Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2025 Discussion

[IDB]

Talking of social media. I don’t know if they’ve decided to give X/Twitter the boot, but they have a 55.6K followers and have only posted twice on the platform in 2025.

 

[Stubpb]

Apparently Steeplechase opens at 12 now. One of the lower capacity rides where it's important to get on it early, and that always has a queue from opening.

What a pain.

Some rides also shut 1hr before the rest now and Valhalla is 2pm opening

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

When did they change? The last time i went must have been mid 2000s, i was there for work so a group of us popped in and went on a few rides, that's what it's all about.

Free entry came to an end in 2009.

Calls for Blackpool Pleasure Beach to be free for entry

Blackpool Pleasure Beach is one of the leading amusement and theme parks in the UK with some thrilling rides to suit all ages

blackpool.com

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/business/calls-for-blackpool-pleasure-beach-to-remove-entry-fee-4468600

 

[Stubpb]

Surly the past has told us all something - Quick Look back

1 - Morecambe - FrontierLand - Ok lets admit it the place and town was finished and the park going was the nail in the coffin BUT the town is now bouncing back. Maybe it was right to let the park go or not but by 2028 with Eden on its way and building due to start later this year its on the up.

2 - Southport - PleasureLand - Right dont have a go because im just saying - Southport Pleasureland used to always be rammed when I went and Southport as a seaside town is still very busy.

HOWEVER past news and stuff tells us all that when we try to charge a small amount and move from free it doesn't work.
Remember Southport used to be free and PAYG or wristband then they put a £2 (only £2) charge on to walk around and within 24 months it was closed.

3 - Blackpool - BPB - Blackpool is on the up atm with over 17 million visitors last year (2024) overnight stays in the resort are down and its mainly day trips now.
Surly BPB are questioning why the town gets 17 million visitors but they are only seeing 2 million - I would be asking that question.
But even going back 20 yrs BPB used to open at 10am till at least 8pm for these winter weekends. 10am till 5pm minimum mid week and 10am till 9pm/10pm or 11pm from July till the end of August then weekends 10am till 11pm and the place was rammed.
I dont think going back to a free system would work BUT I honestly think they need to look at new system to get in.
How about £5 to get in for NON RIDERS or people who say just want to do one or two rides - BUT you get the £5 back to spend when your onsite so for example if I wanted to ride PMBO at say £8 I could do a top up of £3 or you could use the £5 on food and coffee and stuff.

That way for non riders also your saying come in but with the £5 grab a coffee and enjoy the atmosphere and areas.

This way your sorta saying its free but charging them to get in that keeps the rubbish out but saying its £5 but we give you that back to spend inside on anything you want (obs bar some stuff) its saying to people come in take a look around for free ride if you want or eat with your £5 do so and if you fancy a wristband when your in then its £30 for the day take away your £5 that's £25. Then have say maybe 5 cashier's at key points in the park to sell ride tickets and go from there. It's a win win in my eyes.

The park can't survive the way it's going it just can't. They say admissions are up but profit is down even at a loss. They can't cut back the ride staff anymore as they need a minimum number to run safe - The only things they can cut in my eyes is food and outsourcing it but that's a bad move in my eyes look at merlin food and drink over priced and not wonderful. The only thing left to cut is entertainment ie Ice Show and Amanda won't cut that unless its a needs must.

 

[Stubpb]

Free entry came to an end in 2009.

Calls for Blackpool Pleasure Beach to be free for entry

Blackpool Pleasure Beach is one of the leading amusement and theme parks in the UK with some thrilling rides to suit all ages

blackpool.com

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/business/calls-for-blackpool-pleasure-beach-to-remove-entry-fee-4468600

The locals really dont like her or what they have done to the park. But would be the first to shout out if it ever did close

 

[flyingguitar]

They make their own parts for the older coasters.
A number of rides are listed, not just the Dipper.

Yeah, making your own parts is mostly going to be a no go area for a lot of operators, they want to opperate the ride and have company x, who designs and makes the parts be liable for any flaws.

I am really curious how much BPB insurance is, it probably is quite high as on top of making their own parts, their rides are quite old as such lack modern saftey features increasing the risk of an incident.

I don't think it's difficult to understand what the public want, and who the audience is at Blackpool. It's multi-generational families where the spend is, and has always been.

FREE Entry for 0-3 Year Olds
FREE Over 65's Non-Riders Pass
£10 Standard Non-Rider Pass

Grandparents would love to come along for free and mind the bags or the younger children and have a day out, and they're likely to give out money for arcades, sweets and F&B too to the kids whilst mum and dad relax.

Include Pleasure Beach Express in that for the grandparents to go round with the kids on, and River Caves whenever it eventually re-opens earliest seems like 2027.

I would then just make one simple, marketable price point - £30 on Weekdays and £35 on weekends when booking online.

Otherwise you have to commit to a simple +10% on the gate fee which isn't too hard to swallow i.e £33 and £38.50. Even that few pounds will make a difference to people.

It just feels punishing to visit the promenade and fancy popping into BPB and see a £50 gate fee, it's enough to make an average GP family never even consider going again or checking online as they may not even realise the online prices, which again, vary so much it's confusing for recall.

I've spent tens of millions on social media ads in my job, and only ads with one clear marketable message work and stick. It is far too confusing for even us thoosies at times never mind the GP to even understand when purchasing online let alone discuss the cost of a visit via word of mouth.

BPB survives and thrives by catering to the biggest advantage it has in the entire UK theme park market for a park of it's size, which is family walk ins off the promenade. They have neglected these customers for years with this policy and now it's coming home to roost.

On the door afternoon tickets will cater to this for sure, but it needs to be concise and easy to understand. Whilst I'm for testing a decreasing hourly amount as I've even suggested myself, I think you could still just sell a singular afternoon ticket i.e 1pm-5pm (Nick Land 4pm close and adjust for late night riding days) for half the walk in price or a fraction above to still be reasonable but focus on day tickets i.e £20 weekday and £25 on the weekend where there's more supply and more demand to charge just over the half price point for afternoon walk ins.

They really should do this, they still have the ticket gates in place at their rides just making peoples day worse, it would litterally cost nothing to do and attract many more people

 

[Smiley]

Non-rider pass for £10-£12 with £5 spend included, purchased with rider ticket (as others have said). Free money, right there! Wonder if they take off Valhalla's running costs whether they'd turn a profit??

UK theme parks seem to charge the same each year, whilst customers expect more. £30 for a day riding great coasters and rides is ridiculously cheap.

 

[rob666]

...BPB survives and thrives ...

Sorry, it survives, no thriving there since the millennium years, which were two whole decades ago.
I have seen no thriving since, and I have been watching all those years.

They simply need to go back to pre covid.
Ten pounds entry, with a few minor rides included, or wristband at thirty to forty quid.
Not rocket science, just what they promised to do after covid.
As all the locals know, and are waiting for the return.
Been five years now...no excuse at all for the last three years.
But mandy knows best.

 

[Matt N]

I don’t think throwing the gates open to free entry would work anymore. As much as the park is a seaside park and other seaside parks and piers use free entry and pay per ride, Blackpool Pleasure Beach is on a wholly different scale to any other seaside park or pier in the country, with far more unique and large-scale headline attractions. In terms of scale and breadth of attractions, the park is more comparable to Alton Towers and Thorpe Park than Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and Adventure Island, so I’d argue it does warrant a different pricing strategy. I’d argue it’s the only seaside park in the UK that you could spend a full day out in rather than just an hour or two to do a couple of quick rides, which in my view does warrant more nuance to its pricing strategy than “seaside = pay per ride”.

With that being said, I think there’s an argument that the park could be more pragmatic in terms of non-rider entry options and pay per ride options. The profit figures under pay one price entry are evidently not good, and in a place like Blackpool, people are more likely to be holidaying multi-generationally and having non-riders wanting to come in and spectate. You don’t have passing walk-up trade in Alton, Staines or Romsey, but you do in Blackpool, and that is a pound they are missing out on.

A point that I don’t think is raised enough about Blackpool’s transition to pay one price is that it will have driven spend per capita upwards by quite a bit. They can now guarantee that everyone in the park has paid a minimum of £30 or so to be in there, which they could never guarantee before. As much as the loss figures are bad, Blackpool Pleasure Beach has had on and off heavy losses for years, even prior to the introduction of the initial non-rider fee in 2009. I don’t think we necessarily know that the losses would be any less heavy if the park had non-rider passes or free entry.

It really boils down to whether the spend per capita has risen enough to offset lower guest numbers. Paultons Park has actively pursued limited guest numbers and higher spend per capita in recent years, and no one seems to complain about their strategy. There’s plenty of proof within the UK theme park industry that attendance figures and profitability are not necessarily as correlated as you’d expect.

 

[rob666]

The cafes, bars, eateries and shops used to be full or at least half full through the main part of the day.
Not any more.

Another point, the south shore area has never had a mass of passing trade.
The majority of trippers tread the "Golden Mile"...specifically the area of the prom between the Central and North piers.
Less than an actual mile, and a full mile away from the Beach.
Ironically, the South promenade area became much, much quieter...when the paid entry stopped with covid!
Less families and multigeneration groups overnight, I would say footfall outside the Beach dropped by a full fifty percent with covid, and has never returned.

 

[venny]

I agree with most of what you’ve said Matt, but unless the non-rider pass cannibalises full priced entry, then revenue has to increase with that change.

 

[rob666]

...and in Blackpool, there are at least a dozen alternatives to a few hours on the Beach.

 

[Matt N]

I agree with most of what you’ve said Matt, but unless the non-rider pass cannibalises full priced entry, then revenue has to increase with that change.

I don’t necessarily disagree, but the risk the park takes by introducing a non-rider pass and more pragmatic pay-per-ride again is that people who were paying full price might start paying less.

I agree that this could well be outweighed by the amount of walk up trade being attracted back in, but I think it’s a point to consider nonetheless.

 

[shakey]

Without starting a POP v PPR debate again, we all know that a seaside park needs to have a PPR option.

And its not whats in the park the matters or how big it is. What matters is the parks location. And if you are in a place with a high volume of potential walk up trade then effectively shutting them out is bonkers.

The death spiral has been ongoing for a number of years now and the new big swingy thing seems like a big roll of the dice. They have at least realised that if they are going to add a thrill ride it needs to be something big and bold (or cheap). Icon was neither of those things. Lets hope the new ride will tick the big and bold box , because it certainly isn't cheap.

 

[venny]

We need to not forget that PPR was still available (to an extent, and expensively) pre-Covid. The driver for getting rid of it was Covid. There are only two viable explanations for it not returning: -

- it’s turned out to be more lucrative to not have it, although it’s not clear exactly how the park would measure that.

- they’ve not thought about it/can’t be bothered/standard BPB attitude.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

- it’s turned out to be more lucrative to not have it, although it’s not clear exactly how the park would measure that.

Pick a day/period pre POP:
Total revenue of ticket sales?
Total revenue of wristband sales?
Total revenue of additional on park spend?
Add up and adjust for inflation.

Pick a day/period post POP:
Total revenue of ticket sales?
Total revenue of additional on park spend?
Add up and adjust for inflation.

Compare and contrast.

They could theoretically do it for profit, rather than revenue, but you'd have to control for varying profit margins across the years and other external factors (cost rises, weather etc). This would give you a pretty rough indication of which was better for your business model.

 

[venny]

How would taking one random day pre-covid, and comparing it to one random day post-covid demonstrate whether removal of the walk around pass was more or less profitable?

Visitation has obviously changed considerably, but to make it even more inaccurate a comparison, so have spending habits. You’d be comparing apples with turkeys.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

How would taking one random day pre-covid, and comparing it to one random day post-covid demonstrate whether removal of the walk around pass was more or less profitable?

Visitation has obviously changed considerably, but to make it even more inaccurate a comparison, so have spending habits. You’d be comparing apples with turkeys.

I was giving you a back of cigarette packet method for a rough estimation, not an in-depth statistical analysis plan. Importantly I didn't just suggest a day, but a period.

Ideally you'd track the same period across multiple years and control for external factors to get a true representation. Some confounding variables are:

• Economic Conditions: General economic health, inflation, and cost of living affect discretionary spending.
• Weather: Comparisons need to account for significant weather differences between periods.
• Marketing and Promotions: Changes in advertising spend or specific offers could influence attendance and revenue.
• Park Offerings: Addition or removal of major rides or attractions would impact visitor numbers and perceived value.
• Ticket Price Points: The actual price set for the POP ticket versus the previous combined cost heavily influences profitability.

You simply said that you didn't know how they could go about doing it, it's possible, but whether they would is a different question.

 

[venny]

I think you’ve just described why there are too many variables to make a meaningful comparison. Hence my original point.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

I think you’ve just described why there are too many variables to make a meaningful comparison. Hence my original point.

But there aren't. You can do it, you just have to control for them, which is why you'd comission data analysis. It is measurable.