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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2021 Discussion

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rob666 said:
There are about ten million people within easy day tripping distance to Blackpool, but the late nighters do keep the local B&B's happy.
Looking forward to the September Friday nights.
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But I think Day trippers really just go to the pubs and beaches if it’s a lovely day. My wives cousins and there family go Blackpool quite a lot as they live in Manchester but not to the pleasure beach anymore with it not been free entry.
 
First time poster here so be nice, I took my first trip to BLP last week, Very lucky that the park was empty. Looking back on my day I am still not sure on what to make about the place as a whole. I went into the park with no expectations ( Apart from ICON) Which I felt very let down by... Maybe my fault for getting way to excited for this ride. The big one was riding very rough and the grand national was shut, Fusion gave me a solid headache for 2hrs after! I think I need to visit again and really work out what BLP are trying to be. First impressions... It killed a day, Maybe I am being to harsh but who knows.
 
saltedpeanuts09 said:
First time poster here so be nice, I took my first trip to BLP last week, Very lucky that the park was empty. Looking back on my day I am still not sure on what to make about the place as a whole. I went into the park with no expectations ( Apart from ICON) Which I felt very let down by... Maybe my fault for getting way to excited for this ride. The big one was riding very rough and the grand national was shut, Fusion gave me a solid headache for 2hrs after! I think I need to visit again and really work out what BLP are trying to be. First impressions... It killed a day, Maybe I am being to harsh but who knows.
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Hi, welcome to Towers Street :)
Blackpool roller coasters are notoriously rough as you have experienced.
Infusion is just plain horrible and many just flat out refuse to ride it.
The Big One is definitely getting rougher and I'm not quite sure why.
Grand National has had quite a lot of down-time this season with rumours that this is to cut costs.
I think with Blackpool you need to bear in mind that the park (and the town itself) are past their prime, the park and town don't have the budget and visitors they used to, they didn't get much of a return on Icon so the park probably don't have much money left and are hoping they get a really good summer.
But enjoy the heritage rides while they are still with us, enjoy the atmosphere particularly on the 10pm closures (midweek Blackpool can just feel a bit depressing), and try to avoid Infusion if you're head can't take it.
 
saltedpeanuts09 said:
First time poster here so be nice, I took my first trip to BLP last week, Very lucky that the park was empty. Looking back on my day I am still not sure on what to make about the place as a whole. I went into the park with no expectations ( Apart from ICON) Which I felt very let down by... Maybe my fault for getting way to excited for this ride. The big one was riding very rough and the grand national was shut, Fusion gave me a solid headache for 2hrs after! I think I need to visit again and really work out what BLP are trying to be. First impressions... It killed a day, Maybe I am being to harsh but who knows.
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Welcome to the party Mr Peanuts.

If you go to PB expecting to spend all day riding amazing smooth coasters then you are going to be very disappointed.

The big one (like many of the coasters there), will give you a different ride depending where you sit and on the daily conditions. Some times it will beat you up and other times it will just be slightly bumpy. Avoid wheel seats if you can, and I wouldn't sit at the back if you are a first time rider. It is definitely an acquired taste.

The bumpy rides are all part of the fun (maybe nash goes a bit too far for me these days), but the park is more about the history, the atmosphere and variety of rides. I would advise any 1st time visitor to not just concentrate on the coasters, there is so much more than that.
 
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Infusion was running surprisingly well last week , my friend insisted we ride and we were put in the back seats , so I was prepared for the worst . I’m not sure whether it was because it had just opened but it was really quite smooth , no head banging of roughness at all - the only smoother ride that day was Icon ! It was bumpy later on but I chalk that up to us being the only 2 riders on the train
 
I know this seems a bit random, but; whenever the time eventually comes for Blackpool to build their next new roller coaster, how would you guys feel about the park going for a modern wooden roller coaster, from a manufacturer like GCI or the Gravity Group? I know it might seem a bit redundant, seeing as the park has 4 vintage wooden roller coasters already, but think of it another way; Blackpool could use this to their advantage, and market themselves as “the only park in the world with over 100 years of wooden roller coaster history in one place” (presuming this hypothetical ride is built after 2023, of course). My idea for this ride, and the associated marketing campaign, would be:
  • Get a GCI wooden roller coaster that breaks the records for tallest, fastest and longest wooden roller coaster in the UK. As much as this seems like it would be an expensive record to break, the bar is currently surprisingly low; they’d only have to build a ride that was taller than 85ft, faster than 48mph and longer than 3,300ft. This way, the park has a very easy, marketable record to flaunt, while not necessarily breaking the bank like they did buying Icon. They’d have the wooden equivalent of the Big One for what could be a pretty low price tag! Even the wooden coaster aspect of it shouldn’t be too hard to sell; Wicker Man arguably proved that woodies can be successful, popular investments within the UK market.
  • As for how this would impact the park’s marketing more widely; I would have Blackpool take on the slogan of “the wooden coaster capital of the world” and really flaunt the park’s expansive wooden coaster selection, with this hypothetical new record-breaking GCI being the crown jewel of the marketing campaign. As for why they would be able to make this claim; I have two simple answers.
  • Firstly, this hypothetical ride would reclaim the park’s recently lost record for the most wooden roller coasters of any theme park in the world; it would give them 5 wooden roller coasters, which is more than any other park in the world. They could then put into their marketing campaign “more wooden coasters than any other park in the world”!
  • Secondly, this would also (I think?) give them the widest age range within their wooden coaster selection in the world, ranging from 1923’s Big Dipper to the modern-day GCI. The park could then say something along the lines of “the only park in the world with more than 100 years of wooden coaster history in one place” and/or “experience the evolution of the wooden roller coaster first-hand, right through from pre-war to the modern day”.
I know most of you probably think I’m bonkers for suggesting this, but I just wondered; what are your thoughts on my proposal? Do you think something like this could work, or am I barking up the wrong tree? As random and redundant as it probably sounds, I’ll admit that I’ve always quite liked the idea of a nice, modern GCI coexisting at Pleasure Beach alongside their vintage woodies, and I thought that as a really hi-tech, expensive coaster in Icon didn’t work as hoped for them, why not go back to the park’s roots, and do a modern take on the rides that always used to pull in the punters? Why not focus on the park’s history as well as bringing in a new ride, and be the only park in the world that can well and truly show off the evolution of the wooden coaster to such an extent?
 
I think we’ve been here before. BPB have no money. Icon was a flop in terms of bringing the punters in. There’s no space for a new woodie. They can’t make drastic changes to Nash as it’s listed.

No money, no space, and they had one of the best and most unique woodies and binned it off. Can’t see them being remotely interested in a modern woodie
 
Dipper_Dave said:
I think we’ve been here before. BPB have no money. Icon was a flop in terms of bringing the punters in. There’s no space for a new woodie. They can’t make drastic changes to Nash as it’s listed. No money, no space, and they had one of the best and most unique woodies and binned it off. Can’t see them being remotely interested in a modern woodie
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I’m not suggesting this in the short term, more the medium to long term, whenever the park is ready to invest in its next new ride.

In terms of space, there’s actually a surprising amount of space in Blackpool where a mid-size woodie could fit. Maybe the Bowl-A-Drome/Wild Mouse/Trauma Towers area, or the area behind Valhalla where Vikingar used to be, or if they were really desperate for space, maybe they could even remove Infusion?

I should also clarify that I wasn’t suggesting any major rework/removal of any of their existing woodies; they would be a key part of the plan! Maybe some minor retracking to make them a little more comfortable, but certainly nothing major along the lines of an RMC treatment or removal of any of them.
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again; An S&S 4D Freespin would be perfect, as would a Premier Rides Skyrocket. :)
 
Having done a bit of research, Troy at Toverland, a GCI that would comfortably break all of the UK wooden coaster records, cost the equivalent of about £6.75m even when adjusted for inflation, which is less than half of what Icon cost, so on the money front, I reckon the park could possibly afford a decent-size GCI in a few years’ time when they’re ready for another coaster!
 
Matt N said:
Having done a bit of research, Troy at Toverland, a GCI that would comfortably break all of the UK wooden coaster records, cost the equivalent of about £6.75m even when adjusted for inflation, which is less than half of what Icon cost, so on the money front, I reckon the park could possibly afford a decent-size GCI in a few years’ time when they’re ready for another coaster!
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It's not just money, Matt, I don't think BPB has the space for a record-breaking new woodie. :tearsofjoy:
The two models I've suggested above are very compact.
 
Skyscraper said:
It's not just money, Matt, I don't think BPB has the space for a record-breaking new woodie. :tearsofjoy:
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In theory, a ride that only just breaks the records (for reference, 85ft tall, 48mph, 3,300ft long) probably wouldn’t take up any more space than some of the other suggestions, like a Mack BigDipper or XTREME Spinning Coaster. If they limited their record-breaking to tallest and fastest, without needing to be the longest, they could probably reduce the space taken up a lot; for example, something like Mine Blower at Fun Spot Kissimmee would be very close to breaking the UK woodie height record (MB is 83ft, so only 2ft off), and does beat the UK woodie speed record (MB is 48.5mph, so beats it by 0.5mph), and would probably comfortably fit on the Wild Mouse/Trauma Towers site. Mine Blower is incredibly compact, and I can’t imagine that another 10-20ft or so to break the UK woodie height record would majorly change that.

Mine Blower was also incredibly cheap, costing only $6m (approx. £4.6m, even when adjusted for inflation)! As well as that, it would also be the UK’s first inverting wooden roller coaster!

Here’s Mine Blower’s RCDB file, to give you some idea: https://rcdb.com/14554.htm
 
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Wooden coasters are cheaper to build but then the ongoing cost will increase with the time and money needed every year to maintain the things (look at the issues Towers have had with Wicker Man already after just 3 seasons).
 
Matt N said:
I know this seems a bit random, but; whenever the time eventually comes for Blackpool to build their next new roller coaster, how would you guys feel about the park going for a modern wooden roller coaster, from a manufacturer like GCI or the Gravity Group? I know it might seem a bit redundant, seeing as the park has 4 vintage wooden roller coasters already, but think of it another way; Blackpool could use this to their advantage, and market themselves as “the only park in the world with over 100 years of wooden roller coaster history in one place” (presuming this hypothetical ride is built after 2023, of course). My idea for this ride, and the associated marketing campaign, would be:
  • Get a GCI wooden roller coaster that breaks the records for tallest, fastest and longest wooden roller coaster in the UK. As much as this seems like it would be an expensive record to break, the bar is currently surprisingly low; they’d only have to build a ride that was taller than 85ft, faster than 48mph and longer than 3,300ft. This way, the park has a very easy, marketable record to flaunt, while not necessarily breaking the bank like they did buying Icon. They’d have the wooden equivalent of the Big One for what could be a pretty low price tag! Even the wooden coaster aspect of it shouldn’t be too hard to sell; Wicker Man arguably proved that woodies can be successful, popular investments within the UK market.
  • As for how this would impact the park’s marketing more widely; I would have Blackpool take on the slogan of “the wooden coaster capital of the world” and really flaunt the park’s expansive wooden coaster selection, with this hypothetical new record-breaking GCI being the crown jewel of the marketing campaign. As for why they would be able to make this claim; I have two simple answers.
  • Firstly, this hypothetical ride would reclaim the park’s recently lost record for the most wooden roller coasters of any theme park in the world; it would give them 5 wooden roller coasters, which is more than any other park in the world. They could then put into their marketing campaign “more wooden coasters than any other park in the world”!
  • Secondly, this would also (I think?) give them the widest age range within their wooden coaster selection in the world, ranging from 1923’s Big Dipper to the modern-day GCI. The park could then say something along the lines of “the only park in the world with more than 100 years of wooden coaster history in one place” and/or “experience the evolution of the wooden roller coaster first-hand, right through from pre-war to the modern day”.
I know most of you probably think I’m bonkers for suggesting this, but I just wondered; what are your thoughts on my proposal? Do you think something like this could work, or am I barking up the wrong tree? As random and redundant as it probably sounds, I’ll admit that I’ve always quite liked the idea of a nice, modern GCI coexisting at Pleasure Beach alongside their vintage woodies, and I thought that as a really hi-tech, expensive coaster in Icon didn’t work as hoped for them, why not go back to the park’s roots, and do a modern take on the rides that always used to pull in the punters? Why not focus on the park’s history as well as bringing in a new ride, and be the only park in the world that can well and truly show off the evolution of the wooden coaster to such an extent?
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There would be no where to put it. Support systems for woodies are massive and very wide, especially as you climb higher. The majority of the structure of large woodies is the behemoth of the triangular shaped support structure.

They struggle to thread a steel coaster with it's relatively slimline supports in already. There is absolutely noway a large woodie would fit anywhere on park. The support systems are just far far to big for a place like Pleasure Beach. Almost impossible without ripping up huge sections of the park, which wont happen.
 
DistortAMG said:
There would be no where to put it. Support systems for woodies are massive and very wide, especially as you climb higher. The majority of the structure of large woodies is the behemoth of the triangular shaped support structure.

They struggle to thread a steel coaster with it's relatively slimline supports in already. There is absolutely noway a large woodie would fit anywhere on park. The support systems are just far far to big for a place like Pleasure Beach. Almost impossible without ripping up huge sections of the park, which wont happen.
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Three large car parks...north, south and west, directly linked to the park.
Build the coaster on one of them, no planning permission required remember, then put the parking back in under netting.
The real issue is money, as in they haven't got any remember.
 
rob666 said:
Three large car parks...north, south and west, directly linked to the park.
Build the coaster on one of them, no planning permission required remember, then put the parking back in under netting.
The real issue is money, as in they haven't got any remember.
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Surely they have some money? As they’re still refurbishing Valhalla, which can’t be cheap, and even after Icon, they invested loads into the Boulevard Hotel.

As I said, Troy only cost the equivalent of £6.75m, and Mine Blower only cost the equivalent of £4.6m, so woodies aren’t exactly expensive rides to build in terms of initial outlay.
 
Building on one of the car parks rears its head once again. It’s a revenue stream for them, I’d be very surprised if they ever built a ride on any of them. They are obsessed with making money on parking, the absurd price of the North car park and fact that they don’t offer discounted parking to season pass holders tells you that.

I agree also that the modern woodie idea isn’t just money, it’s the huge footprint. Modern woodies from what I’ve seen don’t tend to be ‘out and back’ design like Big Dipper & Streak, there is no way BPB could have a Wickerman style woodie anywhere.
 
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