, asking for an ice cream each time she want on, she only got one in the end, and the ice cream shop was great), and Trekking Tractors. It was great to see how well cared for the area in Trekking Tractors was, and all the real plants and vegetables growing in the area. We would go on both these rides again with Annabelle and Lisa.
Al's Auto Academy is also a really good driving school, with cars that have space for an adult to sit on the back, so younger children can go on it. This made Daisy's day as she got to drive a car. It also makes it quite funny to watch the older kids driving along, because they are lighter, they easily catch the parent cars, and can overtake them. As mention above, the viewing platform above the ride is brilliant, and gives a great view of the children going round, and the rest of the area. The queue for this ride is probably the best, lots of attention to detail inside the queue line.
What I really like about this area, is the two playground areas. When Annabelle and Lisa were going on Storm Chaser, I could let Daisy run and climb and slide in the play area, so she had something fun to do while waiting. When they got off, we could swap over, and Daisy could carry on playing.
The Route 83 Diner was self service, and once you ordered food it came fairly quickly. The burgers and hot dogs we have were decent quality, and the portions were generous. I would say its better than other parks in the UK, but not as good as what's available in European parks.
Farmyard Flyer looks to be another great addition and fits the pattern that Paulton Park have of putting bigger rides along side smaller rides. This works really well in Lost Kingdom, as when one parent takes the bigger child on the bigger coasters, the other parent can take the smaller child on the smaller coaster.
The rest of the park was also looking really well presented, the Gardens were looking really well maintained, and it was nice just to talk a walk through them and enjoy the shade.
Peppa Pig Land looked a tiny bit worse for wear since our last visit, and there were a few places were the paint had started to peel, but this is me being super picky with it as on the whole, the area looked great and the smiles on both kids faces made me smile.
We did purchase the Peppa Pig World Early Pass, which is expensive, but it did mean we managed to get most of the rides done before the park opened for everyone else, and the meet and greet experience with the games and characters is lots of fun. As a once a year treat for them it is fine. The queues tend to peak at 30-35 minutes so the wait times are not to bad and they tend to get shorter at the end of the day.
The only thing that I felt was a little over priced was the photo pass, but £40 for the 5 photos and digital copies is the going right, and again, the kids loved having their driving licences printed out.
Select rides got extended until 6pm, which was great, and meant we got a full 9 hours in the park.
The reason for posting this so late, is I wanted to have chance to visit Alton Towers before making the following statement, for me, Paulton's Park remains the best park in the UK, and my first choice to visit as a family. Annabelle might have a slightly different view, although I think she would be torn, but Alton Towers is just so lacking in things for Daisy to do, it loses out. The same feeling of excitement, magic and happiness I had when visiting Towers 10 years ago is what it feels like when I visit Paulton's Park these days. I miss riding Nemesis, Air, Oblivion but when it means the kids having to stand around and wait while your queuing to ride, its hard to justify.
The original plan for May half term was to visit Europa Park, but as a family, when that is not possible, Paultons Park is the next best thing.
