Paultons Park Family Day Out Review

This is a collaborative post

We’ve just had the Easter holidays and I have to say I was fully unprepared for them. I am so used to term time when kids are all in school and I can take my toddler to a lot more places that won’t be as busy or as overwhelming and heaving with older kids having too much fun to notice a little one and knock her over again and again as they whiz past. Not only this but during the holidays we like to spend a lot more time with our favourite cousin (or nephew if you’re me) and that is where we also have to get a bit more creative with what we do as well because we have to cater for a big age range: almost 2 to almost 11 – wish us luck! However, something we sometimes forget is right on our doorstep is Paultons Park! It is within an hours drive meaning not too much of “Are we there yet?!” from the soon to be (we think starting early) teenager and not too long for the toddler to keep still. I’ve been telling you all recently as well about how fearless my little one is too, so when Paultons got in touch and asked us if we’d like to visit their theme park we couldn’t really say no now could we…

We arrived at Paultons Park for about 10am in the morning (and yes it was still Easter Holidays) and they had some wardens out to direct traffic as it was fairly busy so we were in the back parking but that wasn’t a problem as it was only a quick walk to the front entrance where you are greeted with a gorgeous work of art that is in fact a fountain but when turned on looks like the rain is coming through the trees – please note if the wind suddenly breezes past this does take the spray with it and you may become slightly damp so good job it was sunny!

At the entrance, and on the way in, they have a little height measure guide because did you know (I SO didn’t know this) that if your little one is under 1 metre tall then they get in for FREE – how good is that?! We were through the ticket line really quickly and given a map to the park which Rowan immediately took charge of and we went through the main entrance building which house the gift shop (yes the kids did rinse us later!!) and one of the main restaurants for the park and out into the park which splits in three directions depending on where you want to go first.

FACILITIES SIDE NOTE: There are facilities dotted all over the park including at the entrance and when we got there I thought I’d better quickly change Alyssa and fully expected a pull down table in the disabled toilets but oh my goodness I couldn’t have been more wrong. I can honestly say that Paultons Park have some of the absolute best facilities I have ever seen. Several padded changing tables, a private place to breastfeed, a toilet with a baby seat next to it some parents can actually go to the toilet too and plus in the main toilets there is a child seat fitted on every female (I didn’t check the male ones sorry) toilet seat for little bums too. Absolutely brilliant (and yes I know a weird thing to say about toilets) and made the day much easier as a parent too.

Anyway, we headed past the toilets and down show street and came across the 4D cinema which we didn’t visit this time because Alyssa needed to RUN and came face to face with the toddler play park. It was lovely – covered in sand and soft tarmac with slides, tunnels, tables to sit at, swings, roundabout and a train to play in. It was brilliant and Alyssa loved it as she was able to do everything herself and there was a large amount of covered and uncovered seating for parents too. We spent a few minutes here before dragging her away to explore the rest of the park.

We enjoyed the old fashioned Carousel first and then headed down past more restaurants and fast food places to Peppa Pig world which was brilliant. Alyssa really is a little daredevil and LOVED all the rides. We were able to go on with her and she loved looking out from up high in the balloons or trying to splash us from Grandpa pigs boats and was really excited to see the ducks there too. We even caught glimpses of Peppa, George, Mummy and Daddy Pig too whom we waved to. Someone was eager to go on another ride or we would have waited to take a photo with them or have cuddles. We also went inside for a bit and tried out the amazing soft play area which has different sections for different ages meaning we didn’t run the risk of little ones being knocked over but it also meant Rowan could go off on the bigger kids areas too.

We tried out the restaurants too after Peppa Pig world and then we headed over to Critter Creek  to try out the train and the rollercoaster (Alyssa was very disappointed she wasn’t quite big enough for the big ride) and we also took a walk through the creature cave to have a look at some of the creepy crawlies inside.

We headed back through the park and passed through some beautiful gardens with yet another amazing glass work fountain which looks like lots of different colours flowers blooming next to the bird cages. You then come out into the bigger kids play area which is next to the water park – that sealed it for us coming back in warmer weather! It was amazing – lots of water shoots and fountains for the kids to run in and out of and through and it’s all gated with a big seating area for parents too. We can’t wait to go back and try that out… you have no idea how hard it was to keep Alyssa out of the water – thank God it was gated! We then headed into The Lost Kingdom which is the amazing new Dinosaur area with some absolutely epic roller-coasters for us big kids and we even managed to find a Waltzer style boulder ride for Alyssa – we filmed her on it and she just wanted more and more and for it to go faster and faster.

We headed round the corner and found a brilliant go-kart track and some trampolines and a bouncy castle. There was also the big swing ride and the log flume… so much to do that kept us entertained all day long. When the kiddies started to get tired, we slowly made our way back, hitting a few more rides and play areas that we had really enjoyed again until even Alyssa asked for  a ride in the pushchair. We headed through the gift shop (because of course the exit is on the other side!!) and we managed to find a big balloon for Alyssa, a stuffed cuddly dragon for Rowan and a unicorn mug and pen (I wasn’t allowed to buy the rest of the unicorn stuff despite my protestations that I needed it all in my life!!!) for me. The walk back to the car took a little longer than the walk into the park earlier that day but I am pleased to say that into the car climbed one very grubby but  happy family super pleased with their day out! I put together a video montage of our entire day for you to see including video footage of Alyssa on her favourite ride…

Thanks so much to Paultons Park for inviting us to try the park out for the day. I honestly hadn’t been there since I was a child and it had changed so much but a million times for the better. My little almost two year old had big eyes that were excited and happy all day long and even the soon to be ten year old teenager got excited and turned back into the playful little boy he can be when he forgets to try and be all grown up. I’d  say if you are thinking about visiting places in the Dorset and Hampshire area then Paultons Park should be right up there at the top of your list as it really does have something to please the whole family and the facilities are brilliant. Another thing I love is that despite having loads of restaurants around, they even supply an open and a covered area for families to bring a picnic too! Half term and summer holidays are fast approaching so mark a date on your calendar and load up the car and set a course for Paultons… you won’t regret it! If you book your tickets in advance online you will also save money AND if you’re visiting on holiday you can even by two day passes too. After that you’ll be getting season tickets I’m sure!

This is a collaborative post – all thoughts and opinions are my own