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Paultons Park: General Discussion

Willemgorman1 said:
Yeah maybe i just didn’t know what to think of cobra being stuck inbeetween the 2 areas, it could be included in one of them but if would definitely make the southern area very large maybe even too large. Would like to know what you would do with it though?
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Personally, the two main things I would do are;

1. Remove the Raging River travelling log flume and replace it with a permanent, custom-layout flume with Tornado Springs-level theming.
2. Add a high-capacity dark ride with Tornado Springs-level theming.
 
Personally, I’d actually keep Raging River and retheme it Buffalo Falls-style. I’m sure you could make something great out of that ride that would keep a water ride in the park, but also theme it up nicely!

In terms of what I’d do at Paultons next; I’m torn.

Part of me would like a dark ride installed. Paultons currently lacks one, and I think they’re both good for the family audience and good all-weather attractions.

But part of me would also like to see them go for something slightly more ambitious coaster-wise. I’m not talking “OMG, huge thrill machine!” here, just something that ups the thrill level a tad compared to their existing coasters. Cyclonator was professed by the park to be a litmus test for future thrill rides, and given that I’ve heard Cyclonator was said to be a big success, I’d be surprised if the park didn’t want to exploit that and widen their market a touch

I’m thinking something along the lines of a nice wooden coaster; perhaps a GCI. I would have this GCI break the UK woodie records, as these do not currently sit overly high; 85ft for height, 48mph for speed and 3,300ft for length. I think height and speed in particular are very attainable for Paultons; if they built a 100ft tall, 50mph, 3,300ishft woodie, that would have the full trifecta of UK woodie records for them to shout about! A GCI also wouldn’t have any inversions, wouldn’t be overly tall, and wouldn’t have a height restriction above 1.2m, so it would be very accessible for older families as well as thrillseekers.
 
I’m no expert of Paultons planning restrictions but I get the feeling they might struggle to build a very tall coaster. Might be wrong though
 
Dave said:
I doubt Paultons have the money for a dive machine.
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Interesting that you say that, because from what we’ve seen over the past 10 years, Paultons is the one UK park which has demonstrated that it actually has a lot of money to spend on good quality investments.

And I’m not just talking about rides here. New themed areas, new staff service buildings, an entire new entrance plaza, re-surfacing and re-design of the car park, new animal enclosures, new themed garden areas, numerous new eateries, not to mention all the new rides. This doesn’t strike me as the actions of a park low on cash.

The main reason I think Paultons won’t get a dive coaster goes back to the good old planning restrictions. I highly doubt they’d get permission to build anything over tree height, and they’ve already annoyed the locals with the planning fiasco of 2010, so really don’t think they’re going to want to push their luck when it comes to planning restrictions.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Interesting that you say that, because from what we’ve seen over the past 10 years, Paultons is the one UK park which has demonstrated that it actually has a lot of money to spend on good quality investments.

And I’m not just talking about rides here. New themed areas, new staff service buildings, an entire new entrance plaza, re-surfacing and re-design of the car park, new animal enclosures, new themed garden areas, numerous new eateries, not to mention all the new rides. This doesn’t strike me as the actions of a park low on cash.

The main reason I think Paultons won’t get a dive coaster goes back to the good old planning restrictions. I highly doubt they’d get permission to build anything over tree height, and they’ve already annoyed the locals with the planning fiasco of 2010, so really don’t think they’re going to want to push their luck when it comes to planning restrictions.
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What’s that other park we know that has a dive coaster built into a hole?

It won’t happen, but for me they need something big to go to the next level
 
I agree with @Danny. As much as I’d love one, I think a Dive Coaster is a bit too thrilling for Paultons at present.

I also agree with his suggestion of a GCI; I think a wooden coaster of that vein would fit perfectly within Paultons, being thrilling enough to push the boundaries past the scope of their current selection, but not so thrilling that it puts off their current target audience.
 
I don’t think that a dive coaster would be a feasible option for Paulton’s. I think it says something that in the 24 years since Oblivion opened we’ve not seen another dive machine in the UK and of course the layouts used for them have become a lot more interesting in terms of elements and length compared to the simple single drop and short ride duration of Oblivion.

Personally I think Paulton’s would be good to continue their existing strategy of bringing cloned rides to the park but taking it a step further (after the off the shelf Vekomas and cloning Sierra Sidewinder for Storm Chaser). They already have a relationship with Mack perhaps a Power Splash coaster (like Pulsar at Walibi Belgium) or a Water Coaster could give them a good family coaster and go towards addressing the lack of water based rides at the park. They would certainly get better weather then other UK parks given their Hampshire location.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
I don’t think that a dive coaster would be a feasible option for Paulton’s. I think it says something that in the 24 years since Oblivion opened we’ve not seen another dive machine in the UK and of course the layouts used for them have become a lot more interesting in terms of elements and length compared to the simple single drop and short ride duration of Oblivion.

Personally I think Paulton’s would be good to continue their existing strategy of bringing cloned rides to the park but taking it a step further (after the off the shelf Vekomas and cloning Sierra Sidewinder for Storm Chaser). They already have a relationship with Mack perhaps a Power Splash coaster (like Pulsar at Walibi Belgium) or a Water Coaster could give them a good family coaster and go towards addressing the lack of water based rides at the park. They would certainly get better weather then other UK parks given their Hampshire location.
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A Mack PowerSpash would be great! They could even go for the version with the loop if they wanted it to be a bit more thrilling. (Would be first in the world too)
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Interesting that you say that, because from what we’ve seen over the past 10 years, Paultons is the one UK park which has demonstrated that it actually has a lot of money to spend on good quality investments.

And I’m not just talking about rides here. New themed areas, new staff service buildings, an entire new entrance plaza, re-surfacing and re-design of the car park, new animal enclosures, new themed garden areas, numerous new eateries, not to mention all the new rides. This doesn’t strike me as the actions of a park low on cash.

The main reason I think Paultons won’t get a dive coaster goes back to the good old planning restrictions. I highly doubt they’d get permission to build anything over tree height, and they’ve already annoyed the locals with the planning fiasco of 2010, so really don’t think they’re going to want to push their luck when it comes to planning restrictions.
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It depends on what the bank are willing to loan and a single loan of 8-10 million would probably be a tricky proposition for any bank on the turnover of Paultons. Merlin have a lot of collateral to loan against, that’s how they can get that sort of investment.

I think a Vekoma of some description (either launched or invert) would be a good investment.
 
Dave said:
It depends on what the bank are willing to loan and a single loan of 8-10 million would probably be a tricky proposition for any bank on the turnover of Paultons. Merlin have a lot of collateral to loan against, that’s how they can get that sort of investment.

I think a Vekoma of some description (either launched or invert) would be a good investment.
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They already have a Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster, so would a Suspended Thrill Coaster fit? They both have similar trains and restraints for a start.
 
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Realistically, I do think a family-thrill GCI or GG woodie or Family RMC would be the best next step for Paulton's coaster-wise.
 
I think u got to remember there a theme park that aim for the under 12 market and it’s the perfect market for families with most of there profits go towards improving the park. They don’t want lots of groups of Teenagers.
I noticed since Drayton Changed to a more family market the level of graffiti and vandalism has reduced so much in the past 10 years compared to Alton Towers which teenagers/youth adults have graffitied every post in the queues.
I think water rides now would cost them to much money to run as they all need continuous clean water but think a good dark ride would go down well at the park. Maybe something like a flying theatre or a trackless ride system.
 
Just because of teenagers doing graffiti on park, it shouldn’t stop them from bringing more thrilling rides. Imo they should have measures where if you are seen drawing all over fencing or someone has reported it and there is enough evidence that it was them they should be removed from the park immediately. That would definitely stop people from doing it. I have seen the rita queue line myself at towers and it’s appalling but some strict measures would prevent it
 
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