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Paultons Park: General Discussion

Tommy85 said:
Went to Paulton’s yesterday for the first time and was so impressed. It was hammering it down all day so everything was walk on even though it was a saturday. Every single attraction open as well even though they had to be losing money on a day that quiet. Was struck by how well everything is presented, it’s such a clean park. Food was really good too and seriously friendly staff. So much love and care shown for the park that I thought Merlin could learn a lot from them. Loved every second of it.
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zeock said:
I remember my parents and I going to Paultons for the first time in 2018 and being shocked that even the bolts on Flight of the Pterosaur did not have any rust. It's an amazingly clean park, that's for sure!
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Hear that Merlin, this what you could be doing but are getting your arse handed to you but what you think are nothing more than a irrelevant park...a so-called irrelevant park that is making nearby Chessington look second rate. Alas, there is nothing better than seeing Merlin made a fool of from a smaller UK park...Well done Paulton's! Only bad thing I to say is that its quite the long distance from me to travel but who knows if I'm lucky in the future.
 
QTXAdsy said:
Hear that Merlin, this what you could be doing but are getting your arse handed to you but what you think are nothing more than a irrelevant park...a so-called irrelevant park that is making nearby Chessington look second rate. Alas, there is nothing better than seeing Merlin made a fool of from a smaller UK park...Well done Paulton's! Only bad thing I to say is that its quite the long distance from me to travel but who knows if I'm lucky in the future.
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Paulton’s is a 3 hour drive from me which is why yesterday was a first time visit, but I definitely recommend making the journey. Way better than Chessington for me. Cobra aside, which has multiple cars, the coasters all run only 1 train (even on busy days according to my mate who had been before) but the ops are absolutely brilliant so it doesn’t make a huge difference. No faffing around, just bars down, thumbs up and away. They were doing 90 second ish despatches on a day where it was ‘stay on’ never mind walk on! Lol. Ride staff so friendly too. Even agreed to take pics of us in the station just before we rode (obviously wouldn’t do this on busy days tho haha).
 
Been to Poultons three times now and each occasion was excellent. The only ride that gets a long qué was flight of the the pterosaur. Tornado springs is excellent as well, never had the food there bit I've heard it's good. Looking forward to seeing how the park develops in future years.
 
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Paultons is my 'home park' (1.5hrs away but still the closest!) I've been attending for 30 years & have never been able to fault them as a child & an adult! They set a fantastic high standard in many ways, from unique themed areas and rides, to F&B, service and operations, including RAP. Their gardens are beautiful too! Whilst there are no 'big thrills' as such, the ride offerings are enjoyable, it's definitely the park that I have the most fun at overall :) Great to see appreciation for the place!

We're looking forward to watching their latest ride come to fruition and hoping that in the fullness of time, the back area of the park (Go Karts, Cobra, Edge etc) gets a themed makeover.
 
Yeah that back area is the only place i’d say needs a bit of work theming wise. Tornado Springs is amazing when u first walk into it. Best themed area in any UK park for me. Also the last ride I got on Storm Chaser would definitely class as a thrill ride trust me 😬 I dunno what happened but it turned into a waltzer. Honestly no exaggeration when I say we couldn’t get out after the ride as we had double vision! It span more times in that 1 ride than the previous 5 put together! Great fun but it did finish me off for the day 🤢🤣
 
The service station entrance needs to go as well, almost as bad as Blue Fire's

Storm Chaser is alright, prefer Flight Of The Pterosaur, would put it below the Maurers I have done (Winjas Fear + Force, Spinball, Dragons Fury, Tarantula, Spinning Racer) and below the only other Mack spinner I've done (Euro-Mir) but it is aimed at a different audience. Certainly better than most of the Reverchons and Cedeal spinners I've done.
 
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Poisson said:
Storm Chaser is alright, prefer Flight Of The Pterosaur
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Flight of the Pterosaur is my favourite - especially the force of the final section, the first time I rode, it took me by surprise!

I rate the appearance of SC highly, the theme and silhouette is excellent, but ride experience, like Poisson, I also rate it below the Maurers I've ridden. It's currently my only Mack Spinner.
 
I’ve not been to Paulton’s since their renaissance and would love to revisit, but is it just me that finds the entrance price extortionate? £55.50 on the day or £41.75 in advance just seems a bit wide of the mark considering, on paper, what they have to offer.

I’m sure it’s a good day out and I would like to support the place, but I struggle to justify the cost of entry considering it looks like you’d be able to do everything in half a day. Let’s bear in mind that with the current exchange rate, a 1-day ticket to Europa Park ranges from £50.18 - £56.72.
 
It is expensive and they’ve never been known to do special offers. When you get in the park though, you can see exactly why they charge what they do and how a lot of that money is reinvested into the park. It’s probably the most well presented park in the country. It is worth it in my opinion, no parking charges either.

It also keeps the numbers reasonable, they don’t need to pack out the park to have a profitable day, so that along with having plenty of rides means queues are rarely really long outside of peppa pig and even in there it’s not too bad in my experience. It does mean we can’t visit as often as we’d like as we don’t live close by either, but I’d rather pay a handful of times to experience something great than have 10 mediocre merlin park visits on my pass.

It’s a fantastic park with tonnes of potential. Slowly branching out into thrills for older kids/teens (cyclonator) whilst not forgetting their younger audience (farmyard flyer) and the new rapids ride will be something everyone can enjoy. They just seem to do everything right all the time.
 
It's unfortunately in line with the other UK park on-the-gate pricing. Merlin just get to hide behind the vast number of BOGOFs.

I guess if you have kids into Peppa Pig it's worth the cost? I've not set foot in that area but that is by far the busiest area of the park.

UK is incredibly expensive these days generally.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Paulton’s is the no1 uk theme park. Merlin are lucky the park no where near London as it would have bigger gate numbers than at Chessington and Lego land.
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It might be for presentation but for actually rides I wouldn’t agree.

It’s got the potential to be one day but all the Merlin parks can easily up their game if they felt Paultons or Drayton where an actual threat.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Also just noticed they have a direct coach service from London now, if only other parks had one.
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I’ve just looked at this. Basically an extra £40pp for the coach (surely a train down to Southampton will be cheaper?) and then you only get 4.5 hours in the park before the coach departs again? It’s a good idea but quite why they can’t sync up with the park opening times I’m not sure.
 
Burbs said:
I’ve not been to Paulton’s since their renaissance and would love to revisit, but is it just me that finds the entrance price extortionate? £55.50 on the day or £41.75 in advance just seems a bit wide of the mark considering, on paper, what they have to offer.

I’m sure it’s a good day out and I would like to support the place, but I struggle to justify the cost of entry considering it looks like you’d be able to do everything in half a day. Let’s bear in mind that with the current exchange rate, a 1-day ticket to Europa Park ranges from £50.18 - £56.72.
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I think the bigger issue is the Merlin parks in the UK are cheap and with the constant 2for1 and stuff they’ve led people to think themed parks shouldn’t be an expensive day out, when in reality £40-50 isn’t bad. Also the Merlin parks make the money on fast track and similar which Paultons doesn’t offer.
 
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