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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2023 Discussion

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Coaster said:
I would have much more sympathy with Pleasure Beach on this if their owner didn't support the Tories, who essentially took all the problems the pandemic threw at us, multiplied them by 10 and then profited from them.

Because Amanda is so vocal in her support of them, the pandemic or Brexit excuses do not wash with me.
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I don't want to turn this into a political debate but I would argue that the park's recent set of accounts showing a record profit (from what is essentially the 2021 season), are at least in part down to the government help handed out to businesses during and after the pandemic. And partly down to fewer people going abroad in 2021.

The pandemic was not particularly a bad thing for the park other than to delay Valhalla (but even then the lock downs only amounted to 6 months). I am not sure I fully believe the "cannot get the parts" line. There may have been some truth to it but they have definitely milked it !

As for which is the best dark ride between Valhalla 2 and Haunted House 2 - I have yet to ride either. Hopefully I will be trying out Valhalla on April the 27th (apparently its also my round), and I may make it to towers later in the year. But I don't think you can make a comparison really, one is essentially an indoor thrill ride (or log flume in a shed), with the other being what most people think of as a dark ride.
 
Coaster said:
It is interesting that you mention Phantasialand though; their examples of dark rides (Geister, Hollywood Tour, Maus au Chocolat) aren’t exactly up to the standard of the rest of the park, and I’d suggest Valhalla is far better than those!
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Understandably interactive rides aren't everyone's cup of tea; but Maus is fully themed, every inch is detailed and works consistently, plenty of small effects in-between the shooting galleries. Valhalla may be more enjoyable if you like the insanity of it but beyond that preference; to compare actual dark ride quality Maus wins by far. No bin bags or blank walls in sight.
Geister fair enough; but Hollywood Tour hasn't existed for years now.

To echo what others have said truly Valhalla was famous for how bonkers it was. Quality isn't a factor. When a ride is lottery for what you will see it's not great; especially if you've had to queue a long time. Shame the new version doesn't sound to have changed much. Won't be rushing to Blackpool for it.
The park would probably have been better off replacing it totally.
 
CSLKenny said:
Understandably interactive rides aren't everyone's cup of tea; but Maus is fully themed, every inch is detailed and works consistently, plenty of small effects in-between the shooting galleries. Valhalla may be more enjoyable if you like the insanity of it but beyond that preference; to compare actual dark ride quality Maus wins by far. No bin bags or blank walls in sight.
Geister fair enough; but Hollywood Tour hasn't existed for years now.
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I think that's also where personal preference comes in. I don't find Maus impressive at all, it's just shuffling from room to room and looking at a screen. There's no ambition or scale to it, and I just find it mundane and repetitive.
 
John_P said:
Wish people would stop banging on about the fact it was shut for over 3 years completely ignoring a global pandemic that likely put the entire existence of the park under threat.
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I wouldn't say that people are ignoring the pandemic here, yes it undoubtedly had an impact on the work on Valhalla, it's more that as @shakey said, they appear to have milked it. They could probably blame Covid for around 18 months tops. And as for Brexit, other parks have managed to get ride parts during that time, seemingly without much issue. It seems the park has bounced back from Covid anyway. The place survived world wars, remember.

The whole saga has become utterly ridiculous, factoring in the time it has taken, the fact that it has had a half-assed 'opening' dressed up as 'technical rehearsals', and Amanda's absurd social media whinges, in which she seemed to not have a clue what has been going on with the ride, despite owning the place. The fact that The Curse at Alton Manor came together in a few months, makes Valhalla's plight seem even more laughable.

I get that they've 'opened' it to no doubt stop enthusiasts whinging, but the reality is that it seems that opening the ride in the state that I understand it is in, is actually likely to make them whinge even more. They can't win. The soaking is apparently worse than ever, loads of stuff isn't working. . . the ride and this whole saga is an absolute cluster****, an omnishambles of the highest order (should we be surprised?!) Also as regards the Golden Ticket water ride of the year thing, how the hell does Valhalla win an award during a season where it hasn't even operated?! What a farce
 
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It was Valhalla’s absurdity that made it what it was for me, but equally it was likely the same absurdity that meant its demi-demise somewhat inevitable. It’s easy to forget how poor a state it was in at the back end of 2019 when it closed, the original ride experience was long gone.

I recall around 2002/3 when they were really making a significant effort to get things back on track – one night on a Thank Gravity It’s Friday evening, with 4 boats (and no queue!) – we got the perfect Valhalla run. Absolutely everything worked, ring of fire, tesla coil, strobed vortex, laser floor … everything.

There are similarities with The Ultimate & Valhalla, are they the best rides of their type ? Almost certainly not, but they both came out of a sense of brilliant British eccentricity. Alas, that gets expensive 20 – 30 years on.

The ride that Project 2000 built is dead, but I am still optimistic that they can restore a level of fun that makes the soaking worthwhile.

Don’t be sad it’s over, be happy that it happened.
 
Coaster said:
interesting that you mention Phantasialand though; their examples of dark rides (Geister, Hollywood Tour, Maus au Chocolat) aren’t exactly up to the standard of the rest of the park, and I’d suggest Valhalla is far better than those!


Chiapas and Valhalla are very different rides. Chiapas is scenic, upbeat, and focuses of having loads of impressive static theming and sight-lines. Valhalla is a scary indoor dark ride experience; those rides are not trying to achieve the same thing.

I much prefer original Valhalla to Chiapas, it offered so much more IMO. These days? I'm not so sure.
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They also have Mystery Castle, the greatest dark ride I've been on.

The reason I first mentioned Chiapas and Piraten is Valhalla is seen to be superior in the (not really reliable) awards. They might be different, but all under the same category. So is River Quest and so is River Caves. Vast difference but under the same awards.
 
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After all the tomfoolery for what many are thinking of the state of both Towers and PBB, I've had to accept and sadly laugh and many people's anger at how things are going because frankly...why should we hold out hope with the world is the way it is? Let me enjoy hellfire on people's lives from all the comments I'm reading and act as a true chaotic neutral.
Michael Jackson Halloween GIF by Vevo
 
I love Chiapas so much, it's world class. But prime Valhalla is better. Why? It's more exciting and varied. With all the original effects working it can't be beat. Problem is the stars didn't align very often and that's the main issue, inconsistency. So for that reason the golden ticket awards should have gone elsewhere.
 
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