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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2023 Discussion
- Thread starter rob666
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Dipper_Dave
TS Member
BigShadowtinytree
TS Member
ChristmasPud
TS Member
Is the ride opening 18 months late "minutiae"?
The Amanda tweets today are both the most hilarious thing on theme park twitter but also just sad. Like lots others I feel like the Pleasure Beach wont last under the Thompson family and even just from a PR perspective she is ruining the legacy
Shaggy_Dog_
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Ride To Happiness
I’ve just noticed that Amanda has her own personal website, AmandaJThompson.com.
There’s a very interesting line in her bio on there.
“Keeping up a long and honourable family tradition, Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s Managing Director, Amanda Thompson, has followed in the footsteps of her father, grandfather and great-grandfather, to continue building on the phenomenal success of Britain’s favourite tourist attraction”.
https://www.amandajthompson.com/profile/
That’s one hell of a bold claim to call it that, I wonder by what metric you’d refer to Pleasure Beach as “Britain’s favourite tourist attraction”? I mean it’s certainly nowhere near the most popular in terms of visitor numbers, and I doubt that it would be anywhere near the top of any poll to find most popular or most loved tourist attractions in this country. But hey, you can write whatever you want on those kind of things can’t you.
There’s a very interesting line in her bio on there.
“Keeping up a long and honourable family tradition, Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s Managing Director, Amanda Thompson, has followed in the footsteps of her father, grandfather and great-grandfather, to continue building on the phenomenal success of Britain’s favourite tourist attraction”.
https://www.amandajthompson.com/profile/
That’s one hell of a bold claim to call it that, I wonder by what metric you’d refer to Pleasure Beach as “Britain’s favourite tourist attraction”? I mean it’s certainly nowhere near the most popular in terms of visitor numbers, and I doubt that it would be anywhere near the top of any poll to find most popular or most loved tourist attractions in this country. But hey, you can write whatever you want on those kind of things can’t you.
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
I've been involved with the building of my workshop at work which is filled with technical bits from abroad. It has been passed to me since the works were signed off for the shell and the technical side has been on me. My head of department doesn't know every tiny detail but I had to feed back what was going on, extra costs, time frames, training requirements etc including when we found we were missing a major part to my manager and said head of department. The project I was part of cost 5 figures whereas I assume Valhalla is 6 or 7 figures. There is 0 excuses to be had. None. If I hadn't done my job I'd have been dragged into a meeting and been asked to explain myself.
I wouldn't expect my bosses to rant on socials about me, internally or externally. The height of unprofessional behaviour and I feel sorry for those working on this. Yes it is funny but it shows serious problems behind the scenes.
The park could and should have spun this out into a positive about the delay. Ideally they shouldn't have announced a year until they had a firm grasp on the project but if they found out very late they could still have put some backstory based in Viking mythology explaining a delay in character as such. You get the impression the marketing lot probably haven't been told directly it is delayed.
KolonelKlink
TS Member
As has been said earlier in the thread, if BPB was public and had shareholders to satisfy, Amanda would have been kicked out years ago - she clearly has an incredibly weak grip on the business and the deputies around her are either equally incompetent or too terrified to bring problems to her attention. The latter, of course, is a distinct possibility if you’ve ever seen the way she behaved 25 years ago knowing TV cameras were there:
I can't name names of course, but the park has lost a lot of top quality senior staff in recent years, that have been replaced by nodding dog yes men who are under the park owners direct control.
Staff losses are always constant at the park, I would guess at least a third of the staff change every year.
And please don't blame "The Thompsons"...we are looking at a single one of them here, I think Nick would not have been the total absolute disaster for the park that his incompetent elder sister has been.
The real management of the park collapsed with the Mouse (sorry shakey).
.
Going back to old repeated issues, my wife has been absent from the park since covid.
She had a diamond pass (entry only) booked for 2020, and has been promised a refund twice, but has received nothing at all from the park, no diamond pass, despite actual purchase, and no refund!
She used to spend about a grand a year on food, drink and merch as a non rider.
Three years, three grand of secondary sales lost, and lots of empty seats and food stalls kept closed.
The park has been very quiet on most days, but still no entry only ticket, and no explanation.
The excellent admissions manager, who I had lots of dealings with over the years, quit because he had had enough, and walked after years at the park, because he was unhappy with the direction the park was going...downhill.
Staff losses are always constant at the park, I would guess at least a third of the staff change every year.
And please don't blame "The Thompsons"...we are looking at a single one of them here, I think Nick would not have been the total absolute disaster for the park that his incompetent elder sister has been.
The real management of the park collapsed with the Mouse (sorry shakey).
.
Going back to old repeated issues, my wife has been absent from the park since covid.
She had a diamond pass (entry only) booked for 2020, and has been promised a refund twice, but has received nothing at all from the park, no diamond pass, despite actual purchase, and no refund!
She used to spend about a grand a year on food, drink and merch as a non rider.
Three years, three grand of secondary sales lost, and lots of empty seats and food stalls kept closed.
The park has been very quiet on most days, but still no entry only ticket, and no explanation.
The excellent admissions manager, who I had lots of dealings with over the years, quit because he had had enough, and walked after years at the park, because he was unhappy with the direction the park was going...downhill.
I visited Pleasure beach for the first time in many years in the spring and what struck me is how many pockets of dead space are dotted around the park. There's the space opposite Ghost Train, the area where Wild Mouse was, the old glass dome which is now closed off, Space invader building which is nothing more than a pizza restaurant, the building where the in the dark waltzer was and the old arcade near river caves. For a park that is limited in space it's quit odd.
The park is reaching a point where it needs major investment as it's just treading water atm. Valhalla is just another symptom of this. I mean can anyone see them getting a new coaster anytime soon or even a decent flat ride?
The park is reaching a point where it needs major investment as it's just treading water atm. Valhalla is just another symptom of this. I mean can anyone see them getting a new coaster anytime soon or even a decent flat ride?
If the park was just treading water things wouldn't be so bad...
Big One costing a fortune in repairs every year, Valhalla the same without opening, and still not done... Icon a flop, many ride closures without replacement, visitor figures on the slide.
One example from a few years ago.
The Bling site was empty for a couple of seasons.
The (excellent) junior park manager for the area kicked off, repeatedly, saying it made the park look run down and badly run, and he needed something, any old flat or stall, to fill the obvious gap.
I think he got two big flowerpots.
They ignored him all season, so he quit at the end of it..."They ignore everything I say, and won't give me the tools to do a proper job, so I won't be back next season mate, sorry, it just isn't worth the frustration.".
A really good, enthusiastic enthusiast manager, who was absolutely on the ball, popular with staff and punters...another mate on the park gone.
So he went off to manage something less stressful for more money, another enthusiast in the trade broken by a stroppy park owner.
Big One costing a fortune in repairs every year, Valhalla the same without opening, and still not done... Icon a flop, many ride closures without replacement, visitor figures on the slide.
One example from a few years ago.
The Bling site was empty for a couple of seasons.
The (excellent) junior park manager for the area kicked off, repeatedly, saying it made the park look run down and badly run, and he needed something, any old flat or stall, to fill the obvious gap.
I think he got two big flowerpots.
They ignored him all season, so he quit at the end of it..."They ignore everything I say, and won't give me the tools to do a proper job, so I won't be back next season mate, sorry, it just isn't worth the frustration.".
A really good, enthusiastic enthusiast manager, who was absolutely on the ball, popular with staff and punters...another mate on the park gone.
So he went off to manage something less stressful for more money, another enthusiast in the trade broken by a stroppy park owner.
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Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
I watched that yesterday and shes the type of person you wouldn’t want to mess with so can understand she’s got yes personal working for her now.
Valhalla worked when it was ticket per ride system as the amount of guests who would have gone on it would easily have paid for its yearly running costs.
With the cost Electric and Gas going up again next year I wouldn’t be surprised that she replaces the fire effects with theses.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
Yeah I went with friends In 2000 and brought a Wristband but went with my non theme park friends the following year and brought tickets to just ride Valhalla again.
ChristmasPud
TS Member
To be fair to her, lets just say there was a reason Amanda was chosen.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
What was the reason?
I must admit, I’m always surprised that Nick Thompson wasn’t chosen to run the park after Geoffrey because he seems to have far more of an interest in the actual theme park side of things than Amanda. Amanda’s forte within the business seems to lie more in shows and theatre; for instance, Hot Ice seems to be one of her biggest passions within the business.
Plastic Person
TS Member
To quote Tolstoy, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
This thread wouldn't benefit from delving or speculating into the personal lives of BPB's owners, but running a family business comes with its own set of issues and sensitivities. Even arch-pragmatist Roland Mack had to bring in a psychologist in order to ensure a smooth transference of power between his own brood.
Agreed with @Relife as to the unusual proliferation of dead space around the park. Once upon a time, one of the most impressive aspects of BPB was just quite how much they managed to squeeze in. Some of this particular nous briefly returned when designing Icon, but otherwise, another of the park's charms left to the increasingly distant past...
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venny
TS Member
I think we’ve come to expect a level of shambolic management at Pleasure Beach, however that Twitter meltdown is truly remarkable when you step back and consider it. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an MD of any major company totally lose it so publicly; certainly not a theme park owner.
It’s really a sad indictment of where the park is at the moment. Not only is Amanda willing to throw a hissy fit so publicly, she’s also willing to throw all of her staff under the bus. I can’t quite imagine how they must be feeling watching this tantrum unfold so publicly. I do know it’s not someone I’d like to work for though.
Even the substance of her tweets are contradictory. At the same time that she’s seemingly not aware Valhalla is not open, she also doesn’t know why, but then goes on to blame it on all manner of things including safety, Brexit and availability of parts. She’s also previously stated that she’s had meetings about Valhalla, so she must know what’s going on. She clearly just doesn’t want to take responsibility for such a failure of delivery (and let’s be honest it is a massive failure to have a ride delayed by more than a year). Interesting how a tweet can perfectly convey a park’s much wider issues.
It’s not been a good season and I don’t see many signs of next year improving.
It’s really a sad indictment of where the park is at the moment. Not only is Amanda willing to throw a hissy fit so publicly, she’s also willing to throw all of her staff under the bus. I can’t quite imagine how they must be feeling watching this tantrum unfold so publicly. I do know it’s not someone I’d like to work for though.
Even the substance of her tweets are contradictory. At the same time that she’s seemingly not aware Valhalla is not open, she also doesn’t know why, but then goes on to blame it on all manner of things including safety, Brexit and availability of parts. She’s also previously stated that she’s had meetings about Valhalla, so she must know what’s going on. She clearly just doesn’t want to take responsibility for such a failure of delivery (and let’s be honest it is a massive failure to have a ride delayed by more than a year). Interesting how a tweet can perfectly convey a park’s much wider issues.
It’s not been a good season and I don’t see many signs of next year improving.
Dipper_Dave
TS Member
We were discussing this recently, I’m sure either Wiki or some other site at one point showed Bling as being ‘replaced by plant pots.’
Just done a nice brief last visit of the season, four coasters and a beer, and a trip round the shops.
Bumped into an old face from the park, not one of the usual suspects, discussing future prospects.
Apparently, there was a lengthy, detailed independent audit of the park about fifteen years ago.
The park loses masses of money on one thing, and one thing alone...the ice show.
All other areas break even or make money.
The direct, blunt advice at the time, following audit, was to ditch the show.
The advice was not taken.
Bumped into an old face from the park, not one of the usual suspects, discussing future prospects.
Apparently, there was a lengthy, detailed independent audit of the park about fifteen years ago.
The park loses masses of money on one thing, and one thing alone...the ice show.
All other areas break even or make money.
The direct, blunt advice at the time, following audit, was to ditch the show.
The advice was not taken.
Which was???
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