Paultons Park, Half Term, February 2026

Over the years we’ve always been able to have a theme park trip planned for our eldest’s birthday as it is in September, be it Legoland or Alton Towers, we’ve always had somewhere to go. Our youngest though has always been a bit fed up that the parks are closed and the weather is bad around his birthday in February, but we noticed that Paultons Park was due to re-open after the winter break and they had half-term break offers on, so we planned a trip to Southampton.

Paultons Park isn’t somewhere we’ve been able to visit much as its a 4 hour drive away, so there has to be a plan for us to spend at least one night nearby and do something else to make the trip worth it. For this trip, that something was 2 full days at Paultons. We’ve only been once before, back in 2024 and we loved it, but there was plenty on that trip we didn’t do. 2 days should give us time to see everything, and hopefully the weather will be OK! Well, it wasn’t!

We booked the half term offer on the Paultons Website that gave us 2 days in the park with one night in a partner hotel nearby. The package cost £310 in total for 2 adults and 2 kids. We chose the Novotel Southampton which was about 15-20 mins away from the park. There were cheaper and more expensive hotel options available, but the Novotel was a good price and closer. It also worked out a lot cheaper booking the package than just buying 2 park days and staying at a cheaper Premier Inn nearby.

The hotel was nice enough. Bar and restaurant area were fancy but the room was pretty basic. One double bed and a pull-out sofa bed, which wasn’t very comfortable. No air-con either and the room was hot, even on a chilly February night. 3am, we had to open the window to let some air in, but we were right next to a shipping container yard and the noise was LOUD! Windows must have been fairly good though as we didn’t hear anything with them closed. The hotel included breakfast, which was buffet style and was nice. They even had a pancake machine. Very fancy! Parking cost £12 for an overnight stay.

If you’ve never been to Paultons Park before, it’s well worth the trip. It’s such a well looked after place. Even on a gloomy February day it still looked clean and tidy. All the rides looked fresh after their winter maintenance, the gardens were neat as a pin, new fences in place, signs replaced and they’d even re-painted the Paultons Park sign outside the entrance. Its full of family rides and more thrilling options, animals, shows, character meets and great food choices, wrapped up in a beautifully presented and amazingly themed shell. And its only getting better!

But with a premium park, you’re paying premium prices! A standard day ticket will set you back around £44, children at £33. Unlike the Merlin parks where you’ll get the Cadbury deals or cheap tickets in the paper, you don’t get this at Paultons. It is dear, but you’re paying for quality. Oh, and parking is free (£13 in advance this year at Alton Towers!)

The highlight for us was Ghostly Manor, last years new ride. We hadn’t been since it opened and we were looking forward to trying it out. It.s an indoor shooter dark ride themed to a ghost hunt. It’s Ghostbusters in all but name. You enter the famous ghost hunter Dr Benjamin Kinley’s mansion, where his ghosts have escaped and it’s your job to blast them all using his invention, the Phantom Phaser.

It’s a really unique ride experience. Not your usual tracked shooter with targets on the wall, this one is different. It’s a Revolving Theatre ride by Mack Rides and Lagotronics Projects. You sit in a row of 4 and the wall and seats rotate you into new scenes. Each room is a mix of practical sets and screens, overlayed with lights, effects and interactive elements for you to blast to get points.

The ride experience is fun, though the cycle felt a little short and needed some background noise in some areas, but its very re-rideable. We must have done 10 laps over the 2 days, constantly trying to beat our scores and find out what other people were shooting to get the big points! Over 2 days, our family top score was 110,000 (mine was 93,000) but the overall high score was 300,000. They definitely know some secrets… I’ll google it for next time!

The queue also looks great. Outside, you pass the creepy fountain and enter via the manor gates into a queue that loops around the garden, where there’s a spooky moving swing, some oddly balanced chairs, a voice from the well, and some portrait screens with the ghostly janitor doing some odd things. He’s even on the toilet at one point! Through the columns and in to the mansion facade, to be greeted by a statue of Dr Kinley.

The small interior section has some screens of the Doctor explaining the ride and story, and some containers of ghosts going about their business. The last section is the Dr Kinley’s office, with a TV showing yourselves in the queue, before hitting the ride station. It’s all a great looking and well presented set-up.

Yes, we were a few months early for Valgard to be open, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t pop our heads over the wall for a cheeky first look! The newest area of the park, Valgard is set to open in May 2026. The new Viking themed area looks amazing. I’d expect nothing less from Paultons Park. Featuring the new Gerstlauer Custom Eurofighter coaster Drakon, which really looks great as a backdrop for the park. The bright red track stands out from the car park and is a real spectacle from wherever you see it from. It’ll be the parks first inversion on a coaster too.

Intertwined with Drakon will be the Raven: the artist formerly known as Cobra, the re-themed Gerstlauer Bobsled coaster and new ride Vild Swing, a UK first Art Engineering Wild Swing ride (a bit like Toxicator at Towers, but not as big and menacing, and a lot more family friendly).

From what we could see, the area will be fantastic. The new restaurant building looks massive and everything is heavily detailed. From our view at the edge of Lost Kingdom, we could see one of the Viking statues too, which look like a great welcome to the area. Check out the Paultons Park YouTube channel for their updates on the area. I can’t wait to get back to see Valgard open!

One of the best themed areas in the UK. Pretty sure I said that in my 2024 post on Paultons too. It still is. They’ve refreshed some of the fences and signs, so it still looks brand new. Full of great rides including one of our favourite family coasters, Storm Chaser. And when a coaster of that quality is consistently a walk on you cant help but take advantage. Must’ve had 8 laps and enjoyed every one of them.

We even tried the Trekking Tractors ride this time which looks amazing in summer with all the fruit and vegetables growing. One bit of fun we had was counting all the plastic chickens around the ride areas. We were in the 30s I’m sure.

Spent a good portion of our second day in Lost Kingdom. The Dino themed area has had a new soundtrack for 2026 and a new animatronic. A massive T-Rex now moves and rages at the edge of the area where it’ll welcome guests in from Valgard.

We did a few laps on Elliott’s favourite inverted coaster ‘Flight of the Pterosaur’ and the Vekoma Boomerang ‘Velociraptor’, quick 3-lap special on Dino Chase, got sprayed in the face by the Dilophosaurus on The Dinosaur Tour Co, met a baby Triceratops and had a picture taken with the Stygimoloch/Pachycephalosaur in the Dino Meet and Greet.

It was a lot quieter than our last visit, so we had a good look around Peppa Pig World this time, and we had to go and check the updates. George Pig is up to date with his hearing aid and the new baby Evie was also in attendance.

We did try some more of the rides this time too with laps on Grampy Rabbits Sailing Club, Georges Dinosaur Adventure and the Queens Flying Coach Ride. All the rides are colourful and clean, the water on Grampy Rabbits was crystal clear. It’s a great area for smaller kids. Ours are a bit too old for it now, but it was a bit of fun to explore.

Paultons Park also has a selection of small animals. No lions and tigers, but meerkats and mongooses(mongeese?) in the Wild Lands area, flamingos, pelicans, lemurs, tortoises and more. We didn’t get to see much of this last time, so It was nice to take the time to explore.

As with our last trip, we were so impressed with Grand Central cafe, we ate there again. We’d brought some food and supplies to save money but the kids love a mac and cheese and theirs is lovely. They do have some great options around the park too, so worth checking out if you’re planning on eating at the parks. The curry smell from one of the restaurants was lovely, so we might have to put that on the list for next time we’re there. Prices are decent too, and you don’t mind paying theme park prices if the quality is good. (£10+ for a naff hot dog at Alton Towers???)

Something we had no idea existed last time was the old water wheel. At the back of the park there’s a path that takes you to an old water mill that was used on the lands. You can see inside the building at the old mechanics and details. There is some info about the wheel you can listen too. Around the back of the shed is a working water wheel too.

Well day one ended in a biblical downpour which we fought our way though with rides on Ghostly Manor. Even with the weather we never waited more than 15 minutes for it. We had rides on Cat-O-Pillar, Cyclonator, Windmill Towers, Farmyard Flyer and the Rio Grande Train. A fairly busy couple of days.

We had a brilliant 2 days at Paultons Park, and hopefully we’ll be back soon for Valgard. Maybe this year, who knows. Its a bit far for a day trip, so we’ll see. On this trip we did pretty much everything multiple times, saw lots, enjoyed lots. It is a really great park and ranks highly with us. Even though a few of us love the big thrill rides other parks have to offer, Paultons never feels like it comes up short in fun and can compete with the big boys. Valgard will certainly boost the enjoyment with a new thrill coaster in Drakon.

For more info on Paultons Park, visit their official website!