Gerstlauer and ART Engineering Deliver Landmark Rides as Paultons Park Opens Viking Land This May
Valgard: Realm of the Vikings, the park’s £12 million Viking-themed land, opens on 16 May 2026. It features Drakon, a custom Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter roller coaster boasting a vertical lift hill. With a beyond-vertical drop, and two inversions, alongside the Vild Swing from ART Engineering, which swings riders 12 metres into the air.
The Vild Swing is a notable procurement milestone in itself. Paultons Park is the first theme park in the UK to install this ride type from ART Engineering.
Leisure Expert Group, a leading experience design company, has been responsible for designing and masterplanning the new Viking land, and the finished environment. Complete with a Nordic feasting hall restaurant and Viking-inspired playground it reflects the growing importance of immersive theming in driving footfall for independent parks.
Valgard joins Paultons Park’s growing portfolio of over 80 rides and attractions across six themed worlds, and the park has already teased that a water ride from an as-yet-unnamed supplier will follow in 2027 as a second phase of the land’s development, signalling continued procurement activity for water ride manufacturers and theming specialists over the next 12 months.
For suppliers looking to understand what best-in-class independent park investment looks like, Valgard is a project worth watching closely.
