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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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Brother sent me a text yesterday evening about a Blackpool Gazette article about BPB. The article was their headline story at the time, and started ‘Horrified thrill seeker flees Blackpool Pleasure Beach as’ then ended and when I clicked on it, it said ‘article not found.’

I am guessing the rest of the headline said something like ‘guests packed like sardines’ as it showed a photo of an extremely busy and crowded looking River Caves ramp. You reckon Mandy had the article taken down? Did anyone read it?

@shakey how was it yesterday?
 
The article is still avaliable here.

I won't copy and paste the entire article, but it talks about crowds with no social distancing.

Doesn't look good in this photo...
QVNIMTE2NTM3Njc4.jpg

Credit: The Gazette, Jennifer Gibson
 
Dipper_Dave said:
Brother sent me a text yesterday evening about a Blackpool Gazette article about BPB. The article was their headline story at the time, and started ‘Horrified thrill seeker flees Blackpool Pleasure Beach as’ then ended and when I clicked on it, it said ‘article not found.’

I am guessing the rest of the headline said something like ‘guests packed like sardines’ as it showed a photo of an extremely busy and crowded looking River Caves ramp. You reckon Mandy had the article taken down? Did anyone read it?
Click to expand...

Lancslive has a similar article up https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/blackpool-pleasure-beach-slammed-visitors-18706080
 
Thanks. Don’t know why the front page article doesn’t open up but have read it now from your link.

What annoys me about the punters interviewed in those articles is that they make out everything is the park’s fault. Yes not everyone is distancing, sometimes in a queue you realise someone is only a foot away behind you, but is that the parks fault? Can they have 10 members of staff in each queue line enforcing distancing? No.

They are relying on the visitors to play their part, mask up and stay clear from others in the queue. Unfortunately far too many of the general public are too selfish and stupid to do this. Hardly the park’s fault. We must all play our part, it’s as simple as that.

I’d guess around 1/3 of people in queue lines on my visit last week either didn’t have their mask on at all or weren’t wearing it properly. On rides some took it off after it had left the station. We ate at Coasters outdoor tables, so saw the Icon trains on the brake run and were surprised at how many had pulled their masks down during the ride. And really how hard is it to stand on a circle or line, and only move forward to the next one when it becomes free. Nobody is getting on the ride any quicker by standing within a foot of the person in front than they are standing on a marked spot. Complete and utter buffoons

Lost count of the number of times I’ve heard the Steeplechase operator announce from the control tower for someone to put their phone away when the ride is about to start. I fear that it is the utter stupidity of people which will see more lockdowns and possibly even a national one again. If people cannot refrain from being stupid then they shouldn’t go out in public yet
 
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Alsty said:
The article is still avaliable here.

I won't copy and paste the entire article, but it talks about crowds with no social distancing.

Doesn't look good in this photo...
QVNIMTE2NTM3Njc4.jpg

Credit: The Gazette, Jennifer Gibson
Click to expand...
That photo looks suspicious to me. Maybe an old photo.

It doesn't show a single person wearing a mask and on my visit yesterday there were plenty of people wearing masks while walking round the park.

Also there was clear signage telling people to keep left which people were mostly doing, but you can't see any signs in that photo or any evidence of people keeping left.

So I suspect they have just used an old photo.

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shakey said:
That photo looks suspicious to me. Maybe an old photo.

It doesn't show a single person wearing a mask and on my visit yesterday there were plenty of people wearing masks while walking round the park.

Also there was clear signage telling people to keep left which people were mostly doing, but you can't see any signs in that photo or any evidence of people keeping left.

So I suspect they have just used an old photo.

Sent from my ELS-NX9 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Looking again at the picture, I have to agree. That is absolutely disgraceful if they have shown an old photo not taken on the day of the complaints. The park was fairly busy last week when I went but the ramp was not rammed like that and most people had masks on whilst on it
 
New photo, low angle so you cant see the distance between them I think dippy.
Same was done by local racists at eid prayers last friday...
Facebook photo at a specific time looked like no distancing.
High cctv security shot, at the exact same time, was released by the mosque leaders to prove that every person at prayer was following strict guidelines...two metres apart, and strict entrance and exit staggering.
A picture paints a thousand lies sometimes!
 
Zoom in, 2 girls coming down steps have black masks on so it must be a recent pic. Plenty don’t though, and most are facing away so you can’t tell anyway. Agree though, about the camera angle. I bet from above it doesn’t look that bad
 
You can also see one of the blue signs at the top of the ramp so unfortunately it's a new one. It's a shame because when I was there the other week it was all done very well.
 
Sorry chaps, you have better eyesight than me spotting the masks and the sign.

So yes I am afraid it is a recent photo.

Wasn't too bad yesterday on park but clearly there were more people around when that photo was taken.

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TPJames said:
Glad I’m not going this week anymore now...
Click to expand...

That bit isn't too bad, if you are outdoors and continuously moving the Covid risk is quite low.
Its the queues that would be the problem as you are near those people for longer than 15 minutes and why it is rude of people not to distance. The risk is lower outdoors than indoors (I think masks should be mandatory on indoor queuelines as well) but people should be keeping 2m apart if stationery or slowly moving such as queues, faster moving areas such as that ramp shouldn't be as much of a risk.
 
jon81uk said:
That bit isn't too bad, if you are outdoors and continuously moving the Covid risk is quite low.
Its the queues that would be the problem as you are near those people for longer than 15 minutes and why it is rude of people not to distance. The risk is lower outdoors than indoors (I think masks should be mandatory on indoor queuelines as well) but people should be keeping 2m apart if stationery or slowly moving such as queues, faster moving areas such as that ramp shouldn't be as much of a risk.
Click to expand...

The thing is, I hate crowded theme parks regardless of coronavirus, so to add the stress of being in a pandemic to the stress and claustrophobia of those crowds... it’s a no go from me. I understand most parks look like that at the moment though, Phantasialand, Europa park, Thorpe park etc the pathways are all that crowded.

When I was at chessington a week and a half ago the pathways weren’t too crowded(bar vampire/ Gruffalo plaza) and I found that most people standing behind me stuck to the social distancing markers(only had to ask one group to move back). But my big issue was there was no mask requirement in the queuelines like there is out in european parks. I imagine blackpool is the same.

In a lot of european parks (Phantasialand, Europa park, parc asterix etc) they have “patrol officers” who watch over the queuelines and make sure people are wearing their masks over their nose and mouth and make sure people are sticking to distancing markers. In Europa park if people refuse to follow the rules 3 times security is called and the relevant person is escorted out. At phantasialand equally lots of people have been kicked out of the park for not sticking to mask and distancing rules.

In any park anywhere in the world people aren’t going to stick to social distancing or mask requirements as people are just that ignorant and stupid, BUT the parks can deploy people in the queuelines to enforce mask wearing (and social distancing to a lesser extent) which will help guests who want to stick to the rules feel a LOT safer. There is no reason that the uk parks couldn’t do what the european parks are doing and make masks compulsory in queues and enforce it with patrol officers, other than laziness and budget cuts on staffing costs.

Otherwise ill just choose to stay away or wait until september when schools are back, the parks are far too busy at the moment, especially when they pretend they are on “limited capacity”. I’ve been to blackpool 3-4 times before and it has never been as busy as it is at the moment, and I’ve been on the late night riding event so that’s at its busiest time of year. Couple that with people not wearing masks (because they don’t have to) and no social distancing due to people’s ignorance, id rather just save myself the stress at the moment.

Hopefully I can go to somewhere in Europe in September when everything quietens down a bit.
 
TPJames said:
The thing is, I hate crowded theme parks regardless of coronavirus, so to add the stress of being in a pandemic to the stress and claustrophobia of those crowds... it’s a no go from me. I understand most parks look like that at the moment though, Phantasialand, Europa park, Thorpe park etc the pathways are all that crowded.
Click to expand...

I don't think the crowds are any worse than any normal August though. Pretty sure every time I have been to Blackpool the River Caves ramp looked like that photo above.

As you say, if you don't like the summer crowds then better to wait until September when things are usually quieter.
 
The Beach has not been as busy as the previous late night riding nights...I dont do them because of the overcrowding.
They have been bouncing people for not conforming with the rules, seen quite a few refused ride access until masks are worn, had to wait extra on Icon and the Dipper for issues to be sorted.
 
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