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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2021 Discussion

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Yep, all explained in the video. As I’ve said, I’m not sure how reliable the eTicket procedure is this season, only because I tried several times to ‘claim’ mine after booking and it never came, so I had to email the park to request it be sent to me. Hopefully just a one off as the pre-booking system was fine last season.

The scanning of QR codes on each ride was somewhat sporadic. They weren’t insisting on it on all rides. It seems rather pointless anyway, as everyone has paid for day entry to have got in the park. And if they want it done so they can assess numbers on each ride, said numbers will be inaccurate anyway if not all staff are scanning them.
 
The new rap system crashed on the first day...allegedly.
Wristbands are available, for those without a mobile.
Mobiles out, then secured away again before riding, slows the queue a bit on Icon.
No ride tickets.
No non rider passes.
No diamond (non rider) season passes.
 
If they're not doing ride tickets anymore and everyone pays the same, then why not do away with the ride turnstiles? Would make entering rides a lot easier (not to mention quicker) and reduce staffing costs.
 
Just when you think merch prices can’t get any sillier (£100 for an Infusion model), someone is attempting to get £699 on eBay for a 12” Big One wheel. Good luck with that. Weren’t these about £60 in the park shop?
 
Yes indeed, fine clock surround on living room wall.
Only allowed to purchase it because my wife had a pint every time I had a coaster, and it was a long day!
 
They have clearly spent money on replacing the scanners to accept barcodes from phones, so that would indicate they are not thinking of ditching the walk round pass or ride tickets just yet.

I really don't see any other reason to keep and upgrade the ride scanners if they are not going to continue with the walk round pass after covid restrictions.

I don't buy the argument that it is simply going to be used to count how many punters go on each ride.

So maybe some form of pay per ride will be with us for a while yet , even if it is so expensive that it makes no sense whatsoever to use it.
 
They just need to scrap the £5 non rider pass and make everyone pay to enter. All the other parks do it. Then they don't have to worry about all that stuff.

If people genuinely believe that people won't take their kids to a theme park because they will have to pay more they are very much mistaken. Doesn't seem to stop them taking them to Merlin parks, Paultons Drayton etc.

PB is a great park but it's ran by numpties.
 
I have a random question for you all this evening; what would you like to see Pleasure Beach do in the future roller coasters-wise?

I don’t know whether any of you would agree with me, but I have a somewhat controversial take as to the approach I’d like to see Pleasure Beach take in the medium to long term coasters-wise.


Controversially, instead of building some form of new Mack roller coaster like many are suggesting, I actually think it would be really good if Blackpool focused on doing refurbishments of some of the rides they have. I think there are some rides within Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s existing roller coaster selection that I think would really shine if given some TLC to make them a bit smoother and more enjoyable.


Off the top of my head, I can think of at least 3, possibly 4, Blackpool Pleasure Beach roller coasters that could be majorly improved with a bit of simple, reasonably low-cost work. They are:

  • Big One: I think the ride would majorly improve comfort-wise if the park just continued the Taziker retrack to gradually replace the whole ride, although I would reprofile the ride as well as replacing track because some of the ride’s roughness is caused by the profiling as opposed to the condition of the track. Maybe some new trains would help too.
  • Big Dipper: I think a nice GCI (or similar) retrack would really help Dipper. If some of the elements were smoothed out slightly and the wood was replaced, but the basic essence of the ride was kept the same, then I think it would become far more enjoyable, personally.
  • Grand National: Again, I think that a GCI retrack would work wonders on Grand National, with some of the elements being smoothed out and the wood being replaced. However, I also think Grand National could do with new trains, as the current ones are not the most comfortable, in my opinion, and are apparently a large part of why the ride is so rough. I reckon some custom GCI trains, similar to the ones fitted on Roller Coaster at Lagoon, would work a treat, personally.
  • Infusion: Now this one is slightly more of a stretch, but I think Infusion would improve a lot if the park were to invest in the new Vekoma inverted trains with vest restraints. If the money was available, I also think it would benefit from a like-for-like reprofiling and retrack similar to what the SLC at Morey’s Piers underwent a few years ago; that ride apparently improved drastically when it was retracked!
I know it seems controversial, but I genuinely think it would be really good for Blackpool to focus on refurbishing some of their existing rides as opposed to building flashy new things. I say this because I think that this kind of refurbishment would make the roller coaster selection at Blackpool Pleasure Beach significantly more appealing without breaking the bank; all of these things put together would probably end up costing significantly less than Icon did (£16m), and would be spread out across a considerably longer time period. This is important for a park like Blackpool, where the financial situation is apparently not the strongest.


Also, I think that all 4 of these rides have many great qualities, and would be able to shine a lot more if they weren’t so rough and uncomfortable. I think Grand National in particular would improve drastically with a bit of refurbishment; in all honesty, I think it has a phenomenal layout, packed with airtime and some great moments of speed, and would probably be right up there as one of Britain’s most revered coasters if it were smoother!
 
Matt N said:
I have a random question for you all this evening; what would you like to see Pleasure Beach do in the future roller coasters-wise?

I don’t know whether any of you would agree with me, but I have a somewhat controversial take as to the approach I’d like to see Pleasure Beach take in the medium to long term coasters-wise.


Controversially, instead of building some form of new Mack roller coaster like many are suggesting, I actually think it would be really good if Blackpool focused on doing refurbishments of some of the rides they have. I think there are some rides within Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s existing roller coaster selection that I think would really shine if given some TLC to make them a bit smoother and more enjoyable.


Off the top of my head, I can think of at least 3, possibly 4, Blackpool Pleasure Beach roller coasters that could be majorly improved with a bit of simple, reasonably low-cost work. They are:

  • Big One: I think the ride would majorly improve comfort-wise if the park just continued the Taziker retrack to gradually replace the whole ride, although I would reprofile the ride as well as replacing track because some of the ride’s roughness is caused by the profiling as opposed to the condition of the track. Maybe some new trains would help too.
  • Big Dipper: I think a nice GCI (or similar) retrack would really help Dipper. If some of the elements were smoothed out slightly and the wood was replaced, but the basic essence of the ride was kept the same, then I think it would become far more enjoyable, personally.
  • Grand National: Again, I think that a GCI retrack would work wonders on Grand National, with some of the elements being smoothed out and the wood being replaced. However, I also think Grand National could do with new trains, as the current ones are not the most comfortable, in my opinion, and are apparently a large part of why the ride is so rough. I reckon some custom GCI trains, similar to the ones fitted on Roller Coaster at Lagoon, would work a treat, personally.
  • Infusion: Now this one is slightly more of a stretch, but I think Infusion would improve a lot if the park were to invest in the new Vekoma inverted trains with vest restraints. If the money was available, I also think it would benefit from a like-for-like reprofiling and retrack similar to what the SLC at Morey’s Piers underwent a few years ago; that ride apparently improved drastically when it was retracked!
I know it seems controversial, but I genuinely think it would be really good for Blackpool to focus on refurbishing some of their existing rides as opposed to building flashy new things. I say this because I think that this kind of refurbishment would make the roller coaster selection at Blackpool Pleasure Beach significantly more appealing without breaking the bank; all of these things put together would probably end up costing significantly less than Icon did (£16m), and would be spread out across a considerably longer time period. This is important for a park like Blackpool, where the financial situation is apparently not the strongest.


Also, I think that all 4 of these rides have many great qualities, and would be able to shine a lot more if they weren’t so rough and uncomfortable. I think Grand National in particular would improve drastically with a bit of refurbishment; in all honesty, I think it has a phenomenal layout, packed with airtime and some great moments of speed, and would probably be right up there as one of Britain’s most revered coasters if it were smoother!
Click to expand...

Grand National could be vastly improved by flattening it and starting again.
Infusion would be much better if it were replaced by a log flume.

In terms of what would I would do if I could have any new coaster at the pleasure beach..
I would definitely build something bigger than the Big One. They can't realistically build the worlds tallest any more but they can get something that would bring the crowds back, and a 250ft dive coaster would do that in my opinion.

Or maybe just rebuild the greatest coaster ever :)
 
The problem with building bigger than the Big One is that the problems they have with the Big One are amplified.
Restrictions on wind speed become even tighter and the ride would be closed even more than the Big One and the ride would have quite a rust problem because of the sea air.
 
Problem with a full retrack is that it’s not very marketable. Recent history suggests they have enough problems with marketing their brand new rides, let alone retracks.

That said, a Nash retrack would hopefully restore what was once a glorious ride. If we could keep GCI and their trains away from it though, it’d be for the best.
 
I don’t understand how the park’s marketing manager from 2018 is still the marketing manager. The campaign for Icon was utterly woeful, despite the physical product itself being of a good quality.
 
I don't think you can blame the marketing manager...if he isn't given the funds to manage the marketing for the new ride.
 
What funds did he/she have then? If I weren't on this forum or actively on YouTube I wouldn't of had a clue Icon existed.
 
As I've said before, an S&S 4D Freespin would be perfect for the Pleasure Beach. Cheap, compact footprint, fun to ride and fun to watch off-ride. Would be visible from outside the park as well, whch would draw people in. :)
 
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