Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

I think the suggestion that the Wild Mouse wasn't popular is an absolute insult. You only had to look at the queue it gathered, the happy, smiling faces coming off it, and now the backlash its demise has caused online, to see that it was a ride that many people held in extremely high regard.

One final point, there was nothing dated about the Mouse, it still did exactly what it was supposed to do as a thrill coaster - thrill people!

skyscraper said:

Well, PBE is Blackpool PB's official fan club.

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I guess.

But still. Can anybody here actually imagine what the reaction would be on TS if Alton Towers suddenly announced one of the coasters had been ripped out without so much as a word? Or the discussion on TPM if suddenly, one of Thorpe's coasters vanished overnight?

You wouldn't get it from a US park - indeed, when historic coasters retire in the US, there's countdowns, merchandise and all manner of stuff that goes on. And what makes it worse - is that most of these old rides are pure garbage. Wild Mouse was anything but garbage. It was brilliant.

I have never known a ride I have loved so much be removed.

Mack Wild Mice are bilge by comparison.

AstroDan said:

Pleasure Beach will be a far less compelling proposition

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Nick, are you there?

AstroDan said:

It surprises me that PBE are being so on-the-side of the park with this.

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PBE are probably the oddest fansite in the community. The impression you get is that collectively they have a tragic misunderstanding about what makes the park special.

For some reason they'd rather it be the 37th best modern theme park in the world than the No. 1 historic amusement park in the world (with some banging new rides like Icon as a bonus...)

AstroDan said:

I guess.

But still. Can anybody here actually imagine what the reaction would be on TS if Alton Towers suddenly announced one of the coasters had been ripped out without so much as a word? Or the discussion on TPM if suddenly, one of Thorpe's coasters vanished overnight?

You wouldn't get it from a US park - indeed, when historic coasters retire in the US, there's countdowns, merchandise and all manner of stuff that goes on. And what makes it worse - is that most of these old rides are pure garbage. Wild Mouse was anything but garbage. It was brilliant.

I have never known a ride I have loved so much be removed.

Mack Wild Mice are bilge by comparison.

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+1. Can't remember what page the post was on now but I also think it would have been great to do some kind of partial walk through, tour of the maintenance shed etc (if there was room to swing a mouse in there) & have some merch available.

This is definitely the most loved ride I have seen removed personally. Morecame Texas Tornado (formerly Cyclone), Southport Cyclone and BPB's own Log Flume were sad losses but I am genuinely gutted about this loss. I'd be sad to see virtually any of their older historic rides go (aside from the waste of space Gallopers, pretty redundant when the far superior Derby Racer exists), but I'd rather ANY of those other rides have gone then Wild Mouse.

How safe is Streak now, as its not listed either? One for the axe next winter?
Edit: I reckon I'll get a load of rides in on Streak this season as it would not surprise me if they hack it to bits given
that its not listed. Is it true that Nickelodeon didn't really want it to stay anyway?

Blackpool Pleasure Beach could learn a lot from Kennywood.

I had the pleasure of visiting Kennywood a few years ago and what a wonderful park it is. Truly.

On another note, perhaps Pleasure Beach could have taken a leaf out of their good friend Roland Mack's text book?

AstroDan said:

Blackpool Pleasure Beach could learn a lot from Kennywood.

I had the pleasure of visiting Kennywood a few years ago and what a wonderful park it is. Truly.

On another note, perhaps Pleasure Beach could have taken a leaf out of their good friend Roland Mack's text book?

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Yeah, i'm very surprised that they didn't do a last-rides event before it closed.

Nah, remember. They didn't do an event because every enthusiast is an immature, childish fool who would have chained themselves to the ride and hurled verbal abuse at park staff.

That's why. I mean, you remember the appalling abuse that took place on Corkscrew's platform the day that closed... MY word... embarrassing. Poor Mr. Barnes!

If there is any justice in the universe, Mandy should be kicked out of IAAPA in disgrace for what she has done. At the very least, the rumours of her being in line as the next "Queen of Fun" should never come to pass now.

EDIT: Hey, just because I might have chained myself to the ride, doesn't mean I would have been rude to the poor people who are only doing their job.

In relation to popularity, were the queues because of popularity? Or because of the dire throughput? Given the location on THE main walkway and what not, it's obviously going to get queues...

Think the backlash is more to do with it being done on the sly rather than it's removal; it's be rumoured to be dead for a decade it feels like every season after all...

Benzin said:

In relation to popularity, were the queues because of popularity? Or because of the dire throughput? Given the location on THE main walkway and what not, it's obviously going to get queues...

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Yes the throughput was poor but thats not the sole reason for there being a queue. It had a queue because people wanted to ride it. Look at the Ghost Train queues on a busy day. They are huge but people are happy to wait in them.

The very fact it was 'on THE main walkway' tells you how hugely it's loss will be noticed. There is no way that only enthusiasts will notice it's no longer there. Sadly the skyline will never be the same without its iconic strip of mice along the top, I'm not sure I can bear to look ahead from the top of Big Dipper for a while

Like AstroDan said Eurosat got a closing ceromy (and a countdown-clock), despite the fact it’ll be open again before anyone even notices it was missing.

Benzin said:

In relation to popularity, were the queues because of popularity? Or because of the dire throughput? Given the location on THE main walkway and what not, it's obviously going to get queues...

Think the backlash is more to do with it being done on the sly rather than it's removal; it's be rumoured to be dead for a decade it feels like every season after all...

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The throughput was reduced in recent years but it's the same with most if not all BPB rides in fairness.

The ride's prominent location combined with low throughput was a recipe for long queues but even so, I've never seen a ride where the majority of people come off laughing hysterically and grinning ear to ear like on the Wild Mouse.

Wild Mouse would have not got the queues it did if only enthusiasts liked it, as has been suggested elsewhere.

I don't want to give Scott any grief over this, he didn't close the ride, and because PBE is closely linked to the park, it has to toe the line with park management, that is just how the world is I'm afraid. The last BPB fan site was closed down because of libel issues I think...I don't know as I didn't surf the lovely world wide web back in the day. Scott has had to dance on a slippy tightrope between the fans and management...and he has been critical of the parks operations at times when standards have slipped.
PBE is (was) completely different to independent sites such as this...there is a greater freedom of expression on here, which I love, but there are still boundaries for libel, which the mods are all aware of.
With Scott organising events on the park, behind the scenes and ERT, he is in much closer contact with the park (I imagine) than the organisers on here are with AT. To keep that access to the park he has to remain supportive of the powers that be.
I'm not really into group days...I love super off peak...like dippy, but I have seen the amount of fun other people get out of the meets...Scott deserves every credit for the work he has done organising his group, and all the work on meetups and the website, especially so with his health issues, and I fully understood why he shut the web part, it really was going round and round in negative circles.

And one last point...I really think that Ms Thompson would not be getting half the grief she is getting if she was in personal possession of a penis. There appears to be an awful lot of sexist fanboys out there who know they would run the park better than her. When she took over the reins the park was in a poor position financially, she had little choice in closing rides, and the park is now cleaner, safer and friendlier than when she took over. Hard decisions had to be made, and she made them. If she hadn't, the park would have probably gone under by now.

Jamie said:

I've never seen a ride where the majority of people come off laughing hysterically and grinning ear to ear like on the Wild Mouse.

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This sums up the appeal of the ride perfectly. Part of the fun of being in the Mouse queue was watching people's expressions & listening to their laughter especially as their rodents passed over the double dip right in front of you. In fact I sometimes would think to myself as I was on the double dip, that I must look ridiculous grinning like a goon, but I couldn't help myself and didn't care. How many rides cause such hysterical laughter?

AstroDan said:

It surprises me that PBE are being so on-the-side of the park with this.

We were all livid here when ATR ripped out Ripsaw without notice.

And that was a pesky flat ride that had 'only' been open 19 years.

As an enthusiast, Blackpool Pleasure Beach will be a far less compelling proposition to visit without the Mouse.

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We're absolutely gutted the Mouse has gone, but we respect the Pleasure Beach's decision and look forward to the future of the park.

I have spoken with the owners about the subject since the news broke, it was not an easy decision for them to take and they're extremely gutted that it could not run anymore, the very fact it was no longer possible to run it is why it has been removed. Pleasure Beach have plans for the whole area to be redeveloped, no ride will ever be the same as the Wild Mouse and again, we are all gutted we'll never get to ride it again but all of us fully respect the park's decision.

This quote from the RCCGB covers it really; I know from talking to the family, when the ride closed in September last year, even they did not know that it would never run again at that time. So the many comments about ‘not being able to get a last ride,’ etc., is not because the Pleasure Beach didn’t care, it is due to other factors.

I hope this answers your comment Dan.

What on earth has Mandy being female got to do with anything? I hate everyone equally. If John Wardley himself had been in charge of BPB and made this call, he would be getting just as much grief, if not even more!
Please lets not not go down this road...

One word... gutted.

These things happen but it’s a shame it could not have done it’s 60th year. I’m not a fan of how it’s been done but I hope the park can salvage some pride and offer ride parts/ wood/ opportunity to own a part of bpb history

Diogo, I have no doubt that you hate everyone equally...but (sadly), every coaster fan does not have your high standards.
Some of the absolute crap I have read today has done nothing but confirm my previous feelings on the matter.
Well past my bedtime...I need a shower before bed after all those social media links...never again.

ScottPBE said:

Pleasure Beach have plans for the whole area to be redeveloped

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Thanks for the post Scott. It's good to know that it wasn't an easy decision for them. We've had a day to digest the news and a lot of anger still remains. We can go round in circles debating the way it was done but the fact remains that Wild Mouse is sadly no more and nothing can change this now. I really do hope that a good ride, specifically a coaster, appears in this space and possibly over the path and into the Bow(e)l A Drome space if that goes too. If it does go, please can I be behind the controls in the wrecking vehicle?!