Once we’d fought our way through traffic to Southampton, we arrived at the Holiday Inn Southampton West. We had 3 nights booked here, and this was a nice place to stay, with ample sized rooms, and we had a decent view from ours as we were further up in the building.
Next day we set off for Paultons Park, for our first ever visit here and expectations were high due to what we’d heard about Tornado Springs.
We got parked and through the gates and made our way towards Cobra and Magma first. Cobra, being a Gerstlauer Bobsled was a really fun ride, nice pops of airtime on the final hills, a good bit of force in the helixes and the hairpin turns were tight but not uncomfortable, very spacious cars too!
After we got off, we bought a Photopass, which we felt was a bit expensive for what you get, as it costs £40, and gives you 5x printed photos, keyrings or photo blocks and digital copies as well. Since I’d paid £60 for a Merlin Annual digipass months prior, it just felt a bit high for what you ended up getting, but it was nice that they offered physical prints for the price!
Once we’d finished with the photo pass, we had a go on Magma, which is the parks tallest ride. An SBF Visa drop tower, measuring 25m, it gives great views of the park and offers a good thrill, with plenty of drops and hang time at the top, we thoroughly enjoyed Magma!
Afterwards we had a go on The Dragon, a roundabout ride by Zierer. A decent kids ride, and surprising how much force it throws out when it gets going!
Our next stop was Velociraptor, which features a pen like queue line with dinosaur animatronics and great landscaping around. We didn’t queue too long and I found the ride to be a pleasant little boomerang. The first turn has a lot of force to it and the layout, though short, offers enough for it to be worth a queue!
While we were in the Lost Kingdom area of the park, we also tried Dino Chase and Boulder Dash but left Flight of the Pterosaur for later. Dino Chase was fun, but designed for very young kids so didn’t offer too much, and Boulder Dash was a fun little Demolition Derby type ride, with plenty of near misses, though taller folk might prefer to sit this one out at the cars are quite cramped!
We then headed out of Lost Kingdom and had a wander around the parks various animal enclosures as we wound our way towards Critter Creek. One thing that can’t be understated is how nice a place Paultons Park is. The landscaping is great, the planting is lush and looked after and the path ways are immaculate. Even later on in the day we didn’t notice much litter about at all! Paultons park is beautiful.
After our walk, we ended up at Critter Creek, home to two junior rides, Prof. Blast’s Expedition Express and The Cat-O-Pillar Coaster. We omitted Expedition Express as it did look quite busy and a bit small for us, so instead had a go on The Cat-O-Pillar Coaster, which was fun!
We then thought it was time to have a look around Tornado Springs and see if it would live up to all the hype, and it certainly does! This is arguably one of the best themed areas in any park in the UK (at least that I’ve seen)!
You walk under Storm Chaser’s track and a welcome sign which leads to a sprawling American themed route, featuring 9 attractions and plenty of places to eat. We headed straight for Storm Chaser.
Storm Chaser is a Mack Rides Spinning Roller coaster, featuring a top speed of 37mph, heights of 65.6 feet and a good fun layout with one of the best helix’s I’ve even been on! This ride blew me away, pardon the pun! It rides brilliantly, no rattles, not jerks. Each Transition is excellent and thought it doesn’t spin too much, we both thoroughly enjoyed it. IT ranks in the top 10 of all UK Coasters for me, easily!
After our Storm chase was over, we tried the Windmill Towers ride and Buffalo Falls Dingy Slide. The towers were fun, even for a junior ride, and the dingy slide gets you slightly wet but nothing too major! We then headed back over to Lost Kingdom for a go on Flight of the Pterasaur.
We both really enjoyed Pterasaur, it had plenty to offer and another great helix at the end, but we both felt it could have done with being a bit longer as it does stop quite abruptly before the station. The seats were very comfortable and the lapbars give you great upper body freedom to move and enjoy the attraction.
While we were at the park, we had a go on the Go Karts, which is an upcharge and was good fun, but spoiled a little by the others on the track with us as they had no idea how to drive and kept swerving and blocking passes, still fun though!
Once we had our go on the Go Karts, we did a few rerides here and there, Storm Chaser, Velceraptor and Cat-O-Pillar Coaster most notably, had something to eat at The Hay Barn, delicious burritos, before heading out to the shop and the car.
Paultons park was an excellent day out, operations on the rides were good, the staff were pleasant and welcoming, the park itself was very pretty, well laid out and easy to navigate and there was plenty to do! Even though its marketed as a family park, both of us had a great time here, we both ended up returning after this visit, which will be in an upcoming blog!
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