Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2023 Discussion

[Jim]

PMBO, Grand National and Valhalla will all be closed at the start of the season, the latter will be closed until Summer.

https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/planned-maintenance/

While I liked your post... Its NOT due to the closures. Now if only other certain theme parks could do the same thing in regards to planned maintenance.... Defiantly a page I'm going to keep my eye on. Thank you

And one month to go boys and girls...all excited.

Well I was, and getting fully excited for 2nd Sunday until the news about PMBO & Grand National . I'll wait till at least the PMBO is open, if it opens in Feb. Otherwise, looks like Nov again now, but maybe 2 visit this year weather permitting.

 

[rob666]

At the last sale prices, that equals the cost of a season pass renewal...stupid pricing system.

 

[venny]

They do themselves no favours with this pricing. If you charge full price, people will expect a full lineup. Three headline attractions being closed is not going to leave a good impression on casual visitors; it damages the brand long term.

 

[rob666]

When has the Beach ever looked to the long term?
Fresh mugs every year, parents and grandparents showing the next generation how you get ripped off at the great British seaside.
Poor value at the Beach has run through generations, I remember my mum complaining about the rip off price of orange cordial in the fun house back in the sixties!
Rip 'em off and send 'em home skint...more grockles wash up on the beach fresh every year.

 

[venny]

But at least they used to have a reduced price early season to reflect the shorter opening times, likely poor ride availability and dodgy weather. And you could stay in the Fun House as long as you wanted, even if the orange squash was spendy!

 

[rob666]

...and they only had hot water in the toilets in the funhouse so you couldn't get a drink from the cold tap...funny that.
I think my mum sat there brooding, and worked out that the mark up was about a thousand percent on the extra cheap cordial!

 

[Matt N]

Out of interest, would it be a fair statement to suggest that Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s business model relies less on attracting new custom than that of other major parks in the UK, instead focusing more on repeat custom?

I only ask because Blackpool seems like the type of place that very much has an existing captive audience that go there on holiday every year regardless of what’s happening, and from what I can tell, Pleasure Beach isn’t somewhere that too many people outside of enthusiast circles plan day trips specifically to visit, with most tagging a day there onto a longer Blackpool holiday. So in that regard, the park relies more on repeat custom than new guests, and doesn’t have to work as hard to install new attractions and run extensive marketing campaigns as, say, the Merlin parks, because a lot of the people who visit are Blackpool holidaymakers who’ve been going for years and already include the park in their trips anyway.

Is that a fair assumption for me to make, or am I wrong?

 

[Dipper_Dave]

@Matt N as @rob666 states every single year this comes up (see a few posts back) every season there will be a new set of ‘mugs’ who appear, and will pay regardless of what service they get & what rides are open. I don’t think BPB care that much if a crowd of people go off in a huff and never come back

Also don’t get @shakey started on their business model !

 

[Matt N]

@Matt N as @rob666 states every single year this comes up (see a few posts back) every season there will be a new set of ‘mugs’ who appear, and will pay regardless of what service they get & what rides are open. I don’t think BPB care that much if a crowd of people go off in a huff and never come back

Also don’t get @shakey started on their business model !

Ah sorry, I missed that!

The BPB thread is always oddly cyclical, isn’t it…

 

[Rick]

If you think the Pleasure Beach aren't opening enough rides on 12 Feb go to Alton or Thorpe instead.

 

[rob666]

Pigeon weekend!
Fiftieth anniversary.
Fifteen thousand northern men in grey mac's, flat caps and all carrying little cardboard boxes.
Cyclical, and odd.

 

[MattyH]

If you think the Pleasure Beach aren't opening enough rides on 12 Feb go to Alton or Thorpe instead.

BPB is not worth the entry money though. They are charging the same amount for half their park as Alton Towers charged for fireworks!

 

[Rick]

BPB is not worth the entry money though. They are charging the same amount for half their park as Alton Towers charged for fireworks!

So we keep saying ... but the park was an absolute zoo last summer.

 

[rob666]

...and that is just the staff.

 

[John_P]

Never seen them do this before

 

[Dave]

If you think the Pleasure Beach aren't opening enough rides on 12 Feb go to Alton or Thorpe instead.

Just because other parks are closed doesn’t give pleasure beach the right to rip of customers. There’s really very little logic to that argument.

 

[Dipper_Dave]

Never seen them do this before

That is odd. Why limit it? Surely if someone wants to buy one at full price just let them do it?

 

[rob666]

Cobblers to make more sales mate...Buy one quick before they sell out...allegedly.
Never ever heard of season passes selling out, ever.
It is also their weakest time of year cash flow wise, no real income for a month, no real income for another month...need to get a few quid in from somewhere.

Just because other parks are closed doesn’t give pleasure beach the right to rip of customers. There’s really very little logic to that argument.

The Beach don't need other parks to be closed to rip people off, they are more than capable of ripping people off all year round, and have done so for many years.
Their vision of "customer service" is so different from the corporate likes of Merlin.
"You don't like it, very sorry, but there is someone happy to replace you every year."
And they do, especially when there is a lack of alternatives.
Perhaps the reopening of the french borders for half term will bring back the discounts, but I doubt it.

 

[Rick]

Just because other parks are closed doesn’t give pleasure beach the right to rip of customers. There’s really very little logic to that argument.

Again, I am not sure the common consensus is that people are being ripped off, the park has been so incredibly busy.

I agree that the value proposition changes for a subset of the visitor base when certain rides are closed, but I am not sure it's really beyond the pale.

Alton were charging £16 without a single major ride at Christmas.

 

[John_P]

At least the Pleasure Beach are being upfront with ride closures. Seemed like numerous rides at Towers were just shuttered in the closing weeks of the season without any where official notifying guests.