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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2023 Discussion

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I had missed the above tweet so far. Enthusiasts can be entitled and irritating, but that response is hilariously petulant and defensive, especially as these people are presumably potentially paying customers enquiring out of sheer enthusiasm.

Let's give Amanda the benefit of the doubt. Supply chain issues are very real across many industries, and one can only imagine that the free movement of large tinfoil skeletons and plastic foliage has also been severely impacted.
 
dazza4783 said:
A bit harsh. I think she wants it open more than anyone because she is frustrated about all the delays, baring in mind it should have been finished and open over a year ago.
Delays caused mainly by Covid (Lockdowns and social distancing meant no work could take place), and Brexit (supply chain issues for materials and parts) have meant that it still isn't open, but Amanda is still hoping to have it open this year. Looks like it will probably miss the stated Summer 2022 opening time though, unfortunately.
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Work took place on the ride during covid, lots of it, that is what I heard from a senior member of staff.
It is more recently that things have apparently ground to a halt.
If the time and effort of planning the ice show went into redeveloping Valhalla, it would have happened.
The park owner has had other priorities.
She has virtually admitted it won't open this year.
There is zero chance of it opening this summer, there is little chance of it opening in the autumn.
 
rob666 said:
Work took place on the ride during covid, lots of it, that is what I heard from a senior member of staff.
It is more recently that things have apparently ground to a halt.
If the time and effort of planning the ice show went into redeveloping Valhalla, it would have happened.
The park owner has had other priorities.
She has virtually admitted it won't open this year.
There is zero chance of it opening this summer, there is little chance of it opening in the autumn.
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Yeh I know work will have taken place during covid, but social distancing will have meant that not as much as they would have liked to have done will have been able to.
I agree that there is zero chance of it opening in summer, but, if it does get completed in time to open at some point this year there's no reason why it can't.
Sure with it being a water ride summer would be a great time for a grand re-opening, but no reason that it can't open in September or even October. I mean is the weather really that much different in those months than it is in February/March?
 
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Might be doing a weekend in Blackpool later this year, but not sure I want to go to the Pleasure Beach until Valhalla is back open (will be 2030 at the rate it's going though).
BPB is the main reason I go to Blackpool, but doing a weekend will give me a chance to do other attractions too, most importantly the Sandcastle Waterpark (always wanted to go there).
 
Do u think she went round it and thinks it worst than it was when it closed in 2019? Remember it’s been closed for nearly 3 years and if it’s not fully working she will have a lot of backlash from the vloggers which spreads to the general public.
 
dazza4783 said:
According to Amanda, yes it is.

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But she is not going to publicly announce it is delayed because of her companies lack of being able to organise things properly.

The only reason I said it like that is because the way she has come across in the last two decades in various media outlets and what not, suggests she could mean it like that.

Other parks in the UK have managed to have plenty of ride hardware, new areas and everything in between built in the past few years. Further strengthening the argument that this is delayed by internal bad planning. That includes getting things assembled, commisioned and tested by UK contractors.

Drayton Manor have managed to get many parts for their plethora of Intamin rides delivered in matters of weeks this year and last. That is before you consider the major refurbishment and new boats Intamin helped carry out and supply for their river rapids. Sorry I do not buy the whole Covid and Brexit excuses, they seem very hollow and just excuses when compared with what the industry in the UK has and is doing.
 
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The attitude and approach of staff and management, in any business, starts from the top down. I agree that Amanda has demonstrated many examples of contempt for customers over the years, and it should therefore be no surprise that the culture of treating customers as an inconvenience is manifested across the park. That recent Valhalla tweet really sums up the customers being an inconvenience attitude that we see at BPB.
 
Trigger warning shakey...rodent alert.
Most of the ride staff and junior management are great.
Actual ops at the weekend were generally very good indeed.
It isn't every park where a manager walks over and gives you a real hearty hug on a Sunday morning!
Junior managers, and ops supervisors, have been pulling their hair out for years, I know half a dozen really decent staff, including managers, who have walked away in recent years, after many years good service, because they could not cope with how the park was going.
Nick should be running the park, not seen very much of him since the mouse died.
 
It just occurred to me. Drayton Manor have what? Atleast six Intamin installations atleast. No issues in getting parts whatsoever.

Given the rumoured bad air between Pleasure Beach and Valhalla since 2000. What is the possibility that they are using a different less experienced company to supply and amend hardware?

It certainly would explain why there are delays when other parks seem to get parts just fine.

I am not convinced. Certainly an interesting point to consider though. Either way I would put that down to bad planning in itself. As if they were using a lesser contractor, they should have planned around that and planned for potential delays when dealing with such a complex piece of equipment.
 
venny said:
Are we sure it is primarily a covid/Brexit delay and not a poor planning / design change / can’t make their mind up delay?
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For a while now I’ve wondered if it were a ‘Don’t have the money to get it switched on and running on the revenue we are taking’ kind of delay.
 
Seeing how people have seen the ride cycling boats over the past few months it would seem the issue probably isn't with the ride system itself.

It does make you question even the timescales involved when the ride originally closed in 2019 that it would be back for 2021. Guessing the original plan was to go at it with the overhaul during the 2020 season which they was impossible.
 
DistortAMG said:
It just occurred to me. Drayton Manor have what? Atleast six Intamin installations atleast. No issues in getting parts whatsoever.

Given the rumoured bad air between Pleasure Beach and Valhalla since 2000. What is the possibility that they are using a different less experienced company to supply and amend hardware?

It certainly would explain why there are delays when other parks seem to get parts just fine.

I am not convinced. Certainly an interesting point to consider though. Either way I would put that down to bad planning in itself. As if they were using a lesser contractor, they should have planned around that and planned for potential delays when dealing with such a complex piece of equipment.
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Wasn't Shockwave out of action for a lengthy period? Probably more to do with the previous ownership running out of money for a lengthy period thinking about it.

In any case Intamin are only responsible for the ride hardware in Valhalla - one presumes that is all relatively unchanged since it was running up to the end of 2019 right? That would indicate to me it's more likely to do with the manufacturers of the considerable 'everything else' which is being "reimagined".

Or of course it's a load of cobblers and the truth is that money is tight and prioritising funding to get a ride which has been a problematic money pit from day 1 going again (even with cost reductions) is difficult. Especially since the ability to market a ride as new (which is probably second only to Big One in terms of brand awareness, even now) is limited.
 
Rick said:
There are definitely some changes to the ride system, they have moved the console and altered the turntables.

The park have a long history of hacking away at ride hardware and introducing their own quirks, Valhalla is no exception.
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Even with that being the case, it would surely be the case that all hardware modifications would have been specified and done as one project/order?

Or are the park doing this whole thing themselves and repeatedly ordering more parts to try and achieve their aims? (I'm imagining the many bank holidays I've lost repeatedly visiting Screwfix...)
 
I personally imagine the latter, that is the Pleasure Beach way...a tradition of bodge, budge and patch it up.
The whole park is held together with additional welds, and gaffer tape that has been rendered over with a four to one mix of sand and cement.
It is just that they prefer screwfix in China, and the Brexit administrator on the Beach has gone off on long term sick due to very long covid.
One of our party at the weekend started to dismantle our National train...WHILE WE WERE IN IT!
Large parts of the park are held together with bailer twine and poundshop cable ties.
 
rob666 said:
I personally imagine the latter, that is the Pleasure Beach way...a tradition of bodge, budge and patch it up.
The whole park is held together with additional welds, and gaffer tape that has been rendered over with a four to one mix of sand and cement.
It is just that they prefer screwfix in China, and the Brexit administrator on the Beach has gone off on long term sick due to very long covid.
One of our party at the weekend started to dismantle our National train...WHILE WE WERE IN IT!
Large parts of the park are held together with bailer twine and poundshop cable ties.
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Didn't they make modifications to Ice Blast which S&S weren't happy with?
 
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