Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2023 Discussion

[Poisson]

They were building 200ft + steel coasters the same way woodies were built in the 1920s. It's impressively cowboy.

 

[venny]

Last time I was at the park I was wondering if the big white structure that's part of the turn around was in fact designed in that way incase they had to come back a few years later and re-profile the whole thing.

Next time you go through that section have a look at were the original track would've ran, it's a much wider turn.

I think that latticework is a product of them using the circular column supports to tiptoe around that area of the Grand National and keep the area at ground level less cluttered. They are spanning some pretty large distances from one support to the next. I know what you mean though, it is a mightl structure.

 

[Marshal-B33J]

Last time I was at the park I was wondering if the big white structure that's part of the turn around was in fact designed in that way incase they had to come back a few years later and re-profile the whole thing.

Next time you go through that section have a look at were the original track would've ran, it's a much wider turn.

The track used to run on top of the lattice work and then was re-profiled. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4797/40019483494_5525c37c26_z.jpg.

 

[pjanvil]

Random question, but does anyone know how much of Noahs Ark still exists and which bits were demolished, also curious if anyone has any pictures of inside the parts that do exist post-closure?

 

[Rob F]

I think its a shame the Ark was closed,

 

[Squiggs]

I think its a shame the Ark was closed,

There were a lot of rides that closed during that period that were such a shame. The removal of the Whip and Turtle Chase never sat well with me, not least as I never got to experience them. Noah's Ark was a pretty unique experience and a lot of fun, the one silver lining is that it is still there, so if sentiment were ever to change it could theoretically re-open one day.

I do wonder whether one day we could see it return in some form, not least because it is now a listed building, so it either stays as it is or gets a revamp back into a working fun house, there are not many other options really.

Random question, but does anyone know how much of Noahs Ark still exists and which bits were demolished, also curious if anyone has any pictures of inside the parts that do exist post-closure?

I'll preface this by saying that I honestly don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if a fair amount of the interior remains intact, not least because it's not like the space could really be used for anything else... there's only so much you can do with a structure that is continuously rocking back and forth. Potentially everything from the gangplank up to the ark through to the Rocking Pig and Wildest Animal scenes.

The bits that we do know are gone are basically the entire outdoor section of the path - the entrance, bridge, steam tunnel and stepping stones. Also, the entire last portion of the ride including the whale, which I think was taken down in 2020.

 

[rob666]

Can't remember the source, I think it was feedback from the heritage tours, but much of the inside was well rotten at the last report.
It was a mischief nightmare...lots of idiots running the wrong way, shagging in dark corners, and skunk central on school trip days.
Some also complained about getting electric shocks from the handrails.
No idea of fun some people!
Combined with major access issues and the odd screaming claustrophobics, it could be a management nightmare.

 

[pjanvil]

Can't remember the source, I think it was feedback from the heritage tours, but much of the inside was well rotten at the last report.
It was a mischief nightmare...lots of idiots running the wrong way, shagging in dark corners, and skunk central on school trip days.
Some also complained about getting electric shocks from the handrails.
No idea of fun some people!
Combined with major access issues and the odd screaming claustrophobics, it could be a management nightmare.

I suspect that wouldn't be as much as a problem these days. I know the changes were made around the time they started charging for Admission and I think the main driver for that was to stop local youths hanging around/causing problems. Also if they added CCTV, new lighting etc I imagine they could clamp down on that sort of thing if it was still a problem today. Given how unique and historic this attraction is I'm just very sad it closed. I always enjoyed it myself. Also I don't really see how the Entrance changes effected this at the time given under the Ark was a main entrance even before 2008.

I'm surprised the Whale mouth was demolished if its listed, unless that only applies to the core Ark. I'd still love to see some pictures from inside it post closure to see what remains today if anyone has any.

 

[Squiggs]

I'm surprised the Whale mouth was demolished if its listed, unless that only applies to the core Ark.

That is basically the case, yes. The listing document is rather specific that it is the Ark's structure that is listed, not the props, animals or gags contained within.

Which makes sense - most of the animals are actually from the 1996 renovation of the ride, other than a few notable bits left over from the 1960s refurb (such as the rhino, dinosaur and policeman). The Whale was moved and rebuilt in 1996, so it was actually less than 25 years old when it was removed.

Originally, the whale was located at the front of the ark, rather than the back - I may be mistaken but, if you look at the current aerial photo of the ark on Google, it looks like you can see where the whale used to be located. In the blue pool around the ark you can see a distinct green rectangle, this would have been where it used to be:

 

[pjanvil]

I'm actually going to Kennywood in a couple of weeks primarily because they have the world's old remaining Turtle Chase, Whip and (operating) Noahs Ark. It's a shame Pleasure Beach didn't keep more of its historical rides running. In the case of the Ark it's something I would hope might be restored/reopened in the future if Pleasure Beach goes through a bit of a heritage phase. Especially since it can't be removed. Kennywood recently did a large refurbishment of theirs.

 

[rob666]

Funny, those three rides were the ones I would only ride/walk to use up remaining C tickets...never rated any of them after a few goes.
The ark and whip were handy shelters when it was raining, but that was about it.
Edit...
Last thing on the ark.
Parts of it smelled of stale wee.
May explain the rot.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

I’ve just been looking at the height restrictions on the rides at Pleasure Beach and I was very surprised to see that River Caves is listed as 1.32m (which is the same as PMBO, Nash, and even higher than Icon). I notice that Valhalla states “1.32m to ride unaccompanied” so surely this has to be an error for the River Caves information?

For comparison:

 

[Matt N]

It says on the page “If Height Restriction is Met: Children Can Ride Unaccompanied”, so I take that to mean that the unaccompanied height restriction is 132cm and there’s no accompanied height restriction.

 

[Fuct]

I’ve just been looking at the height restrictions on the rides at Pleasure Beach and I was very surprised to see that River Caves is listed as 1.32m (which is the same as PMBO, Nash, and even higher than Icon). I notice that Valhalla states “1.32m to ride unaccompanied” so surely this has to be an error for the River Caves information?

For comparison:

That final drop on the River Caves is white knuckle!

 

[shakey]

It says on the page “If Height Restriction is Met: Children Can Ride Unaccompanied”, so I take that to mean that the unaccompanied height restriction is 132cm and there’s no accompanied height restriction.

Yep , that's probably it. The wording of the height restrictions on the website has no consistency between rides and is very confusing at times.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[venny]

Two glorious sunny days this weekend and the park was very quiet both days. It’s really quite extraordinary to see it so quiet when there was so many people in the town - for context, Central car park was jammed.

The £45 on the day price seems to be really effecting attendance.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

Yep , that's probably it. The wording of the height restrictions on the website has no consistency between rides and is very confusing at times.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

You are very right, it is really inconsistent between the rides. Look at how they clearly state the restrictions for the rides in Nick Land compared to the River Caves example above.

But then this can’t be right, no height restriction for anyone so long as they are accompanied by someone over 1.2m on a Zamperla Disk’O!

 

[shakey]

Two glorious sunny days this weekend and the park was very quiet both days. It’s really quite extraordinary to see it so quiet when there was so many people in the town - for context, Central car park was jammed.

The £45 on the day price seems to be really effecting attendance.

The on the day price for today (Monday the 16th of May) is £46 !!

When you consider that Alton Towers is effectively £32.50 for any day - (booking via carex voucher site - even booking for the current day), then it does make the pleasure beach pricing structure look a little bit expensive. I think PB were offering a limited £5 discount in May but just checked and you cannot use the discount for the coming Saturday which is £44 pre booking online.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

I rarely dip into this thread anymore, mainly because of just how disappointing all my visits to BPB over the last few years have been, so apologies if it’s already been confirmed, but do we have an opening date for Valhalla, or any idea of what’s going on? It’s been shut for two and a half years now, and it’s pretty poor that it’s still just sitting there doing nowt.

 

[John_P]

Still doing work on Valhalla. Looked like they are adding something to the exterior were the boats are visible before they go backwards. Not sure if their sealing it up completely or just adding more themeing.

Still got a scaffolding platform for people to work on this section that's been built as well.