Squrmyweesl
Roller Poster
First time at Paulton's Park, and it was a bit of a pain to get to without a car from London. The train from Waterloo to Southampton (off-peak just after 7pm) was absolutely rammed with no seats available until the very end of the journey, so as usual (this happens when we go anywhere) I ended up on the floor staring at the gross carpet and getting kicked by irritable strangers for over an hour.
Then a pretty awful hotel for one night, then taxis to and from the park. Expensive admittance too at £43.50 each. But there were 7 credits up for grabs including a newish Mack spinner, sooo...
It's currently the Paulton's 'Halloween Spooktacular', which basically means a VAST number of pumpkins strewn everywhere. There were also some people in spooky costumes wandering about, a vaguely sarcastic talking corn cob (?), plastic spiders, and 'ghost' rags dangling from branches, East London park style.
It was dull and raining when we arrived, but this didn't seem to have put off a quite large number of families from coming out. I don't recall seeing anyone else there who wasn't with kids - it's the only park I've ever been to where I felt we were a bit out of place. Not a criticism of the park, but we clearly weren't the target audience.
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STORM CHASER x 2: A 15 minute wait time despite the rain. I was a bit worried about nausea on this - in fact, testing out a Mack spinner (before riding RtH!) was my main reason for coming here. Went up the lift hill backwards on the first go, and was pleasantly surprised by its tolerability - didn't feel particularly nauseating, but then it wasn't spinning that much either. When I went on again just before closing time later, the car was more unevenly weighted but still didn't spin uncontrollably - both times it just felt disorienting but not dizzying. It was pretty good for a family coaster but didn't really blow me away, not sure what I was expecting but somehow a bit more than this based on others' reviews.
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FARMYARD FLYER x 1: Just a small, uneventful family coaster, very similar to Barnstormer at Adventure Island.
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CAT-O-PILLAR x 1: Didn't have high expectations from this silly Zierer Tivoli, but in the back row there's actually an unexpected pop of airtime on the first drop, which is quite alarming with the lap bar loose! Then nothing else happens.
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VELOCIRAPTOR x 1: I mean, it's an OK ride - I got sat in the middle somewhere, and the restraint smelled pretty bad (a recurring theme in this park). The first drop was fun, then it weaves around a bit, goes up a spike, then returns backwards. The wait time for this was often 0 minutes, so I would have ridden again if the second half of the layout wasn't a boomerang, just personally not a big fan of going backwards. This area, with all the animatronic dinosaurs in, is great.
--
FLIGHT OF THE PTEROSAUR x 2: The last time I got into a yellow Vekoma suspended, I had the time of my life (ODYSSEY WOOOOO!), so maybe disappointment was inevitable. This one has a higher rating on Captain Coaster than its massive SLC cousin, and from that I can only conclude that some people are really bonkers. I mean, this one is fun and the theming fits, but it's not the most thrilling experience. How anyone can rate whizzing around a bit on this relatively tame coaster over, or even equal to, Odyssey is beyond me. It has some convincing foot-choppers during the final helix, but overall it's a pretty chilled out Pterosaur with a disappointingly short flight path. Expected this one to be my favourite at the park, but I thought it was maybe the third best of the four family thrill coasters.
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COBRA x 2: Probably the only ride here that delivered more than I was expecting, this little Gerstlauer Bobsled has some forces! It looks underwhelming from the ground but it's quite a lot of coaster for the size. Only a five minute wait too. An interesting mix of elements with fun helices, silly laterals and genuinely quite alarming bunny hills at the end, I liked this ride perhaps more than any of the others here. It also makes an amusingly horrific sound when the slack, wobbling lift hill cable engages. Yeah, this end of the park isn't really themed and looks more like a travelling fairground.
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DINO-CHASE x 1: A kiddy coaster, just an oval of nothing. I wouldn't have bothered with this if the triceratops-shaped train wasn't so alluring. It was also the only one that was lame enough for my spinally-challenged partner to ride...
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WILD MOUSE x 1: Small. Furry. Brave. 10/10.
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CYCLONATOR - vomit spited: Not really into flats but I felt a bit of a thrill vacuum at this park, so thought I'd give this one a go at the end of the day - it looks pretty forceful and the ring of seats doesn't spin quite as much as some other pendulum swings. But when we got back over there, it was closed while a poor worker had to clean a load of vomit off the seats with a sponge and bucket. Felt so bad for him!
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PEPPA PIG WORLD: Obviously this isn't aimed at us, but this franchise seems kinda obnoxious. I am reliably informed that Peppa is a bad role model who is whiny and really mean to her little brother. We went on the strange but interesting 'Windy Tower' (?) and the awful, boring monorail, then ran away from all the amorphous plastic shapes before our brains started rotting.
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FOOD: Predictably ridiculous prices but actually pretty nice food, at least in the diner in Tornado Springs. They were dealing reasonably well with the huge volume of customers.
Later on we got a small portion of 'pineapple Dole' (a sort of thick fruit sorbet?) from a kiosk - and it was £5.20!!! For about 100ml of sorbet. Oh my God! No wonder the price wasn't displayed - watch out!
--
Overall impression - a very nicely-kept and attractive park with good theming, low waiting times, and very squarely/successfully aimed at kids and tweens. There is a disappointing absence of dark rides. The star coaster (Storm Chaser) didn't do that much for me, so I wouldn't go again. Not sure I would really recommend it to an enthusiast unless credit accumulation is a top priority. I now have more of an appreciation for Chessington as Mandrill Mayhem, which I wasn't sure about at first, is actually a really good family thrill compared to the stuff here. Think I'd choose to ride that (or even Vampire) over any of these coasters, apart maybe from Cobra...
Then a pretty awful hotel for one night, then taxis to and from the park. Expensive admittance too at £43.50 each. But there were 7 credits up for grabs including a newish Mack spinner, sooo...
It's currently the Paulton's 'Halloween Spooktacular', which basically means a VAST number of pumpkins strewn everywhere. There were also some people in spooky costumes wandering about, a vaguely sarcastic talking corn cob (?), plastic spiders, and 'ghost' rags dangling from branches, East London park style.
It was dull and raining when we arrived, but this didn't seem to have put off a quite large number of families from coming out. I don't recall seeing anyone else there who wasn't with kids - it's the only park I've ever been to where I felt we were a bit out of place. Not a criticism of the park, but we clearly weren't the target audience.
--
STORM CHASER x 2: A 15 minute wait time despite the rain. I was a bit worried about nausea on this - in fact, testing out a Mack spinner (before riding RtH!) was my main reason for coming here. Went up the lift hill backwards on the first go, and was pleasantly surprised by its tolerability - didn't feel particularly nauseating, but then it wasn't spinning that much either. When I went on again just before closing time later, the car was more unevenly weighted but still didn't spin uncontrollably - both times it just felt disorienting but not dizzying. It was pretty good for a family coaster but didn't really blow me away, not sure what I was expecting but somehow a bit more than this based on others' reviews.
--
FARMYARD FLYER x 1: Just a small, uneventful family coaster, very similar to Barnstormer at Adventure Island.
--
CAT-O-PILLAR x 1: Didn't have high expectations from this silly Zierer Tivoli, but in the back row there's actually an unexpected pop of airtime on the first drop, which is quite alarming with the lap bar loose! Then nothing else happens.
--
VELOCIRAPTOR x 1: I mean, it's an OK ride - I got sat in the middle somewhere, and the restraint smelled pretty bad (a recurring theme in this park). The first drop was fun, then it weaves around a bit, goes up a spike, then returns backwards. The wait time for this was often 0 minutes, so I would have ridden again if the second half of the layout wasn't a boomerang, just personally not a big fan of going backwards. This area, with all the animatronic dinosaurs in, is great.
--
FLIGHT OF THE PTEROSAUR x 2: The last time I got into a yellow Vekoma suspended, I had the time of my life (ODYSSEY WOOOOO!), so maybe disappointment was inevitable. This one has a higher rating on Captain Coaster than its massive SLC cousin, and from that I can only conclude that some people are really bonkers. I mean, this one is fun and the theming fits, but it's not the most thrilling experience. How anyone can rate whizzing around a bit on this relatively tame coaster over, or even equal to, Odyssey is beyond me. It has some convincing foot-choppers during the final helix, but overall it's a pretty chilled out Pterosaur with a disappointingly short flight path. Expected this one to be my favourite at the park, but I thought it was maybe the third best of the four family thrill coasters.
--
COBRA x 2: Probably the only ride here that delivered more than I was expecting, this little Gerstlauer Bobsled has some forces! It looks underwhelming from the ground but it's quite a lot of coaster for the size. Only a five minute wait too. An interesting mix of elements with fun helices, silly laterals and genuinely quite alarming bunny hills at the end, I liked this ride perhaps more than any of the others here. It also makes an amusingly horrific sound when the slack, wobbling lift hill cable engages. Yeah, this end of the park isn't really themed and looks more like a travelling fairground.
--
DINO-CHASE x 1: A kiddy coaster, just an oval of nothing. I wouldn't have bothered with this if the triceratops-shaped train wasn't so alluring. It was also the only one that was lame enough for my spinally-challenged partner to ride...
--
WILD MOUSE x 1: Small. Furry. Brave. 10/10.
--
CYCLONATOR - vomit spited: Not really into flats but I felt a bit of a thrill vacuum at this park, so thought I'd give this one a go at the end of the day - it looks pretty forceful and the ring of seats doesn't spin quite as much as some other pendulum swings. But when we got back over there, it was closed while a poor worker had to clean a load of vomit off the seats with a sponge and bucket. Felt so bad for him!
--
PEPPA PIG WORLD: Obviously this isn't aimed at us, but this franchise seems kinda obnoxious. I am reliably informed that Peppa is a bad role model who is whiny and really mean to her little brother. We went on the strange but interesting 'Windy Tower' (?) and the awful, boring monorail, then ran away from all the amorphous plastic shapes before our brains started rotting.
--
FOOD: Predictably ridiculous prices but actually pretty nice food, at least in the diner in Tornado Springs. They were dealing reasonably well with the huge volume of customers.
Later on we got a small portion of 'pineapple Dole' (a sort of thick fruit sorbet?) from a kiosk - and it was £5.20!!! For about 100ml of sorbet. Oh my God! No wonder the price wasn't displayed - watch out!
--
Overall impression - a very nicely-kept and attractive park with good theming, low waiting times, and very squarely/successfully aimed at kids and tweens. There is a disappointing absence of dark rides. The star coaster (Storm Chaser) didn't do that much for me, so I wouldn't go again. Not sure I would really recommend it to an enthusiast unless credit accumulation is a top priority. I now have more of an appreciation for Chessington as Mandrill Mayhem, which I wasn't sure about at first, is actually a really good family thrill compared to the stuff here. Think I'd choose to ride that (or even Vampire) over any of these coasters, apart maybe from Cobra...