We were kindly gifted press tickets for this visit in return of this honest review – all words and opinions are my own.
Last week we headed to Paultons Park for our long-awaited trip to Peppa Pig World! The girls have been so excited for this day, counting down the sleeps for weeks now, so as the day crept up on us, every morning I’d be greeted with ‘Is it Peppa Pig World day yet??’…. and finally last Friday it finally was! Sadly, the weather wasn’t kind to us and it rained all day, but we weren’t going to let the rain get in the way of our special day out.
Peppa Pig World is part of Paultons Park – which is located near Southampton, Hampshire. Paultons Park is a huge family theme park with rides, attractions and activities for all ages, although we were there predominately for Peppa Pig World, there is something for all ages at Paultons Park. As we are in Brighton it took us about 2 hours to get there in the morning, which wasn’t too bad as Pearl had a nap on the way. I kept hoping the rain would dry up but it was set in for the day. Luckily, we had packed for the weather including raincoats, puddle suits, wellies and a couple of changes of clothes, plus the raincover for the buggy so we were ready!
We first visited Peppa Pig World back in 2018 for the grand opening of the Queen’s Flying Coach ride when Violet was only 18 months old but I’m sure she probably doesn’t remember it as she was so little! This time I was so excited to take Violet back now she’s a bit older (4.5) and now Pearl is old enough to really appreciate it too (she’s nearly 3). I think they were the perfect age as they still love Peppa pig and were tall enough to go on all the rides!
As you enter Peppa Pig World, the first thing you’ll notice is the music! Peppa pig music is streamed across the park, which really adds to the atmosphere. It really is Peppa Pig world as there are bright colours, characters, little houses, statues and even ducks waddling around which fully give it the Peppa pig experience. The rides are all bright, colourful and all perfect for pre-school age children. Basically, it’s a Peppa Pig fan’s dream from the moment you arrive!
One top tip for visiting Paultons Park / Peppa Pig World is to download the app in advance – this lets you plan your trip, view the show times, get directions on the map, plan your queue times and also plan meet and greets with the characters. This was so handy, we used the app throughout our day.
We decided to kick our day off with a Meet & Greet with Peppa and George. There was a small queue but it moved quite quickly, the team were handing out cleaning wipes for your phone so you could clean it in preparation for the staff to handle. Despite Pearl being excited and dancing to the music in the queue, when it was our turn she had a confidence crisis and was terrified by the huge Peppa & George! We tried to get her to pose for a photo, but as you can see, she wasn’t feeling it, Violet was in her element though and showed Peppa her Peppa Pig hairclips, she was very impressed! 😂
Next up, we headed to the rides. I used the app to plan out which rides get the busiest and decided to go to those first to try and beat the queues. Our first stop was Georges Dinosaur Adventure, which Violet was so excited about as she was too small to go on this one last time! Pearl was JUST tall enough too, phew!
I would say this was the longest queue we joined, it took about 25 minutes which is quite a long time when you have excited children and it’s pouring with rain, but to see their excited faces as they got to board their dinosaurs was worth every second!
We then used the app to see which rides had short queues to get the girls on the most rides as possible. Maybe the rain helped but we got on most things after around 5-10 minutes wait time. We went on Grandpa Pigs Boat Trip, The Queens Flying Coach Ride and we spotted Mr Bull digging up the road (Pearl’s favourite – look at her little face!)
Of course, with all that rain there was a huge amount of jumping up and down in muddy puddles too! The girls loved that there were real ducks waddling around, they were so friendly too, even if they were after a bit of our lunch!
Next up, we went on Peppa Pigs Balloon Ride, which was a real favourite with the girls! I loved this one as I’ve got memories of taking Violet on it at 18 months old, and now she’s so much bigger!
Even though it was cold and rainy, the bright colours, music and rides kept our spirits high and when we started to run low of energy, a trip to Miss Rabbits Ice Cream Parlour was in order – we had the HUGEST waffles topped with cream and M&M’s and the girls wanted glazed donuts. The sugar rush definitely was needed after all that excitement!
We decided to head out to the rest of Paulton’s Park to explore some of the other areas. There is so much to see in do in the entire park but with pre-schoolers, it would be easy to get wrapped up in spending an entire day in Peppa Pig World too! We found that the queues for the children’s rides were so much shorter in the rest of the park, so if your little one is a bit tired of queuing a good tip is to head to the other parts of the park. In comparison to Peppa Pig World the other areas were really quiet.
At this point, even though we were already soaked from the continuous rain, it decided to absolute pour down. It was TORRENTIAL and we were drenched. The girls had their hearts set on finding the ‘Seal Falls’ ride, so dripping wet we walked for around 10 minutes from Peppa Pig World to find it.
It was worth the soggy walk as the girls absolutely LOVED it, even after the best day at Peppa Pig World, they said their ride on Seal Falls was the best thing they have ever been on, it was a success!
The girls also loved the Digger Ride, which was next to Seal Falls.
We stayed in this area for a short while, but after going on the Boulder Dash ride in another torrential flurry of rain and decided it was time to call it a day. Despite our best efforts with raincoats doubled up with puddle suits underneath the rain had finally got through it all and we were SOAKED THROUGH. Violet’s lips had turned blue and she was shivering, it was time to head to the car to warm up, ASAP.
We were all so disappointed that it was only 2:30pm and we had to call it a day and head home. The girls were too cold to have a nice time and it was such a shame that the rain just didn’t give us a break all day! I thought we would be there until closing time as there was still so much to see and do, but the girls weren’t enjoying it being soaked through and cold.
There were still so many other areas we wanted to explore, there is the Lost Kingdom, which is all dinosaur-themed (the girls would have loved this!) and the newer area called Tornado Springs. There are animals, large gardens plus lots of bigger rides and rollercoasters, aimed at older children and adults too if Peppa Pig World isn’t your thing. There is something at Paultons Park for everyone, just a shame we missed so much of it. However, I know this won’t be our last visit so there will be lots to explore next time!
Despite heavy rain all day, the girls really did have such a lovely day and a week later they are still asking if we are going back to Peppa Pig World again today! Hopefully soon, when the sun is shining!
To book tickets to Paultons Park and Peppa Pig World, head to the website here.
