When I was a kid, the one thing I really wanted to do to celebrate my birthday was visit a theme park (in a surprise to no one). Sadly though, my birthday is mid-December and living in the UK that made my wish a non-starter. Of course, one of the greatest things about being an adult is being able to live out those unfulfilled childhood dreams, so this year it was time to turn 28 in one of my favourite UK parks - Paultons Park!
One recent trend in the UK theme park scene that I can really get behind has been the de-facto extension of the theme park season to include almost the entire year. Legoland and Chessington have been running their events for a good few years now, with limited rides but festive cheer aplenty. This year Alton Towers has finally opened the gates to off-site guests for it's seasonal offering too, also with a limited - but very solid for young families - selection of rides. Happily Paultons also join in the fun and even better, they offer almost their entire ride line-up! The website makes clear which rides will be open and which are closed, with full lists for each. But unlike at most other parks, the closed list is far shorter! Of the 10 'rides' listed below; two are splash zones, two are for the smallest children only and one is an up-charge. Leaving just 5 main rides (Magma, The Edge, The Cobra, Raging River and Dragon Roundabout) closed - hardly enough to ruin a day (although I do truly love The Cobra and wish it was open always xoxo).
Just like at their Halloween event, on walking in to the park you're immediately greeted with a whole host of festive theming. Snowman and reindeer characters were out for meets and there were Christmas trees and photo ops everywhere. Everything you could hope to greet you on entry to a festive theme park was ready and waiting.
Perhaps the most significant part of this year's celebration - at least for nerds like me - is that it marks Tornado Springs' first Christmas! After a beautiful first Halloween I couldn't wait to see what they'd do for Christmas and I definitely wasn't disappointed! Christmas trees and wreaths are everywhere you look, with an enormous central tree covered in it's own Tornado Springs themed baubles! As a whole, the addition of Christmas decorations really made the land feel 'lived in', as though the residents of Route 83 had decorated themselves.
Beyond decorations, the Tornado Springs background loop has been altered to include some festive classics. However, the Christmassy music has been recorded in the style of the land's regular soundtrack and blended in! I.e. the background loop is in keeping both with the season and with the theme. Once again, it feels as though you are celebrating Christmas with the good people of Route 83! This was also the case with the Peppa Pig World background loop, and was definitely my favourite part of the event.
In what is now an established routine, we started the day in the Route 83 diner with what has quickly become one of my favourite theme park meals: a pancake stack! Served until 11:30am, these cost just £3.50 for four large fresh pancakes (plus extra for toppings) and are the absolute best start to a park day (unless you're planning to ride Cyclonator straight after ofc). In keeping with the season, the diner did have a few festive options available in the form of a Christmas tree shaped biscuit, amoretti brownie and some luxury hot chocolates. Sadly, nothing quite on the level of their frozen pumpkin ice cream from Halloween!
After getting in most of the Tornado Springs rides and spending some time with the critters of Little Africa we decided to try out some of the seasonal entertainment, choosing just to try catch the headline show - 'Santa's Christmas Wish'. As always with these types of show, the cast were fantastic but sometimes I do just need to admit that I'm not the target audience. The families around us did seem to be having a great time though. Also, I had all of the time for Rudolph's saxophone solo.
One bit of entertainment I did thoroughly enjoy however was 'Alive! Dinosaur Encounter', a regular attraction at the park which I really did not expect to be operating in winter! I'd not done it before - I'd previously only ever visited solo and waiting on my own amongst all the small kids to meet a dinosaur puppet was just a step too far - but leapt at the chance to meet the dino with no queue. The staff were fantastic and I didn't stop laughing the whole time, especially when the dinosaur attempted to bite off my head. 10/10 would do again.
Crowds throughout the park were blissfully low with almost everything a walk-on. Even in Peppa Pig World, the only ride to go above a 10 minute wait was Miss Rabbit's Helicopter Flight (a strong contender for the worst capacity ride in the country). This even meant that we were able to ride George's Dinosaur Adventure for the first time, with the usual 'no solo adults!' sign nowhere to be seen! Of course this meant as many back-row rides on Cat-o-Pillar coaster (the absolute airtime machine), front-row Pterosaur and anywhere-and-everywhere on Storm Chaser as we liked - heaven! Sadly I've still not experienced an intense spin on Storm Chaser, despite witnessing one and running round to ride in the same car! One day. One day, I'll get the balance just right. Until then, I'll just keep giving all my love to the surprisingly intense helix.
For me, the only real negative of the event was the closing time. With a 16:30 close and a 16:00 sunset, time available to experience the park at night was extremely limited. We only managed one night-ride of Storm Chaser as well as a walk around to take some photos. Of course, outside of the promised 'Magical Illuminations around the Park', this isn't really an advertised feature of the event, but it is unusual for a Christmas event not to offer significant night-time hours. It seems for now that if you want to explore Paultons at night, their two late-opens during Halloween half-term remain the way to go.
Overall, I had a fantastic day at Paultons' Celebration of Christmas. However, it's worth noting that for me it felt as though the emphasis of this event was enjoying the park itself. Though there are a handful of shows available, there are no interactive festive experiences like you may find at other parks (such as Santa's Grotto). If you wanted a fully festive day out, this is maybe not the event for you. But, if you wanted to experience a brilliant theme park with an extra splash of festive magic, I couldn't recommend it more.
Speak again soon,
Claire
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