Attraction Profile
parkworld-online.com
Dinosaur
endurance Although Paultons is the first British park to feature a full prehistoric-themed area with rides, a handful of smaller dinosaurs parks do exist elsewhere around the UK, as well as being almost an industry sector in their own right in countries such as Poland. And soon the United Arab Emirates will get in on the act when the massive indoor theme park IMG Worlds of Adventure opens its own dinosaur themed zone called the Lost Kingdom, featuring a Mack rollercoaster among other attractions. A month or two later, Legoland Dubai will open a dark ride named Lost Kingdom Adventure, but this time the kingdom in question will be an Egyptian temple rather than something from prehistoric times. Having endured in legend for millions
of years, there doesn’t seem any danger of dinosaurs fading in popularity with parks developers any time soon.
how the visitor profile changes and how it works within the context of the rest of the park. We’ll then sit back and decide what’s next.” Now that it is up there with the less than 10 UK parks
that currently attract a million or more annual guests, what are Paultons’ new goals in terms of attendance? Mancey is being coy: “We haven’t set an attendance
The future is themed
“We are definitely committed to theming more areas within the park, and Lost Kingdom is just the latest of what we hope will be a long line of projects,” confirms Paultons Park managing director Richard Mancey. Together the new dinosaur area and Peppa Pig World – both designed by RMA Themed Attractions – cover just 7 acres (28,327 sq m) of Paultons’ total 150 acres (556,500 sq m). Some of the park’s most pleasant and relaxing areas, such as its aviary and gardens, don’t need any theming, but there’s now a marked in contrast between some of the newer additions and those rather functional-looking rides sitting elsewhere in the park. Over the past few years, families will have noticed several improvements, starting with the new £4 million ($5.7m/€5.1m) entrance building. Clean, modern-looking and with the appearance of a sports stadium or unit on a retail park, it’s somewhat more colourful inside thanks to the presence of the Wild Forest Restaurant and Big Toy Shop. Crucially, it’s capable to handling the increased number of guests the park now hosts on a regular basis. Nearby Show Street and Carousel Courtyard have also had a
facelift, while elsewhere RMA was responsible for the volcano-like exterior of the SBF Magma drop tower (pictured above) and KD Decoratives designed Critter Creek (left), a new look area featuring a Zierer family coaster, Zamperla train ride and a fun fish/reptile encounter, one of several animal exhibits located throughout the New Forest park.
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target with Lost Kingdom,” he says. “Of course everybody would like to increase their numbers, that would be very nice and maybe we’ll achieve that, but we don’t set out with the goal of getting an extra 10-15% or whatever. There is no science to it, all you can do is wait and see what happens, but I do think we’ve now got a pretty good day out, perhaps even two days out, for families.” Located just a few miles from Southampton, on the edge of the New Forest and close to the south coast, Paultons Park sits at the gateway to a popular part of the country for day-trippers and holidaymakers and has short break deals in place with several local hotels. In the belief that, like Peppa, dinosaurs will also attract guests from far and wide, the park embarked on a nationwide marketing campaign for Lost Kingdom. If it becomes the hit it deserves to be, the new-look area will help Paultons not to become so over-reliant on the power of the pig. “Peppa Pig World is extremely important to us, of
course it is, but the hope is that the Paultons brand can become a stronger brand,” says Mancey. “I think locally, within an hour or so’s drive, we are known as Paultons Park but then if you talk to someone coming from Liverpool or the north of England it would definitely be Peppa Pig World. It’s going to be difficult to change that, but this and the other areas we have themed in recent years are a start and we will continue to do other areas in order to achieve that goal. Rome wasn’t built in a day!”
paultonspark.co.uk JUNE 2016
The rich theming of the Lost Kingdom (above) is in marked contrast to some of Paultons’ older attractions
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