Farmyard Flyer, a new junior rollercoaster, is now open at Paultons Park, completing the theme park’s Tornado Springs area, which it opened last year.
Situated at the back of the area, beyond Cyclonator, the entrance to Farmyard Flyer is located on the pathway which runs in between the aforementioned Zamperla Discovery pendulum ride and the Rio Grande Railway / Trekking Tractors. Guests enter beneath an impressive entrance sign produced by Aden Hynes Sculpture Studios, which sees a 3D version of the ride’s logo suspended on planks of ‘wood’, which are themselves supported by the back-end of an aeroplane’s fuselage. The queue line is fully covered and from one side provides views of Cyclonator and from the other a preview of Farmyard Flyer’s layout. Throughout there is a variety of aeronautical details and signage.
Guests then ascend a staircase to platform level, with the ride’s station themed to a crooked barn aircraft hangar. A lift is available via the exit, making the ride accessible to wheelchair users. Like the queue, the interior of the station also features many different props and signs, in addition to larger components of planes hung up on its walls. When off-ride, guests may also be able to spot Benji the dog, whose kennel, for some inexplicable reason, is located atop the hangar’s roof.
The rollercoaster itself is a Zierer Force custom model with eight rows, each of two seats across. The train is themed as a yellow bi-plane, with a propeller on the front which freely spins as it travels around the circuit. Upon dispatch from the station, the ride ascends a short tyre-driven lift hill and then travels down through a helix which swoops around the airfield control tower. After travelling over a gentle hill, an on-ride photo is taken, and guests travel past the station building, over the landing strip where a crop-dusting plane waits to take off. The coaster then makes a final turn to the right, travelling around a vintage combine harvester which is working the fields that run parallel to the landing strip, back into the station. The train will complete the circuit twice, to extend the ride experience. The ride has a 0.9m minimum height restriction, and any children aged under 7 years old must be accompanied by an adult sat in the seat next to them.
After disembarking, guests exit the station from the opposite side to which they boarded, with an area where guests can wait underneath the lift hill, which has clear views into the ride area. The photo kiosk is located in another, fully-themed building which guests pass through before exiting back into Tornado Springs, directly next to the ride entrance.
Check out our POV of the attraction on our YouTube channel, along with the other major attractions in Tornado Springs, Storm Chaser and Cyclonator.
The ride is a fantastically well-themed addition to the already impressive and expansive Tornado Springs area, and complements the other coasters in the park’s ride line-up well. Most obviously it provides some more measured thrills for guests who aren’t yet ready to tackle Storm Chaser, the area’s flagship Mack Rides family spinning coaster.
Have you paid a visit to Tornado Springs at Paultons Park yet? Do you have a trip planned this year to try out Farmyard Flyer? Let us know via the Attraction Source social media channels.
