So I popped my Blackpool/PB cherry last week from Weds - Friday, so here's a breakdown on my overall thoughts/experiences.
Parking: Shout out to
@WillPS for suggesting Clifton Drive, managed to park up here and left the car for the 3 days saving £30, literally across the road from Big Blue Hotel.
Big Blue Hotel: We booked 2 nights through HotUkDeals/TravelZoo at a cost of £149 staying in a deluxe double with views looking out at PB. Included was 3 course evening meal(Weds Eve), breakfast for the Thurs & Friday morning and a bottle of semi decent wine in the room.
The hotel was brilliant, fantastic staff, exceptionally clean and one of the best hotels we've stayed in for the price. A few minor snags in the bedroom where the quality was lacking; shower head had seen better days, paint on the metal/wood where the painter had been shoddy etc but I only noticed them because the rest of the room/hotel was to such a high standard.
Other downside was lots of pictures of Hot Ice placed around the hotel and our room.
Sitting in front of the double doors watching Icon, Steeplechase, Big One and on the Friday Big Dipper all testing whilst I had my morning coffees was lovely.
The food at BB was exceptional, simple as that! Both in the evening meal and breakfast you could taste they used good ingredients. Evening meal was a set 3 course menu or £22.50pp to use on the main menu, main menu was fairly pricey but you were paying for quality and well cooked food. Breakfast had a good selection of hot and cold items, good thick bacon and quality sausage etc.
We broke down the costs of dinner £45 for 2 people, Bottle of wine in the room was going for £10, Breakfast for 2 people, 2 days would have cost us at least £10ea PP if we had eaten out so to us it cost £27 per night for 2 people and £54 for both nights in a deluxe room = Amazing value, would 100% recommend staying here if you can get a good deal.
Pleasure Beach We had tickets booked for the Thursday and paid £17.50ea through some offer, Sadly it pished it down all day so we didn't have the most enjoyable day. we was told on the way in that due to the rain we could come back on the Friday for free. unfortunately it didn't open until late in the day/evening and we would be on our way home.
We spent a fair few hours at the park, not the most pleasant rides for some of the coasters.
Highlights - Icon!! Wow that has to be up in the top 3 coasters in the UK IMO, possibly the best overall coaster experience i've had; the restraint system used is brilliant wish it was used on more coasters, It has all the elements on one ride hang time, air time, launch etc it was the complete package of a coaster without the gimmicks( I love Stealth, Smiler, Wickerman, Swarm)
Streak, Steeplechase and others were good if not a little rough, but other than Icon our two other favourite rides/experiences was Wallace & Gromit - Fantastic dark ride and more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Merlin need to take note on how to build a proper dark ride compared to the carboard cut out Gangster Granny.
Lastly the surprise of the park - River Caves, Wow that thing is like Dr Whos Tardis! I never expected it to house such massive rooms with excellent proper theming, looks abit worn in some places and a really old ride system etc but came out of it thinking wow I wasn't expecting that.
Lowlight - Only really one and its controversial....The Big One....Wow that thing was rough as hell, not sure if it was made worse in the rain but it was a boneshaker and on par with Collosus as worst coaster at a major UK theme park for us, neither of us enjoyed it at all. Yeah the initial drop is good and that's it, spent the rest of the ride being bashed and battered. Not one i'd be rushing back to ride.
I wont rant about having to scan QR code for every ride...such a pain in the arris, save it as a lock screen to make it easier, couple of ride ops was just clicking people through without scanning to help dispatch times.
Dipper & National were both closed so didn't get to ride them
Overall - Pleasure beach was ok, if not a little underwhelming experience re-riding Icon was worth the £17.50, maybe in better weather, Valhalla being open and modernising some of the coasters and rides would help. I can see why punters are not returning, like the south area around PB it seems to be stuck in the past and unappealing.
Blackpool itself was decent, can see that the money has been spent in the North around the Tower etc, Tussauds was a pleasant way to spend an hour using our MAP, Sealife is Sealife but anyone who has a MAP has fantastic value for money given all the attractions.
Away from the Tower/North there needs to be more money spent, so many abandoned shops, B&Bs, run down areas. you could see the whole place used to thrive in its glory days but seems like the demand isn't there to sustain so many businesses, like most seaside towns they just don't hold the same appeal for holiday makers when you can go abroad for a week all inclusive for the same or less for a week in Blackpool/Seaside.
Unlikely to return again next year unless we get a good deal on Big Blue or Boulevard next door, maybe 2024 purely for Icon and Valhalla.
