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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2025 Discussion

shakey said:
Again, no real evidence for this. Just tittle tattle and rumours, and logically it makes no sense that it couldn't be insured.

As for whether the park are in financial trouble. There is a load of evidence to suggest they are , and the fact they are offering half price wrist bands in peak season should be enough to raise alarm bells.
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My evidence of Wild Mouse removal is through Andy Hygate and Amanda Thompson I have spoken to them before.

And I would rather have information from the owner then anywhere online
 
Hid said:
My evidence of Wild Mouse removal is through Andy Hygate and Amanda Thompson I have spoken to them before.

And I would rather have information from the owner then anywhere online
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So you expect me to believe that the owner of the park is going to tell a random stranger that one of their rides was uninsurable and unsafe to run ?

Amanda may not be the sharpest tool in the box but even she wouldn't be stupid enough to make that mistake.

The official line from the park was that the ride was removed to create space for exciting new developments, and they put statements out to that effect.

Obviously i believe that about as much as the owner telling people the parks own rides can't be insured.

Anyway all this doom and gloom and financial woes, is all due to the curse of the wild mouse. The park has continued to go down hill since 2017.
 
I imagine it was a case of the ride being so expensive to insure and the amount of work required to get it to comply with what the insurers wanted was felt to be too high a cost for it to be worth it. This is purely speculation by the way.

I expect that they could have reopened it and got it insured, but the cost of doing so just wasn’t worth it.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I imagine it was a case of the ride being so expensive to insure and the amount of work required to get it to comply with what the insurers wanted was felt to be too high a cost for it to be worth it. This is purely speculation by the way.

I expect that they could have reopened it and got it insured, but the cost of doing so just wasn’t worth it.
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Cut your losses when it's cheaper to do so, many people were very attached to this ride including myself still makes me laugh just thinking about how wild it was. The only ride that actually lived up to it's name "The Wild Mouse" and it was for sure WILD! bad move from the park not announcing it until they were forced to. Hope they've learned a lesson with that one!! but of course they have because they've finally realised they can capitalize off a major ride closure.
flyingguitar said:
I would say bring back PPR with the option of purchasing a wrist band, allows you to get some of the non riders money from bars and shops, get money from those who want to ride one or two of the rides whilst also allowing people to get a "deal" and ride more rides.
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Be interesting to see what happens next year Pleasure Beach seem to be trying a lot of new things, yeah it's no secret that park had a rough year last year but depending on how they perform this year they could potentially explore the option of having a more divers offering in terms of POP and PPR. If the park has a just as bad season as last year or worse this year I can see them looking into PPR. I'm for anything if it fills the place up! take it back to it's roots (slightly) lower the entry price but soon as you step foot in the place everything costs! while still having POP. They have the technology to allow PPR would work the same way as you pay for speedy pass or Enso on the app, the impulse spending would be through the roof with the ease of using Apple pay or Google pay, 2 clicks on your phone and you've bought it. Does anyone remember how much the Big one was before PPR ended If I remember rightly it was around the £6-£7 mark.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I imagine it was a case of the ride being so expensive to insure and the amount of work required to get it to comply with what the insurers wanted was felt to be too high a cost for it to be worth it. This is purely speculation by the way.

I expect that they could have reopened it and got it insured, but the cost of doing so just wasn’t worth it.
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Possibly, but would it really be anymore expensive than insuring a bunghi jump? Or a tandem sky dive ? Or The Grand National ? Or The Smiler ?

My suspicion is they had one too many complaints and were worried about being sued.

But whatever the reason, its gone and the park is poorer because of it, and the park has been struggling ever since.
 
One incident too many involving a child and the boss pulled the ride as an individual executive decision.
That is what I heard...from a very good source at the time.
Was closed as often as it was open so the staff could fill out the accident reports.
 
shakey said:
Possibly, but would it really be anymore expensive than insuring a bunghi jump? Or a tandem sky dive ? Or The Grand National ? Or The Smiler ?

My suspicion is they had one too many complaints and were worried about being sued.

But whatever the reason, its gone and the park is poorer because of it, and the park has been struggling ever since.
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But is that really the case? I don’t think that the park’s current woes have significantly increased as a result of the Wild Mouse removal… I’m sure me and you were already debating the merits and disadvantages of PPR long before the Mouse’s removal 😜

I’d say that it was a cost vs popularity exercise. If it had been as popular as, say, Big One, they’d have happily paid the extra insurance costs, but in reality, even though we all loved it, it never got queues of more than about 15 mins, so I can understand the decision to remove it, if insurance costs were higher than that of your average ride. I don’t necessarily think it was the right decision, but I get the reasoning behind it.
 
andy93 said:
I dont think the Wild Mouse had a massive impact on the decline but they've removed about 20 rides this century and not replaced them or replaced them with utter muck.

Replacing popular rides with beer gardens or restraunts is a slap in the face.
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I'd like to think the thinking with this was that there would be quality over quantity in terms of the ride line up.

It doesn't excuse that there's empty or underutilised spaces around the park such as the Space Invader building, the hub which Wild Mouse was located or where Trauma Towers is.

It is promising that Aviktas is going where the Bowladrome and Black Hole was formerly located and think it could be a good sign that spaces may be gradually bought back into use.

With Grand Prix, could this be interim whilst a larger project is in the planning? Even if it's a family ride.
 
owenstreet7 said:
...It is promising that Aviktas is going where the Bowladrome and Black Hole was formerly located and think it could be a good sign that spaces may be gradually bought back into use. ...
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Aviktas is also going where the go carts used to be, the space tower used to be, the Camera Obscura used to be, and the lovely vintage arcade used to be.
Another bunch of closed attractions never replaced, unless you count exciting new car parks.
 
rob666 said:
Aviktas is also going where the go carts used to be, the space tower used to be, the Camera Obscura used to be, and the lovely vintage arcade used to be.
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Wasn't the Go Karts where Icon's turnaround is now, by Steeplechase? 🤔

rob666 said:
Another bunch of closed attractions never replaced, unless you count exciting new car parks.
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Reminds me of a certain park in Staffordshire 🤔
 
rob666 said:
Previous location, accessed from where the fy4 food units are now...used to be Cresta Cafe/Bean St...proper cafe stuff, real roof and plenty of tables!
Even for the picnic brigade!
Went with the building of the Big One.
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Most rides have been replaced by something mostly food and venue units. I know Burger King, Pizza and Pasta Restaurant, FY4, Wild Mouse area was replaced by an entertainment area. Just not been replaced with rides.

Only one that really has had anything on it is Trauma Tower area.

The main area now unused however is the dome in the middle of the park
 
Monday:
b2311e said:
The park's own website has a top-level menu button for Launch Pad, but the page for Aviktas is buried under the 'rides' submenu. Despite claiming to be updated regularly, the most recent section is dated May 2025. The ramp past River Caves has hoarding boards along the full length, yet this blatant advertising opportunity is missed. This is basic stuff, folks.
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Wednesday:
Matty17p said:
Some marketing for Aviktas has appeared on the black boards where the ride will be located, spotted by Coaster Dad


From: https://imgur.com/a/ElX2uyG
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🤭
 
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