Sussex columnist: Family fun at its finest at Paultons Park in Hampshire featuring Peppa Pig World

The joyful atmosphere, the constant excitement, the copious treats on sale – it’s a vibe I just can’t get enough of.

So, I think it was a fairly safe bet that driving my family across to Hampshire to experience the delights of Paultons Park was going to be a winning day out.

My husband and I met when we worked at Walt Disney World for a year, so we definitely have high standards when it comes to judging a theme park.

Thankfully, Paultons Park didn’t disappoint and delivered an absolute belter of an experience. The rides are varied and provide something for all ages, and the staff were, without exception, really happy and friendly.

Yes, it rained on and off through the morning we were there, but nothing could put a dampener on our day. The park opened at 10am, and I wanted to be there for opening. I was so scared of being late, I actually got us there for 9.30am, which turned out to be a real result. They let us into the park, and we were able to wait right at the entrance to the Lost Kingdom area, meaning we were on the first ride of Flight of the Pterosaur of the day. In hindsight, taking our little boy who is four on this as his first ride of the day, let alone his first big ride ever (having only done much more tame little person rides in the past) was perhaps a bit of a ‘throw him in at the deep end’ introduction to rollercoasters.

But, despite his little face looking mildly terrified on the first drop, he was an absolute trooper, and such was the magic of this ride, he still wanted to ride it again at the end of the day despite admitting he was scared.

The Lost Kingdom is a dinosaur-lovers paradise, and Velociraptor, a coaster which pulls you up a hill then launches you round a track, only to send you shooting backwards again, is a real laugh. The kids loved the smaller rides, too, such as Boulder Dash, The Dinosaur Tour Co, Temple Heights and mini coaster Dino Chase.

Yes, it was the summer holidays, and yes, the park was definitely busy, but it still felt manageable. We managed to ride quite a few rides first thing when there wasn’t too much of a wait, and later on, lots of the other attractions averaged a 20-minute ish wait.

As we expected, the famous Peppa Pig World area rides attracted the longest waits, but even then, they tended not to exceed 30 minutes at most of the times I checked.

Although the world-famous TV show tends to mainly delight toddlers, children of any age, and adults, too, would surely find it hard not to be impressed by the wholly immersive world that’s been created.

This is a shrine to Peppa and her friends, and it’s absolutely joyous. The rides are full of fun and whimsy, with that classic fairground feel. There’s little boats, a train, a monorail, hot air balloons, helicopters and a ride called Windy Castle that spun me around so much I thought I might see the ice cream I’d devoured just an hour earlier for a second time… It was still fun, though!

There’s also a zone called Critter County, and a brand new wholly immersive Americana-themed land called Tornado Springs. Here is where you’ll find the Cyclonator, which to me looked like a device of torture, but to others looked like a super fun swinging and spinning arm, that was surely designed to blend up any food you’ve consumed for you. I didn’t risk trying it, but we did ride junior coaster the Farmyard Flyer, bouncy drop tower Windmill Towers, took a spin on the cars at Al’s Auto Academy, and took a Trekking Tractors trip. I loved this area and could have stayed there all day, but there were also so many rides between the themed lands to try – chair swings, a pirate ship, a Victorian carousel, chair swings and other offerings looped, spun and swung us around, causing multiple shrieks of joy.

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We did so much during the day, but it was practically impossible to do everything. And it wasn’t just some of the rides we missed – there were splash pads, playgrounds, shows and animals we didn’t have time for. Yes, it was sad we didn’t do everything, but it also makes me feel like it’s good value. Plus, it just make me want to go back! When we left at park closing time, we all declared it was ‘the best day ever’. We hope we’ll be back very soon!

To book, or for more information, visit the Paultons Park website.