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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2021 Discussion

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rob666 said:
Every year in Blackpool, there must be about a million visitors who vow "Never Again"...crowds, queues, poor accommodation, and the human zoo inland from the north pier on the weekend evenings.
Every year, there are a million fresh punters who take their place.
The Beach has a long, long history of offering questionable service, as does the town as a whole...lowest common denominator stuff.
Wristbands were the beginning of the real downturn.
We have your money, you have had some rides, most pockets are now empty, go home please.
Please check the terms and conditions on the way out, and there will be a fresh mug next year if you don't like it.
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Very amusing post, you’ve visited Blackpool long enough to know the truth in this, but I still don’t think that makes practices like closing rides early for no apparent reason acceptable.

I guess things MIGHT only improve if enough people flag it up to the park. I guess it’s telling that they seem extremely reluctant to give out any sort of refunds when faced with complaints. Whatever people think of Merlin, I understand their customer service is pretty on the ball from stories I’ve heard. For example a friend complained after his daughter went on a Towers school trip and hardly got on anything all day due to ride downtime, fastrack issues, etc. They got sent tickets for a free return and some sort of goody bags full of merch. I can’t imagine BPB doing that kind of thing. It seems if you have a bad day or miss the late afternoon rides you were hoping for due to early ride closures, it’s just tough luck.

One of my best Towers memories is hammering Oblivion with a friend from 3:30 to 5 one day after the trip coaches had all left. That last hour was gold for riding. The BPB equivalent now is not something anyone can depend on, sadly. I hope that the earlier than advertised closure thing can be resolved but I imagine at best they give the staff a minor butt kicking, it improves for a few weeks then slackens off again in no time
 
I have to be honest, this is absolutely atrocious especially when not advertised on the opening times board. Pleasure Beach cannot expect to be successful when they shaft customer like this, just shocking.
 
I visited BPB today for the first time this season today and to be fair it was a quality day. One train operations on all coasters but queues of 10 mins or less on nearly all occasions. Only closure was Infusion which was having work done to it. Very enjoyable day overall.
 
MakoMania said:
Also I must say I rode the back row of the Grand National and it has definitely had work done. Excellent coaster, one of the best in the UK.
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Eh?

It's a dreadful coaster. Rougher than a bag of spanners on all of my recent visits. So much so that I think I have had my last ride possibly ever unless it gets some serious TLC. I came off my last ride on it feeling physically unwell.

It was a cracker in its day though.
 
The view of the National from the Streak...
It looks like a scrap reclamation lumber yard, that was abandoned a decade ago.
I know the painting stopped so it was easier to check the condition of the wood, but at the moment it looks awful.
Not heard or seen any new bits on the National recently, you must have hit lucky Mako.
 
I'll be very pleased next time I visit Blackpool if Grand National has had any semblance of being smoothed out, because I think the layout is excellent; if it were smoother, it would quite possibly be one of my favourite coasters!

I just find it to be completely ruined for me by the sheer roughness, to such a huge extent that it's one of my least favourite coasters at present, unfortunately. My last ride in 2019 was incredibly painful!
 
RMC the damn thing and be done with it. It'd be the best coaster in the UK.
 
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Absolutely loved it yesterday. Throws you around, packs of airtime. Most enjoyment I’ve had from a coaster in a long time. After a year of riding steel coasters at BGT near where I go to uni I must say it was a very welcome change.
 
MakoMania said:
Absolutely loved it yesterday. Throws you around, packs of airtime. Most enjoyment I’ve had from a coaster in a long time. After a year of riding steel coasters at BGT near where I go to uni I must say it was a very welcome change.
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I agree, the National is an incredible coaster. Never understood the complaints about roughness in all honesty, it's raucous and wild which is how a wooden coaster should be.
 
Coaster said:
I agree, the National is an incredible coaster. Never understood the complaints about roughness in all honesty, it's raucous and wild which is how a wooden coaster should be.
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Ah come on Jamie, you've been visiting since 2004, right? The National of today vs. fifteen + years ago is like night and day.

It's gone from aggressive to homicidal in that time.
 
National is deeply unpleasant and famed for it even amongst the GP now. I visited yesterday and set up shop with a cold pint near the exit, people were visibly in pain leaving the ride. My own experience on it was also dreadful and I am bruised today (I didn’t ride Big Dipper so I’m pretty certain these are from Grand National)
 
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