Paultons Park: General Discussion

[rob666]

Tons of local hotels though with it being a big cruise port town.

 

[owenstreet7]

This is the issue. Paultons have developed a very strong IP brand with Peppa Pig World, but some might even say it’s too strong. Even down south where I live, a lot of people know it as Peppa Pig World rather than Paultons Park. Drayton Manor doesn’t seem to have the same issue with Thomas Land.

Yeah... I definitely think a marketing campaign with Valgard and Tornado Springs sans Peppa would do the park a lot of good

Show off the park without the pig in any corner of the advert and I can imagine a slightly older audience will be attracted.

It does seem to be what they are trying to gradually do already with their website by putting slightly less emphasis on Peppa

 

[TedShatner10]

Aside from the casual racism of treating the entire region as a perpetual warzone, the timeline also makes no sense. The park opened in 2016. Suggesting Merlin's current financial strategy is flawed because they didn't predict the geopolitical landscape of 2024 a decade ago is, ironically, an overstretch.

Casual rage bait aside, if Dubai Legoland is a poor example (when Merlin is a third party operator mostly shielded by the latest unpleasantness that started in the 28th of February) what about the many other Legolands in Asia and N. America, which are often met with mixed results in footfall and ROI? And Merlin seeing the need to cut it's aquarium attractions loose? And having four major theme parks to worry about in the UK to start with, let alone other huge parks Italy, Germany, and Denmark, etc?

There is some idea there is a Peppa Pig theme park down south, but if you mention Paultons it’s blank faces all round.

That's still an odd reaction today from the casual public towards a theme park often voted the best in the UK and supposedly the 8th best the world, even if the place was mostly flying under the radar from my perspective 5 to 10 years ago (but I can vaguely recall ads and publicity over the Pepper Pig development).

 

[Dave]

That's still an odd reaction today from the casual public towards a theme park often voted the best in the UK and supposedly the 8th best the world, even if the place was mostly flying under the radar from my perspective 5 to 10 years ago (but I can vaguely recall ads and publicity over the Pepper Pig development).

Awards don’t create that much awareness, Paultons don’t advertise up north. And it’s a long drive even for the midlands, never mind anything above Sheffield.

 

[Skyscraper]

Awards don’t create that much awareness, Paultons don’t advertise up north. And it’s a long drive even for the midlands, never mind anything above Sheffield.

Yeah it's a four hour drive for me from Sheffield, I can't imagine living any further north!

 

[TedShatner10]

Awards don’t create that much awareness, Paultons don’t advertise up north. And it’s a long drive even for the midlands, never mind anything above Sheffield.

Yeah, I gather it'd be a fair old trek from the Midlands, Northern England, and Scotland all the way down to Paultons; Drayton Manor and Alton Towers are almost the centre of England (and Universal's proposed site is not super far away by car either, while it's a solid 4-5 hour drive from Bristol to Flamingo Land as an equivalent example).

 

[Matt N]

I live in the South West, and only around a 2 hour drive from Paultons.

Even around here, people seem to have blank faces when you mention that Paultons encompasses anything other than Peppa Pig. When I first went, relatives asked me why I was going “when it only has baby rides”!

 

[TedShatner10]

Even around here, people seem to have blank faces when you mention that Paultons encompasses anything other than Peppa Pig. When I first went, relatives asked me why I was going “when it only has baby rides”!

That's why the character of the website has changed (less cutesy and more broader, with Valgard bringing a slightly darker and more edgy tone, without going full Phallanx).

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Casual rage bait aside, if Dubai Legoland is a poor example (when Merlin is a third party operator mostly shielded by the latest unpleasantness that started in the 28th of February)

It's not that Dubai is a "poor example", it's that it's a completely invalid one. You claimed it demonstrated Merlin's financial overstretch. I pointed out that Merlin didn't spend the capital to build it. You can't use a park funded by third-party capital to critique Merlin's balance sheet.

what about the many other Legolands in Asia and N. America, which are often met with mixed results in footfall and ROI?

Out of the twelve current LEGOLAND® parks around the world, there are only two which have experienced with mixed results in footfall and ROI; New York and Korea. Both of these resorts, however, opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, which heavily delayed their growth trajectories and required active turnaround plans.

Framing the entire Asian market as "mixed" ignores that LEGOLAND® Japan has been a consistent, highly lucrative performer throughout 2024 and 2025. It also completely ignores the explosive launch of LEGOLAND Shanghai in July 2025, which drew over a million visitors in its first five months and won a Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement.

In North America both LEGOLAND California and Florida have positive year on year revenue growth for 2025, and have just opened new coasters.

Highlighting two pandemic-era openings which required restructuring, while entirely ignoring the massive recent successes in Japan and Shanghai (alongside the steady, continued growth of the European parks in Denmark and Germany) doesn't prove Merlin is overstretched. It just presents a highly selective reading of their overall financial position.

And Merlin seeing the need to cut it's aquarium attractions loose?

Merlin hasn't "cut its aquarium attractions loose." They cancelled an exploratory auction for a handful of regional UK Sea Life centres because the private equity bids weren't high enough. They retained them and continue to own and operate over 40 aquariums globally.

And having four major theme parks to worry about in the UK to start with, let alone other huge parks Italy, Germany, and Denmark, etc?

Critiquing them for having "four major theme parks to worry about in the UK... let alone Italy, Germany, Denmark" is also a bizarre angle. Merlin is the second largest attraction operator on the planet. Operating multiple international parks is the literal definition of their business model.

That's still an odd reaction today from the casual public towards a theme park often voted the best in the UK and supposedly the 8th best the world, even if the place was mostly flying under the radar from my perspective 5 to 10 years ago (but I can vaguely recall ads and publicity over the Pepper Pig development).

It's not an odd reaction if they are literally unaware of its existence. Paultons Park haven't never widely or aggressively advertised outside of the southern region, at least not for anything other than the pig. They haven't needed to and it's not their strategy.

 

[Ash]

If it is the antithesis of anti merlin...that makes it very pro merlin, doesn't it?
I love double negatives me...

And "pretenders" at Alton...come on...how busy has the park been over Easter?
Not bad for a park that just hasn't got a clue.

Should send the thoosies in to run the place.

Typo on my part. Corrected now.

If people turning up is a sign of success I’ve got a really successful football club in North Staffordshire to show you…both organisations crippled by bad management.

If the current running of Alton Towers (I state them only as it’s a predominantly Alton focussed forum) is what you define as success then of course that’s your opinion and I disagree for the multiplicity of reasons pointed out in various posts on here.

By most metrics:

Upkeep/Theming/Guest Experience
Food/Service/Accommodation
Queue times/Available Attractions
Value for money
Variety/Quality of attractions
Shows/Events/Characters

On a 0-10 scale I’d personally struggle to give them anything above a 6. I appreciate my frame of reference is visiting maybe twice a year as a “pay on the gate” customer including a Scarefest and/Or Fireworks visit only and maybe one other visit, with the option to visit other parks in the UK or overseas but I think making even loose comparisons to the likes of Paultons/Drayton/Phantasialand/Liseberg/Parc Asterix/Legoland Windsor.

There’s not many, if any, metrics I believe Alton come out near the top of the list comparative to its peers. Nevermind comparisons to Europa Park and Efteling (who granted now get far more visitors)

You don’t need to be an enthusiast to see the issues, the general public are ample vocal enough. And I’d also argue the rise in MAP has turned far more members of the public into “enthusiasts” even if in the loose sense of the word. A niche pursuit, no longer this is!

Not bad at all…

That was today…

 

[Benjsh]

The thing I like most about Paultons is the fact it doesnt get 90-120 min queues.

I genuinely couldnt see myself waiting that long for any of their rides. Its a great park and very well presented and looked after but none of the rides are worth more than 35-40min wait.