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False alarm everyone. Sorry Aerie Force One, into the bin you go.

Rest in piece. We can scrap it and Thorpe can buy Aerie Force One.

They've done quite a lot in recent years which has collectively improved throughput. - Increased the amount of bag storage - Pretty much always have 4 hosts checking restraints rather than 2 - Pretty much always have someone batching to fill empty seats - Pretty much always on 2 trains - New PLC means all restraints don't have lift all the way up - Queue line announcement with boarding instructions - Boarding instructions/screen before entering the station

I’ve definitely noticed a massive improvement in operations in the last few years. Especially on off peak days (or the season it was on during one train for awhile), throughputs were terrible. They dispatch much quicker nowadays and that queue just keeps moving. In general, Thorpe’s operations are something they should be proud of!

I’ve returned to Paultons’s Park for the first time since I was a kid, this time with my own toddler who has recently made the magic 1 meter + 4 years old combo, meaning we could go on early everything. It’s probably been over 20 years since I was last there, and the place is now completely unrecognisable. WHAT A PARK. And what a breath of fresh air! I have read reviews and watched videos etc, and had high expectations. But honestly I was blown away by just how good Paultons actually is now, especially when it comes to their newer things. Every expectation I had was exceeded. The rides, theming, food, staff, availability, atmosphere, overall experience, value for money, prices in the park, everything was spot on. Valgard is truly spectacular, and will be unbelievable when the new water coaster opens next year. The back to back large scale additions this year and next are an extremely positive sign of things to come. Can’t wait to see the park continue to grow over the coming years. It’s so encouraging to have had such a positive experience at a UK park, and to see it doing so well. I hope it continues to go from strength to strength as we gain Universal. The future of the UK theme park industry may be shaky across the board, but there are some real positives - Paultons very much being one of them.

He's lost his mind

Haven't been to Thorpe yet this year but I can't wait to get in and see that fire effect finally in action! 🙃

I mean playing devils advocate, what would be a good replacement scene? honestly, I can see why they got rid of it as the same effect is technically used earlier in the attraction. I mean maybe not a scare, but I liked the idea of the shop having a 'window' into the platform that you just came from and the train disappearing into a ghostly apparition in a more theatrical ending Maybe not a replacement but its a shame they could of replaced the effect with something that doesn't require a actor or staff, something automatic.

I went on the behind the scenes tour a couple years back and allegedly Thorpe never wanted the fake shop in the retheme because the illusion was already done in the previous iteration, but the guys in charge of the refurb wanted to keep it - so that's what ended up happening. Kept the ending to appease the creatives for the first year (or two I can't remember how long it lasted for) before being removed once it was out of the limelight as the park's newest attraction. I've seen videos of them testing it in the morning, mind you... so never say never. Personally I'd like them to add a new ending to the attraction - because as much as the 'say it, see it, sorted' ending is brilliant - I feel as though it does need one final scare. I thought one final jumpscare after a bit of comedic relief was brilliant because the guests guards were totally let down at that point, but I would be very very surprised if we saw any additions or changes to this attraction before it goes forever. I was pretty certain we wouldn't see Ghost Train come back again this year (tbf I say that every year... unfortunately I do think its on borrowed time at this point), but with Rumba closing and no replacement attraction in the pipeline for the foreseeable future by the looks of things, I think it's pretty safe for now. Once the Rumba replacement is open though, I definitely do think Ghost Train will be the plot of land Thorpe will be eyeing up next. Thorpe - just don't build a coaster there please. I know it's daunting, but give a dark ride another crack when the time comes - I beg. Learn from your mistakes and go for something more traditional this time.

It has also been announced that Vampire, the SLC, will close at the end of next year. No replacement has been confirmed, but the park have said they wouldn't close it with nothing in works to replace it.

I've heard pretty much nothing. One of the big issues the park will face is if staff haven't worked on it in a certain time frame, they will 'lose' the ability to work on it and need complete re-training. This might be why there was a lot of testing earlier this year, to stop that from happening. It's weird though. It's on the map / app / queue boards. It's got the new RAP signage. It's clearly meant to be a part of the 2026 line up. So why is it just sat there.

I've always had a soft spot for Colossus, massively over-hated. Its looking and running better than ever. I love that they seem to permanently have 4 hosts checking restraints now too, used to be very common to see 2 off peak. Noticed the smoke machine has been off the last month or so. Hopefully it'll be back for Fright Nights when it looks its best.

Due to my favoured ride misbehaving, during a walkabout, I had two virtually walk-on front row rides on this, and they were the smoothest rides I'd ever had on it.

The fact that the retail unit there sells just ice cream is absolutely mind boggling. Get some cocktails/mocktails for sale, and some street food like Cargo at Alton Towers recently and they'd be laughing.

It's time to get rid of Stealth.

To be honest, I think its a wasted opportunity at the moment. - No comfy seating - Lacks shade / shelter - Theres a small retail unit which just sells icecreams I believe but I think its mad not have a bar + food unit there Will be interesting to see how it develops and what the area is used for in the future, but I think it says a lot that hardly anyone seems to be using it and sitting in other areas instead.

Visited the park for first time in over a decade. Would you believe things are very different? The ride lineup has markedly improved. Mediocrity was king, and now Kondaa, Mecaladon and Tiki-Waka help to have rideable coasters (ok Turbine was and still is fab). Mecaladon in particular is a great family coaster. That the kid can ride that and Calamity Mine (just!) but Runaway Mine Train at Towers is too much is hilarious to me. Kondaaaaaaaaaaaaaa is a great coaster too. #600 for me after some recent hectic visits to Gullivers parks to boost that cred count. Certainly preferred it to Hyperia, helped by it having a decent layout and using the height (though smaller than I realised) well. The bunny hops at the end in back row are also nonsense. Low end of the top 10 for me. Pulsar is fab. Need more of these in existence. That boat should lumber along but instead it zooms along. Unfortunately only got to do it once as it died a death later on and needed to get the train home. Apparently Vampire and Loup-Garou were running terribly. Fortunately I didn't have to ride them. The park itself looks nice with the recent area spruce ups, though a few rides are in conflicting areas (Silverton the worst offender) which might get fixed soon maybe. Yeah, good day and a solid cred count boost. Helped by the park being utterly dead even with a few school groups about so still 5-10 minute queues for everything.

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.

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

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: