• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2023 Discussion

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
jon81uk said:
checking on Wayback it was £25 to book online or £30 on the gate in 2012 for a wristband or £5 for entry only. This year it is £46 on the day or £37-44 to book online (depending on the date).
Click to expand...
You don't have to go as far back as 2012

In 2019 it was still £25 to book any peak day 7 days in advance. (or £28 booking the day before)

So they have gone from £25 to £44 in 3 years

If I was in a family of 4 then there is no way I would consider paying around £170 on the entry cost alone, it is far too expensive.

I used to run a works outing to the pleasure beach up until 2019 - we did it 4 consecutive years. We usually managed to get a group discount taking it to £23 per person plus about £12 each for the coach. There would be no point in trying to run another trip at the current prices, I simply wouldn't get enough interest .

EDIT: On top of the entry price hike, they also ramped up car parking costs around 2018, scrapped the walkround pass after 2019, we have had no Valhalla from 2020 and they significantly cut park opening hours in 2017 from an 8pm close on peak days to its current 7pm or 6pm (with an hour earlier in nickland - this wasn't the case prior to 2017). So you are paying much more for less.
 
Last edited:
If they’ve scrapped the walkabout price, why do you still have to scan your phone every time you go on a ride? Is it just some manager saying it’d be good to have the data, and the fact they’ve invested a lot in the scanners and want to get some use out of them, or is there actually a good reason? It does feel like another thing to cause delays, particularly if someone has trouble scanning.
 
So does park management have a bit of a “my way or the highway” mentality, then?
 
Funcone said:
If they’ve scrapped the walkabout price, why do you still have to scan your phone every time you go on a ride? Is it just some manager saying it’d be good to have the data, and the fact they’ve invested a lot in the scanners and want to get some use out of them, or is there actually a good reason? It does feel like another thing to cause delays, particularly if someone has trouble scanning.
Click to expand...

The only logical explanation would be that they are still planning, or at least considering bringing back a walk round option at some point.

But as already stated, Pleasure Beach and Logic don't usually go hand in hand.

Could they be looking at developing some sort of electronic ride ticket system but its just not ready yet ? so you could load ride tokens directly onto your phone or onto a card, which are then automatically used up when you scan on a ride.

As far as I know, when the ticket system was last operating in 2019 you were still given physical bits of cardboard. Please correct me if I am wrong about that,
 
I had no idea that they’d scrapped the non-rider fee. I know they did in 2020 and I think that was justified, but it came back in 2021.

If it’s gone, then scanning your phone on every ride is a completely pointless exercise which does nothing but drain your battery, and can actually have a pretty negative effect on the park commercially, with fewer people taking photos and therefore fewer posts on Instagram, TikTok etc, which these days are the biggest and best form of marketing.

Completely silly and illogical.
 
In theory, it gives the park the ability to analyse exactly what rides punters go on, in precise order.
No idea what use such information would be, but that is another possible reason chucked out.
And silly and illogical...
Some people say that about theme parks!
 
rob666 said:
In theory, it gives the park the ability to analyse exactly what rides punters go on, in precise order.
No idea what use such information would be, but that is another possible reason chucked out.
And silly and illogical...
Some people say that about theme parks!
Click to expand...
But surely the count do that without you having to scan your phone at every turnstile, instead they could just use it to count everybody who rides it? I never got the idea of this system and it really is over complicated.
 
rob666 said:
In theory, it gives the park the ability to analyse exactly what rides punters go on, in precise order.
No idea what use such information would be, but that is another possible reason chucked out.
And silly and illogical...
Some people say that about theme parks!
Click to expand...

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but when you buy day tickets online don’t you have to fill out the DOB of each guest for them to activate it? If you take that then you can analyse what rides are popular with each age group, what teenagers are going on, what rides appeal to young adults or slightly older guests, what rides are popular with season ticket holders and what kind of value they are getting from their pass, etc.

Basically it’s all data that can be analysed isn’t it, though how much the park actually do that or use it to influence their strategy is anyone’s guess.
 
I find it extremely unlikely that Pleasure Beach are sophisticated enough to process, analyse and then find value in the data that scanning a phone would provide. Their previous turnstiles provided ridership information, so as has been said all they’re potentially getting is what order any individual rides the attractions in.

Given that they struggle to finesse some of the simpler aspects of operating a park, even if they did process said data to inform how they operate the park, would they really implement those changes? Last time I visited, it took them 25 minutes to fry some chips…
 
A lot of businesses do analyse data, which is why loyalty cards are so common. Tesco’s attributed the Tescos Club Card as a big factor in their growth to become the UK’s biggest supermarket. But supermarkets do at least try to present a loyalty card as being a win/win, with shoppers collecting points. Here it seems to be completely one sided with no obvious benefit to the customer.
 
Most parks these days will be tracking all this stuff via their app. Data will be fed back on where guests go and when, to help analyse crowds at certain times of the day etc to plan staffing/restaurant availability and so on.

Making guests scan in at each ride for this purpose alone feels like a rubbish customer experience.
 
It’s really poor, and I doubt there are any other parks in the world with this system.

The closest I’ve seen on my travels was Jin Jiang Action Park in China, where your photo was taken and that was linked to your wristband so popped up on every ride where they scanned it.

Unusual system, but far less inconvenient than having to faff around getting your phone out every time.
 
Funny how there has always been food on the spot across from the River Caves down the years.
Good find Rick, where did you hunt that one down from?
 
rob666 said:
Good find Rick, where did you hunt that one down from?
Click to expand...
@Dipper_Dave and I are about to enter a bidding war for it on eBay.

What struck me was the station corner on the River Caves looks too close to the Dipper but I think both are unchanged. Watson Road isn't narrow by any means and there is a pavement on both sides.

It must just be the surroundings. This is a prime example of where if PB announced a radical change to the Dipper station it would be decried as sacrilege but they've messed around with it for 99 years.
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top