Last Weekend I finally visited Paultons Park after 8 years of not visiting! I had such a great trip, but the highlight by far was Tornado Springs, the park's new for 2021 area. It featured Storm Chaser, Cyclonator, Windmill Towers, Buffalo Falls and a few other rides. I'll review each ride I did, then go through some general area things. Let's go!
Storm Chaser:
I went on Storm Chaser 8 times in one day! If that doesn't show how much I liked it I don't know what does. It has a 1m height restriction and 4 years age restriction, so perfect for younger families. I really like the way Paultons have Age restrictions & Height Restriction, which means that you don't get very young children crying after, but still lets younger guests on. Anyway, It was such a good coaster! Probably the most intense family coaster I've done. I also, surprisingly, liked the design of the multiple spinning car trains. I thought I would like the single spinning trains more as it is easier for you to control your own spinning by the weight balance of how you sit. I think Storm Chaser used pre-controlled spinning but i'm not entirely sure. It works well with the layout which I personally don't mind being a clone of Sierra Sidewinder, I think it works well with Tornado Springs in its own ways. I didn't find the coaster overall thrilling as such, but is definitely a big contendor in the under 1.4m market in the UK along with Wicker Man, 13, Dragon's Fury, Flight of the Pterosaur and Vampire. It's not my favourite of those, but I'd say it beats a few.
It had beautiful theming throughout the entrance, indoor queue, outdoor queue, station and ride itself. It's probably not quite the best in the UK but is of a really high standard. A lot of the theming pieces were fibreglass instead of the real materials they would be made of, but for an area mainly aimed at middle-aged families (5-12?), I don't really think it matters, I just picked up on it as i'd seen it in someone else's review. It was on a 5 minute queue all day, and we were visiting on a half term weekend! I don't quite understand why there were so few people in the area when all of the rides bar cyclonator have under 1.2m height restrictions easily accessible to younger chilldren, but i imagine Peppa Pig is more appealing to families. Onto the other rides...
Cyclonator:
Cyclonator. My new favourite UK flat. (sorry apocalypse..). It's a Zamperla Frisbee with a 1.3m height restriction. It obviously had very similar theming and design to Storm Chaser so I won't go into detail on that, but I did especially like it's details on the ride itself and it was very photogenic!
I've heard from a few places that if Cyclonator goes down well, there will be more interest to family-thrill level rides later on for the park. I thought really hard about whether I personally would like a top thrill ride at the park (ik it has nothing to do with me but you know..) and I think if they kept to a 1.3m height restriction it would be cool! If they enjoyed working with mack then maybe something similar to Icon would be good as
A. It could have a 1.3m height limit.
B: It could have a launch (or multiple) and an inversion or two
C: Not many people that visit Paultons have been to Bpb so it would be a nice interesting ride to the more Southern audience.
That was really off topic but anyway... Cyclonator. It ran a great length cycle and had such nice floater! It was also a little intense in some places but not too much that it's uncomfortable. I much prefer the seats & restraints of Axis and Maelstrom but I think Cyclonator has the better theming and ride cycle. Unfortunately, I didn't get on it half as much as I wanted to due to frequent downtime for maintenance, removal of lost items, covid cleaning and 2 instances of cleaning from someone being sick throughout the day (that I saw). I did get 2 rides in as similarly to Storm Chaser, it had really small queues all day between 5 and 10 mins.
Windmill Towers & Buffalo Falls:
Windmill Towers are 2 junior drop towers located in the area. They weren't life-changing or anything, but a nice way of bringing younger visitors into the area. They had cute theming, short queues and a nice view much like the other rides in the area. I know that most rides like this have 2 towers, but it's just so much more helpful to have 2 as it gives it the opportunity to double capacity if opped by 2 people.
Buffalo Falls was a re-theme of an old water ride attraction that was redone to match the area better. It didn't have the theming the other rides had, but it did have a good repaint, and some theming. It had the longest queue in the area, but it was only 20-30 mins.
That's all the rides I did in the area, so let's get onto some general area thoughts:
- The area was stunning, so detailed even down to 'road/highway' told a vague story well
- It gave me a lot of Disney Cars/Radiator Springs vibes, I wanted to play life is a highway so bad...
- I loved the soundtrack of the area, it matched the feeling they were going for perfectly.
- Overall such an amazing step for the park into slightly larger rides for older children.
I don't l know what else to say really! This was quite a long review, but I thought there was a lot to say and I wanted to get in as much as I could! I loved Paultons so much and I hope to head back soon! I hoped you enjoyed this review, It was a lot of fun to write! Thank you all for reading, I'll see you all next time!
Cleo x
Very nice review Cleo!