insideKENT Magazine Issue 89 - August 2019 | Page 142

GETAWAYS
PAULTONS PARK:
The Ultimate Family Day Out
MY LATEST HEADACHE, BY WHICH OF COURSE I MEAN ‘HERALDED QUALITY TIME FAMILY DAY’, COMBINED
THE NEED TO FIND A ‘FAMILY’ DAY OUT THAT WOULD NOT ONLY APPEASE THE ATTENTION SPAN AND
CELEBRATE THE 2ND BIRTHDAY OF A WHIRLWIND TODDLER, INTRIGUE THE INQUISITIVE, THRILL-SEEKING
NATURE OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD AND ALSO ELIMINATE THE BOREDOM OF A 12-GOING-ON-30-YEAR-OLD, AND AS
IF THAT WASN’T ENOUGH, NOT FEEL LIKE A DAY OUT TO HELL FOR TWO SLIGHTLY RAGGED PARENTS. EASIER
SAID THAN DONE? WELL, RELIEVINGLY... NO! BY SAMANTHA READY
The answer to my parental prayers came in the guise
of a trip to Paultons Park, a true family orientated
and multi-award-winning theme park offering
more than 60 rides and attractions, all set in 140
acres of parkland on the edge of the New Forest
National Park.
Paultons is home to the iconic and revered Peppa
Pig World. Seeing as Peppa was pretty much word
number four in my son’s vocabulary, a birthday trip
here was the obvious choice, especially with the
added bonus of free entry for my little Peppa
enthusiast as all children under one metre tall are
admitted free of charge!
Ears ringing with catchy theme tunes, eyes wide in
wonderment and gaping mouths giving way to full
on happy smiles – and that was just us parents –
we had arrived! Our toddler was transfixed,
shouts of “Peppa”, “Mummy Pig”, “George”, and
“Mr Dinosaur – grrr” filled the air and even the
12-year-old was full of smiles as we headed off on
our Peppa adventure.
A whole host of excellent Peppa-themed rides aside,
there are visits to Peppa’s House and Madame
Gazelle’s School available, and regular meet-and-
greets not only at scheduled times and places for
Peppa and George but on walkabouts with other
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favourites leading to cuddles galore with Suzy
Sheep and Zoe Zebra. Taking into account how
overwhelmed little ones can become, there are also
other more calm spaces too; George’s Spaceship
indoor soft play area, Mr Potato’s outdoor playground
and, for warmer months, Muddy Puddles splash
park, which is perfect for little jumpers so don’t forget
your swimwear and towels. There are also handy
lockers for storing coolboxes and the unwitting
amount of paraphernalia that days out with
kids accumulate.
A walk around the central gardens and aviaries
finally led to nap time and with toddler firmly in the
pushchair we raced ahead to Paultons other
attractions. The Lost Kingdom, a dinosaur theme
park world set within four acres of Jurassic landscape
and home to a host of dinosaur-themed rides
including world-class family roller coasters and our
first stops, Flight of the Pterosaur, a foot swinger,
395-metre suspended coaster (where cries from the
12-year-old of “I’m gonna dieeee” were replaced
with “that was amazing can we go agaiiiinnnnnnn”
by the four-year-old) and Velociraptor, a 200-metrre
coaster that drops 20 metres and sweeps around
bends at 40mph.
queue up and enjoy the ride, and request a ‘Tot
Swap’ ticket at the exit, hand this to the rest of your
group (no more than two) and they can go straight
in at the exit and straight on the ride – genius!
We also had plenty of time to try out the other rides
including Edge, Magma and Cobra – the biggest
roller coaster in the park! As well as catching the
dinosaur film in the 4D cinema and even feeding
time for the penguins. We literally had done it all
without one moan or groan and with loads of fun,
laughs and memories.
Even now, a few weeks on (which is a lifetime when
you are two!) my son tells anyone who will listen
about going to see ‘Peppa’, which for me is the best
recommendation of them all.
Paultons Park, home of Peppa Pig World
Ower,
Romsey,
The New Forest,
Hampshire
SO51 6AL
www.paultonspark.co.uk
paultonspark
And the best bit? Paultons offer ‘Tot Swap’ at the
bigger rides, whereby the majority of your party
paultonspark