Paw Patrol at Paultons Park

Meeting Chase, Marshall and Skye at Paultons Park

Sebastian turned 4 last week and like a lot of children his age, he loves watching the adventures of Chase and Marshall in Paw Patrol, so when I found out that they were visiting Paultons Park I knew that I had to take him along to meet them.

Paultons Park is one of the kids favourite days out. Home to Peppa Pig World and the Lost Kingdom it appeals to children from the age of 1 up to about 12 years with a mixture of stunning gardens, animals to see, gentle rides and slightly more thrilling ones for the more adventurous.

We were season pass holders for a few years and knew it was going to be busy as we timed our arrival time for opening time and people were already queuing to get in to the car park. With security threats top of the headlines at the moment, we also had to queue to have our bags searched before being allowed entry.

Once inside it was clear that everyone was heading to see their Paw Patrol heroes first so we took the opportunity to visit the dinosaurs in the Lost Kingdom first and got on every ride without having to queue.

Lost Kingdom

We have been trying to get Isaac on a rollercoaster for years with no success, but after finding his inner adrenalin junkie at Folly Farm a couple of weeks earlier he decided, after a little persuasion, to brave Flight of the Pterosaur with Daddy.

Lost Kingdom Paultons Park

He was a bit unsure at first, but he cracked it and then took Sebby on Dino Chase, before braving the larger rollercoaster again with me, whilst the little ones played in the park.

The Lost Kingdom PPW

By now the queue to see the Paw Patrol characters stretched past the splash park and all the way up to the gardens by the Cobra rollercoaster, where they were holding the meet and greet with Chase, Marshall and the children. We wandered up the queue to see exactly where it was being held and arrived just as Skye came out to say ‘Hello’ to the crowd who were waiting.

Skye

After seeing the size of the queue, we consoled ourself that at least Sebby had met Skye and headed off again with the promise of more rides in the park and Peppa Pig World.

Paultons Park

By now it was lunch time, so we headed to the Wild Forest restaurant, who serve a delicious range of hot and cold food, for a bite to eat and were surprised by how empty it was. Our food came out quickly and was freshly cooked and the best we have ever had at a theme park.

Wild Forest

Full to bursting, it was time to visit our old favourite of Peppa Pig World. Despite Isaac and Eliza being 9 and 6, they immediately reverted to being young again and couldn’t wait to start exploring, excitedly pointing out that they were building a new ride too.

Our longest queue of the day was for George’s Dinosaur ride, but it has always been a firm favourite as they bob along looking at all the characters. We then headed inside for some soft play fun when we heard them announce that the Paw Patrol queue was just half an hour long……..this was our chance.

If you know Paultons Park, we found the end of the queue adjacent to the log flume, so I joined it and sent Daddy off with the kids to enjoy some of the rides close by.

Paultons Park PPW

Sending the kids off with Daddy was a genius idea as the number of children bored in the queue was huge. Our half an hour predicted queue time was actually 75 minutes and mine were bored the instant they came back to wait with me and I am just glad that we hadn’t waited the 2+ hours that people had in the morning. In hindsight, I think they should have offered time slots like they do for their Winter Wonderland.

Paw Patrol

We got to pose for a few pictures and the staff offered to take some with our camera as well as having official ones taken which was a nice touch. You could buy an official photo before exiting through a marquee shop which was full to the brim with every Paw Patrol product you can think of.

Paultons Park

We had hoped to catch the new Summer Beach Party Show, but sadly due to the queue time we missed it. Running throughout the summer, you get to experience plenty of singing, dancing and exciting games with the brand new characters: Bruce the Lifeguard, Shelly the Turtle and Manta the Ray who appear alongside the entertainments crew and their brand new beach buggy, although we did get to meet them briefly when we headed home.

Summer Beach Party

We thoroughly enjoyed our day at Paultons Park despite the length of time we spent queuing to meet the Paw Patrol characters and loved their new gardens with all the topiary hedges and characters to admire. Of course we had to take our annual statue photo too!

Paw Patrol at Paultons Park

Tickets cost from £27.25 per person and children under 1m are free. With toddler friendly facilities all over the park, in my opinion, is the most family friendly park in the UK.

Have you been to Paultons Park before?

 

 

 

Omaha beach

Days Out in Review – January to June 2016

For some 2016 has been shocking and they have been very vocal about it and how they are looking forward to 2017.

For us however, 2016 has been one of our best years yet, full of fun and adventures and here are some of our favourites.

January 2016

We love to get out and about and bad weather never stops us from having fun. In January we journeyed to Hampshire where we climbed the Spinakker Tower, explored the Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth and then headed to Rock Up in Whiteley for some climbing fun.

Staying a little closer to home we enjoyed playing in the sand dunes at Sandbanks beach, explored a new beach for us, Ringstead Bay near Weymouth and took part in the Stickman Trail at Moors Valley.

I also attended my first ever Toy Fair at Olympia, London where I was introduced to some of the fantastic toys that arrived into the shops in late 2016.

Spinnaker Tower

February 2016

For her birthday in January, Eliza got her first bike so we headed out to Potterne Park to get some riding practice and headed out to Farmer Palmers for some animal fun.

The highlight of the month had to be our holiday to France where we stayed at Eco Gites of Lenault and visited all the historic D-Day beaches, Pegasus Bridge and Le Mont St Michel, saw the Bayeux Tapestry and even had some snow.

We also had an unexpected stop in Jersey after a rather traumatic ferry crossing and a disappointing stay in Guernsey where we learned that EVERYTHING closes in winter.

Snowman

March 2016

March was a busy month for us with a visit to Thomas Land at Drayton Manor, a fabulous preview day at Thorpe Park where we barely queued for any rides and still on the adrenalin theme we tried out some new flumes at Splashdown Poole and released our inner apes, swinging through the trees at Go Ape, Moors Valley.

We did do some calmer activities as well, with strolls around Christchurch Harbour, Whitecliff Park and Lulworth Castle.

Lulworth Castle

April 2016

April saw us heading back to Farmer Palmers to feed the deer, get down and dirty with some Owl Forensic investigations at Avon Heath Country Park

We headed to Lighthouse Poole to watch Gruffalo’s Child Live and Genting Arena in Birmingham for some WWE action.

Owl Forensics

May 2016

May is one of my favourite months in Dorset as there is a plethora of activities for families to enjoy. This year was no different and we visited the Dorset Knob Throwing Festival, Lyme Regis Fossil Festival and Donkey Derby in Kinson. We also headed across to Weymouth to see its new exhibit in the Sea Life Centre and enjoy a spin on the Jurassic Tower.

We are frequent visitors to Paultons Park and could not wait to go to the opening of its new Lost Kingdom section of the park.

Lost Kingdom

June 2016

It was back to the Sea Life Centre in June for a very special occasion – we got to have a personal tour of the centre, meet some of its famous residents and feed the Seals.

June is a big birthday month for us and we had a great time at Hollywood Bowl to celebrate but the highlight of the month had to be meeting Ashley Banjo and learning to dance with the Diversity crew on a Diversity break at Butlins.

Diversity

It was also the month that Kian finished his GCSE exams so we celebrated with a rather damp Forest Segway experience with Go Ape.

Segway

So that is the first half of the year, second half coming soon………..

Moors Valley Railyway 30th Birthday Gala

Last weekend we were invited to the 30th Birthday Gala for Moors Valley Railway.

It wasn’t until the event that I discovered that its origins went back to 1980 when Jim Haylock set up a miniature railway at Tucktonia Miniature Theme Park in Christchurch – somewhere I have very fond memories of visiting as a child.

The miniature railway then moved to the Old Kings Dairy Farm at Moors Valley five years later and opened to the public on 26th July 1986.

Moors Valley Country Park is somewhere we have visited regularly since my eldest children were small as there is so much to do for all ages and it remains a firm favourite with all the family.

Sebastian is train mad, so every visit we have to take a trip on the railway which is a recreation in miniature of a traditional British Railway complete with stations, locomotives, rolling stock, bridges, tunnel, signal boxes, carriage sheds and engineering workshops – in fact the Moors Valley Railway is the south’s longest, fully signalled narrow gauge 71/4 steam railway with the main ride being a mile long.

moors-valley-railway

For the Gala celebrations not only did we get taken on a very special loop of the Moors Valley Railway, but we got to look behind the scenes too.

moors-valley-railway

In its 30th Moors Valley Railway has carried over 3 million passengers, over 100,000 each year. A typical train consists of a barrier wagon, 11 coaches and a guards van and can carry around 65 passengers.

The workshop was fascinating as it is a true main line in miniature and has seen the construction of over 20 steam and two diesel locomotives, many of which were out on display.

moors-valley-railway

Of course the day wasn’t all about the trains as the kids were keen to explore the other things the park has to offer.

Moors Valley is somewhere I always recommend to visitors to Hampshire and Dorset as there is just so much to do with over 1000 acres to explore. There is forest trails (nature, play and story), kids parks, cycle tracks, an 18 hole golf course, fishing, the railway and picnic areas plus Go Ape, the award-winning tree-top adventure course with Tarzan swings, zip wires and Segways to try your hand at.

moors-valley

The Rangers also arrange over 300 special events throughout the year, ranging from nature walks, fishing lessons and off-road cycling to miniature railway events, art and photographic exhibitions and golf coaching. For children at the moment there is the Young Ranger challenge which involves 40 exciting challenges to complete and Joanne from CharlieMoos and her family have been busily ticking them off.

After burning some energy off in the park, we, and the CharlieMoos crew tried our hand at some Go Ape fun. Keep your eyes peeled for a post coming soon ………….

go-ape-moors-valley

Special events at Moors Valley coming up soon are:

6th November 2016 – Tank Engine Day

10th/11th and 17th/18th December – Santa Specials

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall