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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2021 Discussion

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Adding new coasters every 5 to 6 years is simply not possible for PB unless you're talking about crappy ones (such as Pinfari etc) that nobody wants to ride anyway. And not only that they don't really have a lot of empty space left either.

An S&S 4D Free spin would indeed be a fantastic addition for the park's next coaster.. Cheap, incredibly compact and unique in this country that it would probably go down really well. They could build the world's biggest one for a bit more Wow factor too if the liked and without breaking the bank.

Failing that a Premier Rides Sky Rocket would also be great. Still relatively cheap, still fairly compact although not as much as 4D free spin obviously and also pretty unique for most UK enthusiasts.

Personally I'm really glad we got ICON because it's a great coaster however financially the park would have probably benefited more from adding a 4D Free Spin and 1 or 2 world class flat rides for the price ICON came in at. And that way they could have had 3 new rides over say the space of 4 years to drive up attendance.
 
Skyscraper said:
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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I think Free Spins look a lot better than they ride ... the New England one had a very strange rattle as well. Which did you ride?

RMC Raptor surely a great option for so many reasons and a real spiritual successor to the Mouse. Would certainly have advocated for a Sky Rocket 2, but feels less of a good fit with Icon.
 
Benjsh said:
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.
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The ten pound pass do you mean!
Everybody does have to pay to enter, there is now no non riders ticket entry.
The phone ride entry rule is simply a numpty rule...god only knows why they are doing it, I can see no logical reason, unless somebody found my secret entry tunnel...again.
The Beach had a lot of trouble with undesirable elements...pickpockets and away football fans causing much mischief, and families of six with only two going on rides, the rest proud of the fact that they didn't spend a single penny on the park.
In the "golden olden"days, it could take you a full hour just to walk round the park once, the paths would get so crowded, you would get human gridlock.
 
I know this is an old trope now, but a giant gyro swing feels like the perfect next thrill ride addition. They are almost universally regarded as world class flat rides. It would also be large enough to market its size, along with providing a solid addition with good capacity. With a bit of tinkering, I could even think of a few spaces it might fit.

It almost feels like a no brainer... which is probably not a good omen.
 
venny said:
It almost feels like a no brainer... which is probably not a good omen.
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Out of interest, why do you say that?

I too think a gyro swing would be a great fit at Pleasure Beach. They’re well regarded, big, and quite compact compared to something like a roller coaster. Maybe one would fit in on the old Mouse site, or as a replacement to Ice Blast?
 
Matt N said:
Out of interest, why do you say that?

I too think a gyro swing would be a great fit at Pleasure Beach. They’re well regarded, big, and quite compact compared to something like a roller coaster. Maybe one would fit in on the old Mouse site, or as a replacement to Ice Blast?
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Blackpool are sometimes renowned for not selecting the most logical of options. See for example: closing food units outside the entrance as the park is kicking out, leaving the arches Funshine-less for over a decade, no hotel exit, Skyforce etc.
 
rob666 said:
The ten pound pass do you mean!
Everybody does have to pay to enter, there is now no non riders ticket entry.
The phone ride entry rule is simply a numpty rule...god only knows why they are doing it, I can see no logical reason, unless somebody found my secret entry tunnel...again.
The Beach had a lot of trouble with undesirable elements...pickpockets and away football fans causing much mischief, and families of six with only two going on rides, the rest proud of the fact that they didn't spend a single penny on the park.
In the "golden olden"days, it could take you a full hour just to walk round the park once, the paths would get so crowded, you would get human gridlock.
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Ah I didn't know they had scrapped it. It's about time they did.

So why do you have to scan to get on rides if everyone in the park has paid to get on all the rides anyway? I don't get it. If there's no non riders in the park anymore then surely making people scan in is just a colossal waste of time.
 
rob666 said:
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.
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That may be true, but the ride’s TV advert for example featured no footage of the ride, it was absolutely horrendous and failed to grab attention.
 
I don't think we'll see another addition on the scale of Big One / Valhalla / Icon at Blackpool in my lifetime.

Icon was an expensive mistake and I don't think it's one that the park will ever fully recover from.

I agree that a Zac Spin or Sky Rocket would be a good addition. Maybe a gyro swing too.
 
D4n said:
I don't think we'll see another addition on the scale of Big One / Valhalla / Icon at Blackpool in my lifetime.

Icon was an expensive mistake and I don't think it's one that the park will ever fully recover from.

I agree that a Zac Spin or Sky Rocket would be a good addition. Maybe a gyro swing too.
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They don't have the room for anything like ICON or Big One now anyway. They'd have to remove stuff now to add a large scale coaster in the future. Nashy is obviously going to be difficult due to its classification and historical importance.
 
Benjsh said:
They don't have the room for anything like ICON or Big One now anyway. They'd have to remove stuff now to add a large scale coaster in the future. Nashy is obviously going to be difficult due to its classification and historical importance.
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Im not sure I agree with the stereotype that Pleasure Beach is jam-packed anymore. There are potential attraction spaces all over the park nowadays, left over from shuttered rides and attractions. Compare that to 30 years ago and those spaces would be packed with historic attractions and fair rides.

On another note, has anyone had joy with the Arena entrance this year yet? It’s spotty at the best of times, so I’m not sure I want to wander down there to be hit with a Covid-closed excuse.
 
Benjsh said:
Ah I didn't know they had scrapped it. It's about time they did.

So why do you have to scan to get on rides if everyone in the park has paid to get on all the rides anyway? I don't get it. If there's no non riders in the park anymore then surely making people scan in is just a colossal waste of time.
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Correct!
 
Benjsh said:
They don't have the room for anything like ICON or Big One now anyway. They'd have to remove stuff now to add a large scale coaster in the future. Nashy is obviously going to be difficult due to its classification and historical importance.
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Big little used car park behind FY4, North car Park as well... ride station could go by the Globe to keep it in park.
Edit...triple post, whip me twice.
 
MakoMania said:
That may be true, but the ride’s TV advert for example featured no footage of the ride, it was absolutely horrendous and failed to grab attention.
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Don't think it helped that it opened during probably one of the lowest periods of public interest in amusement rides too. The Smiler and Drayton Manor incidents fresh in people's minds and the declining standards across the big parks. The marketing was awful though and not just because there wasn't enough of it, like you say. In fairness to Towers, regardless of how, erm, accurately, they advertise new attractions, when they open people know about it.

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Still think they missed a trick not having one really tall element in the ICON layout. That's the type of thing that the GP get excited about. When they see the layout it's all pretty low to the ground and dwarfed by the nearby Big One.

It seems that most people still head to BIg One first in the morning so that's still the major pull for people.
 
There will never be no space left for new rides, particularly rollercoasters. Once you have a small plot for the station you can take the track wherever you want really, above below and through other rides and buildings. And Grona Lund have shown you don’t even really need space for a station anymore!

From 2010-2019 the park invested quite heavily and I have adjusted values to 2021 to account for inflation:

Nickelodeon Land (2011): £12.4m
Wallace & Gromit (2013): £6.1m
SkyForce (2015): £2.2m
Icon (2018): £16.9m
Boulevard Hotel (2019): £12.1m

This totals a total capital investment of just shy of £50 million over the past decade, and is worth noting that it does not include extensive refurbishment projects on rides like Valhalla and Revolution that took place during the decade. Now, given the lack of positive impact from Icon mixed with several months closure due to covid, we will probably see some reduction from that this decade, but even if we see a massive and dramatic 50% reduction in capital spending over the next 10 years, we still have around £25 million worth of new capital projects to look forward to. So it’s probably not all doom and gloom :)
 
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