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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2021 Discussion

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Pleasure beach accounts are now overdue according to Companies House.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01876267

You would have thought that a large company like PB would manage to get their accounts done in time, especially as they had an extra 2 months to get them done this year.

Maybe they don't want to reveal some really bad news.

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I don't think the family can keep this park going much longer tbh. They simply haven't got the capital needed to keep pace and they have shown time and time again they aren't the best at operations and service.

The only issue is who would take over the park if they did decide to sell it.
 
Benjsh said:
I don't think the family can keep this park going much longer tbh. They simply haven't got the capital needed to keep pace and they have shown time and time again they aren't the best at operations and service.

The only issue is who would take over the park if they did decide to sell it.
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I can't really think of anyone who would be up to running it.
The park is almost certainly too big for Looping and Mellors,
There is no way Merlin would be allowed to buy it,
Possibly an overseas chain e.g. Six Flags or Cedar Fair? But I can't see them in the UK
 
BPB being sold once seemed like an impossibility, one from the same section of my brain that can't believe I'm hearing about three hour queues for The Big One in 2021. Nonetheless, I have begun to believe I'll likely see the sale within my lifetime. I'd rather that than see 42 acres of new housing. What's more, I'm beginning to think it could be for the best. You know when a business the size of BPB ask for their Trip Advisor reviews to be suspended and are months late with their accounts, something has gone far amiss with the product in question.

Nonetheless, there is certainly a lot to be gained from the park and hotels. A dream situation would be a partnership with Amanda's friends over at Liseberg. But I wouldn't want to risk it myself.
 
I can’t imagine what was going on that would result in 3 hour Big One queues, unless they majorly oversold speedy pass. I went on Thursday of half term week. The park was very busy and we queued 75 mins, which included a stop of around 15 mins on the ramp when the chain stopped for some unknown reason. So really one hour, on 2 full trains. That seems reasonable to me. And the queue was almost to the game stalls. Where on earth did the 3 hour queue end? Someone please tell us
 
You said it yourself in the first sentence dippy.
Majorly oversold speedypass.
Very busy day, so many "make the most of a bad job" by buying a speedypass, then the main queue pretty much stops because they send full trains of speedypass riders.
Or maybe they opened on one train for repairs, then took an hour to put it back on the track.
I've suffered that one on a Sunday morning more than once.
I think they will ride it out due to a mass staycation summer.
 
Does anyone know why the price of the car park has risen so dramatically this year?

When I went last month, they were charging a whopping £17.50 day rate, on a day when the park was open for just 6 hours. Even in a city centre I wouldn’t expect to pay that much to park.

Before anyone calls me a fool, I didn’t pay it. I parked on the road behind Spoons for free. But I know that you can do that, your average punter doesn’t.

When I first visited BPB in 2012, that same car park was just £7. How can it have risen so dramatically in less than 10 years? This seems to be yet another example of how BPB just don’t help themselves. Imagine turning up at the park and this being your first impression. Even BPB’s strongest advocates surely can’t be in favour of this?
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Does anyone know why the price of the car park has risen so dramatically this year?

When I went last month, they were charging a whopping £17.50 day rate, on a day when the park was open for just 6 hours. Even in a city centre I wouldn’t expect to pay that much to park.

Before anyone calls me a fool, I didn’t pay it. I parked on the road behind Spoons for free. But I know that you can do that, your average punter doesn’t.

When I first visited BPB in 2012, that same car park was just £7. How can it have risen so dramatically in less than 10 years? This seems to be yet another example of how BPB just don’t help themselves. Imagine turning up at the park and this being your first impression. Even BPB’s strongest advocates surely can’t be in favour of this?
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It was £18 on bank holiday Monday.

The charges were ramped up either last year or the year before, I can't remember exactly when. But about 4 or 5 years ago it was £10 on peak days and £5 off peak.

I would imagine its all about taking as much money as they can, and people seem prepared to pay it. Doesn't make it right I know. The car park on the sea front is less than half that price at £8, and it is hardly hidden out of the way.

In the last couple of years they have also started charging for parking at their hotels. Firstly £5 a night and now I think its £10 a night. I think that's shocking when you are already paying a premium to stay there.

The simple answer is that the park are desperate to make some money.
 
I paid a quid an hour on the seafront right by the park recently, for convenience.
Never normally pay for parking.
Paid twelve quid an hour to park underneath the Ritz last time we did a Thorpe freebie!
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Does anyone know why the price of the car park has risen so dramatically this year?

When I went last month, they were charging a whopping £17.50 day rate, on a day when the park was open for just 6 hours. Even in a city centre I wouldn’t expect to pay that much to park.

Before anyone calls me a fool, I didn’t pay it. I parked on the road behind Spoons for free. But I know that you can do that, your average punter doesn’t.

When I first visited BPB in 2012, that same car park was just £7. How can it have risen so dramatically in less than 10 years? This seems to be yet another example of how BPB just don’t help themselves. Imagine turning up at the park and this being your first impression. Even BPB’s strongest advocates surely can’t be in favour of this?
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It actually went up at least couple of years ago. Pre pandemic, so I guess 2019 season, I saw £20 signs on the main North car park. I also saw a good number of cars turning around at the barrier upon seeing the price. It was £18 in half term week and there were clearly plenty of drivers willing to pay it!
 
Thameslink Rail said:
I can't really think of anyone who would be up to running it.
The park is almost certainly too big for Looping and Mellors,
There is no way Merlin would be allowed to buy it,
Possibly an overseas chain e.g. Six Flags or Cedar Fair? But I can't see them in the UK
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Yes, it'll be Parques Reunidos.
 
Just thought I'd add, I went to the park on Tuesday and had a great day.

The park was much busier than it would have been on the same Tuesday in 2018/19 but was still alright (under 20 min waits) with a 1 train service on the woodies. I didn't go for The Big One or Icon but the queues for the former did look less fun it had to be said.

Social distancing in Blackpool generally is basically an exercise in futile box ticking, but that didn't affect my day much.

I was fully braced for it to be a bit of a nightmare but all told it was not bad, and it's great to see so many people enjoying themselves in Blackpool. It'll be interesting to see whether this is a blip that returns to normal in future years or the start of a longer term trend.
 
WillPS said:
Social distancing in Blackpool generally is basically an exercise in futile box ticking, but that didn't affect my day much.
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It does seem there is little to no effort to socially distance in the queues based on my last visit a couple of weeks back. People were not far off shoulder to shoulder in most queues. It was so bunched up that I didn't even really notice if the yellow distancing lines / circles were still on the floor. On early season visits, most people apart from a few idiots were giving the group in front a good amount of space and for the most part not moving forwards to the next marker until the group in front moved forward. Mask wearers (people actually wearing them properly) in queues to those not wearing them properly, or at all, until they were about to board the ride, in queues was about 50/50 I'd say.

I thought it was worth warning folks to be aware that the Dodgems queue on a busy day is a bleeding nightmare. That is, even if it looks short! We joined the queue when it was only just round the first bend, looked like a 2 ride wait at worst. It took us at least half an hour to get on. It was an almost comically poor wait. The group at the very front of the queue were clearly unwilling to split up and seemed to be there at the turnstile for ages. Half a rides worth of Speedy Passers got on, but it didn't leave enough cars for the main queue group to get on. The Ride Op called through a man and his son who were behind that group. Halfway through the ride, their car seemed to conk out. They get the Op's attention, and he stops the ride to get them off safely and the busted car taken out to the corner. Meanwhile, the rest of the drivers are not sure what is going on and some of them get out their cars and start walking to the exit. Op repeatedly tells them to get back in their cars, but they don't all seem to understand this simple command. Confusion ensues. Eventually everyone is back in, and that ride resumes & finishes.

The Op had the man & his son whose car broke down stood to one side so they could get on the next ride. Fair enough as they missed most of theirs. As the next set of cars loads up, they take one of them, a couple more Speedy Passers take some, and yet again the main queue front group can't get on as there are not enough cars. Op calls for group of 2, nobody responds, so 2 empty cars are pushed out to corners. Dad & son from previous ride get back on. Their car (not same one as before) appears to break down. During the same ride, a girl who is videoing the entire ride with a massive phone in one hand whilst driving a dodgem car with the other, gets stuck on the side and doesn't appear to understand the Ops' clear instruction to try turning the wheel in the other direction if the one she's been trying doesn't move the car. By now he is next to the car and getting rather exasperated. I expect him to tell her to put her phone away but he doesn't. This surprises me as the phone really is huge and it is clear she is filming the ride and clearly can't drive the thing properly with one (or both it seems!) hand.

Op returns to cabin & makes phone call, presumably to report dud car. At end of ride, Op fills in form & removes 2nd dud car and we all wait as he attempts to revive the previously broken one, which he manages to get going. I think Dad & son had a 3rd attempt, which was successful. Front of queue group who stubbornly refused to split up finally get on. 2 cars are left and the 3 of us are finally at the turnstile. I tell my lads to go on otherwise who knows how long we'll have to wait to get 3 cars (despite being at the front of the queue!) and I give up and walk off. It ended up being a stupidly long wait for what looked like such a tiny queue, and we only went on because all the other queues looked too big. So please be aware of how long it can take to get on Dodgems if there are people in the Speedy Pass queue! Only on quiet days for me from now on, along with almost everything else!

The Op seemed to have the most stressful job on the park, with no backup. He mostly managed the situation well though I was surprised he didn't stop the ride and make that girl put her gigantic phone away. I spent the rest of the ride waiting for it to be dropped & ran over, but sadly it didn't happen.
 
Visited for the very first time and did two days. Absolutely loved it! The sun was shining (most the time), queues were decent and operations were great for the most part. Here's my thoughts on the rides:

Icon: Absolutely loved this. Did it nine times over the two days and can confirm it's my UK no.1. Lived the near misses and interaction with the other rides. The air time was impressive too. Props to the team running it on two trains and loading them out quickly. Amazing operations.

Big One: Had a front row ride of this first of all which I thought was good but then towards the back which wasn't so good. It was bumpy and chaotic but not in an enjoyable sense. For me, after the drop the rest lacked anything memorable. Still a good experience though nonetheless, definitely one you have to do if it's open.

Grand National: I'd heard horror stories of this so came prepared. Both times me and my girlfriend got a non wheel seat and... It was really enjoyable. I'm not sure if we were extremely lucky or I braced myself but it was surprisingly smooth. The occasional jolt but nothing major at all. I actually really enjoyed it. My favourite wooden roller coaster there.

Big Dipper: This was another story. We sat on a wheel seat and it was not fun. Extremely rough. Literally kept jolting every dip and got progressively worse. Needless to say we didn't re ride.

Nickelodeon Streak: I loved this. Amazing airtime and I have nostalgia with Nickelodeon so I loved the entire land. There was surprisingly a lot of airtime though. Just a simple fun coaster which was smooth too.

Revolution: This was disorientating but that's the enjoyment for me. Going backwards was the highlight. Great ride.

We didn't manage Infusion but did do the dark rides. Rives Caves and Wallace And Gromit are the two finest in the country imo. It's an excellent park though, I can definitely see the hype. So unique too. Definitely going to revisit at some point but being a southerner it's a long trek.
 
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