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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2023 Discussion

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Alarm bells should be ringing here, the project is way over due and probably way over budget. As CEO she should have got a grip of this the moment she knew it would miss the 2022 opening. It should have some project manager who should be dragged over hot Coles for this mess.

The fact she has no idea what's happening is beyond belief, but hey at least thier getting a big wheel ...
 
Bert2theSpark said:
That tweet inadvertently really says a lot about Amanda's leadership of Black Pleasure Beach. It shows that she doesn't have a firm grasp of the business, nor do the people undertaking the Valhalla refurbishment trust to tell Amanda about what's going on, presumably because it's not going well and they think Amanda will be quite explosive if she finds out.

That's terrible for business, and if it was a publicly-traded company, you'd expect the stock price to plummet from a tweet like that, it's damaging to BPB's brand...
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That's my main take from it too. She's running Blackpool Pleasure Beach, not the local fun fair. Amateur stuff.

What are the chances of a change in ownership? Can imagine Amanda stubbornly clinging on and not even entertaining the idea tbh.

Drayton Manor seemed to be struggling and now they're well on the up. Not just with ride investments but it seems a lot more polished and professional now.
 
In fairness, it's quite fair that Amanda might not know everything about what's going on. I can imagine that she defers those kinds of duties to someone lower down the food chain; I'd guess that Valhalla has a project manager involved with it, so Amanda doesn't really need to know about every piece of minutiae that goes in there.

I must admit, however, that I do wonder whether corporate ownership may be beneficial for Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Yes, it would not be a silver bullet that solves every single problem the park suffers from, but I do feel like it would bring added financial might that could steady the ship, as well as added expertise in areas such as project management and marketing that Blackpool could benefit from. If a corporate company owned it, I'd imagine that Valhalla would not have been delayed by 2 years and Icon would have had stronger marketing, to name a few examples.
 
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Matt N said:
If a corporate company owned it, I'd imagine that Valhalla would not have been delayed by 2 years and Icon would have had stronger marketing.
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If a corporation owned BPB, Valhalla would have been demolished years ago, a large part of the appeal of the park is how it isn't corporate and can do it's own thing. The only downside is that Amanda doesn't have a grip on what's going on therefore cannot conceive a vision for the park to be successful economically and creatively within.
 
Matt N said:
In fairness, it's quite fair that Amanda might not know everything about what's going on. I can imagine that she defers those kinds of duties to someone lower down the food chain; I'd guess that Valhalla has a project manager involved with it, so Amanda doesn't really need to know about every piece of minutiae that goes in there.
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That's not how project management should work Matt. Yes there will probably be a Project Manager managing the day-to-day of the Valhalla refurb. But it's her responsibility to check in with the Project Manager regularly to make sure everything is on track. And if it isn't, to pull a few strings to get the project moving again. It's absolutely no excuse to claim ignorance or blame those underneath you.

Also this should very definitely be an internal matter - it's extremely unprofessional of her to be badmouthing her team on social media. We all laugh at Mandy from the outside but I can't imagine how awful it would be to work for someone like that. She's a workplace bully, no bones about it.
 
Matt N said:
In fairness, it's quite fair that Amanda might not know everything about what's going on. I can imagine that she defers those kinds of duties to someone lower down the food chain; I'd guess that Valhalla has a project manager involved with it, so Amanda doesn't really need to know about every piece of minutiae that goes in there.

I must admit, however, that I do wonder whether corporate ownership may be beneficial for Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Yes, it would not be a silver bullet that solves every single problem the park suffers from, but I do feel like it would bring added financial might that could steady the ship, as well as added expertise in areas such as project management and marketing that Blackpool could benefit from. If a corporate company owned it, I'd imagine that Valhalla would not have been delayed by 2 years and Icon would have had stronger marketing, to name a few examples.
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It’s not at all justified. As the CEO you don’t directly manage the project but you be expecting regular updates on progress and project spend.

No wonder the park is struggling if the CEO can’t even keep track of a single project.
 
"Eight month delay on parts"...Two whole years of closure...
Now if they had ordered all the damn parts at the start...and if they had been honest and announced no chance of opening in the summer...and if she hadn't insisted recently that she was absolutely determined to get it open by half term in October...then perhaps allowances could be made.
Her small park...she is in absolute control of the place...Hot Ice has been losing probably a million a year for a couple of decades, under her direction, but the rotten flume in a shed...she don't give a damn.
See you in March mugs.
 
Anyone thought that Mandy judging by her comments on Twitter is only now starting to have a meltdown behind the scenes? It's like the penny has only dropped for her that things haven't quite all gone to plan and many are calling her out on Valhalla.

Twitter can often make a person look like a complete immature fool and Mandy here is no exception; always said some folk are emotional mature enough to have Twitter as I have seen many celebrities and other famous big named characters all act like children on social media.
 
Matt N said:
I've had a look and it sounds as though supply chain issues and Brexit are the cause of the delays. That's perfectly understandable; they've caused issues for many businesses.
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Sorry but blaming Brexit for an 18 month delay is nonsense. No other major park in the UK has had such severe delays in opening a ride. Drayton managed to get all Thier new rides shipped from Zamperla promptly and Chessington seems to progressing with Thier new coaster at great pace.

It's about responsibility, as CEO I don't expect her to micromanage every project at PB but she should be holding those who are responsible for the referb to account as any manager would do. Brexit is just the easy go to excuse.
 
It is completely possible that issues operating the ride have arisen, the resolution to that being requiring new electronic parts that they've struggled to get hold of due to the current situation. The ride is pretty unique, and while the lead time for parts already designed can be relatively well forecasted even with delays, the design and production of new parts will take significantly longer. I know some in previous posts have made comparisons to additions at other parks, but those are generally rides which already have "off the shelf" parts designed and either in stock or in established production - much easier to get hold of.

But, I'm not completely defending the park here. Even if the delays were "unavoidable", how they manage those delays is not. Having a website page that still states the ride is opening in 2022 is just one thing, getting little to know official word from the park explaining why things are taking longer is another. Then there's the CEO who publicly claims they don't know what's going on, and in tweets today seems to suggest there's some sort of conspiracy to hide the "truth" from her - it's all quite frankly astounding.

It only serves to show the park as an organisation is completely disjointed in terms of management. In any other organisation, the marketing team and management would be discussing how to deal with the situation internally along with those working on the Valhalla project. There then could be public updates where everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. Instead we've seen silence from the official account, and a CEO's tweets which are only demonstrating what a mess things are behind the scenes.
 
Matt N said:
I've had a look and it sounds as though supply chain issues and Brexit are the cause of the delays. That's perfectly understandable; they've caused issues for many businesses.
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Well you can blame Valhalla’s closure for a refurbishment that has lasted three whole years on Brexit and COVID but just look at Paulton’s Park and what they did with Tornado Springs in a fairly similar period. You can even look at Mythica at LLW and Vikings at DM as already mentioned. These parks have managed to open whole themed areas with multiple rides and BPP can’t even get a refurbishment on a log flume sorted?

It’s going to be absolutely fascinating to see just what this refurbishment of Valhalla has involved when it opens again next season! Delays of course can occur with any project for any park but communication with the public seems to have been quite poor here.
 
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I've spent the last few years dealing with implementing changes for supply chains to cope with Brexit.

It ads a few kinks and issues around food stuffs and just in time systems. We are talking 24 Vs 48 hours here though.

Anyone who uses Brexit for a situation like this is either a liar or very unaware of their own lack of objectivity fuelled by an extreme political position.
 
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