Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2024 Discussion

[Benzin]

There's been rumours of a "Bigger One" being built for almost 2 decades now. Long before Hyperia was even on the drawing board.

 

[TroySmith1]

Yeah I’m not buying this rumour at all, Icon wasn’t exactly a success so why would they throw more money at another expensive rollercoaster? To be honest the park is failing in many other areas, it would just be very immature at this stage to try and play a game with Thorpe of who’s is bigger. If they did then honestly all they care about is status which they definitely don’t have, but not sure they will ever get the funds again for such a project

Just let Thorpe have the title they won’t beat Hyperia with their budgets it just be suicide. BBP focus on having unique, fun and classic attractions, they just need funding to be renovated and go down the route of Luna park style….own your a glorified fairground, market it as that and offer better ticket options. Oh and put a zip on Mandy mouth…job done


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[Shaggy_Dog_]

He hints that a new tall coaster may be planned for BPB, quoting "ridiculous new heights"... not sure where that came from.
I have little doubt BPB approached designers to see what could be done to retake the height record after the announcement of Hyperia. It's just if anything comes to fruition. After all, we have been here with plans before.

I think there’s more chance of Pleasure Beach getting a drop tower than a hypercoaster. I could actually see them installing a 250ft drop tower just so they could say of themselves something like “Pleasure Beach Resort, home of the UK’s tallest thrill ride”.

 

[benpicko]

Yeah I’m not buying this rumour at all, Icon wasn’t exactly a success so why would they throw more money at another expensive rollercoaster? To be honest the park is failing in many other areas, it would just be very immature at this stage to try and play a game with Thorpe of who’s is bigger. If they did then honestly all they care about is status which they definitely don’t have, but not sure they will ever get the funds again for such a project

Just let Thorpe have the title they won’t beat Hyperia with their budgets it just be suicide. BBP focus on having unique, fun and classic attractions, they just need funding to be renovated and go down the route of Luna park style….own your a glorified fairground, market it as that and offer better ticket options. Oh and put a zip on Mandy mouth…job done


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Because they're a theme park whose parent company is still making money and building new rides is how you promote growth -- Icon wasn't a success but you don't just stop one of the key parts of your business because the last attempt was a miss

 

[ringo]

I think there’s more chance of Pleasure Beach getting a drop tower than a hypercoaster. I could actually see them installing a 250ft drop tower just so they could say of themselves something like “Pleasure Beach Resort, home of the UK’s tallest thrill ride”.

Knowing Mandy a drop tower that’s built right next to the tallest part of big one so they could attach it to a support and then have the drop tower go another 30m higher but somehow still claim the big one is bigger

 

[shakey]

I think a tall drop tower would be more likely than a tall coaster, but the park hasn't had a brand new family attraction since 2011 (or 2013 if you count W&G as new), so I wouldn't rule out a family attraction as the next thing. Or the UK's biggest fountain !!

 

[Sharko]

I think there is a element of speculate to accumulate here. Icon didn't really pull in the crowds because it wasn't that impressive. It appealed to a lot of people but if i was a GP, i don't think i would be that desperate to ride it. To really draw people in, you have to think big. Doesn't have to be a worlds first but needs to make a statement. Hyperia does indeed make a statement. This is why I've always liked the idea of B&M Dive coasters because whether or not they have the substance, they definitely look the part. BPR need to start building into the sky again.

 

[shakey]

I think there is a element of speculate to accumulate here. Icon didn't really pull in the crowds because it wasn't that impressive. It appealed to a lot of people but if i was a GP, i don't think i would be that desperate to ride it. To really draw people in, you have to think big. Doesn't have to be a worlds first but needs to make a statement. Hyperia does indeed make a statement. This is why I've always liked the idea of B&M Dive coasters because whether or not they have the substance, they definitely look the part. BPR need to start building into the sky again.

Agreed, and the Big One is a prime example of this. It is not particularly well liked amongst enthusiasts and is often slated as being rather dull after the first drop, but after 30 years it is still the ride that the GP go to pleasure beach for, it is the ride that gets the biggest queues and the ride that everyone in the UK knows about. Another tall coaster (especially if it is taller than Hyperia), would almost certainly bring more footfall to the park, even if PB manage to do the usual and fail to market it.

 

[ScottishChris]

Icon didn't really pull in the crowds because it wasn't that impressive. It appealed to a lot of people but if i was a GP, i don't think i would be that desperate to ride it.

I'm sorry but you are wrong. Icon didn't pull in the crowds it should have because the marketing was atrocious. I believe Icon was the coaster the park needed, but the park went down this bizarre narrative of "woven into the fabric of the earth" and similar nonsense. If they simply had vox-pops of people coming off the ride saying 'it was amazing'/ 'the best coaster in the UK' with some actual ride footage - the draw would have been immense.

Add in the strap-line "Dare to ride" - what does it actually mean? Taking Virgin Atlantic's excellent 4 engines 4 long hall campaign from 2002* as a jumping off point, something like "Double the launches, double the thrills" would have made more economic impact and been a launching point for social media interventions.

GP are, for the most part, sheep. If everyone tells them something is "the best" the majority of people will align. BPB failed massively at this when it should have been the easiest thing to do. As a direct comparison, you have Wickerman which is a good family woodie - AT managed to create a narrative about how it is unique and the best woodie... and it worked.

Spoiler: * Virgin Atlantic

As a brief overview British Airways were pretty much using double engine aircraft on long-haul routes by 2002. Virgin Atlantic's fleet were pretty much 4 engine variants (some due to age). There was literally no real impact on the passenger, however some bright spark at VA worked out that if they could market to passengers that they had 4 engines on their aircraft (without overtly telling them that they were better (because they weren't), people would associate more engines with a better/ safer/ more luxurious product. Bizarrely it worked.

 

[John_P]

In 2017/18 it felt like theme park vloggers were doing more to promote the building and opening of Icon than the park managed to do.

 

[shakey]

They could have marketed Icon to death, it would still have failed to draw the crowds in. It's a good family coaster and that's about all you can say about it.

£16.25m was a waste of money for what they got.

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[Matt N]

I think Icon’s failure was too multi-faceted to be blamed on one individual factor.

On the one hand, I think @ScottishChris is right to point out that Blackpool’s marketing (or lack of) probably played a role. I remember hearing local people talk about how they knew of people within a relatively immediate radius who didn’t even know that Blackpool had built a new ride.

Even on my own trips to Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the period around Icon’s opening, I remember seeing absolutely no advertising for the ride around the immediate area on billboards or anything, even as you were driving into the town and could see the Big One and Blackpool Tower dominating the landscape. There was certainly no TV advertising of Icon in my immediate area (although I admittedly live in Gloucestershire, nearly 200 miles from Blackpool).

If you don’t tell people about your new ride, they won’t know to come and ride it. You can build the best ride in the world, but if you don’t communicate that effectively, then no one will know that you’ve built that ride and no one will be tempted to come and ride it. By “effective communication”, I also mean an advert that clearly communicates what the ride is and its key selling points. I’d argue that the early adverts for Icon didn’t do that; they were quite ambiguous about what the ride actually was.

On the other hand, however, I think that @shakey and others are also right to acknowledge Icon’s lack of a particular pull. Icon is a ride that blends in rather than stands out; it didn’t do anything radically new that could be tangibly communicated, and it also lacks a certain visual impact. The ride blending in is not necessarily a problem per se, but given that Icon was Blackpool’s first brand new coaster in 24 years, I think they needed something that stood out a little more. If the ride had stood out a tad more, then I think that it could have overcome Blackpool’s slightly weaker marketing. Rides with an immediate pull, particularly a visual one, market themselves to an extent. The Big One did this wonderfully back in 1994. Hyperia appears to be doing this rather well 30 years later. Merlin rides like The Smiler and Wicker Man have also done this well. Had Icon had more of an immediate pull, then I think it could have overcome the weak marketing to an extent.

Therefore, I do think that Icon’s failure is too multi-faceted to blame on one individual factor. Had one of the two factors above been better, then it may have overcome the other’s weakness to an extent.

 

[Bowser]

My theme park enthusiasm was only reignited in the last two years and before that i hadn't been to a UK theme park in over 15 years.

As a former member of the general public i had no idea Icon existed until i recently actively researched what rides were at BPB.

Conversely i was well aware of say WickerMan, though i couldn't say how. I expect the branding seeped through somewhere.

 

[jibbsie]

My theme park enthusiasm was only reignited in the last two years and before that i hadn't been to a UK theme park in over 15 years.

As a former member of the general public i had no idea Icon existed until i recently actively researched what rides were at BPB.

Conversely i was well aware of say WickerMan, though i couldn't say how. I expect the branding seeped through somewhere.

I fully agree, and I am in a similar situation, I have always been intrested but I have only getting really intrested about 2/3 years ago, BPB is only 30 mins further for me than alton, but i didn't see any adverts and I probably would have not had much of an idea what BPB was. I recall for wickerman they had tv adverts and even in shops on crisp packets but I didn't see anything for icon.

 

[Matt.GC]

Before this turns into the weekly "Icon is crap" debate, Big One is rubbish but has been drawing crowds for 30 years because it's a big record breaker, everyone knows about it, and it can be seen from miles around. Wicker Man is a small, quite underwhelming track and train woodie that has great theming and presentation, a Pre-show, a USP, and a great marketing campaign (apart from all that "worlds first" nonsense which didn't really feature much in the end).

If I didn't have a keen interest in theme parks, I wouldn't even know Icon existed. That's the problem.

 

[Skyscraper]

Just noticed that BPB claim Big One's top speed to be 85mph on its web page, when we all know it's 74mph as listed on the RCDB. Whether they like it or not, Hyperia is the new tallest AND fastest coaster in the UK.

Edit: they're so brazenly confident they've put it on the new merch



Source

 

[dazza4783]

He hints that a new tall coaster may be planned for BPB, quoting "ridiculous new heights"... not sure where that came from.
I have little doubt BPB approached designers to see what could be done to retake the height record after the announcement of Hyperia. It's just if anything comes to fruition. After all, we have been here with plans before.

He's talking about this article https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/...ces-plans-for-new-ride-on-opening-day-4540445

Particularly the part that says:

While the details remain shrouded in secrecy for now, the theme park has confirmed the ride will replace the current Grand Prix ride and promises to take guest experience to unprecedented heights.

And while this could well be a tall new rollercoaster, especially if Avalanche goes and they use all of that space, did anything ever happen with "Head Above The Clouds", the big wheel that they got a trademark for? This could be alluding to that replacing Grand Prix.

 

[Relife]

The big wheel idea was scrapped thankfully. It would have been a huge waste of money for something that already exists on the pier nearby.

 

[shakey]

Before this turns into the weekly "Icon is crap" debate, Big One is rubbish but has been drawing crowds for 30 years because it's a big record breaker, everyone knows about it, and it can be seen from miles around. Wicker Man is a small, quite underwhelming track and train woodie that has great theming and presentation, a Pre-show, a USP, and a great marketing campaign (apart from all that "worlds first" nonsense which didn't really feature much in the end).

If I didn't have a keen interest in theme parks, I wouldn't even know Icon existed. That's the problem.

Wicker man is the better coaster. (Although too short). If Blackpool had built wickerman they would have done much better .

I know it's all personal preference but I was underwhelmed when I rode Icon for the first time, but I found wickerman to be fun and thrilling.



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[Bowser]

Adventure Island built a gigantic Big Wheel (right next to the existing not so big wheel ) and I hardly see anyone going on it.

Don’t see the appeal for them personally when they’re not giving a view of landmarks, which you could argue Blackpool has slightly more in its favour than Southend but certainly doesn’t seem worth spending millions on.