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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2021 Discussion

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Enter Valhalla said:
Hang on, hang on. Do we actually know for certain that Grand National closed to save money?

Where has that been stated? What park staff have confirmed that information?

There seems to be a lot of negative assumption here.

Last week there was talk that Big One had been closed due to off peak cost cutting, and this turned out to be untrue.

I really find it strange how people like to bash BPB yet this seems to be the one park on this forum (apart from Towers obviously) which has the most loyal fans. There could be a whole heap of reasons why GN was closed, yet everyone seems to be taking it as a given that it was cost cutting, despite seemingly no evidence to suggest this to be the case.
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When you eventually hunt down the "Ride Closures" bit of the Beach website...

"Please be aware that the availability of rides is subject to change and that during off peak periods we reserve the right to alter the ride offering which can include additional rides being unavailable or reduced operating times on some attractions."

Evidence as requested.
 
Oddly, the same page says Valhalla is closed in 2020 ...

National and Infusion down today.
 
Is this sort of attitude of closing the odd ride here and there just sort of... tolerated? Or do you think the majority of guests just assume it's got technical issues? I only tend to visit BPB once per year, and it tends to be on a 10pm close as it makes that trip worthwhile and much more of an experience, but even I concede that queues at the park seem to have snowballed over the past ten years or so.

Closing rides just because it is quiet is pretty poor. I mean, not to mention the park's hours of 11-5 are just as bad as Alton's 10-4 - if not worse, because they'll shut queues before closing time and sometimes don't open rides at opening time.

It's irritating to see the park make decisions that are directly in the face of the guest experience, especially with the park's rising ticket price. £33.00 a pop off-peak for a barely 6-hour day and they aren't even opening all the rides?
 
@AstroDan Not to defend, as it's not my job to do so, but the BPB approach seems to be to close rides off peak and open them at the weekend, whereas Alton have closed rides outright and pretended they aren't there (Hex, Sub Terra, Flume etc), before eventually reopening or removing. Alongside, both parks have built large new coasters and whipped out a number of "non-core" rides, to quote Nick Varney.

Maybe BPB will get a bunch of fairground rides next year to keep up.
 
Rick said:
@AstroDan Not to defend, as it's not my job to do so, but the BPB approach seems to be to close rides off peak and open them at the weekend, whereas Alton have closed rides outright and pretended they aren't there (Hex, Sub Terra, Flume etc), before eventually reopening or removing. Alongside, both parks have built large new coasters and whipped out a number of "non-core" rides, to quote Nick Varney.

Maybe BPB will get a bunch of fairground rides next year to keep up.
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Alton have done some dreadful things over the years - god there was a season when Corkscrew and Hex opened at noon! But it shouldn't be a race to the bottom. What Blackpool are doing is hardly good for the guest experience.

Alton's current 'approach' is at least to open all the rides in the park when the park is open irrespective of having Sub Terra sat there mothballed for years on end. I doubt it even has a license to run these days. On the plus side, at least Alton Towers have had the grace to remove it from the park map.
 
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rob666 said:
When you eventually hunt down the "Ride Closures" bit of the Beach website...

"Please be aware that the availability of rides is subject to change and that during off peak periods we reserve the right to alter the ride offering which can include additional rides being unavailable or reduced operating times on some attractions."

Evidence as requested.
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We’ve discussed and I recall seeing in the T&Cs previously that they can basically not guarantee any given ride will be open on a given day. This is fair enough in that a technical issue could happen to any ride at any time, but that’s the first time I’ve noticed ‘altering the ride offering off-peak.’

I guess they can’t win with the choosing of which rides they close on off peak days. I know I said that they could shut lesser rides than Nash (like Infusion and Icon <dons tin hat and hides>) but then if they closed a couple of kiddy rides or family stuff like Alice / W&G, then the families wouldn’t be happy. Shut Nash and the nerds aren’t happy. Either way someone will be upset.

I think that ‘altering the ride offering’ phrase pretty much indicates that doing so is cost cutting. Last Autumn they shut Nash, Dipper & Streak on rotation midweek. It will be on the old topic I’m sure. As for ‘reduced operating times on some attractions’, this is a polite way of saying “We can’t be arsed to add a second train to this coaster today”, even though the numbers might warrant it.
 
Don't disagree at all.

Perfection shouldn't be off the table, but perhaps it is. I'd estimate there were about 500 people on park yesterday.

Various parks here and abroad are cutting their losses and opening fewer days with shorter hours. I am not sure more closed days with full ride availability on the days that they are open is a better alternative, certainly not for the staff, let alone the balance sheet.

This is a difficult industry to make money in sometimes, I think smaller parks without multi-million/billion pound parent companies are doing what they can.
 
The BPB website saying that some rides may be closed during off peak periods is not, by any means, proof that this is why Grand National has been closed on weekdays.

Closing some rides during off peak periods isn’t a new thing. Back in 2016, Chessington would close Griffins Galleon, Peking Heights and Ramases Revenge on off-peak days. I didn’t like that they did this, but it was small, less popular rides (and yes Ramases wasn’t popular with park guests and rarely got queues even when busy)

Now maybe I’m giving BPB too much credit here but I just can’t see them deliberately closing a major ride like Grand National purely because the park’s not busy. Some of the smaller rides sure. Maybe even like likes of Dipper or Streak, which I know they used to close midweek.

But I just can’t see them actively deciding to close a major coaster like Grand National, as a deliberate move. Perhaps I’m being naive here.
 
Grand National needs more staff than Dipper or Streak, doesn't it? It'd also mean wear and tear on two trains rather than one.

I'd certainly not be surprised if this was the off-peak closure of choice for the park. Especially since it was always been likely to have a suspicious "4pm breakdown" in the past.
 
As others have said, it is a difficult juggling act for the park and their debts are increasing.

It is frustrating to have major rides closed midweek but better to annoy a few hundred - mostly season pass holders - on a Tuesday than to annoy a few thousand people on a Saturday.

There is no easy answer unfortunately, the only other option seems to be to shut the park on off peak days.

There does seem to be signs the park are willing to pull their heads out of the sand and try different things though. The 4:30pm to 9:30pm openings on Fridays in September is a good experiment, and they are open till 10pm on every Saturday during the summer hols.

They have brought back Mr Funshine, opened up the Flying Machines viewing window again and are pushing the beavers more too. These may seem like insignificant things but perhaps it's a sign the park are finally realising that some of the changes made in recent years have not been good ones.

And with ride scanning re-introduced, who knows - pay per ride could be making a comeback next year ;)
 
I’m no expert on BPB so forgive my potentially naive question, but could they not run ‘one side’ of the Grand National on off peak days in order to save on staffing costs and reduce wear and tear? I get that you wouldn’t have the racing element, but it’s better than it being closed altogether.
 
@AT86 Yes they could run just one side of Grand National and this would save on a staff member. I have seen this done on the Mobius loop woodie at Feria de Chapultepec in Mexico. Obviously you’d lose the racing element, but yes it could be done.

@Rick Thats very interesting to hear and sort of supports my theory that this closure is a maintenance related issue and not just cost cutting. But as I say, maybe I’m giving the park too much credit for their operations.
 
AT86 said:
I’m no expert on BPB so forgive my potentially naive question, but could they not run ‘one side’ of the Grand National on off peak days in order to save on staffing costs and reduce wear and tear? I get that you wouldn’t have the racing element, but it’s better than it being closed altogether.
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This wouldn't work, as the Grand National is a Mobius loop meaning that the trains arrive back on the opposite side of the station each time.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
@AT86 Yes they could run just one side of Grand National and this would save on a staff member. I have seen this done on the Mobius loop woodie at Feria de Chapultepec in Mexico. Obviously you’d lose the racing element, but yes it could be done.
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Wouldn't that mean having a batcher, as you'd need to keep alternating which side of the station you are sending guests to? Traditionally they have never had anyone batching on Grand National, but I guess that may have changed since Covid!?
 
AT86 said:
I’m no expert on BPB so forgive my potentially naive question, but could they not run ‘one side’ of the Grand National on off peak days in order to save on staffing costs and reduce wear and tear? I get that you wouldn’t have the racing element, but it’s better than it being closed altogether.
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I don't see how that's possible on a mobius loop, unless there's a crossover junction before the station to send the train back to the same station it won't arrive where it left from.

I've been to pleasure Beach on days where staff outnumber guests and I understand the need to control costs on those days. I'm not particularly against staggered openings on days like that, it does seem reasonable especially if advertised, but just to keep an attraction or two closed for the whole day is not on. Aside from technical issues every guest should have the opportunity to ride every ride. I'd be fine if they took a whole selection of rides and opened half for the first half if the day and half for the second, that's much more acceptable to me than total closure.
 
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Or just stay closed every Tuesday off peak or something. Give all the staff it as one of their days off (as they work the weekend). Better that guests can plan and know the whole park is shut instead of turning up and expecting it to be open when it isn't.
 
They should close on a couple of days a week in low season, there must be an obligation to the council to open daily, following previous bale-outs.
The problem with giving all the staff the same day off is getting them in to work the following day!
Young, local, low paid casual staff, getting them to turn up with major hangovers has been problematic.
Allegedly.
And I can't quote my source, it would get them in trouble, but there were quite a few "Mad Monday" issues with staffing the rides on a Tuesday morning!
'spoons may possibly have been involved, more than once or twice.
 
If the reason Nash is closed is maintenance related, then it’s been being maintained nearly every off-peak weekday for the last four years. They also like maintaining it an hour or so before the park is due to close. Sometimes they maintain it for the first few hours in the morning too.
 
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