Jb85
TS Member
Really depends on the size and scale of it - what groundwork’s need doing (tunnels , etc)
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Paultons Park: General Discussion
- Thread starter Maelstrom
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Really depends on the size and scale of it - what groundwork’s need doing (tunnels , etc)
Bowser
TS Member
And that’s why witness statements are so unreliable, people often misremember to deliver a predetermined narrative.
Seems quite clear accommodation is very much on their radar in the future but they obviously wouldn’t want to say something at a fan event and inadvertently upset their existing partners.
Some form of lodges in the style of Efteling would be very on brand for Paultons imo rather than a hotel but do they have available land for an expansion like that on top of future attraction growth?
They are doing the fan event again in May. Sure accommodation question will be asked again so we’ll see what is said. That’s also when we will likely get updates on potential new coaster.
(Plan to be at said event for my first ever visit)
(Plan to be at said event for my first ever visit)
TedShatner10
TS Member
Paultons is more disciplined, attentive, and systematic than bloated, reactive Merlin - they'll see how Ghostly Manor will do in the next 18 months and then see how the Viking development pans out around 2026-2030 before contemplating either another future themed area or onsight accommodation....
Dave
TS Founding Member
It’s not so much discipline, they have more risk than Merlin, theoretically Merlin can have a bad season or investment at one property and the rest of the group can compensate, Paultons don’t have that luxury.
The same logic also means they care more for the product rather than Merlin who don’t care much at all as to them it’s just numbers on a spreadsheet. But Paultons can’t rush into a big accommodation investment without being sure it won’t cause them financial hardship.
Enter Valhalla
TS Member
If Paultons actually did have plans to build a hotel, do we really think they’d reveal those plans at a highly choreographed event, attended by almost every UK enthusiast, just because someone put their hand up and asked the question?
Of course they wouldn’t. When they’re put on the spot, it’s much easier just to say there’s no plans for a hotel, and to keep saying that until an official statement is released.
Like many people on this forum, I was also at that event and the two guys on stage were keeping their cards very close to their chest in regards to future plans. The only “reveal” was literally that Viking teaser video, which didn’t actually reveal anything.
There’s no way they’d suddenly decide to reveal information on hotel plans, just because someone asked them. Especially since people were filming them, and virtually every UK enthusiast has seen that Q&A session, either in person or on YouTube.
Jb85
TS Member
In other matters - what do we think of what we’ve seen from Ghostly Manor. For me it looks like a really solid attraction. Wonder how much they spent on this?
These sort of filler dark rides are desperately needed if the park is to continue to expand. Also adds extra capacity if the headline coaster for 2026 is as big as rumours suggest.
These sort of filler dark rides are desperately needed if the park is to continue to expand. Also adds extra capacity if the headline coaster for 2026 is as big as rumours suggest.
owenstreet7
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Taron
I only see Swarm Island and the area attached which used to be Treasure Island years ago.
Unless the park is considering infilling land again, expansion space is limited at Thorpe.
TedShatner10
TS Member
But Merlin seeing their parks and other attractions as numerals, bars, and letters on a spreadsheet has slowly caught up to them, when (since if not the Smiler incident, then certainly since Covid) their major parks like Altons, Legoland, Chessington & Thorpe are great on paper but in practice are increasingly perceived as a little tired and 2nd rate nowadays.
Paultons' management has applied dicipline when, from its more humble state in the 2000s, Paultons Park continues on expanding and upgrading (with no real problems with TLC & catering, etc) aiming at becoming a flagship European themepark around 2030 (while critics of Merlin's stewardship fear, in face of serious competition, Alton Towers facing a less remote chance of becoming the next Oakwood by the 2030s & early 2040s).
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I know of a few car parks that would disagree…
TedShatner10
TS Member
There is an awful lot of building work landfill needed around the capital.
Making new islands on thorpe lake would not be costly, as building firms pay for hardcore disposal.
Expansion "over water" is not an issue at Thorpe.
Merlin invest.
All off topic, I must stop reading the Paultons topic.
Making new islands on thorpe lake would not be costly, as building firms pay for hardcore disposal.
Expansion "over water" is not an issue at Thorpe.
Come on now, Merlin really isn't aspro.
Merlin invest.
All off topic, I must stop reading the Paultons topic.
TedShatner10
TS Member
Merlin invests in "hard" factors like big rides, but most people here seem to be of the strong opinion it never ever invested ENOUGH into the "soft" factors of their parks like TLC, catering, and staffing, etc, and why ever since the turn the of the 2010s Chessington, Altons, and Thorpe have slowly fallen behind similar European theme parks like Europa, Efterling, and Plopsiland, etc, while Paultons is more pro-consumer, ambitiously expanding since 2010 (while Altons relatively stagnated in the past 15-20 years), and has no hidden problem of answering to a scary private equity firm like BlackStone.
Dave
TS Founding Member
Yes that’s what I said.
But you have to acknowledge that some of that discipline and care is due to the higher risks being a single property brings. Look at Drayton, it’s rumoured their accommodation expansion was part of the cause of their demise under family ownership.
Tussauds when it was run well could afford to take the risk with Towers hotels in the early 90’s as they had a group of products that could support the financial risk of opening the hotel. If Paultons makes a devastatingly bad investment decision it could be disastrous, so they will if they are sensible be cautious.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
You may dismiss “hard factors”, but these “hard factors” are still ways of keeping the product fresh for the consumer and investing back into it. People criticise them, but the last couple of years at Merlin have seen probably some of the most sustained heavy CAPEX into the parks since the Tussauds days. While some of this may be into less inherently marketable things, it is still considerable investment.
Oakwood, on the other hand, invested practically nothing into either hard or soft factors for a sustained period of time. That park pretty much didn’t build any major new rides following Speed in 2006, and while Aspro did make some minor investments, these were few and far between, small in scale and mostly concentrated towards the earlier part of their 16-year tenure.
Oakwood also had the complication of a far more remote location than any of Merlin’s parks, as well as a much more volatile core audience (the park relied a lot on holidaymakers, so a bad summer weather-wise could have much more effect on them than a park less reliant on holidaymakers like Merlin’s cluster). I don’t see Alton Towers or any Merlin park as being vaguely comparable.
pluk
TS Member
IF they ever consider moving into accomodation I imagine they'll do it as they have managed all of their growth; organically. I'd expect to see some low level low risk options first, something like Tripsdrills waggons. Modest money on planning, some wagons, toilet block and bits of infrastructure. Then if that works out on to lodges, then hotel.
Starting out that way would also not tread heavily on the hotel partner program they already run as it is a very different product. I imagine though that they make such an amount of risk free money from the partner hotels that providing their own accomodation woukd actually be little gain for considerable risk.
Starting out that way would also not tread heavily on the hotel partner program they already run as it is a very different product. I imagine though that they make such an amount of risk free money from the partner hotels that providing their own accomodation woukd actually be little gain for considerable risk.