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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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I'm glad to see museums opening up! I'm not convinced wearing a mask while riding a roller coaster will be comfortable.
 
Do we know yet what the numbers of pre bookings are being capped at? I’m not sure whether to go on (re)opening weekend or to give it a few days and see what feedback comes on wait times, number of empty rows on coasters, etc
 
BPB's Season Pass holder info:

"In April, we announced two options for season pass holders. The options were, to defer your season pass until 2021, or to keep your season pass for the 2020 season and receive a discount off a 2021 season pass, equal to the percentage of days missed in the 2020 season. Once we have a government confirmed reopening date, season pass purchasers will be able to login to "My Account" at bookings.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com where you will be able to select which of the two options above you wish to choose.

Should you choose to keep your 2020 season pass for the remainder of the year, you will be able to visit us as soon as we reopen. Season pass holders will need to pre book your visit to Blackpool Pleasure Beach so we can account for you within our capacity limits. Season pass holders will be given access to a special booking portal where you will enter your season pass number (from your card). Once validated, you will be able to confirm your attendance for any day within the next 7 days. Once government guidance is updated to confirm a July 4th reopening, access to the booking portal will be given via email and on this page.

We understand that some people have not registered their season pass for the 2020 season. You will need to have registered in order to book via the new portal. However, you will be able to come to Ticket Sales on a day we are open and register your season pass, and should we not be exceeding our park capacity, you will be allowed on park for that day. All future visits will then need to be booked via the portal using your season pass number"

Lucky for those of us who have our season pass cards already. If you don't, its pot luck when you turn up for it if they'll let you in.
 
Oh dear.
Dont know any details, but an old mate with very good connections on the park says the new rules, under current distance rules, are going to be really bad.
Lets hope the rules ease to 1 metre on 4th july.
 
rob666 said:
Oh dear.
Dont know any details, but an old mate with very good connections on the park says the new rules, under current distance rules, are going to be really bad.
Lets hope the rules ease to 1 metre on 4th july.
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I can envisage some long queues and all sorts of issues arising, especially in the first few days of re-opening.

I shall be staying away until I can assess how it's going

On another note......

With (presumably) no need to scan anything in on any of the rides I reckon the wristband system could be finished for good. I can see the park sticking with a POP system from now on.

Could be wrong but the park have been making the walk round charge and ride ticket option steadily worse value in recent years and I think this will finally see them get rid of the ride ticket system for good.
 
shakey said:
I can envisage some long queues and all sorts of issues arising, especially in the first few days of re-opening.

I shall be staying away until I can assess how it's going

On another note......

With (presumably) no need to scan anything in on any of the rides I reckon the wristband system could be finished for good. I can see the park sticking with a POP system from now on.

Could be wrong but the park have been making the walk round charge and ride ticket option steadily worse value in recent years and I think this will finally see them get rid of the ride ticket system for good.
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I thought the walk around price is quite high but atleast they added river caves to it. But we can moan about the entry fee but i think we can all admit it’s still a good idea compared to other parks. I have no idea of/when they will get rid of it I guess it depends on how it’s going. But I can understand why it’s scrapped for reopening.

In other news the Blackpool illuminations have announced they are extending till January. I doubt the park will Open much expect possible the odd weekend.
 
I'd be happy to see the back of tokens and wristbands. It could work were the entrance fee abolished/refunded, but as it stands with a minimum £10 token purchase it's not economical. The scanners often didn't work for me which wasted staff members' time and the wristbands themselves are wasteful and slow down park entry.
 
The more I consider it the more I think Blackpool could be in real trouble as a result of the virus.

They're scrambling to reopen at the start of July, but what visitors are they going to get? Season ticket holders, of which there very few. I can't see anybody else going there right now.

Even a good % of the park's season pass holders will be avoiding the park, at least in the short term... those that do turn up will only be bringing in revenue through food / drink / merch sales. If they're unable to serve alcohol (unsure) then that is a huge chunk of the money that comes in from season pass holders down the drain (as I'm sure @rob666 and company will confirm).

The park benefits disprorportionately, compared with other theme park attractions, from people spending a weekend (or longer) in Blackpool... with hotels closed that is not currently possible. There is no date for this to start again.

Trains are incredibly faffy right now, so it seems unlikely to me that many customers at all will be arriving via public transport.

How many people actually go to Pleasure Beach for a day trip? I'd bet not many. Not many at all.


And on the off chance that the park actually does get any number of customers... well, their already dire throughputs are suddenly going to be 5x worse. Sounds hellish to me.

I think this all adds up to a lot of cause for concern, whereas I feel Merlin's parks will quickly adapt to the 'new normal' upon reopening, owing to the fact that they are natural day trips and the high number of season pass holders keeping visitor levels reasonable... this is not the case for Blackpool.

I hate to be negative though; would love to be proved wrong!
 
If the crowds on the beach when the sun was about are anything to go by they’ll be just fine Valhalla isn’t draining the daily running costs less character shows I believe and I assume the restaurants will be shut making the more profitable take away more popular


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
D4n said:
The more I consider it the more I think Blackpool could be in real trouble as a result of the virus.

They're scrambling to reopen at the start of July, but what visitors are they going to get? Season ticket holders, of which there very few. I can't see anybody else going there right now.

Even a good % of the park's season pass holders will be avoiding the park, at least in the short term... those that do turn up will only be bringing in revenue through food / drink / merch sales. If they're unable to serve alcohol (unsure) then that is a huge chunk of the money that comes in from season pass holders down the drain (as I'm sure @rob666 and company will confirm).

The park benefits disprorportionately, compared with other theme park attractions, from people spending a weekend (or longer) in Blackpool... with hotels closed that is not currently possible. There is no date for this to start again.

Trains are incredibly faffy right now, so it seems unlikely to me that many customers at all will be arriving via public transport.

How many people actually go to Pleasure Beach for a day trip? I'd bet not many. Not many at all.


And on the off chance that the park actually does get any number of customers... well, their already dire throughput are suddenly going to be 5x worse. Sounds hellish to me.

I think this all adds up to a lot of cause for concern, whereas I feel Merlin's parks will quickly adapt to the 'new normal' upon reopening, owing to the fact that they are natural day trips and the high number of season pass holders keeping visitor levels reasonable... this is not the case for Blackpool.

I hate to be negative though; would love to be proved wrong!
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I kind of agree with what you're saying re the faff at the park, faff with public transport. But I don't see how Blackpool is different to Merlin in this case. I've been three times now and all of those were day trips, one of which with family. Why would season pass holders at Towers be more loyal than at Blackpool? I also think if the quarantine measures stay in place, seaside resorts like Blackpool could see many new visitors as people take a domestic holiday rather than fly overseas. I read recently that around 94% of Blackpool's visitors are domestic so they have little to use from a drop in foreign tourists. Regarding throughputs when I visited last on a weekday in June most rides were walk-on anyway (and the Big One was closed). Coronavirus measures will slow down throughputs but this will apply to all theme parks.
 
@speedy I wasn't trying to suggest that one set of pass holders are more loyal than another, it's more that Alton / Merlin have *loads* of pass holders. As far as I'm aware Blackpool has barely more than a couple of hundred.
 
D4n said:
@speedy I wasn't trying to suggest that one set of pass holders are more loyal than another, it's more that Alton / Merlin have *loads* of pass holders. As far as I'm aware Blackpool has barely more than a couple of hundred.
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Ah okay, yeah I have no idea how many passholders there are. If Blackpool really has so few passholders though then that surprises me considering the amount of people on Blackpool's doorstep and within easy reach either by car or public transport.
 
speedy said:
Ah okay, yeah I have no idea how many passholders there are. If Blackpool really has so few passholders though then that surprises me considering the amount of people on Blackpool's doorstep and within easy reach either by car or public transport.
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I think Merlin/Tussauds were just better at selling the pass. Given a Merlin pass gives access to lots of different attractions it seems much better value than Blackpool where its just one park (even back in the Tussauds days it was still 5-6 attractions on a Tussauds annual pass). Also new Alton are doing the season pass that is the same price as two visits it makes Blackpool look even worse value where you need four visits to make a season pass cheaper than one day wristbands.

Alton Towers has been the UKs premier theme park for 25 years whereas Blackpool Pleasure Beach is still really a seaside amusement park and they've never really been able to market as anything better unfortunately.
 
Merlin have been hit worst then Blackpool but Blackpool don’t have the financial backing like merlin so it will affect them more. I have absolutely no doubt that the park will have enough visitors after a few weeks. Hotels are able to reopen by end of July I think so obviously that will make a difference. They are doing the same as most companies and trying to entice customers back after so long away.
 
I know it’s going to be a controversial opinion, but I really think that a good thing for Blackpool to do in order to ensure its longevity would be to scrap wristbands & the entry fee and just go for a full pay-one-price system like the country’s other major parks do.

I know that they might lose that small percentage of walk-up trade, but they could attract a completely new type of customer with a fully pay-one-price model like Merlin has. It would make the park seem like more of a destination in itself as opposed to being lumped in alongside the town, and I think that it might make more people feel compelled to go there. The recent additions and the park’s whole brand as of late definitely lend themselves to a more major, pay-one-price park in terms of feel, but I feel like having the remnants of wristbands and pay-per-ride does still hold them back in that seaside amusement park territory.

I know that being a seaside amusement park is a huge part of Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s identity and has been ever since it opened (the seaside arguably made the park what it is today!), but I think times have changed, and as sad as I am to say it, I think “seaside amusement park” as an attraction type is one that British people have begun to frown upon far more in recent years. I think I heard someone else say further back in the topic once that Blackpool’s location & roots as a seaside amusement park are the main things holding it back, and I would probably agree, personally.
 
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