Paultons Park: General Discussion

[pluk]

Poulton has made bbc news about the change they are leading with the headline

Peppa Pig World to charge disabled children's carers​

All children visiting peppa pig world, disabled or otherwise, need carers, what with them being children!

 

[Bowser]

All children visiting peppa pig world, disabled or otherwise, need carers, what with them being children!

Teenagers are children and can visit without carers!

Although you did remind me of two flaws with the article I forgot to mention:

- it’s not just disabled children who may need carers, it’s disabled adults too
- the park isn’t called Peppa Pig World

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

This isn’t a struggling business so if it’s purely to increase profits at the cost of reducing accessibility that’s not a great look.

The entire park is practically on a lease programme (carrying a significant amount of debt), energy costs are still higher than they'd like, visitor numbers have stagnated or fallen and they have large investments to pay for.

Unfortunately for all of its positive VIBES, Paulton's Park is still a business and has a fiduciary duty to return a profit. After some business analysis its identified where it could recoup some of its losses. Small mercy that it's not full price.

We'll never know exactly how many visitors qualify for a carer ticket, but it must be significant for Paulton's Park to introduce it, which would suggest that it wasn't sustainable for the park to continue to honour the previous system.

 

[Themepark-newbie]

The entire park is practically on a lease programme (carrying a significant amount of debt), energy costs are still higher than they'd like, visitor numbers have stagnated or fallen and they have large investments to pay for.

Where have you heard this? Genuinely interested. From what I've heard visitor numbers remain consistent despite them continuing to put the price up.
As for the debt, no idea about that but if they're still building new rides it can't can't that bad

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Where have you heard this? Genuinely interested. From what I've heard visitor numbers remain consistent despite them continuing to put the price up.
As for the debt, no idea about that but if they're still building new rides it can't can't that bad

A about a month ago I decided, incredibly wisely, that the best use of my limited time on earth was to take a deep dive into the publicly available financial statements of Paulton's Park and their parent company.

Just to reiterate your point, equity is a holding in an asset, at cash value, which isn't yet realised. This could be part ownership of land, or shares in another company. It's not at immediate disposal and isn't a "reserve" like in the traditional sense. In this case it's the Net Value of all of their assets, which includes Cash at bank and in hand.



It would also be remiss to leave out that Paulton's Park also has outstanding, non-cancelable, minimum lease commitments of £16,114,762, as of December 2023, which is almost equal to their entire equity.



And looping this back to the original point, this is also how Merlin operates.

Paulton's Park hasn't created some sort of new lean and amazing business machine. They raise capital against their existing assets, refinance bank loans when it suits them, and the parent company diversifies its portfolio when the park needs additional help. The only difference is that Paulton's Park is doing this for one site only, compared to 130 attractions around the world.

Debt isn't a bad thing, no, you need debt in order to invest. As long as you service the debt it isn't a problem. You also need to pay back the debt though, and if there's a significant part of your daily visitors who aren't paying for a ticket, you probably ought to do something about that.

It's also worth nothing that Paulton's Park operates a children under 1m go free policy, which arguably is their target market for Peppa Pig world. As a carer ticket wasn't excluded from this promotion, and the park doesn't charge for car parking or have other upcharges, some people were undoubtedly having a free day at the park.

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

Teenagers are children and can visit without carers!

Although you did remind me of two flaws with the article I forgot to mention:

- it’s not just disabled children who may need carers, it’s disabled adults too
- the park isn’t called Peppa Pig World

It's the BBC... Fair, factual, impartial journalism is not a thing that they actually do anymore.

The entire park is practically on a lease programme (carrying a significant amount of debt), energy costs are still higher than they'd like, visitor numbers have stagnated or fallen and they have large investments to pay for.

Unfortunately for all of its positive VIBES, Paulton's Park is still a business and has a fiduciary duty to return a profit. After some business analysis its identified where it could recoup some of its losses. Small mercy that it's not full price.

We'll never know exactly how many visitors qualify for a carer ticket, but it must be significant for Paulton's Park to introduce it, which would suggest that it wasn't sustainable for the park to continue to honour the previous system.

Yes if it's 10 people a day that's 4 staffs wages if your giving free tickets. Plus like I mentioned before implementing these things is not easy or cheap either.

 

[Bowser]

It's also worth nothing that Paulton's Park operates a children under 1m go free policy, which arguably is their target market for Peppa Pig world. As a carer ticket wasn't excluded from this promotion, and the park doesn't charge for car parking or have other upcharges, some people were undoubtedly having a free day at the park

Carer tickets were only valid with a paid entry.

Our Essential Companion Scheme is not available to complimentary ticket holders or when zero value entry is applicable for the Access Card holder (including children under 1 metre who enter free of charge

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Carer tickets were only valid with a paid entry.

Our Essential Companion Scheme is not available to complimentary ticket holders or when zero value entry is applicable for the Access Card holder (including children under 1 metre who enter free of charge

Thank you for the clarification there, I was operating on an assumption for this, this morning. Rushing as I have a lot of feathers to dry before work.

 

[BooMT]

At the fan event it was disclosed that, like many other businesses, Paultons has felt the weight of rising business and energy costs; I can't remember the exact figures but when Lawrence compared year on year, it was pretty significant. They are proactive in trying to reduce operational costs without detracting from guest experience, with the solar project being one of their combative measures. Since May, the government have announced further business costs which I imagine will also impact directly. Not forgetting the sharp reduction in expendable income for families facing cost of living rises, which could possibly have an impact on guest figures.

We usually benefit from the free carer ticket but personally happy to absorb the extra cost, it's worth it. I think we can all agree, Paultons invests in guest experience as a real priority without cutting corners, constantly striving to level up and learning from mistakes. It has one of the best RAP schemes and nicest overall experiences for those with additional needs; if paying 50% gate fee instead of getting in for free means they can continue to maintain and develop their high standards rather than make cuts, I'm totally cool with it! They wouldn't have implemented this lightly. Wouldn't surprise me if we saw similar increases at other independent parks.

 

[Bowser]

At the fan event it was disclosed that, like many other businesses, Paultons has felt the weight of rising business and energy costs; I can't remember the exact figures but when Lawrence compared year on year, it was pretty significant. They are proactive in trying to reduce operational costs without detracting from guest experience, with the solar project being one of their combative measures. Since May, the government have announced further business costs which I imagine will also impact directly. Not forgetting the sharp reduction in expendable income for families facing cost of living rises, which could possibly have an impact on guest figures.

We usually benefit from the free carer ticket but personally happy to absorb the extra cost, it's worth it. I think we can all agree, Paultons invests in guest experience as real a priority without cutting corners, constantly striving to level up and learning from mistakes. It has one of the best RAP schemes and nicest overall experiences for those with additional needs; if paying 50% gate fee instead of getting in for free means they can continue to maintain and develop their high standards rather than make cuts, I'm totally cool with it! They wouldn't have implemented this lightly. Wouldn't surprise me if we saw similar increases at other independent parks.

Will be interesting to see if Merlin follow suit.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Will be interesting to see if Merlin follow suit.

At this point I wonder if the Annual Pass actually shields Merlin from feeling as much of a hit with carer's tickets. I'm aware that a disabled person can request a carer's ticket on a visit if they have MAP, but most families or groups tend to all have passes anyway, as they won't always visit with the disabled person. We do know that most visitors have annual passes of some description.

No evidence to back this up, of course, just mere speculation.

 

[Skyscraper]

At this point I wonder if the Annual Pass actually shields Merlin from feeling as much of a hit with carer's tickets. I'm aware that a disabled person can request a carer's ticket on a visit if they have MAP, but most families or groups tend to all have passes anyway, as they won't always visit with the disabled person. We do know that most visitors have annual passes of some description.

No evidence to back this up, of course, just mere speculation.

Disabled MAP holders can also apply for a free interchangeable carer annual pass, instead of having to queue up to collect a ticket each visit.

 

[Benzin]

Will be interesting to see if Merlin follow suit.

Would be an absolute mess. Mostly down to Merlin Adults, and also with the MAP having free carer essentially attached to it.

Mrs (being on many disabled related FB groups) says there's a few that have elected not to visit Paultons as a result. Whether that would make a real difference I'm not sure in reality. Like many boycotts it's often undertaken by a tiny number of people.

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

Would be an absolute mess. Mostly down to Merlin Adults, and also with the MAP having free carer essentially attached to it.

Mrs (being on many disabled related FB groups) says there's a few that have elected not to visit Paultons as a result. Whether that would make a real difference I'm not sure in reality. Like many boycotts it's often undertaken by a tiny number of people.

It's a shame that these people want to boycott a park that is focused on customer experience for all.

Like others have mentioned Merlin attractions have so many upsells like £10 for parking, and insane queues.

For a massive 50% reduction on the career ticket your getting to support a business that invests in adult changing spaces, disabled facilities and short waits then it's worth it.

Maybe the previous system was abused, we won't know but with a headwind of terrible decisions from this current labour government and the liars in the cabinet with taxes, wage increases and NI. I can totally see why they have done this.

I expect this governments handling of the economy is the main motivation. Today the papers are reporting businesses are buying less, and the leisure and services industry is expecting/witnessing a huge crash in spend.

 

[owenstreet7]

Teenagers are children and can visit without carers!

Although you did remind me of two flaws with the article I forgot to mention:

- it’s not just disabled children who may need carers, it’s disabled adults too
- the park isn’t called Peppa Pig World

Exactly, that BBC article enforces the public perception that it's Peppa Pig World first to the general public rather than Paultons Park with a Peppa Pig World area which is what it is in reality.

With Drayton Manor, I'm not sure the public perception of the park is that it's Thomas Land before Drayton Manor in the same way.

I'd imagine 2026, BBC News will release an article saying "Peppa Pig World installs intense rollercoaster with loops" or "Peppa Pig World installs an adult rollercoaster"

Although BBC News will write articles about how everyone should go back to the office and work there 5 days a week.

On subject with the carer's tickets, I think this could be something that we may see more of in the future and Merlin/other attractions copy the idea.

I'm not sure that long term, it'd be sustainable to have entirely free carers tickets however discounted tickets may be the most logical and suitable compromise.

For what Paultons offers and the experience, it'd still be a fantastic experience for carers either way.

 

[Jb85]

As others have said, costs continue to rise and will do for the foreseeable. People have to make money. The business has no choice but to do this in my eyes.
Is it a positive step, of course not. But if not allows the park to maintain its high standards then it’s a necessity.

Like @GooseOnTheLoose if read the financials of the group this morning, and there are a lot of costs to cover.

 

[pluk]

Teenagers are children and can visit without carers!

I could feel this pedantry coming when I wrote that! In the context of the article about peppa pig world, the children are not teenagers!

 

[AltonLover123]

Exactly, that BBC article enforces the public perception that it's Peppa Pig World first to the general public rather than Paultons Park with a Peppa Pig World area which is what it is in reality.

With Drayton Manor, I'm not sure the public perception of the park is that it's Thomas Land before Drayton Manor in the same way.

I'd imagine 2026, BBC News will release an article saying "Peppa Pig World installs intense rollercoaster with loops" or "Peppa Pig World installs an adult rollercoaster"

This is generally the case for IP areas in parks. It staggers me how many people genuinely think they are separate entities due to how media outlets run articles like the one you mentioned.

When the Minecraft stuff at Chessington came out, media referred to it as a ‘Minecraft Theme Park’ in its own right.

 

[Bowser]

I could feel this pedantry coming when I wrote that! In the context of the article about peppa pig world, the children are not teenagers!

Sorry, I also hate the needless pedantry that often exists here, though tbf I think we also established the article was a very poor piece of journalism.

 

[owenstreet7]

I could feel this pedantry coming when I wrote that! In the context of the article about peppa pig world, the children are not teenagers!

There may be a small number who may be teenagers who come for Cyclonator or Storm Chaser however I think they're more likely to want to go further afield and go to Thorpe Park to be honest. I'm sure we may see more of those visitors in the coming years.

Most children visiting would be accompanied by parents.

The main difference between Paultons and Chessington is the public perception. The public perception of Chessington is more the zoo, Vampire, Gruffalo and now Jumanji. It'll be Minecraft and Bluey/Paw Patrol/random pre-schooler IP.

This is generally the case for IP areas in parks. It staggers me how many people genuinely think they are separate entities due to how media outlets run articles like the one you mentioned.

When the Minecraft stuff at Chessington came out, media referred to it as a ‘Minecraft Theme Park’ in its own right.

Whilst that would be true, I don't see Alton Towers or Drayton Manor having the same issue to the same effect. They are both known for being theme parks in their own right.

I do think it'll be something we see evolve after a more extreme coaster comes in if the park puts that along with the new area at the front and centre of it's marketing.

I also think Paultons should consider another IP for an older or wider audience as that could help shake off the Peppa image that it's gained. With the right one, it could be a masterstroke of genius