All Activity

How has the launchpad been since it opened? I haven’t seen it yet, but from the photos I was expecting a lot more seating, making it a place people could go to around lunchtime etc. It also seems very exposed with little shade or rain cover. Interested to see how the update has been

I was at Thorpe on Monday for one of the 9pm closes too. Ride availability was pretty poor. One of 'those' Thorpe days - though they are fewer and further between now. I don't think the heat can take the full blame for availability (beyond Stealth, as hydraulic launches do typically struggle in heat), but certainly can't have been a good factor. In saying that, I had a good time, and there were a good number of people there until close. Was it rammed? No. Was it lively enough though? Yes. Obviously the extreme heat won't have helped, and the May half term is usually the quietest one of the school holidays (I think, in part, due to it being around exam season, so a chunk of your core demographic are actually less likely to do bigger days out). So I don't think the 9pm closes being quiet are a 'bad' thing in any way. I find it funny seeing the discourse around that if the parks are quiet on late closes, then they won't do them again. Isn't part of the reason to spread crowds out more throughout the day, improving rides per guest and overall giving guests better experiences. I think, on the whole, the late closes achieved that.

boop beep boop beep boop beep boo boo beep, *head turns round nod nod nod waaaaaaaar, waaaaaaaaaaaaaar, waaaaaaaaaaaaaarr r, clangclang, clang, clang late nights, quiet, wind, and rain, hot sun, too hot, injustice, and cash summer lates, summer lates, ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh! stones, cars, travel, stones, cars, travel car park, car park, car park car park, ah! ah! summer lates, summer lates, oooooooooooooooooooooooh! our money, our money, our our our money, chin chin! boop bupp boop beep, boop bupp boop beep it all means something summer lates, summer lates, ooooooooooooooooooooooh! scary info, coming soon, whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!

So, now the 9pm closures are over. How does everything think they went? And do we think we'll see any more? They certainly filtered out a lot into the evenings with very short queues, but I wouldn't say they were completely deserted and still had quite a lot of people stay. I think the heatwave may have had an impact on attendance, with people either not visiting at all or leaving early due to the heat. I know on Monday they struggled with ride availability and activated free returns, and a lot of people left due to the combination or poor ride availability and the heat. Interestingly, when I woke up the other morning I noticed this had been posted on Merlins facebook page. Seemed to have been posted around midnight but it has since been removed 👀

I completely agree. Its so unnecessary. There was a period they removed it a few years ago but then it came back for some reason. Same with the queue line music, they reverted it back to the original soundtrack for a while and then changed it back to Imascore. Would love for that to be changed back to the original, and then have the the Imascore play in the wider 'jungle' area. I love having the original back on Colossus. Also Saws dispatch has disappeared so would be nice for that to come back. Yeah not sure, but ever since the PLC change its always played when the trains ready for dispatch. Must admit I did prefer it when it played earlier but its fine how it is now.

Closed all day today, hope nothing serious has happened. Failed to launch 3 times yesterday, mostly due to the drive tyres in the station failing to work properly. Hopefully back up again soon!

Oh. I'm not technical at all, but was it really not possible to resync it back to the last restraint closing trigger with the new PLC?!

Why not fill in the gap at the start to fit with the rest, with this: Please adhere, the journey will soon dispose. Your ride on Colossus is about to begin. Please keep your arms inside the train, your feet on the floor. And brace yourselves at all times. Once again, your ride on Colossus is about to begin. Please keep your arms inside the train, your feet on the floor. And brace yourselves at all times.

I really wish they could drop the “place your heads back and brace your selves” from the inferno dispatch announcement and have it back to how it was with the thuds as they pressed dispatch before it went into the music, I know a few years ago they went through and added pre dispatch safety announcements to all rides but since then Hyperia has opened and didn’t seem to need one so would be nice if Inferno could have the same!

They extended hours till 9 23rd - 25th May. Lates at Thorpe Park: May Half Term Extended Hours

The app is showing that the park was open until 9pm tonight. Is that normal for a bank holiday?

The Colossus station announcement has been changed very slightly, they've cut out the 'Please stand clear the gates are about to close' and now just starts with 'Your ride on Colossus is about to begin' Makes sense seeing as they've already closed the airgates when they play the announcement now.

Presumably the only reason it isn't splashing those standing at the end of the drop, is because the water I isn't filled to the usual level?

On Stealth today and a guy next to me announced that he first rode it twenty-five years ago. What large sticker is on the front of each train? 20 years old. He must have had heat stroke.

Love the nod/Easter Egg to the old entrance screen with some dead pixels on the BRAND NEW SCREEN.

Depth Charge opened at 9:30 today, and launch pad has opened. I’ve heard Depth Charge is now going to open daily at 9:30, with it being right next to Launch Pad. Big fan of that. It gives people something else to do in the morning and helps bring some kinetic energy to the area.

SAW wasn't a planned closure and did originally show as 'Delayed opening' early on. Colossus is planned to be back open tomorrow, and hopefully whatevers up with SAW can be sorted asap with half next week.

Both Colossus and Saw closed today, I wonder if the maintenance on Colossus means saw can’t open? Who knows!

I must admit, I wasn't particularly excited for Drakon either, I think euro-fighters are kinda boring and things like the Mack big dipper are far more versatile and interesting. That being said, Paultons know their target audience incredibly well and have built a ride that caters to that. Obviously Drakon is a massive step up from Storm Chaser in terms of thrill. To be honest I'm far more excited for Serpents Curse. I cannot believe that no other UK park has chased the UK's first water coaster title frankly and I think it's a brilliant choice for Paultons for 2027. One thing I really like about Paultons is how each caters for the different family members. Take Valgard, it has the thrill coaster, the family coaster, the family flat ride, the play area for kids and in 2027 the water attraction as well as the kids water ride. They pack so much into small areas and theres no wasted space.

I attended the opening day of Valgard yesterday, so let me take a stab at a longer review. Let me start with the area and wider theming... The Area/Theming Overall, I think they've done a lovely job with the area! The theming is all absolutely lovely, and they've finished it off very well! In terms of a few specific points of interest: There are some very nice details around! One of my particular favourites was the sheep "powering" the lift hill for Drakon, but I thought that there was loads to look at! As someone who wrote a post a few days ago remarking that Paultons' theming lacked theatre and pizzazz, I do have to concede that Drakon is somewhat of an improvement in this regard; I was particularly surprised by the pre-lift section, which is very nicely done! People (myself included) griped for years about Cobra being unthemed and lacking atmosphere, and it looks a damn sight better now; they've done an absolutely brilliant job with Raven! Even just having the themed queue and station and little bits like the clock towers in the middle and the area around it has enhanced the overall atmosphere no end! The Feasting Hall is an absolutely excellent indoor space, with some lovely details and a beautiful interior finish. I particularly liked the big fireplace and the big viking ship! I didn't really notice The Edge not being cohesively themed in; as much as including it would have been nice, it's tucked away somewhat and I don't think it sticks out like too much of a sore thumb. One minor gripe I would raise is that I think Drakon could maybe have used some theming that interacted slightly more with the ride and/or was slightly more visible to riders. When queueing, you can see some nice details in the ride area, including a shipwreck that lights up with some fake fire and some spikes, but I don't think these are terribly noticeable when on the ride; after the initial interaction with Raven, it does feel a tad like you're riding over some generic nice landscaping. I think more visible theming interactions from on-ride in the vein of Storm Chaser and Pterosaur in the same park or Raven in the same area, or Merlin coasters like Nemesis, Swarm and Wicker Man, might have been nice. All in all, though, I think it's a lovely area and continues Paultons' streak of very nicely detailed and finished off areas. The park are certainly onto another winner alongside Lost Kingdom and Tornado Springs, and compared to an area like Drayton Manor's 2022 attempt at Vikings, I think it's absolutely night and day! Let me now move onto the main event... Drakon I was highly critical of Paultons building a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter and have made no secret of the fact that it was far from my first choice of coaster for the park. Having ridden it, I do maintain that it maybe wouldn't have been my first choice and it has not converted me to Euro-Fighters as a ride type in a drastic way, but I acknowledge that it is a good coaster and I think it will go down well with the audience, and that I was perhaps overly harsh at points in the build-up period. To raise a few specific points of interest: The stall does offer some very good hangtime. I'm quite surprised that Paultons went for such a dramatic inversion on their first ever inverting coaster, but I'm a fan of it and think it works well (or would if it weren't for the restraints... more on that later). I always like the drop on these Gerstlauer Euro-Fighters, and this one is no exception; it offers some nice airtime! The ride is definitely much smoother than I'd feared it might be; the tracking was generally very smooth throughout on my rides with minimal rattle or headbanging, although there were still odd sections where my head made mild, brief contact with the restraints. The ride is perhaps the least intense of the Euro-Fighters I've ridden, and I wouldn't call it an especially forceful or impactful coaster on the whole even if I think the layout is mostly good fun. For the park, I think this works well, but I thought it was worth pointing out. The first hill going over Raven doesn't really offer any notable airtime, which I was a little disappointed by. I understand that it probably had to be a certain height to clear Raven, but Gerstlauer, for all their flaws, are often quite good at injecting surprise airtime pops into their thrill coasters and a small part of me was hoping that it would be another surprise airtime burst from Gerst! The ride also doesn't really have any airtime more widely aside from the drop, so doesn't continue Gerstlauer's tradition of incorporating good surprising airtime moments. I wasn't necessarily surprised by this given the layout, but I do think this is something that Saw, Speed and Smiler do better. The main flaw I would raise, and a criticism that I 100% stand by from when the ride was initially announced, is that I think the OTSRs impede the ride and I would have preferred it with lap bars. On my 3 rides, I found that the OTSRs crushed my thighs and made the stall in particular somewhat uncomfortable. I begrudgingly accept the reasoning for OTSRs, but don't necessarily agree with the logic and think that some nice lap bars, as I know Gerstlauer offer, would definitely have made the ride more fun. All in all, then, I think Drakon, while not my first choice, is a fun coaster that will suit the park well. It's a very welcome step up in thrill from Paultons Park, and I think the younger guests will like it! In terms of comparisons, it's currently my highest-ranking Gerstlauer thrill coaster for the reason that it's more comfortable to ride than the others, although as I said, it didn't convert me to Euro-Fighters in a drastic way and I've settled on a 6/10 and #49/148 overall. I still personally rank Pterosaur, Storm Chaser and Raven slightly higher within the park. Finally, I'll briefly touch on Vild Swing... Vild Swing I'd never ridden one of these ART wild swings before, so I was interested to get on one for the first time. All in all, I'd say it was OK, but nothing to write home about as someone who's not a big fan of flat rides. The swinging is quite good fun, and early on, none of the sensations feel overly intense, but I would say that the cycle was maybe a bit long for me and I was starting to wear of the repetitive rotating motion by the end. If you’re keener on flats than I am, though, I think you’ll like it! So all in all, then, I’d say Valgard is a great addition to Paultons Park! The theming is delightful, Drakon is overall a fun coaster that will suit the audience well, and if you’re more of a fan of flat rides than I am, then I think you’ll enjoy Vild Swing! I also think Serpent’s Curse looks like it will be a fun addition for next year! To close out the review, here are a few photos I took throughout the day:

I think it’s quite clever… the vast majority of it is removable, to make a big events space. Those benches, the trailer screen, even the fencing in front of it. Keep it bland, and it could be quite a versatile space.

Not sure about riding in the rain though, on some rides that can sting.

Ah, nice! If you're going midweek, expect very low crowds, particularly if it's raining; I went on a rainy midweek day in 2025 and managed 51 rides!

Launch pad looks good, the finish is actually very decent for once! Is this the style Thorpe needed to go for? Maybe not….. should have been more theme parky Genuine question, if amity (KFC area) was damaged beyond repair and the area needed refurbing then what would they do with it? If they did the same thing as this, the park would suddenly get very boring and loose any theme. So yes this is nice looking but is it acceptable for a theme park? I just wish, once again we knew what direction the park was going in eg. Rides, theming ect.

Another good report Matt, well done. I will be attending Paultons Park shortly with some other nuts, and am looking forward to it. It will be interesting to compare, but luckily for us, our visit will be midweek.