Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2023 Discussion

[Enter Valhalla]

Park entrance/ wristbands isn’t included in the cost of a stay at Big Blue though is it? It never was on any of the times I stayed at BB anyway.

 

[Matt N]

Park entrance/ wristbands isn’t included in the cost of a stay at Big Blue though is it? It never was on any of the times I stayed at BB anyway.

Not in the basic rate, but according to the website, you can get a more expensive rate that includes park admission. For 1 night, though, it was around £120 when 1 day BPB admission was thrown in, so on a per day basis, it would work out cheaper for me to buy my wristband(s) separately.

 

[Craig]

Could the drop in hotel prices be why the park has raised entry prices so much? So the rise in park entry is offset by a decline in hotel prices?

That could be a lucrative business model in a place like Blackpool, to be fair; I can imagine there’s a lot of demand for accommodation from Blackpool holidaymakers who might not necessarily want a theme park visit.

I’d probably say completely separate really. The quality of accommodation in Blackpool has been (slowly) improving over the years with places like Hampton by Hilton opening nearby along with the Travelodge and Premier Inn too. Whilst they’re lower quality in many people’s eyes, they’re still competition as people trust the brands and know what they’re getting. Big Blue by comparison is an older hotel. They’re likely dropping the price as they’d sooner see a hotel with higher occupancy over charging a fortune and only having it 20-30% full on weekdays.

I get the feeling they make most of their money from business related stays these days, that’s where the money is.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

Apologies if this has already been discussed (this thread is always so busy that I find it hard to keep up with it), but has anyone noticed that in September, the park is closed in the daytime on Fridays, but open 4pm-9pm?

Whilst I think that opening in the evenings on Fridays as opposed to the daytime is probably a better move commercially, they’re charging the same price as they charge on an 11-5 or many of the 10-5 days, which I think isn’t great since it’s at least an hour shorter, but for the same price.

 

[Craig]

Apologies if this has already been discussed (this thread is always so busy that I find it hard to keep up with it), but has anyone noticed that in September, the park is closed in the daytime on Fridays, but open 4pm-9pm?

Whilst I think that opening in the evenings on Fridays as opposed to the daytime is probably a better move commercially, they’re charging the same price as they charge on an 11-5 or many of the 10-5 days, which I think isn’t great since it’s at least an hour shorter, but for the same price.

They’re banking on illuminations traffic basically, and with the shorter hours charging a premium for it too. They’d be far better with a cheaper model or free entry/sensible pay per ride option in my view for such short opening hours.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

Blackpool always been cheap. It was £50 with breakfast a night per room 20+ years ago when I started going on lads weekends away. Like when the WoW Feb/March weekends were on I could have a weekend away in Blackpool sharing with a m8 with £15-£20 entry tickets with 2 days parking and a share of the petrol cost for roughly £100.

 

[Rick]

I was booking all my work travel for the summer yesterday and was amazed how cheap hotels were for July/August.

Is demand a lot softer than would be anticipated, perhaps ? I am very much in the camp of not even considering a UK break this year, I want out of this country for a little while after the past two years !

If resources are tight, you wonder if people might do one foreign blowout and reign back in on the domestic stuff. Not least because, as was pointed out earlier in this thread (I think), a week's holiday in the UK isn't much cheaper than a week in Spain, if at all.

 

[Matt N]

Are you talking about hotels in general @Rick? Or are you looking at a particular market (e.g. UK hotels, abroad hotels)?

 

[Rick]

Are you talking about hotels in general @Rick? Or are you looking at a particular market (e.g. UK hotels, abroad hotels)?

Hotels generally, I booked for 5 different cities (inc. London & Edinburgh) and it all seemed pretty reasonable with the premium brands / locations within our corporate budget which you typically wouldn't see in peak tourist season.

 

[John]

Valhalla has been testing again today, some eagle-eyed visitors have been filming the front of the ride which clearly shows the first turntable has been changed. The boat now rotates in the opposite direction and leaves facing forwards:

 

[JAperson]

Oh well, there's no need to worry, it's only a week till the hot ice show opens!! I am sure that will rake in millions !!

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

Out of interest how busy do Hot Ice shows actually get? Do they actually run in much of a profit for pleasure beach?

 

[rob666]

Not very, they touted cheap tickets to the opening night to make it look full the last time I went.
Rumoured to be a net loss, but Mandy's favourite toy, so it stays.
Worth seeing, often a free ticket or a fiver with a park ticket.

 

[shakey]

Valhalla has been testing again today, some eagle-eyed visitors have been filming the front of the ride which clearly shows the first turntable has been changed. The boat now rotates in the opposite direction and leaves facing forwards:

That would suggest they have done away with the second turntable as there would be no need for it if you are already going forwards.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[Rick]

I wonder if they could have moved the second turntable to where the first was. The first was always the problematic one. I imagine the second one was more "adaptable".

So strange that Intamin used two completely different mechanisms to do the same thing 30ft from each other.

 

[Skyscraper]

I wonder if they could have moved the second turntable to where the first was. The first was always the problematic one. I imagine the second one was more "adaptable".

So strange that Intamin used two completely different mechanisms to do the same thing 30ft from each other.

Doesn't Chiapas at Phantasialand have two different mechanisms to switch the boats? One is a turn table and one is a sliding transfer track if I remember correctly.

 

[djtruefitt]

yeah but at the bottom of the backwards drop on Chiapas you just go sidewards and then forward. Valhalla is a different layout.

 

[DistortAMG]

I would not say they were two different mechanisms, just two turntables with a different level of turn on each one, to suit the layout.

The second turntable was almost a 180 degree turn. So it sort of makes sense they have set it up like this, as they can basically remove that one now, without affecting the direction of travel for the boats. There should be a gentle right hand turn where the second turntable was, if that is what they have done and removed the backwards drop. They could also, just remove parts of the turntable but leave it where it is, switched off.

Here is a crude but pretty accurate picture of the layout. (Excuse the image corruption). You can just about see both turntables to see what I mean.

 

[rob666]

Never trust any image from the Daily Star!!!

 

[DistortAMG]

I would agree, but it does match up with the real thing. While it was posted in the Daily Fail, the picture was drawn up from the plans, by Farmer Studios I beleive.

 

[Rick]

I would not say they were two different mechanisms, just two turntables with a different level of turn on each one, to suit the layout.

They are two different mechanisms, T1 is submerged in the trough and is primarily pneumatic. The boats are brought in using the kickers in the previous block and the arms on the side of the turntable position it and provide the motion, so to speak.

T2 is above the level of the trough and is essentially "dry". As I understand, the movement is electrically powered and the only pneumatic feature is the ram to send the boat into the tunnel before the ice room. This is done from behind the boat, rather than alongside like on T1.