• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Paultons Park: General Discussion

Matt N said:
To be fair, the area will have two sizeable roller coasters (by Paultons standards, anyway) and two flat rides as well as a 2026 addition on the way.

I’m not really sure how much else Paultons could really have given us here!
Click to expand...
One Flat Ride being the ART Swing Edge isn't part of Valgard
 
Matt N said:
To be fair, the area will have two sizeable roller coasters (by Paultons standards, anyway) and two flat rides as well as a 2026 addition on the way.

I’m not really sure how much else Paultons could really have given us here!
Click to expand...
I don't think it's unreasonable for anyone to think Paultons could've have included at least one more flat ride addition. Possibly a flat ride that goes upside down like an Air Race.

Especially considering the amount of removals that happened to bring in Valgard and one of those not being in Valgard itself.

All three of those removals also seem to be ones with the same target market as Valgard.

Although the teased Water Ride does sound really promising though so can understand the quality over quantity of offerings for Valgard.
 
Maybe there could be a flat planned alongside the rumoured water coaster. I'm not overly familiar with Paultons build history but lost kingdom seems to have had additional rides added after the land first opened. This is arguably Paultons most ambitious investment yet and this new coasters price tag probably dwarves the likes of storm chaser.

Whilst I understand that this will be a thrill area of the park i do agree that the removed rides also sit in this category meaning there really isn't much of a gain. It's also caused problems for their late night openings as these attract an older target audience. With only 4 advertised thrill rides compared to 7 last year the park has struggled for capacity with rides exceeding 30 minutes and queue lines bursting out for the majority of Tuesday at least which is not expected from Paultons. Maybe the ride construction could have at least kept Edge and Magma open until after this key event. I'm sure next year will be much better but this year felt rather poor beyond the young family market.
 
MrTowers said:
Maybe there could be a flat planned alongside the rumoured water coaster. I'm not overly familiar with Paultons build history but lost kingdom seems to have had additional rides added after the land first opened. This is arguably Paultons most ambitious investment yet and this new coasters price tag probably dwarves the likes of storm chaser.

Whilst I understand that this will be a thrill area of the park i do agree that the removed rides also sit in this category meaning there really isn't much of a gain. It's also caused problems for their late night openings as these attract an older target audience. With only 4 advertised thrill rides compared to 7 last year the park has struggled for capacity with rides exceeding 30 minutes and queue lines bursting out for the majority of Tuesday at least which is not expected from Paultons. Maybe the ride construction could have at least kept Edge and Magma open until after this key event. I'm sure next year will be much better but this year felt rather poor beyond the young family market.
Click to expand...
It would be sensible for there to be a flat or two alongside the rumoured water ride/coaster, particularly in the thrill or whole family side of things.

Although wasn't it that it is allegedly a single ride expansion though?
 
owenstreet7 said:
It would be sensible for there to be a flat or two alongside the rumoured water ride/coaster, particularly in the thrill or whole family side of things.

Although wasn't it that it is allegedly a single ride expansion though?
Click to expand...
I think the teaser pointed towards a single ride expansion but a flat would not be the signature addition so could still be a possibility. It could be that when Edge does go it is replaced with another flat.

It will be interesting to see what land is still available after 2027. There is obviously the old log flume site and I would imagine the digger / seal / wave swinger ride areas days are also numbered as they dont fit in any current themed area. This would point to either an expansion of the existing areas or a whole new area in the future if that's the direction Paultons are going in.
 
MrTowers said:
With only 4 advertised thrill rides compared to 7 last year the park has struggled for capacity with rides exceeding 30 minutes and queue lines bursting out for the majority of Tuesday at least which is not expected from Paultons. Maybe the ride construction could have at least kept Edge and Magma open until after this key event. I'm sure next year will be much better but this year felt rather poor beyond the young family market.
Click to expand...
Was there Tuesday also. Completely agree RE: capacity... although the queues still were comfortable compared to other parks.It feel a bit light in offering for older guests. I guess next year Cobra and Edge will be back and Magma will be replaced by both Drakon and the new WildSwing which probably are both higher capacity than the drop tower so hopefully just a blip.

Again, agree with those saying another flat ride would be good but that might be nitpicking considering how much this must be costing paultons already!
 
MrTowers said:
It will be interesting to see what land is still available after 2027. There is obviously the old log flume site and I would imagine the digger / seal / wave swinger ride areas days are also numbered as they dont fit in any current themed area. This would point to either an expansion of the existing areas or a whole new area in the future if that's the direction Paultons are going in.
Click to expand...
Totally agree that the next expansions will go around the area where Raging River, the kids rides, the land unused by Drakon behind Raven/Cobra, the unthemed playgrounds and the Wave Swinger.

I can imagine only the Wave Swinger will be rethemed out of the attractions in the area.

The other area that I'm going to say will be rethemed too will be where the Pirate Ship and Kontiki is.

I can imagine a couple of family thrill attractions there to balance the areas out and at the same time, update the rides in the area that don't aesthetically fit the park's direction.

One notable ride to be moved on I'd imagine will be the Teacups as that is a very old travelling one.
 
Paultons could maybe do with or two more thrill flat rides a Zamperla Gryphon could be good for the park or Star flyer similar to the one at Twinlakes.

But they also need more Dark Rides and Water Rides and really feel Dark Water Ride could be great. In the style of River Caves and Pirates Adventure. I know those rides are expensive but most of the UK parks that got one had great success after they did
 
Because I'm bored at work I thought I'd do a list of opened / refurbished attractions for the last major area openings:

Lost Kingdom (2016)

2 rollercoasters
1 driving ride
1 flat ride
1 playground
1 dinosaur show
1 food outlet
2 refurbished attractions, one of these replaced by a water flume ride in 2024

Tornado Springs (2021)

1 rollercoaster
2 flat rides
1 driving school
2 playgrounds
1 food outlet
3 refurbished attractions
2022 added another rollercoaster

Valguard (2026)

1 rollercoaster
1 flat ride
1 playground
1 food outlet
1 refurbished rollercoaster
2027 water ride

Given the size of the area I do think another flat ride will be coming in 2027, plus the Edge will likely be replaced at some point and they'll want to build a new entrance from the accommodation so could be incorporated into that.
 
Themepark-newbie said:
Was there Tuesday also. Completely agree RE: capacity... although the queues still were comfortable compared to other parks.It feel a bit light in offering for older guests. I guess next year Cobra and Edge will be back and Magma will be replaced by both Drakon and the new WildSwing which probably are both higher capacity than the drop tower so hopefully just a blip.

Again, agree with those saying another flat ride would be good but that might be nitpicking considering how much this must be costing paultons already!
Click to expand...
I didn't mean that the queues were out of control but not what you would expect from Paultons. By merlin standards the queues would have been very impressive for Halloween half term.

I overheard a few conversations regarding the queues being the longest they had ever seen as well as as moans about the closed rides from visitors who probably won't be up to speed with regards to the new area and Cobra being closed.

Paultons is growing in popularity which is great, I just hope that 30 minute plus queues dont become expected and are just a blip this year from the park as it will start to lose some of its appeal if this is the case. If they keep expanding and adding capacity this should keep the queues down. It will be interesting to see what a signature attraction like drakon does and if this becomes an hour long queue line as currently there is isn't a stand out attraction.
 
MrTowers said:
I didn't mean that the queues were out of control but not what you would expect from Paultons. By merlin standards the queues would have been very impressive for Halloween half term.

I overheard a few conversations regarding the queues being the longest they had ever seen as well as as moans about the closed rides from visitors who probably won't be up to speed with regards to the new area and Cobra being closed.

Paultons is growing in popularity which is great, I just hope that 30 minute plus queues dont become expected and are just a blip this year from the park as it will start to lose some of its appeal if this is the case. If they keep expanding and adding capacity this should keep the queues down. It will be interesting to see what a signature attraction like drakon does and if this becomes an hour long queue line as currently there is isn't a stand out attraction.
Click to expand...
When a park is smaller they can get away with slower ops as it becomes more popular ops must match the amount of guests as more cracks in ops are displayed Drayton Manor has this issue whereby the ops haven't kept up with the amount of guests. Hopefully Paultons doesn't end up being the same
 
The accounts above corroborate an opinion I’ve long held about Paultons.

People often say the operations there are brilliant, but I’m not sure I agree. I think the park has short queues more down to its smaller stature and lower profile (relative to, say, the Merlin parks), as well as its admittedly careful management of capacity, than down to any particular brilliance in terms of fast ride operations. I’m not saying the park operates terribly by any means, but I don’t think the number of trains running and level of urgency on ride platforms is quite there compared to some of the Merlin parks.

Only Storm Chaser actually has the capability to run 2 full-size trains out of any of the coasters on park, and on the one occasion I saw it do so, its throughput was not spectacular.
 
Matt N said:
The accounts above corroborate an opinion I’ve long held about Paultons.

People often say the operations there are brilliant, but I’m not sure I agree. I think the park has short queues more down to its smaller stature and lower profile (relative to, say, the Merlin parks), as well as its admittedly careful management of capacity, than down to any particular brilliance in terms of fast ride operations. I’m not saying the park operates terribly by any means, but I don’t think the number of trains running and level of urgency on ride platforms is quite there compared to some of the Merlin parks.

Only Storm Chaser actually has the capability to run 2 full-size trains out of any of the coasters on park, and on the one occasion I saw it do so, its throughput was not spectacular.
Click to expand...
I would say they do try with storm chaser. I have often overheard the ride operators mention to each other the riders per hour figure and celebrate so there must be some in house competition going on. They were even leaving rows empty to try and not stack the trains when guests were either faffing or not ready in time. To add to that there is someone batching the trains and an operator either side to check the restraints simultaneously. Beyond storm chaser though I would say there is very little urgency elsewhere in the park and these operations will need to improve as guest numbers grow. Do we know how many trains Drakon will have, this will give them an opportunity to show how good their operations can be as there aren't too many rides at the moment where it makes a massive amount of difference.
 
Matt N said:
The accounts above corroborate an opinion I’ve long held about Paultons.

People often say the operations there are brilliant, but I’m not sure I agree. I think the park has short queues more down to its smaller stature and lower profile (relative to, say, the Merlin parks), as well as its admittedly careful management of capacity, than down to any particular brilliance in terms of fast ride operations. I’m not saying the park operates terribly by any means, but I don’t think the number of trains running and level of urgency on ride platforms is quite there compared to some of the Merlin parks.

Only Storm Chaser actually has the capability to run 2 full-size trains out of any of the coasters on park, and on the one occasion I saw it do so, its throughput was not spectacular.
Click to expand...

I remember us having this conversation a year or so ago as i'd never seen Storm Chaser operate on 2 trains... and i still haven't! Though perhaps relevantly i've also never seen the queue exceed 10 minutes. The furthest back i've ever seen it go is the exit area of the shed, which houses a substantially larger queuing area.

I agree that the capacity and more importantly excellent availability are what keep the queues down rather than any particularly good ops. And of course lack of Fast Track (excluding VIP which i've never seen used).

As i'm currently comparing everything to the wonderful Phantasialand i do hope the new attractions (particularly Drakon) will have no cattle pen queues. Whilst we benefitted from short waits on our trip it was also great that not a single ride i was aware of had a cattle pen. A ride like Drakon is good in that theoretically the queue will be a constant mover which makes waiting much more tolerable imo.
 
Turns out they had to remove Magma because its volcano structure and concrete foundations would cause rain draining issues for the brand new Valgard site (and we saw Altons earlier this year having bizarre drainage problems in the wake of the new Toxicator instalment).

Maybe that may be why Magma's total removal felt a little premature and sudden (it's an old flat ride but not super old).

And why is the Edge is closed off? It's right at the back of that area, right in the middle of the Valgard construction zone (I get the feeling they won't retheme it and it'll also be retired by 2029 at the very latest).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top